So whats the verdict on Mayday?

broadshoulder

Going by the number of lists on ajb..I thought I would go for something different.

I actually think Grace Jones was actually an inspired bit of casting.

Granted there's her size, she towers over the men in A View to a Kill. Her body strength is horrendous as well. But it was her reputation which terrified meer mortals. Grace Jones had a fearsome reputation. She terrified chatshow hosts (Russell Harty anyone?) and came with an abrasive personality.

She had worked her way up from the New York, was friends with Andy Warhol, and was well known around town for being a handful. She graduated in acting in Conan the Destroyer and found herself as Mayday in A View to a Kill. The fault of Grace Jones going up against james Bond gave it a special edge. Has James Bond met his match?

Of course that doesn't happen, and when she gets james Bond in a clinch - the floor collapses and she goes into the water. No amount of growling and glares beforehand helps her. What would you like to see? Grace Jones and Roger slug it out - although it probably would have finished him off.

But A View to a Kill to me is Grace Jones and the Duran Duran single which rocked the summer of 85..

Barbel

broadshoulder wrote:

Going by the number of lists on ajb..I thought I would go for something different.

{[] {[] {[] {[] {[] A million bonus points earned before even reading the rest of your post!

Thunderpussy

I loved Mayday as a character ( I also have a soft spot for Grace Jones) -{
I offen wondered if she like Zorin, was one of those wonder children, the good
Doctor had worked on, given her super strength, and both she and Zorin seemed
To be both sociopaths ?

broadshoulder

Thunderpussy wrote:

I loved Mayday as a character ( I also have a soft spot for Grace Jones) -{
I offen wondered if she like Zorin, was one of those wonder children, the good
Doctor had worked on, given her super strength, and both she and Zorin seemed
To be both sociopaths ?

She could be..

I suppose Scarpine, Pan Ho, Jenny Flex could be as well..

Or they could both come from the sociopath register..

AlphaOmegaSin

Mayday was a brilliant Henchman -{ nobody else but Grace Jones could have played her

MilleniumForce

I like Mayday. But she had to be played by someone like Grace Jones. She had to be a crazy character that could match Zorin, and it's done perfectly. Also, her transition to good is done very well in this film, compared to Jaws. She's been left for dead by someone who she thought loved her, and her killing herself in the explosion is the best way she could have gone out. It wouldn't have been the same if she just died in the flood like the others.

AlphaOmegaSin

Lady Gaga could play a bizarre Henchwoman -{ look at her Role in Machete Kills.

Thunderbird 2

Sometimes a henchman is successful because of the look and the style they present.Harold Sakata and Richard Keil both had reputations as gracious friendly gentle men in real life, but on screen they made Oddjob and Jaws terrifying and deadly. The beautiful and charming Fameke Jansen is another one as Xenia Onnatop. (She is brilliant in Hansel and Gretell witch hunters with Gemma Arteton and Jerry Renner too.)

Other characters though benefit from having someone a little bit (in the nicest possible way) eccentric playing them. Herve Valichez had such a reputation before he became Nic-Nac, and Jones does not hold back in her potrayal of Mayday. I love the angry wide eyed look on her face when grabbing Pegasus by the reins, and later lifting the KGB agent over her head. It's matched by her fury at Zorin towards the end, a character driven by intense emotions and often destructive ones.
Part of me wonders how much of that was the actress's own short fuse getting channelled into the character. It works.

There are many of the abound baddies (main players and hench men/women I would not want to bump into on the street. Mayday is every much at the top end of that list! Along with The aforementioned Xenia, and the Machiavellian Electra King, she demonstrates the baddie women of Bond's world can be just as scary - if not more so, than the men!

Napoleon Plural

Great henchwoman, highly memorable. Then again, I love AVTAK and I love the chemistry between her and Zorin, and dare I say their sexual attraction is odd in an appealing way when you consider his origins, being the result of a Nazi experiment if I recall. Hmm, makes you wonder what Zorin senior would have made of his prospective daughter in law, could make for a Meet the Parents spin off.

Of course, Moore's 'seduction' of May Day is horrible but that's how it was then, with shows like Dynasty showing sex as almost a lifestyle decision for that moment, like grabbing a coffee or going down the gym. It's also rather patronising as the trumpet plays a sort of 'For England' flourish as Moore rolls his eyes a bit, like he's the one being done harm, whereas really you'd imagine the superfit May Day suffering, having to cop off with a rickety old man! Still, he's James Bond. Have to say I never saw it that way at the time, it was just 'okay, here's another sex scene, about time'.

Day's demise is unusual (and a bit unlikely) and critic John Brosnan compared it to the demise of a James Cagney character in one of his films, where the bad guy sacrificed himself for the greater good. Again, Zorin's face is a picture then, and it's before Walken became a characiture of himself.

broadshoulder

Wasn't there a comment about Grace Jones in Rogs' autiobiography. She's mentioned but Rog just says - no comment.

I also remember a segment where Grace had her ghettoblaster on so loud and Rog came around to turn it off..

AlphaOmegaSin

I think he said that there was no Chemistry there. He also found Tanya Roberts hard to work with as well.

Thunderpussy

Yes, I remember the story about her playing music very loud, but that's
Young people annoying old Roger. ) and of course the story of Grace bringing
A big Toy, to bed during the love scene with Roger. I think He said Tanya could
Be quite the diva, when she wanted. Hence, the well know story about her having
The overalls she wore , tailored, so she'd look better, and the ad lib from Moore
About " lucky you found one that fits" as she'd held up filming for hours getting it
Done.

AlphaOmegaSin

Not as bad as Segal breaking Connerys Wrist though )

welshboy78

It was indeed great casting except Grace Jones is prob more scary then her on screen character!!!!!

Manxman

Jones was an interesting piece of casting, but Mayday isn't used to much effect in the film. Really, it felt like they were finding yet another variation on a theme — they'd had black, Indian and Oriental henchmen, giants and midgets, and a black woman was something they hadn't tried yet.

Blackleiter

As much as I criticize AVTAK, I have always thought that Mayday as portrayed by Grace Jones is one of the best things about the film. Not only that, but in my opinion she is one of the top 5 henchpersons in the entire series. Admittedly Jones is not much of an actress, but this role is so perfectly tailored for her that I don't believe anyone could have played it better. The way she moves, the way she glares, the way she spits out her lines with such ferocity - just perfect! -{

Absolutely_Cart

Mayday is an interesting character. She succeeds because she's so vastly different. If she were a man, the character would've had universal acclaim. But the fact is that since she's a woman, she has to deal with the slanted expectations that women need to be conventionally beautiful.

Thunderpussy

Grace Jones has an amazing bone structure, her cheeks and jaw line are
Very strong, Hence why she had so successful a career as model. Basically
The camera loves her ( something we have in common ).

chrisisall

I liked her in this:

https://youtu.be/aOfhlYIRCXM

Blackleiter

chrisisall wrote:

I liked her in this:

https://youtu.be/aOfhlYIRCXM

That's the ticket! Who could resist that wooing technique!:))

hehadlotsofguts

And a year later Mayday did that to Bond. "Grab him and take him!"

chrisisall

hehadlotsofguts wrote:

And a year later Mayday did that to Bond. "Grab him and take him!"

And she did it to Dolph too for real!
Is she a machine... :v
)

broadshoulder

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQL6TD5-Drs

If you have never seen it before, this is quite good.

Firemass

Rog is lucky Mayday switched sides, because she could have really kicked the crap out of him if she wanted. )

Spoff

I am currently reading one of the Bond film books, and the author basically says that whilst being a good villain, Mayday was too problematic within the story to be allowed to live. But also that she had to die by another means than Bond himself.

He says that the audience were robbed of a showdown between her and Bond because basically with her incredible strength and martial arts ability she would have probably wasted Roger's Bond in a one on one fight.


Whether he is right or wrong, it's an interesting theory, and she was an interesting character. I think her casting was spot on, particularly for the time.

heartbroken_mr_drax

Mayday is one of the more intriguing things about the film, without her and Zorin - the film would've lacked edge. Zorin and Mayday give the film that real 80s feel that without it, would've felt like OP/TLD which were more "non-specified-era" types for me.

I am not attracted to Grace Jones, but she is quite beautiful in her ability to be so striking.

Excellent casting and IMO, she acts well in the finale.

Agent Purple

There's not that much to May Day for me.

There's no question that acting wasn't Grace Jones's forte, but I will give her that she did make for a good assassin.

I do feel that she was rather wooden when her character turned into an ally of Bond though.

welshboy78

Shes very unique to the series and kind of freaky believable!

Sir Rodg I salute you for slipping between the sheets with her regardless if you kept your pants on

Agent Purple

She did pull off the weirdness well, so I'll also give her that.

hehadlotsofguts

I like May Day as a character. I love her introduction when she kills Aubergine. The jump from the Eiffel tower is one of my favourite stunts in the film, the way JB's score builds up and the aerial shot of Paris is awesome. I find her outfits eccentric. Her hat at Ascot racecourse looks like a handbag with the strap pulled off at one end. I love the scene where she drops the Chinese investor out of the airship and coolly puts her sunglasses on. That was great. B-)

I liked when she changes sides after Zorin and her remorse when she sees Jenny's dead body. It makes her redeemable as a character.

My cons when it comes to May Day is the scene where she and Bond shag and the scene where she and Zorin have 'karate sex' (a term coined by our friends at DoubleozSeven.) Not Grace Jone's fault. It's just how May Day was written.

I'd give her 9/10

chrisisall

Mayday is bizarre cool. -{