who saw the double-features in 1970 and 1971 ?

Richard--W · May 2011

Does anybody remember the double-features that played to packed theaters in the USA in the summer of 1970 and 1971? Each summer began with a James Bond double-feature starring Sean Connery, and ended with a different James Bond double-feature starring Sean Connery. The second year there was an overlap in the pairing. I was very young, still in grade school, and my friends and I spent all our allowance on these films. It was the first time my parents let me see a Bond film, although I'd been getting the toys at Christmas. Since it was a double-feature, you could enter at noon and stay all day into the late-night. I must have seen each film a dozen times those summers.

I forget the order of the re-releases, but I found some posters on the net:

http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/a432/Richard--W/Thunderball-YouOnlyLiveTwice.jpg
http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/a432/Richard--W/DrNoFromRussiaWithLove.jpg

http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/a432/Richard--W/Goldfinger-DrNo.jpg
http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/a432/Richard--W/Thunderball-FromRussia.jpg

Looking back on it, I know now that these were the original dye-transfer 35mm prints. By todays standards they were dirty and scratchy -- especially DR. NO -- but we didn't have digital clean up in those days, and nobody was aware of their condition. The screens were HUGE, much bigger than the screens today, and the films LOOKED magnificent, filling a HUGE widescreen with rich color and deep atmosphere. The prints were pure eye-candy, not the skimmed-off, thinned-out, toned-down, desaturated xeroxes consumers think so highly of on DVD today.

I don't remember this triple feature, unless it was the pairing from August 1971 after school started. I must have seen it, though:

http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/a432/Richard--W/BondPoster.jpg

You'll note that ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE (1969) wasn't part of the program. This was a Sean Connery revival. It paved the way for his return in DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER in December 1971. I remember the cheering when his name came on, lines going around the block, and the evening sell-outs. I didn't get to see ON HER HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE until the summer of 1972 or 1973, when it was re-released to support the second-run of DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER:

http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/a432/Richard--W/DiamonsAreForever-OHMSS.jpg

To this day, I think seeing the original Bond films paired in the summers of 1970 and 1971 is the most fun I've ever had in a movie theater (and I've had a LOT of fun over the years). I was just the right age to find them very adult. They were hilarious, exciting, suspenseful, sexy, exotic, glamorous, and Sean Connery was more than just a movie star, he was a force of nature.

Richard

****
Edited to remove copyrighted images. HB

Grindelwald · May 2011

Mustve been helluva experience.......that (and seeing Elvis on stage) is something I will never get to experience

Even YOLT would rule

):(|):007):v

Napoleon Plural · May 2011

The nearest I got to that was a reissue of Moonraker and FYEO but it didn't really set cinemas alight. I was too young for all that and it's a shame because of course the movies came onto telly in the mid 1970s but it was all black and white. I'd have loved to have seen the films at the cinema and frankly had they reissued LALD in say 1978 or 1980 they could have made all that money again, as there was a whole new generation of kids who'd got into it in 1977 and didn't know about LALD. It made sense not to reissue the Connery films as they were promoting Moore as a brand by then and were chary of Connery coming back in Warhead, a rival production, and capitalising on his success with EON.

Nice posters.

Richard--W · May 2011

You have a point about a whole new generation of kids rediscovering Bond films in the 1970s. That is essentially what happened with the 1970 and 1971 double-features. Imagine seeing four Bond films in one summer that were completely new to you. I had several opportunities to see the early Bond films again. They were available for rental to repertory theaters -- "reel houses" -- and, before home video wiped them off the map, there were plenty of repertory theaters in the two major cities where I lived, New York and later Los Angeles. I saw the same double-features again in the 1980s at the Nuart in West L.A. and at a bohemian dive called the Ken Cinema in San Diego. They screened the early Bond films every couple of years. OHMSS was the only older Bond unavailable for rental, and it was always the one I wanted to see the most.

Repertory screenings were quite common in those days and did not effect the new Bond releases with Roger Moore. You mentioned Live and Let Die (1973). By that time I had started a scrapbook. I cut out of the newspapers and magazines all the tidbits about forthcoming Bond films, the admats and reviews. I was there for Live and Let Die and The Man With the Golden Gun on opening day, and I stayed all day long. The excitement just wasn't the same. All the reviews I was clipping were a little disappointed, and so was the word of mouth. It was an interesting phenomena, with hindsight, because everybody was saying negative things even as they paid for the ticket. I'm a huge Roger Moore fan and I enjoyed his Bonds because he's in them, but Connery got the break-through films. Wish I had not lost track of the scrapbook because I'm nostalgic for it now.

Richard

Napoleon Plural · May 2011

What city or country are we talking about here, Richard W? It doesn't sound like a UK thing.

Sir Miles · May 2011

I remember a few of the Bond films being shown back then...from what I can recall - it is a while ago

- they tended to re-screen them just before the new Bond film came out...although I can only recall seeing DAF and LALD this way....and they weren't shown 'back-to-back' mind...

7289 · May 2011

I recall those double bills very well! My best friend and I spent alot of time going from theatre to theatre around the SF Bay area, often driving an hour or more to see them. They popped up all over - mostly in little movie houses and drive-ins. We had discovered the Fleming Bond thrillers and had become big fans of oo7.

Our "Bond Treks", were sure alot of fun. However when it comes to viewing pleasure, I don't recall the prints being very good - they were scratched and faded. While the screens were bigger then -especially the drive-in screens, quality is way better now on an HD TV.

Seems to me all the Bonds were on tour, as I recall seeing OHMSS around that time. Of course it had only been a few years since the inital releases. so they were all still pretty new, and none had been on the TV.

During all that driving around I remember endless discussions about who was the the best Bond, and which films were our favorites. However, for me the "best" Bond expierence was a few years before - the first time I saw FRWL. This was prior to the release of "Goldfinger". I was talked into going by a friend and really had no idea of what the movie was about. I had been told about the briefcase, and had seen stand up posters at various locations. At the time I thought "James Bond" was SC's real name, and was worried it would be a "nasty" movie. My preconceptions were all wrong and I enjoyed that film more than anything I had seen before. We were pretty excited to see that James Bond "would return" ......

My father's breifcases were never safe after I saw that movie!

Barry Nelson · May 2011

First Bond movie I saw was TB which was a double feature with GF. However, I saw them at a drive-in theatre, not the best way to see a film. Looking through your car window at a screen quite a distance away with a little speaker hanging from the car window for sound. Still, I remember being thrilled.

Richard--W · May 2011

A shame you can't reproduce the posters and stuff.
People upload posters routinely at Home Theater Forum.

Napoleon Plural wrote:

What city or country are we talking about here, Richard W? It doesn't sound like a UK thing.

The USA.
I'm a Yank.
I originally saw the Bond double-features in the New York City area in 1970 and 1971.
Later I moved to Los Angeles, and had many opportunities to see the Bond films (and other old films) in the repertory theaters there in L.A. and down the road in San Diego.

Richard

Blackleiter · May 2011

I saw every one of those double features when I was growing up in New York (I don't recall the triple feature, though). I remember that being in the theater all day with Connery as Bond were the highlights of my young moviegoing experiences. They absolutely contributed to my being the huge Bond film fan that I am today.

Richard--W wrote:

Does anybody remember the double-features that played to packed theaters in the USA in the summer of 1970 and 1971? Each summer began with a James Bond double-feature starring Sean Connery, and ended with a different James Bond double-feature starring Sean Connery. The second year there was an overlap in the pairing. I was very young, still in grade school, and my friends and I spent all our allowance on these films. It was the first time my parents let me see a Bond film, although I'd been getting the toys at Christmas. Since it was a double-feature, you could enter at noon and stay all day into the late-night. I must have seen each film a dozen times those summers.

I forget the order of the re-releases, but I found some posters on the net:

http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/a432/Richard--W/Thunderball-YouOnlyLiveTwice.jpg
http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/a432/Richard--W/DrNoFromRussiaWithLove.jpg

http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/a432/Richard--W/Goldfinger-DrNo.jpg
http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/a432/Richard--W/Thunderball-FromRussia.jpg

Looking back on it, I know now that these were the original dye-transfer 35mm prints. By todays standards they were dirty and scratchy -- especially DR. NO -- but we didn't have digital clean up in those days, and nobody was aware of their condition. The screens were HUGE, much bigger than the screens today, and the films LOOKED magnificent, filling a HUGE widescreen with rich color and deep atmosphere. The prints were pure eye-candy, not the skimmed-off, thinned-out, toned-down, desaturated xeroxes consumers think so highly of on DVD today.

I don't remember this triple feature, unless it was the pairing from August 1971 after school started. I must have seen it, though:

http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/a432/Richard--W/BondPoster.jpg

You'll note that ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE (1969) wasn't part of the program. This was a Sean Connery revival. It paved the way for his return in DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER in December 1971. I remember the cheering when his name came on, lines going around the block, and the evening sell-outs. I didn't get to see ON HER HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE until the summer of 1972 or 1973, when it was re-released to support the second-run of DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER:

http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/a432/Richard--W/DiamonsAreForever-OHMSS.jpg

To this day, I think seeing the original Bond films paired in the summers of 1970 and 1971 is the most fun I've ever had in a movie theater (and I've had a LOT of fun over the years). I was just the right age to find them very adult. They were hilarious, exciting, suspenseful, sexy, exotic, glamorous, and Sean Connery was more than just a movie star, he was a force of nature.

Richard

****
Edited to remove copyrighted images. HB

Sir Miles · May 2011

Richard--W wrote:

A shame you can't reproduce the posters and stuff.
People upload posters routinely at Home Theater Forum.

You can....but only as a link....

Well, I guess the owner of Home Theatre Forum wasn't threatend by the full might of Eon's lawyers !

hegottheboot · June 2011

I wish I had been around for some of these classic double bills. The best of the Bonds deserve that huge screen. The closest I've ever come is a nearby arthouse playing some of the Lowry restored transfers. Then when they got to Thunderball someone at MGM must have slipped because the print was an original with warts and all.

Napoleon Plural · June 2011

Here's a screen grab of the Lowry restored version of YOLT; the scene at the Kobi docks.

who saw the double-features in 1970 and 1971 ?

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