Moonraker – Granted, no Star Wars money-grabbing in Spectre, but deeper into Oberhauser’s base, his black suited sat-at-computer-desks army seem to have more than a whiff of Moonraker about them. I’m sure a NASA spacecraft is lurking somewhere in that bunker.
For Your Eyes Only – The attempt at seriousness for Roger Moore was rooted in a personal story about fathers and daughters – and how family is the key to “seriousness”. Spectre (unnecessarily) employs a family subplot to heighten the tension as Bond and Blofeld are apparently brothers. For Your Eyes Only is also the strange opening with bald-headed, grey-suited “villain” who, for legal reasons, is not Blofeld.
Octopussy – At this stage it starts to get tricky. But, other than the Octopus logo, the mention of 009 in Spectre (Remember, it was 009’s car 007 nabs from Q branch) is the same 009 agent (dressed as a clown) killed at the opening sequence of Octopussy. There is also a neat link to the Fleming book as ‘Oberhauser’, the birth name of Spectre’s Blofeld, originally appeared in the novel.
A View To A Kill – I’ll admit that I’m grasping at straws here, but the climax of A View to a Kill is Max Zorin, flying his blimp over San Francisco Bay Bridge. There’s also an explosive finale above, and on, a bridge in Spectre …
The Living Daylights – Famously, The Living Daylights set up a deeply serious Bond figure decades before Daniel Craig arrived. Apart from the similar deserts that feature in both The Living Daylights and Spectre (Tangier is a location appearing in both films – remember that “magic” carpet?), I’m sure Daniel Craig would’ve revisited Timothy Dalton’s duo to build his character throughout his tenure.
Licence to Kill – Spectre, again, see’s M tell James Bond he’s “grounded”. This idea of MI6 stopping the agent conducting any missions (but he shoots and kills anyway) only harks back to the ‘Bond goes rogue’ trope of Licence to Kill (in turn, inspired by Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, etc).
GoldenEye – In the Mexico-based, loopy helicopter beginning, the stunt peaks as the ‘copter heads south and Bond pulls on the throttle as best he can, managing to pull it up in the nick of time. Brosnan managed the same feat, in a plane, after falling off the edge of a cliff.
Tomorrow Never Dies – The idea of an ex-girlfriend of James Bond, turning up in an adventure was recently toyed with in Tomorrow Never Dies as villain Elliot Carver’s wife, Paris (Teri Hatcher), has had a relationship with Brosnan’s Bond. More interesting is how Monica Bellucci was tested for the role of Paris, only for the “fools” to say no, according to Brosnan.
The World is Not Enough – As soon as a boat smashes out of that iconic London building and onto the Thames, no one forgets the outstanding opening sequence to The World is Not Enough – I’m sure Mendes didn’t forget it when he had the same stunt as the final action sequence.
Die Another Day – This was the 20th film and, like Skyfall and Spectre, it was filled with references to previous exploits, including a bunker that houses items including the poisonous shoe in From Russia With Love and a crocodile-boat from Live and Let Die. Spectre wasn’t the first film to be filled with wall-to-wall references in the series.
Casino Royale – Obviously, from this point on, all the films are interconnected. But there is a neat call back to the snarky bullet-removal bluff Bond uses for his second kill in Casino Royale as Ralph Fiennes’ M repeats it in Spectre when facing C.
Quantum of Solace – As I understand, Quantum is an offshoot of the SPECTRE organisation but the reoccurring role of Mr White is a welcome return to a character truly fleshed out in Quantum of Solace.
Skyfall – Let us be perfectly clear here, Skyfall and Spectre are a duo – and virtually every ‘death’ theme introduced in Skyfall is resolved in Spectre. Not to mention how the history and upbringing of James is the emotional core of the film before it is built upon in Spectre.
Simon Columb
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=_SyT3SfEj2Q
Originally published November 1, 2015. Updated April 15, 2018.
