Prom is a 2011 American teen film directed by Joe Nussbaum written by Katie Wech and produced by Ted Griffin and Justin Springer. It was released on April 29, 2011 by Walt Disney Pictures. The film was the first major production shot with Arriflex's Alexa HD cameras to be released in theatres.

Plot[link]

This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (September 2011)

Class president Nova (Aimee Teegarden) has been planning the school's prom. She and her friends, Mei (Yin Chang), Ali (Janelle Ortiz), Brandon (Jonathan Keltz), and Rolo (Joe Adler) have created the perfect decorations, which they store in the school's shed. Nova, who has a crush on Brandon, hopes he will ask her to prom.

Meanwhile, Lloyd (Nicholas Braun), the "invisible" guy at school, is complaining about prom to his stepsister, Tess (Raini Rodriguez) because he has no date but she encourages him to just ask someone. Elsewhere at the school, Tyler (DeVaughn Nixon) is confronted by his girlfriend, Jordan (Kylie Bunbury), who assumes he is cheating on her due to the single gold earring she finds in his car. He assures her this is not the case, and Jordan believes him.

"Bad boy" Jesse Richter (Thomas McDonell) has been missing school lately and showing other "unacceptable" behavior, such as riding his motorcycle on school grounds. Principal Dunnan (Jere Burns) has a talk with him, but is not satisfied with Jesse's attitude. Mei learns she has been accepted into Parsons, which conflicts with the plans she made with her boyfriend, Justin (Jared Kusnitz), of going to the University of Michigan together. She is stressed about this and becomes irritable as prom approaches, which she agrees to go with Justin. Sophomore Lucas (Nolan Sotillo) is attracted to Simone (Danielle Campbell), his lab partner, who he tries to get with the help of his friend Corey (Cameron Monaghan).

That night, Tyler takes Jordan to the school's shed, which he has decorated with many candles, to ask her to prom, and she agrees. When they leave the shed, however, they forget to put out a single candle. The shed catches fire and burns down. The next day, a devastated Nova, with no decorations and only three weeks to prom, asks her friends for extra help to pull the dance off, which they all back out of, each listing their own reason.

Principal Dunnan, seeing her dilemma, has an idea, and forces Jesse to help her for Prom, or he won't graduate. Although Nova and Jesse both are unhappy with this situation, they comply anyway. At school, Lloyd is having trouble finding a date, even with the help of his sister. As one thing goes wrong after another, Lloyd loses confidence and becomes frustrated.

Later at home, Brandon shows up at Nova's house to tell her he cannot take her to prom, and that she will have to find another date. As the date becomes closer to prom, Nova and Jesse grow closer while working together.

During lacrosse practice, Tyler invites Lucas to the team barbecue, and tells him to invite a girl. Lucas decides to ask Simone, which she agrees to. At Tyler's barbecue, Tyler tries to make a move on Simone, only to be rejected by her. It is made clear they have a history. Simone tells Lucas that if she had known it was Tyler's barbecue, she would not have come. One night, Nova finds out that the neighboring high school has the same theme for their prom as her own. Jesse suggests they take his motorcycle to go check out the other school's decorations, and she agrees. However, they are caught by the police, who call Nova's parents. Nova's father is infuriated with Jesse and insults him.Mei's attitude is becoming worse and worse, and Justin believes she does not want to go to prom. He calls the date off, and Mei is left feeling very uncomfortable.

At school, Lucas blows off Corey to spend more time with Simone, and asks her to study for the upcoming test with him, to which she agrees. However, as she is about to go to library, Simone is stopped by Tyler, who convinces her to talk with him. He tells her about his feelings for her. Jordan sees the two talking and immediately grasps the situation.

After school, Nova apologizes to Jesse for her dad's behavior. Later, she takes him dress shopping. Back at school, Simone apologizes to Lucas for having ditched him. She has a surprise, tickets to a concert, where Stick Hippo (his and Corey's favorite band) is opening. Lucas wants to take Simone instead of Corey, much to Corey's dismay. Jordan dumps Tyler for his unfaithfulness, and decides to go to prom alone. This prompts him to ask Simone to prom, which is the same night as the concert, and she agrees. Simone tells Lucas that she is sorry, but she cannot go to the concert.

Mei apologizes to Justin for her behavior and tells him the truth, but instead of feeling hurt that she is going to a different college, he tells her he is proud of her. They agree that they should still go to prom together.

Lloyd spots Lucas sitting outside the school, looking dejected. He learns his situation, and tells Lucas his own mistake with girls and high school. Lloyd tells Lucas that if he really loves Simone, he should tell her.

Two nights before the prom, Nova, Ali, and Mei are in Nova's room, talking. Nova confesses to them that she has feelings for Jesse, which her dad unfortunately overhears. The next day, Nova's father tells Jesse he cannot ask Nova to prom, because he is "bringing her down". That afternoon, Jesse is unusually hostile towards Nova and deserts her.

On prom night, Lucas climbs a tree to reach Simone's window. He tells her how he feels and begs her not to go to prom, but she goes anyway. Disappointed, Lucas realizes what a bad friend he has been to Corey, and offers him the other concert ticket. The two head off to see their favorite band happily.

At her house, Nova is heartbroken, and refuses to pose for the camera in her prom dress. Her father, worried, explains that he was the one who told Jesse not to ask her to prom. Angered, Nova storms out of the house. Meanwhile, at Lloyd's house, it is revealed that he is taking his sister to prom. At Jesse's house, his mother has a talk with him, and he realizes that he should still take Nova to prom.

At the school, Tyler leads Simone into the building, and almost immediately abandons her. Simone finds out from a couple of girls that it was actually Jordan who dumped Tyler, and Tyler had gone to her with no other option. When Tyler asks her to dance (He was crowned prom king and Jordan queen) she refuses and leaves. She goes to the concert parking lot, where she waits for Lucas, and they share a dance.

Nova is having an awful time at prom, and when Ali tells her the fountain centerpiece is broken, she cannot take it anymore. As she is about to leave, she hears the fountain work again, and knows the only person who could have fixed it was Jesse. He walks up to her and asks her to prom. She agrees, and they dance followed by a kiss.

Cast[link]

• Aimee Teegarden as Nova Prescott, the class president who is determined to host a great prom. Nova later on becomes attracted to Jesse, and in the end we see her and Jesse kissing. She is highly intelligent and even gets a college scholarship.
• Thomas McDonell as Jesse Richter, the school bad boy who is reluctant to help Nova with prom decorations, but later on falls for her, revealing his soft side more. Jesse's father left his family, and he's been skipping school to take care of his little brother, Charlie, to support his mother, who works late hours at a local diner.
• Yin Chang as Mei Kwan, Nova's super smart friend who is dating Justin. She is very involved in school and has a difficulty to chose her boyfriend over design school in New York. She wants to spend the rest of her life with her boyfriend, but at what price?
• Janelle Ortiz as Ali Gomez, Nova's other friend.
• Afam Okeke as Phillip
• Nolan Sotillo as Lucas Arnaz has a crush on Simone.
• Danielle Campbell as Simone Daniels plays guitar and piano, and is Lucas' lab partner.
• Kylie Bunbury as Jordan Lundley, Tyler Barsco's girlfriend who is extremely popular.
• DeVaughn Nixon as Tyler Barso is Jordan's lacrosse-playing boyfriend.
• Cameron Monaghan as Corey Doyle, Lucas' best friend.
• Jared Kusnitz as Justin Wexler, Mei's steady, easy-going boyfriend.
• Nicholas Braun as Lloyd Taylor, the shy, "invisible" kid at school who has trouble getting a date to prom.
• Joe Adler as Robert 'Rolo' Banus, Nova's absent-minded friend.
• Jonathan Keltz as Brandon, Nova's crush.
• Christine Elise McCarthy as Sandra Linsey
• Raini Rodriguez as Tess
• Aimee-Lynn Chadwick as Rachel, a goth girl.
• Dean Norris as Frank Prescott, Nova's over-protective father.
• Faith Ford as Kitty Prescott
• Robbie Tucker as Charlie Ritcher, Jesse's little brother.
• Jere Burns as Principal Dunnan
• Allie Trimm as Betsy
• Amy Pietz as Mrs. Doyle
• Carlease Burke as Rhoda Wainwright
• Blair Fowler as Leah
• Madison Riley as Kristen
• Rocco Nugent as Anton
• Ivy Malone as Alice
• Chloe Little as Janel Lundley
• Kofi Siriboe as Max
• Kristopher Higgins as Derek

Reception[link]

Box-office performance[link]

As of June 23, 2011, Prom has earned an estimated $10,100,000 in the United States.^[3] The film was released on April 29, 2011 in the United States, earning a box office total of $4,700,000 on its opening weekend.^[3]

Critical reception[link]

Prom has received mixed reviews. As of November 2011, review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 33% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 80 reviews with an average score of 5/10.^[4] As of June 27, 2011, the film holds and average score of 50 at Metacritic based on 25 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews."^[5]

Salon film critic Andre O'Heir gave the film a negative review, calling it "a would-be tween-oriented hit so scrubbed and sanitized and not worthy of paying attention to that it can barely be said to exist at all."^[6] Another film critic, Claudia Puig of USA Today, notes that Prom's "entertainment quotient comes up deficient."^[7] Conversely, Boxoffice Magazine film critic Pete Hammond offers a more positive review of the film, calling it a "highly entertaining original movie that's funny, touching, and real," while mixed reviewers note that it is a "predictable but painless pastiche of high school drama cliches that will give its intended tween audience a lot to squeal about."^[8][9]

Home media[link]

The film was released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on Blu-ray, DVD, and movie download on August 30, 2011.^[10][11] The release will be produced in two different physical packages: a 2-disc combo pack (Blu-ray and DVD) and a 1-disc DVD.^[10][11] The film will also be released as a movie download option, in both standard definition and high definition.^[10][11] All versions of the release will include the "Bloopers" and "Putting on Prom" extras, while the Blu-ray combo pack will additionally include a bonus short called "Last Chance Lloyd" (directed by Taz Goldstein) that expands on Llyod's search for a prom date as well as four deleted scenes, and seven music videos.^[10][11] The movie download version includes the "Bloopers" and "Putting on Prom" extras as well as three music videos by Allstar Weekend, Neon Trees, and Moon.^[10][11]

Soundtrack[link]

Pop band Allstar Weekend's song "Not Your Birthday" was used to promote the film. It was later included in iPhone/iPod app Tap Tap Revenge 4 as a free soundtrack song. Additionally, Katy Perry's song "Firework" was used in the trailer of the film. "Firework" was also used during the actual prom scene of the movie. The song is being heard as the teens dance during prom. The soundtrack was released under Disney's Hollywood Records label, three days before the film's premiere date.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Prom at the Internet Movie Database
• Prom at AllRovi
• Prom at Box Office Mojo
• Prom at Metacritic
• Prom at Rotten Tomatoes
• Prom at Dare To Dream Show

James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis, Christopher Wood, John Gardner, Raymond Benson, Sebastian Faulks and Jeffery Deaver; a new novel, written by William Boyd, is planned for release in 2013.^[1] Additionally, Charlie Higson wrote a series on a young James Bond and Kate Westbrook wrote three novels based on the diaries of a recurring series character, Moneypenny.

The fictional British Secret Service agent has also been adapted for television, radio, comic strip and video game formats as well as being used in the longest running and the second-highest grossing film franchise to date, which started in 1962 with Dr. No, starring Sean Connery as Bond. As of 2012, there have been twenty two films in the Eon Productions series, with a twenty third, Skyfall, due for release on 26 October 2012. The film will star Daniel Craig in his third portrayal of Bond: he is the sixth actor to play Bond in the Eon series. There have also been two independent productions of Bond films, Casino Royale, a 1967 spoof, and Never Say Never Again, a 1983 remake of an earlier Eon-produced film, Thunderball.

The films are renowned for a number of features, including the musical accompaniment, with the theme songs to the films having picked up Academy Award nominations on several occasions. Other important elements which run through most of the films include Bond's cars, his guns and the gadgets he is supplied with by Q Branch.

Publication history[link]

Creation and inspiration[link]

As the central figure for his works, Ian Fleming created the fictional character of James Bond, an intelligence officer in the Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known as MI6. Bond was also known by his code number, 007, and was a Royal Naval Reserve Commander.

Name

Fleming took the name for his character from that of the American ornithologist James Bond, a Caribbean bird expert and author of the definitive field guide Birds of the West Indies; Fleming, a keen birdwatcher himself, had a copy of Bond's guide and he later explained to the ornithologist’s wife that "It struck me that this brief, unromantic, Anglo-Saxon and yet very masculine name was just what I needed, and so a second James Bond was born".^[2] He further explained that:

When I wrote the first one in 1953, I wanted Bond to be an extremely dull, uninteresting man to whom things happened; I wanted him to be a blunt instrument...when I was casting around for a name for my protagonist I thought by God, (James Bond) is the dullest name I ever heard.

—Ian Fleming, The New Yorker, 21 April 1962^[3]

On another occasion Fleming said: "I wanted the simplest, dullest, plainest-sounding name I could find, "James Bond" was much better than something more interesting, like "Peregrine Carruthers". Exotic things would happen to and around him, but he would be a neutral figure—an anonymous, blunt instrument wielded by a government department."^[4]

Inspiration

Fleming based his fictional creation on a number of individuals he came across during his time in the Naval Intelligence Division during World War II, admitting that Bond "was a compound of all the secret agents and commando types I met during the war".^[5] Among those types were his brother, Peter, who had been involved in behind the lines operations in Norway and Greece during the war.^[6] Aside from Fleming's brother, a number of others also provided some aspects of Bond's make up, including Conrad O'Brien-ffrench, Patrick Dalzel-Job and Bill "Biffy" Dunderdale.^[5]

Hoagy Carmichael—Fleming's view of James Bond.

Tastes

Fleming also endowed Bond with many of his own traits, including sharing the same golf handicap, the taste for scrambled eggs and using the same brand of toiletries.^[7] Bond's tastes are also often taken from Fleming’s own as was his behaviour,^[8] with Bond's love of golf and gambling mirroring Fleming's own. Fleming used his experiences of his espionage career and all other aspects of his life as inspiration when writing, including using names of school friends, acquaintances, relatives and lovers throughout his books.^[5]

Looks

Fleming decided Bond should look a little like both the American singer Hoagy Carmichael and himself^[9] and in Casino Royale, Vesper Lynd remarks, "Bond reminds me rather of Hoagy Carmichael, but there is something cold and ruthless." Likewise, in Moonraker, Special Branch Officer Gala Brand thinks that Bond is "certainly good-looking… Rather like Hoagy Carmichael in a way. That black hair falling down over the right eyebrow. Much the same bones. But there was something a bit cruel in the mouth, and the eyes were cold."^[9]

Background

It was not until the penultimate novel, You Only Live Twice, that Fleming gave Bond a sense of family background. The book was the first to be written after the release of Dr. No in cinemas and Sean Connery's depiction of Bond affected Fleming's interpretation of the character, to give Bond both a sense of humour and Scottish antecedents that were not present in the previous stories.^[10] In a fictional obituary, purportedly published in The Times, Bond's parents were given as Andrew Bond, from the village of Glencoe, Scotland, and Monique Delacroix, from Yverdon, Switzerland.^[11] Fleming did not provide Bond's date of birth, but John Pearson's fictional biography of Bond, James Bond: The Authorised Biography of 007, gives Bond a birth date on 11 November 1920,^[12] while a study by John Griswold puts the date at 11 November 1921.^[13]

Novels and related works[link]

Ian Fleming novels[link]

Goldeneye, in Jamaica, where Fleming wrote all the Bond novels.^[14]

Whilst serving in the Naval Intelligence Division, Fleming had planned to become an author^[15] and had told a friend, "I am going to write the spy story to end all spy stories."^[5] On 17 February 1952, he began writing his first James Bond novel, Casino Royale at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica,^[16] where he wrote all his Bond novels, during the months of January and February each year.^[17] He started the story shortly before his wedding to his pregnant girlfriend, Ann Charteris, in order to distract himself from his forthcoming nuptials.^[18]

After completing the manuscript for Casino Royale, Fleming showed the manuscript to his friend (and later editor) William Plomer to read. Plomer liked it and submitted it to the publishers, Jonathan Cape, who did not like it as much. Cape finally published it in 1953 on the recommendation of Fleming's older brother Peter, an established travel writer.^[17] Between 1953 and 1966, two years after his death, twelve novels and two short-story collections were published, with the last two books – The Man with the Golden Gun and Octopussy and The Living Daylights – published posthumously.^[19] All the books were published in the UK through Jonathan Cape.

Post-Fleming novels[link]

After Fleming's death a continuation novel, Colonel Sun, was written by Kingsley Amis (as Robert Markham) and published in 1968.^[34] Amis had already written a literary study of Fleming's Bond novels in his 1965 workThe James Bond Dossier.^[35] Although novelizations of two of the Eon Productions Bond films appeared in print, James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me and James Bond and Moonraker, both written by screenwriter Christopher Wood,^[36] the series of novels did not continue until the 1980s. In 1981, thriller writer John Gardner picked up the series with Licence Renewed.^[37] Gardner went on to write sixteen Bond books in total; two of the books he wrote – Licence to Kill and GoldenEye – were novelizations of Eon Productions films of the same name. Gardner moved the Bond series into the 1980s, although he retained the ages of the characters as they were when Fleming had left them.^[38] In 1996, Gardner retired from writing James Bond books due to ill health.^[39]

In 1996, American author Raymond Benson became the author of the Bond novels. Benson had previously been the author of The James Bond Bedside Companion, first published in 1984.^[54] By the time he moved on to other, non-Bond related projects in 2002, Benson had written six Bond novels, three novelizations and three short stories.^[55]

After a gap of six years, Sebastian Faulks was commissioned by Ian Fleming Publications to write a new Bond novel, which was released on 28 May 2008, the 100th anniversary of Ian Fleming's birth.^[65] The book—titled Devil May Care—was published in the UK by Penguin Books and by Doubleday in the US.^[66] American writer Jeffery Deaver was then commissioned by Ian Fleming Publications to produce Carte Blanche, which was published on 26 May 2011.^[67] The book updated Bond into a post 9/11 agency, independent of MI5 or MI6.^[68]

Young Bond[link]

The Young Bond series of novels was started by Charlie Higson^[69] and, between 2005 and 2009, five novels and one short story were published.^[70] The first Young Bond novel, SilverFin was also adapted and released as a graphic novel on 2 October 2008 by Puffin Books.^[71]

The Moneypenny Diaries[link]

The Moneypenny Diaries are a trilogy of novels chronicling the life of Miss Moneypenny, M's personal secretary. The novels are penned by Samantha Weinberg under the pseudonym Kate Westbrook, who is depicted as the book's "editor".^[79] The first instalment of the trilogy, subtitled Guardian Angel, was released on 10 October 2005 in the UK.^[80] A second volume, subtitled Secret Servant was released on 2 November 2006 in the UK, published by John Murray.^[81] A third volume, subtitled Final Fling was released on 1 May 2008.^[82]

Adaptations[link]

Television[link]

In 1954 CBS paid Ian Fleming $1,000 ($8,654 in 2012 dollars^[86]) to adapt his novel Casino Royale into a one-hour television adventure as part of its Climax! series.^[87] The episode aired live on 21 October 1954 and starred Barry Nelson as "Card Sense" James 'Jimmy' Bond and Peter Lorre as Le Chiffre.^[88] The novel was adapted for American audiences to show Bond as an American agent working for "Combined Intelligence", while the character Felix Leiter—American in the novel—became British onscreen and was renamed "Clarence Leiter".^[89]

In 1973 a BBC documentary Omnibus: The British Hero featured Christopher Cazenove playing a number of such title characters (e.g. Richard Hannay and Bulldog Drummond). The documentary included James Bond in dramatised scenes from Goldfinger—notably featuring 007 being threatened with the novel's circular saw, rather than the film's laser beam—and Diamonds Are Forever.^[90] In 1991 a TV cartoon series James Bond Jr. was produced with Corey Burton in the role of Bond's nephew, also called James Bond.^[91]

Radio[link]

In 1956, the novel Moonraker was adapted for broadcast on South African radio, with Bob Holness providing the voice of Bond.^[92] According to The Independent, "listeners across the Union thrilled to Bob's cultured tones as he defeated evil master criminals in search of world domination".^[93]

The BBC have adapted three of the Fleming novels for broadcast: in 1990, You Only Live Twice was adapted into a 90 minute radio play for BBC Radio 4 with Michael Jayston playing James Bond. The production was repeated a number of times between 2008 and 2011.^[94] On 24 May 2008, BBC Radio 4 broadcast an adaptation of Dr. No. Actor Toby Stephens, who played Bond villain Gustav Graves in the Eon Productions version of Die Another Day, played James Bond, while Dr. No was played by David Suchet.^[95] Following the success of Dr. No, a second Bond story was adapted and on 3 April 2010, BBC Radio 4 broadcast Goldfinger with Toby Stephens again playing Bond.^[96] Sir Ian McKellen was Goldfinger and Stephens' Die Another Day co-star Rosamund Pike played Pussy Galore. The play was adapted from Fleming's novel by Archie Scottney and was directed by Martin Jarvis.^[97]

Comics medium[link]

In 1957, the Daily Express approached Ian Fleming to adapt his stories into comic strips, offering him £1,500 per novel and a share of takings from syndication.^[98] After initial reluctance, Fleming, who felt the strips would lack the quality of his writing, agreed.^[99] To aid the Daily Express in illustrating Bond, Fleming commissioned an artist to create a sketch of how he believed James Bond looked. The illustrator, John McLusky, however, felt that Fleming's 007 looked too "outdated" and "pre-war" and changed Bond to give him a more masculine look.^[100] The first strip, Casino Royale was published from 7 July 1958 to 13 December 1958^[101] and was written by Anthony Hern and illustrated by John McLusky.^[102]

Most of the Bond novels and short stories have since been adapted for illustration, as well as Kingsley Amis's Colonel Sun; the works were written by Henry Gammidge or Jim Lawrence with Yaroslav Horak replacing McClusky as artist in 1966.^[101] After the Fleming and Amis material had been adapted, original stories were produced, continuing in the Daily Express and Sunday Express until May 1977.^[100]

Several comic book adaptations of the James Bond films have been published through the years: at the time of Dr. No's release in October 1962, a comic book adaptation of the screenplay, written by Norman J. Nodel, was published in Britain as part of the Classics Illustrated anthology series.^[103] It was later reprinted in the United States by DC Comics as part of its Showcase anthology series, in January 1963. This was the first American comic book appearance of James Bond and is noteworthy for being a relatively rare example of a British comic being reprinted in a fairly high-profile American comic. It was also one of the earliest comics to be censored on racial grounds (some skin tones and dialogue were changed for the American market).^[104][103]

With the release of the 1981 film For Your Eyes Only, Marvel Comics published a two-issue comic book adaptation of the film.^[105][106] When Octopussy was released in the cinemas in 1983, Marvel published an accompanying comic;^[103] Eclipse also produced a one-off comic for Licence to Kill, although Timothy Dalton refused to allow his likeness to be used.^[107] New Bond stories were also drawn up and published from 1989 onwards through Marvel, Eclipse Comics and Dark Horse Comics.^[103][106]

Films[link]

The Eon Productions films[link]

In 1962 Eon Productions, the company of Canadian Harry Saltzman and American Albert R. "Cubby" Broccoli released the first cinema adaptation of an Ian Fleming novel, Dr. No, featuring Sean Connery as 007.^[108] Connery starred in a further four films before leaving the role after You Only Live Twice,^[109] which was taken up by George Lazenby for On Her Majesty's Secret Service.^[110] Lazenby left the role after just one appearance and Connery was tempted back for his last Eon-produced film Diamonds Are Forever.^[111]

In 1973, Roger Moore was appointed to the role of 007 for Live and Let Die and played Bond a further six times over twelve years before being replaced by Timothy Dalton for two films. After a six year hiatus, during which a legal wrangle threatened Eon's productions of the Bond films,^[112] Irish actor Pierce Brosnan was cast as Bond in GoldenEye, released in 1995; he remained in the role for a total of four films, before leaving in 2002. In 2006, Daniel Craig was given the role of Bond for Casino Royale, which rebooted the franchise.^[113] The twenty-third Eon produced film, Skyfall, was announced in November 2011, with release scheduled for 26 October 2012.^[114] The Eon Productions series has grossed $4,910,000,000 (over $12,360,000,000 when adjusted for inflation) worldwide, making it the second highest grossing film series, behind Harry Potter.^[115]

Non-Eon films[link]

In 1967, Casino Royale was adapted into a parody Bond film starring David Niven as Sir James Bond and Ursula Andress as Vesper Lynd. David Niven had been Ian Fleming's preference for the part of James Bond.^[116] The result of a court case in the High Court in London in 1963 allowed Kevin McClory to produce a remake of Thunderball titled Never Say Never Again in 1983.^[117] The film, starring Sean Connery as Bond, was not part of the Eon series of Bond films. In 1997 the Sony Corporation acquired all or some of McClory's rights in an undisclosed deal,^[117] which were then subsequently acquired by MGM, whilst on 4 December 1997, MGM announced that the company had purchased the rights to Never Say Never Again from Schwartzman's company Taliafilm.^[118] Eon now currently (as of 2012) holds the full adaptation rights to all of Fleming's Bond novels.^[117][119]

Music[link]

The "James Bond Theme" was written by Monty Norman and was first orchestrated by the John Barry Orchestra for 1962's Dr. No, although the actual authorship of the music has been a matter of controversy for many years.^[121] In 2001, Norman won £30,000 in libel damages from the The Sunday Times newspaper, which suggested that Barry was entirely responsible for the composition.^[122] The theme, as written by Norman and arranged by Barry, was described by another Bond film composer, David Arnold, as "bebop-swing vibe coupled with that vicious, dark, distorted electric guitar, definitely an instrument of rock 'n' roll...it represented everything about the character you would want: It was cocky, swaggering, confident, dark, dangerous, suggestive, sexy, unstoppable. And he did it in two minutes."^[120] Barry composed the scores for eleven Bond films^[123] and had an uncredited contribution to Dr. No with his arrangement of the Bond Theme.^[120]

A Bond film staple are the theme songs heard during their title sequences sung by well-known popular singers.^[124] Several of the songs produced for the films have been nominated for Academy Awards for Original Song, including Paul McCartney's "Live and Let Die",^[125] Carly Simon's "Nobody Does It Better"^[126] and Sheena Easton's "For Your Eyes Only".^[127] For the non-Eon produced Casino Royale, Burt Bacharach's score included "The Look Of Love", which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song.^[128]

Video games[link]

In 1983, the first Bond video game, developed and published by Parker Brothers, was released for the Atari 2600, the Atari 5200, the Atari 800, the Commodore 64 and the ColecoVision.^[129] Since then, there have been numerous video games either based on the films or using original storylines. In 1997, the first-person shooter video game GoldenEye 007 was developed by Rare for the Nintendo 64, based on the 1995 Pierce Brosnan film GoldenEye.^[130] The game received very positive reviews,^[131] won the BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Award for UK Developer of the Year in 1998^[132] and generated $250 million of sales worldwide.^[133]

In 1999, Electronic Arts acquired the licence and released Tomorrow Never Dies on 16 December 1999.^[134] In October 2000, they released The World Is Not Enough^[135] for the Nintendo 64^[136] followed by007 Racing for the PlayStation on 21 November 2000.^[137] In 2003, the company released Everything or Nothing,^[138] which included the likenesses and voices of Pierce Brosnan, Willem Dafoe, Heidi Klum, Judi Dench and John Cleese, amongst others.^[139] In November 2005, Electronic Arts released a video game adaptation of From Russia with Love,^[140] which involved Sean Connery's image and voice-over for Bond.^[140]

In 2006 Electronic Arts announced a game based on then-upcoming film Casino Royale: the game was cancelled because it would not be ready by the film's release in November of that year. With MGM losing revenue from lost licensing fees, the franchise was removed from EA to Activision.^[141] Activision subsequently released the 007: Quantum of Solace game on 31 October 2008, based on the film of the same name.^[142]

Guns, vehicles and gadgets[link]

The Walther PPK is the most famous of Bond's handguns

Guns

For the first five novels, Fleming armed Bond with a Beretta 418^[143] until he received a letter from a thirty-one-year-old Bond enthusiast and gun expert, Geoffrey Boothroyd, criticising Fleming's choice of firearm for Bond,^[144] calling it "a lady's gun – and not a very nice lady at that!"^[145] Boothroyd suggested that Bond should swap his Beretta for a Walther PPK 7.65mm and this exchange of arms made it to Dr. No.^[146] Boothroyd also gave Fleming advice on the Berns-Martin triple draw shoulder holster and a number of the weapons used by SMERSH and other villains.^[147] In thanks, Fleming gave the MI6 Armourer in his novels the name Major Boothroyd and, in Dr. No, M introduces him to Bond as "the greatest small-arms expert in the world".^[146] Bond also used a variety of rifles, including the Savage Model 99 in "For Your Eyes Only" and a Winchester .308 target rifle in "The Living Daylights".^[143] Other handguns used by Bond in the Fleming books included the Colt Detective Special and a long-barrelled Colt .45 Army Special.^[143]

The first Bond film, Dr. No, saw M ordering Bond to leave his Beretta behind and take up the Walther PPK,^[148] which the film Bond used in eighteen films.^[149] Since Tomorrow Never Dies, Bond's main weapon has been the Walther P99 semi-automatic pistol.^[149]

An Aston Martin DB5 as seen in Goldfinger.

Vehicles

In the early Bond stories Fleming gave Bond a battleship-grey Bentley 4½ Litre with an Amherst Villiers supercharger.^[150] After Bond's car was written off by Hugo Drax in Moonraker, Fleming gave Bond a Mark II Continental Bentley, which he used in the remaining books of the series.^[151] During Goldfinger, Bond was issued with an Aston Martin DB Mark III with a homing device, which he used to track Goldfinger across France. Bond returned to his Bentley for the subsequent novels.^[151]

The Bond of the films has driven a number of cars, including the Aston Martin V8 Vantage^[152], during the 1980s), the V12 Vanquish^[152] and DBS^[153] during the 2000s, as well as the Lotus Esprit;^[154] the BMW Z3,^[155] BMW 750iL^[155] and the BMW Z8.^[155] He has, however, also needed to drive a number of other vehicles, ranging from a Citroën 2CV to a Routemaster Bus, amongst others.^[156]

Bond's most famous car is the silver grey Aston Martin DB5, first seen in Goldfinger;^[157] it later featured in Thunderball, GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies and Casino Royale.^[158] The films have used a number of different Aston Martins for filming and publicity, one of which was sold in January 2006 at an auction in the US for $2,090,000 to an unnamed European collector.^[159]

Gadgets

The Little Nellie autogyro with its creator and pilot, Ken Wallis

Fleming's novels and early screen adaptations presented minimal equipment such as the booby-trapped attaché case in From Russia with Love, although this situation changed dramatically with the films.^[160] However, the effects of the two Eon-produced Bond films Dr. No and From Russia with Love had an effect on the novel The Man with the Golden Gun, through the increased number of devices used in Fleming's final story.^[161]

For the film adaptations of Bond, the pre-mission briefing by Q Branch became one of the motifs that ran through the series.^[162] Dr. No provided no spy-related gadgets, but a Geiger counter was used; industrial designer Andy Davey observed that the first ever onscreen spy-gadget was the attaché case shown in From Russia with Love, which he described as "a classic 007 product".^[163] The gadgets assumed a higher profile in the 1964 film Goldfinger. The film's success encouraged further espionage equipment from Q Branch to be supplied to Bond, although the increased use of technology led to an accusation that Bond was over-reliant on equipment, particularly in the later films.^[164]

Davey noted that "Bond's gizmos follow the zeitgeist more closely than any other...nuance in the films"^[163] as they moved from the potential representations of the future in the early films, through to the brand-name obsessions of the later films.^[163] It is also noticeable that, although Bond uses a number of pieces of equipment from Q Branch, including the Little Nellie autogyro,^[165] a jet pack^[166] and the exploding attaché case,^[167] the villains are also well-equipped with custom made devices,^[163] including Scaramanga's golden gun,^[168] Rosa Klebb's poison-tipped shoes,^[169] Oddjob's steel-rimmed bowler hat^[170] and Blofeld's communication and bacteriological warfare agents vanity case.^[163]

Cultural impact[link]

Cinematically James Bond has been a major influence within the spy genre since the release of Dr. No in 1962.^[171] The first parody was the 1964 film Carry on Spying showing the villain Dr. Crow being overcome by agents who included James Bind (Charles Hawtry) and Daphne Honeybutt (Barbara Windsor).^[172] One of the films that reacted against the portrayal of Bond was the Harry Palmer series, whose first film, The Ipcress File was released in 1965. The eponymous hero of the series was what academic Jeremy Packer called an "anti-Bond",^[173] or what Christoph Lindner calls "the thinking man's Bond".^[174] The Palmer series were produced by Harry Saltzman, who also used key crew members from the Bond franchise, including designer Ken Adam, editor Peter R. Hunt and composer John Barry.^[175] In 1966 there were twenty two secret agent films released attempting to capitalise on the popularity and success of Bond.^[176] The four "Matt Helm" films starring Dean Martin were released between 1966 and 1969,^[177] the "Flint" series starring James Coburn provided two films in 1966 and 1969,^[178] whilst The Man from U.N.C.L.E. also moved onto the cinema screen, with eight films released: all were testaments to Bond's prominence in popular culture.^[123] More recently, the Austin Powers series by writer, producer and comedian Mike Myers^[179] and other parodies such as the 2003 film Johnny English^[180] have also used elements from or parodied the Bond films.

Following the release of the film Dr. No in 1962, the quote "Bond ... James Bond", became a catch phrase that entered the lexicon of Western popular culture: writers Cork and Scivally said of the introduction in Dr. No that the "signature introduction would become the most famous and loved film line ever".^[181] In 2001 it was voted as the "best-loved one-liner in cinema" by British cinema goers^[182] and in 2005, it was honoured as the 22nd greatest quotation in cinema history by the American Film Institute as part of their 100 Years Series.^[183] The 2005 American Film Institute's '100 Years' series also recognised the character of James Bond himself in the film as the third greatest film hero.^[184] He was also placed at number eleven on a similar list by Empire.^[185] Premiere also listed Bond as the fifth greatest movie character of all time.^[186]

The twenty two James Bond films produced by Eon Productions, which have grossed $4,910,000,000 in box office returns alone,^[187] have made the series one of the highest-grossing ever. It is estimated that since Dr. No, a quarter of the world's population have seen at least one Bond film.^[188] The UK Film Distributors' Association have stated that the importance of the Bond series of films to the British film industry cannot be overstated, as they "form the backbone of the industry".^[189]

Television also saw the effect of Bond films, with the NBC series The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,^[190] which was described as the "first network television imitation" of Bond,^[191] largely because Fleming provided advice and ideas on the development of the series, even giving the main character the name Napoleon Solo.^[192] Other 1960s television imitations of Bond included I Spy,^[178] and Get Smart.^[193]

See also[link]

James Bond portal

• Shaken, not stirred
• Sir Fitzroy MacLean, 1st Baronet
• The Battle for Bond
• 9007 James Bond Asteroid named after the character

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: James Bond

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: James Bond

• James Bond Official Website
• Ian Fleming Publications Official Website
• Young Bond Official Website
• Pinewood Studios – home of Bond
• Pinewood Studios Albert R. Broccoli 007 Stage Official Website
• Ian Fleming's 'Red Indians' – 30AU – Literary James Bond's Wartime unit
• James Bond at the Internet Movie Database