Could we have a Bond film without a Bond girl?

I was having a discussion with my brother and we started talking about the significance of the Bond Girls. I believe that Bond girls play an important part in the Bond films, they are strong-willed, resourceful and of course glamorous. They are one of the many things that signify a Bond film. However, my brother said he thinks there could be a Bond film without a Bond girl!

Just wanted to find out other people's opinions. Could there really be a Bond film without a Bond girl?

You could, but why would you? The Bond girl has been part of the formula from the very beginning.

In many ways isn't that what we got with Skyfall? ... unless you count 'M' but it is a different form of Bond girl in that case. Most of the Craig era films seem to exist with the female characters more on the periphery than previously imo.

To make the very best film they can the key is really to provide interesting characters of all forms (people who you think might exist outside the central narrative) Mendes makes an attempt but it seems a bit of a lost art at this moment and not just for Eon.

We still have Severine, lachesis. In my eyes she's the main Bond girl, since M is M, and Eve is Moneypenny (and I don't believe they slept together in Macau).

Perhaps you could, but I wouldn't want that to happen. It might have been Fleming's intention with Moonraker, though even then, there was a(n) (engaged) Gala Brand who did get cosy with Bond at one point, IIRC, and went for a naked swim.

I think people criticised Dalton in TLD as being the sexless Bond by having one Bond girl (ignoring the girl in the PTS), so I'm not sure such a move would be a commercial one. Not to mention in this day and age, when political correctness comes into effect, and there's a push for the inclusion for everyone who isn't a white, heterosexual male. For actresses, it's a great thing, because parts that may have been written for males as now female roles, which in turn also leaves the door open for these stronger female characters to be Bond girls (or Bond women).

Welcome to the forums, by the way!

What would be the point? A large part of Bond's character is that hes a charming ladies man. Kind of hard to show that if there are no girls around.

There are constructive ways to evolve the franchise and there are pointless ones. I think this falls under the category of pointless.

Don't be silly it will make boring & Bond fan like it . Someone close this thread.

There are some Bond movies, where I feel he shouldn't have gotten sexually involved with the main Bond girl.  In, YOLT, FYEO, AVTAK, and GE for example, the movies concentrate on so much plot (which is not a bad thing), that they don't concentrate much on the sexual chemistry, and sometimes it feels like Bond and the girl get together out of left field.

It feels like the directors had in their contracts that there Bond and the woman must have sex at some point, even though that romances between him and the woman are not the very focused things for those particular entries.

lachesis wrote:

In many ways isn't that what we got with Skyfall? ... unless you count 'M' but it is a different form of Bond girl in that case. Most of the Craig era films seem to exist with the female characters more on the periphery than previously imo.

I do think M was the Bond girl.

"Sometimes, the old ladies are the best."

I believe that's what Bond said. Haven't seen it in a year or so, though.

That was from a deleted scene. I believe there was also the bit where M says "Moneypenny was right... you are a cunning linguist," as she rubs Cregg's shaved monkey head between her thighs.

I don't consider M the main Bond girl. That's Severine. M's just a key player this time round.

Yes. You could have a film without any of the tried and true elements but you'd have to have a darn good story for the audience to buy it.

I'd like to see a female role finally approach Fleming's level of characterization. I've always felt that the female roles get a bit short shifted and even the good ones are more often than not buried in subtext.

The really interesting question would be can you have a film without any love scenes? This is something I've pondered for some time-have a film with tons of sexual tensions and innuendos like a Hitchcock film but without any actual bending of character wills or love scenes. Fleming did it in Moonraker and I've always loved that particular change of pace.