Race Across The World With 007

Starting with Dr. No in 1962, Sean Connery’s James Bond set new standards in big-screen escapism, with new levels of globetrotting location work bringing the glamorous stories to life. While the studio work stayed at the UK’s Pinewood Studios, the series travelled the planet, ranging from the beaches of Barbados to the mountains of Switzerland to the neon cityscape of Las Vegas. Here are the travel tales of Connery’s Bond, starting in the sunny climes of Jamaica.

Dr. No (1962)

The Mission: Bond travels to Jamaica to investigate the death of fellow agent John Strangways (Timothy Moxon). The investigation brings him into the orbit of mysterious scientist Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman).

Locations: Jamaica

Travel Tales: Sean Connery arrived in Jamaica a week before filming started, staying at the Courtleigh Hotel, which became the film’s production base. The prep week saw the actor discuss the character with director Terence Young, and work out fight choreography with stunt arranger Bob Simmons.

Bond and Honey Ryder’s (Ursula Andress) first meeting was captured on February 6 1962, at the privately owned Laughing Waters Beach in Ocho Rios, Saint Ann, Jamaica, near Ian Fleming’s home, GoldenEye. The shot was witnessed by the author and his wife Ann, who were out for a stroll with poet Stephen Spender and journalist Peter Quennell, and were forced to dive to the ground to avoid the camera. 

The song Bond and Honey sing, ‘Underneath The Mango Tree’, was written by the film’s composer Monty Norman and sparked a battle between the two stars over who could claim the one record player to learn the song. Andress later admitted, “He sings much better than I do. I can’t carry a tune.”

The unit shot for 31 days in Jamaica, finishing on February 21, shooting exteriors of Miss Taro’s house at the Sans Souci Hotel. The crew flew back to the UK on a chartered flight costing £5000.

From Russia With Love (1963)

The Mission: Bond is instructed by M (Bernard Lee) to look after a young Russian woman, Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi), who has declared her desire to defect with an invaluable Lektor cipher machine.

Locations: Istanbul, Turkey, Venice, Italy, Scotland

Travel Tales: Filming in Istanbul attracted such huge crowds, Terence Young decided to create a diversion for the scene where Bond runs to the train station. Just before shooting the scene, Young signalled with his handkerchief for a stuntman to appear on a 3rd-floor balcony opposite, shouting and teetering precariously – the crowd shifted their attention to him, leaving Connery free to run to the station.

The helicopter and boat chase were shot at Lochgilphead and Crinan Harbour in Scotland. The helicopter sequence was abandoned during filming in Istanbul, but the weather was equally treacherous in Scotland, so Young had to improvise shots and find the sequence in the cutting room.

Sean Connery and Daniela Bianchi never went to Venice, with Young spending a day in the city capturing background plates for the final gondola ride. Young’s wife, Dorothea Bennett, makes a cameo as the woman who appears on a bridge filming Bond and Tatiana as they pass beneath in a water taxi.

Goldfinger (1964)

The Mission: Bond is assigned to investigate Auric Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe), a wealthy industrialist hell-bent on playing havoc with the world’s gold reserves. 

Locations: Switzerland, Kentucky, Miami

Travel Tales: Goldfinger started production on January 20th 1964, at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami. Only a scaled-down crew went to Miami and travelled to Florida to shoot with actor Cec Linder, playing Felix Leiter. The unit also shot the sequence where Solo (Martin Benson) is crushed in his car, capturing shots of the surrounding roads.

During the shoot, director Guy Hamilton used a weekend to recce Switzerland to find the twisty-turny roads where Bond is tailing Goldfinger. At one point, the shoot was delayed when the clutch on the Aston Martin burnt out. Tilly Masterson’s (Tania Mallet) attempt to assassinate Goldfinger was shot in the Furka Pass. A curve of the pass is now named ‘James Bond Strasse’.

A small team, including future Bond producer Michael G. Wilson, travelled to Kentucky, capturing shots in and around the gold depository at Fort Knox.

Thunderball (1965)

The Mission: 007 heads to the Bahamas to retrieve two nuclear warheads stolen by SPECTRE.

Locations: France, Nassau, Miami

Travel Tales: Shooting started at the Château d’Anet, west of Paris, for the pre-credit fight sequence, including Bond’s escape by jet pack. Provided by Bell-Textron, the jet pack only flew for 20 seconds at a time and, much to the team’s disappointment, required a helmet for the pilot for safety reasons. This meant a previously captured close-up of Sean Connery taking off without a helmet had to be reshot.

During the initial recce of Nassau, the production found a villa on Rock Point that would double for Largo’s villa, Palmyra. The property belonged to Livingston Sullivan and included two pools. For Largo’s shark pool, the Miami Seaquarium boat caught 15-16 live sharks from 7ft to 15ft and dropped them by crane into the seawater pool. 

During the last two weeks of production in Miami, a unit led by André de Toth shot the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary doing repeated aqua parachute drops over several days. As a thank-you, military adviser Charles Russhon arranged for a generous donation to the Coast Guard and threw them a considerable party at the Fontainebleau Hotel, previously seen in Goldfinger.

You Only Live Twice (1967)

The Mission: Presumed dead, Bond journeys to Japan to investigate the hijacking of American and Russian spacecraft.

Locations: Hong Kong, Japan, Nassau, Spain

Travel Tales: Connery arrived in Tokyo on July 27 1967, and was consistently mobbed by fans. After a photographer took pictures of the star in the lavatory, the production hired 14 security guards — only for one of the guards to whip out a camera and start taking pictures.

Connery and the cast were flown halfway up Mount Shinmoe, a volcano, and taken the rest of the way by small helicopters. After Connery finished his scenes and left, mist and rain descended, forcing the remaining cast and crew to walk down, each carrying heavy equipment.

Kobe Docks, an area renowned for real-life gangsters, staged an epic chase across rooftops, culminating in 007 jumping from a great height to escape. Captured by four cameras, the stunt was performed by Bob Simmons, who leapt over one hundred feet onto boxes. Simmons was wearing red underpants — after his trousers split on impact, revealing a red patch, everyone watching thought he’d injured himself.

Diamonds Are Forever (1971)

The Mission: Bond travels to Amsterdam and Las Vegas on a mission to discover who is hoarding the world’s supply of diamonds.

Locations: Las Vegas, California, France, Amsterdam

Travel Tales: Principal photography began on April 5 1971, in the Nevada desert, doubling for South Africa. The first scene shot was the killing of Dr. Tynan (Henry Rowland) by Mr. Kidd (Putter Smith) and Mr. Wint (Bruce Glover) via a deadly scorpion. The first iteration saw the scorpion placed in Tynan’s mouth as per the novel and script; the second version saw the predatory arachnid dropped down Tynan’s back. The second option won out. 

When the action moved to Las Vegas, the big set-piece saw Bond being chased around Vegas streets by the police. Assisted by Cubby Broccoli’s relationship with Howard Hughes, the city opened its doors to the filmmakers, with Bond in a red 1971 Ford Mach 1 Mustang being chased by 13 stunt drivers.  

Bond’s escape from Willard White’s research laboratory in a moon buggy was shot at the Johns Manville Gypsum Plant. The buggy cost $10,000 to make, but the vehicle was too heavy to traverse the rocky ground, putting too much weight on the wheels. The vehicle switched to sturdier all-terrain Honda wheels.

The film’s climax on the oil drilling platform that Blofeld (Charles Gray) used as his base was staged at Oceanside, California. The massive set-piece, involving a helicopter attack and a large number of explosions, was essentially a one-take opportunity that could not be repeated. During a dry run, the explosions were accidentally set off, but luckily, head helicopter pilot Jim Gavin had the foresight to have his camera running. Many of the shots from the air come from Gavin’s quick thinking.