# Stupidest thing a Bond villain did excluding telling Bond everything / killing Bond right away **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 20, 2010, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-thing-a-bond-villain-did-excluding-telling-bond-everything-killing-bond-right-away/564885 "2010-12-20T23:12:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [December 21, 2010, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-thing-a-bond-villain-did-excluding-telling-bond-everything-killing-bond-right-away/564885/41 "2010-12-21T22:55:30Z")
> [@](#): > > Dr. Ling becomes very animated after Bond mentions the name of the operation. Yes, I know, but Goldfinger is the one who decides what he will do, and he’s crazily unpredictable. He’s clearly re-assuring Ling as the beam pushes toward Bond, and he’s confident enough to persuade anyone of anything. If Bond _did_ know anything about Grand Slam, the reasonable thing was to let the beam persuade Bond to tell what he knew, and if it sliced through him, well, too bad. _That_ would persuade Ling that the threat was taken care of. As far as I can see, letting Bond off the hook accomplished nothing, except to let the film proceed with an un-bisected hero. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-thing-a-bond-villain-did-excluding-telling-bond-everything-killing-bond-right-away/564885/42 "2010-12-21T23:45:37Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Well, the real off-the-chart stupidity in _Moonraker_ was from all the people who helped Drax with his plan and then had to stay on the ground. “Say there, Mr. Drax, these fifty satellites we’re building for you that spray fatal nerve gas into the atmosphere, what do you need those for, anyway?” Having never seen the movie, maybe he dressed it up as a cloud seeding project? It probably wouldn’t be at all practical, but once the engineers have fulfilled their obligations by telling him it wouldn’t work, that’s his problem. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-thing-a-bond-villain-did-excluding-telling-bond-everything-killing-bond-right-away/564885/43 "2010-12-21T23:59:52Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > Having never seen the movie, maybe he dressed it up as a cloud seeding project? It probably wouldn’t be at all practical, but once the engineers have fulfilled their obligations by telling him it wouldn’t work, that’s his problem. No, there’s a scene where a couple of techs are moving one of the satellites and a vial falls off; it’s clear from their reactions that they know they’re fucked. You could make a case that the ground crews working to launch the shuttles from Drax’s lair didn’t know what the boss had planned for them, but it’s clear that some people must have known and participated in a plot that would lead to their own deaths. The same problem applies to other movies, too. In _You Only Live Twice_, Blofeld has a small army in his volcano lair to help fight off the ninjas and cover his escape. What could they be fighting for, money? “Sorry boss, you ain’t paying me enough money to take a bullet while you hide behind the blast-proof doors and sneak out the back way. I can’t spend it if I’m dead.” ---
**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:** [December 22, 2010, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-thing-a-bond-villain-did-excluding-telling-bond-everything-killing-bond-right-away/564885/44 "2010-12-22T01:24:53Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > This is an important thing to learn, even if it takes a little while to get your head around. > > A makes a contract with C to “borrow” 100 shares of Airline Company Ltd. from C, with the promise that he will return 100 shares of Airline Company Ltd. next week. > > A immediately sells those 100 shares of Airline Company Ltd. to B, for 50$ a share (what they are currently going for at the stock exchange). A now has 5000$ in his pocket, but also has an obligation to give 100 shares back to C within the week. > > So A then hopes that the share price at the stock exchange of Airline Company Ltd. will drop (or he engineers the drop, a la evil villain style) within the week. > > If the share price does drop, to say 5$ a share, he can cheaply buy back the 100 shares that he promised to pay back to C, and pay them back to C, and it only costs him 500$. He gets to keep the remaining 4500$ profit. Interesting. One question: what’s the incentive for C to “lend” their stock in the first place? What do they get out of the deal? Also, can you do the end to _Trading Places_? ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-thing-a-bond-villain-did-excluding-telling-bond-everything-killing-bond-right-away/564885/45 "2010-12-22T02:48:43Z")
In the latest movie - Quantum of Solace - Bond manages to figure out whats going on, and sends a message to the members of the “ring” - all of whom immediately stand up and start to depart the area. All they really had to do was kill the earpiece and enjoy the rest of the performance. Global masterminds of crime, indeed. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-thing-a-bond-villain-did-excluding-telling-bond-everything-killing-bond-right-away/564885/46 "2010-12-22T02:57:54Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I’ve discussed the problem with that before. Goldfinger loves gold, not the things he can buy with it: _“…its brilliance, its divine heaviness”, “I welcome any enterprise that will increase my holdings”_. It would be pointless to him to just increase the value of his existing stock. Well, by that reasoning a plan where he reduces his existing stock of gold _ **would** _ admittedly be problematic. But this is a plan where he’s still got just as much gold after making himself richer – and we already know he’s down for that, right? I sure didn’t have a problem with him cheating at cards; that plan was _ **also** _ for him to (a) still have just as much gold at the end, and (b) get richer. Did that bug you? So, okay: he’s a well-connected guy who knows enough about Fort Knox to pull off a win for Red China (a) without losing any of his gold, to help folks (b) who’ll presumably make him richer. What’s the problem? (If you like, feel free to throw in CalMeacham’s point: figure Goldfinger can even pick up a bar of gold while he’s rummaging around in Fort Knox – at which point he’ll end up with more money _ **and** _ more gold!) ---
**Author:** ![dzeiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@dzeiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzeiger)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-thing-a-bond-villain-did-excluding-telling-bond-everything-killing-bond-right-away/564885/47 "2010-12-22T03:13:34Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > All Bond villians are narcissistic and spend enormous sums of money on elaborate lairs that can be counted upon to collapse like a bad souffle. Had they invested that money in a proper security and weapons training program then bond would not be THE most successful movie franchise in history. What, you don’t hold your liquid helium in open vats right below walkways with substandard railings? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-thing-a-bond-villain-did-excluding-telling-bond-everything-killing-bond-right-away/564885/48 "2010-12-22T04:38:21Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > …Also, can you do the end to _Trading Places_? Try this: [A question about the commodities scene in TRADING PLACES - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=488429) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-thing-a-bond-villain-did-excluding-telling-bond-everything-killing-bond-right-away/564885.md?page=2)