We have, first of all, truth in advertising: Steven Jay Rubin's THE COMPLETE JAMES BOND MOVIE ENCYCLOPEDIA is exactly what it says it is, providing information on the series' actors, characters, locations and gadgets. It provides reviews of the first seventeen movies, and the history of the rift between Ian Fleming and Kevin McClory.

There is a lot here. So much, in fact, that the book becomes wearisome. Mr. Rubin's entries about the various Bond searches are interesting, as are his reviews (and, no, I do not agree with half of them), but the quality of these are inferior to the same information presented in his much better THE JAMES BOND FILMS. In addition, Mr. Rubin has seen fit to include some trivia that may tickle the diehard fan but is fairly worthless otherwise.

I was also annoyed by the GOLDENEYE updates. We get few stills from the movie, and the review doesn't provide much in the way of commentary.

Still, if you are a diehard fan, or even a low key one, you'll find this book pleasing and often informative.

The Complete James Bond Movie Encyclopedia by Rubin offers its readers a cornucopia of trivial knowledge about arguably the world's most famous action hero. From more widely known facts, such as who the first man to play Bond was; to more obscure bits of information, such as the domestic and international grosses of all the Bond films; a true Bond fan is sure to spend hours delving into all the little quirks and idiosyncrasies that make agent 007 such an icon to so many.If there is one drawback to the book, it is that the book is an encyclopedia, and so it is presented in that form... alphabetical order, brief articles on many different entries... so the book tends to be somewhat of a tedious read at times. I would certainly not recommend it to someone who doesn't love Bond movies, but if you do, it is an absolute requirement to finish any Bond collection!

The Complete James Bond Movie Encyclopedia is truly a great book on the world of James Bond. It has information on all the characters including Goldeneye. It also has information on gadgets, cars, other things and trivial information that is definitely important to anyone who truly likes James Bond. It does not contain everything about bond, and the Goldeneye section in the addendum is less than lacking. Besides that and the fact that it needs to be updated to include TND, everything else about the book is really great.

The original printing of this book ends with For Your Eyes Only, and the copy I have is an update in the 1983, when Octopussy and Never Say Never Again hit the theaters.

This book is what it claimed to be all right, a behind the scenes of the James Bond films. For James Bond fans, this book is a treasure trove of information. It includes lots of information which at first was previously unavailable. Thanks to this book I finally found out the name of the Japanese girl in the Thunderball teaser and the actress who played her, as well as the two women who played Bambi and Thumper.

Generously filled with candid black and white photographs, the James Bond Films covered each Bond film chronologically in each chapter. For the Sean Connery films, virtually every meticulous fact about how the film was made is detailed in the book.

It is obvious that Steven Jay Rubin have a vendetta against Roger Moore. In his later work, the James Bond Encyclopedia, he would gives a one star rating to three of Moore's Bond films. In the James Bond Films, he pratically skimmed over Moore's films, with the exception of Live and Let Die, possibly because he had the full cooperation of Moore's leading ladies (Seymour and Hendry)from that film, and The Spy Who Loved Me, which is no doubt, one of the best Bond movies ever made, with or without Connery.

In the chapter for Moonraker, we didn't really get a lot of background info on it, rather, Rubin just bitched how the character of Bond have been corrupted into a cartoonish character and how Moonraker sucked. The worse offender is For Your Eyes Only.....which doesn't tell you anything at all.

The update chapter on Octopussy and Never Say Never Again tied up some loose ends from the For Your Eyes Only chapter (like how Carole Bouquet was perfectly casted as Melina Havelock), but since this book was written when the two films are being released, understandably, not much info, other than a preview, was given.

Despite his shabby treatment of the Roger Moore films, The James Bond Films is still a fascinating read.