Bond Trivia Contest

I've always been something of a James Bond fan; it's part of my extended adolescence. I even like to watch bad James Bond movies. I actually have a theory that it's the bad movies we like that really define us as moviegoers, and I'll write about that someday.

On Saturday I competed in the James Bond trivia contest at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, which is part of the non-profit American Cinematheque . The contest covered the seven Sean Connery Bond movies. It was conducted in spelling bee format with seven panelists asking questions - each panelist being an "expert" in one movie. Once you missed three questions, you were out. Steven Jay Rubin, author of The Complete James Bond Movie Encyclopedia, moderated.

Because I hadn't seen any of the movies since around 2000 and my Connery DVDs were in the hands of my brother, I needed to devise a time efficient study strategy. I checked out Steve Rubin's 450 page opus from the local library on Wednesday night, and read straight through, skipping the irrelevant parts. Because many facts are repeated (e.g. characters are listed both under their character name and under the cast name), it was the perfect way to study.


Thirty-eight of us (only two females) participated. Fortunately, my study strategy was effective, as I came in third, and got lots of swag. Each of the five finalists got the stuff in the red bag which included Avengers videos, Casino Royale souvenirs, altoids, a DVD of the Peacemaker, and a ticket to the Cinematheque. The top three finalists got a 5 movie DVD set from the Ultimate James Bond Collection. Mine contained two-disc editions of Thunderball, The Spy Who Loved Me, A View to a Kill (Grace likes this one for some reason), Licence to Kill, and Die Another Day.


Here's the five finalists (I'm in the middle peering over the winner who's wearing a tie) and Steven Jay Rubin (on the right). His book is fun and essential if you have a need to fill your brain with useless information for a trivia contest (especially if he's the moderator). If you want a more erudite (but readable) account of the role of the Bond films role in both film and cultural history, I highly recommend Licence to Thrill by James Chapman. If you grew up with the Bond series (I was born in 1962, the year Dr. No was released), you'll probably find the book quite fascinating.

Grace was impressed with my accomplishments at the trivia competition. She just wants to know why I can store all this useless information, but can't seem to remember where things are kept in the house.