James Bond Drives a Fiat 500 in Spectre
James Bond drives a Fiat 500 in Spectre, and the scene will look exactly like this.
During his fifty-plus years of movie stardom, Bond has driven a moon buggy, a double-decker bus, a firetruck, a gondola, a 29 horsepower Citroen 2CV, and a dumbass invisible car in the film franchise’s nadir, Die Another Day. Yet the revelation that James Bond drives a Fiat 500 in the upcoming 24th installment of the Bond franchise, Spectre, is apparently the worst thing to ever happen ever. Perhaps outraged fans could use a little perspective.
First of all, we don’t know how the car will be acquired. I doubt there will be a scene where Bond goes to a Fiat dealership and tells the salesman he’s looking to trade in his Aston for something more fuel efficient. He probably steals or commandeers the car for the Fiat 500 car chase sequence, which will reportedly be set in Rome. There is also a good chance the whole thing will be played for laughs – like when Roger Moore’s Bond drove an intentionally uncool and hyper-destructible Renault 11 Taxi around the streets of Paris in A View to a Kill.
When I called Die Another Day the franchise’s nadir, it was because I was repressing memories of A View to a Kill.
And even if the Fiat is portrayed as “hip,” it’s hardly the worst thing Bond has ever endorsed for money. Hell, just a few years ago, Bond enthusiasts had to suffer the indignity of watching 007 sip a bottle of Heineken in Skyfall. And many longtime fans still have a bad taste in their mouth from the scene in License to Kill when Bond actually orders a Bud Light with lime. A Bud Light with lime. Let that sink in for a moment.
And keep your shirt on, he’s still going to drive an Aston Martin DB10 in the movie, too.
So as long as a pigeon doesn’t do a double-take when James Bond drives a Fiat 500 through the streets of Italy, I think that the character’s integrity is safe. (And honestly, Sam Mendes cribbed so much from The Dark Knight when he made Skyfall that we are all just lucky Daniel Craig’s not driving a Batmobile in this thing).
Patrick Grieve was born in Southwestern Ohio and has lived there all of his life, with the exception of a few years spent getting a Creative Writing degree in Southeastern Ohio. He loves to take road trips, sometimes to places as distant as Northeastern or even Northwestern Ohio. Patrick also enjoys old movies, shopping at thrift stores, going to ballgames, writing about those things, and watching Law & Order reruns. He just watches the original series, though, none of the spin-offs. And also only the ones they made before Jerry Orbach died. Season five was really the peak, in his opinion. See more articles by Patrick.