One of the fiction series I am working through is the original series of James Bond books written by Ian Fleming. I am on the 7th book, Goldfinger, written in 1959 and made into a film adaptation in 1964 with Sean Connery. Both the book and film feature the delightfully named character Pussy Galore. I am almost done but I ran across a fantastic quote from Bond in the book….
Bond came to the conclusion that Tilly Masterton was one of those girls whose hormones had got mixed up. He knew the type well and thought they and their male counterparts were a direct consequence of giving votes to women and ‘sex equality’. As a result of fifty years of emancipation, feminine qualities were dying out or being transferred to the males. Pansies of both sexes were everywhere, not yet completely homosexual, but confused, not knowing what they were. The result was a herd of unhappy sexual misfits – barren and full of frustrations, the women wanting to dominate and the men to be nannied. He was sorry for them, but he had no time for them.
Ian Fleming. Goldfinger (Kindle Locations 3050-3055)
Even back in 1959 you could see it coming. Between giving women the vote and sending them into the male workforce during World War II, the well established roles between the sexes was muddled. The result are unhappy people, unhappy men and unhappy women alike. Fleming died in 1964, but even he couldn’t have imagined what the world would look like in 2024 and especially not his home of England, the nation he fought for in World War II that has lost her will to live.
Fleming’s Bond books are a throwback to a simpler and better day but are at the same time are yet another stark reminder of what a mess White people have made of the freedom won for them by better men. You can imagine what James Bond would say upon viewing Englishmen in 2024.
I’m surprised the publisher hasn’t edited that part out
https://variety.com/2023/film/news/james-bond-novels-edited-racism-1235536164/
The newest editions have been edited. They pussified now with hate words all removed.
I have a second printing of “From Russia with love”. There is a similar passage in it where Bond describes one of thugs from SPECTRE, to paraphrase: “The face of the man before him came into focus and Bond attempted to place where he might come from. He had a receding hair line and the size of his ears strongly suggested that he was a Jew.”
That is one thing about the novels that I found most enjoyable is the fact that Fleming pulled zero punches in his writing. I also recall reading somewhere that he based the character of Goldfinger on a guy who moved across the street from his home in Nassau. Said individual was from Eastern Europe, showed up with a fistful of money, was loud and crude, no class and no one seemed to be able to get a background story on the guy.
I download my ebooks outside of Amazon, so most are the original versions.
The movies had varying levels of faithfulness to the books (and sometimes diverged wildly from them, ala Moonraker) but can you imagine any movie made now being true to a book with that passage in it? My God, the squealing that would take place. I’ve eschewed Hollywood for over 3 decades, so it wouldn’t get back into a theatre to see it should it happen, but I’d certainly relish the outcry and stompy feet it would it bring about.
I watched the movies when I was a kid, now reading the books I am like “this doesn’t sound anything like the movie”
Goldfinger is the best and the best soundtrack.
Look up those EPIC Francis Dec rants where he uses the Attack on Fort Knox music in the background as read by a radio DJ.
I must be dreaming is one of the best comebacks ever when he meets PG.
PG’s Flying Circus!
Diamonds Are Forever has some macho man scenes where he interrogates the bikini babe forcefully and battles the lesbian acrobats!
The 1976 Dirty Harry has a prophetic sequence where is forced to have the rookie newbie Karen become his partner.
007 was done with Skyfall and it will really be done with the next one featuring the black lesbian Bond.
Ian Flemings last words: Don’t ruin it.
Peter Franks approves this message.
I didn’t hate Daniel Craig as Bond but he was a very different type of actor than Connery or Moore.
Craig was more like the character Ian Fleming wrote as Bond. Not a suave and sophisticated Sean Connery or a Roger Moore and even Timothy Dalton or a Pierce Brosnan.
I inherited the full Fleming collection of 007 from my father. Nice set of hardback books and I read them on occasion.
That scene in “The Enforcer” where Tyne Daly is interviewing for promotion to detective is funny as hell. Not only does Harry bust her balls (and rightfully) to great effect, but the purse lipped old schoolmarm from HR overseeing the process practically has a stroke when Det. Callahan puts forth a hypothetical situation which involves her and a Shetland pony. First time I saw that many moons ago, I was damn near dying I laughed so much. It still hits the spot on rewatch.
Pussy Galore has to be the all time greatest female antagonist name in the history of cinema. They tried to recapture that magic a few times in the Bond franchise, but nothing ever topped that, IMHO.
As far as I’m concerned, all Bond films after Roger Moore’s departure fell flat. Pierce Brosnan’s entries in the franchise should’ve been great, as he was practically made for the role. Oddly enough, I never found them very appealing, the dynamic just seemed off to me. Connery and Moore are James Bond to me, and after “A View To A Kill”, the movies just couldn’t hold my interest any more.
Oh, and the Daniel Craig movies? Meh, fuck that morose, depressing noise. James Bond is not a crying little bitch, and he is supposed to have some fun.
Many moons ago I was at a small boys’ camp in the Adirondacks. One of the junior counselors regaled us with the story of the time that he and a friend were in a theater viewing Goldfinger with a good number of blacks also in the audience. When Bond’s lady antagonist announced her name as Pussy Galore, one of the blacks instantly shouted out, “Prove it!”. Make of that what you will, but it was funny.
Going to any movie rated PG-MNA (Mass Negro Appeal) in a place where blacks would go see it before the hip hop era was usually a riot. I saw The Last Dragon in a mall theater… pure comedy. It was not in a completely fallen area yet- that occurred a few decades later, and of course, the mall is long gone.
This was before genetic angry hippos and rabid baboons were the rule and cops could beat those who richly deserved it.
Brosnan was indeed the best Bond, but he did not get the best movies/scripts in which to show that
Pretty much my take on it, and he kind of got screwed in that regard. If he’d come to role a bit sooner, his turn at 007 likely would’ve been remembered more fondly, at least by me. Having to delay his acceptance of the role due to contractual obligations to Remington Steele (which while a decent enough TV show, isn’t all that memorable now 40 years on) caused him to miss out on what would’ve been his prime opportunities to play bond. It also kept Roger Moore in the role longer than planned.
Timothy Dalton was also very well suited to the role in appearance and style, but the overarching trend of 80’s movies being more violent made his two outings a lot darker, especially in contrast to Moore’s comedic wise cracking one liners and sight gags. And I’ll admit, that’s one of the big reasons I liked Roger Moore’s portrayal so much, as it appeals to my sense of humor. Of course, the writers get much of the credit for that, as I doubt he ad-libbed all those moments. His delivery of them was always perfect, though.
Connery did well at that aspect as well, but it wasn’t accentuated quite so much in his movies, as the stylistic cues of the earlier era didn’t put as much emphasis on that.
I should’ve added, one of my favorite moments is at the end of Moonraker where Bond and Dr. Goodhead are observed on the monitor “in the act” by ground control. Upon which M exclaims “My God, what is Bond doing?” To which Q replies “I believe he’s attempting re-entry, sir.” That pretty well captures the style of the Moore era Bond in one snippet of dialog. And yes, I still laugh at that anytime I see it.
Connery was one of my favorite actors. He gained some notoriety by saying that you have to slap women around from time to time to keep them in line. Bravo! And, unlike every White mangina actor today (listen up Mel and the rest of you cunts) he never recanted his statement.
RIP Sean old boy. Your type will never come again.
Any fiction published after around 1980 has been censored.
Great post, thank you.
My buddies in high school were all Bond fans, as was I. We all read the Ian Fleming books. It was a great time, one guy took the to calling himself “Oddjob” from the Goldfinger novel/film.
As to Pussy Galore; I actually had a “Pussy Galores Flying Circus” tee shirt (still available on line).
As to the quote from the Bond book:
Mangina, certainly captures the spirit of the current Speaker of the House of Representatives. And, most of the members of the Senate. Especially Todd Young.
Bear in Indy
Yup. Go Ian.
I have the original Bond paperbacks, bought in the 60s. Connery WAS Bond. All the others were imitations at best. The Bond from the books was lower level aristocracy. In WW 2 you didn’t get to be a Commander in the British Navy without some blue blood. Upper class men played Baccarat and golf, not blue collar types. Further his Blower Bentley (in the books, not the movies), his tastes in clothes, food, etc. are not blue collar, they are white collar verging on pink collar. Connery played Bond as close to the character in the books as you can get. I never understood how Roger Moore could be so good as the Saint and such a loser playing Bond.
As based as Fleming may have been, it is curious to note that the films were a prime vehicle used by the small hat brigade to attack the culture of the West in the 50’s and 60’s, ushering in second wave feminism. This would begin the hard decline phase of Western Civilization, with the advent of “free love” and the resultant destruction of the family, denigration of male roles and accomplishments, and the associated brainwashing of the Boomer generation.
Bond even flashes a Playboy Club card as part of his assumed identity in Diamonds Are Forever.
At the risk of creating cognitive dissonance, the rise of Globohomo and Tranny Time Story Hour began there.