From Russia With Love

Over the Christmas holidays I inadvertently watched three James Bond movies. I say it like it’s surprising this happened because I didn’t intentionally sit down to watch any of them. Yet watching 3 films ‘by accident’ (admittedly not totally accidental as I enjoyed them and did watch them in their entirety) seems pretty crazy. That’s the total output of Back To The Future as a point of comparison.

A literature professor at my old University once described the phenomena of James Bond and I think he really got it right. He said the books were like smooth drinks that in the days before TV got big (Ian Fleming’s final Bond novel was published in 1966) were the perfect form of entertainment for a lazy Sunday. You could never have enough and there was always time for one more. In this respect, Ian Fleming was a master in entertainment. Like him or hate, his writing was slick, sharp and won fans. Simultaneously, as cinematography became ever more ambitious and popular it was inevitable movie adaptations of Fleming’s work would follow.    

Half a century on it is remarkable where the James Bond franchise has ended up. I sincerely doubt that even Ian Fleming had imagined, even in his wildest dreams that a character named after an American bird-watcher would end-up having 24 films that have so far grossed nearly $6bn at the box office. MI6 itself only has an annual budget of around $2.3bn as a point of comparison!

With so many to choose from, the big question is which one’s the best? 24 movies is one hell of a movie-marathon (exactly treble doing a Harry Potter marathon, though why anyone would do that is beyond me!) and selecting just one is a pretty big ask.

 But as I was ‘inadvertently’ watching From Russia With Love I got the feeling this was really Bond at its best. Perhaps it was simply the warm, slightly nostalgic colour-grade of a 1963 film that feels so true to the book, perhaps it was the sinister portrayal of SPECTRE (a proper dicdasterdly organisation from the Soviet Union) which stays true to James Bond’s roots in the height of the Cold War.

 One thing it most definitely was in my opinion was Sean Connery’s portrayal of Bond. It’s amazing to think this man was once an Edinburgh-based milkman, yet he really seems to revel in the role of James Bond. His portrayal is smooth, suave and sophisticated in equal measures and I suppose it does help that his slick hair and rock-like jaw won him no shortage of female admirers the world over.

 What I also liked about this film (beyond it staying relatively closely to the novel) was that fight and action scenes didn’t feel overtly over the top. Sure, there was plenty of scenes which required a non-cynical audience to get away with, but I think it poses an interesting question.  Do Bond movies have to be spectacular, action-packed chases in almost every scene or can their be a bit more depth to the plot? Though Skyfall was very much in this vein there was certainly more consideration to the script than some previous films, particularly those where Pierce Brosnan played Bond. It will be interesting to see where Spectre, the next Bond-movie due for release this year goes. The right balance of plot and action might just make it as good as From Russia With Love… 

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Watching Ferris Bueller’s Day Off whilst feeling unwell yourself is surely one of life’s cruellest ironies. Thinking I was letting myself in for 99 minutes of laid-back laughs, little did I know I would be almost green with envy by the end of this very 80’s American movie. Watching Ferris Bueller successfully navigate the perils of throwing a school sickie whilst enjoying just about every possible benefit that could possibly come with it does not really make you feel any better yourself when you’re high on Lemsip and Vitamin C tablets.

That’s not to say that Ferris Bueller’s Day Off isn’t a great movie. The film doesn’t take itself seriously but manages to avoid the potholes that a lot of modern movies fall into of being overly corny/ cheesy/ insultingly unrealistic. Much like the character of Ferris Bueller, the nature of the film is relaxed, easy going and pretty easy to get along with. You kind of get the impression that a lot of film directors and producers have tried to follow where Ferris Bueller once trod on his day off and probably haven’t been successful. This is a film that’s nearly impossible to dislike. That’s not something you can say about a lot of modern movies.

It’s difficult to try and pin-point why this might be. I liked the way some scenes just seemed to organically become bigger and bigger without you really being aware that anything had shifted or changed. An example of this is the scene where Ferris leads a rendition of ‘Twist and Shout’ in the middle of the street and suddenly, before you know it, everyone everywhere in Chicago has joined in. I honestly can’t think of anything more fun than to have been an extra in this scene- it looks like the biggest, most spontaneous party ever to hit a big screen!

In my slightly hazy and unwell state, one thing that did rattle me was the senseless destruction of the Ferrari California Spyder. This is surely one of the most beautiful handmade cars of all time and I did find myself struggling to cope when the car memorably reverses out of the glass garage and down a steep drop. Only learning that all Ferrari’s used in the filming of the movie were models has alleviated some of the pain! Credit must be due to the model department for their realistic creations!   

All in all, Ferris Bueller is one of those classic, easy going movies. It’s difficult to think of Ferris living in anything other than the best day of summer, his popularity as high as the blue, American skies that are in every scene of the movie. Ferris Bueller is a man who will seemingly have everything forever. And as if to cap it all, my sister has walked into the room, had one look at the Ferris Buelller’s Day Off DVD box (bearing a laid-back photo of Ferris Bueller) and said “wow, don’t you think that guy is really good looking?” I guess some people really do have it all...