This week’s episode of Top Gear had a brilliant feature on James Bond cars. The Bond Cars, like the film cinema posters, are one of the cornerstones that make the franchise so enduring. We thought we would look at Bond Cars and Bond Cinema Posters together. In this article, we examine some examples of where a Bond car features in a Bond Cinema Poster.
Goldfinger and the Aston Martin DB5
The most iconic Bond car of all must be the Aston Martin DB5 which first appeared in Goldfinger. A DB3 was written into the Goldfinger novel by Ian Fleming, not long after Aston Martins’s one-two finish in the 1959 Le Mans 24 hour race. The DB5’s release in 1963 coincided perfectly with the filming of Goldfinger. It is Interesting that the DB5 has appeared in very few Bond posters. A Japanese poster for a re-release for Goldfinger shows the car chase between the DB5 and Tilly Mastersons Ford Mustang.
Live and Let Die
Much of Live and Let Die was filmed in New York and Florida. Therefore it is fitting that a Chevrolet Impala would feature on the main artwork for Live and Let Die. This is the car driven by Sheriff JW Pepper and it is eventually destroyed by a flying speed boat as seen in the poster. Another car to feature in the film is a Cadillac Coupe de Ville driven by Mr. Big and pictured outside the ‘Fillet of Soul’ restaurant in Harlem. In his ‘Book Bond Cars – The Definitive History’, Jason Barlow points out that the Cadillac was a major signifier of upward mobility when ‘Live and Let Die’ was released in 1971. This made it the perfect car for pimps, drug dealers, and petty thieves such as the character Mr. Big.
The Spy Who Loved Me
No car from the Roger Moore era movies can be more memorable than the Lotus Esprit submarine car that features in the Spy Who Loved Me. The car is featured in nearly every poster used for the film’s release, including this US One Sheet poster for ‘The Spy Who Loved Me‘. Elon Musk owns one of the prop cars and when asked at a shareholder meeting about the potential for a Tesla submarine car Musk name-checked the Bond movie.
The Esprits appearance in the movie is through a brilliant piece of marketing by a Lotus executive. He left the car at key entrances to the Pinewood Studios. The following day the Lotus executive was invited to a meeting with Cubby Broccoli and a deal was struck to use the car. The only cost borne by lotus was the 17,500 GBP cost to supply the cars. This amount which equates to about £100,000 in today’s money is an indication of how product placement in movies has changed in the subsequent years. The submersible car (which came to be known as wet Nellie) used for propellers, powered by batteries kept in a watertight compartment, to create forward motion.
The Living Daylights
Having been absent for 8 films Aston Martin Returns for the ‘The Living Daylights. The V8 Volante is hugely prominent in the poster for The Living Daylights. The car is fitted with many gadgets including lasers in the wheel hubs, retractable outriggers, and heat-seeking missiles behind the number plates. The outriggers are the stabilisers (skis) that balance the car on ice and can be seen in the artwork for the poster.
The Daniel Craig movies
An Aston Martin DBS features on the cinema poster for Casino Royal while Daniel Craig wins a DB5 in a poker game. The Db5 is set to reappear in the forthcoming ‘No Time to Die movie as is the V8. Some deduction from the trailer indicates that a bullet-riddled DB5 features in an advance poster for No Time to Die.
