Did you ever sit and ponder for hours about the origins of the names that Ian Fleming gave to the villains in his James Bond novels...er, neither have we. However, for those whose lives might be a bit less hectic, the searing answer to this question can be found in writer Anthony Horowitz's interesting article in London's Daily Mail. Horowitz even interviews the grandson of the man who is alleged to be the namesake of the evil Scaramanga a.ka. The Man with the Golden Gun. It's claimed that Fleming used his writing skills to immortalize the name in the annals of literary villainy simply because he hated a fellow schoolmate named George Scaramanga! (Couldn't he have been content simply shaking him down for his milk money?) In any event, Horowitz points out some thought-provoking facts about Bond baddies: the types of personality and physical deformaties they displayed in the 1950s and 1960s would be virtually impossible to use today. For example, when Fleming created the character of Rosa Klebb, her lesbianism was presented as a deformity and perversion. Today, every actress is trying mightily to arrange to be photographed "unawares" playing tonsil-hockey with another chick in the hope it makes onto Page Six in the New York Post. This is why I was delighted to see the most recent Bond villain, Le Chiffre in last year's Casino Royale reverting to the grand, old tradition of displaying a unique physical deformity: his eyes tear blood. Doubtless, this cost the producers heavily at the box-office when all men who bleed from their eyes decided to boycott the film, but it was a welcome return to vintage Fleming. - Lee Pfeiffer
To read the Daily Mail article click here.
ORDER ALL THE JAMES BOND SPECIAL DVD EDITIONS AND SAVE $180!