ANOTHER VIEW TO BOND (Golden Anniversary Edition)

The James Bond series celebrated the 50^th anniversary this year, so, for the first time in his life, our editor Nicolás Suszczyk did a chronological marathon with his Ultimate Edition DVDs to rank all the 23 films. Here he starts from Best (#1) to Worst (#23).

  

THE BEST AND MOST EMOTIVE BOND DOCUMENTARY IN DECADES

Written and directed by Stevan Riley, EVERYTHING OR NOTHING: THE UNTOLD STORY OF 007 is a moving documentary that reflects upon the golden anniversary of James Bond, from Ian Fleming’s pen to Daniel Craig’s performance in the upcoming film SKYFALL.

EVERYTHING OR NOTHING poster

The 110 minutes feature enlightens many dark and unknown aspects in the Bond history, including footage of the late producer Albert R “Cubby” Broccoli asking journalist not to disturb Sean Connery on the set of YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE in Japan, plus the constant legal battles led by producer Kevin McClory to Ian Fleming and the official Bond series, plus many funny anecdotes told by George Lazenby and Roger Moore, and an interesting coverage of the so called “Battle of Bonds” from 1983 concerning OCTOPUSSY and NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN (Sean Connery even dared to call “Cubby” Broccoli a “James Bond villain in a talk show!).

LICENCE TO KILL stars Carey Lowell & Robert Davi attend the documentary screening

 GOLDENEYE fans pay attention: Pierce Brosnan is one of the interviewed stars and he explains how he left the series after 2002’s DIE ANOTHER DAY. “It was a hard phone to make and a hard phone to get”, says the actor reflecting at the producers’ phone call back in 2004. But we’re lucky enough to see that, besides making some ‘f*** you’ comments then, he has now no hard feelings towards the 007 franchise. Also featured in the documentary is former US President Bill Clinton, who praised the Irish actor’s portrayal as James Bond.

Famke Janssen, Timothy Dalton, Christopher Lee, David Picker (former United Artists President), Robert Davi, Lucy Fleming (Ian’s niece), Jacqueline and Steven Saltzman are between the featured interviews, plus, of course, producers Barbara Broccoli & Michael Wilson, and Daniel Craig and SKYFALL director Sam Mendes. We even get some unseen footage of the 23^rd Bond film through the end. 

EVERYTHING OR NOTHING’s result: the best Bond documentary in decades. Even when it features little about the Bond sound, we can learn many things we didn’t know about the creative and personal process behind making James Bond a 50 year lasting culture icon.

Nicolás Suszczyk,
Editor, THE GOLDENEYE DOSSIER