What was the film…?

When someone discovers you’re a James Bond fan, they invariably want to know what film starred so-and-so, or in what film did such-and-such happen. While it’s hard enough to race through your mental inventory of OO7 to come up with an answer, you have to add to this the fact that Bond films recycle certain elements so often that the same thing can appear in a number of different films.

So, MKKBB has created this handy guide for you to use on your next date, dinner party, political coup, whatever. Just keep this list with you and refer to it when the stunning, blue-eyed blonde in the tight evening gown slinks over says, “Hey handsome, what was the Bond film…”

”…with the naked woman covered in gold paint?”

Shirley Eaton, portraying Bond conquest Jill Masterson, became the epitome of Bondmania when she was painted to death in Goldfinger (1964). Actually, two women were painted gold to film the scene, Eaton and model Margaret Nolan. Contrary to popular rumor, both women lived through the experience.

”…with the steel-toothed guy?”

Richard Keil played Jaws in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Moonraker (1979). He reappeared recently as a fanatically loyal fan in Adam Sandler’s golfing comedy Happy Gilmore.

”…with the ninjas?”

You Only Live Twice (1967) was one of the very first films to introduce ninjas to Western audiences. Ninjas also had a small role in Licence to Kill (1989), and the henchman Chang in Moonraker (1979) was a Japanese swordsman of some kind.

Run-of-the-mill martial arts, however, have played a role in many a Bond film. Even back in the sixties, when martial arts weren’t particularly timely, Bond and Pussy Galore were using judo to throw each other around a pile of hay in Goldfinger (1964). In Diamonds Are Forever (1971), Bond fought two female gymnastic martial artists named Bambi and Thumper.

In The Man with The Golden Gun (1974) Bond found himself at some kind of martial arts studio surrounded a number of – surprise! – martial artists (we can’t really stop to list the number of times Roger Moore’s Bond used martial arts, as about every fight scene he was in had him trying some kind of karate kick or chop). A View to a Kill (1985) had Max Zorin and his henchwoman, May Day, practicing some type of martial art in his private gym. Finally, in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), Bond ally Wai Lin (who could very easily be a ninja herself) took on some highly trained martial artists in an abandoned Saigon building.

(And if you including Sumo wrestling as a martial art, then we need to mention scenes from You Only Live Twice (1967) and The Man with The Golden Gun (1974) as well.)

”…where Bond went into space?”

Bond played astronaut to the horror of purists everywhere in Moonraker (1979). He almost went into space in You Only Live Twice (1967), but was stopped just as he entered the spacecraft.

”…with that woman from Law and Order?”

Carey Lowell, playing shotgun-wielding Pam Bouvier, was one of the new breed of competent Bond women in Licence to Kill (1989).

”…with the laser-castrator-type-thingy?”

Auric Goldfinger attempted to split Bond in two with a laser in Goldfinger (1964). This scene also contains the now-famous exchange that had a panicked Bond asking “Do you expect me to talk?!” and a detached Goldfinger responding, “No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!”

”…with that scene in the casino?”

Bond gambles a lot. He’s been at casinos in 9 out of 18 films. In the first Bond film, Dr. No (1962), Bond was introduced to the audience as he traded banter with Silvia Trench over a gaming table. In Thunderball (1965), Bond faced down SPECTRE agent Emilio Largo in a casino. 007 met his future wife, Tracy, at the tables in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) and came to her rescue by covering her gambling losses.

A significant portion of Diamonds Are Forever (1971) took place in the casinos of Las Vegas, Nevada. In that same film, Bond was also seen in a casino in Cairo. In The Man with The Golden Gun (1974) Bond was shown at a Macao casino. Bond met the doomed Countess Lisl in a casino in For Your Eyes Only (1981), and he wagered a Faberge Egg over a game of backgammon in Octopussy (1983).

In Licence to Kill (1989) Bond introduced himself to the villainous Franz Sanchez by gambling large amounts of money at his casino in Isthmus City. And, finally, in GoldenEye (1995), Bond traded sexual innuendos with henchwoman Xenia Onatopp over a game of Baccarat at a casino in Monte Carlo.

If you want to include general gambling, Bond also wagered a bar of gold on a golf match in Goldfinger (1964). And then there’s all the times he’s gambled with his life…but don’t get us started.

”…where Bond fights with someone on the outside of an airplane?”

Put Bond in an airplane, and you can almost guarantee that he’ll end up on the outside of it before too long. He’s done this no less than five times. In Moonraker (1979) he was hanging out the door of a plane before getting thrown completely out. In the teaser of For Your Eyes Only (1981) he cavorted on the skid of a flying helicopter above an abandoned warehouse.

At the end of Octopussy (1983) he got into a nasty scrap with the henchman Gobinda on the roof of a plane in flight. In The Living Daylights (1987) Bond and the assassin Necros duked it out while hanging on to some bails of opium that were flapping in the breeze behind a Soviet cargo plane high above the Afghan desert. Finally, in Licence to Kill (1989), Bond hung on to the pontoon of a seaplane while it took off, eventually yanking the pilots out of the aircraft and flying it away into the sunset.

”…with the little jet plane?”

The Acrostar was featured in the teaser sequence to Octopussy (1983). The plane measured 12 feet long, weighed only 450 lbs., and could reach speeds of 300 m.p.h. A duplicate of the plane tours U.S. air shows as “The Bud Light Microjet.” The plane was supposed to have been in Moonraker (1979), but it was cut because of the budget.

”…where you see that other ‘00’ agent?”

This has happened several times. In Thunderball (1965), Bond attended a special meeting of the 00’s to deal with the latest SPECTRE threat. There were ten chairs, and Bond walked to the seventh. The other nine chairs were filled with 00’s, and – although it’s not clear in the film – one of those chairs contained a female agent.

The opening scene of Octopussy (1983) has a clown running away from a pair of knife-throwing twins. The clown is agent 009. In the teaser for A View to a Kill (1985), Bond found the body of 004 buried in the snow. However, in the teaser for The Living Daylights (1987), Bond parachuted into Gibraltar with two other agents. The one killed when an assassin cut though his climbing rope is also identified as 004 later in the film.

In The Man with The Golden Gun (1974), Bond went to a Beirut cabaret to retrieve the bullet that killed 002, Bill Fairbanks. Additionally, M threatened to replace Bond with 008 in both Goldfinger (1964) and The Living Daylights (1987).

(Not to be picky or anything, but you really have to question the intelligence of letting a 00 know the names and identities of other 00’s. If one were to be captured and tortured, he could compromise the safety and mission of every other agent. Just a thought.)

Finally, in GoldenEye (1995) Bond matched wits with the villainous former 006, Alec Trevelyn.

”…with the woman that used to be a man?”

A woman named Tula was an extra in the poolside scene at Gonzales’s villa in For Your Eyes Only (1981). She was also featured in a Playboy pictorial. She was evidently a post-operative transsexual.

”…with that woman from Lois and Clark?” Teri Hatcher portrayed Paris Carver, wife of the villainous Eliot Carver and a former Bond flame, in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997).

”…where Bond got married?”

Bond married twice – once for love and once for duty. He wed Kissy Suzuki in You Only Live Twice (1967) in order to pose as a Japanese fisherman. He married Tracy de Vincenzo for love in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969). Tracy was gunned down minutes after the wedding.

Bond has used a fake marriage as cover on at least four occasions. He did it once with Tatiana Romanov in From Russia With Love (1963), twice in Live and Let Die (1973) – one time with Rosie Carver and the other with Solitaire, and again in The Spy Who Loved Me with the beautiful Russian spy Anya Amasova.

”…with all the underwater stuff?”

Underwater camera work has appeared in several Bond films. Thunderball (1965) had a groundbreaking underwater battle scene between SPECTRE and U.S. AquaParas as well as several other scenes involving a sunken jet plane and missing nuclear weapons. In You Only Live Twice (1967) there was a short underwater sequence as Bond is “buried” at sea. The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) had an extended underwater battle involving Bond’s Lotus Esprit submarine car and several of Stromburg’s goons.

For Your Eyes Only (1981) featured some stunning underwater work as Bond searched for a sunken spy ship. Licence to Kill (1989) had Bond going underwater to sneak onto a boat – instead he ended up water-skiing behind a seaplane. And, finally, Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) had a relatively short underwater sequence with Bond exploring a sunken British warship.

”…with that woman from Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman?”

Jane Seymour played Solitaire in Live and Let Die (1973). She was a virtually unknown actress at the time.

”…with the spiral jump over the river?”

An AMC Hornet performed a 360-degree barrel roll while jumping the Thai River in The Man with The Golden Gun (1974). The stunt was first modeled on a computer and was captured in one take. Cubby Broccoli – producer of the Bond films – was so happy with it that he gave the driver a $1,000 bonus on the spot. The jump is technically called the “Astro-Spiral Jump” as it was first performed at the Houston Astrodome.

”…with that vehicle Bond put up on two wheels?”

This has happened three times. The most memorable was probably Tiffany Case’s Mustang in Diamonds Are Forever (1971) because Bond had to tip the car to get it through an alley and, for some reason, the car came out the other side on the opposite set of wheels it went in on. Bond also tipped a Mercedes in Octopussy (1983) and a tractor-trailer in Licence to Kill (1989).

”…where Bond went parachuting?”

Bond needs a parachute so often he should just have one surgically attached. Bond and Pussy Galore parachuted out of Auric Goldfinger’s plane in Goldfinger (1964). In the teaser to The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), Bond performed a now-famous parachute jump by skiing off a mountain cliff. In the teaser to Moonraker (1979) he stole a parachute from a villain in mid-fall.

In the teaser for The Living Daylights (1987), a commando-clad Bond parachuted onto the Rock of Gibraltar for a training exercise that turned deadly. Later in that very same teaser, Bond used a parachute to escape from a burning jeep that drove off a cliff, and, at the end of that film, Bond used a vehicle parachute to pull a jeep – with him and pretty friend inside – out of a doomed aircraft just before it crashed. Licence to Kill (1989) – again in the teaser – had Bond parachuting into Felix Leiter’s wedding.

In GoldenEye (1995) the ejection pod in an attack helicopter parachuted to safety. And, finally, in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), 007 performed a spectacular HALO (High Altitude, Low Opening) jump into the South China Sea.

Other characters have had notable parachute jumps as well. In Thunderball (1965), scores of U.S. AquaParas drop into the ocean to do battle with SPECTRE, and A View to a Kill (1985) contains a stunning jump off the Eiffel Tower by the henchwoman May Day.

”…with that short guy from Fantasy Island?”

The late Herve Villechaize was the treacherous henchman Knick Knack in The Man with The Golden Gun (1974).

”…with the boat chase?”

There was a relatively minor boat chase towards the end of From Russia With Love (1963) that had Bond and Tanya Romanov escaping from a group of SPECTRE boats by blowing up fuel drums that they dumped in the water. At the end of Thunderball (1965), Largo’s hydrofoil, the Disco Volante, ran from a U.S. Navy PT boat before it split in two.

But the boat chase everyone remembers most is the stunning sequence through the back rivers of Louisiana in Live and Let Die (1973). Bond was chased by numerous SPECTRE agents in speedboats for over 10 minutes. The chase included an unforgettable boat jump over a road by stuntman Jerry Comeaux. The jump stretched 95 feet and was accomplished with a jet boat and water-ski ramp. It set a world record at the time.

There was also a brief boat chase in The Man with The Golden Gun (1974).

”…with the ejector seat car?”

The Aston Martin DB5 was featured in Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965), GoldenEye (1995), and Tomorrow Never Dies (1997). It ejected an occupant in the first film. Additionally, Roger Moore drove a similar car in the comedy Cannonball Run and got ejected himself.

Incidentally, the car used in GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies is not the same car as the one used in the first two films – that car having become a valuable collector’s item by now (it was auctioned in 1986 for $275,000). Check the licence plates: the first car is BMT216A and the second car is BMT214A.

In 1997, the original DB5 was stolen from an airplane hanger in Boca Raton, Florida where it was being stored after touring Europe . The car has yet to be recovered.

”…with the ski chase?”

There have been five big ski chases in the series. The first two, both in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969), had Bond (with Tracy in the second chase) escaping from Blofeld and his minions on the slopes. Later in that film, Bond duked it out with Blofeld on a bobsled run, but no skis were involved. The third chase was the teaser sequence for The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) which had Bond zipping down a mountain just before he skied off the edge of it.

In For Your Eyes Only (1981), we found Bond in another bobsled run and on a ski jump, this time being chased by gun-wielding skiers and assailants on spike-tired motorcycles. And, finally, in the teaser to A View to a Kill (1985) Bond escaped from numerous Soviet troops on skis and then by surfing on one of the large skis of a destroyed snowmobile. This scene is notable because Bond is snowboarding long before it ever became popular, and because of the use of the Beach Boy’s song “California Girls” which has caused unadulterated glee in some Bond fans, and moaning and consternation in many, many others.

”…with the woman in the white bikini and the knife?”

Ursula Andress wowed audiences everywhere when she wandered out of the ocean in Dr. No (1962) as Honey Ryder. Andress also played a role in the Bond spoof Casino Royale.

”…with the guy who had three nipples?”

Francisco Scaramanga possessed a superfluous papilla in The Man with The Golden Gun (1974).

”…with the woman who killed people by squeezing them with her thighs?”

Xenia Onatopp’s victims died smiling in GoldenEye (1995). Also, in The Living Daylights (1987), while Bond was being briefed on various assassins, a woman named “Yula Yarkov” was mentioned. Her assassination method was “strangulation by hands or thighs,” but the picture was of a decidedly less comely woman than Onatopp (imagine a big potato in spandex).

”…where Bond resigned from the service.”

This happened in Licence to Kill (1989). Bond resigned in the middle of a confrontation with M at the Hemingway estate in the Florida Keys. He left the service to pursue a personal vendetta against the drug lord Franz Sanchez. It turned out, however, that the service never really abandoned Bond as Q showed up in Isthmus City later to supply Bond with weaponry.

In On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) an angry Bond dictated a resignation letter to Moneypenny. However, the faithful secretary changed the note to a request for two weeks leave before she gave it to M.

”…with the big Asian guy with the killer hat?”

Odd Job and his decapitating derby appeared in Goldfinger (1964).

”…with that bald guy who played Kojak?”

The late Telly Savalas was Bond’s arch enemy Ernst Stavro Blofeld in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969). Blofeld drove the car from which his sidekick machine gunned Bond’s new wife Tracy at the end of the film.

”…where Bond skied off a cliff and opened up a Union Jack parachute?”

Stuntman Rick Sylvester skied off the Asgard Peak for The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). He received $30,000 for the stunt and spent 10 days in remote Northern Canada waiting for the wind to die down. The stunt was almost in vain as every camera but one lost sight of him shortly after he plunged off the ledge.

”…with that guy from Homicide?”

Yaphet Kotto was Mr. Big/Dr. Kananga in Live and Let Die (1973). He’s also well-known for his role as Parker in the 1979 sci-fi classic Alien.

”…with the car that turned into a submarine?”

The Lotus Esprit made like a fish in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977).

”…with the killer satellites?”

It depends on how you define “satellite.” Killer satellites – meaning those that launch something nasty at Earth – have appeared in two Bond films: Diamonds Are Forever (1971) and GoldenEye (1995). In Moonraker (1979), the villain Hugo Drax had a space station that could technically also be considered a satellite, and he launches poison-filled orbiting bombs which Bond had to shoot down before they landed on earth. Also, in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), media mogul Eliot Carver had several satellites that, among other things, transmitted false positioning signals to a British warship that caused it to drift off course into harm’s way.

”…with the woman from Charlie’s Angels?”

Tanya Roberts screamed in fear for almost the entire length of A View to a Kill (1985). Incidentally, Timothy Dalton also appeared in an episode of Charlie’s Angels. The episode, called “Fallen Angel,” first aired on October 24, 1979. Dalton played a playboy-jewel thief named Damien Roth. In one scene, Charlie tells his girls that “Mr. Roth has very James Bondian tastes…”

”…with the crazy Southern sheriff?”

Louisiana Sheriff J.W. Pepper, portrayed by Clifton James, appeared in both Live and Let Die (1973) and The Man with The Golden Gun (1974). James reprised a very similar character for the 1981 film Superman II.

”…with the fight on a train?”

Bond has fought on a train no less than five times in the series. The most memorable fight was between Bond and Red Grant in From Russia With Love (1963), but 007 has also fought in and on trains with the claw-handed henchman Tee-Hee in Live and Let Die (1973), the steel-toothed Jaws in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), a whole crew of bad guys in Octopussy (1983), and another group of misguided ruffians in GoldenEye (1995).

”…with the drug dealer?”

Robert Davi played the despicable drug lord Franz Sanchez in Licence to Kill (1989). Live and Let Die (1973) also featured a drug dealer – Mr. Big (aka Kanaga), played by Yaphet Kotto. The Living Daylights (1987) featured a diamonds-for-opium drug deal somewhere in the middle, but the plot was so complex that just about everybody missed it.

”…with Ringo Starr’s wife?”

Barbara Bach was Soviet agent Triple-X in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). She met the ex-Beatle four years later while they were filming 1981’s Caveman.

”…with that guy from Remington Steele?”

“That guy from Remington Steele” is Pierce Brosnan. He has played James Bond in GoldenEye (1995) and Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) and has been contracted for at least one more film.

”…with the wife of that guy from Remington Steele?”

Pierce Brosnan’s late wife Cassandra Harris played Countess Lisl in For Your Eyes Only (1981). Harris passed away in 1991 and Brosnan supports an ovarian cancer foundation in her memory.

• This list compiled by the editors of MKKBB with the invaluable assistance of Paul Landry.