The Bond Girls

Sexpots and Psychopaths

Fleming gave us beautiful women with whimsical names. They were athletic, independent and drawn into adventure, however briefly. A playboy writer called them "one-mission stands." They appeared usually one to a book. Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman created what we think of as the Bond girls, adorning each adventure with recognizable types--the Angel With a Wing Down, the Naive Beauty, the Comrade in Arms and the Villainous Vixen. In Agent 007's world, almost every woman is a 10, from the hotel attendant to the villain's girlfriend to the car rental girl to the female assassin, from the sexpots to the psychopaths. Ursula Andress was the archetype, said Broccoli, "the type of girl we should use for future leading ladies--an unknown with a new face who wouldn't demand an outrageous salary." Even with an eye on the bottom line, Broccoli did not ignore other attributes. Critics note that Bond girls have to "act out women's fantasies of female erotic strength while keeping the male audience happy." They have to be able to "do the action, wear the gown and be an equal match for Bond." The Bond girls are role models. They show what's wrong with the current feminist rhetoric, notes Camille Paglia. "These were fantastic images of women, very powerful, physically active and very sexy. The women are always portrayed as libidinous--there's an ease with which the women say yes. The sexual revolution has gone backward from here." The Bond girl has become a pawn in the world of sexual politics, as much as the Barbie doll or Miss America. Critics evaluate their professions, their wardrobes, their eye shadow. A chart in The New York Times reports the average time to the first sex scene in Bond movies. In Dr. No, it's 15 minutes, 49 seconds. In License to Kill, made in the age of safe sex and feminist reprisal, it's one hour, 40 minutes and 55 seconds. That may explain the public reaction to Timothy Dalton's Bond. After Cubby Broccoli's death, his daughter and son-in-law took the Bond girl in a new direction. One member of the Eon team announced, "Our leading lady characters are not going to be played as bimbette girls running around in bikinis." A reviewer noted that lzabella Scorupco, the computer programmer in Golden Eye, portrayed "an intelligent, independent woman, not a plot device with a serious cleavage." A professor of pop culture interviewed by The New York Times made much of the fact that Michelle Yeoh got her own fight scene in Tomorrow Never Dies, noting that martial arts had replaced sex. When The World Is Not Enough showcased Denise Richards as part of a crew disassembling atomic warheads, one journalist interviewed a real-life physicist to determine if a 20-something actress is old enough to be a nuclear scientist. The woman replied, "No, but if one 11-year-old girl sees the movie and is motivated to study physics, it's worthwhile." And if 20 million 11-year-old girls see the movie and decide to get Midriff tattoos, it's even better. Our favorite Bond girl? Lois Max-well's Miss Moneypenny, of course. A 14-film relationship, fewer than 200 words of dialogue, and she is still first.

Best Bad Girls

Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman) "Goldfinger" Elektra King (Sophie Marceau) "The World Is Not Enough"

Fiona Volpe (Luciana Pal-luzzi) "Thunderball" Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen) "Golden Eye" Fatima Blush (Barbara Carrera) "Never Say Never Again"

Best Passing Fancies

Jill Masterson (Shirley Eaton) "Goldfinger"

Aki (Akiko Wakabayashi) "You Only Live Twice"

Paris Carver (Teri Hatcher) "Tomorrow Never Dies"

Magda (Kristina Wayborn) "Octopussy"

Tracy (Diana Rigg) "On Her Majesty's Secret Service"

Best Good Girls

Ursula Andress (Honey Ryder) "Dr. No"

Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi) "From Russia With Love"

Claudine Auger (Domino Derval) "Thunderball"

Michelle Yedh (Colonel Wai-Lin) "Tomorrow Never Dies"

Carey Lowell (Pam Bouvier) "License to Kill"