11-01-2011, 11:03 PM
You're right, Jan. The film sanitized drug trafficking into big oil manipulation. One could argue that the switch was made to take advantage of then-current events.
Or not.
And while we're on the broad subject of James Bond and drugs: Back in the early '50s, when Casino Royale was born, the use of Benzedrine inhalers was quite legal and quite common. So of course 007 not only indulged, but upped the ante by disassembling the inhalers, taking out the cotton wadding saturated with the drug, and manipulating them to enhance the effect.
Take it easy, Mr. Bond.
One more point: FRWL was indeed published in 1957 -- nearly 20 years before the events examined in The Ultimate Evil.
Again, was Fleming ahead of the curve or merely riding it?
Or not.
And while we're on the broad subject of James Bond and drugs: Back in the early '50s, when Casino Royale was born, the use of Benzedrine inhalers was quite legal and quite common. So of course 007 not only indulged, but upped the ante by disassembling the inhalers, taking out the cotton wadding saturated with the drug, and manipulating them to enhance the effect.
Take it easy, Mr. Bond.
One more point: FRWL was indeed published in 1957 -- nearly 20 years before the events examined in The Ultimate Evil.
Again, was Fleming ahead of the curve or merely riding it?
Charles Drago
Co-Founder, Deep Politics Forum
If an individual, through either his own volition or events over which he had no control, found himself taking up residence in a country undefined by flags or physical borders, he could be assured of one immediate and abiding consequence: He was on his own, and solitude and loneliness would probably be his companions unto the grave.
-- James Lee Burke, Rain Gods
You can't blame the innocent, they are always guiltless. All you can do is control them or eliminate them. Innocence is a kind of insanity.
-- Graham Greene
Co-Founder, Deep Politics Forum
If an individual, through either his own volition or events over which he had no control, found himself taking up residence in a country undefined by flags or physical borders, he could be assured of one immediate and abiding consequence: He was on his own, and solitude and loneliness would probably be his companions unto the grave.
-- James Lee Burke, Rain Gods
You can't blame the innocent, they are always guiltless. All you can do is control them or eliminate them. Innocence is a kind of insanity.
-- Graham Greene