Delayed Reaction: Dr. No

[Note: This is part of a project I'm calling "A Century in a Month". The idea is that I'm going to start with a movie from about 100 years ago and pick a series of connected films until I get to the present. The rules I set this time are release years, per IMDB, can't be more than 5 years apart. I can't repeat the same connection although I can reuse the same type of connection. That means if I use "movies directed by Scorsese" to connect two, I can't use Scorsese as a connection again but I can use a director as a linking element again. I'm not really sure why I'm doing this, but it seems like a fun game.]

Connection to Man of the West: Both star Jack Lord

 

Premise: James Bond is sent to Jamaica to investigate the disappearance of an MI6 station chief.

 

Nothing hits quite like a proper series starter. I've seen it many times in my life, although many of the best were before I was born. It must've been so cool to see Star Wars or Raiders and realize that the language of pop culture was about to change. Dr. No is one of those moments as well. Right away it's got that iconic theme music, the visuals, and Sean Connery looking like a million bucks. I doubt many in 1962 predicted they'd be making these movies 50+ years later, but it must've been cool to see Dr. No as a kid and have it carry you through to retirement.

 

Overall, Dr. No is a pretty traditional Bond movie. It gets some bonus points for establishing the template, and I like the relative simplicity of this compared to the more peculiar Roger Moore movies and other more elaborate installments. And it's fun to think about this as a 1962 movie. I tend to think of the hippies and the British Invasion as some overnight event, like one day people were dressing in suits and listening to Sinatra then the next it was Beatles and flower children. However, the shift was happening slowly before that. This is an unmistakably 1960s movie despite coming out before most of the big 60s benchmarks. Pretty much since the beginning, Bond was a debonair presence in an evolving world.

 

Verdict: Weakly Recommend