My earliest films on BFI Database

The Green Movie

While I’m making lists I thought I’d add this one. I stumbled across a British Film Institute database which has a list of my first dozen or so films as director, writer and/or producer. Some of these are fading from my memory so glad to be able to save them for easy reference here:

Filmography

• 2003 The Right Stuff (Director/Producer/Scriptwriter)
• 2000 E.asywriter (Co-Director/Producer/Scriptwriter)
• 1998 Live & Learn (Director/Producer/Scriptwriter)
• 1998 Sounding the Alarm (Director/Producer/Scriptwriter)
• 1997 The Red Movie (Director/Producer/Scriptwriter)
• 1997 MindGym: Fit Thinking for Fast Times (Director/Producer/Scriptwriter)
• 1996 Days of Change (Director/Producer/Scriptwriter)
• 1994 The Green Movie (Director/Producer/Scriptwriter)
• 1994 The Blue Movie (Director/Producer/Scriptwriter)
• 1994 TTT (Director/Producer/Scriptwriter)
• 1994 Conflict! (Director/Producer/Scriptwriter)
• 1994 Memories Are Made of This (Director/Producer/Scriptwriter)
• 1993 To Boldly Go (Director/Producer/Scriptwriter)
• 1993 Ideas into Action (Director/Producer/Scriptwriter)
• 1993 Budgeting Basics (Director/Producer/Scriptwriter)
• 1992 The Good Old Days (Director/Producer/Scriptwriter)
• 1992 The Best (Director/Producer/Co-Scriptwriter)

 

Live & Learn

 

My Bond’s My Words & Music

Tunes Galore

Last night I went to listen to the Philharmonia performing music and songs from all 23 plus 2 Bond films as recently listed in My Bond’s My Word. Carl Davis, who came to prominence through Channel 4 Silents in the early 80s, conducted this 50th Anniversary Bond concert at the Festival Hall and the ever elegant Honor Blackman (aka Pussy Galore) gave context to the music between each of the 25 pieces. It seems like a good opportunity to extend the list from My Bond’s My Word to summarise who sung what when in the world of Bond. The highlights yesterday evening for me were You Only Live Twice, Moonraker, Octopussy and Licence to Kill. What was striking was the amount of very effective quotation and echoing of earlier themes in the later scores, not least in the recent Skyfall.

Dr. No (1962)
Music: Monty Norman
Words: –
Performed by: John Barry & Orchestra

From Russia With Love (1963)
Music: Lionel Bart
Words: ”
Performed by: Matt Munro

Goldfinger (1964)
Music: John Barry
Words: Anthony Newley & Leslie Bricusse
Performed by: Shirley Bassey

Thunderball (1965)
Music: John Barry
Words: Don Black
Performed by: Tom Jones

Thunderball (1965) Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Music: John Barry
Words: Don Black
Performed by: John Barry (Dionne Warwick – wasn’t used in final cut)

You Only Live Twice (1967)
Music: John Barry
Words: Leslie Bricusse
Performed by: Nancy Sinatra

[Casino Royale (1967)]
Music: Burt Bacharach
Words: –
Performed by: Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)
Music: John Barry
Words: –
Performed by: The John Barry Orchestra

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) We Have All the Time in the World
Music: John Barry
Words: Hal David
Performed by: Louis Armstrong

Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
Music: John Barry
Words: Don Black
Performed by: Shirley Bassey

Live and Let Die (1973)
Music: Paul & Linda McCartney
Words: Paul & Linda McCartney
Performed by: Paul McCartney & Wings

The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)
Music:John Barry
Words: Don Black
Performed by: Lulu

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
Music: Marvin Hamlisch
Words: Carole Bayer Sager
Performed by: Carly Simon

Moonraker (1979)
Music: John Barry
Words: Hal David
Performed by: Shirley Bassey

For Your Eyes Only (1981)
Music: Bill Conti
Words: Michael Leeson
Performed by: Sheena Easton

Octopussy (1983)
Music: John Barry
Words: Tim Rice
Performed by: Rita Coolidge

[Never Say Never Again (1983)]
Music: Michel Legrand
Words: Alan & Marilyn Bergman
Performed by: Lani Hall

A View to a Kill (1985)
Music: Duran Duran, John Barry
Words: Duran Duran
Performed by: Duran Duran

The Living Daylights (1987)
Music: Pal Waaktaar & John Barry
Words: Pal Waaktaar
Performed by: Aha

Licence to Kill (1989)
Music: Narada Michael Walden, Jeffrey Cohen, Walter Afanasieff
Words: ”
Performed by: Gladys Knight

GoldenEye (1995)
Music: Bono & The Edge
Words: ”
Performed by: Tina Turner

Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
Music: Sheryl Crow & Mitchell Froom
Words: ”
Performed by: Sheryl Crow

The World is Not Enough (1999)
Music: David Arnold
Words: Don Black
Performed by: Garbage

Die Another Day (2002)
Music: Madonna & Mirwais Ahmadzai
Words: ”
Performed by: Madonna

Casino Royale (2006)
Music: David Arnold
Words: Chris Cornell
Performed by: Chris Cornell

Quantum of Solace (2008)
Music: Jack White
Words: ”
Performed by: Jack White & Alicia Keys

Skyfall (2012)
Music: Adele & Paul Epworth
Words: ”
Performed by: Adele

My Bond’s My Word

I spent a large chunk of Friday afternoon, while waiting for the viewing of the final cut of Hotel GB Programme 5, perfecting the art of shooting Bond title sequence photos (with an old iPhone and a toilet roll) – here’s one I did of Dr Christian aka Dr Know

The Name’s Christian, Dr Christian

Friday was dubbed James Bond Day by some film marketeer as it marked the half-centenary of the release of the first Bond film, Dr No in 1962. Enfant Terrible #2 just asked me how many Bond films there were so I thought it may be public-spirited to put a definitive list here. The answer is 23 plus 2.

Stuntman Bob Simmons – effectively the first big screen Bond – in the opening sequence of Dr No

Dr. No (1962 – Sean Connery)
From Russia With Love (1963 – Sean Connery)
Goldfinger (1964 – Sean Connery)
Thunderball (1965 – Sean Connery)
You Only Live Twice (1967 – Sean Connery)
[Casino Royale (1967 – Peter Sellers, Ursula Andress, David Niven, Dalia Lavy & Terence Cooper, with Woody Allen as Jimmy Bond)]
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969 – George Lazenby)
Diamonds Are Forever (1971 – Sean Connery)
Live and Let Die (1973 – Roger Moore)
The Man with the Golden Gun (1974 – Roger Moore)
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977 – Roger Moore)
Moonraker (1979 – Roger Moore)
For Your Eyes Only (1981 – Roger Moore)
Octopussy (1983 – Roger Moore)
[Never Say Never Again (1983 – Sean Connery)]
A View to a Kill (1985 – Roger Moore)
The Living Daylights (1987 – Timothy Dalton)
Licence to Kill (1989 – Timothy Dalton)
GoldenEye (1995 – Pierce Brosnan)
Tomorrow Never Dies (1997 – Pierce Brosnan)
The World is Not Enough (1999 – Pierce Brosnan)
Die Another Day (2002 – Pierce Brosnan)
Casino Royale (2006 – Daniel Craig)
Quantum of Solace (2008 – Daniel Craig)
Skyfall (2012 – Daniel Craig)

The name’s Bond, Sean Bond

The name’s Bond, Daniel Bond

The big question is which is the best of the 23/25?