Fifty years ago, moviegoers saw a number of spectacles, ambitious art films and genre-busting originals unlike anything they'd seen before. One was a thrilling spy adventure, packed with sleek sets and international intrigue surrounding the space race -- and a sexy, amoral, supremely confident hero with a license to kill.
The movie was, of course, Dr. No, the first in the most enduring and popular film franchise of all time, still going strong today. Although less gadget-crazy than its successors, the first James Bond film established the formula (mysteriously deformed ;but superhuman villain, nifty secret lair, Bond girl in jeopardy, etc.) for much of what was to come. And it was part of a larger upheaval that magical year -- in movies, pop music, politics, and more -- that marks the true beginning of what we mean when we talk about the Sixties.
