Merry Christmas !

Time for a little blogging break over the holidays  - and while I move my office.  

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all! 

 

Me playing Santa for Great Pyrenees Rescue group

Newest Book Now Available in Paperback on Amazon

Cover for my latest book - I shot the cover photo

My newest book, Visiting Hours and Other Stories from the Heart, is now available in paperback on Amazon.  

Of course it is also still available as an e-book on Amazon.

Cover for my latest book - I shot the cover photo

Visiting Hours and Other Stories from the Heart.

My second book is now available as an ebook on Amazon.  The paperback version will be available next week.

Visiting Hours is a collection of five short stories and two previously published articles.  The stories are rooted in the heartland - and in the heart. The short version of the title story won the Manny Award for Best Short Fiction at the 2011 Midwest Writers Workshop. Click HERE to link to Visiting Hours and Other Stories from the Heart on Amazon.

The stories that are bound together by telling tales of simple events the impact us at every stage of our lives.  The lead characters are a young boy growing up in the 1950's, a 14-year-old girl in post-WWII Tennessee, a 42-year-old man at mid-career, a mid-50s Midwestern farm wife at the turn of the century, and an elderly man facing a final life crisis.

For those who have read my novel Stars Fall, this book is about as different as one can imagine.  The writing style is more conversational and the pace is easy.  No corrupt judges.  No chase scenes. No armed confrontations. (Click HERE for link to Stars Fall on Amazon)

Here's a brief summary of the stories included in Visiting Hours and Other Stories from the Heart.



Visiting Hours: Sarah is a turn-of-the-century farm wife. Her children grown, she feels the melancholy of aging and isolation, exacerbated by the death of an elderly aunt. Her brash cousin Maude insists that Sarah come with her for a visit. The tragic death of a young Negro girl and an old wives' tale prompts Maude to insist that the two cousins go to the calling for the dead girl. But what awaits them will change both their lives.

Christmas 1948: Life is tough in the hills and hollers of post WWII Tennessee. It is particularly so for Cassie Mae. Her father still deals with the emotional scars of serving in the Pacific during WWII. Her mother has all she can do to keep the family clothed and fed. So at age 14, Cassie Mae tries to make Christmas special for her five younger brothers and sisters.

Tending Roses: Facing failed relationships, a stalled career, and an estranged teenage daughter, a man makes an obligatory visit to see his aging aunt. As they walk through the aunt's carefully tended rose garden, he learns something of life and himself.

Rabbit for Breakfast: It's the first weekend of rabbit season in the mid-1950s. A young boy and his father go to relative's house for a breakfast of fried rabbit and homemade biscuits. The boy deals with a loving aunt, a quirky uncle and a distant father.

Somewhere In Time: A man faces the cruel truth of being told that he has Alzheimer’s.

Riding the Rails: An article exploring the soul-soothing qualities of traveling by train.

Sunday Morning Coming Down in New Orleans: Reflections on a trip to New Orleans seven months after Hurricane Katrina left 80% of the city underwater. Despite all the damage done, the article finds that the soul of New Orleans is still there, unchanged.

Favorite Movies of 2012 - So Far

A boy and a tiger - and a boat:  Life of Pi

I'm a huge movie fan.  I like to see them in the theater, in the dark, sitting dead center, in the first row in front of the entrance aisle.

So as the holiday movie season gets in full swing, here are my picks for the best movies I've seen so far this year.  Many of them are still in theaters, so put them on your "must see" list.

The top Baker's Dozen - so far

1.  Argo - Great movie making. Tense drama, edge of your seat suspense even though you know the ending - and a little humor thrown in, too.

2.  Skyfall - Bond is back, and at his best

3.  Lincoln - Daniel Day Lewis is sensational, but its still a bit pretentious.

4.  Life of Pi - wonderful 3-D movie making that will give you plenty to think about when you leave the theater

5.  End of Watch - Best cop movie in a long time. You really care about these guys.

6.  Bernie - a quirky comedy with Jack Black, Shirley McClain and the scene-stealing people of Carthage, Texas.

6-year-old Hushpuppy & the ancient auroch - one of stunning images from Beasts of the Southern Wild

7.  Beasts of the Southern Wild - Remarkable performance by 6-year-old Quvenzhane Wallis and Dwight Henry as her dying alcoholic father. Whether you fully understand it or not, the immagry is visually stunning.

8.  Moonrise Kingdom - Star-crossed teen lovers and great quirky performances by Bill Murray, Bruce Willis, Edward Norton & Frances McDormand

9.  The Avengers- Superheros squabble among each other then take on the bad guys.

10. The Dark Night Rises - The Dark Night trilogy concludes.  Not as powerful as Heath Ledger's Joker, but a good film.

11. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - Veteran actors plying their craft in a delightful light entertaining movie.

12. Brave - Surprisingly delightful animated movie

13. Flight - Denzel Washington deals with disaster and addiction  in a wrenching movie that doesn't go the direction you might expect from the previews.

Movies I've missed that I will have to see on DVD:   Looper, Ted,  Perks of Being a Wallflower

Movies on my Must See list that are now showing or will be released by the end of the year:  not yet in general release.

Zero Dark Thirty
Les Miserables
The Sessions
Silver Lining Playbook 
Django Unchained
The Hobbit
Wreck-It-Ralph
Killing Them Softly
Hitchcock

Sexiest Cheerleaders in the NFL

 

Brave is sexy.

Caring is sexy.

Sacrifice is sexy.

Two Indianapolis Colts cheerleaders gave a new definition to sexy Sunday when they shaved their heads to show support of Colts coach Chuck Pagano and his battle with leukemia.  These two young women defined ChuckStrong, the phrase adopted by Colts fans for supporting their coach.


Maybe even more courageous - they let their locks be shorn in front of 70,000 fans - by the team mascot.  

The two cheerleaders raised over $22,000 in support of Pagano in exchange for the haircut.  Though its not been mentioned, I'm sure the hair will go to the wigs for cancer patients projects.  To date, Colts cheerleaders have raised more than $250,000 to fight cancer since Pagano's diagnosis earlier this season.

Thanksgiving: That For Which I'm Thankful - My Kids

My youngest daughter Emily - nursing student & member of the National Guard (Photo taken on Cardinal Greenway, Muncie, IN)

My daughter April and her husband Domenic - a good guy even if he is a Patriots fan.  (Mirror photo taken at East End Market, Washington, D.C.)

My son Alex - checking out a motorcycle (Photo taken at Indianapolis Motorcycle Show)

Idiots and Secession: What Would It Look Like?

A bunch of sore-loser Tea Party numbskulls ignorant about history and democracy are signing on-line petitions for secession.  Apparently after millions died in the Civil War, they now think that if they click a mouse enough online, that President Obama, and the entire Congress will say "Yeah, we can just let Texas and Idaho form their own countries."

Maybe the sore-losers should look to the words of their own candidate in the last election and just "self-deport."

But what would a country formed by these modern day Jefferson Davises look like?  Here's a guess:

1.  The Bible is the law - Christian "sharia" law imposed.  Ten Commandments become legal document.  If you're not a good God-fearing Christian, get the hell out.  

2.  Only Creationism is taught in schools. No science to the contrary is permitted.  Pending: whether to teach that the earth is flat and the center of the Universe.

3.  Fend for yourself:  no social security, no medicare, no medicaid

4.  No income tax on investment income, only on salaries and hourly wages.

5.  No minimum wage.  No unions;  No labor laws.  No unemployment benefits.  No occupational safety laws.

6.  All guns or weapons of any kind are legal for everybody.  Automatic weapons?  Fine.  Grenades?  Buy 'em by the gross for self-protection.  RPGs?  Go for it.  Grocery store, library, neighborhood park - everybody is packing heat.

7.  No Civil Rights act.  Any business can discriminate against anybody for any reason - color, religion

8.  No environmental regulations.  Global warming and such nonsense is just more "science" stuff.

9.  No choice.  No abortion for any reason.

10. Miranda rights do not exist.  If a cop can get you to confess, no trial is necessary.

Veterans Day - A Photo Tribute

 FREEDOM IS NOT FREE -- VETERAN'S DAY - 2012

  Thank you to all those who have served our country

 - and who serve today.

I took these photos on an overcast December day five years ago. Little did I know that 5 years later my youngest daughter, Emily, who is in two of these photos, would be serving in the Indiana National Guard.  Obviously I'm very proud of her and her service.

The "other" wall - the Korean War Memorial in Washington D.C.

The Wall

Section 60, Arlington National Cemetery: Ceremony for a soldier who died in Iraq.

"In Flanders fields the poppies blow
      Between the crosses, row on row"

Row upon row - Arlington National Cemetery

On Watch - Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers

Names on The Wall

Reflections in the names on The Wall

The haunting ghost-like images on patrol at the Korean War Memorial

Ghost like figures reflected among the etched faces of the Korean War Memorial

The etched faces and reflected images: Korean War Memorial

Detail:  Korean War Memorial

On patrol - Korean War Memorial

Skyfall: James Bond as Ian Fleming conceived him

Skyfall is a stunning accomplishment and a fitting tribute to the 50th Anniversary of the James Bond films. (See below to see where I place this on my lists of the Best of Bond).

This is Bond as creator Ian Fleming envisioned:  hard, cool, toughened by experience.  No gentleman spy here.  No eye-popping gadgets to be used in the "ta-dah" nick of time.

 Start with Daniel Craig.  If he did not already own the Bond role from his Casino Royale performance, he does now. He brings every aspect of Bond to life in a nuanced performance seldom seen in action movies. Its not that he supplants Sean Connery as the best bond ever.  But now when you think of Bond, two images come to your mind.

The plot is well-crafted and believable as is Bond's (& M's) adversary.  An operative sacrificed by M sets out on revenge against MI-6 and M personally.

The villain.  Javier Bardon as Silva isn't a super-villain with dreams of world domination.  Javier Bardon plays a former MI-6 operative who was sacrificed for the greater good. But he doesn't see it that way, and sets his sites on revenge - targeting M herself. He is brilliant, ruthless and formidable.

Judi Dench gives the best performance ever as M.  No longer a character limited to sending Bond on his missions, M is an integral part of this movie.  She makes hard decisions, comes under political pressure, and fights back.  With this performance, she supplants Bernard Lee ("M") and even Desmond Llewelyn ("Q") as the most outstanding recurring character in the half century of Bond.

Surprise returning character.  In a delightful homage to the earlier Bond movies, we see the reappearance of an old friend - the Astin Martin DB5, complete with ejector seat in place.  It brings a smile and the comfort of seeing an old friend one more time.  But the true genius is that it does so as an integral part of the story.

The supporting cast is impeccable and is now set to continue the series. 

Moneypenny:  Naomie Harris is a revelation, bringing an entire new aspect to the iconic Moneypenny character.  We hear her first name - Eve - for the first time. But beyond that, she is a trained operative who comes in to a desk job after a misstep in the field.  Harris is far more defined, more seductive, and more dangerous than any prior Moneypenny.

Q - The new quartermaster is a brilliant young computer genius played by Ben Whitshaw.  He balances a nerdlike quality with an understanding that there is a certain "cool" and more below the surface.  In his first meeting with Bond, Q hands Bond a personalized Walther PPK and a small radio transmitter.  To Bond's quizzical look says "We don't do that other stuff anymore."

Gareth Mallory:  Ralph Fiennes is introduced as the head of British Defense - M's boss. A seeming political bureaucrat, we find out that there is much more to Mallory than we first expect.  We also find that his character will return and become a part of the continuing Bond saga.

Bill Tanner:  Rory Kinnear.  Fans of the Bond books will be delighted to see Bill Tanner as a part of this film.  In the books, Tanner is M's Chief of Staff and a close friend of Bond. This is the first appearance of the character in any Bond film.

Kincaide:  Albert Finney.  A long way from his Oscar winning performance in Tom Jones, Finney is simply marvelous as the gamekeeper at the Bond traditional family home in Scotland - Skyfall.  Through him we get a glimpse of Bond's background. 

As for the rest:  the music, the opening scene, the opening titles, the quips - its all there.  With Skyfall, 007 reclaims its place as the best in movie thrillers.

So where does Skyfall rank among the Bond films?  Which ranks higher - the original works that comes form nowhere to capture the imagination of the world or the work that reinvigorates what had become a dated formula?

Best to Worst movie ranking:  For me, it is still the original. Goldfinger remains at the top of my list because without it, Skyfall would never have happened.  But Skyfall moves to my number two spot - at least for today.  

There is no question that there are now four iconic James Bond movies, no matter how you rank them:   Goldfinger, Skyfall, Casino Royale and From Russia With Love. 

Theme music:  As for the theme, I already rated Skyfall as number three on my list, but after seeing the movie, I might consider moving it to number two, just behind Shirley Bassey's Goldfinger.  The song, co-written by Adelle, powerfully fits the emotions of the storyline.

Villains: Javier Bardon doesnt' supplant the original Blofeld or Goldfinger, but he is clearly the most complex Bond villain, not motivated by gold or power, but by revenge. He moves to number 4 on my list, just behind LeChiffre from Casino Royale, but ahead of Thunderball's Largo.

Bond girls:  Both Naomi Harris as Moneypenny and Berenice Marlohe as the tragic Saverine move on to my list of best Bond Girls.  Harris moves to number 4 on my list, behind Honey Ryder, Vesper Lynd and Pussy Galore.  But with future appearances likely, she may well move even higher.  Saverine is a stunningly gorgeous but tragic figure, and like so many Bond women, condemned from the outset to fall victim to the story's villain. But Marlohe brings texture and depth to the role.  She moves to number 6 on my list, ahead of Halle Barry as Jynx in Die Another Day.

Best Openings:  The opening to Skyfall is sensational, not only for its action, but for its important integration into the entire plot of the story.  It comes in at number 4, just behind the Union Jack parachute from The Spy Who Loved Me.

The Wall - One of my favorite photos

This photo was taken on the weekend of my oldest daughter's wedding, just before Christmas 4 years ago.  It shows my youngest daughter, Emily, standing alone at what seems an almost transparent wall.  The transparent effect is not from any photo editing, but rather from the alignment of the trees behind the wall with the trees reflected in the wall.  The colors were altered for impact from an otherwise grey overcast day. The most unusual aspect - being able to take a photo of only one person standing at the wall. 

Bond At 50: Ranking the James Bond Movies from the Best to the Worst

Here's my list.  All 22 Bond movies in order.*  If early reviews from the British opening of Skyfall are indicative, I'll have to make room near the top of the list for the latest Bond thriller.

1.  Goldfinger. (1964) The third installment in the Bond series got everything right. The girls, the gadgets, the settings, the music, the one-liners, Odd Job, Goldfinger,  and the plot to "knock off Fort Knox."  

2.  Casino Royale.  (2006) Daniel Craig's reboot of the series is spectacular. Bond is restored to his ruthless nature as a 00 agent.  The gadgets are minimal, the characters believable,  and the realistic plot drawn almost precisely from Ian Fleming's first Bond novel.  

3.  From Russia With Love. (1963) Bond really hits his stride in this second movie in the series, and Sean Connery is at his best.  All the components are there, and the plot is full of intrigue, twists and turns, but the storyline stays within reality.  Ask me on a different day, and I might rate any of the top three on top.  These three movies stand head and shoulders above the rest.

4.  Dr. No   (1962).  This movie got the series off to a great start. Exotic settings, a mysterious villain, fascinating characters ranging from the "three blind mice" to the Chinese photographer, danger at every turn, and of course Honey Ryder.  But mostly, the movie estabished Bond as something different, an 00 agent who would should a man with an empty gun when needed.

5.  Goldeneye (1995)  The first Pierce Brosnan movie was his best.  Excellent from the opening dive off a dam, to the orgasmic killer, to Bond facing a friend and former 00 agent who was now a traitor.

6.  Thunderball (1965)  The last of the really good Sean Connery Bond pics.  The opening sequence is powerful. Adolfo Celli's Emilio Largo is the best bad guy with a patch since Long John Silver.  Add in a beautiful killer, hungry sharks, and extensive underwater battle scenes, and you have a winner.  The only shortcoming was that the intricacies of the plot were at times hard to follow. You almost have to watch the movie three or four times before you understand the relationship between the dead body at Shrublands with the rest of the plot.

7.  For Your Eyes Only (1981)   Roger Moore's best effort.  The series moved away from outlandish over-the-top of Moonraker and focused on a more believable plot - recovering an ATEC devise that can signal missles on nuclear submarines.  Chaim Topol is wonderful as Greek smuggler Milos Columbo.  The scene where Bond, Columbo and Columbo's gang scales a steep cliff is one of the best of the Roger Moore era.  The movie ends as Bond throws the ATEC over a cliff to keep it from the hands of the Russians.  "Detente, comrade. You don't have it; I don't have it."

8.  On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969).  George Lazenby had the unenviable job of following Sean Connery as James Bond - sort of like following John Wooden as coach at UCLA.  Connery so defined the role that any actor would likely have fallen short.  But this is a good Bond movie. It drops the gadgets that had taken over the series and moved toward the novels and the early movies. My biggest problem is that some of the action scenes -- an avalanche, a ski chase, and the final bobsled chase - all seemed cheaply done, particularly when compared to Thunderball  and Goldfinger.

9.  "License to Kill (1989).  Perhaps the darkest of all the Bond movies was Timothy's Dalton's best.  When Bond's best friend's wife is murdered, he sets out on a personal vendetta. Though he drew criticism from many fans, I thought Dalton was an excellent Bond.

10.  Live and Let Die  (1973)  Roger Moore's initial effort was kicked off with a great theme song by Paul McCartney, great locations (New Orleans, New York & Haiti), a great boat chase, quirky villains, and Jayne Seymour as Solitaire. It signaled a "lighter" version of James Bond. Success was in the cards.
 
11. The Spy Who Loved Me   (1977)  Bond meets his near equal in Barbara Bach's Agent XXX.  The movie featured Jaws, a submarine car, a stealth boat, and a classy theme song by Carly Simon. The night scene at the Pyramids was the most frightening of the Roger Moore era.  Nobody does it better. 

12.  The Living Daylights  (1987) Timothy Dalton's first film as Bond was a throwback with less gadgets and more plot.  While some balked at Dalton's colder 007, I thought his portrayal was a throwback to Connery in Dr. No. 

13.  You Only Live Twice  (1967)  Bond finally comes face to face with his nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld. The Japanese location was great, as was the air battle with Little Nelly.  But even with Sean Connery in place, Blofeld's casting and makeup was a big miss, and the plot about kidnapping space ships and returning them to a secret lair inside a volcano was just too far out to place it among the better bond movies

14.  Tomorrow Never Dies (1997).  A megalomaniac media mogul tries to use a secret stolen encoder to start a world war in order to increase circulation.  It's an entertaining romp with Pierce Brosnan in his second Bond film. When the scandal around Rupert Murdock's newspapers broke earlier this year, revealing wide-spread bribing of officials and wiretapping of celebrities and the royal family, the plot seemed less far fetched.  Life, imitating art, imitating life. 

15.  The World Is Not Enough (1999)  Electra King knocks off her dad, plots to explode a nuclear bomb and kidnaps M -- not bad for the only female leading villain in any Bond movie.  
 
16.  Diamonds Are Forever  (1971).  There are some great elements in Diamonds Are Forever.  Sean Connery is back.  Shirley Bassey belts out a great theme song. Jill St. John as Tiffany Case.  Mr. Kidd and Mr. Wendt are wonderfully unusual assassins.  The Amsterdam elevator fight is one of the best in all the Bond movies.  The primary setting is in Las Vegas. It all should work.  But why didn't it?  First was the repeated "attacking the world from space plot" complete with hokey laser effects.  It didn't work the first time in You Only Live Twice. Unfortunately this plot element did live twice.  Second, there was casting Jimmy Dean as the Howard Hughs-like tycoon Willard White.  Really?  Jimmy Dean? Sausage king maybe, but not Howard Hughes.  Finally, there was the casting of Charles Gray as Blofeld. Gray was better cast as the narrator in Rocky Horror Picture Show.  

17.   A Quantum of Solace  (2010)  Following Casino Royale, this was a big disappointment.  The plot was convoluted and just didn't keep your interest. Still, like Connery, Daniel Craig is great as Bond even when the movie isn't.

18.  The Man With The Golden Gun  (1974).  This second Roger Moore offering has its moments. Saramanga, with that memorable third nipple (from the novel) was a fitting adversary for Bond.  But the whole shooting galery thing and that weird little Nick Nack were just a little too strange for me.

19.  Die Another Day (2002) Pierce Brosnan's fourth (and last) Bond movie had lots of potential.  It starts with Bond being captured and tortured by North Korea when a mission goes awry.  Add Halle Barry as Jynx, a CIA agent, and a couple of homages - one to Ursula Andress's bikini in Dr. No and a quick glimpse of Birds of the West Indies, by orninthologist James Bond - the book from where Ian Fleming borrowed the name James Bond.  But when this movie dissolves into an ice palace and invisible cars, it throws away all those great things in the first half of the movie.  Such a waste of potential.

20.  Octopussy (1983)   This is another movie that had potential but seem to fritter it away.  Maud Adams was outstanding - a near-equal of Bond - as a smuggler with her private army of beautiful women.  But any movie that ends up with suave dangerous James Bond in a clown outfit with a red nose and big feet . . .   Lets just say this - we would never see Sean Connery or Daniel Craig in a red nose.

21   View To A Kill (1985)  Roger Moore's silicon valley swansong was just awful.  Nothing symbolized how bad the movie was than the initial car chase where Bond ends up driving half a subcompact - a far cry from an Astin Martin DB5. The movie was noteworthy as the final appearance of both Moore as Bond and Lois Maxwell as Moneypenny.  Candidly, both had gotten a little long in the tooth for their roles. Despite the awful plot, the movie did feature a  wonderfully demented performance by Christopher Walken as Zorin and a powerful performance by Grace Jones as May Day.

And the WORST James Bond movie:

22.  Moonraker  (1979)  Bond in space. Ray guns. Fighting in weightlessness. And Jaws as a sympathetic, misunderstood, indeed even romantic bad guy with a heart of gold.  Whoever wrote this disaster should have never been allowed near another script.  Only saving grace - an underrated theme song from Shirley Bassey - her third and final Bond theme.    





*Eon productions only. Does not include 1967 Casino Royale or 1983 Never Say Never Again.  If included, Never Say Never Again would rank just above Man With the Golden Gun.  Casino Royale doesn't fit since it is a comedy spoof. If forced, I would place it just above Moonraker which remains the worst of all Bond films.

Bond at 50: TV, Spoofs, Lawsuits & Remakes, and How Spiderman Saved 007: The "Other" Bond Productions

The "real" James Bond movies are the Eon produced movies.  They fall within the lineage of Albert Satzman and Cubby Broccoli and are the progeny of Dr. No and From Russia With Love.

But there are three other James Bond films: one for television and two movies. And the intrigue connected with these films would make a movie by itself.

Peter Lorre as LeChiffre & Barry Nelson as James Bond (1954)

Casino Royale (1954) Climax!  This American television production stared Barry Nelson as "Jimmy" Bond and Peter Lorre as LeChiffre. The black and white production was largely forgotten until an old kinescope was found by a television historian in 1981.  As you would expect for 1950s television, it was a sanitized condensed version, though largely true to the book.  

James Bond - the television series that wasn't:  In the late 1950s, CBS contracted with Fleming to write 30 television episodes for a potential James Bond series. However the idea faded away, and Fleming used three of the scripts for his short story collection For Your Eyes Only.
 
Casino Royale (1967). Producer Charles K. Feldman had purchased the film rights to Casino Royale from Fleming. He tried to interest Eon in producing the film as part of the Bond series. When a deal could not be struck, he turned the novel into a Bond spoof.  It's a horrid spoof with Woody Allen, Peter Sellers and a host of others.  

Spiderman and James Bond: In 1999, MGM acquired the rights to Casino Royale leading to Eon's 2006 reboot of the series.  They obtained the rights making a trade with Sony -- for the rights to Spiderman.

Never Say Never Again (1983), This was a remake of Thunderball with the return of an older Sean Connery.  While it was favorably received by critics, I thought the remake was a bad idea in which its underwater scenes paled in comparison to the original, as did its villain. 

Thunderball / Never Say Never Again - The legal battle.  The legal course of Thunderball / Never Say Never Again is as convoluted as any James Bond plot.  
  
Thunderball and the super-crime organization SPECTRE, were conceived as the first effort to bring James Bond to the movie screen.  It was the product of a collaboration between five people:  Bond creator Ian Fleming, Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham, Ivar Bryce and Ernest Cuneo, though a court decision determined that only Fleming, McClory and Whittingham would be credited.  

When the movie project fell through, Fleming used the screenplay as the basis for his novel.  McClory sued unsuccessfully to stop publication. He also sued for damages for copyright infringement. The case went to trial in England's Chancery Court.  Fleming was ill and suffered a heart attack during the trial. He settled to put the case behind him.  Fleming died 9 months later when he suffered another heart attack.

As part of the settlement, McClory was given the rights to the Thunderball screenplay. Still possessing those rights in 1983, McClory sought another payday resulting in Never Say Never Again. 

Bond at 50 - Ten Best Opening Scenes from James Bond Movies

The Jump - Goldeneye

1.  Goldeneye   The bungy leap off a towering Russian dam in nearly complete silence is simply breathtaking.  And the entire opening sequence is tense and action filled.  It sets up the entire story.  Every action movie should start this way.  (Click here for opening scene)

2.  Casino Royale  The reboot of the Bond series with Daniel Craig was set up with the dramatic backstory of the two kills that earned Bond his 00 license to kill.  It is powerful and quickly reveals the character of this new Bond.  Its a toss-up with Goldeneye for the best opening.  Note: the backstory of how Bond received his 00 is never addressed in any of the earlier Bond movies.  But the two kills are revealed in Ian Fleming's novel Casino Royale. Though the versions in the book and the movie are different, they are similar in that one was a messy kill that bothered Bond whereas the second was a quick one-shot kill.  (Click here for opening scene).

The Chute - The Spy Who Loved Me

3. The Spy Who Loved Me.  Oh no. Bond just skied off a mountain.  He's falling.  He's . . . oh my.  (Click here for opening scene)

4.  Goldfinger  Any movie that starts with Bond swimming with a duck on his head, then unzipping his wet suit to reveal a white dinner jacket is going to be good. But you know its great when he kills off his would-be assassin by throwing an electric heater into a tub, then as walks away from a towel-draped beauty sprawled on the floor, he coolly remarks, "Shocking.  Simply shocking."  (Click here for opening scene)

5.  Die Another Day.  From surfing giant waves into North Korea, to the mission gone bad, this opening leaves Bond captured by the North Koreans to be tortured.  It is a powerful opening that leads into the them song.  Unfortunately, the back half of the movie failed to live up to the great opening setup.

The Blastoff - Thunderball (artists conception)

6.  Thunderball   Giving comfort to a widow kicks into high gear when Bond, knowing its a Spectre operative in drag, delivers a solid right to the "widow's" jaw. What follows is one of the best hand-to-hand fight scenes in any Bond film.  In concludes with Bond escaping in a jet pack, then using water canons on his Astin Martin DB5 that dissolve into the watery opening credits as Tom Jones delivers the powerful theme song. (Click here for opening scene)

7.  From Russia With Love   Bond is hunting a lethal killer in the dark of night. Then . . . oh no. The bad guy killed Bond!  But no so fast.  It's Spectre Island training with live targets.

The Other Guy - On Her Majesty's Secret Service

8.  On Her Majesty's Secret Service   George Lanzenby tries to save the damsel in distress, but the bad guys get away.  Lanzenby looks into the camera and delivers his best line:  "This never happened to the other fellow."  Cut to opening credits.

9.  License to Kill   Start by Bond, in a tux, jumping out of a helicopter and tying a cable around a single engine plane.  Then Bond and friend Felix Leiter parachute in their tuxes into Leiter's wedding party. It builds the relationship between Bond and Leiter, and explains his single-minded focus on revenge when Leiter is maimed and his new bride killed on their wedding night.

10.  Octopussy.  Maybe I'm just a sucker for little planes (loved Little Nelly in You Only Live Twice).  But when Bond lifts up the tail on his horse trailer and flies out  in a pint-sized jet to do battle with bad guys, it is a classic.  And its vintage Roger Moore when the scene concludes with him landing and driving into a gas station.  "Fill 'er up, please" leads into the opening credits.  (Click here for opening scene into opening credits and theme)