Spare me your witticisms, Mr. Bond

When I was in kindergarten, I brought the soundtrack to Goldfinger for show and tell. I loved the music and the movie, my first to see at a theater. This was in my hometown of East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, where I attended the Lab School at East Stroudsburg State College (now University), not too far from where my family lived. A parent aide saw the slightly risque back cover and lodged a morals complaint, and my teacher duly called my parents, who thought the whole thing ridiculous. Goldfinger (1964) has stuck with me ever since; the Bond theme loops through my head every day and I still have that record, my first.

As a growing boy, I read all the books and have remained a Sean Connery loyalist. He's the closest to Ian Fleming's literary character, with just the right combination of cockiness and skill sets, last minute luck and 007 ruthlessness. George Lazenby is second for his one time appearance as Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), which is also the one time Bond is allowed to marry someone, in this case his equal, played by the lovely and sexy Diana Rigg; unfortunately she's quickly killed off. James Bond must operate freely, I suppose. The later Bond movies are more comedic, though not bad for the most part, and the later actors did fine -- they just weren't Sean Connery.

To be continued. . . . .