by contributor Suzanne Struglinski
Photo credit: Courtesy of 007 and Spy Museum
Most movie-goers have a favorite James Bond but the bad guys, their henchmen and their evil headquarters – and toys also make their mark in cinema history. The International Spy Museum in Penn Quarter explores the role of the 007 villains in depth through its amazing new exhibit “Exquisitely Evil: 50 Years of Bond Villains.”
Milton Maltz, museum founder & chairman and CEO,The Malrite Company said that James Bond has become an icon but asks “Where would James Bond be without those villains?”
The 5,000-square-foot exhibit hopes to answer that question. While the exhibit is interesting to movie buffs and espionage fans alike, it really keeps a hand on reality and helps visitors find connections between fact and fiction. The overall theme of the exhibit shows how the Bond evildoers and their plots change to reflect the concerns and fears of the current times.
“When we built this museum, the concept was it would be real, this would not be a Disney museum,” Maltz said.
Beyond the more than 110 movie and historical artifacts throughout the exhibit, including the rope from the torture scene in Casino Royale along with costumes and other well-known props, the exhibit features videos of 15 top-flight former CIA agents who tell their stories about hen their lives were in danger through an element called “My Bond moment.”
But it is not all so serious, guests can created their evil lair, stop a bomb from exploding, get attacked by a shark, hang from an elevator and crawl through a tunnel looking for secret codes.
At the exhibit’s opening last Friday, guests learned details about 007 villains from 1962’s DR. NO to the latest villain, SKYFALL’s Silva. Visitors can see Silva’s police uniform in the museum lobby as they wait to buy their tickets.
From the moment you step into the exhibit, you are taken to a James Bond wonderland that is smartly done and leaves no detail unaccounted. Movies posters line the staircases and the film’s signature theme songs usher visitors into the exhibit. There are so many nooks and crannies of information and artifacts it is hard to know where to look first.
“I am genuinely, fabulously excited by this exhibit,” said Peter Earnest, Executive Director of the International Spy Museum, who is a former CIA covert operations officer. “It is magical.”
Anna Slafer, Director of Exhibitions and Programs explained that the museum divided the villains into different categories to help tell their stories and points out the similarities and themes.
“We’ve tried to reach many different audiences, needs and interests and I hope we have,” said Slafer.
In the Bond Begins section, the museum tells the stories of author Ian Fleming and his Second World War intelligence work that inspired 007’s creation. Other section focus on Cold War villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld and others who dealt in nuclear bombs to “Drugs and Thugs” section that traces how the drug trade evolved on film, from 1973’s heroin dealer Dr. Kananga, to 1989’s bloodthirsty cocaine kingpin Frank Sanchez.
With so much talk of disasters and evil plots, some guests might leave shaken, not stirred but all will leave knowing more about Bond than they knew before.
