# I never read Fleming's "James Bond" books. Are the movies true to the books Bond character or not? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 21, 2015, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-read-flemings-james-bond-books-are-the-movies-true-to-the-books-bond-character-or-not/723051 "2015-06-21T02:52:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-read-flemings-james-bond-books-are-the-movies-true-to-the-books-bond-character-or-not/723051/61 "2015-06-22T11:57:56Z")
The movie Bonds weren’t very much like the literary Bond at all. Fleming always said that he deliberately chose the name “James Bond” (he saw it on his copy of **Birds of the West Indies** ) for its very dullness and drabness. His character Bond wasn;'t supposed to be – well – a _character_. Like any good agent, he was supposed to be invisible most of the time, and was supposed to be pretty much an interchangeable cog in the machine. He also knows that he’s in a high-risk profession, and that his chances of living a long life aren’t great, so he doesn, but spends his money on his car, good food, high living, and gambling. Bond is also a gambler and depends on luck, as did Fleming, so Fleming left that as a personality trait. Bond does get bogged down in paperwork and drill. In the novel \*\*Goldfinger[/.B], after Goldfinger spares him, he is set to work doing office work (!) for the upcoming “Hood’s convention”. It’s not surprising they changed this for the film – watching Sean Connery making copies would be a killer. This was a more important change than NOT having Goldfinger rob Fort Knox. At least when he finally got to _The Man with the Golden Gun_, Fleming realized how ludicrous this was, and had Bond get close to Scaramanga by throwing in as his bodyguard. Bond was also, as noted above, pretty humorless in the books. After I showed a friend the original 1954 TV version of _Casino Royale_, he pointed out that Barry Nelson spouts wisecracks as Bond, and is the very first manifestation of the “witty” Bond, who later re-appeared in the films. Literary Bond could be a colorless fellow, but apparently for the audience to sympathize with a guy who was a ruthless spy and executioner, he also had to have some leavening in the form of one-liners. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-read-flemings-james-bond-books-are-the-movies-true-to-the-books-bond-character-or-not/723051/62 "2015-06-22T13:04:21Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > It’s one of the only scenes in the books where Bond gets to show off his taste for fine food, and it’s limited to ordering the peas, because it’s spring, and they’ll probably be fresh and not out of the tin. England kept food rationing from WWII for quite a while. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-read-flemings-james-bond-books-are-the-movies-true-to-the-books-bond-character-or-not/723051/63 "2015-06-22T15:48:21Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > England kept food rationing from WWII for quite a while. Yeah, but, you know, fresh peas. They grow 'em right there in England. SOMEONE has to eat them, the farmer’s not gonna just throw them away. James Bond: the first Locavore. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-read-flemings-james-bond-books-are-the-movies-true-to-the-books-bond-character-or-not/723051.md?page=3)