He still showed courage, resourcefulness and a bit of humour (hunkering down next to Bond to shoot at the dragon, until Bond's glare reminds him that they were supposed to spread out). His death was awful and ulitimately as much Bond's fault as Dr. No's.
That's why the line "fetch my shoes" sticks in the craw of so many. Bond doesn't treat visible minorities that way - he treats women that way. Honey should have dashed off after his footwear, not Quarrel.
The objection and resentment isn't just about being P.C., it's about expecting better of our hero and of the people who write his dialogue. At least this lapse never occurred again - Bond got on fine with Pinder, Strutter, Quarrel Jr and now Felix Leiter (while still challenging women to tolerate him).
Frankly, I'm surprised that I haven't read more criticism and accusations of racism levelled at Bond for his treatment of Molloka & Obanno and various other African characters in CR. One can argue (like Arnold in True Lies) "yeah, but they were all bad," but that in itself is an admission of racist writing.
Criticism of LALD includes how Bond - as the Mighty Whitey - rolls into Harlem and the Carribean and sorts out all these black troublemakers as if 'keeping them in their place' is the primary - or at least underlying - point of his mission. I don't see it that way (which is admittedly easy for me, being a Honky meself), but I can understand how and why others do.
But, like so much else in the early films (eg: "Lesbian, eh? Not once I'm through with you!") the treatment of Quarrel was typical of its time, and went unnoticed in that time. Who could have predicted how much times would change? (A: cue Dr. King and "I Have a Dream.")
So like I said earlier, the line could be redubbed, but then those who support textual (not racial) purity would be up in arms over the revisionism. I suppose I'd rather just leave the sequence as it is and let it keep its place in the pantheon of cringe-worthy moments that includes "Japanese proverb say..."; "Gawddam little brown water hogs!"; "A woman!"; "That'll keep you in curry for a few weeks"; "Especially when you're bad" and all those times Bond slaps his leading lady around.
If Dr. No gets shown in my area I may well go to it, even though I have the UE DVD. Although, I'm mainly hoping for a reissue of Goldfinger; I feel I need to see that one on a cinema screen - stupid Koreans, lesbian rape and all.
Edited by AMC Hornet, 06 May 2012 - 05:40 PM.