Should DAF have been a Revenge Film?

AlphaOmegaSin

I think we all agree that DAF was a huge letdown following the near Masterpiece that is OHMSS. Even though Connery came back to the Role, he was still very much capable of playing a vengfull Bond. What do you lot think?

Theundeadkennedy

Yes.

James Suzuki

When I watch DAF, I block out the masterpiece of OHMSS and pretend that it is a direct sequel from YOLT Bond is angry about Blofeld escaping in Japan. It works because they don't even mention Tracy.

Silhouette Man

Yes. Yes. Yes. What a pity they threw it away - great missed opportunity to film the literary YOLT! Why the novels were always superior, but they got rid of Peter Hunt!

James Suzuki

There are rumours that Craigs next Bond 24 & 25 are going to be story arc. A remake of OHMSS and YOLT would be nice, or would it be too much because Craig has already done CR & QOS.

AlphaOmegaSin

James Suzuki wrote:

There are rumours that Craigs next Bond 24 & 25 are going to be story arc. A remake of OHMSS and YOLT would be nice, or would it be too much because Craig has already done CR & QOS.

I would like to see a re-telling of Bonds Marriage and the death of Tracy.

Moore Than

James Suzuki wrote:

There are rumours that Craigs next Bond 24 & 25 are going to be story arc. A remake of OHMSS and YOLT would be nice, or would it be too much because Craig has already done CR & QOS.

Those rumours were apparently denied by Daniel Craig, saying that he did not know where they came from and that Bond 24 would be a stand alone film. Time will tell.

Le Samourai

James Suzuki wrote:

When I watch DAF, I block out the masterpiece of OHMSS and pretend that it is a direct sequel from YOLT Bond is angry about Blofeld escaping in Japan. It works because they don't even mention Tracy.

That actually makes a lot of sense!

NeverSayDie

DAF just doesn't work for me at. Massive let down bar the title song,
I would love to have seen a full on revenge movie with Lazenby, Telly and directed by Peter Hunt.

chitoryu12

I think it would have worked. The film feels like a gangster plot with Blofeld shoved in, and he wouldn't even get a final conclusion until FYEO. Diamonds should have been pushed back and used as a more straight diamond smuggling plot, while keeping the sequel to OHMSS as a straight revenge plot. Honestly, Bond didn't even seem that upset about seeing Blofeld after his reappearance midway through; he goes from anger and cold murder in the opening to a typical Bond vs. Blofeld dynamic more appropriate to YOLT.

Theundeadkennedy

James Suzuki wrote:

When I watch DAF, I block out the masterpiece of OHMSS and pretend that it is a direct sequel from YOLT Bond is angry about Blofeld escaping in Japan. It works because they don't even mention Tracy.

I'll have to try that. May up my appreciation for DAF.

Shady Tree

AlphaOmegaSin wrote:

I think we all agree that DAF was a huge letdown following the near Masterpiece that is OHMSS. Even though Connery came back to the Role, he was still very much capable of playing a vengfull Bond. What do you lot think?

We don't all agree on that and no, I think that the style of Connery's actual return was absolutely right for the series at the time. (I do agree, though, that OHMSS was a very good film.)

See my defence of DAF:

http://www.ajb007.co.uk/topic/38716/why-does-diamonds-are-forever-seem-to-be-hated-so-much/page/2/
http://www.ajb007.co.uk/topic/38716/why-does-diamonds-are-forever-seem-to-be-hated-so-much/page/3/

chrisisall

An all out revenge film might have tanked the franchise at that time, as much as I (in retrospect) would have liked it.

barlowdjb

most defitnately it should of being about Bond on the Hunt for Blofeld to revenge the murder of his wife

barlowdjb

most defitnately it should of being about Bond on the Hunt for Blofeld to revenge the murder of his wife

Silhouette Man

Yes, DAF should have brought the literary version of YOLT to the big screen - they really messed up the continuity of the Fleming story arc here! Also, why so many different actors portraying Blofeld - this really takes away from the effect, IMHO.

I know that Blofeld of the books was a master of disguise, but still...the point about DAF following YOLT and ignoring OHMSS seems right - there are no references back to OHMSS really and this makes more sense. I think the producers, with their original James Bond back in the form of Sean Connery, they did not want any references back to the (then viewed) failure of George Lazenby and OHMSS - hence they did everything they could to ignore its very existence. They also did the very same thing with Roger Moore in LALD - no references back to Connery/Lazenby to avoid comparisons - so no Aston Martin, no vodka martinis with a special recipe, no hat-throwing, no roses in the lapel, no M and Moneypenny traditional briefing scene etc. etc. No SPECTRE...

The producers really passed up a YOLT-OHMSS-DAF revenge trilogy that should have been TB-OHMSS-YOLT. It would have been a great filmic precursor to CR-QoS, but at least we have the original Ian Fleming James Bond novels and short stories to read, there is that comfort at least. -{

Mr Beech

I actually don't find DAF disappointing, but like others above, I just watch it with the assumption that it isn't intended to be a sequel to OHMSS despite the production occurring later.

James Suzuki

DAF for me, is awful, I have trouble watching it.

Silhouette Man

James Suzuki wrote:

DAF for me, is awful, I have trouble watching it.

I've watched it quite a lot recently - there are some good bits. I'll review it for The Bondologist Blog in an article entitled 'Diamonds Are Forever - A very nasty little film indeed'.

zaphod

If it was done in the same dumbed down played for laughs manner merely being a revenge movie would not necessarily help. As the old adage has it ' you can polish a turd'...like most Bond movies even the really disappointing ones it has some worthwhile moments, and a couple of features that I'm particularly fond of...