These days, audiences take the prospect of a new James Bond film for granted. We all expect that every few years, the studios will churn out another Bond flick and we’ll all sit down in the dark theater and watch the world’s greatest super spy on his latest adventure while Monty Norman’s theme crackles in the background.
But we only take that for granted because of one man. Yes, the list of men who helped make Bond an icon is long and varied, and without any of them, the Bond phenomenon never could have happened. But I would suggest that it was only Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli’s hand on the rudder that kept the Bond franchise in the right direction.
Some have said that Broccoli had his issues as a producer; namely, he was loyal to a fault. This is an undoubtedly fair critique, but we all quickly forget how easily the Bond franchise could have ended in the early seventies, a leftover from the 1960s that had finally run out of steam. But thanks to Broccoli’s guidance, the iconic days of the franchise were hardly over; The Spy Who Loved Me gave Bond a whole new iconic life, and it (and the film that followed, Moonraker) arguably had as much influence in defining the Bond mystique as the films that preceded it.
So I say cheers, Cubby. The franchise has out-lived you, but it’s indebted to you and your work. You were the one who took us beyond what anybody could have expected. Credit belongs to you for taking us to (as the movie advertisements stated) “Bond. And Beyond.”
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Harmsway, April 3, 2009
Member – CBn Forums
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