The least respected Bond film of the '60's is still, hands down, one of the greatest movies of its kind ever made.
What movie is that? Pure popcorn entertainment.
Sure, the film is lightweight and over-the-top and not particularly Fleming but it is stlll a sensational Bond movie.
Bond in Japan, hollow volcanoes and ninjas! What more do you want?
YOLT reminds me of what Orson Welles said when arriving in Hollywood:"Its the greatest toy train set a boy could ever have."
YOLT for me captures the sense of wonderment that the series has lacked recently.
I like my Bond to be tough and gritty but I long for the days of YOLT/TSWLM. A period where pirahnas were household pets and Hans is left holding the self-destruct key.
"Welcome to Japan, Mr. Bond."
Yes, another YOLT fan... I couldn't have put it better myself bigzilcho.
I think that this and OP are very underated movies.
I think that this and OP are very underated movies.
OCTOPUSSY has some great stuff in there; the PTS is class, the two terrible twins make very formidable henchmen, the great JB provides another classic score and the biggest bonus of the lot is OCTOPUSSY's wonderful cinematography and art direction.
As Q quips in TMWTGG; "I concur!" {[]
"If God had wanted man to fly..."
"He would have given him wings, Mr. Kidd"
OP is rather similiar to YOLT, both have their longeurs but are epic, sun-drenched entertainment and really push the boat out in terms of spectacle. YOLT has Little Nellie, OP features a big Nellie (the elephant)... erm
"This is where we leave you Mr Bond."
Roger Moore 1927-2017
LoeffelholzThe United States, With LovePosts: 8,998Quartermasters
OP is rather similiar to YOLT, both have their longeurs but are epic, sun-drenched entertainment and really push the boat out in terms of spectacle. YOLT has Little Nellie, OP features a big Nellie (the elephant)... erm
I agree with you on that...the difference for me between the two (besides the obvious one of Bond actors), is that things like the Tarzan yell, the fakir telling Bond to "Get off my (fake rubber nail) bed!", Q and the Union Flag balloon, etc., strike me as ill-conceived (and therefore unnecessary) embellishments on the 'deadpan spoofing' that screenwriter Richard Maibaum had written the early Bonds to be. For me, such dilution weakens the overall finished product. Nevertheless, cheers to all of the devoted fans of Sir Roger Moore's penultimate Bond outing. Bond fans are Bond fans, and I respect that---even if I can't quite share their enthusiasm on Moore's last two
For me, YOLT is underrated because it's the first, least diluted----and best---of the pure 'spectacle Bonds',* which were Lewis Gilbert's specialty, and it that sense it was somewhat ahead of its time (The Seventies).** OP, for me, is not so much spectacle as desperation, as it seems they're trying too hard...perhaps because there was a sense that their lead was definitely getting on a bit to be doing what he was doing. For that reason, OP deserves the less than stellar rating it receives in some camps. Only my opinion, naturally, and I'll concede that opinions will vary.
I'd reluctantly agree that Roger Moore seems to be having a better time as Bond in OP than Connery was in YOLT...but the overall presence of Connery overcomes this shortfall for me.
*For me, TSWLM (the first remake of YOLT) is a close second.
**If Eon had looped in the equivalent of a Tarzan yell, at any point during YOLT---say, a split-second glimpse of Godzilla trudging along behind the skyline of Tokyo---I wouldn't regard it with the affection I do.
Check out my Amazon author page!Mark Loeffelholz
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
Yeah, I really enjoy Zorin Industries' reviews over there. His defense of QoS is equally effective He's a Bond fan who charmingly finds worthiness in all Bond efforts, which a worthy calling indeed.
Still, I'd differ with his assertion that AVTAK's Paris car chase is 'old school realism'...when Bond's car is cut cleanly in half by a collision and continues on unimpeded. Funny? Sure. But 'old school' realistic? Hmm. ZI's admitted cheerful unawareness of who Ian Fleming was, at the time he saw the film, must also have been helpful in terms of charity and forgiveness. Thankfully, he also affords films like QoS a reliably consistent spirit of forgiveness for their own arguable excesses, which makes him one of my favourite Bond film reviewers.
Here again, cheers to all Moore fans---especially those with affection for his Geezer BondTM. I respect the fandom at work there, and won't disparage it, even if I do share my disappointments with various films by all actors.
Check out my Amazon author page!Mark Loeffelholz
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
I don't think QoS quite got a fair shake. True, it's an offbeat Bond film. It jettisoned many of the typical Bond staples, and I'm looking forward to a more conventional movie next time. Still, it was an interesting diversion. It also had the integrity to maintain the grim tone set by CR's climax. That's a huge leap in maturity for a series that typically presses the RESET button. Hell, by the end of LTK, Bond and Felix were yukking it up--apparently having gotten over the whole Della-murder/Felix-maimed-by-shark thing.
The movie had a distinctive look and feel and cool soundtrack. I liked the subtext Foster built in to many of the scenes, such as Bond's final fight in the desert wasteland, followed by the emotional resolution in frigid Russia. There's a cinematic maturity there we haven't seen in many Bond films. I thought it was genuinely emotionally engaging movie.
It made me wish the action scenes were more coherent, and that Foster had given the movie more time to breathe. Still, it ranks as one of my faves.
LoeffelholzThe United States, With LovePosts: 8,998Quartermasters
I don't think QoS quite got a fair shake. True, it's an offbeat Bond film. It jettisoned many of the typical Bond staples, and I'm looking forward to a more conventional movie next time. Still, it was an interesting diversion. It also had the integrity to maintain the grim tone set by CR's climax. That's a huge leap in maturity for a series that typically presses the RESET button. Hell, by the end of LTK, Bond and Felix were yukking it up--apparently having gotten over the whole Della-murder/Felix-maimed-by-shark thing.
The movie had a distinctive look and feel and cool soundtrack. I liked the subtext Foster built in to many of the scenes, such as Bond's final fight in the desert wasteland, followed by the emotional resolution in frigid Russia. There's a cinematic maturity there we haven't seen in many Bond films. I thought it was genuinely emotionally engaging movie.
It made me wish the action scenes were more coherent, and that Foster had given the movie more time to breathe. Still, it ranks as one of my faves.
I agree with you One Hundred Percent {[]
Check out my Amazon author page!Mark Loeffelholz
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
OP is rather similiar to YOLT, both have their longeurs but are epic, sun-drenched entertainment and really push the boat out in terms of spectacle. YOLT has Little Nellie, OP features a big Nellie (the elephant)... erm
I agree with you on that...the difference for me between the two (besides the obvious one of Bond actors), is that things like the Tarzan yell, the fakir telling Bond to "Get off my (fake rubber nail) bed!", Q and the Union Flag balloon, etc., strike me as ill-conceived (and therefore unnecessary) embellishments on the 'deadpan spoofing' that screenwriter Richard Maibaum had written the early Bonds to be.
This is very similar to the attitudes of the James Bond Fan club at the time, of which I was a member. (I think the series was aimed at teens then.) The guys would have been older than me, in their 20s... there would have been frustration that Fleming's great work was being traduced, thrown away.And needlessly, as Loeffs implies, you could have a fan's cut, whereby you take out the tarzan yell, most of the girly assault on Kamal's palace, and other examples and have a more gritty film. Not sure you could edit around Moore's clown outfit though, then again personally I found that scene dramatically effective and not played for laughs.
"This is where we leave you Mr Bond."
Roger Moore 1927-2017
LoeffelholzThe United States, With LovePosts: 8,998Quartermasters
It was a difficult time to be an aficionado of the Fleming books. While I understood, even then, that direct and faithful adaptations weren't in the offing, the sheer silliness at times just grated. Fleming's Bond was many things, but slapstick and dinner theatre comedy he wasn't Especially frustrating was the fact that Moore, at times, showed flashes of sheer brilliance.
Check out my Amazon author page!Mark Loeffelholz
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
Dr. No-it set in motion so many things and is still wonderfully crafted.
FRWL-look how fast it moves and how engaging!
Thunderball-filled with real malaise and tension.
YOLT-wonderfully over the top.
OHMSS-unbelievable.
LALD-a realistic Bond in ways, and sheer fun.
TMWTGG-Christopher Lee and Herve Villacheze.
TLD-slam-bang and full of Cold War tension.
People give this film so much crap because it wasn't a follow-up to On Her Majesty's Secret Service. I thought this was funniest Bond film ever and it had a host of enjoyable characters.
Comments
Eh? The whole point of SPECTRE's scheme was to turn the Cold War hot and it had a pair of Soviet cosmonaughts in its custody.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Yes, another YOLT fan... I couldn't have put it better myself bigzilcho.
I think that this and OP are very underated movies.
OCTOPUSSY has some great stuff in there; the PTS is class, the two terrible twins make very formidable henchmen, the great JB provides another classic score and the biggest bonus of the lot is OCTOPUSSY's wonderful cinematography and art direction.
As Q quips in TMWTGG; "I concur!" {[]
"He would have given him wings, Mr. Kidd"
Roger Moore 1927-2017
I agree with you on that...the difference for me between the two (besides the obvious one of Bond actors), is that things like the Tarzan yell, the fakir telling Bond to "Get off my (fake rubber nail) bed!", Q and the Union Flag balloon, etc., strike me as ill-conceived (and therefore unnecessary) embellishments on the 'deadpan spoofing' that screenwriter Richard Maibaum had written the early Bonds to be. For me, such dilution weakens the overall finished product. Nevertheless, cheers to all of the devoted fans of Sir Roger Moore's penultimate Bond outing. Bond fans are Bond fans, and I respect that---even if I can't quite share their enthusiasm on Moore's last two
For me, YOLT is underrated because it's the first, least diluted----and best---of the pure 'spectacle Bonds',* which were Lewis Gilbert's specialty, and it that sense it was somewhat ahead of its time (The Seventies).** OP, for me, is not so much spectacle as desperation, as it seems they're trying too hard...perhaps because there was a sense that their lead was definitely getting on a bit to be doing what he was doing. For that reason, OP deserves the less than stellar rating it receives in some camps. Only my opinion, naturally, and I'll concede that opinions will vary.
I'd reluctantly agree that Roger Moore seems to be having a better time as Bond in OP than Connery was in YOLT...but the overall presence of Connery overcomes this shortfall for me.
* For me, TSWLM (the first remake of YOLT) is a close second.
** If Eon had looped in the equivalent of a Tarzan yell, at any point during YOLT---say, a split-second glimpse of Godzilla trudging along behind the skyline of Tokyo---I wouldn't regard it with the affection I do.
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
http://debrief.commanderbond.net/index.php?showtopic=52907&st=0
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Yeah, I really enjoy Zorin Industries' reviews over there. His defense of QoS is equally effective
Still, I'd differ with his assertion that AVTAK's Paris car chase is 'old school realism'...when Bond's car is cut cleanly in half by a collision and continues on unimpeded. Funny? Sure. But 'old school' realistic? Hmm. ZI's admitted cheerful unawareness of who Ian Fleming was, at the time he saw the film, must also have been helpful in terms of charity and forgiveness. Thankfully, he also affords films like QoS a reliably consistent spirit of forgiveness for their own arguable excesses, which makes him one of my favourite Bond film reviewers.
Here again, cheers to all Moore fans---especially those with affection for his Geezer BondTM. I respect the fandom at work there, and won't disparage it, even if I do share my disappointments with various films by all actors.
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
The movie had a distinctive look and feel and cool soundtrack. I liked the subtext Foster built in to many of the scenes, such as Bond's final fight in the desert wasteland, followed by the emotional resolution in frigid Russia. There's a cinematic maturity there we haven't seen in many Bond films. I thought it was genuinely emotionally engaging movie.
It made me wish the action scenes were more coherent, and that Foster had given the movie more time to breathe. Still, it ranks as one of my faves.
I agree with you One Hundred Percent {[]
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
This is very similar to the attitudes of the James Bond Fan club at the time, of which I was a member. (I think the series was aimed at teens then.) The guys would have been older than me, in their 20s... there would have been frustration that Fleming's great work was being traduced, thrown away.And needlessly, as Loeffs implies, you could have a fan's cut, whereby you take out the tarzan yell, most of the girly assault on Kamal's palace, and other examples and have a more gritty film. Not sure you could edit around Moore's clown outfit though, then again personally I found that scene dramatically effective and not played for laughs.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
FRWL-look how fast it moves and how engaging!
Thunderball-filled with real malaise and tension.
YOLT-wonderfully over the top.
OHMSS-unbelievable.
LALD-a realistic Bond in ways, and sheer fun.
TMWTGG-Christopher Lee and Herve Villacheze.
TLD-slam-bang and full of Cold War tension.
People give this film so much crap because it wasn't a follow-up to On Her Majesty's Secret Service. I thought this was funniest Bond film ever and it had a host of enjoyable characters.