Tagged: Jamaica
Live and Let Die: Bond’s Beige Tropical Suit
Roger Moore as James Bond in Live and Let Die (1973). Promotional photo by Ian Vaughan.
Vitals
Roger Moore as James Bond, British secret agent
“San Monique” (actually Jamaica), Spring 1973
Film: Live and Let Die
Release Date: June 27, 1973
Director: Guy Hamilton
Costume Designer: Julie Harris
Tailor: Cyril Castle
Background
Released 50 years ago today, Live and Let Die officially began Roger Moore’s 12-year, seven-film tenure as James Bond. Eon Productions’ first attempt recast Sean Connery in the iconic role resulted in the excellent On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969), though some audiences—as well as George Lazenby himself—had trouble accepting the inexperienced Aussie as agent 007.
With credits like Maverick, The Saint, and The Persuaders! to his name, Roger Moore brought considerably more experience to the role when he was recruited after Connery’s brief return in Diamonds are Forever (1971). Continue reading
Cocktail: Tom Cruise’s Violet Four-Petaled Tropical Shirt
Tom Cruise and Elisabeth Shue in Cocktail (1988)
Vitals
Tom Cruise as Brian Flanagan, ambitious tropical bartender
Ocho Rios, Jamaica, Spring 1988
Film: Cocktail
Release Date: July 29, 1988
Director: Roger Donaldson
Costume Designer: Ellen Mirojnick
Background
As I’ve already stated in a few recent posts, I’m spending this week enjoying my honeymoon in Jamaica, the setting for a handful of James Bond movies as well as the critical flop but mega box-office hit Cocktail, released 35 years ago this summer.
Adapted from Heywood Gould’s semi-autobiographical novel of the same name, Cocktail stars Tom Cruise as Brian Flanagan, an ambitious and arrogant Army veteran with Wall Street dreams… and a TGI Fridays reality, as he begins working as a bartender to make money while attending business school.
Brian finds he has a knack for bartendering, specifically the flashy brand of flairtending taught to him by more experienced barman Doug Coughlin (Bryan Brown), with whom he partners at a trendy club and leaves his business ambitions behind. As with all friendships where both parties end up sleeping with Gina Gershon, the tension between Brian and Doug culminates in a very public blowout that results in Brian’s self-imposed exile to a beachside tourist bar in Jamaica. Continue reading
No Time to Die: Retired Bond’s T-Shirt and Shorts in Jamaica
Daniel Craig as James Bond in No Time to Die (2021). Photo credit: Nicola Dove.
Vitals
Daniel Craig as James Bond, retired British secret agent
Jamaica to Cuba, Spring 2020
Film: No Time to Die
Release Date: September 30, 2021
Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga
Costume Designer: Suttirat Anne Larlarb
Background
Happy birthday, Daniel Craig! Born March 2, 1968, the English actor celebrates his 55th birthday today. I had been debating how to sartorially celebrate Craig, especially considering his stylish reprisal of detective Benoit Blanc in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, but my upcoming Jamaican honeymoon encouraged a return to his style in No Time to Die as a now-retired James Bond, living a life of comfortable solitude in Jamaica.
Bond fans are well-aware of the significance of Jamaica to the 007 series: it was at his Goldeneye estate on Oracabessa Bay where Ian Fleming wrote the first novel (Casino Royale) in 1952, most of the first movie (Dr. No) was set and filmed in Jamaica, and Roger Moore’s first Bond film (Live and Let Die) was also filmed extensively in Jamaica. There’s very much a “where it all began” association between Bond and this scenic Caribbean nation, making it all the more appropriate that No Time to Die establishes it the setting for Bond’s retirement, specifically a secluded home on Jamaica’s northeastern coast near Port Antonio. Continue reading
Dr. No: Bond’s Gray Mohair Suit and Walther in Jamaica
Sean Connery as James Bond in Dr. No (1962)
Vitals
Sean Connery as James Bond, sophisticated and resourceful British government agent
Morgan’s Harbour, Jamaica, Spring 1962
Film: Dr. No
Release Date: October 5, 1962
Director: Terence Young
Wardrobe Master: John Brady
Tailor: Anthony Sinclair
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
With the release of Dr. No sixty years ago today, October 5 has since been immortalized as Global James Bond Day in commemoration of when Sean Connery first uttered that now-iconic character introduction:
Bond. James Bond.
Dr. No had actually been Ian Fleming’s sixth novel featuring the worldly secret agent, set primarily in Jamaica as he penned the novel from his Jamaican estate Goldeneye. The author had tired of the character and left Bond’s fate somewhat ambiguous at the end of his previous novel From Russia With Love, though ultimately choosing that the agent would live to die another day and beginning Dr. No with 007’s recovery from the poison inflicted by the sharp-shoed Rosa Klebb.
Back to relatively full health, Bond finds his punishment in the form of a simple assignment meant to ease him back into duty (and possibly penalize him for letting his guard down), investigating the disappearance of a station chief and his secretary in Jamaica. There, Bond learns that the late chief had been investigating an eccentric recluse with the equally eccentric name of Doctor Julius No (Joseph Wiseman). With the help of his CIA buddy Felix Leiter (Jack Lord) and local contact Quarrel (John Kitzmiller), Bond ultimately determines that he and his newly issued Walther owe the good bad doctor a long-overdue visit. Continue reading
Felix Leiter in No Time to Die
Promotional poster for No Time to Die (2021) featuring Jeffrey Wright as Felix Leiter
Vitals
Jeffrey Wright as Felix Leiter, cynical CIA agent
Jamaica, Spring 2020
Film: No Time to Die
Release Date: September 30, 2021
Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga
Costume Designer: Suttirat Anne Larlarb
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
On the 00-7th of August, let’s celebrate the return of Jeffrey Wright’s Felix Leiter to the 007 franchise in No Time to Die. Years after the events of Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, Felix and his politically appointed State Department crony Logan Ash (Billy Magnussen) track down the now-retired James Bond (Daniel Craig) to his secluded life in Jamaica, hoping to recruit him into assisting them in locating a missing MI6 scientist.
“It’ll be like old times,” Leiter pitches to Bond over beers, adding that “I wanna get back to my family, tell ’em I saved the world again!” Continue reading
No Time to Die: Retired Bond’s Caribbean Casual Style
Daniel Craig as James Bond in No Time to Die (2021)
Vitals
Daniel Craig as James Bond, retired British secret agent
Jamaica to Cuba, Spring 2020
Film: No Time to Die
Release Date: September 30, 2021
Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga
Costume Designer: Suttirat Anne Larlarb
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Happy 00-7th of June! The weather continues warming up as we approach summer in the Northern Hemisphere, and I’m sure I won’t be alone in turning to James Bond for inspiration as I begin rotating summer style staples back to the front of my closet.
To dissect the phrasing of his literary creator, you could say James Bond had lived enough for two lifetimes by the time we find the globetrotting secret agent now retired toward the start of No Time to Die. Continue reading
Bond’s Nehru Jacket in Dr. No
Sean Connery and Ursula Andress in Dr. No (1962)
Vitals
Sean Connery as James Bond, sophisticated and resourceful British government agent
Crab Key, Jamaica, Spring 1962
Film: Dr. No
Release Date: October 5, 1962
Director: Terence Young
Wardrobe Master: John Brady
Tailor: Anthony Sinclair
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the cinematic James Bond, as screen-going audiences who may have missed the 1954 Climax! episode starring Barry Nelson as the American agent “Jimmy” Bond were properly introduced in 1962 to the debonair yet dangerous 007 embodied by Sean Connery.
It was sixty years ago today—March 30, 1962—when principal photography was completed on Dr. No, whose modest million-dollar budget belied its significance as of the first installment of what would become one of the longest-running franchises in movie history.
While a few ingredients were yet to be finessed, it was Dr. No that established many of the hallmarks of the series, from Monty Norman’s iconic theme song as arranged by John Barry to our hero’s “shaken, not stirred” vodka martinis and his signature introduction:
Bond. James Bond.
Cocktail: Tom Cruise’s Spattered Pink Tropical Shirt
Tom Cruise as Brian Flanagan in Cocktail (1988)
Vitals
Tom Cruise as Brian Flanagan, ambitious tropical bartender
Ocho RIos, Jamaica, Spring 1988
Film: Cocktail
Release Date: July 29, 1988
Director: Roger Donaldson
Costume Designer: Ellen Mirojnick
Background
I will admit that I’m not the biggest fan of Cocktail, but I’ve been in a tropical mood lately so this colorful, super-’80s yarn of bartending and bonking felt like a perfect summertime post in advance of Tom Cruise’s birthday tomorrow.
By all accounts, this winner of two Razzies should have been better, and author Heywood Gould has voiced considerable disappointment that his more serious source novel underwent such commercialization that the end product was primarily a vapid celebration of Tom Cruise using the daiquiri recipe he learned at TGI Friday’s to try to get laid as much as he could.
Dominic Cooper as Ian Fleming: Navy Linen Shirt
Dominic Cooper as Ian Fleming in the first episode of Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond (2014)
Vitals
Dominic Cooper as Ian Fleming, former British Secret Service agent and aspiring author
Goldeneye, Jamaica, March 1952
Series: Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond
Episode: Episode 1
Air Date: January 29, 2014
Director: Mat Whitecross
Costume Designer: Caroline Harris
Background
This Monday, May 28, marks the 110th birthday of Ian Fleming, the author who created James Bond based on his own experiences in British naval intelligence during World War II. Fleming’s works have famously been adapted to the screen in one of the most successful film franchises to date, while the man’s own life has been adapted a few times as well.
Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond, is the most recent visual retelling of Fleming’s life, focusing on the period of 1938 to 1952 that included Commander Fleming’s service in the British Naval Intelligence Division during World War II and much of the gambling, girls, and gin that would become a hallmark for both Fleming and his fictional creation. Continue reading
Bond’s Black “Tactileneck” in Live and Let Die
Roger Moore as James Bond in Live and Let Die (1973).
Vitals
Roger Moore as James Bond, debonair British secret agent
“San Monique” (actually Jamaica), Spring 1973
Film: Live and Let Die
Release Date: June 27, 1973
Director: Guy Hamilton
Costume Designer: Julie Harris
Background
Despite today being April 1st, this post isn’t timed to be an April Fool’s Day post; instead, BAMF Style is celebrating the return of Archer last night by analyzing the “tactileneck” that started it all—Roger Moore’s all-black assault attire in Live and Let Die.
After the love of his life his temporary lust object is kidnapped, James Bond packs some heavy heat to return to Jamaica San Monique and retrieve her… though he manages to really bungle things up and—although he lands a henchman in a coffin of poisonous snakes—ends up captured right alongside of Solitaire. Continue reading