Bond Girls Are Forever

Interesting documentary about all the different Bond girls over the years, and why they will forever be immortalized. I don't know if this was aired in the States, but I saw it over in the UK and it was interesting as far as these things tend to go.

This 46-minute look at the history of an essential part of the Bond phenomenon is certainly entertaining and at times even wonderful to watch: along with clips from several Bond movies (accompanied by their own music score), we get interviews from several former Bond girls who are now gracefully aging, intelligent women (Honor Blackman, who was around 75 when this was filmed, looks amazing for her age and still has that characteristic toughness in her voice). Most of them fully embrace their long-standing popularity, but there is one (Maud Adams) who seems to want to cut off most connections to the past. The documentary is also a good reminder of how many strong female characters have been introduced in this series; of course there also have been films like "The Man With The Golden Gun", with one bimbo and one victim, but in total the Bond series is not sexist, even if the Bond character himself is. However, there are too many omissions (among the most important ones: Carole Bouquet is not seen at all, and both "Goldeneye" girls are seen only in clips) for "Bond Girls Are Forever" to qualify as the definitive documentary on the subject. (**1/2)

IMDb lists the date for this short Bond documentary as 2002, but I must have seen an updated version because QUANTUM OF SOLACE was discussed and Gemma Arterton made an appearance. I'm guessing they reused material from the 2002 version of the documentary and cut out some extraneous material to make way for the new, up to date stuff.

In any case, this is a rather dull little effort that offers entirely nothing new other than a few sound bites from various Bond actresses. Judi Dench is the most interesting one, bringing to light some of the gender politics from the series, but others like Halle Berry are very dull to listen to. The clips used are predictable and there's no real meat here to get your teeth into; the other Bond documentary shown alongside this one, EVERYTHING OR NOTHING: THE UNTOLD STORY OF 007, was much more interesting. Plus, I didn't like the way the interview footage was over directed, bizarrely going into split-screen at one point; just let the actresses speak for themselves without these over-the-top theatrics.

This isn't much of a documentary. Maryam d'Abo interviews 11 "Bond Girls" plus a few other female actresses from the movies that don't fit the definition like Judi Dench who played M. That's out of about 52 actual Bond Girls thru when this was made.

Nearly all the interviews are very brief. Strangely Maryam d'Abo states at one point she "filmed her interview with Ursula Andress for an entire day." Yet only about 2½ minutes made this movie.

She states in her narration that Luciana Paluzzi was the first female villain in Thunderball. But Goldfinger came earlier with Honor Blackman whom she previously interviewed that was a villain. A few things said in this movie may not be correct.

Even though this documentary is only 46 minutes, it could have been half that. It just didn't document much for a documentary.

With a title like this one, you'd expect the usual, fluffy, ET-type of superficial clip flick. To my surprise, however, this retrospective/interview documentary, hosted (quite well) by former Bond girl Maryam D'Abo, turns out to be highly watchable, and not just for all the requisite clips of attractive women in bikinis. D'Abo, who co-wrote the script as well as hosted the interviews, does an excellent job of 'bonding' (ouch!) with her fellow eye-candy compatriots, and it really is fun (and interesting) to see the evolution of the role over time.

Since the film was made some 40 years after Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore rolled in the hay with Sean Connery, and that image is firmly fixed in our cultural consciousness, it is somewhat disconcerting to see her now, white-haired and pushing 80 (but still regal). On the other hand, most of the more recent vintage actresses seem to have aged surprisingly well, and (at least to my mind) come across even sexier today than they did in their films. This is not the least because they are allowed to speak their minds without a script. Surprise, surprise, instead of just being decorative, many of them come across as being thoughtful, gracious and eloquent.

The interviews with D'Abo were filmed casually, usually in public settings such as restaurants, bars or parks, but with extremely high production values. And since the film was made with the support of the franchise owners, there are more than enough clips from the original films to satisfy even hard core fans.

While this was shot in 2002, AMC is running it in rotation now with the Bond films themselves, so I'd suggest that you set your Tivo to record it for you so that you can watch it at your leisure.