For Your Eyes Only
Napoleon Plural
LondonPosts: 10,467MI6 Agent
I watched this one for the first time in over five years last week. It was never one of my faves.
There's another thread on Never Say McClory Again, where Blofeld's Cat rescores Connery's swan song using mostly Barry music.
Yet I feel he would be far far better off doing the same to FYEO, and reediting parts of it, too.
The opening scene, where Bond is hanging off the helicopter, is terrific stuff. But then I'd change the music when it kicks in, to the same sound used on the cable car scene in MR, or maybe the theme to OHMSS, with the Propellerheads (no pun intended).
I'd also edit out Moore's silly jokey expressions and all the inanane banter with his deadly nemesis. There's also an odd moment when Blofeld dangles the chopper (!) very close to where he is sitting, and Bond could just jump off and to the ground if he wanted... that would go, too.
Other stuff: anything with Bibi, would be trimmed.
Ultimately, the film does get bogged down into middle-aged stuff, and the emotional aspect doesn't work for me. But it's still a fair bit better than the Brosnans, imo.
There's another thread on Never Say McClory Again, where Blofeld's Cat rescores Connery's swan song using mostly Barry music.
Yet I feel he would be far far better off doing the same to FYEO, and reediting parts of it, too.
The opening scene, where Bond is hanging off the helicopter, is terrific stuff. But then I'd change the music when it kicks in, to the same sound used on the cable car scene in MR, or maybe the theme to OHMSS, with the Propellerheads (no pun intended).
I'd also edit out Moore's silly jokey expressions and all the inanane banter with his deadly nemesis. There's also an odd moment when Blofeld dangles the chopper (!) very close to where he is sitting, and Bond could just jump off and to the ground if he wanted... that would go, too.
Other stuff: anything with Bibi, would be trimmed.
Ultimately, the film does get bogged down into middle-aged stuff, and the emotional aspect doesn't work for me. But it's still a fair bit better than the Brosnans, imo.
"This is where we leave you Mr Bond."
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Comments
Bill Conti's score just doesn't work for me; hearing those synthesizers after the lush orchestral scores of prior films doesn't seem quite right. The villains are all very bland and utterly forgettable. The whole Bibi Doll subplot makes me cringe. And the juvenile humor (like the scoreboard at the hockey rink) doesn't fold in well with the attempts at a more serious tone.
I also didn't care for the way Bond turns his back on Kristatos and almost gets killed for it at the end; very careless and unprofessional if you ask me.
These stunts aren't blue screen and the assembling cast and locale are a delight. Not to mention the plot which is triggered by a random event and not the obligatory diabolic mastermind make it a refreshing breath of fresh air.
It's my favorite Moore entry.
10/10 - Nobody does it better.
Unique Bond film in that regard...well-noted, Alex.
Count me a fan of this one. The earthbound plot was a welcome change, as was the relationship between Bond and Melina. They actually seem to care for and enjoy one another, not simply hop into bed and then fight bad guys. Roger gives a pretty hard performance here. Hard to go wrong with the Greek Isles as a backdrop. Yeah, Bibi is annoying and the PTS is a real howler, but no Bond film is without a few bobbles.
As for the score, it certainly hasn't aged well, but at the time it was fine.
Definitely in my upper half.
but it's ok because that sad event is followed by a great car chase! {[]
As Brosnan's looks followed the Moore blueprint I tended to forget just how old Moore was much of the time. He almost didn't look like Bond any more than Craig does!
On top of that, I think Glen's direction missed a trick much of the time. It was like he couldn't really tell the story. Things just happen, which is a shame when the emotional slant of the film is important. I didn't really care much about Luigi for instance, who had an unfortunate resemblance to the villain with hexagonal specs.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
i also love the scene at the end with Bond and Gogol
Bond (with classic Roger Moore smile): "That's détente, comrade. I don't have it. You don't have it."
-{
I would follow by saying that, in my view, Craig looks 1000% closer to Bond than Roger Moore ever did, but that's just my take.
As for the film, it wasn't too bad. As usual, I find Moore to be a mockery (which I find him to be in pretty much all of his films except for LALD). The film contains a great deal of silliness that it could really do without (the horrifyingly silly Blofeld PTS, Moore's "tumble and grunt" in the ski chase, Bibi, among many other examples), but again, this is par for the course for a Moore flick. The story is tip-top. I love the setttings. Columbo is one of my favorite "sidekicks," maybe even my favorite, and Topol does a terrific job with him. Carole Bouquet is bangin', even if she doesn't really do a great job with the role. There are some really nice Flemingesque scenes and elements (the casino scene, the scenes with Lisl, the carriage ride, among others), which I greatly appreciate. Glover does a pretty good job with Kristatos.
I'll chalk it up to #2 on Moore's list and #13 overall.
The producers actually did approach Dalton to take over starting with FYEO, but he was tied up in theater commitments. It's a bloddy shame: he would have be absolutely perfect in the film with a more serious tone. He would have been 37 at the time, which would have been a terrific starting age for him, and his Bond would have agreed very much with the essential aspects of the story, as fundamentally, it is a very Fleming-esque story.
But I agree, except that I would have completely ditched Moore after MR and found someone else to take over if Dalton couldn't at the time.
What I love about FYEO was its down to earth nature. After MR, the world was looking for a film in which Bond didn't leave earth and FYEO IMO more than delivered. Additionally, after TSWLM (which I loved) and MR, its realism was a nice change. I do love Bond films with incredible villains who want to take over the world, but what I want regardless is a good script. I was disappointed with MR's script but I loved FYEO's script. I loved the relationship between Bond and Melina (much better IMO than his relationships with the Bond girls in TND and DAD), I enjoyed the contribution of Topol and I also really like the locations as well as the theme song.
I don't think it's a perfect film. I didn't like the way Blofeld was disposed of (although I did appreciate seing Tracey's grave) and I could have done with less of Bibi. I wouldn't have eliminated her completely; I would have just cut some of her scenes.
I just want to make two more comments bfore I finsih up. One, the scene in which Bond killed Locque was IMO one of the film's most important scenes as it arguably confirmed what I had always known- that Moore was capable of being as ruthless as anyone else. I believethat Moore showed his ruthless side in most of his films, although in FYEO, it was perhaps most overt.
Secondly, alot of people speak about how FYEO was a change for Moore. I disagree. One of the reasons why I think that the Moore films were so good is that the best of them (LALD, TSWLM, FYEO, OP) were able to bring together drama and humour and IMO combine them brilliantly. FYEO was no exception. Although it was perhaps Moore's most serious film, it was IMO not dissimilar to eacj of his previous four films in terms of the combination of humour and drama.
FYEO is nineth on my list and second among Moore films.
Be glad that you included "arguably" in one of the above sentences, or I would have nailed you even on the semantics of subjectivity than I'm about to. I'll simply say that there's no way you can "know" Moore to be ruthless. You may consider him ruthless, but others (like me) think he's anything but.
His pushing Locque off the cliff, while a ruthless act, hardly makes Moore appear ruthless in my book. I don't feel a genuine sense of shock or terror from Moore when he does these things: I don't believe the ruthlessness. I feel terror when Connery kills Dent in cold blood in Dr. No. I am shocked and feel terror when Dalton strips down Pushkin's wife forcefully to use her as bait for Pushkin's guard, and in the way he generally handles her during that scene. I am shocked and feel terror when, instead of aprehending a criminal and bringing her to justice through the proper channels, Brosnan blows Elektra to hell in cold blood and then coldly walks over to her dead body to give her the last cruel, sexually-charged glance-over goodbye. I never feel terror from Moore. I am never shocked by anything he does. In order for someone to be convincingly ruthless to me, I must have these feelings when they do something ruthless. I must feel like that the man will kill me if I slip in the slightest. I get these feelings from Connery, Dalton, and Brosnan (and, to some degree, Lazenby). I never get them from Moore.
As for your comments on Moore's films: I disagree vehemently and consider them to, for the most part, be clownish spectacles. LALD was his best and, in my opinion, a rather good film (and he was pretty good in it). FYEO is pretty good, in my book, but suffers from many of the silliness-related flaws that his true duffers have (MR, TMWTGG, AVTAK).
As for Bibi... in my opinion, there was zero reason for her inclusion in the film. None. Period. It is elements like these that give me more of a distaste for Moore's films than I would have without them.
To me, that line alone merits her inclusion
I would concede (grudgingly) that Moore showed brief moments of what might pass for ruthlessness during his tenure, but IMHO they are the exception which proves the rule, in a manner of speaking. Another example is when, in TSWLM, Moore swats the bald guy's hand off his necktie, causing him to plunge to his death. "What a helpful chap."
Moore's Bond was, IMHO, about other things---rightly or wrongly. His interpretation of 007 has plenty of fans...and good for them. :v Personally, I like things at the other end of the spectrum.
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
By the way, on Moviedeaths.com, the man who has killed the most people is Arnold Schwarzennegar but guess who's 2nd place? Not Connery, not Brosnan, not DALTON. Moore, Roger Moore is 2nd place for the highest kill count! Go Roger!
I do. That is, I feel shock when Moore does these things. I was shocked when Moore killed Sandor in TSWLM, I was shocked at the killing of Locque and I was shocked at the b**ch-slap in TMWTGG. These shock me, because due to Moore's suaveness, his ruthlessness were even more confronting. I see Bond as essentially a gentleman who is prepared to do anything to get the job done. Dalton IMO never got this, while Moore did, which is why I found Dalton's ruthlessness less than effective (and quite boring) while Moore's ruthlessness was extremely effective. If I were to write out a list of the ten best displays of Bondian ruthlessness, most likely Connery would dominate the list. However Moore would still fearure prominantly due to the effectiveness of his ruthlessness.
You mentioned terror. I don't know if I ever felt terror at what Bond did (feeling terror does not constitute effective ruthlessness IMO) but Moore's killing of Sandor has never cease to absolutely shock me.
You may 'vehemently' disagree with my comments about Moore's films but think how I feel when you praise Dalton and his films.
I consider TSWLM to be his best and the best non-Connery film of all time. After that comes FYEO (the best of the 80's), LALD (his second best performance after TSWLM) and OP (the last great Bond film before GE came out).
I'm a bit neutral on her. I didn't particularly like her but nor do I think that she was nearly as bad as other people think she was. The 80's was my least favourite Bond decade (FYEO and OP were the only two Bond films that I liked) so when I think of bad/annoying/silly etc.. 80's Bond elements, she does not come to mind.
Different approaches bring balance to the force, and I wouldn't want it any other way.:007)
1) It was dawn or nighttime when Bond did the raid, then when he runs to the top, it's brilliant sunshine.
2) Luigi was never an impressive or memorable ally. His now resemblance to Sven Goran Errikson means that his demise now gives a warm feeling to England fans.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Volume does not equal quality end product. If that was the case, the Ottawa Senators would have motored through the NHL playoffs this year to the Stanley Cup.
The idea isn't whether or not Moore did ruthless things or could make an angry face: he did. The question is whether or not he was CONVINCINGLY ruthless in doing those things. In my view, he isn't. He just doesn't convey the image to me of a ruthless guy, and he doesn't convey toughness to me. I would never be afraid to be in the same room as Moore. I would be afraid to be in the same room as Connery or Dalton.
Also, I don't know why, but I consider the Identigraph scene to be one of the worst scenes in any Bond movie! I just hate it, it looks like that toy from the 80's called Lite Brite. Yep it's right up there with the 'California Girls' scene in my book of scenes I hate.
Obviously though, there are redeeming features. Columbo and Melina are great characters, and I like the scene where Bond and Melina are dragged from the boat. I can still watch it, but it's definitely my least favorite Bond film right now.
Not a terrible film alround, but the bottom of the Bonds for me. It seems sort of cramped.
When it comes to Moore's Bond, the jokey bits far outweighed the serious bits and so that is what most people remember. But, if somebody watched only LALD an TSWLM (and maybe FYEO) and saw none of his other Bond movies, he might very well come to a very different conclusion about just how tough he was.
I take, as a 'granted,' that Cinematic Bond will never be "a ruthless stone killer every single day." IMHO, that certainly goes without saying: The 'darkest' Bond film, arguably LTK, still featured the wheelie-popping big rig, for crying out loud
It's the element of a more sardonic and fatalist brand of humour, IMO, which will be the key to success in terms of current, more jaded, audiences.
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
Tony's post about sums it up for me. The hockey rink scene really bothers me, with the scoreboard keeping count and the horn going off as Bond KO's another bad guy. The Bibi stuff didn't really work for me either.
As for Moore, I believe he can be ruthless when he wants and he is believable in those scenes. When I saw Moore's movies in the cinema I enjoyed them very much, but as I look back at them now, they are the least enjoyable Bond pictures. I assume the movies matched the time period in which they were made, so when I saw them then, they seemed fine. Now the humor and the lightness of the films stands out. I do enjoy TSWLM and for some odd reason I enjoy parts of TMWTGG very much (I literally saw this movie about five times in the theater, my girlfriend at the time wasn't too amused). I think if they had rid the script of the goofy humor (the sheriff, karate school and the girls), made the film a little darker, they would have had a great movie, with a great showdown at the end (I digress). All Bond movies are good, but Moore's are near the bottom of the list for me.
All right, let's get one thing straight here. People always are on FYEO about the parrot scene! It's not like Bond went up to the parrot and asked it "Say Parrot, where did Kristatos take the ATAC?" it just happened that when he hears a key word he repeats it! It's not his fault! Don't blame the parrot!
Luigi may not be that great but I believe that Kristatos is underrated as a villain. He isn't particularly physically menacing but he tricks Bond, Ferrara, and the Western world into thinking he's anti-Communist and on their side. He's very charming and believable as a turncoat. Kristatos is a sinister man, he is evil all the way (dragging Melina and Bond behind his boat, tricking Bond into wanting him to kill Colombo for him, setting up Locque as Colombo's henchman, etc. etc.)
Then there's his henchman, Locque. He's also terribly underrated. I HATED this guy when I saw this movie, he's silent, brutal, deadly. Watch how after Gonzalez is killed and Bond is fighting the guards at the pool, Locque's men start to intervene but Locque tells them to stay, trying to analyze this new threat, his expressionless face as he runs over Countess Lisl, the way he tries to set up Bond's murder on the ski jump.
Bibi, while everyone hates her, I can tolerate her. I like the score, the hockey scene is very interesting and so is the ski scene, brilliantly choreographed and scored, the music adding a tense feeling to the scene.
FYEO is a must-see, it's one of Roger's most serious Bond's and for all of you serious Bond hounds, this one is for you.
I'm 180 degrees on the opposite end from you on this. I am just never convinced that Moore is ruthless. I see the acts, but I don't feel that he's ruthless.