Richard Johnson – James Bond Connections

28 AUGUST 2023

JBC rating: ***

James Bond Connections (5):

Starring James Villiers (Bill Tanner in For Your Eyes Only) as main villain Carl Peterson.
Featuring Daliah Lavi (The Detainer in Casino Royale [1967]) as Baroness Helga.
Featuring Virginia North (Olympe in OHMSS) as one of Peterson’s guards.
Featuring Joanna Lumley (Angel of Death in OHMSS) as one of Peterson’s women.
Lyrics by Don Black (James Bond, various, 1964 – 1989).

Some Girls Do was the third and final 1960s spy movie starring Shakespearian leading man Richard Johnson, the darkly handsome actor who was a leading contender for Bond in 1962. A sequel to Deadlier than the Male (1967), Johnson again plays an updated version of H.C McNeile’s long running hero ‘Bulldog Drummond’. Whilst the filmmakers behind Deadlier than the Male clearly modelled their update of Sapper’s hero on Sean Connery’s Bond, the earlier film maintained its own individuality by casting Drummond as an insurance investigator – rather than an operative of British intelligence – and adding some family peril. However, in Some Girls Do Drummond’s profession is barely referenced by the clunky script and the character is portrayed as just another Bond-style spy. But with plenty of action, amusing characters, and a great soundtrack (Bond lyricist Don Black pens the catchy theme tune), Some Girls Do is a lot of campy fun. For James Bond fans, the film presents a final chance to see an actor who nearly was 007 star in an espionage movie.

4 JUNE 2023

JBC rating: ***

James Bond Connections (2):

Featuring actor David Bauer (Morton Slumber in Diamonds Are Forever) as US official Bennett.
Theme song composed by Lionel Bart (composer of the song From Russia with Love).

The British B-movie Danger Route is by far the grittiest of three late 1960s spy films starring Shakespearean actor Richard Johnson, the darkly handsome English leading man who famously turned down the chance to star as the first James Bond in Dr No (1962). Johnson’s brutal turn as a jaded, cold-blooded government assassin adds an edge of danger largely absent from his portrayals of Bulldog Drummond in the campy and fantastical Deadlier than the Male (1967) and Some Girls Do (1969). Indeed, Danger Route suggests his portrayal of 007 could have been both exciting and faithful to Ian Fleming’s conception of his hero as a “blunt instrument of the state” and the film is well worth watching for any James Bond fan.

Tag: Richard Johnson

Some Girls Do (1969): Bulldog Bond’s last stand

Danger Route (1967): nearly-Bond Richard Johnson as a blunt instrument of the state