Yes, I’m a massive fan of James Bond. Ever since I can remember, I’ve loved watching the movies, playing the video games, reading the books, and digging deep into the world of the most famous secret agent. My first encounter with the series was through the 1997 Goldeneye game based on Pierce Brosnan’s first movie in 1995. I was born in 1999, and I’m sure I first played the game before 2001. There are so many pictures floating around of a baby Rory watching people play it and holding a controller, trying to play it. In 2002, my parents bought me the VHS of Goldeneye for Christmas, and that was my go-to tape growing up: was it smart to give a three year-old kid that tape? I certainly think so, because without it, I doubt I’d have gone to Le Moyne for communications. In my opinion, that tape was such a thoughtful and impactful gift that I bought a plastic case for the tape for some nostalgic preservation in my later years.
I’m sure the major push into the movie series was from my grandmother: she loved Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan. I would go to her house and stay the day if my mom had errands to run and didn’t want to bore me. My grandmother would put movies on while I visited and it was often a Bond movie. I remember sitting on the floor with a paper plate, eating crackers and drinking orange juice with The World is Not Enough playing on her TV. She had an immense VHS collection, and sadly it’s long gone. I was only six when she passed and I wish I were old enough to think about her collection when she passed and asked for some movies. She had a lot of horror movies, but she also had the Bond collection.
I only owned three Bond films growing up and two were on DVD, so I couldn’t watch them often, as our DVD player was in the living room; the VCR was in my room. I would watch my Goldeneye VHS often and play with my GI Joes or Star Wars toys with it on. There was even an ad at the start of the VHS that’s burned into my memory. It was a commercial with big, bombastic music showing highlights from the films up to Tomorrow Never Dies. Even though I was a fan of Bond, I wanted the whole collection after watching that commercial. The different cutaways to classics like Goldfinger and The Spy Who Loved Me while also featuring the recent films at the time were magical for a three-year-old, and the voiceover was so intense and imperative. “One name, one number, no equal. The James Bond 007 collection: the biggest thrill is owning them all.” I’m sure it’s available on YouTube, but I would love watching that commercial; it’s a shame that wasn’t aired on television or put on more tapes.
When I was old enough to have a very small income, I saved up for a whole summer to buy my own Bond collection. In 2013, I made money doing small chores and the 2002 box sets were $30 each (brand new), so I spent the summer whittling away and buying each set at different points in the summer. By the first day of school, I had all three sets and all original twenty films on DVD. That’s how I saw a few of the movies for the first time, and the rest were fun to rewatch, thinking back to simpler times and still enjoying them as an older fan. I remember sitting down at my desk on the first day of high school, popping in my copy of Live and Let Die and doing my homework with the TV being the only light in my room. Was that healthy for my eyes? Probably not, but I was finally able to experience the films anytime I wanted, and I firmly believe there isn’t a “bad film” in the franchise, just missteps.
When I interned at WSYR (an ABC affiliate) in my Junior year, there was a special report on my station that I remember talking to my boss about. There was a segment on the morning news called “The List,” and so many facts about Bond were wrong. For example, the leading fact they had was that Goldeneye released on November 14th, 1997; this is false. The film was released on November 17th, 1995. The early premiere in the US for the press and crew was on November 13th, but this isn’t November 14th either. Tomorrow Never Dies released on December 19th, 1997. They then claimed “ten actors have played Bond,” and there were only six (eight if you include the unofficial films starring Barry Nelson and David Niven). The fact that made me contact my boss was that in 1961, JFK said one of his favorite novels was From Russia With Love, while this is true, the news team claimed that’s why the next Bond film was From Russia With Love; this is also false because they didn’t even make Dr. No yet, as that was filmed and released in 1962. I don’t think there’s any documentation connecting JFK’s love of the novel to it being the second Bond film. I contacted my boss about the errors, and I think he might have spoken with the news team, but I’m not sure.
Recently, Sean Connery passed away on October 31st, 2020. When this happened, I couldn’t believe it: I honestly thought he was invincible: he was THE man. When Roger Moore died, I was told point-blank in the high school engineering wing, and I had to excuse myself to the bathroom to have a private moment. Another childhood hero had passed. When Sir Connery passed, I watched a few of his movies and after I crawled into bed, I wept. Thinking about how much he did in his life made me insecure about mine: am I going down the right path to make me happy? After some deliberation, I firmly believe the answer is yes.
Even in death, the actors are making sure I’m staying true to myself in my life and work.
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