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The Martial Arts and James Bond in the movies by Andrew Staton
James Bond is always very capable of defending himself in an armed confrontation, and equally at home in any unarmed situation. Virtually every film has him, at some point, squaring off with an opponent, or henchman without the aid of a firearm.
So what Martial Arts are used by Britain’s favourite fictional super spy?
It seems that 007 may have been a real frontrunner in the Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) arena before it was even called MMA, and he is certainly a man whose hands and feet are to be feared.
Sean Connery soon went into martial arts action in Dr No as soon as he was picked up from the Jamaican airport and was taken on a merry ride by one of Dr No’s henchmen. As soon as Bond (Connery) realises he has been tricked he gets out of the car and a fight ensues that features an early flying kick.
So at this point James Bond’s martial arts looked like a cross between Karate and Kung Fu. Connery, himself, was a student of Karate, and his swagger, confidence, and skill are evident in his portrayal of Bond.
Connery was an on and off screen tough guy without question, in addition he even did many of his own Bond stunts.
Bond’s (Connery) second great fight was against Red Grant in From Russia With Love (1963), this was a close quarter fight in a train compartment against a opponent who was equally skilled in hand to hand combat, of course Bond wins out in the end but not without a brutal fight.
The Connery continues to have several fights throughout the following films including a romantic Judo fight with Pussy Galore in a hay barn and a man in drag in Thunderball.
However, it was not until In You Only Live Twice (1967). That Bond dons a Martial Arts GI, and his Judo skills are evidenced in many of the fight sequences in Japan and, later, he is trained in the art of Ninjutsu, under the supervision of Tiger Tanaka, in preparation to infiltrate Blofeld’s volcanic hideaway.
The man behind Connery’s Judo and other martial arts skills for this film was Donald ‘Donn’ Frederick Draeger, who was an expert practitioner of Asian martial arts, an author of several martial arts books, and a United States Marine. Draeger was very well known and respected in the martial arts community, and was a leading martial artist. ‘Donn’ had held the rank of Captain during peacetime and Major during wartime in the Marine Corps. He spent several decades of his life in the Pacific area and Japan, becoming well acquainted with several classical martial arts of the region. Today, he is probably best known for his martial arts scholarship and specifically serving as martial arts coordinator for the James Bond film You Only Live Twice, where he also doubled for actor Sean Connery.
After this film movie goers were introduced to a new James Bond played by George Lazenby in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. This film starts off with a fight on the beach in a well-choregraphed fight arrangement of Karate and Judo. However, the most interesting about this Bond is what George did after playing Bond. For a variety of reasons George Lazenby backed himself into a corner so that he never played Bond again. Virtually broke he took a plane to Hong Kong and went to ask Bruce Lee for a part in his next movie Game Of Death. After some quick-thinking Bruce gave him a part and started instructing George in his art of Jeet Kune Do. Unfortunately shortly after this time period Bruce tragically passed away.
In spite of the tragedy Golden Harvest needed to continue to create content and had paid George Lazenby yet hadn’t used his talents. George had used his cheque to pay off his debts. The studio soon corrected this with a three-picture martial arts movie deal which included Stoner, Queen’s Ransom with Angela Mao Ying and The Man From Hong Kong with Jimmy Wang Yu.
Connery came back as Bond for the film Diamonds Are Forever and in spite of being older delivered two very memorable fights; the first is in a lift with Wado-ryu style Karate and Judo expert and stunt man Joe Robinson. This fight was all out and so graphic and violent it was heavily censored for tv and initial release. The other fight is with female martial arts deadly duo Bambi and Thumper demonstrating the beginnings of a Karate/ Kung Fu mix, with flying kicks on show way before Bruce Lee.
When Roger Moore took over the role as Bond in Live And Let Die, his fight scenes seem to be a little less intense however he was, in fact, an adept Karate student of Aaron Banks. Unfortunately, Moore always appeared to be more concerned about his hair and appearance to get his hands dirty, there are numbers of hand to hand sequences in the Moore films, many include “karate chops” and some low kicks and many campy uses of props but his fight scenes never reach the intensity and grit of Connery.
In the early 70s when Roger moved into his next Bond movie Man With The Golden Gun karate and kung Fu had massively grown across the United States and Europe. This martial arts craze was in no small part thanks to the TV series Kung Fu and the films of Bruce Lee. It was for this reason that two martial arts sequences were added to the movie. The first where Bond confronts a martial arts expert in a Kwoon. The second outside the Kwoon where two Thai school girls do the fighting for Bond. Again, Bond dons a white GI for these scenes.
For the rest of Roger’s Bond films apart from little skirmishes, Moore understood his limitations in this area, and opted for cunning rather than grit in gaining the upper hand on his opponents in hand to hand combat scenes.
One notable rumour about a Connery remake of Thunderball (1965) remake, Never Say Never Again (1983), is that Connery is alleged to have had his wrist broken while undergoing martial arts instruction, and a possible disagreement with, non-other than Steven Seagal. In true Connery “tough guy” fashion he ignored the pain until well after the production was wrapped on the film, only to discover that lingering pain was a broken wrist.
The Bond film series with Timothy Dalton or Brosnan, neither made very memorable contributions in the perpetuation of Bond’s reputation as a skilled hand to hand combat expert. Dalton is grittier in his portrayal and more believable as a hand to hand tactician. Brosnan is clearly the most debonair of the Bond actors, and only shone a little in Tomorrow Never Dies where Michelle Yeo did most of the believable fighting and of course the best fight scene from Brosnan was in Die Another Day that starts out as a fencing match and ends a full-on tour du force.
Now we come to the main man Daniel Craig who honed and perfected his skills in parkour, which prepared him for the epic chase scene in the film. He worked on Krav Maga, as well as many martial arts to create that natural confidence that every action actor seeks to deliver great fight scenes. Daniel got this from the expert tutelage of Darren Levine, the founder of Krav Maga worldwide. This allowed Craig to deliver amazingly memorable and riveting scenes in Casino Royale (2006) Firstly with Obanno and his Ugandan mercenaries who are seeking a return of their funds from Le Chiffre one way or another.
Craig delivers a believable fight scene which is tough, down and dirty. The second fight scene where he is fighting mercenaries to save Vesper in a falling building is again well staged by Gary Powell and one of the mercenaries is played by well-seasoned martial arts actor and choreographer Mike Lambert (he now creates fight arrangements for Star Wars movies now).
Daniel’s fight scenes have moved beyond the formula, and sometimes gimmicky, fight sequences audiences had become used to in Bond films. These fight sequences are engaging, brutal good film making and remind us that, while Bond is far from a super hero, he is a dangerous and skilled combatant. Daniel continued this fantastic martial arts action in all of his movies of Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, Spectre and last by no means least No Time To Die
Now we have to wait for a new James Bond, someone who at his core, is a government assassin. They need to be an expert in delivering deadly martial arts force and unequalled in a close contact combat situation with his hands, feet, knees, elbows and any weapon that’s in close proximity to get the job done by the code of his 007 status. The world waits!
In the meantime we have two exclusive JAMES BOND 007 UK based competitions;
1. James Bond No Time To Die Scalextric Competition
Is your dad, father figure, or mum a James Bond fan? Do they like to spend their weekends in a fast car chasing supervillains and stopping them carrying out their evil plans for world domination?
Now’s their chance, thanks to Scalextric! As part of the new Film and TV category introduced in 2020, Scalextric have produced the iconic Aston Martin in a Micro Scalextric James Bond 007 Race Set – a perfect gift for secret agents everywhere on June 19th. To celebrate, we are giving away a set!
To enter just send in your details and answer the following questions: –
1. What is the make and model of the Car in Goldfinger?
2. Who plays James Bond In No time to Die?
3. Who is the Villain with Metal teeth in The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker?
2. Roger Moore as Sherlock Homes in New York Blu -Ray Competition
Thanks to Signal-One Entertainment we have three Blu-ray copies of Sherlock Holmes In New York on Blu-ray.
In this mystery, Holmes (Roger Moore) pursues his arch-enemy Moriarty to New York, where the villainous scoundrel has carried out the ultimate bank robbery. Meanwhile, Holmes enjoys a blossoming romance with Charlotte Rampling, who becomes the target of a kidnap by Moriarty. Doctor Watson is played by Patrick Mcknee (Steed In the Avengers TV Series)
Special Features: -High Definition Transfer, Feature-length audio commentary with Roger Moore,
Alternative theatrical presentation, Newly-created HoH subtitles.
To win this film just send your details and answer these two questions;
- Which Black and White TV series is Roger Best remembered for?
2. Which was Roger Moore’s last James Bond Movie?
Competition closes 28th June 2022. Thank you for your interest.
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