Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine James Bond 007

Probably no Bond film ever got less respect than ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE.

In the wake of the THUNDERBALL lawsuit, which dragged on at least 2 years, Ian Fleming wrote THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (an “experimental” novel he was so ashamed of he forbid Broccoli & Saltzman from doing an adaptation of it) and THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS (which ran in a competeing newspaper than the one running the 007 comic-strip, resulting in THUNDERBALL getting yanked 1/3rd of the way in—was there a CURSE on that story?). Right around the time he signed the deal with B&S, he decided to write a sequel to THUNDERBALL. In that, he’d introduced S.P.E.C.T.R.E. and Blofeld, and made great strides to make Bond more “human” than he’d been in the earlier books. OHMSS continued the new trend. We see more of Bond's “personal” life than ever before, and he actually falls in love and (GASP!) gets married. Meanwhile, he tracks down Blofeld (wanted by the authorities after that atomic bomb incident), meets him face-to-face for the first time, has to escape, but then comes back and blows his plans all to hell. Except the villain escapes—and gets revenge.

Peter Hunt had edited the previous films, and really wanted to direct. When THUNDERBALL became Kevin McClory’s film property, OHMSS was planned as the 4th in the B&S 007 series. It got pushed back when McClory made his deal with B&S. By all rights, it should have been the 5th film—but for a variety of reasons, none of which really make sense to me, they decided to do the SEQUEL to OHMSS first, YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE. They also decided the plot, which focused on a travelogue of Japan and Bond’s personal revenge on the man who killed his wife, was “unfilmable”, and so spun off instead an epic of action, violence and visual spectacle. It gave Connery (or anyone else) little to do as an actor. How ironic that the NEXT film, without Connery, would have the best script in the entire series?

First-time actor George Lazenby was cast, and he proved even more expert with the fight scenes, though far less with most else. He also had the INCREDIBLE stupidity to decide that by 1969, spies were “on the way out”, and announced before the film’s release that he wasn’t planning to come back for another. The producers got pissed, decided not to promote the film properly, it naturally did disappointing business at the box office, and for most of the 70’s became “the forgotten Bond”.

When HBO ran their Bond festival in 1980, they ran Connery’s 6 films, and THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN. No OMHSS. Earlier, ABC ran the 6 Connerys and several Moore films before running OHMSS. But how they ran it was a disgrace. They decided it was “too long”—and so split it up over 2 nights. But not 2 consecutive nights—over 2 consecutive MONDAY nights. There was a WEEK between halves of the film! As a result, since the film follows the book, they decided the first half was “too slow”—and so they took the ski chase from the middle and tacked it onto the beginning, turning the entire first half into a series of “flashbacks”. This was on top of all the severe CUTS they made, like trimming the intial 90-second fight scene down to 45 seconds (I timed it once).

I was just about caught up to OHMSS in my reading but wound up reading it not long after seeing the film on ABC. I’ve long had a thing for the Winter Olympics, so a film involving snow, ice skating, skiing and a tobaggan run naturally grabbed me big-time. Once I realized JUST how close the film was to the book, it rose even higher in my view. Over the years, it became my #1 FAVORITE 007 film. And amazingly, around the 11th time I watched it (having long before gotten an UNCUT copy), I suddenly realized that, for once, ALL the changes they made were serious IMPROVEMENTS! Director Peter Hunt & writer Richard Maibaum had taken one of Fleming’s BEST books—and made it EVEN BETTER!!!

The book opens with Bond fighting some thugs on a beach, getting beaten & captured. He spends the next 3 chapters thinking how he got into this predicament. These events are shown in the film, except they take place in the order we see them. Somebody must have figured film audiences would get confused by “flashbacks”. 4 years later, ENTER THE DRAGON followed Fleming’s lead and outdid him, including flashbacks WITHIN flashbacks. Nobody seemed to mind.

Following Bond’s fling with Tracy & meeting her father, Bond is brushed aside by M when he tries to tell him he finally may have a lead on Blofeld. In the book, Bond considered resigning; in the film, he has Moneypenny draft a letter of resignation! He’s then surprised when M grants him a 2-week vacation instead. M, always eavesdropping on his secretary, tells her, “What would I do without you, Miss Moneypenny?”

On leave, Bond becomes more involved with Tracy, and her father tips him about a lawyer who may be connected to Blofeld. After a little B&E, Bond visits M at his home, and this time is reassinged to track down Blofeld officially again. Bond then travels undercover to a “research institute” located at the very peak of a Swiss Alp, Piz Gloria. As villains’ HQs go, this has to be the most amazing in the entire film series—and it’s REAL! The producers kept delaying when they couldn’t seem to find a suitable location to match the one in Fleming’s book. By incredible luck (and only slightly bad timing), they discovered a restaurant was being built and struck a deal. They’d help finish & furnish the place, plus build a REAL helicopter pad, in exchange for being able to shoot there before it opened.

Bond meets the director of the institute—really Blofeld—as well as 12 gorgeous girls, all there for alergy treatment. As O.F. Snelling said in his 1964 book, JAMES BOND: A REPORT, “Of course Bond doesn’t get to sleep with ALL of them—that would be too much, even for Bond!” But he does bed 2 of them, with the exact same dialogue (the nerve of some people). In the book, he suspects they’re onto him and escapes. In the film, he’s caught—but finds out what Blofeld’s plans are, THEN escapes! This change allows for much more screen time with the villain, eliminates a “slow” point later on, and allows for almost a FULL HOUR of action to follow!

Bond is almost caught again when Tracy appears. In the book, she was in the area seeing a specialist (she’d suffered from depression). In the film, she’s there because she got her father to tell her where Bond was and wanted to help. This makes her a much stronger character, and ties her in much more with the main story. The book often seemed like 2 “parallel” stories that only intersect here and there. Pursued by car, the book has Bond cause the baddies to go crashing off a cliff. I’m guessing the producers figured we’d already seen this in DR. NO and GOLDFINGER. Instead, Tracy steers into a stock-car rally, which quickly turns into a demolition derby thanks to her and their SPECTRE pursuers, who barely escape with their lives when their car explodes after overturning.

In the book, Bond & Tracy make it back to England, where he proposes marriage. Blofeld’s plans are discovered, and Bond decided—on his own—to go back and stop him. This is where the biggest change in the film takes place. Still in Switzerland, Bond & Tracy are stuck in a snowstorm, take refuge in a barn, and it’s there he proposes marriage. The next day, though, Blofeld & henchment are again in ski pursuit, eventually causing an avalanche—one of the most spectacular action scenes in the film. (Shades of FLASH GORDON CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE !) Blofeld sees Tracy’s still alive, and orders her capture. BIG mistake! Back in England, M refuses to mount an assault, telling Bond “This department is not interested in your PERSONAL problems.” Bond calls up Tracy’s father, crime lord Marc-Ange Draco, and mounts one without official sanction. The difference is, while they both have “very good reasons” for doing it, rescueing Tracy makes it PERSONAL! Oddly enough, this kind of situation had appeared in the books CASINO ROYALE, LIVE AND LET DIE, MOONRAKER, DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, and DR. NO—but not OHMSS. This was the first time it happened in a Bond film, but by whatever luck it repeated in DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, LIVE AND LET DIE, THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN, THE SPY WHO LOVED ME and MOONRAKER—but never as good as it was here!

The finale is possibly the finest in the entire series. I get chills every time I watch it. The suspense just builds and builds as the “Red Cross” helicopters approach Piz Gloria. Tracy recognizes her father’s voice on the radio and decides to “distract” Blofeld until it’s too late. The assault team finally arrives and ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE!!! And while the “epic” quality of YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE’s climax may be unmatched, that was done on a fantasy sound stage—THIS one’s on a real location!

Fighting, shooting, killing, explosions everywhere! Draco takes Tracy away while Bond goes to find info to stop Blofeld’s scheme. Blofeld takes pot shots at Bond, then runs as Bond chases after him. They get out of the building—JUST as it’s BLOWN to pieces! Then follows an incredible chase on a pair of tobaggans, as Blofeld & Bond shoot at each other while desperately trying to keep control and not fly off the run. It finally gets up-close and personal here, until a low-hanging tree branch tears the villain away, apparently breaking his neck. Too bad nobody checked to make sure.

The film ends with the wedding—followed quickly by Tracy’s murder. What a shock. What a DAMN SHAME they never did a proper follow-up to this, as Fleming had.

OHMSS has possibly the best cast in the entire series. Gabriella Frizetti as crime-lord Marc-Ange Draco; Ilse Steppat as Fraulein Irma Bunt; George Baker as Sir Hillary Bray; Bernard Horsfall as Bond’s assistant in Switzerland; the girls—all those girls, including Angela Scoular as Ruby Bartlett (my favorite of the 12), Catherine Schell (later a regular on SPACE: 1999), and Joanna Lumley (later of THE NEW AVENGERS and much later of ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS). And then there’s Diana Rigg, already famous as Mrs. Emma Peel on THE AVENGERS, who plays Tracy, “the” Bond girl of all Bond girls. Reportedly, Bridget Bardot would have been a better fit, but she was off making a western with Sean Connery at the time (!!!), and I’ve never really seen one of her films so I have no idea what kind of an actress she is.

And let’s not forget Telly Savalas as “Balthazar, the Count De Bleushamp”, alias Blofeld. I’ve read so often he was “all wrong” for the part—but between the script and his acting, he’s become my #1 FAVORITE Bond movie villain!

It’s just possible the producers cast 2 such highly-established actors as Rigg & Savalas, AND cranked up the amount of screen-time they’d have (compared with the book) as “insurance” against George Lazenby’s lack of experience. In any case, for the ONLY time in a Bond film, characters from a book get MORE screen-time instead of less, yet without sacrificing time for action. In fact, this movie has more of THAT, too. Incredible. With such a good script, there really wasn’t any way for Lazenby to screw things up. Had HE been in something as totally action-oriented as YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, he might have been an even better fit that Connery, who looked bored throughout that and its predecessor, THUNDERBALL.

So… to me, for once, this film is SO good… SO PERFECT on virtually every level… I wouldn’t change a damn thing about it. Except, just maybe, for 2 members of the cast. Yep—no matter how good he was, JUST IMAGINE how much BETTER Connery would have been in this, with a script that would have allowed him once agan to really ACT. And also, despite Savalas being my favorite villain here, I’d rather he’d have been Largo in THUNDERBALL. Earlier in 1969, THE ASSASSINATION BUREAU had featured (among others) Rigg & Savalas, which showed off the real chemistry between them. But also in that film was CURT JURGENS. It’s a shame they didn’t get HIM for Blofeld. If OHMSS had featured both Connery AND Jurgens… oh wow, how good could it have been then?

It should have been the big epic finale. It almost was—but not quite.

YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE was Ian Fleming’s follow-up to his epic OHMSS. While that seemed designed with making it into a movie in mind, YOLT was something else. Fleming’s health was failing after 2 years of that lawsuit and a heart attack, and this is probably reflected in the dark, sombre tone of the book. Following the murder of Bond’s wife, he’s so depressed his chief yells at him to pull himself together, as he has a “most important” mission for him. This proves to be opening up lines of communication with the Japanese Secret Service, and its leader, “Tiger” Tanaka. Almost the entire first half of the book is virtually a “travelogue”. Then Tanaka asks him for a favor to close the deal.

It seems there’s a growing fad among the youth of Japan for suicide. Some foreigner calling himself “Dr. Shatterhand” has set up a “Garden of Death” where people can go to kill themselves in a wide variety of horrific ways. Tiger feels this is an embarrassment that must not be allowed to go on. He has no legal way of stopping it—so he asks Bond to go in and KILL the son-of-a-bitch. As there must be no official connection, it must all be strictly secret and undercover. To this end, they do their best to make Bond look oriental (all those Fu Manchu and Charlie Chan movies must have proven how well this can be done with Europeans!). As further cover, he also goes through a ritual of marriage to a local “Ama girl”, who make their living diving for pearls. All this is done so no one will suspect an official of the government is sanctioning MURDER!

Just before leaving on his mission, Tiger shows Bond the only known photograph of Shatterhand. He looks, memorizes, and hands it back. And he DOESN’T tell Tiger he recognizes the man is the really Blofeld—the man who murdered Bond’s wife! (NOW it’s PERSONAL!!!) Bond sneaks into the villain’s castle, but is caught up by a trap door and captured. Confronted, about to be fried by an active geyser, he admits his identity. Blofeld’s sanity is not what it was, either, and he goes on espousing his “philsophy” on life and death. But then Bond gets loose, and the two engage in a swordfight—with Blofeld dressed in full samurai armor! Bond gets the better of him, and winds up KILLING him—by BREAKING HIS NECK with his BARE HANDS!!! (Now THAT’s “personal”!!!)

Bond escapes via a balloon, but somehow winds up with amnesia. When he fails to return, he’s assumed lost, and the British newspapers report his obituary, which contains the fact that he was half-Scottish (the influence of Sean Connery, no doubt). But in truth, Bond is now living as a Japanese fisherman with his “wife”, ex-movie star and occasonal agent “Kissy Suzuki”, though troubled by memories of having a connection with… Russia. (What a way to end the book!)

Broccoli & Saltzman reportedly felt this book was “unfilmable”. RIGHT. The guys who did the British newspaper comic-strip apparently didn’t agree, and did an EXTREMEMLY accurate adaptation of it, which was JUST reprinted in one of Titan Books’ collections. (Highest reccomendation!!!)

For whatever the reason, when 1967 rolled around, the film-makers decided to do YOLT instead of OHMSS next. This is the equavalent of filming RETURN OF THE KING before THE TWO TOWERS, or RETURN OF THE JEDI before THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. Screenwirter Richard Maibaum was unavailable, and instead children’s book writer Roald Dahl was recruited. He was given a run-down on what details to include, and he apparently followed their instructions to the letter. This included having 2 main girls, one who would die partway through the picture, and the other who’d come in for the rest. Dahl’s story essentially jettisons 90% of the book in favor of a “completely new” story. Sadly, this would become the standard for most Bond film “adaptations” from then on.

YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, in many ways, is a celebration of the 60’s. It’s been pointed out the plot in many ways is a remake of DR. NO on a much bigger scale. S.P.E.C.T.R.E. has a secret underground base on an island, and are interfering with the space program—this time of both the US and Russia, for the purpose of starting a nuclear war, on the pay of Red China. While Bond’s OBIT appears in the film, it’s at the beginning instead of the end—and the whole idea of faking his death so his enemies will be put off their guard actually comes from the Dean Martin-Matt Helm film, MURDERERS ROW. Similarly, the volcano-crater base—a set built in England for the cost of the entire budget of DR. NO—looks very much like the underground base from THE SILENCERS, only much classier, and on a much grander scale. Bond tackling a crime organization operating on a Japanese island is strikingly similar to a 2-part SECRET AGENT story, “Koroshi”. The spaceship whose front opens up like alligator jaws to swallow a smaller space capsule is straight out of the 2nd episode of LOST IN SPACE, “The Derelict”! When we finally get to meet SPECTRE #1 face-to-face, his bald head and the scar running down one side of his face and around his eye looks suspiciously like Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker, HYDRA #1 from the Jim Steranko run of NICK FURY, AGENT OF S.H.I.E.L.D. in STRANGE TALES!!! Like—weren’t there ANY really “original” ideas in this whole movie?

There is a LOT of terrific stuff in this film. So much so that, given a choice, I’d rather keep as much as possible in any “fantasy” alternate-universe version of it I could envision. But there’s also a lot of problems—though none, I think, that couldn’t be fixed.

While YOLT is very “episodic”, unlike THUNDERBALL each big sequence seems to flow naturally into the next. You may have trouble following it with commercial breaks, but without them, the films holds together much better than its predecessor. If only it made as much logical sense!

As with TB, YOLT has a lot of terrific actors in it, almost all with little to do. Henderson (Charles Gray, much better here than he was in DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER) is needlessly bumbed off less than 5 minutes into his appearance. Akiko Wakabayashi, who plays Japanese agent Aki, is also bumped off pointlessly 2/3rds thru the film, after clearly falling in love with “Bando-san”. (Life must really be CHEAP in Japan—the body count in this film is unbelieveable!) Mie Hama (who has a much bigger part in KING KONG ESCAPES), plays “Kissy” (whose name is ONLY ever mentioned in the end credits—NOT anywhere in the dialogue!). Hama had trouble with the English language and just before filming swapped roles with Aki. She gets my vote for the most beautiful Japanese girl I have ever laid eyes on—but while she’s there for the action, we hardly get to know her character at all. Ed Bishop (CAPTAIN SCARLET, UFO) and Shane Rimmer (THUNDERBIRDS, THE SPY WHO LOVED ME) both have bit parts as NASA techs, while Burt Kwouk (A SHOT IN THE DARK, THE BRIDES OF FU MANCHU) serves the same role for SPECTRE. Teru Shimada as industrialist Mr. Osato, could have been the main villain here—instead, he’s only a front. Karin Dor (THE FACE OF FU MANCHU), his red-headed German assistant, seems to be here only to fill Luciana Paluzzi’s role of would-be seductress & assassin. Both she AND her boss wind up bumped off by THEIR boss for gross incompetence (failing to kill Bond).

One other actor, whose name I don't know, appears briefly as one of Tanaka's ninjas. He's the guy who shows off such skill with a samurai sword-- and he was one of THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN-- the character, in fact, who was later played by James Coburn in the US western version of the story!

Only Tetsuro Tamba as Tiger Tanaka really gets to shine in this picture. He’s Japan’s answer to Nick Fury—head of the Japanese Secret Service AND, during the climax, at the front of the fighting when he and 100 Ninjas storm SPECTRE’s secret base. When we first see him, he speaks in sinister tones, saying, “Welcome to Japan, Mr. Bond!” As seen in the film’s coming attractions, one is inclined to think he’s the head bad guy—when in fact, it’s quite the opposite. Classy, stylish, confident, filled with more than a little pride in himself, his organization and Japan and its culture in general, he fills a similar role to that of Kerim Bey in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE. One could easily picture a whole series of films starring this guy. And yet, this is despite the fact that his entire performance was dubbed—and by the SAME actor, Robert Rietty, who dubbed Emilio Largo in THUNDERBALL, a policeman in DR. NO and about 95% of the male characters in the Italian film THE LAST DAYS OF SODAM AND GOMORRAH. If they dubbed HIM, why the “need” to find Japanese actresses who could speak English at all?

But the guy who gets all the BEST lines in the film is… Donald Pleasence. After not revealing his face in 2 previous films, the producers were somehow at a loss as to who to cast as SPECTRE’s “#1”. In fact, more than half the picture was shot without him, including half of the scenes he appears in! Reportedly, Harry Saltzman cast Czech actor Jan Werich in the role, but onset Broccoli found he didn’t look villainous enough, and had poor English. Pleasence was brought in at the last minute, and dubbed any scenes shot earlier where you couldn’t see his face. I really love him in this film—and yet, if it were possible, I’d rather have seen Curt Jurgens. (I wonder what HE was doing in ‘67?)

In wondering how more of the book could be salvaged while maintaining the spectacular action set-pieces of the movie plot, I started with the idea that the film, first and foremost, SHOULD have been made after OHMSS. This would have allowed the “personal revenge” plot to remain intact. Also, imagine a Bond depressed at the death of his wife, having to pull himself together for his most important, desperate mission. What an opportunity this could have been for an actor of Sean Connery’s abilities! I’m picturing Bond having to go through his paces, clearly not all there—somewhat like Kurt Russell’s character in STARGATE. There was really no reason for the “fake death” subplot. Also, there is no logic to Bond early on saying Osata is only a front and SPECTRE is probably behind him. The revelation that Blofeld & SPECTRE were the villains could have been held back, as it was in the book.

One of the things that bugs me the most about YOLT is the casual way Aki is murdered and cast aside for Kissy. They spent so much time building up Aki’s character and her growing relationship with Bond, yet he hardly reacts at all when she’s killed! Imagine if she’d ALMOST died—but didn’t. How much more emotional impact would it have had if, after seeing Tracy killed, Bond had managed to save Aki’s life. This could have been the thing that brought him out of his depression, and given him a new lease on life. There really never should have been 2 main girls in the film—only 1. Given the choice, I’d have taken Mie Hama, but if her English was such a detemining factor, Akiko Wakabayashi could have had the entire film to herself—and Hama instead could have played Osato’s assistant. (What WAS a red-headed German girl doing in Japan, ANYWAY???)

The whole “Bond turns Japanese” thing could also be jettisoned. A lot of English actors can make convincing Orientals—SEAN CONNERY is NOT one of them! Now, for all that’s been made of the “wedding” sequence, it’s one of the things taken straight from the book that, in the context of the film, MAKES NO SENSE at all. It could have—but only if the girl he was “marrying” was someone he’d been getting to know as well as he had with Aki.

The one thing YOLT excels at is its action sequences. Every time I watch the helicopter battle, it thrills me. But that’s nothing compared to the climax, inside the hollowed-out volcano that’s been turned into a hidden spaceship launch pad. I’d want to keep as much of this intact—while adding emotional contect that just wasn’t there before. Imagine the scene where Bond is brought before Blofeld. Instead of being a first glimpse, it could have been a final confrontation. Bond, desperate to stop SPECTRE and prevent a World War from happening—but ALSO wanting to get the man who killed his wife! Instead of getting away at the end, this should have been Blofeld’s LAST appearance. Try combining the fight with the samurai sword from earlier in the film (in Osato’s office) with the pre-credit sequence fight in THUNDERBALL where Bond fights hand-to-hand before breaking the guy’s neck. THAT should have been HERE! In the structure of the film’s climax, perhaps the best place for this to fit would be where Blofeld shoots Osata and then gets away. This would leave room for Bond’s fight with Hans over the control-room key (where the guy goes into the pirahna pool) to remain as-is.

With SPECTRE’s biggest scheme stopped and their leader DEAD, YOLT could have been the epic spectacle climax to end all epic spectacle climaxes. Bond could have even been serious about “retiring” to Japan and being married to Kissy (or Aki, take your pick of character name). What a way for Connery to have gone out! The series could have ended on the highest possible note. Instead, it went on, to mixed results. Ah well…

Encore had a JB festival a few weeks ago, so I've watched all the movies recently. I was appalled by the special effects in YOLT. Yuk.

Technically, the space stuff is the ONE thing that really lets it down. Damn shame, considering what Derek Meddings was doing (THUNDERBIRDS, CAPTAIN SCARLET) around the SAME TIME. Even the outer-space stuff on LOST IN SPACE tended to be better than this. Jump ahead 12 years and Derek Medding's effects on MOONRAKER were the ONLY GOOD THING about that movie.

Now if somebody could pull a "George Lucas" and redo the spaceship stuff on YOLT...!


It had an AMAZING music score, didn't it?

"Pretty-- but dumb."


The above line is from HEAVY METAL. But it sums up the film I just watched-- THE SPY WHO LOVED ME.

To think, this used to be one of my favorite movies... in fact, it was my #1 film of 1977. Yet now...? I'm afraid that article some time ago in 007 magazine really ruined it for me. It's like, some movies have the occasional plot hole or lapse in logic. Not this one. In this, EVERY SINGLE SCENE has something in it that just DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE!!! Apparently, they tried to cover this by being bigger, more spectacular, more exciting, and, unlike the 3 previous films (the "Tom Mankiewicz trilogy", you could call them) about 90% of SPY is played VERY seriously. I do wish the rest of Moore's films had had this general tone. It's almost dead serious until the Karnak Temple scene, when Jaws needelssly starts to rip apart the van. For a few moments there, with Moore's dialogue, you'd almost think you were watching a Burt Reynolds comedy. I mean-- it's really funny!!! --but if you think about too much, forget it. It continues on it's "epic scale" and "played straight" ways (in spite of the multitude of utterly illogical things going on) until the end, when, between the electro-magnet stunt (stolen straight from MURDERERS' ROW, just as the "Well now that you're dead" routine in YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE was) and the "Keeping the British end up sir" and the blaringly loud chorus of singers that follows, you'd think you were watching a Dean Martin movie.

Shane Rimmer (the voice of Scott Tracy) has a pretty big role in this-- yet in the credits, he's reduced to merely the anonymous top name on the list of "US Sub Crew" actors. (No wonder nobody seems to remember his character's name.)

And of course, my personal pet peeve about SPY is... Caroline Munro got ripped off. After THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD and CAPTAIN KRONOS, VAMPIRE HUNTER, she had far more experience and screen presence than the rather wimpy Barbara Bach. (Compared to Anya Amasova, Holly Goodhead in MOONRAKER seemed a lot tougher!) They should have switched roles...

More on THE SPY WHO LOVED ME... and it's not pretty!

After GOLDEN GUN, Saltzman sold out his share. I can't imagine why anybody would do a thing like that, unless he thought the series was bottoming out and he needed a sudden influx of cash to finance something else. Seems to me I read his film career flounded after he split with Broccoli.

NOBODY knew what to do with SPY. Fleming had it in the contract they could use the title and NOTHING ELSE. They hatched an idea to bring back SPECTRE, and in fact have a young group of anarchist-terrorists assassinate the board of directors and take over the organization for world-destructive reasons. They changed their mind-- too scary perhaps?-- and decided to bring Blofeld back again, since he really hadn't been killed off properly in that abomination that so many seem to love so much, DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER.

The 10-year grace period with Kevin McClory had run its course since THUNDERBALL, and with no original ideas in mind, he decided it was time to do a remake. He put out a court order against Broccoli to prevent him from using Blofeld & SPECTRE. In retaliation, Broccoli sued him for... something. (Don't ask me what!) Broccoli thumbed his nose as McClory, eliminated SPECTRE and changed the villain's name to Carl Stromberg. Too bad, Curt Jurgens would have finally been able to play the part he was really, really right for. Dumb, stupid lawsuits...

SPY became "James Bonds's Greatest Hits". It doesn't feel like it was written, it feels like it was assembled-- and by the stunt arrangers. Take all the "best" scenes from the previous movies, and redo them-- BIGGER!!! The ski chase (including a guy going off a cliff) from OHMSS. A big craft swallowing a small craft (YOLT). An indestructible henchman (GOLDFINGER). A fight on a train (FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE and LIVE AND LET DIE). Meeting the baddie followed by a car chase (YOLT). Underwater battle (THUNDERBALL). A guy trying to start WW3 (YOLT-- let's face it, SPY is a REMAKE of YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE!!!). What nobody ever mentioned in any article I ever read was the idea of a tanker swallowing a submarine came from the 007 comic-strip adaptation of-- THE SPY WHO LOVED ME! (That part certainly wasn't in the book. Comics continue to get no respect.)

I believe someone pointed out the absurdity of a guy skiing off a cliff while wearing a parachute. Was he planning to go that way? Otherwise... WHY?

Stromberg goes to insane lengths to have people killed. First, he shows the 2 scientists the way he kills his secretary, who stole the blueprints. Then, he has their helicopter blown up.

At the pyramids, WHY does Fekkesh run away from the safety of a crowd to an isolated spot, making his murder so much easier? What was he doing with a key to that tomb? Doesn't it seem stupid of Anya to have TWO guys she's talking with walk away only to be killed? Did James & Anya really think Jaws was unaware of them jumping into his van? Why go ALL the way out to the Karnak Temple? When she had the drop on him, WHY didn't Anya SHOOT the bastard? Why did Jaws WASTE his time ripping the van to pieces, all the while never once touching the people he appears to be trying to kill (apart from the fact that it allowed Roger Moore to rattle off the funniest string of one-liners in the film)?

WHAT is M, and an entire contingent of Q Branch, doing in Egypt? Why did James & Anya travel by train, when Q travelled by boat (apart from creating an excuse for the train fight)? If Stromberg knew they were spies, why not kill them when they were still at Atlantis? Back on shore, there's a motorcycle, a car AND a helicopter, waiting in sequence along the roadside. Were they so sure the previous killers would fail? Why does Naomi HOVER directly over the car? If Anya stole the plans of the Lotus, WHY does she appear frightened when James drives off the pier?

Now, I'm willing to let the BIG question of how is it possible for a gigantic tanker NOT to sink when you open up the entire front to the ocean. This is "science fiction" to some degree, maybe (like the rotating control tower of FIREBALL XL5) we can assume SOMEBODY figured out how to manage it. But if they could disable the American sub, WHY bring it onboard with all those men alive? Why were the crews of the 2 previous subs still alive? (Auric Goldfinger would not have approved-- look what HE did to his gangster "partners".) Why design a control room as if a siege with enemy soldiers was in mind? (The blast shield in YOLT made sense-- there was a spaceship launch pad right outside, after all!)

WHY does Bond SIT DOWN when Stromberg invites him to? HOW does Bond shoot Stromberg THROUGH the glass tube if a gun is ATTACHED to it at Stromberg's end-- and WHY is that tube there anyway??? WHY does Jaws fight Bond when, obviously, his boss is already dead? WHAT is that stupid ELECTRO-MAGNET doing hanging over a shark pool? And-- can't that STUPID Russian girl make up her freaking mind if she wants to KILL Bond or have SEX with him?




Incredibly, I think the guy who pointed all this out (in 007 magazine) suggested that MOONRAKER was like a remake of SPY-- only without all the logic problems. Maybe so! But that film was MUCH more stupid, in so many OTHER ways... and slow-moving and boring to boot.

I haven't read all of this thread, but I just wanted to post that we had a mini Bond festival this evening... the Daniel Craig Bondfest!

Watching Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace back to back was very much like watching one long movie and I was quite entertained by all the Bond-ness of it all.

Didn't know that Quantum was out. Will have to pick it up.

As for all the things wrong with the bond movies...i tend to seperate the movies from the books. I'm pretty good at compartmentalizing.

I do think that its fun to find all the things that went on, and all the parts left out, or changed, but I judge each movie on its merits in a timely fashion. By that I mean that I don't judge say OHMSS by todays standards, but by the standards of when it actually came out.

Like Dalton. Liked him in Flash Gordon, liked him in other things, but I can't watch his bond without thinking that he's constantly going to cry. WTF?

The later Moore movies nearly sunk the franchise. Dalton might have done it for the worldwide market, but he couldn't pull in the american market. Brosnan is now being, wrongly I feel, placed in the Moore later period because of that rather lame Die Another Day (Madonna...dear god somebody chop her head off and let the body go on running for a few years, she might be worthy of being cat crap then), when Goldeneye was very good, The World is Not Enough was fair, and tomorrow never dies was just fun. Michelle Yeo...oooooohhhhh. Homer liiiiiiiiiiiikes donuts!

Okay, I really enjoyed Quantum at the movies, and I have seen it on a site on the puter', but watching the DVD (I bought it, so, no stealing for me)I got a much better flow for the movie. I left the theater thinking that it was almost too much of an action movie and there was no depth to it, like CR.

I guess it was just the first viewing and selective memory, because it played on DVD so damn much better it ain't funny.

It played so much better, I even kinda liked the theme song this time.

One thing, and it is a stupid, minor, extremely minor quibble. Apparantly, he has a healing factor, lol. Cuts and scrapes on his face seem to completly heal in a days time.

One other thing, was Fields supposed to be nekkid under that trenchcoat? I mean, its central america, which is hot and muggy from humidity, and she's wearing a trenchcoat? Tres Kinky!

Strawberry Fields forever!

Having just watched Quantum on DVD it is a much denser movie than I realized watcing it in the movie theater. Lots of interesting bits, as in just what is Mr. White up to?

I am looking forward to one day having the time to watch Royale and Quantum back to back.

Fields was quite hot. Red hair, trench coat, nose in the air. >>>panting<<<

my dad looks like the new James bond...so i cant wacth them all i think when i see that is 'well damn.. my dad looks cool doing that.'

and my dad is kinda scary.. he's 50+ and could kick a lot of peoples asses if he wanted..

so for all i know.. my dad could be 007

Oh, great...now he'll have to kill you to preserve his secret.

Skyfall

My late partner, David, was a big Bond fan. He was always eager to see any new Bond movie the weekend it was released. I decided to stick my head in the sand and not go see Skyfall just to avoid the sadness and memories. Then I started to hear the reviews. Some critics are calling it the best Bond film ever. I decided to buck up, and check it out.

I'm so glad I did. I won't dive into the "best Bond film ever" debate, but I have no hesitation in saying this is a damn good movie and recommending it highly. It definitely forges new ground, and has some entertaining elements that will keep the interest of none Bond fans. There are enough fun and clever Easter eggs and hat tips to the past for the traditionalists to be satisfied. The story is told in a way that makes it clear that they are trying to update things, but does so in a respectful manner. Daniel Craig continues to master the role. This performance adds fuel for those who want to argue that he is the best Bond actor. Again, a debate I won't engage in, but I will give him a thumbs up. Judi Dench gets a much meatier role this time around, and gives an excellent performance.

I went to see Skyfall a few nights ago. I loved it! I don't know if it is the best Bond movie ever, but it ceratainly would be among the top contenders. Very enjoyable film!

I don't know about that - I enjoyed it, but it struck me as a very "genie back in the bottle" movie. Casino Royale gave us a Bond who was learning to be "Bond, James Bond". Now, after the digression that was Quantum of Solace (where they didn't use The James Bond Theme... why?), Skyfall completes the trip - with a new Q (who, as in the original Q's debut, just gives him a gun), a new Moneypenny, and replaces Judi Dench with an M entirely in line with Bernard Lee, the original cinematic M. Add in stuff like the Goldfinger DB5 (and why was that tricked out since this is a reboot? He won a DB5 in CR, but I doubt that involved an ejector seat...), and this was a Bond movie that wanted to be 60s Bond at the core.

For me, the forging ahead took place on several levels. I didn't see it so much as putting the "genie back in the bottle" but as cleverly acknowledging that the genie can't really be put back in the bottle. I found myself thinking a lot of Rachel Maddow's book Drift while watching the movie. Maddow spends some time in the later chapters arguing that much of what we used to consider to be the job of the military has shifted to the intelligence community - in effect changing the role and purpose of intelligence. The exchanges during M's testimony and Bond's conversations with the new Q brought some of that out. Are we at a point in time where nothing exists in the shadows or where everything of substance exists in the shadows? Fascinating stuff to think about. This film asked those questions transparently, and in a way that I haven't seen a movie do before. These are questions that are relevant for both the real world, and the Bond franchise.

Beyond that, the special effects moved to a more modern level. The whole issue of spies using over the top gadgets was both made fun and honored with a clever balance. It kind of gets to the heart of the question regarding whether these elements are essential to a Bond film. It's a question that has to be addressed for the franchise to move forward.

I've never been a big Bond film fan, but Jerry, your commentary has piqued my interest in this one.

Just got back from it.

No secret I'm a huge fan of the books and movies.

Skyfall...was disappointing. It had some good moments to be sure, but overall... meh. Yes, some superficial changes were made. I guess Ms. Dench's contract was up or something. Bardeem was wasted, I thought. This Bond movie seemed as... weepy... as the last Dalton movie did.

The plot was a bit retreaded from both Brosnan's debut and Craig's. I was glad to see the goofy gadgets kind of fade away, but like Reboot said, some things didn't fit.

I'd give it a C.

Eh? Dame Judi is 77 - her M would have been retired a decade earlier in real life! (Plus she's going blind - she can't actually read scripts any more, she needs them read to her).

Finnes is, at just shy of 50, actually on the young side.

*liked Licence to Kill*

Eh? There was more gadgetry in this film than either of its two immediate predecessors.

What gadgets? Other than the oddly refitted car after the CR reboot, he had a gun and a radio. Not really gadgety in my book. I thought the phone was more along those lines in CR. But compared to Moore's and Connery's, yeah, they've faded away.

>sigh< I hate code. tried reply with quotes, didn't work so well.

Okay, being a completist at heart (Gee, there's a shock in a comic book reader, right.) I bought the movie on Blu-ray. I've watched it a couple of times now, over just the one viewing in the theaters.

I haven't really seen anything to change my mind. Not a bad movie, good popcorn fare for sure. But a little bit...well, it seemed like a reboot after a very recent reboot again. And he still seemed a bit weepy.

Spectre was a disappointment. The first 2/3rds of the move were awesome, but then it really, really went off the rails in the 3rd act. There was some lazy writing and nonsensical plot points and stuff that just plain didn't make sense.

I'm not really looking forward to Spectre, which is kind of a shock for me, being a lifelong Bond fan (my mom named me after Ian Fleming, so that's apparently genetic...).

On the other hand, I just saw Man From UNCLE, and it was actually kind of cool, being set in the 'mod' era of the Cold War. (Same sort of aesthetic that got turned up to ludicrous speed during the Austin Powers movie, thankfully not quite as absurd here.) It was a pretty good spy flick, with the usual Hollywood actor nonsense, aBrit-playing-an-American, an American-playing-a-Brit and an American-playing-a-Russian.