The Awesomeness that is Bond Day

For about the past 30 years—or ever since I got my driver’s license—my best friend Jason Scott and I have attended the opening of the new James Bond movie together.

This has entailed our playing hooky many times—from school, jobs, girlfriends and wives.

Welcome to the awesomeness that is Bond Day.

Of course, like the Olympic games in wartime, there have been a few years when we’ve been unable to celebrate Bond Day together, and on those occasions I’ve gone to the opening alone or with another friend.

(In 1989—a dark time for us Bond fans—I went to the opening of Licence to Kill with friend Paul Meyer, and our train broke down in the South Bronx. I explained to the conductor that we were trying to get to the new Bond film and, unbelievable as it might sound, he opened the doors for us. We jumped off the train, crossed the tracks and ended up running through the South Bronx—I in a pink Oxford shirt and a faux Rolex dangling from my wrist—to find a subway, while Bronx kids eyed us menacingly from doorsteps. The movie on that Bond Day was horrible, but the day itself was memorable.)

Today, Friday, November 6, 2015, was another great Bond Day. But the celebration actually began yesterday, on Bond Day Eve…

Bond Day Eve starts out with shooting at the range with my friend Bob Hanaburgh. Here I’m shooting Dakota’s gun—a Sig Sauer P226—incidentally the same gun Bond uses in part of SPECTRE.

As an homage to the golf scene in GOLDFINGER, I cap off Bond Day Eve with a round of golf.

BOND DAY. In the early morning, I get in some writing on my own hero, Dakota Stevens.

I spend a few minutes re-reading the passage from the novel GOLDFINGER that made me want to become a writer in the first place:

“Bond motored comfortably along the Loire in the early summer sunshine. This was one of his favourite corners of the world. In May, with the fruit trees burning white and the soft wide rivers still big with the winter rains, the valley was green and young and dressed for love…”

In celebration of Bond Day, I head out to pick up Jason by driving on the left side of the road. (Just kidding. This photo was taken by Alexas when I was driving us through Scotland in Sept. 2013.)

Jay and I enjoy a big breakfast.

It wouldn’t be Bond Day without some fast driving. Jason forgot the tickets, so I had to put the hammer down to make it to the theater.

We arrive at the palace (theater).

Entering the movie, a movie I’ve waited two years to see.

So, how was SPECTRE? Marvelous. It is the best Daniel Craig Bond film since Casino Royale, and in some respects it’s superior. Just as I predicted, Christoph Waltz gives the most layered and captivating portrayal of a Bond villain that I’ve ever seen. The locations are varied and unique. The cinematography is exquisite. And a fight scene in the movie—in my considered opinion—is the best in the Bond canon:

TOP 5 BOND FIGHT SCENES: 1. Daniel Craig vs. Mr. Hinx (on a train) in SPECTRE; 2. Sean Connery vs. Red Grant (also on a train) in From Russia with Love; 3. Sean Connery vs. Colonel Jacques Bouvar (dressed as a woman) in Thunderball; 4. Sean Connery vs. the assassin in the teaser of Goldfinger; 5. Daniel Craig vs. the machete-wielding African thugs in Casino Royale.

There’s a lot more I could say about SPECTRE and how great it is, but I don’t want to ruin the movie for you. I’m going to see it again next week.

And now I look forward to Bond Day 2017.