Mr. Bond and me

We did fun things in my family when I was a kid, I'm sure we did. My brother claims we didn't, but that's him and I'm me. I remember vacations and holidays and the occasional visit to Stone Mountain. We also went out to eat dinner a lot. The "family dinner" at the Chinese place was a big thing--it involved sweet and sour pork, of that I am sure. But when I reflect back on my childhood, I don't remember my family going to the movies as a group much when I was younger. By the time I was a teenager we did--my mother and I would go to the occasional movie together. My dad took me to see movies, too. He and I still really like to go see movies. On his visit here last January, we saw three in three days. I don't however, remember all four of us going to the movie very often until we were older. One exception to this (perhaps skewed) view of the past, was one Saturday afternoon in 1979. My dad suggested that we all go to see Moonraker. It was my first James Bond experience. He told us about James Bond, the Cold War, and what the movies were like on the way to the theater.

No one in their right mind would claim that Moonraker was anything but second-rate Bond. In fact, it may be the worst Bond movie ever. Hard to say. There are so many bad Bond movies. After the movie we went to have chili cheesburgers and Dad told us more about the books, the movies, and the legend. I loved it. The whole thing. Truth be told, I never stopped loving Bond. In part, I think, because that day my family seemed happy and content. It must have been James Bond's doing.

I've seen every Bond movie since except for Die Another Day. I liked Brosnan when I was a teenager and he was on Remington Steele, and have liked him in other things like The Thomas Crowne Affair, but that business of him straightening his bow tie while driving around in a tank in Tomorrow Never Dies was just stupid. Oh, I know, there so much stupid to Bond. Bad actors (Timothy Dalton, George Lazenby), sexism (pick the movie), cheesy effects (ditto), bad pop themes (Duran Duran), etc. Still, that afternoon in 1979 made a place for Bond in my heart that I have never let go. He's there, despite so much. I don't like martinis. I've never been able to bring myself to play Baccarat in Las Vegas. He's so male. So many problems. One happy Saturday afternoon in a family with very few happy Saturday afternoons was all it took...

Oh, sure Connery was good, in his very Connery way, of course. On Her Majesty's Secret Service had Diana Rigg (love her). There were little pieces to hold on to. One Saturday.

A few years ago, I came back to Bond by reading a few of the books. They're not the greatest novels and spy stories are not my preferred genre, but I started at the beginning with Ian Fleming's first Bond book, Casino Royale, and enjoyed it thoroughly. I've read a couple since, but that one was the best of the handful I've read.

Honey was actually interested in seeing Casino Royale since she had heard good things about it. So today she and I headed out to see it. I'm no critic and there are many folks who have said lots of smarter things about Bond than me, but let me just say that I was glad to reacquaint myself with 007. The movie was everything I wanted it to be. Honey and I have had lots of nice Sunday afternoons, but it was nice to remember that Saturday 27 years ago while watching a good movie. Daniel Craig reminds me a lot of the Bond that Fleming wrote about in the book. And, take this for what it is, both Honey and I noted that he is a VERY sexy man. The movie is human, well written, and complicated. The action sequences are good, the lead woman is a real character, and there's no overt sexism. I think it's the best Bond movie ever.

Not that anyone in Hollywood cares what I think, and I guess "Bond 22" is already underway, but I think they should just remake the actual Fleming books again. And this time do it in order. Live and Let Die (way down there in the bad pantheon of Bond films) was the second book. Craig as Bond in the Caribbean and in a post-Katrina New Orleans? Sounds perfect to me.

We're not having chili cheeseburgers tonight, which is just as well. I don't need a movie or a meal to remind me that my life now is much closer to the ideal than my life was then. Still, I was glad to meet Mr. Bond again. He looks better than he used to and I'm still grateful to him for a happy day.