# "A View To a Kill" quirk **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 30, 2016, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-view-to-a-kill-quirk/770087 "2016-10-30T03:45:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-view-to-a-kill-quirk/770087/21 "2017-03-22T16:31:27Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > A trope that is lampshaded in _Casino Royale_ (the 2006 Daniel Craig reboot film, not the abysmal 1967 ‘comedy’) in which Bond dispenses with his cover when checking into a hotel, assuring his compatriot that ‘Le Chiffre’ already knows who he is and what he is there to do (not realizing that Vesper has already betrayed him). > > In the Bond universe, including the Craig films, everybody already seems to know who he is, including his rank and affiliation, number designation, weapon preference, et cetera, which makes a mockery of Bond as a “secret agent” performing globe trotting investigations under false covers. He also seems to carry little or no luggage and lose passports and other identification and yet never has a problem flitting from country to country, somehow being fully equipped with well pressed three piece suits, dinner jackets, and a variety of other informal wear appropriate to the station even if he just travelled from Shanghai to Aruba (another trope lampshaded by Craig’s Bond, this time in _Quantum of Solace_). He also manages to smuggle or acquire needed weaponry and gadgets through whatever customs and entry inspection he goes through, although why he sticks with an underpowered 7.65 mm Walther PPK in the majority of films (except in _Casino Royale_ and parts of _Goldfinger_ and _Live And Let Die_ is beyond me). > > James Bond is a terrible secret agent, which is why M is always threatening to replace him with 008. “He follows orders, not instincts.” > > Stranger There is an actual reason for that. The real life version of Bond’s organization was [No 30 Commando](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._30_Commando), the unit Ian Fleming served in. These guys were basically Special Forces-cum-Military Intelligence, not undercover operatives. They operated in uniform and did not use cover identities; the two field missions Fleming is known to have gone on, he wore his uniform and never pretended to be anyone else. In the books, James Bond is an undercover agent using 30 Assualt Commando tactics. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-view-to-a-kill-quirk/770087/22 "2017-03-22T17:24:45Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > There’s a similar moment in _Diamonds are Forever_. Bond impersonates a guy named Peter Franks, but when the real Franks shows up, Bond kills him and puts his own ID on Franks’ corpse. When Tiffany Case finds and searches the body, she looks up at Bond (who she thinks is Franks) with wide-eyed wonder: I think it was _You Only Live Twice_ that featured this [newspaper article](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IHiDt9LjaJQ/V1m8jDDGHJI/AAAAAAAAA5g/MQHP2AsvbB8kPj-9jZkr6PprvO-f5GvUgCKgB/s1600/Obit_Bond_YOLT.jpg), which was intended to fool Bond’s enemies into thinking he was dead, so he could go undercover. Which seems to be missing the entire point of “secret agents” on multiple levels. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-view-to-a-kill-quirk/770087/23 "2017-03-22T17:26:44Z")
Even the literary Bond still adopts cover identities in many cases. While some books and stories have him performing direct action operations (assassination, open investigation, person tracking, et cetera), in many cases he adopts a cover story and even a legend (fake identity and background). In virtually all of the movies from _You Only Live Twice_ onward, he adopts fake identities as a general practice, even when facing an enemy he has previously encountered and who should be able to recognize him (e.g. _On Her Majesty’s Secret Service_, _Diamonds Are Forever_, _The Living Daylights_). The few instances where he openly uses his real name, many people seem readily aware of who he is even if they aren’t prior antagonists, and he’s about as subtle in disguise as Jason Bourne. (Seriously, Damon, at least put on a wig or use some of those tinted contact lenses you got from the vault in the Swiss bank in Zurich or something.) Bond is about as realistic of a ‘secret agent’ as Austin Powers, and only slightly less silly in most of the films from 1971 onward. Stranger [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-view-to-a-kill-quirk/770087.md?page=1)