Co-written by Samuel F. Schultz and Dylan J. Howell
Bond Film 1: Dr. No (1962)
a collaborative movie review
Viewed:
as part of the Bond Blu-Ray collection from Wal-Mart
Where to Watch:
Check your local library for DVD copies or rent online from Amazon Prime or Apple TV
Motion Picture Association rating: PG
Overview (Sam)
Neither of our parents were born yet, JFK was president, and Churchill was still alive. 1962 saw the momentous release of the genre defining Dr. No, in which James Bond stops some german-chinese guy with robot hands from blowing up the moon or something. James Bond first existed in a series of novels by Ian Fleming based on his cousin’s exploits as a spy in World War II, but due to the film adaptations’ superior notoriety, most know Bond as a movie character.
Even though Dr. No was not the first Bond novel written, it was chosen as the first film adaptation due to the relatively low budget required to produce it (it could mostly be filmed in one place). Other novels’ legal rights were also tied up in existing contracts or negotiations. Despite adapting a later book, Dr. No is a fantastic introduction to the film version of James Bond. Immediately suave and innately badass, Sean Connery’s portrayal of the superspy commands respect and admiration. As time goes on, his character morphs under the direction of various filmmakers and he is depicted by different actors, but in Dr. No he’s about as James Bond as you can get.
Sam’s part:
I’ve seen the first six Bond films, but it’s been a long time since I’ve seen Dr. No. I had forgotten how damn good it is as a standalone movie, adventurous and pulpy while eschewing campiness. From his very first line, Bond is, like, the coolest guy ever, but he’s still human.
Bond gets beaten and battered. His knuckles raw from fighting, by the end of the movie he’s covered in his own and other’s blood. While he does a lot of real espionage, constantly monitoring every room for bugs and clocking points of ingress and egress, he doesn’t feel as untouchable as he does in later movies. Even the final battle against the titular evil Dr. No is anticlimactic. Bond scrambles for his life and barely avoids being boiled alive in a nuclear pool. No’s mechanical hands, which once demonstrated his biological superiority over common man, become his demise, unable to grip the lifesaving ladder his enemy escapes on.
Dr. No is the essence of Bond. You gotta see it.
P.S. James Bond’s title credits are some of the most impressive special effects you’ll find from their release window. One of my favorite websites recently has been Art of the Title, which delves into the nitty gritty of the oft-overlooked title card. Here’s Dr. No’s page: https://www.artofthetitle.com/title/dr-no/
Dylan’s part:
My experience with James Bond prior to opening this bottle of Catch-Up was mostly inspired by Bond or Paul McCartney’s Bond theme, Live and Let Die. Having my first experience with 007 being the first film was more surprising than I expected. I know the pop culture pillar that has become James Bond in the 69 years since Ian Fleming published CasinoRoyale, which has Bond as a womanizing, risk-taking, badass action hero who can never die and can’t bleed. While most of those attributes are still present in Connery’s first mission, they have yet to be flanderized into the character that Sterling Archer and Austin Powers parody. Bond in Dr. No is simply a secret agent; after all, his status is 007, meaning that there are six agents in MI6 who are better and more capable than James Bond. Throughout the film, we see Bond use espionage tactics or simple, clever things that show just how smart he is and that he deserves to be a part of MI6 at all. The start of the Film with Bonds’ interaction with the director of MI6 shows Bond as not being viewed highly in the organization and that he is stuck in his ways, not wanting to progress as the rest of the organization does. Bond is more of an everyman in Dr. No than the mythic hero of the film that he will become. Dr. No is an enjoyable surface-level film that doesn’t need anything underneath. It’s a simple and fun spy thriller with the iconic Bond flare—7 bottles of Ketchup out of 10.
