10 Times James Bond Films Were Better Than The Books

1. The Entirety Of The Spy Who Loved Me

This is less of a case of film producer Albert R Broccoli looking at the original Fleming book and deciding this bit here and this bit there could be done away and improved upon, but rather Fleming himself saying ‘For the love of all that’s holy, do not use any of this book under any circumstances’.

The book and film versions of The Spy Who Loved Me only share one common thing: the title.

Everything else, from plot to characters to locations are entirely different. Instead of being what the film was, with a megalomaniac obsessed with life under the sea trying to spark a nuclear war which would destroy the world being stopped by James Bond and his Russian counterpart Anya Amosava, the book is a tale of a woman named Vivienne Michel. In fact, this isn’t even a tale about Bond, it’s about her, with the narration from her perspective and going into very explicit detail about her past, before two mobsters show up at her motel in what could only be described as what would happen if Crossroads had got a late-night slot.

James Bond shows up towards the end, saves the day and that’s it. Fleming hated the book and instructed the producers to only use the title, but that was it.

Thank God they listened to him.