Bond Week, Day 2: Best Bond Girls

 
    Countdown to Skyfall, Day 2...

    Much has been made of the “Bond Girl” - are they beautiful, empty-headed bimbos or strong, empowered characters? Considering Ian Fleming once described his famous creation as preferring sex “with the sweet tang of rape,” that should tell you on which side of the spectrum most of the female characters in the Bond films sit. Still, you can’t deny the simple attraction of the Bond girl, and for all the women all but dropping their pants at the mere sight of Sean Connery’s hairy chest, there were some truly remarkable actresses in fine, memorable roles.

    So, here you go: my list of the Five Best Bond Girls… 

BEST:

5: Ursula Andress as Honey Ryder, Dr. No

    It’s odd to base a character upon one scene, but when that character happens to be Ursula Andress as Honey Rider, that one scene is really all you need. Aside from the sight of Andress coming up the beach in that famous white bikini, the scene established a tradition for the Bond series. Upon first glance, Honey Ryder was beautiful, mysterious and possibly deadly, as she threatens to gut Bond with her knife if he so much as thought of stealing her sea shells. The scene sets up what could be an interesting character… and then promptly does away with all of that, as Honey is basically led along by the hand by Bond for the rest of the film. That juxtaposition of no-nonsense tough chick and shrinking violent would be one the series would struggle with throughout its duration (sometimes for better, mostly for worse), the seeds of which were all sown in Ms. Ryder’s famous introduction.

4: Michelle Yeoh as Wai Lin, Tomorrow Never Dies

    Michelle Yeoh adds some much needed high-kicking flavor to a series that was on its eighteenth installment and had already gone through just about every cliché in the action movie book (sometimes multiple times). But Yeoh brings more than just her kung fu skills, giving us a strong, non-Caucasian female character in a series of films that has not been particularly kind to its characters both non-Caucasian and female. There had been other “Warrior Women”-type characters in previous Bond films, but none came off better - or more believable - than Wai Lin.

3: Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore, Goldfinger

    “I must be dreaming,” Bond quips upon first meeting fighter pilot Pussy Galore, and it’s hard to disagree. The wonderful Honor Blackman imbues a rather ridiculous character with a strength and power heretofore unseen in a Bond movie. Prior to Goldfinger, all the leading ladies were of the weak-willed, damsel-in-distress variety - there to kiss Bond, be led around by the arm during the action scenes and little more. Not so with Ms. Galore, who ran her own team of flying aces and could judo flip 007 at the drop of a razor-brimmed hat. But for every step forward the series took, there were at least seven steps back - as evidenced in the scene where Bond essentially rapes Galore in a barn, “curing” her of her lesbianism in the process (more evident in the book than the movie). But still, Pussy Galore was a step in the right direction for the series, with Honor Blackman’s feisty portrayal paving the way for later Bond girls to not settle to be there merely as arm candy for Bond.

2: Eva Green as Vesper Lynd, Casino Royale

    One of the laziest tropes in genre fiction used to create strong female characters is to turn them into action heroes - virtually the same as their male counterparts, but with boobs. But with the Vesper Lynd found in 2006‘s Casino Royale, the filmmakers crafted a character able to stand toe-to-toe with Bond, all without having to ever fire a gun or engage in any of that action nonsense. They also had the good sense to cast Eva Green, who’s able to effectively portray all the nuances of the character with only the slightest of touches. Consider Lynd’s fantastic introduction, where she and Bond meet and immediately size each other up, trading witty barbs all throughout. Green is far more than the usual eye candy in the role, giving us a wonderfully complex character that breaks Bond’s heart, and gets us far more involved with the story emotionally than the usual Bond girl.

1: Diana Rigg as Tracy Di Vicenzo, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service

    One of the few women to win Bond’s heart, and the only one to get him to tie the knot - of course it would have to be the one and only Diana Rigg, playing Bond’s doomed bride Teresa “Tracy” Di Vicenzo. Tracy was far more than your average Bond girl - intelligent, witty and having absolutely no time to put up with any of Bond’s usual crap. Let’s just say there would be no semi-erotic, rapey fights in barns for Tracy - if she slept with Bond, it was because she wanted to (which was kind of rare for most of Bond’s sexual encounters, at least in the early films). Diana Rigg’s fantastic portrayal was exactly the thing the series needed, as a woman who - for a change - saves Bond’s life… In more ways than one.