# What are the lessons of James Bond movies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 10, 2020, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-lessons-of-james-bond-movies/920276 "2020-09-10T17:15:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-lessons-of-james-bond-movies/920276/41 "2020-09-11T08:33:52Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > If you’re a super villain and you catch Bond, KILL HIM IMMEDIATELY! Don’t make some elaborate kill’n contraption that he can escape from, You know, one of the things that (IMHO) really made _Goldfinger_ great was that although yes, the killing contraption (laser beam cutting Bond in half) was a bit ridiculous, Bond escaped death by using quick thinking to persuade Goldfinger to stop the machine - not because he could (for example) use a gadget on his watch that the henchmen had inexplicably failed to remove. ---
**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:** [September 11, 2020, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-lessons-of-james-bond-movies/920276/42 "2020-09-11T12:17:44Z")
One of the lessons of the Bond films is “just wing it”. Don’t read the long manual for your super-secret invisible car – just use its guns to destroy the manual! Treat your equipment – as Q observes – all with equal contempt. (This is one big difference between the novels and the films – novel-007 actually would read the manuals, and spend hours cleaning and practicing with his weapons. Film-007 would just try to Use the Force and follow his guts. But Film-007 evidently _could_ be taught. In _Goldfinger_ he didn’t know how to disarm a nuke, but he could in _The Spy Who Loved Me_ and _Octopussy_) ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-lessons-of-james-bond-movies/920276/43 "2020-09-11T12:41:37Z")
Right. All in the cause of a cunning criminal plot to take over the world. Not simply to corner the world markets with a superior space travel or more cost effective agriculture. ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-lessons-of-james-bond-movies/920276/44 "2020-09-11T13:10:32Z")
Don’t know why they’d bother though when we have such insanely advanced tech, as seen in Moonraker. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-lessons-of-james-bond-movies/920276/45 "2020-09-11T13:31:04Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Because they skip the marksmanship classes Same academy that churns out Imperial Troopers I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-lessons-of-james-bond-movies/920276/46 "2020-09-11T15:00:13Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > The late Donald “Red” Grant was a graduate. But you see, he didn’t know which wine goes with which food. A “dead” giveaway. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-lessons-of-james-bond-movies/920276/47 "2020-09-11T15:15:49Z")
Where else can you store canisters of rocket fuel? What could possibly happen? ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-lessons-of-james-bond-movies/920276/48 "2020-09-11T15:31:31Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > But you see, he didn’t know which wine goes with which food. A “dead” giveaway. It should have been a dead giveaway. But Bond ignored it, and got clouted over the head for his carelessness. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-lessons-of-james-bond-movies/920276/49 "2020-09-11T16:04:23Z")
Now we know who the Imperial Storm Troopers were REALLY cloned from. Bond villain henchmen. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-lessons-of-james-bond-movies/920276/50 "2020-09-11T16:42:34Z")
There’s a trick to carrying a fullsized pistol under a tight tux without it printing. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-lessons-of-james-bond-movies/920276/51 "2020-09-11T17:12:50Z")
There’s a TV Tropes page dedicated to the tropes of the Bond movies. Some good stuff in here. > **[James Bond](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/JamesBond)** > > A long-running spy action film franchise based on Ian Fleming's novel series about Commander James Bond, code-named 007, British special agent of the 00 section of MI-6 (double "0" indicating his licence to kill). Over the course of sixty years, … ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-lessons-of-james-bond-movies/920276/52 "2020-09-11T22:07:28Z")
I enjoyed many of the tropes. But that’s not quite the same as lessons. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2020, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-lessons-of-james-bond-movies/920276/53 "2020-09-12T01:49:52Z")
One Bond lesson not mentioned: always carry earmuffs in case you encounter Beatles music. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2020, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-lessons-of-james-bond-movies/920276/54 "2020-09-12T15:14:53Z")
How to keep your white dinner jacket looking snazzy and neat after wearing it under a wet suit because you had to parachute from a low flying lear jet into the ocean, swim (scuba) to shore, immobilize 2 armed guards, and then remove the wetsuit to enter the dinner party? 1 hour Martinizing. And I will refrain from mentioning [Peter’s Evil Overlord List](http://www.eviloverlord.com/lists/overlord.html). ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2020, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-lessons-of-james-bond-movies/920276/55 "2020-09-14T06:37:56Z")
You can always count on finding security tapes, instruction manuals, and codebooks in the first place you look. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2020, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-lessons-of-james-bond-movies/920276/56 "2020-09-15T18:46:39Z")
All bombs have large LED displays counting down towards zero and can be disarmed by guesswork in the remaining time available. Corollary 1: The bomb is never programmed to go off at e.g. 1:23 remaining just to fool any would-be disarmers. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2020, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-lessons-of-james-bond-movies/920276/57 "2020-09-15T19:40:41Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > All bombs have large LED displays counting down towards zero and can be disarmed by guesswork in the remaining time available. Ah, movie bombs. They’re either too simple, or too complicated. It is totally possible, without exotic materials or tech, to make a bomb that is disarm proof. No sophisticated traps, no "which wire do I cut?? tricks to fool bomb disposal experts involved. It’s simple. OTOH, a bomb that is just a block of C4 and a timer? Sitting there? No need for elaborate techniques, red wire blue wire. Pull the blasting cap out and you’re good to go. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2020, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-lessons-of-james-bond-movies/920276/58 "2020-09-15T20:34:14Z")
Never chase James Bond by a cliff. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2020, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-lessons-of-james-bond-movies/920276/59 "2020-09-15T20:38:46Z")
But if driving yourself from point A to B, be sure to take the single lane mountain route full of trucks that goes by the cliff. If being chauffeured by a taxi waiting for you at the airport, call the embassy to verify no car was sent. Get in the taxi anyway (and why not) and wait until it starts speeding well above the limit. Instruct the driver to take the next right to elude followers then put a gun to his head. Ask who the driver is working for before he can smoke his poisoned cigarette. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2020, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-lessons-of-james-bond-movies/920276/60 "2020-09-15T22:40:31Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > OTOH, a bomb that is just a block of C4 and a timer? Sitting there? No need for elaborate techniques, red wire blue wire. Pull the blasting cap out and you’re good to go And you’d be dead. _My_ bombs always have a tamper switch at the base of the blasting cap well. That’s just second semester Bombs 102. Most movie bomb guys didn’t finish even the first half of Bombs 101. Amatuers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-lessons-of-james-bond-movies/920276.md?page=2)