John le Carré famously disliked Bond and called him an "international gangster" and invented George Smiley to better represent of real-world espionage (bear in

John le Carré famously disliked Bond and called him an "international gangster" and invented George Smiley to better represent of real-world espionage (bear in mind that both authors worked for British intelligence, though le Carré worked for both MI5 and MI6). The original Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy miniseries is a slow burn, but it's very well made and picks up once you figure out what the hell is going on. It also makes the more recent movie a lot more approachable. > “At the root of Bond there was something neo-fascistic and totally materialist,” Le Carre said. > “You felt he would have gone through the same antics for any country really, if the girls had been so pretty and the Martinis so dry.”