Cineplex Magazine October2012

SKYFALL
Hits tHeatres NOVeMBer 9tH ting
ndHe’s
put us through a lot — the women,
the fights, the drinking, the gambling.
But after 50 years, we just can’t imagine
a life without Bond, James Bond. In
anticipation of next month’s Skyfall, we
recall the first time we met Agent 007
and look forward to the good times still
to come n By Marni Weisz
f you’re a fan of British pop culture — pop culture
in general, really — and you find yourself with the
opportunity to travel back in time, you might want to
consider October 5th, 1962.
It was on that date, 50 years ago, that an upstart
band from Liverpool called The Beatles released its
first single, “Love Me Do,” and a low-budget spy film
called Dr. No hit theatres — the first movie based on
English author Ian Fleming’s secret agent James Bond.
Both did relatively well. “Love Me Do” peaked at a respectable
number 17 on the UK Singles Chart, and United Artists was happy
enough with Dr. No — which starred a 32-year-old Scot named
Sean Connery as Bond, a.k.a. 007 — to move forward with what it
hoped would be a four-film franchise.
Fifty years later, you need only look to the Opening Ceremonies
of the recent London Summer Olympics to see the impact those two
properties made in the long run. Designed as a trip through England’s
most important contributions to modern civilization, the spectacle’s
worst-kept secret was a short film in which the sixth — and current —
007, actor Daniel Craig, rolls into Buckingham Palace to COnTinUeD
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