Focus Of The Week: Dario

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Dario (Benicio Del Toro) works as a key enforcer for Franz Sanchez, a Central American drug lord. Sanchez treats Dario, the youngest member of his inner circle, like a younger brother.

Dario demonstrates his skill with a Bowie knife when he arrives in Cray Cay with Sanchez to retrieve the drug lord’s girlfriend, Lupe Lamora. Dario removes the heart of her illicit lover, Alvarez, and provides Sanchez with a “little valentine.” After DEA agent Felix Leiter, who has been hunting Sanchez for years, finally captures him, Dario exacts revenge by stabbing Della, Felix’s bride. Dario then helps Sanchez lower Leiter into a shark tank.

Dario acquires Leiter’s secret files and eliminates all of Leiter’s contacts in his investigation of Sanchez except one, Pam Bouvier. Dario travels to the Barrelhead Bar in Bimini to kill her and shoots her in the back as she speeds away in boat with 007. Dario thinks she is dead, unaware that her Kevlar vest stopped the bullets.

When Bond participates in a tour of Sanchez’s drug processing plant, Dario recognizes him. His cover exposed, Bond sets the lab ablaze, but Sanchez captures and interrogates him. When Bond refuses to speak, Dario throws him onto a conveyor belt leading to a pulveriser. Before Dario can kill Bond, Pam appears through the cocaine mist and Dario momentarily thinks she is ghost. Pam shoots Dario, and Bond hurls him into the pulveriser.

Focus Of The Week: Tanner

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In Quantum Of Solace (2008), Tanner (Rory Kinnear) is M’s right-hand man. He plays by-the-book, leading M to explain that things aren’t always what they seem. In Skyfall (2012), Tanner helps M and Bond identify Patrice, protects M during Silva’s attack on the Board of Inquiry, and assists Q in leaving a digital “breadcrumb trail” for Silva to follow.

Spectre was Kinnear’s third instalment as Tanner. He keeps Bond updated with the new head of the Centre for National Security, C’s plans and escorts Bond to receive a smart blood tracking device, an “insurance policy” after Bond’s rogue mission to Mexico. Tanner teams up with Moneypennny and Q to help Bond and M bring down C and Blofeld.

Focus Of The Week: Sir Ken Adam

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Born in Berlin in 1921, Ken Adam left Germany with his family in 1934. After training as an architect at London University, he joined the RAF and took part in the Battle of Normandy. In 1946, Adam landed a job as a junior draftsman at Riverside Studios. Over the next decade, he became known as one of Europe’s best film designers, earning his first Academy Award nomination for Around The World In 80 Days (1956).

When Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman started working on Dr. No (1963), they asked Adam to join the team. Adam set out to design imaginative sets using the very latest techniques and materials, setting the tone for the whole James Bond series.

Adam was unable to work on the second 007 film (From Russia With Love) but returned for the next three, surpassing himself each time. Blofeld’s hideout inside a volcano in 1967’s You Only Live Twice resulted in a massive $1 million set on the Pinewood backlot.

Greatly in demand, Adam only contributed to one of the next four Bond films, 1971’s Diamonds Are Forever. After winning an Academy Award for his work on Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon (1975), he returned for two more 007 assignments. His supertanker set for The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) required a space so huge that a special stage had to be constructed to house it. The resulting structure was christened the 007 Stage. Adam’s designs for The Spy Who Loved Me earned him his third Academy Award nomination.

Continuing to work on films in the 80s and 90s, Adam earned his second Academy Award win in 1994 for The Madness Of King George. In 2003, he was knighted. Adam sadly passed away on March 10th, 2016.

Many examples of Ken Adam’s work can be seen at the Bond In Motion exhibition, including original artwork and the famous Lotus Esprit which he designed. http://londonfilmmuseum.com/

Focus Of The Week: John Barry

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John Barry created the musical sound of James Bond. His arrangement and orchestration of Monty Norman’s “The James Bond Theme” combined his own twangy-guitar signature with a jazz big-band kick. Recurring throughout Dr. No (1962), it guaranteed Barry’s subsequent involvement with 007.

Barry’s innovative approach combined pop, jazz and classical styles to create a genre of movie music that was exciting, romantic and suspenseful. Barry scored the next Bond film, From Russian With Love (1963). He then went on to both score and write the title song for Goldfinger (1964), the first of many Bond films where he would compose both.

Barry composed the scores for 11 Bond films (and with Dr. No, contributed to 12). He continually updated his style and collaborated with top vocalists and bands, establishing a musical framework that Bond composers follow to this day.

Beyond Bond, Barry’s film career encompassed many significant films. He won five Academy Awards among many other awards and nominations. He sadly passed away in 2011.

The Royal College of Music and Mrs Laurie Barry established the John Barry Scholarship for Film Composition, with the aim of helping talented future film composers reach their full potential. http://www.rcm.ac.uk/johnbarryscholarship/

Focus Of The Week: Baron Samedi

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The legendary figure of Baron Samedi is a mischief-maker who both tempts and punishes humans. In Live And Let Die, the host at a show for tourists in San Monique describes Baron Samedi as the “voodoo god of cemeteries and Chief of the Legion of the Dead, the man who cannot die.” Dr. Kanaga employs a man who claims to be the Baron (Geoffrey Holder) to instill fear in his minions and to protect his thousands of acres of poppy fields. He crosses Bond and Solitaire’s path several times before Bond throws him into a coffin filled with poisonous snakes, apparently killing him. But nothing is certain where the God of Cemeteries is concerned, and Baron Samedi sits mockingly on the front of the Crescent train at the film’s end.

Focus Of The Week: Cubby Broccoli

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Albert R. Broccoli, known to film fans as “Cubby” Broccoli, is one of the most legendary of all Hollywood producers; the man behind the James Bond series.

In 1961, Canadian producer Harry Saltzman had all but given up on Ian Fleming’s idea of bringing Bond to the silver screen when Cubby entered the picture. Together they founded Eon Productions and Danjaq, LLC, seeing the Bond films develop from relatively low budget origins to large-budget, high-grossing spectacles, enjoyed by film fans globally. For more than 30 years, Broccoli devoted almost all his efforts to making Bond movies. From Dr. No (1962) to GoldenEye (1995), Broccoli championed the series, creating some of the world’s best-loved films. Not only did he create the Bond franchise, but the big-event action-adventure picture itself, changing the film business forever.

At the 1982 Academy Awards, Broccoli was honoured with the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award for his work in film. In 1990, he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Broccoli passed on the mantle of Bond series with GoldenEye (1995) to his daughter Barbara Broccoli and stepson Michael G. Wilson. He passed away in 1996 aged 87.

To find out more about Cubby Broccoli, his autobiography is available here:

www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/When-Melts-Cubby-Broccolis-story-Autobiography-Broccoli/0752211625/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1484307599&sr=8-1&keywords=cubby+broccoli

Focus Of The Week: M (Bernard Lee)

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Bernard Lee played the role of M in 11 Bond films. From Dr. No (1962) to Moonraker (1979), he has been the longest serving actor in the part.

M serves as the head of the British Secret Service, sending Bond on missions from his wood-panelled office. Ian Fleming created a stern, almost parental relationship between M and 007. M recognises Bond’s unique skills and innate talent but barely tolerates his often-unorthodox methods and hedonistic lifestyle. Bernard Lee’s M comes very close to Fleming’s version of the character.

Due to illness, Lee was unable to complete filming on For Your Eyes Only (1981), meaning he had to bow out of playing M. Producer Cubby Broccoli refused to recast the part in the film out of respect for Lee’s great contribution to the series. Broccoli on Lee; “He was a great personal friend, liked by all of us. His quiet authority and totally convincing manner were absolutely flawless.”

Focus Of The Week: Solitaire

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Solitaire (Jane Seymour) believes she is the bridge to the Secret Church where the present and future can be seen through tarot cards. She is kept on San Monique by its corrupt president, Dr. Kananga, who believes she has the power of Obeah. When Bond first meets Solitaire, he selects the Lovers card from her Tarot deck. The implications of this card and her attraction to 007 cause Solitaire to doubt her relationship with Kananga. She sends Bond a tarot card warning him of CIA agent Rosie Carver’s impending betrayal. With the help of a tarot pack full of Lovers cards, Bond seduces Solitaire. The pair then escapes from San Monique, but Kananga, furious at the perceived betrayal, kidnaps her back to his base to be sacrificed in a voodoo ritual. Bond heroically rescues her.

Focus Of The Week: Kara Milovy

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In The Living Daylights cellist Kara Milovy (Maryam d’Abo) is the Czech lover of rogue KGB General Georgi Koskov. He sets her up as a sniper, firing rubber bullets, to make his defection to the British appear genuine. Bond shoots the gun from her hand sensing she doesn’t know what she is doing. Koskov is snatched back, apparently by the KGB, sparking Bond to investigate Milovy. She travels with Bond to Vienna and then on to Tangier. Without Bond’s knowledge she discovers Koskov is in Tangier and works with him to drug Bond. Before he passes out, Bond tells Kara that he is a British agent and that Koskov has betrayed the Russians, the British and Kara herself, setting her up to be killed. In Afghanistan, Kara is convinced of Koskov’s treachery and becomes Bond’s ally, helping him escape from a Soviet airbase and joining a group of mujahideen fighters to rescue Bond when he becomes trapped in Koskov’s drug convoy.

Focus Of The Week: M (Ralph Fiennes)

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In Skyfall (2012), Mallory (Ralph Fiennes) is introduced as the new Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee regulating MI6 and overseeing the transition between M’s “voluntary retirement” and her unnamed successor. He is initially sceptical about Bond’s capability for fieldwork and suggests he think about retirement. When cyber-terrorist Silva attempts to kill M, Mallory takes a bullet to the shoulder protecting her and engages in a gun battle to ward Silva off. Mallory then supports Q and Tanner, when they act unofficially, placing digital clues to lead Silva to Bond at Skyfall, the agent’s ancestral home. When M is tragically killed, Mallory is named as her successor.

In Spectre (2015), the new M is forced to suspend Bond following his rogue mission in Mexico. He comes under serious pressure from within the intelligence services when the Double-0 section is under threat from a new initiative called Nine Eyes, headed by C. After discovering that the terrorist organisation SPECTRE is behind Nine Eyes, M and Q succeed in stopping its activation but a subsequent struggle between M and C results in C falling to his death. M then goes on to arrest Spectre villain Blofeld on Westminster Bridge.

Focus Of The Week: Pussy Galore

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In Goldfinger Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman) leads an all-female aerial acrobatic troupe that serves as a cover for various illegal activities. Employed as Auric Goldfinger’s personal pilot she plays a key role in his Operation Grand Slam to irradiate the gold supply at Fort Knox.

Galore flies 007 from Switzerland to Goldfinger’s Kentucky estate as her prisoner. Bond tells her that Goldfinger plans to use her pilots to spray a lethal nerve gas over Fort Knox, not a knockout gas as she had previously thought. CIA agent Felix Leiter reports that Galore helped switch the nerve gas canisters, saving thousands of lives and ruining the plot. Goldfinger forces Galore to hijack the President’s plane to fly him to Cuba. On board the plane Bond defeats Goldfinger and saves Galore from the crashing plane.

Focus Of The Week: M (Dame Judi Dench)

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In GoldenEye (1995), a new female M, played by Dame Judi Dench, takes charge of MI6. She sees Bond as a “sexist, misogynist, dinosaur, a relic of the Cold War,” but like her predecessors, she sees a use for Bond and his methods. In Casino Royale (2006), M presides over bond’s initiation as an “00” agent, a narrative shift that relaunches both Bond and M in the 21st century. M guides Bond’s transformation from a skilled agent who occasionally fails to see the bigger picture to a hardened operative guided by larger objectives.

In Skyfall (2012), M finds herself in political hot water when a hard drive containing the names of nearly every undercover NATO agent falls into enemy hands. In an attempt to recapture the drive she instructs Eve Moneypenny to take a high-risk shot, resulting in Bond being hit. Unknown to M, Bond survived the attack and eventually shows up at her London home. Refusing to apologise for making the judgement call, she is nevertheless glad to have Bond back. M conceals the results of Bond’s failed physical, shooting and psychological tests and sends him to Shanghai. His mission results in the capture of Silva, a cyber-terrorist, who M reveals once worked for her but whom she traded to the Chinese for six agents. Silva has since longed for revenge and escapes from his MI6 cell and attempts to kill M. Bond takes M to temporary safety at Skyfall, his old family home. During Silva’s attack on Skyfall, M is injured and finds refuge in a chapel. Silva eventually finds her and begs her to end both their lives. Bond kills Silva and cradles M as she dies. Following her death she bequeaths Bond her Royal Doulton Bulldog, revealing her true name to be Olivia Mansfield.

Dame Judi Dench played M in seven Bond films over 17 years, from GoldenEye (1995) to Skyfall (2012) and made a cameo in Spectre (2015). Daniel Craig on Dench; “Judi Dench can say a hundred words and make them sound wonderful, but can also give one look and break your heart.”