Boat Chases

Bleuville

Last week on BBC2 at midnight to 1.30am there was a rare showing of Puppet On a Chain (1971) written by Alistair Maclean,
a popular thriller writer of the 1960s and 1970s. I read the books and saw the films at the time.
(e.g.-Where Eagles Dare and When Eight Bells Toll.)

When I confirmed the film as made in 1971 -set in Amsterdam about drug smuggling - so this would've been
2 years before Live and Let Die was released.
Do you think the Bond writers were influenced, or were boat chases a different variation on car chases?

The P O A Chain boat chase was near to the end of the film.

Bleuville.

BIG TAM

I don't think LIVE & LET DIE was influenced but I think PUPPET ON A CHAIN has the better chase. Elsewhere on these forums somebody said a boat chase through a flooded town would be a good set-piece idea. I agree, though it begs similarities to HARD RAIN.

I love PUPPET ON A CHAIN. Bond-influenced in many ways I like its cheesy simplicity. The twists are a bit convoluted but that's typical McLean over-plotting. Vladek Sheybal is a marvellously slimy villain. They should have used him again in a Bond film - after all, they recast Walter Gotell & Charles Gray easily enough.

You can get PUPPET ON A CHAIN as a Region 1 DVD through Scorpion Releasing. It comes in proper 1.85:1 ratio, with an interesting audio commentary. Worth a purchase if you're into '70s Euro thrillers.

CoolHandBond

I haven't seen POAC since it came out in the cinema but do remember that the boat chase was really good and not much else! The lead star was rather bland. I sold a lot of Alistair MacLean books back in the late 70's then his popularity tailed off although the movie tie-in covers always sold well at any time.

Firemass

BIG TAM wrote:

The twists are a bit convoluted but that's typical McLean over-plotting.

"Major, if I live to be a hundred…" - Clint Eastwood in Where Eagles Dare when he was confused by the plot. )


I've never seen Puppet on a Chain, but I feel like this type of thread pops up every now and then about a Bond film "ripping off" some obscure action movie. I just wonder if it's coincidence or do EON producers go out and see like every movie and get ideas.

Gassy Man

The Bond books and films have always been derivative, whether they admitted it or not -- the books from everything from Bulldog Drummond to OSS 117 -- and the films, particularly the early ones, clearly influenced by Hitchcock and Lean. This boat chase is close enough to the one in Live and Let Die that I'd be surprised if it didn't influence that film.

Barbel

In this context, perhaps this old topic of mine may be of interest: http://www.ajb007.co.uk/topic/42004/diamonds-in-disguise/

Golrush007

I must check out Puppet on a Chain, as I've always enjoyed the film adaptations of Maclean's WWII adventures. Never seen any of the non-WWI stuff though such as Ice Station Zebra which I've also been meaning to check out.

Barbel

See also: http://www.ajb007.co.uk/topic/38152/puppet-on-a-chain-vs-live-and-let-die/