“Skyfall” may have been the 50th anniversary
Bond offering, however, “Spectre” seemed like a better fit for that title due
to the numerous references that it made to previous Bond movies.
This list is going to
try to name all the references made to all 23 previous EON-produced Bond
movies.
1. Dr. No
In “Dr.
No”, James Bond and Honey Ryder were captured by Dr. No’s thugs and were taken
to his hidden villain lair. It was odd though that the thugs working for Dr. No
were so warm and hospitable to Bond and his companion as if they were invited
guests of Hotel Crab Key and not captured enemies of SPECTRE agent Dr. No. They
were taken to their room with sets of new clothes for them to wear on their
dinner with Dr. No.
 |
| Bond and Honey Ryder from Dr. No |
In
“Spectre”, James Bond and Dr. Madeleine Swan found the location of SPECTRE’s
hidden lair but were left without a clue on how to get there. Fortunately, a
Rolls-Royce was sent by Blofeld to pick them up. Much like in the
aforementioned film, they were both led to their separate rooms with a set of
new clothes for them to wear for their meeting with Blofeld.
 |
| Bond in his room from Spectre |
2. From
Russia With Love
The most obvious reference that “Spectre” made to the second Bond film would be the
train fight scene between Bond and Mr. Hinx. It has become a tradition that
whenever James Bond is situated on a moving train, a massive fight scene with
the film’s henchman would be present. This was started by the classic train
fight scene between Bond and Red Grant.
 |
| Bond fighting Red Grant from From Russia with Love |
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| Bond fighting Mr. Hinx from Spectre |
Also
notable would be the inclusion of a chess match that Mr. White plays alone
while Bond was interrogating him for leads. This scene would be reminiscent of
the chess match that Kronsteen was known for in “From Russia With Love”.
 |
| Kronsteen's chess scene from From Russia with Love |
 |
| Mr. White's chess scene from Spectre |
3.
Goldfinger
Bond sees
an attacker from the reflection seen in the eye of a girl Bond was talking to
in the pre-title sequence for “Goldfinger”. Similarly, Bond sees Mr. Hinx from
the reflection in a bottle container during his dinner with Swan in “Spectre”.
 |
| Attacker from reflection from Goldfinger |
 |
| Attacker from reflection from Spectre |
Additionally,
Bond wore the same white suit with red carnation in the train scene of
“Spectre”, similar to the one worn in the pre-title sequence of “Goldfinger”.
 |
| Sean Connery in Goldfinger |
4.
Thunderball
The epic
SPECTRE meeting that was seen in “Thunderball” was replicated magnificently in
“Spectre”. Also present were the numerous SPECTRE agents, the discussion of
future plans and schemes, and of course, the execution of agents who were not
fit for the organization.
 |
| SPECTRE meeting with Blofeld from Thunderball |
 |
| SPECTRE meeting with Blofeld from Spectre |
5. You Only
Live Twice
In “You
Only Live Twice”, Bond drops onto a secret passage to Tiger Tanaka’s base
leading him to a conveniently placed couch to catch him. This kind of scene is
also repeated in “Diamonds are Forever” wherein Bond conveniently lands onto a
couch.
 |
| Bond dropping onto a couch in You Only Live Twice |
In
“Spectre”, Bond drops from a crashing building onto a couch, as a result of the
explosion from Sciarra’s bomb intended for an arena.
 |
| Bond dropping onto a couch in Spectre |
Additionally,
Blofeld had his trademark eye scar in “You Only Live Twice”. In “Spectre”, the
eye scar was shown as a result of the explosion caused by Bond using his
exploding watch.
 |
| Bond, Blofeld, and his cat in You Only Live Twice |
 |
| Christoph Waltz as Blofeld in Spectre |
6. On Her
Majesty’s Secret Service
Both films
featured a medical clinic on top of a snowy mountain. For George Lazenby’s only
Bond movie, it was the Piz Gloria; while for Daniel Craig’s fourth Bond movie,
it was the Hoffler Klinik.
 |
| The Piz Gloria from On Her Majesty's Secret Service |
 |
| The Hoffler Klinik from Spectre |
Additionally,
both films had Bond talk to the father (both were head of criminal
organizations) of the Bond girl while pursuing Blofeld. Bond also drove off
with both films’ Bond girls in the final scenes, except that Swan was not shot
at the end of “Spectre”.
 |
| Draco and Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service |
 |
| Bond and Mr. White in Spectre |
7. Diamonds
are Forever
Aside from
the couch drop, another call back to “Diamonds are Forever” was the scene
wherein Bond talked to a rodent. While being stuck in the pipeline after being
knocked out by Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd, Bond met a rodent that led him to the
exit and eventually escaped his death.
 |
| The rodent from Diamonds are Forever |
In
“Spectre”, it was a rodent that helped Bond finally see the secret room hidden
in Mr. White’s old hotel room. “Who sent you?”
 |
| Bond and the rodent from Spectre |
8. Live and
Let Die
The obvious
link to this film would be the pre-title sequence of “Spectre” that featured
the Day of the Dead parade in Mexico City and James Bond wearing a costume
close to the looks of Baron Samedi from “Live and Let Die”.
 |
| Baron Samedi in Live and Let Die |
 |
| Estrella and Bond in Spectre |
9. The Man
with the Golden Gun
The final battle
between Bond and Blofeld in the old MI-6 building wherein Blofeld put up
photographs of deceased figures from Bond’s past in “Spectre” resembled the fun
house that Francisco Scaramanga had in “The Man with the Golden Gun”.
Similarly, Bond used up a significant amount of his bullets due to mistakenly
thinking that he was shooting at his villains.
 |
| Bond in Scaramanga's fun house in The Man with the Golden Gun |
 |
| Bond in the old MI-6 building in Spectre |
The
signature stunt made in the car chase scene of “The Man with the Golden Gun”
was also replicated in “Spectre, only
this time it was made be a helicopter.
 |
| The car stunt from The Man with the Golden Gun |
 |
| The helicopter stunt from Spectre |
10. The Spy Who Loved Me
“The Spy who Loved Me” was one of the films that featured a train fight scene between Bond and an overpowering henchman that would be followed by love scene from Bond and the Bond girl.
 |
| Bond and Anya Amasova in The Spy Who Loved Me |
 |
| Bond and Swan in Spectre |
11. Moonraker
Since Jaws returned from the previous Bond film, both “Moonraker” and “Spectre” featured henchmen with body parts improved/equipped with metal – metal teeth for Jaws, metal fingernails for Mr. Hinx.
 |
| Jaws in Moonraker |
 |
| Mr. Hinx in Spectre |
12. For Your Eyes Only
Both films featured James Bond fighting with a villain and hanging on the side of a helicopter in the films’ pre-title sequences. Also, both Bond girls had her parents killed off in the film.
 |
| Bond hanging on the side of a helicopter in For Your Eyes Only |
 |
| Sciarra and Bond in Spectre |
Additionally, the scene where Bond tried to elude his captors during the ski chase scene is similar to the scene wherein Q tried to avoid villains by staying inside a full-packed cable car.
 |
| Bond inside a full-packed elevator from For Your Eyes Only |
 |
| Q inisde a full-packed cable car from Spectre |
13. Octopussy
Both films mentioned MI-6 Agent 009. In “Octopussy”, 009 was the agent initially assigned in the case of Kamal Khan but was killed off by the twin assassin.
 |
| 009 in Octopussy |
In “Spectre”, the Aston Martin car that Bond stole was intended to be assigned to 009. A music playlist was even created for 009.
Additionally, both films featured Bond wearing white suits, but minus the red carnation in “Octopussy”.
 |
| Music preferences of 009 as shown in Spectre |
14. A View to A Kill
Both films featured Bond and a helicopter in the films’ pre-title sequences. Additionally, both films had Bond, the Bond girl, and Q at the films’ final scene.
 |
| Bond and Stacey as shown from Q's gadget from A View to a Kill |
 |
| Q and Bond in Spectre |
15. The
Living Daylights
In “The
Living Daylights”, the Aston Martin V* that Bond was driving crashed through a
cabin; in “Spectre”, it was the plane that Bond was piloting that crashed
through a cabin.
 |
| Bond and Kara inside the Aston Martin V8 Volante crashing onto the cabin from the Living Daylights |
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| Bond crashing his plane onto the cabin from Spectre |
Both films
also featured similar locations like Tangier, Morocco, and Austria.
16. License
to Kill
Both films had Q go into the field to aid Bond and Bond is seen aiming a rifle at a villain from a distance.
 |
| Bond aiming at Sanchez in License to Kill |
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| Bond aiming at Sciarra in Spectre |
17.
Goldeneye
Both films
had villains who had disfigured facial features due to explosions initiated by
Bond. For Alec Trevelyan, it was the 3-minute time bomb in Goldeneye’s
pre-title sequence. For Blofeld, it was the exploding watch that Bond had Swan
threw onto Blofeld.
 |
| Alec Trevelyan in Goldeneye |
 |
| Ernst Stavro Blofeld in Spectre |
Additionally,
the title of the theme song of “Spectre” was mentioned in the Q scene of
“Goldeneye” – “the writings on the wall”.
18. Tomorrow
Never Dies
In both
films, Bond had encounters with the wife of a villain. There was Paris Carver,
wife of Elliot Carver, in “Tomorrow Never Dies”; while there was Lucia Sciarra,
wife of Marco Sciarra, in “Spectre”.
There were
also, similar scenes in both films – the scene wherein Bond was waiting in his
hotel room in “Tomorrow Never Dies” and the scene in Bond’s apartment in
“Spectre”.
 |
| Bond and Paris Carver in Tomorrow Never Dies |
 |
| Lucia and Bond in Spectre |
19. The
World is Not Enough
In both
films, Bond shot down a helicopter using his service firearm. Also, there were
boat chase scenes in the River Thames with Bond having his boat launched from
the MI-6 building.
 |
| Bond in The World is Not Enough |
 |
| Bond and Swan in Spectre |
20. Die
Another Day
Both films
had Q’s lab/shop underground. Also, there were car chase scenes between an
Aston Martin and a Jaguar. In “Die Another Day”, Bond drove the Aston Martin
while Zao drove the Jaguar. In “Spectre”, Bond drove the Aston Martin while Mr.
Hinx drove the jaguar. The ejector seat in Bond’s car was also incorporated in
the chase scenes in both films.
 |
| The car chase scene from Die Another Day |
 |
| The car chase scene from Spectre |
21. Casino
Royale
The confrontation scene between M and C in “Spectre” had a similar scene directly
copied from the pre-title sequence of “Casino Royale” wherein Bond had taken
the bullets of the pistol of a double agent without his knowledge, making him
fire an empty pistol.
 |
| Bond and Dryden in Casino Royale |
 |
| C in Spectre |
In both
films, tracking devices were injected onto Bond.
22. Quantum
of Solace
Mr. White
had one of his best scenes in the franchise in this film. The interrogation
scene between him, Bond, and M at the start of the film had him say the line
“We have people everywhere.” referring to the shadowy organization Quantum.
 |
| Mr. White's interrogation from Quantum of Solace |
In
“Spectre”, Mr. White uttered the same words although to a lone interrogator,
James Bond, as he was referring to the reach of SPECTRE.
 |
| Mr. White's interrogation from Spectre |
23. Skyfall
Both films
had similar side plotlines that involved the questioning of the relevance of
the double-0 program in this day and age of modern technology.
Additionally,
both films had Bond evaluated by a doctor. In “Skyfall”, it was the official
doctor from MI-6 that evaluated Bond; while in “Spectre”, it was Dr. Madeleine
Swan.
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| Bond's evaluation from Skyfall |
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| Bond's evaluation from Spectre |
