Brad Whitaker

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the James Bond villain. For the Daddy's Home main character, see Daddy's Home.
Brad Whitaker
James Bond character
Baker as Brad Whitaker
Portrayed byJoe Don Baker
In-universe information
OccupationBlack market arms dealer
AffiliationGeneral Georgi Koskov
ClassificationVillain
Henchmen

Brad Whitaker is a fictional character in the

Jack Wade, Bond's CIA contact, in Pierce Brosnan's first two Bond films, GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies.[2] Steven Rubin describes Whitaker as a "smarmy bad-guy arms trader."[3]

Background

Brad Whitaker is an international

Meade
should have taken another 35,000 dead at Gettysburg!".

Whitaker has a personal pantheon of "great military commanders" in his headquarters, which includes some of history's most famous and infamous figures, such as Adolf Hitler, Napoleon Bonaparte, Genghis Khan, Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Oliver Cromwell, and Attila the Hun. Whitaker holds these men in high regard and calls them "surgeons who removed society's dead flesh". All representations of these "surgeons" (or "butchers" as Bond's ally, Pushkin, describes them) are sculpted to resemble Whitaker himself, which is highly noticeable when Whitaker hides among the statues waiting for Pushkin to visit him.

In the film

Brad Whitaker joins forces with rogue

General Pushkin, on the basis that he has re-instituted an ongoing operation called "Smiert Spionom" (meaning "Death to Spies" in Russian). Actually, it is Koskov and Whitaker's men, especially their special henchman Necros, who are involved in killing the British agents.[5]

After thwarting Whitaker's plans in

Walther PPK.[5]

After Bond hides behind a bust of the

wolf whistle, the key-ring finder explodes, toppling the bust and podium on top of Whitaker, crushing him through a glass display case containing one of his miniature diorama setups resembling Waterloo, which makes Bond ironically quip to Pushkin, "He met his Waterloo."[5]

Reception

Steven Rubin describes Whitaker as a "smarmy bad-guy arms trader".[3] Jeremy Black says of him; a "mad American pseudo-general, Brad Whitaker, the arms dealer, yet another figure with a Napoleon complex."[6] Baker himself called his character "a nut" who "thought he was Napoleon."[7] Paul Simpson describes Whitaker as "paunchy", and says that it is fortunate that he doesn't get much screen time.[8] Lee Pfeiffer and Dave Worrall say of him, "this egotistical US arms dealer models himself on history's most notorious dictators. In between orchestrating international arms deals, Whitaker enjoys re-creating battles with his vast dioramas and toy soldiers."[9] They believe that Joe Don Baker, although amusing, was miscast in the role as Whitaker.[9] They also criticized his believability as a villain, describing him as an "oaf" from the American South who nobody would doubt could easily be defeated by James Bond.[9]

References

  1. ISBN 978-0-7535-0712-4
    . Retrieved 11 December 2012.
  2. ISBN 978-0-7134-8182-2
    . Retrieved 11 December 2012.
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-0-07-141246-9
    . Retrieved 11 December 2012.
  4. ^ a b "Brad Whitaker". Mi6-hq.com. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
  5. ^ a b c Bond v Brad Whitaker. YouTube. 7 October 2011. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21.
  6. ISBN 978-0-8032-6240-9
    . Retrieved 11 December 2012.
  7. ^ Joe Don Baker. Inside The Living Daylights (DVD). MGM Home Entertainment.
  8. ISBN 978-1-84353-142-5
    . Retrieved 11 December 2012.
  9. ^
    ISBN 978-0-7522-1562-4
    . Retrieved 11 December 2012.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brad_Whitaker&oldid=1192637904"