2 replies to this topic

[dlb007]

One of the most intriguing parts of Devil May Care (in my opinion) is the tennis match between Gorner and Bond. Most of the novels featured Bond interacting with the villain via a card game, computer game, or a deadly car race as feature in For Special Services. As an avid tennis player, and one who tends to go barking mad when the game doesn't go his way (without venting too loudly, of course), I really enjoyed the competition. It was a great choice of Faulks to include a physical and mental battle.

What do you guys think? Did you like the tennis match, dislike, or couldn't care less? Are there any other sporting events you'd like to see Bond try his luck at?

[Messervy]

For what it's worth, I really enjoyed the brief but intense card game between Bond and Largo in the novel TB. I couldn't really explain why, but I find it fully packed with tension. Paradoxically enough, I find it better balanced than some card games in the novel CR.

On the whole, in the novels, I honestly prefer "intellectual" battles (card, chess, etc.) over "physical" battles (golf, tennis, or even car chases). I only read Fleming novels so far, and I think Fleming is better able at writing "intellectual" encounters than "physical" ones (which, to me, always drag a bit too much).

[Guy Haines]

So far as mental challenges are concerned, I enjoyed the bridge game in Moonraker (the book), in which Bond pays Drax in his own coin and reveals him to be a cheat as well as an arrogant bully. And so far as sports are concerned - I haven't read the book for a little while, but in the John Gardner novel For Special Services there is, I recall, a motor race around a track between Bond and SPECTRE henchman Walter Luxor - a race to the death, I believe. Something like that might work well in a future film.

Edited by Guy Haines, 09 December 2010 - 07:10 PM.