And Baron Samedi appearing again at the very end!!!
THATs the bit that tipped Me into my knightmares as a kid. Snakes, Voodoo, and scary “Mr Ha Ha Hur Man” who was killed earlier. (Shudders). Some things you carry into adult life....
This was brilliant!
This is Thunderbird 2, how can I be of assistance?
It's about the only relatively early James Bond film where I didn't mind the absence of John Barry at all. George Martin did a great job, and of course Paul McCartney did too.
Thunderbird 2East of Cardiff, Wales.Posts: 2,818MI6 Agent
Still scares me how much Jane Seymour looks so much like my late Mum at that time.
(I first saw LALD in the early Eighties, when I was about 7, maybe 8?
This is Thunderbird 2, how can I be of assistance?
Is the Baron the only supernatural character in a Bond film?
I'd argue that Solitaire is also supernatural (or at the very least has supernatural abilities).
Also, I'd also argue that Jaws is semi-supernatural considering his uncanny ability to survive.
I have mixed feelings about that final shot. It's a memorable image, and it made an impression on me as a kid. Apparently the film-makers were considering bringing Geoffrey Holder back for another Bond, so wanted to imply that Samedi somehow survived. It's a 'breaking the fourth wall' moment, but it also (as with Solitaire) suggests - flippantly - that there is indeed a supernatural level of reality at play in the film. My feelings are mixed because at a literal level that would be at odds with the Bond genre as a whole.
Critics and material I don't need. I haven't changed my act in 53 years.
Is the Baron the only supernatural character in a Bond film?
I'd argue that Solitaire is also supernatural (or at the very least has supernatural abilities).
Also, I'd also argue that Jaws is semi-supernatural considering his uncanny ability to survive.
I have mixed feelings about that final shot. It's a memorable image, and it made an impression on me as a kid. Apparently the film-makers were considering bringing Geoffrey Holder back for another Bond, so wanted to imply that Samedi somehow survived. It's a 'breaking the fourth wall' moment, but it also (as with Solitaire) suggests - flippantly - that there is indeed a supernatural level of reality at play in the film. My feelings are mixed because at a literal level that would be at odds with the Bond genre as a whole.
Shady Tree, if I have “Mr Ha Ha Ha Hur” knightmares tonight I’m blaming You!
Jaws wasn’t supernatural, just a human tank! Bond said it himself
“Gorilla must have his teeth fixed by a riveter!”
This is Thunderbird 2, how can I be of assistance?
I guess I'll be the lone dissenter on this one. It's ok (and probably merits a higher position in my rankings) but Moore just feels completely off in this one. I mean, he's competent and acquits himself well as an actor, but he doesn't feel like he's figured out Bond yet. As such, he plays the character in a way that just doesn't feel right. He feels better in the role in TMWTGG to me, even though that film has other issues. It really isn't until TSWLM that he feels like Bond and feels like a legitimate spy out there saving the world.
As I have mentioned earlier I think LALD gets a lot better just after Bond is taken to the crocodile farm. I think Moore is good in this one. His two major drawbacks, not being great at physical scenes and using too broad humor, isn't a problem here.
I guess I'll be the lone dissenter on this one. It's ok (and probably merits a higher position in my rankings) but Moore just feels completely off in this one. I mean, he's competent and acquits himself well as an actor, but he doesn't feel like he's figured out Bond yet. As such, he plays the character in a way that just doesn't feel right. He feels better in the role in TMWTGG to me, even though that film has other issues. It really isn't until TSWLM that he feels like Bond and feels like a legitimate spy out there saving the world.
That's an interesting debate. I personally prefer Moore in LALD than in TSWLM (though he's also good in that.) Moore's 'nasty' moments with Rosie, and with Andrea in TMWTGG, are difficult to take, but overall, in the Hamilton films, Moore successfully blends humour and dramatic acting with the application of an actor who knows he's taken on the immense challenge of following on directly after Connery.
Critics and material I don't need. I haven't changed my act in 53 years.
I'd argue that Solitaire is also supernatural (or at the very least has supernatural abilities).
Also, I'd also argue that Jaws is semi-supernatural considering his uncanny ability to survive.
I have mixed feelings about that final shot. It's a memorable image, and it made an impression on me as a kid. Apparently the film-makers were considering bringing Geoffrey Holder back for another Bond, so wanted to imply that Samedi somehow survived. It's a 'breaking the fourth wall' moment, but it also (as with Solitaire) suggests - flippantly - that there is indeed a supernatural level of reality at play in the film. My feelings are mixed because at a literal level that would be at odds with the Bond genre as a whole.
Shady Tree, if I have “Mr Ha Ha Ha Hur” knightmares tonight I’m blaming You!
Jaws wasn’t supernatural, just a human tank! Bond said it himself
“Gorilla must have his teeth fixed by a riveter!”
) ) )
Critics and material I don't need. I haven't changed my act in 53 years.
Everyone knows the story of George Martin playing this song to Harry Saltzman? Harry thought it was a demo and began wondering which current female singer could do it. Martin had to gently point out that Paul McCartney doesn’t do demos (!), and that if he didn’t get to sing it then Harry would not get the song.
is this true?
On Anthology III there's a version of Come and Get It, which was later recorded and released by Badfinger.
Was this Anthology track not a demo for another artist, or was it actually meant for a Beatles album but abandoned?
anyway I wouldn't want Paul to not have sung this title track, it's both one of the best James Bond themes ever and one of the best Paul solo songs ever.
And I like the way it reappears midfilm sung more soul-style by B. J. Arnau, as it should sound in-universe. So we get both options.
I think this is the only time we see James Bond listening and reacting to one of his own theme-songs, a bit of fourth wall breaking.
I guess I'll be the lone dissenter on this one. It's ok (and probably merits a higher position in my rankings) but Moore just feels completely off in this one. I mean, he's competent and acquits himself well as an actor, but he doesn't feel like he's figured out Bond yet. As such, he plays the character in a way that just doesn't feel right. He feels better in the role in TMWTGG to me, even though that film has other issues. It really isn't until TSWLM that he feels like Bond and feels like a legitimate spy out there saving the world.
Its been a while since I saw ...Golden Gun, but I think in his second film Moore's already playing Bond tuff-er, and not so posh, compared to how he's playing the character in this film.
Lines like "I shan't be long" and all the affectations with the espresso machine and the shaving kit, he only really did in this film.
and though his Simon Templar was a man of good manners and fine tastes, he played that character much tuff-er than the version of Bond we see in this film.
I guess I'll be the lone dissenter on this one. It's ok (and probably merits a higher position in my rankings) but Moore just feels completely off in this one. I mean, he's competent and acquits himself well as an actor, but he doesn't feel like he's figured out Bond yet. As such, he plays the character in a way that just doesn't feel right. He feels better in the role in TMWTGG to me, even though that film has other issues. It really isn't until TSWLM that he feels like Bond and feels like a legitimate spy out there saving the world.
Its been a while since I saw ...Golden Gun, but I think in his second film Moore's already playing Bond tuff-er, and not so posh, compared to how he's playing the character in this film.
Lines like "I shan't be long" and all the affectations with the espresso machine and the shaving kit, he only really did in this film.
and though his Simon Templar was a man of good manners and fine tastes, he played that character much tuff-er than the version of Bond we see in this film.
I think he plays it Bond pretty though in LALD compared to his other Bond films.
Higgins: On Friday I think we should watch one of Moore's last Bonds, such as OP or AVTAK. For contrast and variety.
Nice watch shot. Macca has confirmed that they thought it was a demo when they first heard it. He did demos of sorts back in the day, I mean any first take Beatles track is a kind of demo, he did stuff for other female singers like Cilla Black, Mary Hopkins and so on.
It's been said the closing shot of Baron Samedi was a sop to the black audience, a kind of gesture make of that what you will. The role of blacks in the Bonds can be tricky - if they are the main villain then it's white State law enforcer beats up/shoots black guy -hardly escapism for many black Americans today. If they are Bond's squeeze then it's white colonial enforcer beds black babe then dumps her, or she gets killed - so black actors in Bond films tend to pop up as long-term allies hence Leiter and Moneypenny I suppose.
Black Bond girls hasn't worked out very well so far. Rosie in LALD was dumb, incompetent and died. Jinx was …. Jinx. If we include May Day and the new Moneypenny it gets better. May Day was cool and died a heroic death. If we asume Bond and Moneypenny slept together after the shaving scene in SF (I think so), she the big sucess story since she survives and is shown in a positive light (other than shooting Bond ) )
Black Bond girls hasn't worked out very well so far. Rosie in LALD was dumb, incompetent and died. Jinx was …. Jinx. If we include May Day and the new Moneypenny it gets better. May Day was cool and died a heroic death. If we asume Bond and Moneypenny slept together after the shaving scene in SF (I think so), she the big sucess story since she survives and is shown in a positive light (other than shooting Bond ) )
You forgot Thumper.
Not really. I included just the ones Bond (probably) slept with.
It's been said the closing shot of Baron Samedi was a sop to the black audience, a kind of gesture make of that what you will. The role of blacks in the Bonds can be tricky - if they are the main villain then it's white State law enforcer beats up/shoots black guy -hardly escapism for many black Americans today. If they are Bond's squeeze then it's white colonial enforcer beds black babe then dumps her, or she gets killed - so black actors in Bond films tend to pop up as long-term allies hence Leiter and Moneypenny I suppose.
The ironic outcome of this caution is Bond is now moving in a less diverse world than it really is.
And once upon a time, readers were vicariously experiencing a much wider world through Fleming's books than they could ever expect to see for themselves.
Avoiding villains of colour is especially sad, for the actors. The big villain is the best part, a chance for an actor to really chew the scenery. Who would not want the chance to play a Bond villain?
When was the last time we had a black villain at all, Mayday?
and the only non-white principal Bond villain since Kananga I can think of was Colonel Sun-Moon, who literally got whitewashed after the opening credits. For the rest of the film he is an unflattering stereotype of a modern white billionaire.
And if the only nonwhite characters we see are subsidiary goodguys reliably working alongside the hero, that is hardly an advancement on the days when blacks only appeared in films as servants. Why would an actor want such limited options?
you're right! I forgot about them.
Pretty minor characters, not part of the main villains retinue, which is what i was thinking of.
But I did say say at all and there they are. and both characters are independently responsible for some very nasty violence.
(the very fact that there are sets of villains who are not part of the main villains retinue itself makes Casino Royale a more complex film, doesn't it, where very bad things happen anyway and the main villain's crime is to find a way to profit off it.
In the more classic Bond films the world usually appeared to be perfect except for the one main villain's Evil Scheme, and all is restored to normal once that villain is killed. At least for another two years...)
Black Bond girls hasn't worked out very well so far. Rosie in LALD was dumb, incompetent and died. Jinx was …. Jinx. If we include May Day and the new Moneypenny it gets better. May Day was cool and died a heroic death. If we asume Bond and Moneypenny slept together after the shaving scene in SF (I think so), she the big sucess story since she survives and is shown in a positive light (other than shooting Bond ) )
Although May Day experiences a Jaws-like conversion to the side of right and virtue, and sacrifices herself, this ending for her character is ideologically problematic: the interracial relationship in the movie - May Day and Zorin - is a villains' affair, an aberration doomed to failure; her sexual encounter with Bond is presented as a joke about the idea of a black woman on top of the white hero; and by blowing herself up she symbolically clears the way for Bond to rescue the white damsel in distress and finally to have sex with that white girl. So from the point of view of an ideological representation of race and gender, AVTAK is hardly more progressive than LALD.
Although Jinx is Jinx, as you say (i.e. the performance is less impressive) Jinx is a character whose ethnicity functions differently, and more positively, within the ideological structure of DAD's narrative. As with Rosie, May Day and Eve, Jinx's black identity is never explicitly referenced in the screenplay. But in DAD it's the black woman, rather than the white girl, that Bond rescues; and it's the interracial sexual relationship with which the movie ends - between hero and heroine, and presented as an intimacy based on mutuality.
In the case of Eve in SF, she's unfortunately relegated from fieldwork to the traditional role of secretary at the end of the movie, a function of the coda's anniversary callback to the traditional M/Bond/Moneypenny set-up. 'Taking the shot' but crucially messing it up, Eve is ironically more akin to Rosie than to Jinx in the competency stakes, despite her subsequent self-assurance, the sexy ease of her continuing friendship with Bond and her occassional supporting-role contributions to further action scenes.
Critics and material I don't need. I haven't changed my act in 53 years.
Comments
THATs the bit that tipped Me into my knightmares as a kid. Snakes, Voodoo, and scary “Mr Ha Ha Hur Man” who was killed earlier. (Shudders). Some things you carry into adult life....
This was brilliant!
Absolutely.
Thanks for following along, guys.
James bond will return
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
Higgins is in charge
(I first saw LALD in the early Eighties, when I was about 7, maybe 8?
I have mixed feelings about that final shot. It's a memorable image, and it made an impression on me as a kid. Apparently the film-makers were considering bringing Geoffrey Holder back for another Bond, so wanted to imply that Samedi somehow survived. It's a 'breaking the fourth wall' moment, but it also (as with Solitaire) suggests - flippantly - that there is indeed a supernatural level of reality at play in the film. My feelings are mixed because at a literal level that would be at odds with the Bond genre as a whole.
You're right
Shady Tree, if I have “Mr Ha Ha Ha Hur” knightmares tonight I’m blaming You!
Jaws wasn’t supernatural, just a human tank! Bond said it himself
“Gorilla must have his teeth fixed by a riveter!”
As I have mentioned earlier I think LALD gets a lot better just after Bond is taken to the crocodile farm. I think Moore is good in this one. His two major drawbacks, not being great at physical scenes and using too broad humor, isn't a problem here.
That's an interesting debate. I personally prefer Moore in LALD than in TSWLM (though he's also good in that.) Moore's 'nasty' moments with Rosie, and with Andrea in TMWTGG, are difficult to take, but overall, in the Hamilton films, Moore successfully blends humour and dramatic acting with the application of an actor who knows he's taken on the immense challenge of following on directly after Connery.
is this true?
On Anthology III there's a version of Come and Get It, which was later recorded and released by Badfinger.
Was this Anthology track not a demo for another artist, or was it actually meant for a Beatles album but abandoned?
anyway I wouldn't want Paul to not have sung this title track, it's both one of the best James Bond themes ever and one of the best Paul solo songs ever.
And I like the way it reappears midfilm sung more soul-style by B. J. Arnau, as it should sound in-universe. So we get both options.
I think this is the only time we see James Bond listening and reacting to one of his own theme-songs, a bit of fourth wall breaking.
Lines like "I shan't be long" and all the affectations with the espresso machine and the shaving kit, he only really did in this film.
and though his Simon Templar was a man of good manners and fine tastes, he played that character much tuff-er than the version of Bond we see in this film.
I think he plays it Bond pretty though in LALD compared to his other Bond films.
Higgins: On Friday I think we should watch one of Moore's last Bonds, such as OP or AVTAK. For contrast and variety.
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
It's been said the closing shot of Baron Samedi was a sop to the black audience, a kind of gesture make of that what you will. The role of blacks in the Bonds can be tricky - if they are the main villain then it's white State law enforcer beats up/shoots black guy -hardly escapism for many black Americans today. If they are Bond's squeeze then it's white colonial enforcer beds black babe then dumps her, or she gets killed - so black actors in Bond films tend to pop up as long-term allies hence Leiter and Moneypenny I suppose.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Not really. I included just the ones Bond (probably) slept with.
And once upon a time, readers were vicariously experiencing a much wider world through Fleming's books than they could ever expect to see for themselves.
Avoiding villains of colour is especially sad, for the actors. The big villain is the best part, a chance for an actor to really chew the scenery. Who would not want the chance to play a Bond villain?
When was the last time we had a black villain at all, Mayday?
and the only non-white principal Bond villain since Kananga I can think of was Colonel Sun-Moon, who literally got whitewashed after the opening credits. For the rest of the film he is an unflattering stereotype of a modern white billionaire.
And if the only nonwhite characters we see are subsidiary goodguys reliably working alongside the hero, that is hardly an advancement on the days when blacks only appeared in films as servants. Why would an actor want such limited options?
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
Obanno and Mollako in CR?
Pretty minor characters, not part of the main villains retinue, which is what i was thinking of.
But I did say say at all and there they are. and both characters are independently responsible for some very nasty violence.
(the very fact that there are sets of villains who are not part of the main villains retinue itself makes Casino Royale a more complex film, doesn't it, where very bad things happen anyway and the main villain's crime is to find a way to profit off it.
In the more classic Bond films the world usually appeared to be perfect except for the one main villain's Evil Scheme, and all is restored to normal once that villain is killed. At least for another two years...)
Although May Day experiences a Jaws-like conversion to the side of right and virtue, and sacrifices herself, this ending for her character is ideologically problematic: the interracial relationship in the movie - May Day and Zorin - is a villains' affair, an aberration doomed to failure; her sexual encounter with Bond is presented as a joke about the idea of a black woman on top of the white hero; and by blowing herself up she symbolically clears the way for Bond to rescue the white damsel in distress and finally to have sex with that white girl. So from the point of view of an ideological representation of race and gender, AVTAK is hardly more progressive than LALD.
Although Jinx is Jinx, as you say (i.e. the performance is less impressive) Jinx is a character whose ethnicity functions differently, and more positively, within the ideological structure of DAD's narrative. As with Rosie, May Day and Eve, Jinx's black identity is never explicitly referenced in the screenplay. But in DAD it's the black woman, rather than the white girl, that Bond rescues; and it's the interracial sexual relationship with which the movie ends - between hero and heroine, and presented as an intimacy based on mutuality.
In the case of Eve in SF, she's unfortunately relegated from fieldwork to the traditional role of secretary at the end of the movie, a function of the coda's anniversary callback to the traditional M/Bond/Moneypenny set-up. 'Taking the shot' but crucially messing it up, Eve is ironically more akin to Rosie than to Jinx in the competency stakes, despite her subsequent self-assurance, the sexy ease of her continuing friendship with Bond and her occassional supporting-role contributions to further action scenes.