Memory Bank: Bond-Mania

Okay, so this week’s Memory Bank is a bit of a cheat.

I must acknowledge I wasn’t born yet when the great James Bond/Spy Craze of the mid-1960s -- circa 1964 – 1968 -- occurred.  I didn’t arrive on this mortal coil until the last month of 1969. 

And yet, I did experience Bond-Mania after a fashion.

Rerun fashion.

By the time I was six years old in the mid-1970s, many of the Bond imitations, knock-offs and parodies were airing on daytime television, or in the afternoon, on WABC’s 4:30 PM movie, for instance. 

So I did see all of those productions, even if they preceded my first experience with authentic James Bond: 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me,starring Roger Moore.

But the James Bond/Spy Craze of the 1960s began in earnest, I would estimate with the release of Goldfinger (1964). 

It was the third film in the franchise (following Dr. No and From Russia with Love) starring Sean Connery, and the entry that seemed to cement all of the crucial ingredients, from the colorful death of a prominent character (Jill Masterson, her nude body painted entirely in gold), to the pop hit title track (from Shirley Bassey).  It also featured unforgettable villains (Goldfinger and Oddjob) and amazing spy gadgets.  It was Goldfinger, after all, that gave the world Bond’s Aston Martin DB5, replete with ejector seat, rear window shield, and rotating license plate.

Thunderball (1965) isn’t my favorite Bond film because I feel it is overlong, the villain is dull, and the editing somewhat sloppy.  But if I had seen it as a kid or as a teenager -- in theaters -- I readily admit I might have felt quite differently about the movie.  Importantly, Thunderball capitalized on all the elements that made Goldfinger so memorable, and featured great new gadgets, like Bond’s jetpack, used in the pre-title sequence.

After Thunderball’s success in theaters, the floodgates really opened in terms of James Bond’s impact on film, television, and merchandise.  

Casino Royale (1967) spoofed the 007 franchise and starred David Niven, Peter Sellers, Ursula Andress and Woody Allen.  It was either the greatest disaster in film history up until that point, or a post-modern masterpiece, depending on one’s perspective.   

Another (strange) Bond parody of the era was Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1965).  

Competing “spy” franchises of the Bond-Mania Era included the Matt Helm series, starring Dean Martin, and the Flint series starring James Coburn.  Matt Helm got four movies (The Silencers, Murderer’s Row, The Ambushers and The Wrecking Crew) whereas Flint only appeared twice, in Our Man Flint (1966) and In Like Flint (1967). 

Lesser lights -- like Operation Kid Brother (1967) starring Neil Connery and Super Agent Super Dragon – soon (failed) to take the world by storm.

On television, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964 – 1968) starring Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, Get Smart (1965 – 1970) starring Don Adams, and Mission: Impossible (1966 – 1973) conquered the air waves and, at least at first, were smash hits.  

Audiences just couldn’t get enough of suave secret agents, their amazing gadgets, and their efforts to prevent the rise of forces like KAOS or THRUSH at the height of Bond-Mania, it seemed.

At toy stores, James Bond -- 007 himself -- also had a welcome presence thanks to toys and vehicles from Gilbert and Corgi, a road race slot car set, and a series of board games.

But Mattel was the toy company that outfitted the pre-adolescent spy of the mid-1960s most ably with its Agent Zero M line of toys, which included a sonic blaster, a cap gun, a radio gun, and a movie-camera gun.  The Sears Secret Sam Attache Case also got in on the espionage action.

As a Generation X’er who grew up with the Star Wars craze of the mid-1970s, I can only imagine how exciting it must have been in the mid-1960s to have Sean Connery headlining Bond films year after year, new spy toys in the stores, and a new secret agent TV show – funny or serious – on television week after week.  

As I stated above, I caught all this stuff on the second go-round, and enjoyed it tremendously, but that’s still different than being there when it all began.  If you lived through Bond Mania, consider yourself lucky.   I envy you!