“Critical judgements are irrelevant with a film like ‘Casino Royale.’ Robert Murphy considers it one of those films ‘which ought to be shipped to a desert island and screened continuously by those responsible for them.'” James Chapman, License to Thrill: A Cultural History of the James Bond Films
“At one time or another, ‘Casino Royale’ undoubtedly had a shooting schedule, a script and a plot. If any one of the three ever turns up, it might be the making of a good movie. In the meantime, the present version is a definitive example of what can happen when everybody working on a film goes simultaneously berserk.” – Roger Ebert
“The guy who played Bond (David Niven) was so cheesy it was pathetic. I think it’s sad and almost ironic that you have this spectacular franchise and yet the first Fleming book, the beginning of the 007 legacy, was given such shabby treatment”. – Quentin Tarantino
“What do you think of the criticism that you’re not very good?” – Interviewer
“We’re not.” – George Harrison
“The often criticized inconsistencies of the film’s multiple James Bonds, including the banal 007 of Terence Cooper, brought in to cover Sellers’s unfinished characterization, intentionally work to confuse the issue of Bond, to overwork the paradigm until it has no value… Here, the most unique icon of the era is intentionally made common — a fashion, a fad, a façade: the multiple Bonds are all copies of a first copy…” – Robert Von Dassanowsky
“I don’t really have any personality of my own. There used to be a me behind the mask, but I had it surgically removed. I don’t know, if I didn’t have characters like Clouseau, I don’t know who I’d be.” – Peter Sellers
“In my day spying was an alternative to war, and the spy was a member of a select and immaculate priesthood, vocationally devoted, sublimely disinterested… hardly a description of that sexual acrobat who leaves a trail of beautiful dead women like blown roses behind him.” – David Niven, “Casino Royale”
“I don’t use my body to seduce, no. I just stand there.” – Ursula Andress
“And afterwords we can run amok! Or if you’re too tired, we can walk amok.” – Dr Noah, “Casino Royale”
“The Mata Hari School of Dancing is the only truly international school of espionage in the world. There is no political prejudice here. We train Russian spies for America and American spies for Russia. Very democratic.” – Frau Hoffner, “Casino Royale”
“It’s a tragic treatment of a great Fleming novel… The fact that none of it makes sense doesn’t bother me much because it’s glorious eye candy.” – Lee Pfeiffer
“All human action is expressive; a gesture is an intentionally expressive action. All art is expressive – of its author and of the situation in which he works – but some art is intended to move us through visual gestures that transmit, and perhaps give release to, emotions and emotionally charged messages. Such art is expressionist.” – Norbert Linton
“So this is David?”
“Yes. I named him after the only man I liked in Hollywood, an Englishman as it happens. He was called David Niven. He is a famous actor and producer. You have heard of him?”
“Of course. I shall enjoy tossing him a scrap or two of fish in exchange for the pleasure he has given me in his other incarnation.” – Ian Fleming, You Only Live Twice
beautiful post. i love the quotes.
(even though i kinda like the film!)
Thanks! I like the film, too. I tried to get a mix of both positive and negative quotes, but it was rather difficult to find positive ones. Personally, I find the film to be extremely beautiful in places, and I can’t help but be charmed by Niven.