Written by Richard Maibaum And Johanna Harwood And Berkely Mather
Directed by Terence Young
Dr. No: "The Americans are fools. I offered my services; they refused. So did the East. Now they can both pay for their mistake."
James Bond: "World domination. The same old dream. Our asylums are full of people who think they're Napoleon. Or God."
A few weeks ago, I thought to myself that I wanted to take on a movie franchise with a lengthy number of films. I also thought I'd go with this particular franchise, which is on the cusp of announcing it's next actor for the next ten to fifteen years worth of movies.
Going back to the very beginning, there was Sean Connery as 007 aka James Bond himself. He certainly set the bar for the character, himself and his successors and this film certainly got things off to an interesting start for the character.
James Bond definitely would be seen as the ultimate straight male fantasy character. He's a secret agent, can handle himself in fights, drives a cool car and uses cool gadgets when needed. He's also a great seducer of women and this was apparent in some of his encounters in this first film.
He didn't have to do a lot to seduce secretary Miss Taro (Zena Marshall) and get her arrested afterwards. That was certainly a moment highlighting Bond's coldness with women. Then there's his relationship with the main girl of the film - Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress).
It's a bit better explored, following the memorable way in which Honey herself was introduced. There's was some insight into her tragic family past, an interesting use of Tarantulas and of course, some genuinely sizzling chemistry between Connery and Andress.
As for the film's main - Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman). He's a reclusive member of SPECTRE and a man deeply resentful of his talents not being appreciated. He's a great villain and a wonderful foil for Bond himself. He also got one hell of a gruesome demise. The ending on the other hand was more on the tender side of things.
- SPECTRE stood for Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion. Dr. No had no problem explaining they to James Bond.
- Other prominent characters include Felix Leiter (Jack Lord), M (Bernard Lee), Miss Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell) and Quarrell (John Kitzmiller) to name a few.
- Standout music: Monty Norman's Under The Mango Tree. Both James and Honey bonded over that song.
- Chronology: Predominantly set in Jamaica.
For the start of a sixty year plus movie legacy, I'll admit that Dr. No felt like a modest but entertaining start to James Bond on the big screen. Sean Connery commandeered the role quite easily. The action and romance nicely complimented each other and our titular villain was a success.
Rating: 8 out of 10
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