James Bond and the role of the father. That’s today’s topic, on this Father’s Day.
First off, we hope that Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig are all having a terrific Father’s Day. With this in mind, though, what can be said about fatherhood and its role in James Bond films? It has not been a widespread component of the film series, but this doesn’t mean it has been overlooked, either.
In On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, for instance, Marc-Andre Draco, head of a crime
Winter is Coming
syndicate, is the father of Teresa (Tracy) di Vicenzo. Thus, at least for a short while, he is James Bond’s father-in-law.
Melina Havelock’s father, in For Your Eyes Only, is assassinated right in front of her. In the rest of the film, she attempts to avenge her father’s death.
Carl Mortner (aka Hans Glaub) was the “adoptive” father of villain Max Zorin in A View to a Kill. Mortner’s strong reaction to Zorin’s death, at the end of the film, suggests a strong father-son bond (see clip below).
In The World Is Not Enough, the death of Robert King leads James Bond to his daughter, Elektra King, whom he is at first assigned to protect. Turns out, Elektra was behind her own father’s death.
In Spectre, of course, the role of the “father” is explored more deeply. After James Bond’s parents died, Hannes Oberhauser had served as his foster father for a short time. This fact is not lost on Franz Oberhauser (Ernst Stavro Blofeld) who would seem to still have “daddy issues.” Furthermore, Bond promises Mr. White that he will find and protect his daughter, Madeleine Swann, who is also still coming to terms with the role her father played in her life.
With James Bond being an orphan, and with the last two films opening a can of proverbial worms on the topic, movie audiences will likely see more explorations into Bond’s own psyche, in terms of the “missing” father in his life.