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Monday 1 July 2013

The Elvis-James Bond Timeline


...Yes, it's one of those – a post where I lose the plot never to entirely regain it. Well, we've already had the debacle of the Michael Jackson/Elvis 'co-incidences', but that was a finger firmly pointed in the direction of the subject. Consider this a playful wave...

Had James Bond 007 Licence to Kill actually climbed the hotel featured in Diamonds are Forever, he would have actually been scaling the International, Kirk Kerkorian's monumental Vegas establishment, featured as the fictional Whyte House. So, rather than dropping in on Blofeld he'd have found himself breaking in to the legendary Suite 3000 – the resident of which at the time DAF was being filmed? - you get me. Rumour has it Elvis actually watched the car chase being filmed from the panoramic windows of his suite.

So, we find ourselves – irresistibly and uncomfortably drawn into the realm of the unanswered – and unasked. Were there any other points at which the Worlds of Elvis and James Bond met, or crossed?. Well, yes and no. Mainly no, but that didn't deter me, oh no; don't let it be said I know when to stop...

Well, that was weird. Quite apart from the fact that Ursula Andress pops up more than once we have the odd image of Elvis giving Felix Leiter a Walther PPK – one of a pair of gold-plated pistols he owned – in Hawaii in '73. Next, the mobile phone – Elvis had his own, seen here in its carry case. He bought it after seeing Bond using one in From Russia With Love...

Lets get Boaty... the Glastron boat Company of Texas are famous for providing the boats Bond uses in films such as Moonraker and Live & Let Die. Guess who owned a Glastron first? - yep, Elvis bought his Bayflite DeVille 163 model in the early sixties.

OK, music now – Nancy Sinatra's memorable vocals on the theme for You Only Live Twice was followed in 1968 by her co-starring with Elvis in the movie Speedway.

Our wild career through the Elvis – Bond Timeline stumbles blindly on, ticking through time itself with watches. It seems odd that if 007 had a watch, Elvis had one of the same make – often first. OK, I'll concede this one's the lamest of the lot – Elvis had so many watches I could have shown evidence for almost any co-incidence. They weren't even the same models... but this didn't cost you, so lets pretend you aren't growing quietly concerned for my health and look at the tick-tocks...

Pimpmobiles – ever since he saw Superfly, Elvis started dressing and riding in style – Pimp style!. His favourite car was his Black Stutz, but the '72 model in Pearl White features here because of a certain similarity-in-passing to the Corovado, a Corvette-based creation of Les Dunham, at the Dunham Coach Company. Only seven of these were made, this one driven by Kananga's henchman Whisper in Live & Let Die.

So where does that leave us?, well, we at Volcano Cat – me at any rate – feel that with our frequent vacillations between the Elvis Presley and James Bond themes, it was only natural for the two to collide. After all, they both love/d gadgets, both had plastic surgery (Bond on his hand – at least in the books) and, as a final point – both used aliases. Elvis' was Jon Burrows.

One last piece of oddness – the last film Elvis Presley saw at the cinema? - The Spy Who Loved Me... 
 

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