The debut movie of British Special Agent James Bond, which continues to this day with the release of the 2021 offering in the series, NO TIME TO DIE, which sees Daniel Craig in his fifth and final outing.
Scottish native Sean Connery was the first actor to play him in the series of films based on Ian Fleming’s series of books initially, but which have become points of reference for subsequent screenwriters.
The first in the series, made for $1m in a deal that Albert R. ‘Cubby’ Broccoli and Harry Saltzman made with United Artists, was a solid critical and financial success, leading to twenty-four films so far as of 2021. In the film, James Bond is sent to Jamaica to investigate the death of several associates, but quickly finds that he is also a target and is out to find out more about the mysterious ‘Dr. No’ who is suspected of using a radar system to throw American space rockets off course.
This was the film that introduced the ‘Bond Girl’, in this case Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress) and the terrific production design by Ken Adam, who also designed the likes of DR. STRANGELOVE (1964), directed by Stanley Kubrick. It also launched the ‘James Bond Theme’, composed by Monty Norman and performed by John Barry, who up until 1987 was the resident composer on the all the Bond films.