A Great Bond Film Spoiled by One Detail

I genuinely think this is one of the all-time greatest Bond films. It has a great theme song, courtesy of Gladys Knight, a genuinely committed dramatic Bond performance by Dalton, over a decade before it became acceptable to play Bond seriously, and some brilliant villains who each undergo some memorable deaths.

Unfortunately, this otherwise fun, but gritty, Bond film is marred by one detail. Sadly, it's not enough for the filmmakers to have Felix Leiter's lovely new wife get murdered on her wedding night (which is par of the course for Bond), but they have to imply that she was gang-raped when a young Benicio del Toro mockingly says "We gave her a good honeymoon". 😠

There's NO place for gang-rape or sex trafficking in even the most gritty Bond film (which is one of the reasons I don't especially care for the overrated Skyfall). Yes, women, even innocent and sweet women, can be killed off (and they often are in these films) but the violence should NEVER be sexualised. Admittedly, it particularly bothers me because the pretty and blonde Priscilla Barnes is more my type than the average Bond woman and I particularly hate the implication that her character suffered this particularly egregious fate, but in principle, I'd have been offended by the nature of her murder whoever was playing the role.

I try to fool myself that del Toro's character was lying to Leiter, simply to upset the latter, and that he and his thugs didn't *actually* rape Della, but sadly the implication is fairly clear.

Like I say, rape and other forms of sexual violence have NO place in these types of movies, but if the filmmakers do feel obliged to feature such material, it should be done the way it was tackled in the underrated Quantum of Solace, and allow the victim to get her revenge on her abuser/a resolution to her victimisation.