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Terry Southern, American Author

Terry Southern
(1924 - 1995)

Terry Southern was born May 1, 1924 in Alvarado, Texas and was an integral part of the post-Beat literary scene of the 60's. His screenplays Dr. Strangelove and Easy Rider defined the paranoia of the 1960's. Terry Southern was ironic before the whole world turned ironic, antiestablishment in a time when the Establishment still existed, irreverent when people were still reverent. Reviewers called his satirical novels Candy and The Magic Christian "savage" before it became routine for comedy to be savage. His anarchic, obscene literary comedy made him so famous that the Beatles included him in the background of their Sgt. Pepper album jacket cover. Terry Southern is wearing his signature dark sun glasses behind John Lennon. Terry Southern wrote both the source material and the screenplay for one of Ringo Starr's first solo film efforts, The Magic Christian.

Terry Southern began rewriting Edgar Allan Poe stories "because they didn't go far enough" at the age of twelve. He served in the Army during World War II as a Lieutenant and wrote short stories while studying at the Sorbonne in France. An early work, "The Accident", was published in the premier issue of The Paris Review, the first short story to appear in that magazine. He admired and befriended British novelist Henry Greene, who convinced Andre Deutch to publish his first novel, Flash and Filigree (1958). Residing with his first wife Carol in Geneva, he conjured the surrealistic exploits for trillionaire trickster "Grand Guy Guy Grand" in The Magic Christian (1959) while at the same time writing Candy (1960) for Maurice Girodias' Olympia Press. He and Gregory Corso convinced Girodias to print William S. Burrough's Naked Lunch. Southern published numerous short stories in England, France and America which were later compiled in Red Dirt Marijuana and Other Tastes (1967), and co-edited Writers in Revolt with Alex Trocci and Richard Seaver in 1962.

After settling in an old farmhouse in East Canaan, Connecticut, Stanley Kubrick asked Southern to apply his black humor to a story about the world ending in nuclear holocaust. Columbia Pictures insisted all along that there was nothing funny about the end of the world, but Terry Southern felt otherwise. The result was the 1964 hit movie Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Kubrick was miffed when Southern's script attracted praise from reviewers. The film came out when Candy was a bestseller and Southern's reputation briefly eclipsed Kubrick's. From England, Kubrick began announcing that he was the true author of the film, marginalizing Southern's role. A typical Terry Southern character in the movie is Colonel "Bat" Guano (Keenan Wynn) who thinks "pervert" is pronounced "prevert" and denounces an English RAF officer played by Peter Sellers. "I think you're some kind of deviated prevert." says Guano. For some months afterward, "prevert" became part of the English language. In the film, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (George C. Scott) arguing for a preemptive nuclear strike against Russia, insists that American losses won't be all that bad: "I'm not saying we wouldn't get our hair mussed. But I do say no more than 10 to 20 million killed, tops. Uh, depending on the breaks." When humanity is about to be destroyed, the Scott character sulks: "I don't think it's quite fair to condemn a whole program because of a single slip-up."

A rewarding period in Hollywood followed, writing dialog for The Loved One (1965), The Collector, Cincinnati Kid (1966), Casino Royale and Barbarella (1967). Terry helped launch the independent film movement by co-authoring Easy Rider (1968), and co-producing The End Of The Road (1969).

The Loved One, from the Evelyn Waugh novel, had an unlikely cast that included Milton Berle, John Gielgud and Liberace. On the set, Southern met his future wife, Canadian Gail Gerber. She had danced with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens in Montreal and then worked at the CBC in Toronto. Gerber went to Los Angeles and picked up a small part in The Loved One.

Southern wrote Easy Rider, a gigantic hit, but was persuaded to share script credit with Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper. All three were nominated for an Academy Award. Jack Nicholson's role as a small-town Southern lawyer launched his career. Dennis Hopper wanted the main characters to ride into the sunset, but Southern insisted that "there were no happy endings". Disputes raged for years afterward about the film between Southern and the actors/producers. He argued that according to the Screenwriters Guild guidelines, he should have been awarded sole credit for the screenplay. Southern always felt that "vicious greed" kept him from getting the fees and credit due him for Easy Rider.

In 1968 Southern participated in the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention riots against the Vietnam War along with Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs and Jean Genet. A cover shot of Esquire shows the writers posed with a wounded protester. The photo was taken in New York because they were all arrested setting the shot in Chicago.

After the publication surrounding Blue Movie (1970), he turned to screenwriting full-time, working on speculative original scripts, adaptations, and assignments throughout the 70s and 80s. During this difficult period, Southern's reputation slowly ebbed and the IRS repeatedly attempted to reclaim over $150,000 in unpaid taxes from the mid-sixties. He wrote The Telephone (1986) with singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson. His last novel, Texas Summer, was released by Richard Seaver in 1992.

In 1981 and 1982, Southern was a writer for "Saturday Night Live" while the show was going through one of its 'spells'. From this time until his death, Terry Southern taught film once a week at Columbia University and NYU. In his last years, he was usually short of cash and bothered by the IRS. Terry Southern was the sort of writer who could somehow incur a huge tax bill without making much money. Nile Southern, the writer's son, has been trying to manage the estate's debts and sort out the copyright issues that his father handled so carelessly.

Terry Southern's mission in life was to "attack smugness". He used anarchic humor to strike at sexual repression, militarism and political corruption. Although his later works did not attract widespread attention, Southern changed American taste. But in doing so, he also made himself irrelevant. By the time he died in 1995, Terry Southern had been imitated so often that it is hard to remember that his work inspired controversy.

Terry Southern's manuscripts, letters and other private papers along with his eyeglasses, typewriter and whiskey flask are now in the New York Public Library's Berg Collection.

 

Dr. Strangelove on DVD

Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Two-Disc Special Edition) by Sony Pictures Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Two-Disc Special Edition) - Sony Pictures - AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Arguably the greatest black comedy ever made, Stanley Kubrick's cold-war classic is the ultimate satire of the nuclear age. Dr. Strangelove is a perfect spoof of political and military insanity, beginning when General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden), a maniacal warrior obsessed with "the purity of precious bodily fluids," mounts his singular campaign against Communism by ordering a squadron of B-52 bombers to attack the Soviet Union. The Soviets counter the threat with a so- called "Doomsday Device," and the world hangs in the balance while the U.S. president (Peter Sellers) engages in hilarious hot-line negotiations with his Soviet counterpart. Sellers also plays a British military attaché and the mad bomb-maker Dr. Strangelove; George C. Scott is outrageously frantic as General Buck Turgidson, whose presidential advice consists mainly of panic and statistics about "acceptable losses." With dialogue ("You can't fight here! This is the war room!") and images (Slim Pickens's character riding the bomb to oblivion) that have become a part of our cultural vocabulary, Kubrick's film regularly appears on critics' lists of the all-time best. --Jeff Shannon
Release Date: 02 November, 2004
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Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Special Edition) by Sony Pictures Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Special Edition) - Sony Pictures - Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Special Edition, Widescreen, NTSC
Arguably the greatest black comedy ever made, Stanley Kubrick's cold-war classic is the ultimate satire of the nuclear age. Dr. Strangelove is a perfect spoof of political and military insanity, beginning when General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden), a maniacal warrior obsessed with "the purity of precious bodily fluids," mounts his singular campaign against Communism by ordering a squadron of B-52 bombers to attack the Soviet Union. The Soviets counter the threat with a so- called "Doomsday Device," and the world hangs in the balance while the U.S. president (Peter Sellers) engages in hilarious hot-line negotiations with his Soviet counterpart. Sellers also plays a British military attaché and the mad bomb-maker Dr. Strangelove; George C. Scott is outrageously frantic as General Buck Turgidson, whose presidential advice consists mainly of panic and statistics about "acceptable losses." With dialogue ("You can't fight here! This is the war room!") and images (Slim Pickens's character riding the bomb to oblivion) that have become a part of our cultural vocabulary, Kubrick's film regularly appears on critics' lists of the all-time best. --Jeff Shannon
Release Date: 27 February, 2001
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Stanley Kubrick Collection (2001: A Space Odyssey / Dr. Strangelove / A Clockwork Orange / The Shining / Lolita / Barry Lyndon / Full Metal Jacket / Eyes Wide Shut) by Warner Home Video Stanley Kubrick Collection (2001: A Space Odyssey / Dr. Strangelove / A Clockwork Orange / The Shining / Lolita / Barry Lyndon / Full Metal Jacket / Eyes Wide Shut) - Warner Home Video - Box set, Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
With the 1957 release of Paths of Glory, Stanley Kubrick confirmed his early promise and joined the ranks of world-class filmmakers. The age of the auteur had arrived, and Kubrick was a prime candidate for inclusion in the pantheon of directors later canonized by critic Andrew Sarris in his influential book The American Cinema. Ironically, this was also the period during which Kubrick left his native soil for permanent residence in England, and from that point forward, the Kubrick mystique inflated to legendary proportions. But if Kubrick was no longer bringing himself to the world, he was certainly bringing the world to his films. From the comfort of his rural England estate and locations never far from London, Kubrick would command cinematic odysseys to isolated Colorado (in The Shining), battle-ravaged Vietnam (Full Metal Jacket), upscale New York City (Eyes Wide Shut), and, of course, Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite (in 2001: A Space Odyssey).

The New Stanley Kubrick Collection includes all eight of Kubrick's films from Lolita on--a quarter-century of brilliant, challenging cinema. This second edition adds Eyes Wide Shut to the previous collection and remastered sound on five of the films plus a new anamorphic edition of 2001. Purists have complained that Kubrick's last three films have been released in full-screen format only; this was in compliance with Kubrick's wishes, and the films do not suffer unduly from full-screen formatting. This set also features a new full-length documentary made by longtime Kubrick assistant Jan Harlan, Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures. The diversity of Kubrick's work is truly astonishing, even though the director's technical precision and steely perspective on humanity may strike uninitiated viewers as cold and even misanthropic. His films almost always received mixed (and sometimes scathingly negative) reviews upon their release, only to benefit from glowing reassessment as they grew entrenched in the public consciousness. Here, in all their glory, are the collected films of a genuine master, ripe for study and appreciation for many years to come. --Jeff Shannon
Release Date: 12 June, 2001
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Dr. Strangelove Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb by Columbia TriStar Dr. Strangelove Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb - Columbia TriStar - Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD-Video, NTSC
Arguably the greatest black comedy ever made, Stanley Kubrick's cold-war classic is the ultimate satire of the nuclear age. Dr. Strangelove is a perfect spoof of political and military insanity, beginning when General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden), a maniacal warrior obsessed with "the purity of precious bodily fluids," mounts his singular campaign against Communism by ordering a squadron of B-52 bombers to attack the Soviet Union. The Soviets counter the threat with a so- called "Doomsday Device," and the world hangs in the balance while the U.S. president (Peter Sellers) engages in hilarious hot-line negotiations with his Soviet counterpart. Sellers also plays a British military attaché and the mad bomb-maker Dr. Strangelove; George C. Scott is outrageously frantic as General Buck Turgidson, whose presidential advice consists mainly of panic and statistics about "acceptable losses." With dialogue ("You can't fight here! This is the war room!") and images (Slim Pickens's character riding the bomb to oblivion) that have become a part of our cultural vocabulary, Kubrick's film regularly appears on critics' lists of the all-time best. --Jeff Shannon
Release Date: 10 September, 1997
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Dr. Strangelove by Columbia Pictures Dr. Strangelove - Columbia Pictures - Black & White

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Charlie Rose with Jude Law ( July 2, 2001) by Charlie Rose, Inc. Charlie Rose with Jude Law ( July 2, 2001) - Charlie Rose, Inc. - NTSC

Release Date: 15 August, 2006
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Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb [Region 2] - - NTSC
Arguably the greatest black comedy ever made, Stanley Kubrick's cold-war classic is the ultimate satire of the nuclear age. Dr. Strangelove is a perfect spoof of political and military insanity, beginning when General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden), a maniacal warrior obsessed with "the purity of precious bodily fluids," mounts his singular campaign against Communism by ordering a squadron of B-52 bombers to attack the Soviet Union. The Soviets counter the threat with a so- called "Doomsday Device," and the world hangs in the balance while the U.S. president (Peter Sellers) engages in hilarious hot-line negotiations with his Soviet counterpart. Sellers also plays a British military attaché and the mad bomb-maker Dr. Strangelove; George C. Scott is outrageously frantic as General Buck Turgidson, whose presidential advice consists mainly of panic and statistics about "acceptable losses." With dialogue ("You can't fight here! This is the war room!") and images (Slim Pickens's character riding the bomb to oblivion) that have become a part of our cultural vocabulary, Kubrick's film regularly appears on critics' lists of the all-time best. --Jeff Shannon
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Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb [Region 2] by Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb [Region 2] - - Anamorphic, Full Screen, NTSC

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Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb [Region 2] by Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb [Region 2] - - PAL
Arguably the greatest black comedy ever made, Stanley Kubrick's cold-war classic is the ultimate satire of the nuclear age. Dr. Strangelove is a perfect spoof of political and military insanity, beginning when General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden), a maniacal warrior obsessed with "the purity of precious bodily fluids," mounts his singular campaign against Communism by ordering a squadron of B-52 bombers to attack the Soviet Union. The Soviets counter the threat with a so- called "Doomsday Device," and the world hangs in the balance while the U.S. president (Peter Sellers) engages in hilarious hot-line negotiations with his Soviet counterpart. Sellers also plays a British military attaché and the mad bomb-maker Dr. Strangelove; George C. Scott is outrageously frantic as General Buck Turgidson, whose presidential advice consists mainly of panic and statistics about "acceptable losses." With dialogue ("You can't fight here! This is the war room!") and images (Slim Pickens's character riding the bomb to oblivion) that have become a part of our cultural vocabulary, Kubrick's film regularly appears on critics' lists of the all-time best. --Jeff Shannon
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Easy Rider on DVD

Easy Rider by Sony Pictures Easy Rider - Sony Pictures - AC-3, Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Special Edition, Widescreen, NTSC
This box-office hit from 1969 is an important pioneer of the American independent cinema movement, and a generational touchstone to boot. Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper play hippie motorcyclists crossing the Southwest and encountering a crazy quilt of good and bad people. Jack Nicholson turns up in a significant role as an attorney who joins their quest for awhile and articulates society's problem with freedom as Fonda's and Hopper's characters embody it. Hopper directed, essentially bringing the no-frills filmmaking methods of legendary, drive-in movie producer Roger Corman (The Little Shop of Horrors) to a serious feature for the mainstream. The film can't help but look a bit dated now (a psychedelic sequence toward the end particularly doesn't hold up well), but it retains its original power, sense of daring, and epochal impact. --Tom Keogh
Release Date: 04 June, 2002
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Easy Rider (35th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) by Sony Pictures Easy Rider (35th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) - Sony Pictures - AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC

Release Date: 28 September, 2004
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Easy Riders, Raging Bulls by Shout Factory Theatr Easy Riders, Raging Bulls - Shout Factory Theatr - Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC
This BBC production is a companion to Peter Biskind's 1998 book by the same name, an excellent dish on the 1970s American movie scene. It roughly follows the same path, tracing how maverick filmmakers revitalized Hollywood, from Dennis Hopper's Easy Rider to the triumphant quartet of Coppola/Lucas/Spielberg/Scorsese. Any fan will want to listen in as nearly 50 actors and artists remember the day. However, the star meter is on low wattage, with today's most successful directors only talked about, and seen in often bemusingly vintage clips. The better-produced, higher-star-wattage A Decade Under the Influence covers much of the same ground. An on-screen Biskind would have helped matters, but he is nowhere to be seen. Yet there are moments from the book that come to life, be it grainy home movies from Jennifer Salt and Margot Kidder's notorious beach house or Roman Polanski's emotional press conference after the murder of his wife Sharon Tate. The DVD boasts a second disc of extended interviews on numerous subjects, many of which were not covered in the 119-minute film. --Doug Thomas
Release Date: 11 May, 2004
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Taxi Driver / Easy Rider by Sony Pictures Taxi Driver / Easy Rider - Sony Pictures - Color, DVD-Video, NTSC

Release Date: 28 September, 2004
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Charlie Rose with Dennis Hopper (December 21, 1994) by Charlie Rose Charlie Rose with Dennis Hopper (December 21, 1994) - Charlie Rose - NTSC

Release Date: 05 October, 2006
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Jack 3-Pack (A Few Good Men / Easy Rider / As Good as It Gets) by Columbia TriStar Jack 3-Pack (A Few Good Men / Easy Rider / As Good as It Gets) - Columbia TriStar - Box set, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
A Few Good Men
A U.S. soldier is dead, and military lawyers Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee and Lieutenant Commander JoAnne Galloway want to know who killed him. "You want the truth?" snaps Colonel Jessup (Jack Nicholson). "You can't handle the truth!" Astonishingly, Jack Nicholson's legendary performance as a military tough guy in A Few Good Men really amounts to a glorified cameo: he's only in a few scenes. But they're killer scenes, and the film has much more to offer. Tom Cruise (Kaffee) shines as a lazy lawyer who rises to the occasion, and Demi Moore (Galloway) gives a command performance. Kevin Bacon, Kiefer Sutherland, J.T. Walsh, and Cuba Gooding Jr. (of Jerry Maguire fame) round out the superb cast. Director Rob Reiner poses important questions about the rights of the powerful and the responsibilities of those just following orders in this classic courtroom drama. --Alan Smithee

Easy Rider
This box-office hit from 1969 is an important pioneer of the American independent cinema movement, and a generational touchstone to boot. Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper play hippie motorcyclists crossing the Southwest and encountering a crazy quilt of good and bad people. Jack Nicholson turns up in a significant role as an attorney who joins their quest for awhile and articulates society's problem with freedom as Fonda's and Hopper's characters embody it. Hopper directed, essentially bringing the no-frills filmmaking methods of legendary, drive-in movie producer Roger Corman (The Little Shop of Horrors) to a serious feature for the mainstream. The film can't help but look a bit dated now (a psychedelic sequence toward the end particularly doesn't hold up well), but it retains its original power, sense of daring, and epochal impact. --Tom Keogh

As Good as It Gets
For all of its conventional plotting about an obsessive-compulsive curmudgeon (Jack Nicholson) who improves his personality at the urging of his gay neighbor (Greg Kinnear) and a waitress (Helen Hunt) who inspires his best behavior, this is one of the sharpest Hollywood comedies of the 1990s. Nicholson could play his role in his sleep (the Oscar he won should have gone to Robert Duvall for The Apostle), but his mischievous persona is precisely necessary to give heart to his seemingly heartless character, who is of all things a successful romance novelist. As a single mom with a chronically asthmatic young son, Hunt gives the film its conscience and integrity (along with plenty of wry humor), and she also won an Oscar for her wonderful performance. Greg Kinnear had to settle for an Oscar nomination (while cowriter-director James L. Brooks was inexplicably snubbed by Oscar that year), but his work was also singled out in the film's near-unanimous chorus of critical praise. It's questionable whether a romance between Hunt and the much older Nicholson is entirely believable, but this movie's smart enough--and charmingly funny enough--to make it seem endearingly possible. --Jeff Shannon


Release Date: 20 May, 2003
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Easy Rider [Region 2] - - NTSC

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Terry Southern

Blue Movie (Southern, Terry) by Terry Southern Blue Movie (Southern, Terry) by Terry Southern
Grove Press

Release Date: 07 June, 1996
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Red-Dirt Marijuana and Other Tastes by Terry Southern Red-Dirt Marijuana and Other Tastes by Terry Southern
Citadel

Release Date: 27 January, 1998
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The Magic Christian (Southern, Terry) by Terry Southern The Magic Christian (Southern, Terry) by Terry Southern
Grove Press

Release Date: 11 June, 1996
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Candy by Terry Southern, Mason Hoffenberg, Maxwell Kenton Candy by Terry Southern, Mason Hoffenberg, Maxwell Kenton
Grove Press

Release Date: 09 February, 1996
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Flash and Filigree (Southern, Terry) by Terry Southern Flash and Filigree (Southern, Terry) by Terry Southern
Grove Press

Release Date: 09 February, 1996
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Now Dig This: The Unspeakable Writings of Terry Southern, 1950-1995 by Terry Southern, Nile Southern, Josh Alan Friedman Now Dig This: The Unspeakable Writings of Terry Southern, 1950-1995 by Terry Southern, Nile Southern, Josh Alan Friedman
Grove Press

Release Date: 10 May, 2001
Hardcover
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Candy, a Novel, By Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg by Terry Southern
Putnam

Release Date: 1964
Hardcover
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Candy by mason hoffenberg terry southern
putnam

Release Date: 1964
Mass Market Paperback
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Texas Summer by Terry Southern Texas Summer by Terry Southern
Arcade Publishing

Release Date: 05 August, 1993
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Red-Dirt Marijuana and Other Tastes by Terry Southern
Signet

Release Date: 1968
Mass Market Paperback
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More Terry Southern on DVD

The Magic Christian by Republic Pictures The Magic Christian - Republic Pictures - Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC
This 1969 British comedy looks today like a bridge between then-contemporaneous but overlapping styles of comedy, from Terry Southern satire to Goon Show silliness to Monty Python surrealism. Peter Sellers stars as the world's wealthiest man, who sets out with a young ally (Ringo Starr) to demonstrate that people, most especially rich people, will do anything for money. The film is more a series of sketches than an actual story, and some of those get pretty nasty, particularly when a bunch of aristrocrats start feeding from a vat of blood and manure. But in general this is a pretty funny film, and it's great to see a lot of famous and soon-to-be-famous faces on the same screen. Written by Southern, Joseph McGrath (who also directed), Sellers, and Python's John Cleese and Graham Chapman. --Tom Keogh
Release Date: 21 January, 2003
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More Terry Southern on DVD

Casino Royale (2-Disc Widescreen Edition) by Sony Pictures Casino Royale (2-Disc Widescreen Edition) - Sony Pictures - AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
The most successful invigoration of a cinematic franchise since Batman Begins, Casino Royale offers a new Bond identity. Based on the Ian Fleming novel that introduced Agent 007 into a Cold War world, Casino Royale is the most brutal and viscerally exciting James Bond film since Sean Connery left Her Majesty's Secret Service. Meet the new Bond; not the same as the old Bond. Daniel Craig gives a galvanizing performance as the freshly minted double-0 agent. Suave, yes, but also a "blunt instrument," reckless, and possessed with an ego that compromises his judgment during his first mission to root out the mastermind behind an operation that funds international terrorists. In classic Bond film tradition, his global itinerary takes him to far-flung locales, including Uganda, Madagascar, the Bahamas (that's more like it), and Montenegro, where he is pitted against his nemesis in a poker game, with hundreds of millions in the pot. The stakes get even higher when Bond lets down his "armor" and falls in love with Vesper (Eva Green), the ravishing banker's representative fronting him the money.


For longtime fans of the franchise, Casino Royale offers some retro kicks. Bond wins his iconic Astin-Martin at the gaming table, and when a bartender asks if he wants his martini "shaken or stirred," he disdainfully replies, "Do I look like I give a damn?" There's no Moneypenny or "Q," but Dame Judi Dench is back as the exasperated M, who one senses, admires Bond's "bloody cheek." A Bond film is only as good as its villain, and Mads Mikkelsen as Le Chiffre, who weeps blood, is a sinister dandy. From its punishing violence and virtuoso action sequences to its romance, Casino Royale is a Bond film that, in the words of one character, makes you feel it, particularly during an excruciating torture sequence. Double-0s, Bond observes early on, "have a short life expectancy." But with Craig, there is new life in the old franchise yet, as well as genuine anticipation for the next one when, at last, the signature James Bond theme kicks in following the best last line ever in any Bond film. To quote Goldie Hawn in Private Benjamin, now I know what I've been faking all these years. --Donald Liebenson

Stills from Casino Royale (click for larger image)









Beyond Casino Royale on Amazon.com


On Blu-ray
CD Soundtrack
Why We Love Daniel Craig

The Amazon.com James Bond Store
Where Have I Seen Daniel Craig?
Bond on Set: Filming Casino Royale Book


Release Date: 13 March, 2007
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Casino Royale [Blu-ray] by Columbia Pictures Casino Royale [Blu-ray] - Columbia Pictures - Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen
The most successful invigoration of a cinematic franchise since Batman Begins, Casino Royale offers a new Bond identity. Based on the Ian Fleming novel that introduced Agent 007 into a Cold War world, Casino Royale is the most brutal and viscerally exciting James Bond film since Sean Connery left Her Majesty's Secret Service. Meet the new Bond; not the same as the old Bond. Daniel Craig gives a galvanizing performance as the freshly minted double-0 agent. Suave, yes, but also a "blunt instrument," reckless, and possessed with an ego that compromises his judgment during his first mission to root out the mastermind behind an operation that funds international terrorists. In classic Bond film tradition, his global itinerary takes him to far-flung locales, including Uganda, Madagascar, the Bahamas (that's more like it), and Montenegro, where he is pitted against his nemesis in a poker game, with hundreds of millions in the pot. The stakes get even higher when Bond lets down his "armor" and falls in love with Vesper (Eva Green), the ravishing banker's representative fronting him the money.


For longtime fans of the franchise, Casino Royale offers some retro kicks. Bond wins his iconic Astin-Martin at the gaming table, and when a bartender asks if he wants his martini "shaken or stirred," he disdainfully replies, "Do I look like I give a damn?" There's no Moneypenny or "Q," but Dame Judi Dench is back as the exasperated M, who one senses, admires Bond's "bloody cheek." A Bond film is only as good as its villain, and Mads Mikkelsen as Le Chiffre, who weeps blood, is a sinister dandy. From its punishing violence and virtuoso action sequences to its romance, Casino Royale is a Bond film that, in the words of one character, makes you feel it, particularly during an excruciating torture sequence. Double-0s, Bond observes early on, "have a short life expectancy." But with Craig, there is new life in the old franchise yet, as well as genuine anticipation for the next one when, at last, the signature James Bond theme kicks in following the best last line ever in any Bond film. To quote Goldie Hawn in Private Benjamin, now I know what I've been faking all these years. --Donald Liebenson

Stills from Casino Royale (click for larger image)









Beyond Casino Royale on Amazon.com


On Blu-ray
CD Soundtrack
Why We Love Daniel Craig

The Amazon.com James Bond Store
Where Have I Seen Daniel Craig?
Bond on Set: Filming Casino Royale Book


Release Date: 13 March, 2007
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Casino Royale (2-Disc Full Screen Edition) by Sony Pictures Casino Royale (2-Disc Full Screen Edition) - Sony Pictures - AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
The most successful invigoration of a cinematic franchise since Batman Begins, Casino Royale offers a new Bond identity. Based on the Ian Fleming novel that introduced Agent 007 into a Cold War world, Casino Royale is the most brutal and viscerally exciting James Bond film since Sean Connery left Her Majesty's Secret Service. Meet the new Bond; not the same as the old Bond. Daniel Craig gives a galvanizing performance as the freshly minted double-0 agent. Suave, yes, but also a "blunt instrument," reckless, and possessed with an ego that compromises his judgment during his first mission to root out the mastermind behind an operation that funds international terrorists. In classic Bond film tradition, his global itinerary takes him to far-flung locales, including Uganda, Madagascar, the Bahamas (that's more like it), and Montenegro, where he is pitted against his nemesis in a poker game, with hundreds of millions in the pot. The stakes get even higher when Bond lets down his "armor" and falls in love with Vesper (Eva Green), the ravishing banker's representative fronting him the money.


For longtime fans of the franchise, Casino Royale offers some retro kicks. Bond wins his iconic Astin-Martin at the gaming table, and when a bartender asks if he wants his martini "shaken or stirred," he disdainfully replies, "Do I look like I give a damn?" There's no Moneypenny or "Q," but Dame Judi Dench is back as the exasperated M, who one senses, admires Bond's "bloody cheek." A Bond film is only as good as its villain, and Mads Mikkelsen as Le Chiffre, who weeps blood, is a sinister dandy. From its punishing violence and virtuoso action sequences to its romance, Casino Royale is a Bond film that, in the words of one character, makes you feel it, particularly during an excruciating torture sequence. Double-0s, Bond observes early on, "have a short life expectancy." But with Craig, there is new life in the old franchise yet, as well as genuine anticipation for the next one when, at last, the signature James Bond theme kicks in following the best last line ever in any Bond film. To quote Goldie Hawn in Private Benjamin, now I know what I've been faking all these years. --Donald Liebenson

Stills from Casino Royale (click for larger image)









Beyond Casino Royale on Amazon.com


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Why We Love Daniel Craig

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Bond on Set: Filming Casino Royale Book


Release Date: 13 March, 2007
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From Russia With Love by MGM (Video & DVD) From Russia With Love - MGM (Video & DVD) - AC-3, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC

Directed with consummate skill by Terence Young, the second James Bond spy thriller is considered by many fans to be the best of them all. Certainly Sean Connery was never better as the dashing Agent 007, whose latest mission takes him to Istanbul to retrieve a top-secret Russian decoding machine. His efforts are thwarted when he gets romantically distracted by a sexy Russian double agent (Daniela Bianchi), and is tracked by a lovely assassin (Lotte Lenya) with switchblade shoes, and by a crazed killer (Robert Shaw), who clashes with Bond during the film's dazzling climax aboard the Orient Express. From Russia with Love is classic James Bond, before the gadgets, pyrotechnics, and Roger Moore steered the movies away from the more realistic tone of the books by Ian Fleming. --Jeff Shannon


Release Date: 22 May, 2007
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You Only Live Twice by MGM (Video & DVD) You Only Live Twice - MGM (Video & DVD) - AC-3, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC

The film boasts the best of the Bond title songs (this one sung on a dreamy track by Nancy Sinatra), but the movie itself is one of the weaker ones of the Sean Connery phase of the 007 franchise. The story concerns an effort by the evil organization SPECTRE to start a world war, but the not-so-super villain behind the plot is the awfully civilized Donald Pleasence. The thin script is by Roald Dahl (shouldn't we have expected a better Bond nemesis from the creator of mad genius Willy Wonka?), and direction is by British veteran Lewis Gilbert (Alfie). But the movie can't hold a candle to Dr. No, From Russia with Love, or Goldfinger. --Tom Keogh


Release Date: 22 May, 2007
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Peter Sellers MGM Movie Legends Collection (The Pink Panther / What's New, Pussycat? / The Party / Casino Royale) by MGM (Video & DVD) Peter Sellers MGM Movie Legends Collection (The Pink Panther / What's New, Pussycat? / The Party / Casino Royale) - MGM (Video & DVD) - Box set, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC

Release Date: 22 May, 2007
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The World Is Not Enough by MGM (Video & DVD) The World Is Not Enough - MGM (Video & DVD) - AC-3, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
In his 19th screen outing, Ian Fleming's superspy is once again caught in the crosshairs of a self-created dilemma: as the longest-running feature-film franchise, James Bond is an annuity his producers want to protect, yet the series' consciously formulaic approach frustrates any real element of surprise beyond the rote application of plot twists or jump cuts to shake up the audience. This time out, credit 007's caretakers for making some visible attempts to invest their principal characters with darker motives--and blame them for squandering The World Is Not Enough's initial promise by the final reel.

By now, Bond pictures are as elegantly formal as a Bach chorale, and this one opens on an unusually powerful note. A stunning pre-title sequence reaches beyond mere pyrotechnics to introduce key plot elements as the action leaps from Bilbao to London. Bond 5.0, Pierce Brosnan, undercuts his usually suave persona with a darker, more brutal edge largely absent since Sean Connery departed. Equally tantalizing are our initial glimpses of Bond's nemesis du jour, Renard (Robert Carlyle), and imminent love interest, Elektra King (Sophie Marceau), both atypically complex characters cast with seemingly shrewd choices, and directed by the capable Michael Apted. The story's focus on post-Soviet geopolitics likewise starts off on a savvy note, before being overtaken by increasingly Byzantine plot twists, hidden motives, and reversals of loyalty superheated by relentless (if intermittently perfunctory) action sequences.

Indeed, the procession of perils plays like a greatest hits medley, save for a nifty sequence involving airborne buzz saws that's as enjoyable as it is preposterous. Bond's grimmer demeanor, while preferable to the smirk that eventually swallowed Roger Moore whole, proves wearying, unrelieved by any true wit. The underlying psychoses that propel Renard and Elektra eventually unravel into unconvincing melodrama, while Bond is supplied with a secondary love object, Denise Richards, who's even more improbable as a nuclear physicist. Ultimately, this World is not enough despite its better intentions. --Sam Sutherland
Release Date: 22 May, 2007
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The Living Daylights by MGM (Video & DVD) The Living Daylights - MGM (Video & DVD) - AC-3, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC

Timothy Dalton made his 007 debut in the lean, mean mode of Sean Connery, doing away with the pun-filled camp of Roger Moore's final outings. This James Bond is ruthless, tough, and romantic. The Living Daylights, set during the thaw of the cold war, begins with the defection of Russian KGB General Koskov (Jeroen Krabb) and his revelation of a Soviet plot to eliminate Britain's secret agent force. Assigned to eliminate Koskov's Soviet boss (John Rhys-Davies), Bond uncovers a conspiracy involving Koskov and an American arms dealer (Joe Don Baker). Veteran series director John Glen's action scenes have never been better--especially the show-stopping mid-air battle on the net of a speeding cargo plane--and he returns the series to the smart, rough, high-energy adventures that made the Bond reputation. --Sean Axmaker


Release Date: 22 May, 2007
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Casino Royale by MGM (Video & DVD) Casino Royale - MGM (Video & DVD) - Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
John Huston was only one of five directors on this expensive, all-star 1967 spoof of Ian Fleming's 007 lore. David Niven is the aging Sir James Bond, called out of retirement to take on the organized threat of SMERSH and pass on the secret-agent mantle to his idiot son (Woody Allen). An amazing cast (Orson Welles, Peter Sellers, Deborah Kerr, etc.) is wonderful to look at, but the film is not as funny as it should be, and the romping starts to look mannered after awhile. The musical score by Burt Bacharach, however, is a keeper. --Tom Keogh
Release Date: 15 October, 2002
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Moonraker by MGM (Video & DVD) Moonraker - MGM (Video & DVD) - AC-3, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
This was the first James Bond adventure produced after the success of Star Wars, so it jumped on the sci-fi bandwagon by combining the suave appeal of Agent 007 (once again played by Roger Moore) with enough high-tech hardware and special effects to make Luke Skywalker want to join Her Majesty's Secret Service. After the razzle-dazzle of The Spy Who Loved Me, this attempt to latch onto a trend proved to be a case of overkill, even though it brought back the steel-toothed villain Jaws (Richard Kiel) and scored a major hit at the box office. This time Bond is up against a criminal industrialist named Drax (Michel Lonsdale) who wants to control the world from his orbiting space station. In keeping with his well-groomed style, Bond thwarts this maniacal Neo-Hitler's scheme with the help of a beautiful, sleek-figured scientist (played by Lois Chiles with all the vitality of a department-store mannequin). There's a grand-scale climax involving space shuttles and ray guns, but despite the film's popular success, this is one Bond adventure that never quite gets off the launching pad. It's as if the caretakers of the James Bond franchise had forgotten that it's Bond--and not a barrage of gizmos and gadgets (including a land-worthy Venetian gondola)--that fuels the series' success. Despite Moore's passive performance (which Pauline Kael described as "like an office manager who is turning into dead wood but hanging on to collect his pension"), Moonraker had no problem attracting an appreciative audience, and there are even a few renegade Bond-philes who consider it one of their favorites. --Jeff Shannon
Release Date: 22 May, 2007
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More Terry Southern on DVD

Barbarella: Queen of the Galaxy by Paramount Barbarella: Queen of the Galaxy - Paramount - Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
Jane Fonda's memorable, zero-gravity striptease during the opening credits of this 1968 Roger Vadim movie is the closest the film comes to a liberated marriage of wit and sex. Based on a French comic strip, the story concerns the adventures of a 41st-century woman, who pretty much gets it on with whomever asks. The sci-fi sets were pretty interesting at the time, though they look rather anachronistic now. Appreciated today mostly as a camp classic, the movie is actually more trying than anything else. --Tom Keogh
Release Date: 22 June, 1999
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Barbarella [Region 2] by Barbarella [Region 2] - - PAL
Jane Fonda's memorable, zero-gravity striptease during the opening credits of this 1968 Roger Vadim movie is the closest the film comes to a liberated marriage of wit and sex. Based on a French comic strip, the story concerns the adventures of a 41st-century woman, who pretty much gets it on with whomever asks. The sci-fi sets were pretty interesting at the time, though they look rather anachronistic now. Appreciated today mostly as a camp classic, the movie is actually more trying than anything else. --Tom Keogh
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Barbarella [Region 2] - - Anamorphic, NTSC
Jane Fonda's memorable, zero-gravity striptease during the opening credits of this 1968 Roger Vadim movie is the closest the film comes to a liberated marriage of wit and sex. Based on a French comic strip, the story concerns the adventures of a 41st-century woman, who pretty much gets it on with whomever asks. The sci-fi sets were pretty interesting at the time, though they look rather anachronistic now. Appreciated today mostly as a camp classic, the movie is actually more trying than anything else. --Tom Keogh
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