42 replies to this topic

[deth]

question: I know this doesn't have to do with Draco.... but in "The Man with the Red Tattoo" It says Kissy Suzuki died a while ago.... how did this happen? I haven't read any earlier Benson novels....

[Triton]

Originally posted by deth
question: I know this doesn't have to do with Draco.... but in "The Man with the Red Tattoo" It says Kissy Suzuki died a while ago.... how did this happen? I haven't read any earlier Benson novels....

The fate of Kissy Suzuki is discussed in Raymond Benson's short story "Blast From the Past" which was published in January 1997 issue of Playboy magazine. The Universal Exports web site discusses this short story at the following link:

Blast From the Past

[MrDraco]

I didn't like becoming a villain

[Triton]

Everyone seems to be forgetting the fact that Marc-Ange Draco was the head of the biggest crime syndicate in Europe, the Union Corse. Although he is charming and becomes an ally to James Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, the man and his minions are presumably guilty of extortion, murder, bribery, drug trafficking, thievery, and prostitution. It is only logical that the crime syndicate he controls would have an alliance with The Union.

Marc-Ange Draco needed to be accommodating and charming to James Bond while he had the relationship with Tracy and while Bond's interests as an MI6 agent didn't conflict with Draco's own. Even though it is stated as a "wedding present" to Bond, don't you think that Draco would have attacked SPECTRE chief Ernst Stavro Blofeld anyway at Piz Gloria because he is in charge of a rival crime syndicate? If Bond's mission is to destroy a crime syndicate to which Draco is allied, then Bond becomes Draco's enemy regardless of the death of Draco's wife and child.

If Tracy had survived and Bond had been ordered to destroy The Union, do you think that Draco would have hesitated in making Tracy a widow?

[Qwerty]

Originally posted by Triton
[B Although he is charming and becomes an ally to James Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, the man and his minions are presumably guilty of extortion, murder, bribery, drug trafficking, thievery, and prostitution. [/B]

Very true Triton. I think that perhaps the reason is that so many people overlook the evil side of his real character in the novel is because of the fine way they showed him off in the film. He seems the like the kind of person you like, even though you know he's not an actual 'good' guy, but you overlook it, because he does want to help Bond. An extreme bit of great casting if you ask me.

[Triton]

Originally posted by Qwerty


Very true Triton. I think that perhaps the reason is that so many people overlook the evil side of his real character in the novel is because of the fine way they showed him off in the film. He seems the like the kind of person you like, even though you know he's not an actual 'good' guy, but you overlook it, because he does want to help Bond. An extreme bit of great casting if you ask me.

Well I think that we have been given one dimensional villains for far too long that audiences and readers object to the idea that a character who is charming, intelligent, and loving is also capable of murder, torture, and other crimes. I think that Raymond Benson made Marc-Ange Draco a multi-dimensional and realistic character by bringing him back and making him an enemy of James Bond in Never Dream of Dying. The relationship between Draco and Bond had changed since On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Bond had become a real threat to Draco's interests and would likely have killed him even if Draco's wife and child had not been killed in the accident at the beginning of the novel.

[BONDFINESSE 007]

Originally posted by MrDraco
I didn't like becoming a villain

you know what you should do MR DRACO?...if i were you i would sue, thats right sue the pants off of them for besmirching your good name

[DLibrasnow]

Originally posted by BONDFINESSE 007
you know what you should do MR DRACO?...if i were you i would sue, thats right sue the pants off of them for besmirching your good name

Good name...?? Draco was a gangster in OHMSS, He even had one of his people try to beat 007 up and some of his men tried to kill him in the pretitles sequence.

Sure he was charming, but so was Blofeld!

[General Koskov]

He's like the various Godfathers in the Godfather films. You really want to like them, but they dissapoint you by killing so many people (or falling off a chair).

Not that I agree with Benson's villanisation, but he's right.

Though, arguably, M. is just as much of a super villan: ever wonder how many people die because of the information that agents like Bond (all under the control of M.) hold, or withold? A bit like Reflections in a Double Bourbon: how many thousands of superficially-innocent people are involved in the industries of death?

[deth]

Originally posted by General Koskov
He's like the various Godfathers in the Godfather films.  You really want to like them, but they dissapoint you by killing so many people (or falling off a chair).

Not that I agree with Benson's villanisation, but he's right.  

Though, arguably, M. is just as much of a super villan: ever wonder how many people die because of the information that agents like Bond (all under the control of M.) hold, or withold?  A bit like Reflections in a Double Bourbon: how many thousands of superficially-innocent people are involved in the industries of death?

good point about M.....



...falling off a chair lol....... I remember that...... Godfather 3 wasn't it?

[Genrewriter]

Yes, Pacino is the best thing about that film. As for Draco, I think it was perfectly in line with the character. He's basically the Vito Corleone of Europe if you want to get into comparisons and when you even give the hint of disappointing somebody as powerful as him, you are pretty much SOL.

[mccartney007]

Originally posted by DLibrasnow


But noone twisted his arm to take the job. Being a Bond fan of so many years standing Benson knew exactly what he was getting himself into, after all Gardner worked under exactly the same conditions.

That's true that no one twisted Benson's arm to take on the job. However, I don't see how he would have known that he would have been so restricted in his interpretation of the James Bond characters. John Gardner certainly strayed off the path that Fleming had set for James Bond. So how was Benson supposed to know that, when he came on, he was going to be confined to their idea of 'the James Bond world'?

Gardner certainly did not work under the same conditions that Benson did. By the time Benson wrote his last book, Glidrose (or Ian Fleming Publications as it is known now) was run by bankers and women who know nothing about James Bond. Nor do they particularly care about James Bond. The Fleming family and investors couldn't care less about the James Bond novels because, when all is said and done, only about 1% of their income comes from the character. They have banks and an art collection that makes them their money.

[mccartney007]

Originally posted by Loomis


All of that may be true, but it doesn't put Benson beyond criticism, does it?

Never said it did. I responded to the idea that Raymond Benson had it easier in terms of writing, researching, etc. James Bond novels than Ian Fleming did which is VERY untrue.