It’s pretty neat how perception changes with age. A few days ago, I found myself watching Doctor No again – with Sean Connery donning the mantle of James Bond for the first time. As a child, I failed to fully appreciate the film’s allure. Today, I’m captivated by how timeless it seems. I mean, this was released back in 1962 and it still looks great: the exotic Jaimaican feel to it, the suit Connery’s wearing… and every vehicle polished to perfection.
During the film, I wondered at Connnery’s age. He seemed to be in his early forties, which wouldn’t make any sense – given how I remember him playing John Mason in the classic nineties action flick, The Rock. A quick search provided the answer: thirty-one years of age during production, thirty-two upon its release. An early bloomer, I guess.
Thirty-two also happens to be the age at which Bruce Lee passed away. I remember being a young boy, reading about his life and death. The biographer stated how he’d died at such a young age. Being about eleven years old at that point, thirty-two seemed ancient to me. Well, for some reason I’ve changed my mind on that one.
As a quick point of trivia, there does exist a connection between Lee’s most famous film, Enter The Dragon, and James Bond’s Doctor No. Writing the screenplay for Enter The Dragon, there was some spirited debate as to the role Lee’s character would assume. They entertained the notion of Lee as some type of secret agent. It makes sense, as the plotline of the film closely follows Doctor No. However, Lee himself had some other ideas. Trying to please not only his Western audience, he also had to keep his Chinese audience in mind. And playing a secret agent, subservient to the British Crown, just doesn’t quite do it for the Chinese audience, given their mutual history. Look up the Opium Wars, if you’re not quite sure why.
They found an elegant compromise. They decided to have Lee play a Shaolin monk with a personal vendetta, who just so happened to be contacted by some intelligence agency, asking for his help. In essence, he’s a secret agent without being a secret agent.
Now, both Sean Connery and Bruce Lee were under heavy pressure to deliver their best performances, with the film’s success being vitally important for their careers. And both did just that, creating legacies which will outlast them for a long time. I couldn’t have grasped any of this at age eleven.
In other news: recently I’ve reread Hunter S. Thompson’s The Rum Diary. It’s been about two years ago since I’ve last read it. Back then, I wasn’t really blown away. Sure, I recognized the writing style was fantastic, but it bugged me how the story didn’t go anywhere. Nowadays though, I find myself appreciating the book’s content much, much more. It’s all about the inner journey the main character faces. Being a thirty year-old journalist, he’s slowly getting tired of his nomadic existence. Perhaps it was fun in his twenties, but now he’s starting to dread his future. He feels his luck has been running out lately and he knows something will have to change, quick. Reading the reviews for this book, I see the critics missing the point, just like I did the first time round. They don’t understand they’re reading a masterpiece. I guess that means that you shouldn’t take criticism too personally.
In any case, keep growing and keep evolving. And when you revisit the old, familiar stuff from way back when, observe how much you’ve changed. Food for thought.
Regards
Vincent J. Dancet