September 2009

Jack LordJames Bond is the quintessential British spy. He harks back to the days when Britain had an empire and a hefty political influence on the world. Even if the colonies were gone the British were still present in every country, peeking in and meddling in every plot and foiling the bad guys time and time again. The idea of friendship between the UK and the US is always handled carefully in the Bond movies. The relationship is clearly one based on expediency than any real affection. The only American character to repeatedly appear in the franchise is Felix Leiter.

Felix is actually a friend of James Bond, perhaps partly because both men are willing to flout the orders of their superiors in order to get the job done. He appears throughout the novel and film series but he pops up in various guises and is played by a host of different actors.

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