007 Returns in "Casino Royale"E. "Doc" Smithbyline‚ Nov. 17‚ 2006As a young lad back in D.C., my friends and I would often skip school, and head to the now defunct RKO Keith's movie theatre, (then located only a block from the White House), to see the annual quadruple-feature of James Bond films, "Dr. No", "From Russia with Love", "Goldfinger", "Thunderball", or "You Only Live Twice". Sean Connery was our hero, and after he filmed his final official Bond film, 1971's "Diamonds ae Forever", our love of the 007 franchise had waned. His replacements, George Lazenby and Roger Moore, were never the same, and neither were the films. With the introduction of Timothy Dalton in "The Living Daylights", and later Pierce Brosnan in "Golden Eye", the Bond legacy continued with the usual pomp and pyrotechnics, and the era of the Ian Fleming penned novels and short stories had come to an end. Enter Daniel Craig, who returns as 007 in the very first novel written by Fleming, "Casino Royale". This is not a remake of the silly version with David Niven, Peter Sellers and the original "Mini-me", Woody Allen, but another attempt to breathe new life into one of the cinema's most enduring series. |