in defence of FYEO

maddogmacias

I've read a lot of bad things about FYEO on this forum, and most of the criticism is pure BS.

IMO, FYEO is one of the true classics. Roger Moore made 2 classic Bond movies...TSWLM and FYEO.

IMO, you cannot be a true James Bond fan if you dislike FYEO.

BWS Capo

FYEO is my third favorite bond film. Melina is an awesome bond girl, Bibi was okay. The theme song is my number one favorite, and moore dropping blofeld down that chimney was hilarious.

Golrush007

maddogmacias wrote:

IMO, you cannot be a true James Bond fan if you dislike FYEO.

While I do think that FYEO is a good Bond film, I definitely don't agree with this comment. FYEO is definitely not a favourite amongst all Bond fans, and I would definitely not call someone who doesn't like FYEO not a true Bond fan. Films are such a personal thing that each fan will react differently to each film. For instance I much prefer LALD to FYEO and TSWLM.

bacaret

I certainly think is fyeo is a good film and Moore's 2nd or 3rd best film,with alot of classic elements, but as a overall classic I am not to sure.In my opinion it ranks right in the middle of the Bond series.

Golrush007

I agree with you, Bacaret. I rank FYEO at number 11 on my Bond ranking.

There is certainly a lot to be appreciated, especially the use of original Ian Fleming material and an overall more serious tone. I really enjoy Topol's peformance as Columbo, and Roger Moore showing a little bit of a harder edge in the death of Locque scene.

Downsides for me are the PTS - fine on its own, but it doesn't fit the tone of the rest of the film. Also, I am undecided about Bill Conti's score. I love listening to it on album, but again, I feel that it doesn't fit the tone of the film is well as a John Barry score might. Towards the end, though, especially the St. Cyrils Monastery scene, I think Conti gets it just right.

FYEO is IMO a film of many positives, tainted a bit by some negatives - slotting in in the middle of the pack.

rennervision

For me, FYEO commits the one unforgiveable sin in a Bond film - a weak villain. (Which is why FYEO and TLD rank so low for me.)

sambwoy

When I was on job placement at HMV I was able to watch the FYEO Ultimate DVD just to see the special features. I didn't like so much as a whole when I first saw it- that was 1996 when I sting clung to Dalton as my favourite Bond.

I was actually quite surprised at the terrible quality of the VHS version of FYEO, which looked incredibly dated and not that technically proficiant given that this was just after Star Wars whilst elsewhere in the world Raiders Of The Lost Ark was being made. Its like I would have imagined that MGM could have approached Industrial Light & Magic to do the special effects for Moonraker, whereas if you watch the 'Inside Moonraker' documentary on the DVD, they had to go through the old process of superimposing and reversing the film to get the shuttle image over 'space'.

Things I didnt like-
-Bill Conti's music- a lot of the action sequences are left unscored on that note.
-Bibi Dahl- felt a little out of place in the proceedings and 007 should not have been interacting with someone so uncouth.
-The climax. There's a bit of good fighting at the end, and its refreshing that its Topol who actually kills Kristatos not 007. His fight with Kriegler is rather good, but he should have got skewed with that iron thing he threatens Bond with. The fight could have been padded out a little. Kristatos could have got lopped in two by the blades of the KGB helicopter or something and guts project all over the cockpit windscreen.
-The CV chase- mainly because of the music
-The ski chase
-The terrible voice dubbing
-Ferrara's death. Purely a secrificial lamb like many of the better Bond sidekicks.

Good bits-
-The St. Georges sinking
-Carole Bouquet- actually quite good this time but is overshadowed by what I think are the more negative elements of the film, which is probably why she seems to be one of the least remembered Bond girls.
-The Becton Gasworks pre-credits, if it weren't for the over-the-top villain.
-The Thatcher/Dennis impersonators.

Again like with Moonraker, I feel there is a lot of good stuff in FYEO but a lot of it is marred by having it come to a humourous conclusion.

heartbroken_mr_drax

Its not on the all round perfect levels as say OHMSS is, but overall its a good albeit different Bond flick.

Yes the villian is weak, but he is clearver than Koskov/Whitker in TLD, Kristatos and Bond having dinner really show this off.

Best parts of the film:
- Diving sequences.
- Dragging Melina and James behind the boat (from LALD novel).
- Climbing sequence at St Cyrils.
- 2CV chase.
- Scenes with Lisl and Bond.
- Roger Moore kicking ass by pushing Loque off the cliff.
- Dinner with Kristatos.

Bad parts:
- Bibi Dahl, seriously Bond should not have to deal with this BS. Otherwise he should have had it off.
- The fight in the Ice Hockey rink, completly silly and pointless.

John Glen says that LTK is his best, Id say this is.

jetsetwilly

I have FYEO way, way, waaaaaay down my list for one reason, and one reason only: it's ordinary.

Look at the action sequences. The film is rammed with them; aerial, underwater, skiing, climbing, driving. But are they anything special? The ski sequences are good, but the ones in OHMSS and TSWLM are better. The underwater sequences in TB and TSWLM are better. The helicopter sequence at the start - great, fun, but is it better than Little Nellie? Than MR's pretitles? The 2CV chase - the only notable thing about it is the vehicle used. They get back Rick Baker, the man who performed the rightly legendary ski jump, and they make him... fall off a cliff. It's a very long fall, but it's not in the same league.

It's all middling, not bad, not good. TMWTGG isn't a good film, but it has a superb villain and beautiful locations to counterbalance a dodgy Bond girl and a nonsensical plot. AVTAK is terrible on the whole, but it has a couple of great villains in Zorin and May Day, and some pleasingly insane moments - the leap off the Eiffel Tower is classic Bond. FYEO has nothing that's great, amazing, superlative, and nothing that's truly appalling. I want a Bond film to aim high, and fail, rather than not bother trying at all.

The producers and writers were so busy trying not to make Moonraker again, that they forgot that even the most down to earth Bond films have moments of exoticism, fantasy and excess. FRWL is a realistic thriller, but it still climaxes with Bond fighting off a five foot tall lesbian with knives sticking out of her shoes. It understands the fantasy. FYEO is trying so hard to be "grown up" it doesn't realise that even grown ups like to dream a little. It didn't work, either; the main things non-Bond fans remember about this film are the OTT pretitles, and an appearance by Maggie Thatcher - both completely ludicrous sequences which would have slotted into Moonraker quite nicely.

(Also, there are way too many chunky knit sweaters. I realise this probably isn't as powerful a reason as my others, but it bugs me anyway. Everyone at the climax looks like they're being sponsored by the Arran Wool Council.)

Napoleon Plural

You're consistent, jsw, I'll give you that:


http://www.ajb007.co.uk/index.php?topic=28716&cpage=2

Harry Palmer

In my humble opinion, it's one of the best, and quite perfect as it is. I've always preferred the more sober entries in the franchise.
That being said, I find "to each their own" to be a good policy when making statements about Bond-fans

Alex

My love of this film has been mentioned before, ad nauseum.

Perhaps it's my Grecian heritage, or the fact I was ten in 1981 and found FYEO and Raiders of the Lost Ark mesmerizing.

Both had spots in my collection of prized VHS dubs. These tapes saw more action then Blanche on the Golden Girls.

Loeffelholz

It's one of the better Moores.* Then again, looking at my rankings (I've got it at #17 overall), I've got it squarely in the middle of my Moore preferences---three ahead of it, and three behind. IMO, although the picture greatly benefits from the welcome addition of Fleming story elements, it remains hobbled by bits of silliness that Eon seemed utterly unable to eschew.

Still, it's quite a good time, and I enjoy it.

* _{Appropriately damned with faint praise.}

Hardyboy

I'm not sure how many "bad things" have been said about FYEO on this site--certainly it hasn't been slagged as often as, say, DAD, MR, AVTAK, and my own bete noir TMWTGG. It's interesting: at the time it came out, FYEO was wildly overpraised by Bond fans (primarily Raymond Benson), who all but pronounced it the second coming of both FRWL and OHMSS. Since then, the pendulum perhaps hasn't swung all the way to the other side, but it seems a bit stalled, with fans tending to rank FYEO as an "OK" film.

Personally, I like the movie. It has Roger Moore's single best performance as Bond, Topol is a wonderful ally, Julian Glover is a suitably slimy villain, the action is fast, and the script makes good use of unused Fleming material. I've also defended the film against something a lot of fans have criticized most severely: the women. Carole Bouquet is a believable--and drop-dead gorgeous--heroine; and those who scream about how annoying Bibi is and how inappropriate are her advances to Bond really don't get it: she's SUPPOSED to be annoying, and Bond's turn-downs are exactly right.

As for what doesn't work: well, the smokestack drop, the hockey players, the parrot. . .but those are minor hiccups in an otherwise good film.

jetsetwilly

Napoleon Plural wrote:

You're consistent, jsw, I'll give you that:


http://www.ajb007.co.uk/index.php?topic=28716&cpage=2

Once right, always right.

yodboy007

Hardyboy wrote:

Carole Bouquet is a believable--and drop-dead gorgeous--heroine; and those who scream about how annoying Bibi is and how inappropriate are her advances to Bond really don't get it: she's SUPPOSED to be annoying, and Bond's turn-downs are exactly right.

I agree with your opinion on Bibi, Hardy. Her character has never been a flaw in the film for me because she was supposed to be that way. The actress who played her pulled it off well.

I like FYEO a lot, but it is not in my Top 10. It used to be close to the bottom of my list actually, but recently I moved it up quite a bit. It is somewhat uneven with the parrot jokes and the hockey fight scene (I dislike the former and the latter is my guilty pleasure), but it still proves how The Rog can pull off a more serious Bond film. The score is extremely dated, but the action scenes and the story are some of the best in the franchise. It was a solid start for John Glen as director and I always enjoy the pre-title sequence. That was a brilliant jab at McClory from Cubby!

Whenever fans say that Roger Moore cannot play a serious, cold-hearted Bond and that he has no range as an actor I always tell them to look at three scenes.

1. TMWTGG - when Bond is twisting Andrea's arm in the hotel wanting info about Scaramanga his performance here is excellent and very serious.

2. TSWLM - after XXX briefly described Bond's history she mentions his dead wife. Moore's Bond stops her after the mention of Tracy and the look on Roger's face is amazing. That look shows how Bond can be sensitive and emotional sometimes. With that look Roger showed that Bond talking about his wife was something that was absolutely too difficult for him. Bar maybe Dalton I do not think any other actor could have pulled off that scene as well as Roger Moore. His Bond was so versatile and so many people just refuse to acknowledge it.

3. FYEO - when Bond kicks Loque's car off of the cliff Roger again proves his cold side of Bond. I know the scene was meant to be even more brutal, but Roger played it to the level he felt comfortable with and it worked well.

Napoleon Plural

Well HB is right about Benson, he also praised NSNA a lot too, I guess it didn't have space station hi jinks and that was enough.

I wish they'd kept Christopher Wood on for a script polish. The witty lines are better than in FYEO.