Rating: 
Summary: Amazing!!!!! A great film book.
Review: I started reading this on the recommendation of a friend and I was quite simply blown away. This is the best book on the subject of films and filmmaking that I have ever read. I am not the world's biggest Bond fan and I haven't seen all the movies...but this book manages to pull an interesting trifecta(sp?)--It is a great book about the history of James Bond, drawing you into WHY so many people love the character. It is also a story of how pop culture and history intersect and influence each other in fascinating ways. Finally, it is a great look at the history of movies for the past 40 years, albeit from the perspective of one franchise. I have never sat down with a huge coffee table book that I couldn't put down....until now. If you love movies, you will love this book.
Rating:
Summary: Best film book I've ever read!
Review: I've read quite a few books on the Bond films and recently had become bored with the new titles. The new books had been simply rehashing the previous books. However, I was pleasantly surprised with this addition to my library. The authors obviously did their homework in writing this book. Great information about Bond , his creators and the world around him.Super job!
Rating:
Summary: SUPER!!
Review: I've read quite a few books on the Bond films and recently had become bored with the new titles. The new books had been simply rehashing the previous books. However, I was pleasantly surprised with this addition to my library. The authors obviously did their homework in writing this book. Great information about Bond , his creators and the world around him. Super job!
Rating: 
Summary: The goose with the golden eggs
Review: Like the Beatles at the same time, the popularity of the James Bond films of the Sixties simply steamrollered criticism. The quality of the individual flicks ranged from near-schlock to iconic, but the Bond style always set them apart. This coffee-table book digs deep into the history of the series, from Ian Fleming's books down to the most recent Pierce Brosnan vehicle. And the authors gathered comments from practically everybody, from the stars to the producers right down to the guy who wrote the famous James Bond guitar riff. An enjoyable look into the past, through the barrel of the Walther PPK.
Rating:
Summary: The best Bond series book in 20 years
Review: Perhaps the best book on James Bond in the cinema since Steven Jay Rubin's excellent 1983 long-out-of-print work THE JAMES BOND FILMS: A BEHIND THE SCENES HISTORY (any true fans Bible), this large format book covers the James Bond movies up until 2002's DIE ANOTHER DAY choosing to concentrate on some of the cultural and current events that helped shape the transformation of the character over his 40-year cinematic career.
With many rare and previously unseen photo's the authors show the depth of their research through the comprehensive coverage not only of the influences on the movies, but also coverage of the influence the movies (especially those of the 1960s) had on popular culture. Its an astoundingly comprehensive book and not one that can be lightly flipped through in one sitting. It's large scale makes it somewhat cumbersome but this handsome, elegant edition is so brimming with artwork and illustrations that its scale becomes a blessing, that can for the most part be forgiven.
It's in its different approach to THE JAMES BOND FILMS that LEGACY really makes an excellent companion piece. Whereas the previous work concentrated on the behind the scenes stories for each movie (as its sub-head suggests) this book encompasses influence and the movies in broad strokes. Obviously big fans of Bond themselves they offer few criticisms of the movies themselves and scarce information on the anecdotal information that Rubin supplies.
Overall a sumptuous, elegant edition on the James Bond series that belongs in the bookshelves of every self discerning 007 fans.
Now, here's hoping Rubin updates his book soon!
Rating:
Summary: Even Odd Job would love this book
Review: Someone somewhere must have remembered how much I enjoyed the Bond films during my college days. I devoured the un-PC books and stood in line for the films. Since the days of Roger Moore, my interest waned. When I got this book, I thought, "I haven't even seen all these films!" I even missed this lates one at the theaters. After looking though the first few chapters (reading captions, looking at the photos), I decided one afternoon to read a bit of the text (awaiting the DSL installer for hours on end). Suddenly, it was like I was a kid again. I found myself re-living all the excitment of those great early Bond films and learning a lot I didn't know. Sure enough, over the next few weeks, I plowed through this book. What a joy to read! The Bond films are traced through the history of the past 40 years (50 if you include the novels, and this book does, thankfully give some space to those). I would have been bored silly if the book had been just a fan's guide to who is who and what film had what gadget. The thing I enjoyed here was the way the book looks beyond the films at popular culture, politics, world events. I found some of the most interesting parts to be about some of the films I haven't even seen. It is a satisfying mix of behind-the-scenes battles, modern history, and film criticism. When I recieved this book, I never expected to read it. I did, and I am glad I did. Now I need to see the rest of the Bond films.
Rating:
Summary: All I have to say is INCREDIBLE
Review: That is it! The best Bond book I have ever seen. This puts anything that any other Bond author has written to shame. The book covers everything about the Bond films. John and Bruce, GREAT JOB!
Rating:
Summary: Best film book I've ever read!
Review: The book is great. A goldmine for Bond fans and a surprisingly compelling read. This book covers not only Bond, but why Bond became popular and why 007 has stayed popular. To do that, the book's authors discuss the history of the Cold War and the changes in popular culture that have taken place over the past 50 years...which brings me to the reason I'm posting this review... One reviewer ("Useless Commentary") claims the authors are pushing their "world view" and that they would rather 007 be working for the Soviets! I just read the book. I can't see any affection for the Soviets or any particular "World View". It appears the book is an official history of the films, loaded with great photos and quotes from the filmmakers, and I would be surprised if they were pushing a "world view." The whole book is a tribute to 007, not some book trashing him. As for the Soviets, I very much enjoyed the passages regarding the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of Communism, and the celebration of freedom that followed. Of course, the authors don't say anything nice about the Watergate burglers (except that they were Bond fans), so maybe someone here is a big G. Gordon Liddy listener. You never know.
Rating: 
Summary: Useless Commentary
Review: The information on Bond in this book is second to none. The only problem is the social and political commentary littered throughout the book. The authors are obviously trying to push their world view through a book about James Bond. In the end it appears the authors would rather have Bond working for the Soviets than for the good guys.
Rating:
Summary: Completely Unique
Review: There are an assortment of books that every Bond aficionado should have in their respective collection, of course the list is headed by Ian Fleming's literary adventures and expands to include such works as Raymond Benson's The James Bond Bedside Companion. A new book has now entrenched itself of the list of 'must haves', James Bond The Legacy by John Cork and Bruce Scivally. The first thing that anyone will notice about James Bond The Legacy is its sheer size. Like the Bond legacy itself, this book is big! The only real way to describe it is as a coffee table book, yet it's still slightly bigger. I sized it up against other coffee table books and it still about an inch or so bigger than any of the others. Continuing with physical attributes, the book is put together quite nicely. If you remove the sleeve, which I found tends to crease on the top and bottom edges because of its size, the black cover is embossed with a gold '007' logo, and the spine also has the books title and other details embossed. However, its what is in side the James Bond The Legacy that makes the book such a good buy; pictures. I would seriously buy this book for the pictures alone. When it first arrived, I sat down with the intention of flicking through the pictures, expecting to have seen most of them before now. I hadn't. Four hours later I finished 'flicking' through the pages looking at so many unique photos, including some brilliant shots from Die Another Day. The unique photos extend from Ian Fleming, right through all the films until reaching Die Another Day. The books content is also unique. Cork and Scivally have put together a book that does not tend to go into filming occurrences in depth, rather, the book tends to mainly highlight social influences. For example, the book speaks of changes to the scripts of a particular Bond film and the social influences that caused such a change. The opposite is also true as James Bond The Legacy looks at how Bond has influences society.
Understandably, the book isn't perfect. Its coverage of Die Another Day is 'careful' as the authors purposely try not to give away any spoilers. Moreover, the Die Another Day coverage is already, sadly, outdated due to its publication before the film is released. With the early release date it misses being able to cover an attempted return to Bond-fever, though it does mention the early progress of the new licensing campaign. And it also misses mentioning the real life events currently unfolding with North Korea's secret nuclear weapons project. Despite such 'problems', this is still one hell of a James Bond book, and is definitely one of the best released to date.
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