The adaptation-rights cases that have sprinkled Bond-movie history aren’t the only times that 007 has gotten involved with real-life law and order. In 1989, when Licence to Kill came out, the movie almost served as the appropriately named alibi in a headline-grabbing murder case. The brothers Erik and Lyle Menendez were eventually convicted of killing their parents — surprising them while the couple, in a coincidence, watched a Bond movie on television — in order to get their inheritances faster. That day, the brothers went to go see LTK, but it was too crowded and they were too late; they had to use Batman as their alibi instead. The idea was that the movie tickets, for a showing that started right after the killings took place, would prove they were elsewhere — but it didn’t work.
James Bond, Declassified: 50 Things You Didn’t Know About 007
On Oct. 5, 1962, the first Bond film, Dr. No, hit theaters. Five decades and 22 films later, the spy has been immortalized as a legendary screen hero. TIME has compiled the most interesting stories, anecdotes and tidbits from the franchise
James Bond as an Alibi
Full List
50 Things You Didn't Know About James Bond
- Bond at 50
- Goldfinger Is Played by Two Different Actors
- How to Make a Bond Movie Sexier: Backwards Bikinis
- Dr. No the Monkey — and Other Bond Animals
- Ian Fleming Wrote Bond an Obituary
- ‘Bond 23’ Isn’t Actually the 23rd Bond Movie
- Thunderball Was Almost the First Bond Movie
- Bond at the Box Office: The Rankings
- GoldenEye Isn’t Just a Movie Title
- From Sex to Hippies to Fuel Crises: Bond Movies and History
- The Bond-Broccoli Connection
- Ursula Andress Helped Make Her Famous White Bikini
- The Bond Theme Was Originally Written for a Stage Musical
- Why M Goes by an Initial
- One Set Element in You Only Live Twice Cost More Than All of Dr. No
- Solid Gold Factoids
- One Actress Almost Died to Be a Bond Girl
- The First Tie-In Was Censored in the U.S.
- The Real Bond, James Bond
- The 300-Year-Old Title: “You Only Live Twice”
- A Literal Gold Finger Exists
- A Bond Spoof Inspired a Mob Riot
- Bond Girls: Movies vs. Books
- That Famous Gun Barrel Was a Price-Tag Sticker
- James Bond Does Have a True Love
- Four Non-Bonds
- James Bond Almost Had Plastic Surgery
- Sean Connery’s Salary Made the Guinness World Records
- More Actors Have Played Blofeld Than Bond
- James Bond Island is a Real Place
- Bond of Brothers
- Roald Dahl and Kingsley Amis Both Wrote for Bond
- Moonraker Was Made Because of Star Wars
- Don’t Believe (For) Your Eyes (Only)
- Q Has a Name
- Bond and The Avengers Share Cast Members
- Bond Bloopers
- One Actress, Three Bond Girls
- JFK and Reagan Were Both Bond Fans
- Ian Fleming and Harry Saltzman, Real-Life Spies
- No Bond Song Topped the Billboard Hot 100 Until 1985
- Other Titles For Licence to Kill
- James Bond Is Our Third-Favorite Hero
- Pierce Brosnan Was Married to a Bond Girl
- James Bond as an Alibi
- Miss Moneypenny Lives?
- How James Bond Changed Video Games
- The Walther PPK: Bond’s Gun
- James … and Jack and Rose?
- Bond at the Oscars
- What We Know About Bond 23