I have another blog I’m very into; my sister and I co-blog at Basket of Kisses, which is devoted entirely to the television series Mad Men. If you don’t know, this amazing, stylish, nuanced show won the Golden Globes for Best Dramatic Series and Best Actor in a Dramatic Series (Jon Hamm). Season 1 was set at a 1960 advertising agency on Madison Avenue (Madison Ave ad men were known in the trade as “Mad Men”).

It’s been revealed that Season 2 (which premieres on July 27 on AMC) will fast-forward to 1962. And why does that matter here? Because it is also the release year of the first Bond film, Dr. No.

It’s an interesting year for movies: Lawrence of Arabia, Lolita, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Manchurian Candidate, Cape Fear. A lot of darkness, cynicism, and sexual violence. Seen in that context, Dr. No kind of fits right in.

It was the year of the Cuban Missile Crisis, which readied the public for a film about the Cold War, unknown threats, generalized fear of missiles and the unknown. It was the year that James Meredith became the first African American to enter the University of Mississippi after the US Supreme Court struck down the doctrine of “separate but equal.” Certainly films that question prejudice and inequality were an important part of the zeitgeist.

In 1962 Dr. No was cool, modern, sleek and thrilling. Today younger viewers may look at it as old fashioned and kind of quaint. Look again. The edginess and sense of forward movement is still intact. The idea of living in a threatening world that Bond moves through with cool disregard is palpable.