18 replies to this topic

[freemo]

What are people's best/favourite uses/depictions of the M, Moneypenny and Q throughout the the series?

 

Here are mine:

 

M - DR NO: the pipe-smoking, silver-haired, clear-eyed Admiral, with no room for sentiment and no second chance for any failed weapon. "Oh, 007. Just leave the beretta".

 

Second place: MOONRAKER: The brief scene between him and Bond in Venice, after the Minister of Defence has ordered Bond taken off the assignment. The co-conspiratorial wink as they discuss where Bond is going for his "leave". Maybe I'm giving it too much weight in light of the of the fact that this is Lee's last film, but the conversation always feels to me like that of two long-time allies who find themselves now deep into the December of their long collaboration. M's closing line "no slip-ups, or we're both in trouble", shows a willingness to share the risk and responsiblity. He's with Bond (compare with BrownM's comforting "you're on your own" when Bond is dropped off in Germany in OCTOPUSSY.

 

Moneypenny - OHMSS: Her inteception of Bond's "heat of the moment" resignation letter to M, deftly preventing the unstoppable force and the immovable object from colliding. What would they do without her?

 

Second place: DR NO: Her soft "good luck" as Bond departs for his latest assignment. They don't always come back, you know?

 

Q - GOLDFINGER: The humourless nit who never jokes about his work and who seems more concerned with the safe return of this equipment than the safe return of the agents he equips. Q's impatient nattering, and Bond bored bordering on contemptuous glances - in later films the "comedic" needling gets a touch forced - but here they're genuinely irritating eachother just by being themselves. They try the same thing again with the Q scene in THUNDERBALL, but I'm not sure it goes quites as well with the rest of the that film and it comes across a touch laboured.

 

Second place: DIE ANOTHER DAY: Rubbish gadgets in this one, but I think John Cleese mades an okay armourer/gunsmith.

 

 

The worst for all three: THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN: Everyone seems mean and testy and grumpy and irritable in this one. Probably because they're all stuck in THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN. Moneypenny's "because they couldn't find the bullet, darling", Q's sighs because Bond doesn't know who or what Lazar is, and everything the exasperated M says and does, not exactly "lovable" or "endearing" (not that these characters need necessarily be "lovable" or "endearing", but still, a curious route to take).

[Grard Bond]

M... I very like Lee's potrayel in From Russia... especially when Connery's Bond assumes it's a trap from the Russians to get him to Istanbul and M fully agrees. He's also very good later in the movie when he finds out that Moneypenny is listening in on the conversation and hearing the tape, which was recorded and sent by 007 from Instanbul.

 

I also like the interplay between M and Bond at the beginning of DAF. "There is no year for sherry, 007" etc...

 

Q... Ofcourse the legendary DB5 scene with his immortal line: I never joke about my work, 007.

But I also like Llewelyn a lot in Thunderball, where he clearly hates the jokes from Connery's Bond and he hates even more that he had to travel all the way to Nassau to give him his equipment (and wearing those short trousers. Haha!).

 

Moneypenny... there's only one Moneypenny for me and that's Maxwell, she was at her best in the earlier movies, she was still relative young and you can believe that Bond is still a little atractive to her. Her interplay with Connery in Thunderball, Twice and DAF are for me the highlights. In Thunderball: James, don't forget the photo. How else will you recognise her? Bond: she has two  moles on her left thigh. Haha! Great stuff!

Edited by Grard Bond, 20 July 2014 - 11:27 AM.

[New Digs]

M and Bond in OHMSS after Tracy's capture always stands out as a good office scene. 

[Leo R.]

Caroline Bliss's eyes.

[Colossus]

M- i concur with his Moonraker turn as their matter of factness makes it look like Kirk and crew just entering the elevator at the end of Turnabout Intruder in Star Trek, just a chat that has that "this is my last movie" role.

Moneypenny- TSWLM 

[Guy Haines]

I agree with all of the ones listed so far. I always liked the scene between George Lazenby and Bernard Lee when Bond is back in London, having lost Tracy to Blofeld and listening to M as he outline's Blofeld's demands, in particular recognition of his title as the Count de Bleuchamp. "He seems to set great store by that. Very curious thing, snobbery." I liked the world weary going on bewildered way Lee delivered that line, as if he couldn't understand why it was so important to Blofeld.

 

A few that have been missed.

 

Robert Brown in TLD - the scene aboard the Hercules, in navy uniform as he sends his best men to take on the SAS in Gibraltar, and later when he and Bond are arguing about General Pushkin.

 

Dame Judi Dench in GoldenEye calling Bond a "sexist, misogynist dinosaur, a relic of the Cold War" and inadvertently justifying Bond's existence in the 1990s.

 

Dame Judi again in Skyfall when a much worse for wear Bond has (Again!) broken into her house and talks about them both being "played out". She's having none of it. And when Mallory talks about "retirement planning" - again she's not interested.

 

(And two scenes in CR - M leaving an enquiry - "I promote him to Double-0 status and what does he do to celebrate? Blows up an embassy! Christ I miss the Cold War!" And then when M tells Bond to go off to a beach and think about his future.)

 

Q - too many Q scenes were played for laughs, but apart from the ones already mentioned, I like Desmond Llewellyn's "swansong" in TWINE - "Always have an escape plan" and earlier in FYEO when Bond meets up with him in a confessional - Bond - "Forgive me father for I have sinned" - Q -"That's putting it mildly, 007!"

Since then I've used the expression "that's putting it mildly" on countless occasions!

 

Moneypenny - the scene in LALD when she keeps quiet about Miss Caruso - "Or should I say 'Ciao Bello', James?" The scene in OP with Moneypenny and Penelope Smallbone (Bond hands Penelope some flowers "Take it dear, that's all you'll ever get from him."). Samantha Bond's Moneypenny describing Bond as a "cunning linguist" in TND (Whatever did she mean by that? ) And the final scene of Skyfall when - guess what? - agent Eve is revealed to be Miss Eve Moneypenny. I also liked the introduction of Ralph Fiennes M that followed.

[Colossus]

Q- Definitely Goldeneye, that was greater than even his Goldfinger appearance.

[plankattack]

Great mentions so far.

Very fond myself of M and Bond at the start of GF: "What do you know about gold. Not paint" - that scene. There's still an edge, a undercurrent of strength to M's position which seems to have dissipated by the next film. And while I love the "Do you think she's worth going after?" scene from TB, it's clear that the "Bond as errant schoolboy" persona is well-established. Unlike the GF scene where both men are professionals at the top of their game.

[Odd Jobbies]

M:  Ralph Fiennes in Skyfall. The whole handover thing could so easily have been botched, but thanks to great talent it was one of the most successful things in the movie. Plus the shoot out at the enquiry was fantastic. (lets forget about about Dench's M being so dumb as to allow a torch to give away their position - sure she'd been shot, but she's head of MI6 ! )

 

Q: Again, Skyfall: Whishaw's intro in the National Gallery was full of wit - perfectly pitched. Many here dislike that Q uploaded the virus, but unlike M who should've known better than to use the torch, it had been established in Whishaw's intro that he's very young and full of hubris, so his mistake made sense. It allowed us to see him cut his teeth in a crises and learn from his mistake.

 

Moneypenny: Die Another Day. I'm surprised to choose that, but the Virtual Reality scene in which Brosnan seduces her and she's caught in the act by Cleese is a peach - funny, but also clever.

Edited by Odd Jobbies, 22 July 2014 - 09:17 AM.

[FlemingBond]

I think M and Moneypenny are used in their most mature way in OHMSS. I suppose the same could be said of Q in the wedding scene giving Bond a bit of advice. i think the early movies were the best for all the 3 characters as later they were pushed into a little too much comedy.

[tdalton]

I think M and Moneypenny are used in their most mature way in OHMSS. I suppose the same could be said of Q in the wedding scene giving Bond a bit of advice. i think the early movies were the best for all the 3 characters as later they were pushed into a little too much comedy.

 

Agreed.  It really all started going downhill in The Man with the Golden Gun, which was the absolute low point in terms of the depictions of M and Q.  From there on out, for the most part, it's trended a bit too much towards comedy.  

[Mr_Wint]

Let's say that TMWTGG was a temporary setback. TSWLM, MR, FYEO, OP etc. all had some excellent scenes with the MI-6 staff. With TSWLM they brought back some mutual respect between Bond and M which we haven't seen since the Terence Young films, and it works much better.

Re: topic:
M: FRWL or TB
Moneypenny: OHMSS
Q: TSWLM

[hoagy]

What ?  No love for Lee and Maxwell in Operation Kid Brother ?  Oh, my !

It certainly belongs in the overly comic category, but in the spirit of OP being a fun film -- not the best but fun for Q in OP.  He got to ride the hot air balloon into battle, with a bevy of beautiful and deadly and athletic young ladies surrounding him.  Oh, that awful leather cap from the old days of biplanes...back then, there was no awful bit they could not resist !  But it was fun to see Q get the see the battle and hang out with the ladies.

Look, I know I wandered off the question, but the right answers already have been submitted !

[glidrose]

I've always wondered about TMWTGG. Why were they written and directed this way? And whose idea was it?

[plankattack]

I've always wondered about TMWTGG. Why were they written and directed this way? And whose idea was it?

The shooting script for TWMTGG was the result of two separate drafts by Maibaum and Mankiewicz that got merged together. They hadn't worked together (or at least had not worked well together), and unlike these days where say, P&W finish their draft full well knowing that someone else is going to give a go-over, I'm not sure the process of rewriting etc was as smooth as it is now. Neither script was deemed strong enough on its own and if my memory serves me correctly, Guy Hamilton helped referee their merging.

With hindsight I guess what resulted was understandable. While TMWTGG clearly hopes to echo FRWL Bond v Grant confrontation, this time Sir Rog v Lee, the Solex stuff keeps getting in the way, and vice versa. Unlike FRWL where to an extent, the whole film is an excuse to bring the two figures together, an audience get carried along by the Lector, the girl, etc etc, TMWTGG is two separate stories that don't sit well side-by-side. Even at the end, the film moseys along for nearly another 20 minutes after Bond kills Scaramanga - there's still the Solex to figure out, Goodnight's butt, and Knick-Knack, yet ultimately, the duel is the "emotional" climax of the story. While FRWL motors along nicely after Grant is dispatched, that's as much to the source material, and to the fact that the other characters - Klebb, Tatiana etc have all been established in their own right. In TMWTGG that's just not the case.

As for the humor, M, Q, etc - the way some of that dialogue flows, it does feel like it's from the hand of Mankiewicz (ooh, I'd get pilloried in the "who wrote what" P&W thread currently playing for that statement), yet the repartee does feel straight out of DAF and LALD, both of which were Mankiewicz's ultimate responsibility script-wise.

Plus you've got Hamilton doing his third in a row, and the desire to establish Sir Rog as his own Bond - you've got the infamous hotel room scene co-existing with mucking about with JW Pepper - and I think there's definitely something schizophrenic about TMWTGG

Glid - I know I haven't really answered your question, but I do think the end-result (a little all over the place) is a direct result of the creative process for TMWTGG (a little all-over the place).

[Guy Haines]

So far as TMWTGG and the involvement of M, Q and Moneypenny is concerned - I couldn't help noticing a certain friction between Bond and Moneypenny, between Bond and M and between M and Q. It had M at his most irritable as the mission to recover the solex device - suddenly revived when its inventor is assassinated - goes from bad to worse, lashing out at 007, Lt. Hip and Q. And Moneypenny, clearly irritated by Bond's routine treatment of her as the girl who's left behind. No "good luck James" this time - it's as if she couldn't wait for 007 to clear off out of her office. Was that a deliberate departure from the usual by-play -let's see how Bond handles irritation and indifference back at the office?

[glidrose]

So far as TMWTGG and the involvement of M, Q and Moneypenny is concerned - I couldn't help noticing a certain friction between Bond and Moneypenny, between Bond and M and between M and Q. It had M at his most irritable as the mission to recover the solex device - suddenly revived when its inventor is assassinated - goes from bad to worse, lashing out at 007, Lt. Hip and Q. And Moneypenny, clearly irritated by Bond's routine treatment of her as the girl who's left behind. No "good luck James" this time - it's as if she couldn't wait for 007 to clear off out of her office. Was that a deliberate departure from the usual by-play -let's see how Bond handles irritation and indifference back at the office?

I guess Hamilton & co. wanted to establish RM as his own Bond with his own way of doing things and not repeat the Connery formula.

As jarring and strange as it is, I do rather like it, I'm glad they showed us what the MI6 HQ staff are like on off days when they're not feeling so lovey dovey with one another.

And now that I think about it, who is to say that it wasn't a dig at how bad the Broccoli-Saltzman relationship was by this time? An in-joke, if you will.

With hindsight I guess what resulted was understandable. While TMWTGG clearly hopes to echo FRWL Bond v Grant confrontation, this time Sir Rog v Lee, the Solex stuff keeps getting in the way, and vice versa. Unlike FRWL where to an extent, the whole film is an excuse to bring the two figures together, an audience get carried along by the Lector, the girl, etc etc, TMWTGG is two separate stories that don't sit well side-by-side. Even at the end, the film moseys along for nearly another 20 minutes after Bond kills Scaramanga - there's still the Solex to figure out, Goodnight's butt, and Knick-Knack, yet ultimately, the duel is the "emotional" climax of the story. While FRWL motors along nicely after Grant is dispatched, that's as much to the source material, and to the fact that the other characters - Klebb, Tatiana etc have all been established in their own right. In TMWTGG that's just not the case.

As for the humor, M, Q, etc - the way some of that dialogue flows, it does feel like it's from the hand of Mankiewicz (ooh, I'd get pilloried in the "who wrote what" P&W thread currently playing for that statement), yet the repartee does feel straight out of DAF and LALD, both of which were Mankiewicz's ultimate responsibility script-wise.

Gotta disagree with you. Sounds like Maibaum to my ears. Especially as he was the last writer on the project.

Plus you've got Hamilton doing his third in a row, and the desire to establish Sir Rog as his own Bond - you've got the infamous hotel room scene co-existing with mucking about with JW Pepper - and I think there's definitely something schizophrenic about TMWTGG

Glid - I know I haven't really answered your question, but I do think the end-result (a little all over the place) is a direct result of the creative process for TMWTGG (a little all-over the place).

Which would make the film bi-polar and not schizophrenic. Not unless your copy of the film has a strange audio track featuring threatening voices advising you to kill your neighbor before he can kill you.

[plankattack]

Which would make the film bi-polar and not schizophrenic. Not unless your copy of the film has a strange audio track featuring threatening voices advising you to kill your neighbor before he can kill you.

Now that you mention it.......!

[Guy Haines]

Actually, with all the friction between characters supposedly on the same side, I also wondered if this was an on-screen reflection of the off-screen relationship between the producers. As glidrose points out, it may have been an in-joke. A bit more more convincing though than M's treatment of Bond in the book ("He's just come back after twelve months, the Russians got to him, they brainwashed him to assassinate me, but never mind - we'll just un-brainwash him and send him off on another mission as if nothing happened!")