The Director's Chair - Guy Hamilton

The second director of the James Bond film series was Guy Hamilton, who took over from Terence Young to direct the third Bond film, Goldfinger. Hamilton later returned to direct three more Bond films.

Guy Hamilton is one of my personal favourite Bond directors, not only for his 007 films, but also for his non-Bond work. Goldfinger is considered by many to be the definitive Bond film. It marks the first time in which gadgetry plays a major role in a Bond film, which the introduction of Bond’s gadget-laden Aston Martin DB5. The film was also more light-hearted in tone than the previous two films.

At the end of Goldfinger, Hamilton said that he felt drained of ideas and elected not to return as director of the next film. However, for the 7th Bond film, Diamonds Are Forever, Hamilton returned. He felt that he had had a sufficient break from Bond to come back refreshed. Diamonds Are Forever saw the return of Connery after a one-film hiatus, as well as a return to the tone of Goldfinger after the more serious On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. In fact, at one point, the villain was going to be Goldfinger’s twin brother which illustrates how the producer’s wanted to do another Goldfinger style film. The next film, Live And Let Die, saw the introduction of Roger Moore as James Bond. Hamilton returned to helm Moore’s debut, and increased the humour to another level in order to suit Moore’s lighter portrayal of Bond. The film was potentially controversial, featuring entirely black villains, as well as numerous racial caricatures, although on the whole these are handled well by Hamilton and the film is extremely enjoyable. Hamilton’s last Bond film was The Man With The Golden Gun, which was made in a similar tone to the previous film, although the production as a whole seems a little uninspired, although the villain is a true classic.

Beyond Bond, Hamilton directed many films which are amongst my favourites. Before he started directing his own films, he worked as an assistant director on such classics as The Third Man and The African Queen. His early films as director include An Inspector Calls and the classic prisoner of war drama, The Colditz Story. After directing Goldfinger, Hamilton was hired to direct another Harry Saltzman spy film, Funeral In Berlin, the sequel to the great The Ipcress File, starring Michael Caine as the working class cockney spy, Harry Palmer. Michael Caine described the experience as playing Harry Palmer while being directed by James Bond. He directed for Saltzman once again in 1969 with the World War II epic, Battle of Britain. He continued to show an aptitude for action-adventure films into the 1970s with Force 10 From Navarone, a film which I feel is vastly underrated. His last film was Try This One For Size, released in 1989.

Guy Hamilton’s body of work is very impressive, and includes some of my all-time favourites. His Bond movies were exciting and fast-paced, if a little over the top and silly at times. He will remain one of the most highly respected Bond directors.