Dr. No: Nobody does it better.

Starring Sean Connery, Ursula Andress
Directed by Terence Young

= 4 stars

Amazon link

Sean Connery (James Bond)

Ursula Andress (Honey Ryder)

My quest to watch all the James Bond films continues, and Dr. No was the first, starring a young Sean Connery who is a bit rough around the edges and looks almost thuggish. But the main elements are in place and it’s a bit stunning to see that much of what people expect from a Bond film today, was present right out of the gate back in 1962.

We start with a hit on a British agent John Strangways in Jamaica. Bond is sent to investigate the relationship between this murder and disruptions to the American space program at nearby Cape Canaveral. Bond realizes that both the both events are linked to a secret hideout built by the mysterious Dr. No. Bond eventually solves the mystery and along the way risks his life and finds some downtime with beautiful women.

Around this plot hang the various Bond elements we all know and love: The gun-barrel opening sequence, the surf-guitar theme, Bond in a casino playing games with Sylvia Trench (Eunice Gayson - who makes a brief appearance in From Russia With Love), an exotic location in the form of Jamaica, a car chase, several brushes with death, a truly hot Bond babe Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress), and the nefarious villain Dr. No with plans for world domination. The only items missing are the Bond gadgets, a pre-title action sequence, and a post-ending action sequence where Bond must dispatch some leftover evil henchmen.

Still, many sequences in Dr. No are so classic that they are directly mimicked in other films: Honey Ryder emerging from the water in a bikini, Bond trapped in a tube, a secret hideout being blown to smithereens, and Bond letting a tow line go so he and his new found love can have some privacy in a row boat.
The only negative aspect of this film is the actor playing Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman) is obviously not Chinese, nor does he really get to use his metal hands. There is also one woman in particular who I think is supposed to be Asian but looks more like a pale girl in a dark-haired wig.

Other than that, Dr. No is a respectable Bond adventure (if a bit slow at times), and as I’ve already noted, a surprising amount of it echoes through the plots of the other films. It seems that with such a firm foundation, the only way to make better sequels were bigger budgets and more explosions - a thankfully easy route to follow. You don’t mess with a winning formula.

IMDB: Dr. No
Wikipedia: Dr. No
Rotten Tomatoes: Dr. No

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