Absolutely Fantastic

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

This 46-minute look at the history of an essential part of the Bond phenomenon is certainly entertaining and at times even wonderful to watch: along with clips from several Bond movies (accompanied by their own music score), we get interviews from several former Bond girls who are now gracefully aging, intelligent women (Honor Blackman, who was around 75 when this was filmed, looks amazing for her age and still has that characteristic toughness in her voice). Most of them fully embrace their long-standing popularity, but there is one (Maud Adams) who seems to want to cut off most connections to the past. The documentary is also a good reminder of how many strong female characters have been introduced in this series; of course there also have been films like "The Man With The Golden Gun", with one bimbo and one victim, but in total the Bond series is not sexist, even if the Bond character himself is. However, there are too many omissions (among the most important ones: Carole Bouquet is not seen at all, and both "Goldeneye" girls are seen only in clips) for "Bond Girls Are Forever" to qualify as the definitive documentary on the subject. (**1/2)

Miriam D'Abo, Olivia's sister, narrates this documentary as she interviews some of the women who were Bond girls. The girls in the doc all enjoyed being able to show off their femininity, to be beautiful and, in some cases, to show off their strength. It's interesting to see the four main eras of Bond girls, from the relatively placid girls of the Connery age to the forced sex slaves of the Roger Moore era to the de-sexed Dalton girls to the tougher girls of the Brosnan films, from the perspective of the actresses who lived through them. Strangely though, some of the films are ignored, You Only Live Twice, The Spy Who Loved Me, For Your Eyes Only, and From a View To a Kill, and with the exception of Ursalla Andress, Honor Blackman, and Carey Lowell, the interviews are too short. Miriam D'Abo is also not the first Bond girl that you would think of to host a documentary on them and a club that includes some ninety women over twenty some films should probably have more than an hour dedicated to them. Despite all this, it's still a satisfying hour that brings up some interesting points to buffs.

With a title like this one, you'd expect the usual, fluffy, ET-type of superficial clip flick. To my surprise, however, this retrospective/interview documentary, hosted (quite well) by former Bond girl Maryam D'Abo, turns out to be highly watchable, and not just for all the requisite clips of attractive women in bikinis. D'Abo, who co-wrote the script as well as hosted the interviews, does an excellent job of 'bonding' (ouch!) with her fellow eye-candy compatriots, and it really is fun (and interesting) to see the evolution of the role over time.Since the film was made some 40 years after Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore rolled in the hay with Sean Connery, and that image is firmly fixed in our cultural consciousness, it is somewhat disconcerting to see her now, white-haired and pushing 80 (but still regal). On the other hand, most of the more recent vintage actresses seem to have aged surprisingly well, and (at least to my mind) come across even sexier today than they did in their films. This is not the least because they are allowed to speak their minds without a script. Surprise, surprise, instead of just being decorative, many of them come across as being thoughtful, gracious and eloquent.The interviews with D'Abo were filmed casually, usually in public settings such as restaurants, bars or parks, but with extremely high production values. And since the film was made with the support of the franchise owners, there are more than enough clips from the original films to satisfy even hard core fans.While this was shot in 2002, AMC is running it in rotation now with the Bond films themselves, so I'd suggest that you set your Tivo to record it for you so that you can watch it at your leisure.

Interesting documentary about all the different Bond girls over the years, and why they will forever be immortalized. I don't know if this was aired in the States, but I saw it over in the UK and it was interesting as far as these things tend to go.