James Bond 007 should go back to the 1950s for his 26th movie
There were some shocking scenes in 1960s Bond movies but going back to the 1950s for the next instalment of the 007 movies might just work, Duncan Lay writes, adding Bond could break down the sexism and racism while catching baddies and saving the day.
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We won’t get to see the final Daniel Craig version of James Bond until 2021 at least but already fans are speculating about what the famed spy series will do for its next version.
Director Christopher Nolan, the genius behind the likes of Inception and Dunkirk, keeps getting suggested as the director of James Bond 26 — especially after his time-travelling spy caper Tenet.
But the really interesting concept — for me, anyway — is a thought that they might reboot the series entirely and take it back to the 1960s.
The rationale is that would immediately enable the series to break from the Craig movies.
That’s great, as long as they don’t also resurrect the lame double entendres and character names like Pussy Galore.
There were some shocking scenes in 1960s Bonds. In 1965’s Thunderball, Bond basically sexually assaults the nurse at the health spa and then effectively threatens to have her dismissed unless she sleeps with him. The film tries to make a joke of it but it’s rather uncomfortable viewing now.
And there are plenty more examples of Bond treating women horribly.
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In You Only Live Twice (1967), Bond throws on some brownface to pretend to be Japanese and then teams up with a female agent called Aki, who tells him: “I think I will very much enjoy serving under you.”
Laugh? Well, even then it was a bit of a struggle.
Those actions and lines in a movie today will kill Bond off far more effectively than all the sharks, lasers, rockets and henchmen with steel teeth.
But I do think they are on to something with jumping back in time.
Forget the 1960s. That has been done. I reckon the 1950s are a better bet.
Think about it. The Russians and Chinese are still trying to increase their power and influence. There are escaped Nazis still running around, plus all sorts of criminal gangs. He could even meet a younger Ernst Blofeld.
And the 1950s were a little different from the permissive 1960s. Gender roles were more rigidly defined and the movies can acknowledge the inherent sexism while not approving of it.
Bond could even become a champion of women, in particular female agents. His determination to get the job done and ignore the rules could actually play into his favour here, because he would be willing to break down the sexism and racism that was prevalent in the 1950s if it meant catching the baddies and saving the day.
Or they could go for it and make Bond black, as producers have apparently been already considering. That could really set the scene for some drama, as American agents are likely to be more suspicious of a black Bond than a SPECTRE agent.
Plus, without the lightning-quick communications of today, the idea of the single spy who can save the world becomes much more realistic.
I reckon that would be a winning combination and a complete break with the Bond of today.
Get it right and we might even forgive casting Madonna as Bond’s fencing instructor in Die Another Day.
But they’d need to get a few right before we’ll forget Bond telling Madonna: “I have been known to keep my tip up.”