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Title: James Bond: The Legacy
ISBN: 0810982528
Author:
John Cork
Bruce Scivally
Publicate Date: 2006-08-01
Publish: 2006-08-01
List Price: $24.98
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest Used Price: $9.00
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| Customer Review: |
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1: A must have for every 007 fan
This book is very complete, with rare production pictures and facts, splited by movie chapters, up to Die Another Day. It is essential for fans that wants to know about detail of each production. I recommend it!
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2: essential book on the 007 franchise
Basically, this is a coffee-table book that is long on great photos, long on great text, and short on boredom. If you're a Bond fan, you're gonna want to pick this one up.
The text follows the Bond franchise from its inception all the way through the 20th official movie, "Die Another Day." Plenty of background on Ian Fleming is given, and at various points the authors touch on "other" Bond media such as the comic strips and the video games, but the main course here is obviously the film series.
One thing this book does not do: it does not simply rehash the same info that is presented in the behind-the-scenes documentaries on the 007 DVDs. Those were also written by John Cork, and it would have been easy as pie for him to simply tell the same stories over again. A few of them DO get retold, of course, but only a few. Mainly, this is stuff you may well not have heard before.
The book is extremely strong on the subject of placing the films in their proper historical context. For example, over the course of the years 1962-1967, the spy movie as a genre was at a great level of popularity, and Cork goes into thorough yet succinct detail in discussing how this cultural trend was both a product of the Bond films AND one of the reasons for the inevitable slide of the series from all-pervasive popularity to "mere" exceptional popularity.
Cork and Scivally also keep solid track on what was going on in the world (in terms of politics, warfare, and other such factors of interest regarding a spy film) at the time of each successive film. The authors' narrative on this subject is so strong that it makes me feel as if I understand some of the films a bit better. This falls down somewhat toward the end f the book, at least for me. I was not entirely persuaded by Cork/Scivally's analysis of certain world events during the era of the Brosnan films; considering the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal in light of the plot of "Tomorrow Never Dies," for instance, just didn't work as well for me as similar assertions about other of the films.
That, however, is a very mild complaint. This is a GREAT book, not just for Bond fans, but for any serious fan of pop culture.
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3: Good Book but No CASINO ROYALE
This is a good book of the James Bond films up to CASINO ROYALE. That's the problem. CASINO ROYALE is the best James Bond film of all time but they did not update this book for the 21st Bond movie. The 21st Bond movie, that's quite a milestone wouldn't you say. This book is very complimentary about Sean Connery's contribution to series as well as George Lazenby's. It is objective enough for me.
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4: THE ULTIMATE BOND BOOK
Unfortunately, this is the ultimate, but not the definitive. Not with the ongoing series, as a matter of fact, Bond 21 has just been announced, and it has a name and a director already, despite the fact that producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson don't have a man for the job at hand!
But never mind, this is the kind of book that never gets out of date, it is brilliantly written, not only full of exciting pictures from the series and from behind the scenes, as well, but also, and foremost, it is filled with all the details a hardcore Bond fan would ever dream of.
A true LABOR OF LOVE. The authors are well renowned historians, responsible for the DVD's documentaries, and the outcome are amazing. A very comprehensive book, depicting political, social and economics facts that were intertwined with the films.
One of its most memorable deeds, and remarkable strength is the fact that it comprised not only the official films, but also, the two spin-offs of the series, considered, by many, as "bastards", namely, CASINO ROYALE (1967) and NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN. It also includes some breefing on the american TV broadcasting BBC production as of 1954, CASINO ROYALE, starred by Barry Nelson.
Don't miss out on this one, it is sure a well addition to any Bond lover as well as movie buffs all around.
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5: A must have for the Bond fan
This is the story from the creation to the present day and is a not only a fascinating film history in itself, but an perceptive study of how what should have been just another action film became the longest running engagement in cinema history. Definitely to be savored, preferably with a vodka martini, shaken-not stirred.
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