CBn Reviews 'Casino Royale' (2006) Over the last several months, members of the CBn Forums have been reviewing all the James Bond 007 films in the “Countdown Threads“. If you wish to join in on the forum discussion all you have to do is register–it’s free and only takes a minute. Lots of martini-drinking as Bond discovers his drink of choice (thanks to liquor sponsors Heineken and Smirnoff). The language is pretty mild. Wondering if Casino Royale (2006) is OK for your kids? 'Casino Royale' has the answers to all my complaints about the 45-year-old James Bond series, and some I hadn't even thought of. It's not that I didn't love some of the earlier films, like some, dislike others and so on, as that I was becoming less convinced that I ever had to see another one. Casino Royale 2006 Movie. What does Veseer mean? A Vesper is a traditional Martini drink made with Gin, vodka, and Kina Lillet. Casino Royale was written by Ian Fleming as the first ever James Bond book in 1953. Ian was a commander who worked with naval intelligence in the war - he really did lead a life of high stake gambling in exotic locations. He wrote this book from his homestead 'Goldeneye' in Jamaica. When Bond first meets some French agents, he orders for them.
Bond, James Bond
On Monday (5 October) we celebrated James Bond Day. It was also announced this week (6 October) that the latest James Bond movie, No Time to Die, would be delayed for a second time this year and would now be released in April 2021.
Obviously, a bit disappointing that we’ll have to wait until 2021 to see Daniel Craig’s final outing as 007, but completely understandable given that we are still in the grip of a global pandemic.
At least we have the truly mesmerising Billie Eilish Bond theme to get lost in meantime.
The Vesper Martini
To make up for the lack of Bond in our lives at the moment, I thought I would share with you my version of the famous Vesper Martini.
The Vesper appears in Casino Royale– both in the 1953 book and the 2006 film.
In fact, in the movie, Daniel Craig’s Bond tells the bar tender exactly how to make it:
Casino Royale 2006 Google Drive
“Three measures of Gordon’s, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it over ice, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel.”
The Scottish Vesper Martini
My Vesper Martini takes its inspiration from the bar in the famous London Hotel, Dukes.
Dukes Bar was often frequented by Bond author Ian Fleming, and it is said to be the inspiration behind one of Bond’s most famous lines, “shaken, not stirred”.
I first visited Dukes in November 2016 and was lucky enough to meet and chat with the Head Bartender, Alessandro Palazzi.
Whilst at Dukes I sampled my first ever Vodka Martini closely followed by a Vesper.
The Dukes recipe for the Vesper follows the original very closely, with two exceptions. Firstly, they replace the (tricky to get hold of) Kina Lillet with Sacred Amber Vermouth and secondly they swap out the lemon oil and peel for an orange oil and peel.
My recipe will use the Sacred Amber Vermouth and the orange peel, but, in homage to the original Bond, Sir Sean Connery, I will use a classic London Dry style gin from Edinburgh Gin (Sir Sean’s home town) and a vodka from Arbikie made in Arbroath, near Dundee.
Don’t worry about having these exact brands of alcohol. Any dry vermouthwill do, I would use a London style gin though, I wouldn’t use a gin that has too many powerful botanicals and finally any good pure vodka will work.
A word of warning, the Vesper contains a lot of booze with no mixer – it is very strong. It’s amazing that James Bond could do anything after two or three of these, let alone save the world! I find my maximum is two.
The Scottish Vesper
This recipe serves one. All ingredients should be kept in the freezer, except the bitters and the orange.
Glass Martini – straight from the freezer
Few drops Angostura Bitters
25ml Sacred Amber Vermouth
25ml Arbikie Potato Vodka
Casino Royale 2006 Martinique
75ml Edinburgh Classic Gin
Garnish Orange Twist
Method
Unlike 007 we don’t shake or stir. All ingredients are added in the order shown above. The next ingredient ‘dilutes’ the one immediately before it.
- Add a few drops of the bitters to the frozen Martini glass and swirl round the bottom and sides of the glass.
- Next add the vermouth.
- The vodka comes next.
- Finally, the large measure of gin finishes it off.
- Take a peeler and remove a 10cm length of orange skin. Twist the skin over the drink so the orange oil sprays into the glass. ‘Dust’ the rim of the glass with the orange skin, so the oil is left on the rim. Place the orange skin into the drink.
Cheers!
No Time to Die will be released, worldwide, on 2 April 2021.
Year Released: 2006
Directed by: Martin Campbell
Starring: Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Mads Mikkelsen, Eva Green,
(PG-13, 144 min.)
'We must travel in the direction of our fear.' John Berryman
Brash and blond, the new Bond is more cutthroat than connoisseur, substance rather than style, a man concerned with getting the job done even if he has to bloody up his tailored threads to do so. Gone is the high tech gimmickry, the eccentric evil geniuses intent on world power. Instead this gritty no nonsense film sees the real world as dangerous enough without having to fluff it up with science fiction fantasy.
The first of Ian Fleming’s novels reveals a young Bond just completing the two kills requisite for his 007 status, one a bone-crunching battle of brute power played out against the sterile white porcelains of a public toilet, the other a slicker showdown with an internal traitor in his darkened office.
Although he flubs up his first assignment after this promotion in a spectacular way, the sequence, a chase scene in Uganda, is breath taking. Probably that is because the bad guy bomb maker he is chasing is played by Sabastien Foucan, who practices a form of urban gymnastics called Parkour, a combination of running and martial arts. The camera careens in wide pans to capture a wild chase atop towering steel beams and cranes as well as heart pounding leaps back to earth. (If you’d like to see more of this amazing stuff, check out the exploits of Parkour cofounder David Belle in District B13.) Probably the most athletic Bond ever keeps up with his prey most impressively, although when the quarry runs aground at an embassy, Bond’s endgame decidedly is not.
Which is why M (Judith Dench) refers to him as a “blunt instrument” and is quite tempted to throw him to the wolves after his hide, a matter not helped by Bond’s forced entry to her apartment to hack into her computer. However, when the only way to get to the real power broker behind the terrorist financial network is in a high stakes poker tournament, she is forced to rely on Bond again, as he is the best cardsharp MI6 has got.
In the meantime he has gone some distance to prove himself, stopping a planned explosion in Miami. What makes for the pyrotechnics here is the lack of them, the teasing cinematic promise of a mega blast as a loaded petrol truck screeches through the tarmac as Bond and its suicidal driver wrest for control of the wheel.
Another memorable scene is Bond’s first meeting with doe-eyed Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), sent by her bank to protect the 10 million dollar investment they have been strong armed into making on Mr. Bond’s poker playing acumen. Their dinner in the train’s dining car is more a psyops operation than a culinary experience, and each uses Holmes’ style deductions to profile the other. Bond notes her tendency to downplay her beauty to show off her brains, while she surmises his outsider status at Oxford as well as his tendency to see women as “disposable.” Though she never lets 007 know if he has hit his mark, like his lamb, Bond admits he has been skewered.
The high stakes Poker game is in Montenegro, not Casablanca, but world-weary Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini), their contact there, is Claude Rains’ Louis Renault all over again. He manipulates the corrupt police with the same deft hand, and disposes of any inconvenient bodies that pop up in between hands of poker with efficient guile. The lugubrious eyes note every line of the dazzling Vesper as she enters on cue, her riveting gown selected by Bond personally to distract the others from their game. Except, of course, she enters from his point of view and succeeds in flustering him instead of them.
Also worth noting is Mads Mikkelsen, chief baddie, Le Chiffre. He has the same drooping mild eyes of a young Peter Lorie, although his are bi-colored and one of them has the disconcerting tendency to tear blood at times. Mostly under praised by critics, I find his performance excellent, mild manners and almost effeminate gestures a fabulous foil for his ruthless machinations behind the scenes.
And did I mention romance, a very vulnerable Bond falling head over heels? That and a few other surprises from the man whose preference for shaken not stirred is given a wry twist here. Casino Royale is a riveting screen debut for Daniel Craig, who pulls the sword from the stone Sean Connery embedded so many years ago.
—Kathy Borich
Film-Loving Foodie
After giving very precise orders for the makeup of his martini, Bond floors us, if not his bartender.
“Do you want that shaken or stirred?” he asks.
“Do I look like the kind of guy who gives a damn?” Bond volleys back.
Now perhaps that exchange, more than anything else, lets us know we are dealing with a different kind of Bond. Daniel Craig is going on notice that he is not playing by anybody’s book in his recasting of the iconic spy. And perhaps that is why this new Bond works so well.
Make sure to check out The Straight Dope analysis (see link below) of Bond’s drink preferences and what it says about his personality.
Our recipe for the famous cocktail comes chapter and verse from Fleming’s 1953 Casino Royale.
Vodka Martini
In a deep champagne goblet mix three measures of Gordon”s, one of vodka, half a measure of *Kina Lellet. Shake it very well until it’s ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon-peel.
*Kina Lillet is a brand of Vermouth.
Recipe Source: The Straight Dope
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