Bond, James Bond

I was a sophomore in high school when the first James Bond film was released to the American market, on May 8, 1963, which followed its premier at the London Pavilion on October 5, 1962. If you’d like to take a trip down memory lane, the theme song for the movie can be heard at the link below:

Dr. No theme song

In Dr. No, Sean Connery introduced James Bond to the public, with his response to a question at a high stakes card game:

my name is Bond

Connery starred in six more Bond films before retiring from the role in 1983. Since Connery’s retirement from his role as agent 007, there have been 17 more Bond films, starring 5 additional actors., and the latest, Spectre, will be released on November 6, 2015.

“Fast and Furious” has had a good run at the box office, and the latest edition (Fast and Furious 7) has already earned $1.4 billion, as of April 3. Due to its success, Fast and Furious 8 will be released in April of 2017.

In spite of the success of movies like Fast and Furious, Avatar, and Titanic, they all pale in comparison to the James Bond franchise,which has had worldwide box office sales in excess of $6 billion since the release of Dr. No in 1963.

Although Ian Fleming died a little more than a year after the release of the first James Bond film, and has now been dead for over 50 years, the success of the James Bond series would likely make him a pretty happy guy.

In case you’re wondering, the character of James Bond was named after an American bird watcher, who appeared (with his wife) in “Goldeneye“ in 1964. Surprisingly, James Bond (the bird watcher) bears more than a passing resemblance to what Sean Connery would look like today if he had a little more hair, and a lot less beard. Bond’s code name of 007 is a reference to the British naval intelligence key achievements of World War I, cracking the German diplomatic code, which allowed them to read the infamous Zimmermann Telegram - which very quickly caused America to enter World War I.