The Bond Phenomenon

Abstract

It is now more than thirty years since James Bond made his initial appearance in Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale first published in 1953. Yet his popularity seems undiminished. Indeed, the currency of Bond received a remarkable fillip in 1983 when the much-heralded ‘battle of the Bonds’ at last arrived with the release of Octopussy in which Roger Moore played Bond for the sixth time, and Never Say Never Again in which Sean Connery returned to the role for the first time since Diamonds are Forever (1971). The critics responded to Connery’s return with rapturous yelps of delight. ‘Sean Connery is back and greater than ever,’ Rex Read enthused in The New York Post whilst Joel Siegal, of ABC’s Good Morning America reported: ‘Bond is wonderful. For Bond fans I was up there cheering.’ The same year also saw a revival in Bond’s literary fortunes with the publication of John Gardner’s License Renewed three months on the New York Times best seller list. ‘Literature’s most celebrated spy,’ according to Time ‘still retains his license to kill.’