{"id":2968,"date":"2024-08-26T19:29:58","date_gmt":"2024-08-26T19:29:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=2968"},"modified":"2024-10-13T19:08:25","modified_gmt":"2024-10-13T23:08:25","slug":"dr-no","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/08\/26\/dr-no\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. No"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Dr. No <\/strong>(1962)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 United Artists\/Action-Adventure\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 110 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No MPAA Rating (mild language, violence, implied sexual activity)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Terence Young\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Richard Maibaum, Johanna Harwood and Berkely Mather\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Monty Norman\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Cinematography: Ted Moore\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: October 5, 1962 (UK)\/May 8, 1963 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Sean Connery, Ursula Andress, Joseph Wiseman, Jack Lord, Bernard Lee, Anthony Dawson, John Kitzmiller, Zena Marshall, Eunice Gayson, Michel Mok, Lois Maxwell, Peter Burton, Yvonne Shima, Louis Blaazer, Reginald Carter, Wm. Foster-Davis, Margaret Le Wars, Timothy Moxon.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $16.1M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating:<\/strong> ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0Let the spy games begin!<\/p>\n

\u00a0Let\u2019s begin with a brief history of James Bond, Agent 007 of MI6, the British Secret Service. The double zero in 007 indicates he has a license to kill. His weapon of choice is a Walther PPK handgun along with assorted gadgets provided by the agency’s resident weapons expert Q. He receives his orders from M, the head of MI6 played by Bernard Lee until his death in 1981. His tales of international intrigue typically take place in exotic locations around the world. He often finds himself involved in complex situations with villains who desire nothing less than world domination. Bond is a suave ladies man who ends up in bed with most of the women he encounters in his adventures. Oh, he likes his vodka martinis \u201cshaken, not stirred\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The first actor to portray Bond is Sean Connery (Darby O\u2019Gill and the Little People). Producers Harry Saltzman and Albert Broccoli, who then owned the rights to most of Ian Fleming\u2019s original novels, originally sought Cary Grant for the role, but the actor committed to only one film. They needed somebody willing to commit to multiple films. After several other actors (e.g. Patrick McGoohan, David Niven and Rod Taylor) turned down the part, the producers went with Connery who played the super-spy in seven movies.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Dr. No<\/strong> is the first movie to feature James Bond. It premiered in America in May 1963. United Artists wasn\u2019t entirely sure it would be a success. They opened it in 450 cinemas (mainly drive-ins) in the Midwest and Southwest regions of the US. It expanded to New York and L.A. a few weeks later. It ultimately became a hit. The character of Bond would go on to appear in 27 films including two unofficial ones- the 1967 spoof Casino Royale and 1983\u2019s Never Say Never Again.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Of all the James Bond films, Dr. No<\/strong> is the most straightforward in terms of plot. 007 is sent to Jamaica to investigate the murder of one of their own who was onto something before being shot dead by a trio of assassins identified as \u201cThree Blind Mice\u201d. It might have something to do with the disruption of rocket launches at Cape Canaveral via radio jamming. Bond\u2019s investigation leads him to a private island owned by the movie\u2019s reclusive villain Dr. No (Wiseman, The Valachi Papers). Like all Bond baddies, he has an evil plan that he explains in detail to Bond because that\u2019s what \u201cTalking Villains\u201d do.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Dr. No <\/strong>is the Bond movie featuring the iconic scene of Ursula Andress (The Blue Max) emerging from the ocean wearing a bikini. She plays a character named Honey Ryder. She gets snatched up too when No\u2019s men come for Bond. Let me tell you, she is one hot number. WOW!<\/p>\n

\u00a0The inaugural James Bond film is a pretty good one. It set the standard for all the British secret agent movies that followed in its wake in the 60s. It\u2019s a movie of many firsts for the series. It\u2019s where we meet Bond\u2019s American ally, CIA agent Felix Leiter (played in this one by Jack Lord of Hawaii Five-O), for the first time. It\u2019s where we first hear the iconic theme by Monty Norman. We also get our first glimpse of Bond\u2019s playful flirting with M\u2019s secretary Miss Moneypenny (Maxwell). And most importantly, it\u2019s where we first hear of the criminal organization SPECTRE (Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion). These would all become recurring characters and motifs in future 007 adventures.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Director Terence Young (Wait Until Dark) takes a cheeky approach to the material which makes it more fun and more palatable. Bond may not have any special spy gadgets in Dr. No<\/strong>, but he does get to face off against a fire-breathing mechanical dragon (a security vehicle on No\u2019s island). He also gets to have his final showdown with his nemesis in an underground lair filled with scientific types and goons, all working for No\u2019s nefarious cause. Of course, we can\u2019t forget the action which is never in short supply in one of these movies. There\u2019s this one car chase that ends with our hero making one of his trademark quips as he surveys the fiery wreck that was his pursuer\u2019s vehicle.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Connery is great as James Bond. He plays the British agent as a suave, charming and macho sort who doesn\u2019t take himself too seriously. You can see he\u2019s having a ball with the role. He\u2019s a bad ass with class! Wiseman makes a great villain, one right out of a comic book with his prosthetic metal hands. Anthony Dawson (Dial M for Murder) shows up as a geologist who might not be on the up-and-up. Eunice Gayson, considered the first official \u201cBond girl\u201d, has a few good scenes as Sylvia Trench.<\/p>\n

\u00a0With its beautiful Jamaican locations and sexy Ursula Andress, Dr. No<\/strong> is fun to watch and nice to look at. The action scenes are exciting and well orchestrated. The movie stumbles a little bit here and there, but I\u2019m willing to cut it some slack as it\u2019s the first of series that turned out to be fairly solid. Not all of the Bond films are great, but a few out of 27 (and counting hopefully) is damn good!\"\"<\/p>\n

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Dr. No (1962)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 United Artists\/Action-Adventure\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 110 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No MPAA Rating (mild language, violence, implied sexual activity)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Terence Young\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Richard Maibaum, Johanna Harwood and Berkely Mather\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Monty Norman\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Cinematography: Ted Moore\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: October 5, 1962 (UK)\/May 8, 1963 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Sean Connery, Ursula Andress, Joseph Wiseman, Jack Lord, Bernard Lee, Anthony […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4830,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-james-bond-movies"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Dr-No-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2968"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4831,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2968\/revisions\/4831"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}