FYEO disappointment
Kronsteen
Posts: 28MI6 Agent
Hello there,
I decided to rewatch FYEO last week. I had not watched it for 2-3 years and in my mind this was the "serious" RM entry. So I went on, being prepared to watch something serious and down to earth.
I was rather disappointed to see that there is a lot of comedy in the early part, more so that in LALD which I had watched the week before.
Here are a few factors that disappointed me or at least raised questions :
- Why, why, why the Bill Conti music in the PTS ? And why the delicatessen line, oh my, this is baaad.
- Who is the "Chief of Staff" in M's Office. I know Bernard Lee was dead (or died during filming, I cant remember), but if he is in M's office why isn't he called M, and why doesn't he return in OP (that does not matter since I prefer Robert Brown to the FYEO actor)
- Frederick Gray's grumbling is just ridiculous (when the Chief of Staff asks Bond to check the Identigraph), what were they thinking ?
- The music for the "drive in the country" just does not feel right, and the scene is packed with easy humour that does not feel right either.
I stopped watching after Bond arrives in Cortina. If I remember correctly the rest of the movie is less light-hearted, I remember Locque's death, but I am afraid to be even more disappointed if I go on and watch the rest of the movie.
I'm not bashing FYEO, I'm just saying that I had better memories of it than what I actually saw last week.
I decided to rewatch FYEO last week. I had not watched it for 2-3 years and in my mind this was the "serious" RM entry. So I went on, being prepared to watch something serious and down to earth.
I was rather disappointed to see that there is a lot of comedy in the early part, more so that in LALD which I had watched the week before.
Here are a few factors that disappointed me or at least raised questions :
- Why, why, why the Bill Conti music in the PTS ? And why the delicatessen line, oh my, this is baaad.
- Who is the "Chief of Staff" in M's Office. I know Bernard Lee was dead (or died during filming, I cant remember), but if he is in M's office why isn't he called M, and why doesn't he return in OP (that does not matter since I prefer Robert Brown to the FYEO actor)
- Frederick Gray's grumbling is just ridiculous (when the Chief of Staff asks Bond to check the Identigraph), what were they thinking ?
- The music for the "drive in the country" just does not feel right, and the scene is packed with easy humour that does not feel right either.
I stopped watching after Bond arrives in Cortina. If I remember correctly the rest of the movie is less light-hearted, I remember Locque's death, but I am afraid to be even more disappointed if I go on and watch the rest of the movie.
I'm not bashing FYEO, I'm just saying that I had better memories of it than what I actually saw last week.
Comments
I felt the same way about FRWL when I saw it at the cinemas recently.
yes the movie had alot of bad stuff, wasn't Bond almost sixty years old anad Melina around 25 years of age, i didn't think anything about it when i first saw the movie, now it appears a bit strange, i can go on but this was the first movie where Roger Moore Bond has any sympathy for someone dying because of him, like the lady at the beach and the italian guy in his car, plus the fact that Bond grew a pair when he killed Locque.
Carole Bouquet is the most beautiful woman and i believe maybe that's why i like it so much
Someone recently referred to it as a 'reboot' that kept the same actor; not sure I entirely buy that. Yes, it's certainly more down to earth (pun not necessarily intended
The awful use of Blofeld (unnamed because of legal issues) was a tragic waste...though I loved the premise---and most of the execution!---of Bond trapped in the back seat of a helicopter flown by a villainous remote control.
The hockey rink scene is jarringly out of place in an ostensibly 'serious' Bond film.
Bibi---'Nuff said (though the 'ice cream' line very nearly makes up for it
The car chase itself is very good, but the "drive in the country" line---and the giggling---bug me. Once again, we're supposedly in a 'reboot'
This said, I really enjoy the basic plot (and the sinking of the 'spy trawler' in the PTS), the mountaineering, the leadup to the ski chase (and the chase itself), Topol's Colombo, the death of Locque, the shootout at the docks, "That's detente, comrade"...and I'm perhaps utterly alone in absolutely adoring the Maggie/Denis Thatcher skit at the end---hilarious!
Lastly, I would agree that Carole Bouquet is fabulous :x Not the best acting I've seen from a Bond girl...but very alluring (and thus effective) nonetheless...
As I said...one of Moore's better Bonds :v
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
Topol was a fantastic Bond pal, the best since Pedro Armendariz. The parts of the movie lifted from the "Risico" short story were well done.
While I too feel FYEO is the best of the Moore as oo7 films, it is "faint praise".
Bond’s Beretta
The Handguns of Ian Fleming's James Bond
Thanks for your reply, very interesting reading.
I agree that Colombo is a nice ally, he reminded me of Kerim Bey as well.
I actually really enjoyed it. I was the opposite - I thought it was better then i remembered.
In my opinion, Moore gave a really good performance. The acting was solid, without ever really being amazing. The action and storyline were believable and kept my interest.
The only negatives i can think of at this moment is how the soundtrack has aged so badly. I mean, it sounded REALLY 80's... and Bibi. Oh, and the pre-title sequence is confusing.
But other than those three things, i was generally entertained for a couple of hours, which is pretty much why its sitting in the middle of my Bond Favourites list!
Apparently Moore looks even older on the BluRay discs, says one mag review currently out.
I would have liked them to ditch all the Moonraker humour however - cars up in trees, that kind of slapstick. I wouldnt' mind watching a copy with John Barry music dubbed onto it. And a juicy edit of Blofeld's death to make it more menacing, intercut with flashbacks of OHMSS.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
I'm hoping that my feelings about it haven't changed; that I still love it, and that perhaps my disappointment with seeing at the cinemas is due to it not being a great 'cinemas' film. It probably didn't help that I saw it straight after DN, which is gorgeous on the big screen.
i thought moore looked bored throughout. i also don't understand what people see in the bond girl, whatshername, with the straight long boring hair and greek mustache. terrible acting. the worst bond girl ever. she's the george bush of bond girls. the car was ugly. the 80s synth music was awful. sheena easton stinks up the credit sequence. it's a mess.
but being a bond film, it still has it's good points. colombo, the other bond girls, and...well that's about it.
You may be interested to hear that one of your praised "other bond girls" has actually been idfied to be a man....
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
The unsympathetic dispositions and temperamental shortcomings of Sir Frederick Gray and the Chief of Staff make M's absence from FYEO seem all the more poignant - especially given the quiet faith M had shown in Bond after Gray's fit of pique in Moonraker ("Your man should be taken off the case!") Indeed, the Bond of FYEO seems to have as much respect, if not more, for General Gogol, the villain's sponsor, as he does for either of his 'fill-in' superiors at home.
In FYEO, Moneypenny's "M's on leave" line, and the moment at the end of her scene when she turns away to smell the flower Bond has given her, are both tasteful touches which suggest respect for the late Bernard Lee.
I actually rather enjoy Villiers' portrayal of the Chief of Staff as snooty and acerbic. Villiers' performance is in a similar style to Edward Fox's portrayal of M in NSNA, which was to follow on a little later. But the dramatic defecit occasioned by Bernard Lee's absence from FYEO (and by Fox's interpretation of M in NSNA) is that Bond is left without any 'fatherly' license at the launch of his mission. Bernard Lee's M was always essentially paternal in his relationship with Bond, however gruff or disapproving his manner sometines seemed - whereas the hostile snobs played by Villiers and Fox look closer to Bond in age and have none of that fatherly quality.
Interestingly, in the Marvel Comics adaptation of FYEO the parts of Gray and the Chief of Staff are replaced by M (no longer "on leave"), although M is drawn with the features of Geoffrey Keen (the actor who plays Gray in the film).
Roger Moore 1927-2017
James Bond- Licence To Kill
It's terribly boring seeing you paste-posting the same lines over and over here.
The topic here is FYEO and not AVTAK and I can't see much of a point, that you make:
so, Dalton would have been running better than Rogers double? Interesting 8-)
If TD used the same expression like as he popped the baloon in TLD, it would have been hilarious!
I can't see any of your points in the movie!
IMHO FYEO is Roger's best a true reboot, probably much more of a reboot from MR than it has been from DAD to CR, or, if you wish from AVTAk to TLD.
So, leave Roger alone, especially, when it comes to FYEO,, which is by the way one of my 2 favourites.
.
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
James Bond- Licence To Kill
And what the hell is the relevance of this? Roger may have been doing some modelling as SC did, so, what does it say about his skills to act or - much more relevant - his appearance as 007?
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
James Bond- Licence To Kill
Yes, he may have been too old in AVTAk (and probably in Octopussy), but he looked younger in LALD than SC in YOLT and DAF.
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
James Bond- Licence To Kill
Even in primary school, there MUST be some more niveau....
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
Enough with the juvenille sarcasm. Which is, by the way .. off topic.
James Bond- Licence To Kill
I'm not so sure I'd write off a fourth or fifth film just yet. It really all depends on when he gets bored with it. But when it's time to hand off the tux to Cavill (or whomever else), Craigger will run the slagger's gauntlet just as most of the others have done.
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM