YOLT is the first Bond movie to part ways with Fleming in a major way. I suspect that it was Roald Dahl's interpretation of his writing brief which explains the movie's brazenly episodic structure, bumping from one action set piece to another in true comic-book style. YOLT is an entertaining movie, just in a very different way to (say) FRWL.
TSWLM and MR are clearly based on the YOLT formula, but to me YOLT's 'swinging sixties' modernity distinguishes its vibe from its disco-era fantasy counterparts.
Critics and material I don't need. I haven't changed my act in 53 years.
Yes, YOLT's tone sets it apart. For me, Akiko Wakabayashi's radiant smiles and Mie Hama's innocent sweetness form part of the charm of the movie. Fans of these actresses can also see them billed together, showcasing their alluring qualities, in 1962's 'Godzilla vs. King Kong', from Toho Studios.
Critics and material I don't need. I haven't changed my act in 53 years.
Question: for those of you that saw this film beforeThe Spy Who Loved Me, how did you feel about all it's new postFleming content, and the fact that ...Spy... repeated so much of it? Do you therefor like ...Twice... better than I do, and see ...Spy... as the pointless remake?
Dicuss.
I knew what to expect going in. I'd read the book, and the film's outer space content had been well publicised so I knew it wasn't going to be a faithful adaptation. I was grateful for the Fleming material we did get. Watching it on the big screen (which I highly recommend to those who haven't) was very impressive, most of all of course being the reveal of the volcano set, and John Barry's wonderful score makes it all the more enjoyable. The weaknesses become apparent on repeated viewings, but that's only to be expected.
Much the same with TSWLM. Obviously it was well known that it wouldn't be the book, and the tone of the film helped to conceal the similarities with YOLT. Only helped, they're there for all to see. I didn't think it was pointless. To me, it was just an example of Bond plot #2, as TND would be many years later.
Thanks Barbel. In your case you saw these films come out in real time and already knew your Fleming, thats exactly how they oughta be experienced.
I'm sure most of us saw them in a completely random order, starting with whatever was the latest, so thats gotta skew our preconceptions, mixing up originals with derivative products and not appreciating which is which.
Now theres a whole generation that watches this film and only sees the early Dr Evil appearance.
YOLT is the first Bond movie to part ways with Fleming in a major way. I suspect that it was Roald Dahl's interpretation of his writing brief which explains the movie's brazenly episodic structure, bumping from one action set piece to another in true comic-book style. YOLT is an entertaining movie, just in a very different way to (say) FRWL.
I know Roald Dahl as a childrens book author. other than the sequence with the geisha girls, and all the innuendos, this plot really is more like a childrens' story than anything Fleming wrote (and Fleming was into the whole Boys' Own Adventure thing). A childrens' story is more episodic (short attention spans and all).
In fact, I think with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Fleming's actual childrens' story, Dahl made that one less episodic than what Fleming wrote.
I've had the main theme song running in my head for days. And suddenly the wedding music has got stuck there too, I didn't even realise I remembered that traditional sounding music.
I don't like the way that wedding scene plays out, but Barry's music does suggest a chance for our hero to finally escape to a more peaceful life, completely removed from the evils of the world.
And its a real change of mood that adds to the epic dimension of the film.
Then there's the precredits ... I gotta admit I like this one better than the precredits in Thunderball, it sets up a shock cliffhanger leading into the credits and title song, which is a very nice trick... but this elaborate faked death is such a trivialisation of Bond's apparant death at the end of Fleming's book (and consequent escape from this dirty damn business) that I resent the scene more for what it is not than for what it objectively is.
Question: for those of you that saw this film beforeThe Spy Who Loved Me, how did you feel about all it's new postFleming content, and the fact that ...Spy... repeated so much of it? Do you therefor like ...Twice... better than I do, and see ...Spy... as the pointless remake?
Dicuss.
My first run through the back catalogue of the Bond series, which took place in the mid-late 90s and early 2000s was effectively book-ended by the films of Lewis Gilbert. I started with MR and TSWLM, and the last of the films that I got round to seeing was YOLT. I was fan of MR and TSWLM, and my experience with YOLT was a big disappointment. Having already seen all of the other 19 films as it was then, barely anything about YOLT stood out as being excellent. I wasn't keen on the acting in the film, mostly I felt it was a bit wooden, especially from the Japanese actresses and Donald Pleasance's Blofeld was never to my liking (I had already seen Myers's Dr Evil by this point, so I don't know if that was an influencing factor). The cinematography didn't appeal to me either, but I would blame that on the fact that I was watching a pan-and-scan TV broadcast, complete with advert breaks. Even the the impressive volcano set was therefore not seen to its full advantage, and I felt that the barely adequate model rocket effects took away a bit from the impact of the volcano set's reveal. I also found the plotting a bit too far fetched, and the dialogue not great so YOLT was immediately sent to the very bottom of my Bond film ranking and it lingered there for a long time. I'm not sure if having already seen TSWLM had a specific impact on my enjoyment of YOLT, more the fact that I'd already seen all the other films in the series. I don't think I was particularly aware of the plot similarities between the two films at the time.
Over the years my opinion of YOLT has changed a bit, and I've come to appreciate some of its positive elements - most notably the score, which has become one of my favourite Bond soundtracks. Seeing the cinematrography on widescreen DVD, and later on Blu-ray improved my opinion of the look of the film a great deal, and obviously helped to show the spectacle of the volcano set. Unfortunately I've never seen the film on anything larger than a mid-size TV. I did always like the Little Nellie sequence too.
So now, YOLT is a little higher on my ranking - about #15 - but many of the complaints that I had on first viewing still apply, most notably with relation to the dialogue and acting. Tiger Tanaka has become a character that I really like though. Still not a fan of Pleasance as Blofeld. TSWLM is a bit higher than YOLT on my ranking, and given its similarities to YOLT, I would definitely say that the later film does a good job of improving on the elements that it reuses from YOLT. The fact that Moore is at the height of his powers in 1977 adds a lot to the film compared to Connery's rather tired 1967 performance. Sadly I think that Barbara Bach is another wooden actress, not a huge improvement over Hama. And the one department in which YOLT triumphs over TSWLM is the score (despite my love for Hamlisch's Bond '77 arrangement of the James Bond Theme.
- Though I defend Connery's performance here, I don't put it on par with his first 3 in the role, I think he does a decent job, but not as great as in those.
- I don't like Bond being paired with the other girl after Aki, particularly in the romantic sense.
- Japanese Bond didn't work for me.
Having said that, still an enjoyable film.
"Hostile takeovers. Shall we?"
New 2020 ranking (for now DAF and FYEO keep their previous placements)
1. TLD 2. TND 3. GF 4. TSWLM 5. TWINE 6. OHMSS 7. LtK 8. TMWTGG 9. L&LD 10. YOLT 11. DAD 12. QoS 13. DN 14. GE 15. SF 16. OP 17. MR 18. AVTAK 19. TB 20. FRWL 21. CR 22. FYEO 23. DAF (SP to be included later)
Bond actors to be re-ranked later
Comments
TSWLM and MR are clearly based on the YOLT formula, but to me YOLT's 'swinging sixties' modernity distinguishes its vibe from its disco-era fantasy counterparts.
Yes, agreed- this is what I meant by my comment on the tone of the movie above.
I'm sure most of us saw them in a completely random order, starting with whatever was the latest, so thats gotta skew our preconceptions, mixing up originals with derivative products and not appreciating which is which.
Now theres a whole generation that watches this film and only sees the early Dr Evil appearance.
In fact, I think with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Fleming's actual childrens' story, Dahl made that one less episodic than what Fleming wrote.
I don't like the way that wedding scene plays out, but Barry's music does suggest a chance for our hero to finally escape to a more peaceful life, completely removed from the evils of the world.
And its a real change of mood that adds to the epic dimension of the film.
Then there's the precredits ... I gotta admit I like this one better than the precredits in Thunderball, it sets up a shock cliffhanger leading into the credits and title song, which is a very nice trick... but this elaborate faked death is such a trivialisation of Bond's apparant death at the end of Fleming's book (and consequent escape from this dirty damn business) that I resent the scene more for what it is not than for what it objectively is.
My first run through the back catalogue of the Bond series, which took place in the mid-late 90s and early 2000s was effectively book-ended by the films of Lewis Gilbert. I started with MR and TSWLM, and the last of the films that I got round to seeing was YOLT. I was fan of MR and TSWLM, and my experience with YOLT was a big disappointment. Having already seen all of the other 19 films as it was then, barely anything about YOLT stood out as being excellent. I wasn't keen on the acting in the film, mostly I felt it was a bit wooden, especially from the Japanese actresses and Donald Pleasance's Blofeld was never to my liking (I had already seen Myers's Dr Evil by this point, so I don't know if that was an influencing factor). The cinematography didn't appeal to me either, but I would blame that on the fact that I was watching a pan-and-scan TV broadcast, complete with advert breaks. Even the the impressive volcano set was therefore not seen to its full advantage, and I felt that the barely adequate model rocket effects took away a bit from the impact of the volcano set's reveal. I also found the plotting a bit too far fetched, and the dialogue not great so YOLT was immediately sent to the very bottom of my Bond film ranking and it lingered there for a long time. I'm not sure if having already seen TSWLM had a specific impact on my enjoyment of YOLT, more the fact that I'd already seen all the other films in the series. I don't think I was particularly aware of the plot similarities between the two films at the time.
Over the years my opinion of YOLT has changed a bit, and I've come to appreciate some of its positive elements - most notably the score, which has become one of my favourite Bond soundtracks. Seeing the cinematrography on widescreen DVD, and later on Blu-ray improved my opinion of the look of the film a great deal, and obviously helped to show the spectacle of the volcano set. Unfortunately I've never seen the film on anything larger than a mid-size TV. I did always like the Little Nellie sequence too.
So now, YOLT is a little higher on my ranking - about #15 - but many of the complaints that I had on first viewing still apply, most notably with relation to the dialogue and acting. Tiger Tanaka has become a character that I really like though. Still not a fan of Pleasance as Blofeld. TSWLM is a bit higher than YOLT on my ranking, and given its similarities to YOLT, I would definitely say that the later film does a good job of improving on the elements that it reuses from YOLT. The fact that Moore is at the height of his powers in 1977 adds a lot to the film compared to Connery's rather tired 1967 performance. Sadly I think that Barbara Bach is another wooden actress, not a huge improvement over Hama. And the one department in which YOLT triumphs over TSWLM is the score (despite my love for Hamlisch's Bond '77 arrangement of the James Bond Theme.
My criticisms:
- Though I defend Connery's performance here, I don't put it on par with his first 3 in the role, I think he does a decent job, but not as great as in those.
- I don't like Bond being paired with the other girl after Aki, particularly in the romantic sense.
- Japanese Bond didn't work for me.
Having said that, still an enjoyable film.
New 2020 ranking (for now DAF and FYEO keep their previous placements)
1. TLD 2. TND 3. GF 4. TSWLM 5. TWINE 6. OHMSS 7. LtK 8. TMWTGG 9. L&LD 10. YOLT 11. DAD 12. QoS 13. DN 14. GE 15. SF 16. OP 17. MR 18. AVTAK 19. TB 20. FRWL 21. CR 22. FYEO 23. DAF (SP to be included later)
Bond actors to be re-ranked later
Fodder for new SNL skit . "Blofeld on a bus stuck in traffic"