Is James Bond a psychopath? Well, despite the obvious fact that he is a fictional character who has had many authors, actors, and screenwriters involved in defining this character, just . . . maybe!

In this episode, Dan and Tom bring in Dr. Stephen McWilliams, author of the book “Psychopath? Why We Are Charmed by the Anti-Hero” to discuss this topic.

We’re getting deep into the mind of James Bond and with Stephen’s help, we define what a psychopath really is, then examine the known mind of James Bond to determine if he can be considered a psychopath. (Hint, Bond doesn’t score 100 on the test). We use the famed professor, Robert D. Hare’s psychology checklist as our driver for the analysis. Hare’s checklist includes breakdowns of the following categories: Interpersonal Traits, Affective Traits, Lifestyle Traits, and Anti-Social traits.

How many of those apply to the agent with the OO designation we know as James Bond? Can you be a spy with a license to kill without some psychopathic traits? Can you be a great spy and still be a psychopath? Listen to find out.

Stephen is a Consultant Psychiatrist at Saint John of God Hospital, Dublin, and an Associate Clinical Professor at the School of Medicine and Medical Sciences, University College Dublin.

In addition to talking about James Bond, McWilliams’s book talks about other fictional characters such as Hannibal Lecter, Frank Underwood, Amy Elliott Dunne, and more. He has also authored the book “Fiction & Physicians – Medicine through the Eyes of Writers”.

So, before listening to this episode, do you think James Bond was a psychopath? After, listening, did your opinion change?

Let us know your thoughts, ideas for future episodes, and what you thought of this episode. Just drop us a note at info@spymovienavigator.com. The more we hear from you, the better the show will surely be! We’ll give you a shout-out in a future episode!

You can check out all of our CRACKING THE CODE OF SPY MOVIES podcast episodes on your favorite podcast app or our website. In addition, you can check out our YouTube channel as well.

Episode Webpage: https://bit.ly/3XA1xQe

In this episode, Dan and Tom decode the 2017 spy movie, UNDERCOVER GRANDPA. This is one of our episodes that has Dan and Tom disagreeing as to whether they thought it was a good movie or not. One of them thought it was ok. The other didn’t like it at all.

The basic plot involves a teenager named Jake Bouchard (Dylan Everett) who is smitten by a girl in his high school class. His Grandpa (James Caan) has a background in special operations and tells Jake about some of his missions. But Jake thought this was just crazy talk until his girlfriend Angie (Greta Onieogou) gets kidnapped.

So, in this episode, we look at:

• The plot
• The cast
• The treatment/positioning of old people
• The plausibility of Grandpa’s stories
• Could Grandpa really know Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame?
• The Pros and Cons of the Movie
• Aspic
• Other movies starring older actors
• Some tie-ins to other movies

This movie has a star-studded cast of octogenarians, or near octogenarians, including James Caan, Louis Gossett Jr, Jessica Walter, Paul Sorvino, Lawrence Dane, and Kenneth Walsh. With this cast, and it being a spy movie, you can bet that the theme of the age of the characters is a main plot point. And, you would win that bet.

Have you seen UNDERCOVER GRANDPA? If not, has this episode encouraged you to watch it? If you have seen it, who’s opinion do you agree with more: Dan’s or Tom’s?

Let us know your thoughts, ideas for future episodes, and what you thought of this episode. Just drop us a note at info@spymovienavigator.com. The more we hear from you, the better the show will surely be! We’ll give you a shout-out in a future episode!

You can check out all of our CRACKING THE CODE OF SPY MOVIES podcast episodes on your favorite podcast app or our website. In addition, you can check out our YouTube channel as well.

Episode Webpage: https://bit.ly/47pe2T5