A few things, Samurai4114...
-- I happen to agree with you on TMWTGG. Way down near the bottom of my list, and Rog's worst performance as Bond IMO. I actually think his slapping of Andrea is as bad as it gets for him, because he is simply not that kind of actor.
-- Part of the reason the Solex plot seems clunky is that it was period-specific. For those of us who lived through the 1970s energy crisis, it makes more sense. But nonetheless, this is what can happen when Bond producers decide to address current events -- the films age far less well. Fortunately, they rarely fall into this trap -- the most notable exception is TLD, whose 1987 "heroic" mujaheddin had morphed into the Taliban barely ten years later.
-- Beyond the content of your reviews, I will say again that your writing style is exquisite. The intro for this review is a perfect example -- it is scene-setting at its most descriptive and evocative (I felt as if I were there). If you are still a teenager, I can tell you that your talents at such a young age are remarkable, and you clearly have a professional future in writing if that is something you want to pursue. Just...wow.
Thanks a lot Hilary! I must agree that is perhaps the lowest point for Roger, it's just not really in him. And a yes, I'm still a young buck )
I would have preferred that they just have kept the first idea of keeping him as a stone-cold killer that wants Bond's blood. I just think of when Bond had landed on Scaramanga's island, and Bond gives the lecture about the solex and his operation, while Lee's just left sort of shrugging his should at times. Just something I felt.
This review was once again, brutal at times. But that's how it goes. Again thanks for reading -{
I have tried before - you are making the mistake of many youngsters who did not grow up with the cinema being the only place to watch a decent screenplay.
Tv programme was small and low budget and cinemas had to show big explosions, big stars ott plots and phantastic locations together with some laughs to fill the place.
No way that a 007 vs Scaramanga only story would have brought enough money to finance a 007 movie.
Before 'First Blood', explicit violence was in a very small niche of moviegoers. mainstream wanted over the top funny movies and thaht's why Bond needed to save the world and not his own arse only.
Technology was pretty low back then - no computers - no smart phones, no cgi so even the flying car was a kind of stunner back then and mildly spectacular.
I doubt that the old farts like Barbel, Sir Miles and Blackleiter (who bash the Moore age today) turned away in the cinema with disgust afterTMWTGG.
As for Pepper vacationing in Thailand or not: who cares - he was popular back then ( pc'ness did not even exist) and it looked great - so he was there
President of the 'Misty Eyes Club'.
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
I would have preferred that they just have kept the first idea of keeping him as a stone-cold killer that wants Bond's blood. I just think of when Bond had landed on Scaramanga's island, and Bond gives the lecture about the solex and his operation, while Lee's just left sort of shrugging his should at times. Just something I felt.
This review was once again, brutal at times. But that's how it goes. Again thanks for reading -{
I have tried before - you are maknig the mistake of many youngsters who did not grow up with the cinema being the only place to watch a decent screenplay.
Tv programme was small and low budget and cinemas had to show big explosions, big stars ott plots and phantastic locations together with some laughs to please the relaxed audiences.
No way that a 007 vs Scaramanga story would have brought enough money to finance a 007 movie.
Before F'irst Blood', explicit violence was in a very small niche of moviegoers. mainstream wanted over the top funny movies and ht's why Bond needed to save the world and not his own arse only.
All I can is you're probably correct. I am seeing this through a 21st century perspective and I understand what you're saying. I do however stand by what I said. I offered what would have been my fix, so I would enjoy it more, it being pheasible or not. I do realize that the producers were in it to make some money and were bound by their audience, but my opinion is unchanged.
Not critisizing you for your opinion. But when reviewing a 40 year old movie , you should be aware that many things which are considered dodgy today had to be like that back in the dayand people enjoyed it!
I for my part enjoy CR but don't constantly benchmark the older movies with it.
It takes a lot of fun away when you are doing that.
President of the 'Misty Eyes Club'.
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
The Spy Who Loved Me begins on of the finest pre-title sequences yet. After the hijacking one of England and the Soviet Union's nuclear missiles, we see Bond having to pull out of Austria. After leaving his lady friend behind because England needs him, we see him just casually going for a ski when he is met by a few menacing KGB operatives. The score starts to pound away loudly, the intensity building after he shoots and kills Triple XXX's boyfriend with his ski-pole gun. Quickly it cuts to Bond's position of the mountain, he is quickly running out of space. With seemingly no escape, he just has to slide off and hope for the best. The music picks up, da-dun-da-dun-da, da-dun-da-dun-da, da-dun-da-dun-da rings out. Silence. You can hear the cold, brisk air hitting the mountains. Bond in the yellow ski-suit holds position and is free-falling. How's he going to get out of this one? Farther and farther he falls into the white abyss. He kicks off his skies. And then it flies out like a lifeline in the nick of time. The union jack from his backpack. Bond parachutes to safety and allows the viewer to catch its breath for a moment.
Roger Moore is at his finest during this film. After two sort of so-so performances in the last two films, he seems to really settled into his own character, and out of the shadows of Connery. The production staff also doesn't make him out to be any more than he is, and thankfully it worked to great effect. I think also the trust they put in Moore to spend a lot of money on this picture benefitted him. Live and Let Die and Golden Gun look very cheap compared to this film and the following one.
Moore looks his best at fighting this time too. And while I was laughing at him when he fought the sumo-wrestlers at Hai Fat's place, I'm rooting for him against Jaws in the train. I'm glad that Lewis Gilbert and John Glen decided to use multiple cuts instead of one running shot because it benefits Moore who isn't as physically skilled as a Connery or Lazenby. It makes him look more powerful and I definitely enjoyed it more.
If you thought Moore was sauve and sophisticated in the last two movies, then buckle up, because this is him on steroids. And yet, one again it works. He also starts flashing that smile we all are accustomed to. To me, it shows how much fun he's having playing the part. And his lines aren't as annoying before, sometimes they're even funny! Like at the pod for instance, "any man who drinks Dom Perignon 52' can't be all bad." Or the killer last line, "Keeping the British end up sir." After that line I always imagine the Daltrey scream at the beginning of Won't Get Fooled Again. Again, I'm not a Moore guy, but that's a killer line.
Barbara Bach, (maybe I should have called her Maud Adams just to even it out), isn't that great an actress, plus some of her dialogue just isn't that convincing. For example, when she's tied up into the chair in Stromberg's lair and Bond arrives, she cries "and Stromberg" it comes across so unconvincingly. There are other small moments like that, that detract from my overall experience slightly. But she is very attractive, and who doesn't like seeing her at the end all wet in the pod?
Before I watched The Spy Who Loved Me this latest time, I read a review (can't remember where), that stated that this and You Only Live Twice had very similar plot lines. I hadn't really noticed it up to this point. So with that in the back of my mind, I embarked on the film and surely I found several striking resemblances between the two, which include...
- The film beginning with a major hijacking of an important vessel.
- Villain very similar to Blofeld; does business in a similar way; misdirection
- Deaths by dangerous fish as punishment for wrongdoing
- M out of office and on location (but this is certainly becoming a theme in the Moore years)
- Grandiose villain lair that can be hidden
- Magnet used to get rid of baddies
- Large scale battle with many people at said lair
- Bond recruits previous captives to aid them in escape
- A transportation device that isn't built and needs to be pieced together (Little Nellie)
-Two slower Bond songs
- Bond and his girl escaping in a "pod" at the end where they are found by M and co.
Other than that, they are two entirely different movies. (He said tongue-in-cheek.) But that doesn't mean it's bad, in fact quite the contrary, The Spy Who Loved Me works.
The Bond song performed by Carly Simon, is all-time great. A beautiful slow song that is pulled off brillantly, it also gets stuck in my head. And there I'll be humming it around the house, or singing it the shower or whatever. It's just a good song.
An added element to this movie which again works, is the competition between Triple XXX and Bond. On of the best parts of the film is at the ruins with Jaws trying to recover the microfilm. Bond acting all too cool while Jaws is tearing the van apart and Anya is fumbling with the keys. ("Women drivers.") Plus later on when they are both with their superiors, each of them trying to one-up the other with their knowledge and skill-sets. It's unique and done well in that regard.
The biggest reason I enjoy The Spy Who Loved Me so much is because of the Spectre-ish feel it has throughout. With the aforementioned pre-title sequence, I got the sense from very early on that something diabolically evil was happening, coupled with an activity that we sort of link with Spectre, (skiing) and the great music in the background, it just set the tone for a great movie experience.
Stromberg I find to be too Donald Pleasance and not enough Telly Savales if you catch my drift. I would have also enjoyed a Goldfinger-esque rant where he just loses his corn, and describes why the human race is awful and the ocean is wonderful, but that wasn't in the cards. Maybe you can tell I enjoy the more raving mad villains, than the cool and calm ones, ie Pleasance's Blofeld, Stromberg, Drax... They're not my jam.
But Stromberg is clearly a lift from Blofeld. (I read that Cubby Broccoli wanted to use Blofeld and Spectre, but for legal purposes, couldn't. But then again, they basically did.) He even does the oldest Blofeld trick in the book, make the one person really nervous and think you're going to kill him, then kill the other. He does that here with the secretary, then goes on and bombs the two businessmen in the helicopter afterwards. Classic Blofeld.
The filmmakers did come up with a character all their own though. Jaws, a seven-foot psychopath with metal teeth is a henchmen they can't miss with. Jaws must have been chomping at the bit for some action. (Pun definitely intended.) He's a menacing individual. The fight on the train is pretty good, a little too reminiscent of another famous Bond moment, but still pretty good nonetheless. And the chase scene with the Lotus is highly entertainingly as well. A nice added touch with the underwater element. (Although when they first plunge into the water, Triple XXX looks clearly confused and scared, then later on tells us that she had first seen the plans for the vehicle years ago. Kind of strange...) It was interesting as the attack came in layers, first the motorcyclist, then Jaws in the car, then the helicopter. Even the divers afterwards. Stromberg wasn't playing around.
The final battle is just as spectacular. The magnitude of the fight is so interesting as well, it's as if you're watching something out of war epic many moons ago. Coupled with the delicious bit of drama when Bond nearly kills everyone with the nuclear missile because he's had one cup of coffee too many, and that sequence is right up in the closing action scene ranks.
Bond quickly builds his Wet Nellie and races over to Stromberg's lair to rescue Anya. Stromberg invites Bond in and assumes he's going to fall for the elevator trick. But, come on, does Stromberg take Bond for an idiot? Bond drops in, avoids Stromberg's last gasp, and ruthlessly shoots at least four times. (I think it's four.) This bit of new Moore ruthlessness is something else I enjoy, that moment along with him allowing Sandor to fall off the building is right alongside it too.
The 10th outing for James Bond was again billed as "The Biggest Bond of them all." And after, what I would call, two sub-par adventures, they had a hit with The Spy Who Loved Me. Roger Moore was out of my dog-house after this one.
As I relax out on the balcony I peer out and look in wonderment at the lovely lake below. It's quite a vast lake, and there are about 70 or so other cottages that are set up around it. The sun which will set in about an hour, struggles to stay afloat in the western skyline, its rays reflecting on the blue H2O. Dark, green coniferous trees mark up the edges and outline of this body of water and the soft ripples of disturbed lake are calmly coming towards shore, rocking the dock as it passes. The family from two cabins down are returning inside after taking a beautiful trip around in their kayaks. And just now a youngish looking man has appeared around the bend on a pair of water-skies. He is being towed by a pair of other guys, about his age, with one of them, the driver, chuckling loudly. But at a lake like this one, it doesn't take much volume for it to reverberate around and allow the other vacationers to know what you are saying.
This has been a common occurrence the last couple of days, as I've taken residence at my own personal goldeneye for a week. Now British Columbia is no Jamaica I grant you, but the premise is the same. (But it's been as hot as Jamaica I can assure you.) I'm now hidden away on holiday, sunburnt and writing about James Bond. And that makes for a pretty good summer. At least Fleming and I think so. (Or maybe he wrote in the winters, who knows...)
The small cottage we've rented has a TV in the living room, but the satelitte reception is rather finicky. Enter the eldest teenage son, (that's me by the way) who always brings a couple of Bond DVDs on holidays, just in case. (Kind of the entertainment equivalent to the gun under the pillow.) Last night after a day of swimming and tanning, my family and I retreated indoors for dinner and a show. The meal was macaroni and cheese and the show was The Man With the Golden Gun.
My only wish though, because there isn't a lot to complain about, is that being in a serene environment, I was writing about one of my favourite Bond adventures like my beloved From Russia With Love or On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Unfortunately for me, this isn't the case because The Man With the Golden Gun is probably one of my least favourite in the whole series.
So instead of gloating about one that I adore, I'm going to slap around this movie like an unconvincing Roger Moore to Barbara Bach. (I don't mean Roger is unconvincing on the whole, but I didn't think he the type to smack around a woman for some information. I thought they were trying to change the character anyways. Like the scene at the beginning of Live and Let Die where Moore is prancing around his robe, I thought that was trying to signify the changing of the guard. But who knows...)
I'll level with you, the first forty or so minutes is quite good actually, excluding that sequence mentioned above. The premise is rather interesting, the world's best assassin, a man whom nobody can recognize, has his mark set on our favourite secret agent 007. And that's where it should have stayed. The most gripping moments of the film is when Scaramanga has Bond marked outside the Bottom Ups club, and Bond is completely oblivious. Then we discover that there is no hit, and the real evil scheme actually has to do with solar energy.
After that is when things start getting really screwy. Bond is taken away only to find that British Intelligence has travelled to Hong Kong, including Q and M. I thought a personal trip by M only occurred in potential World War III scenarios, but I guess solar energy is just as important as Bond finding the root of stolen rockets from the Americans and the Soviets.
Things begin to get goofier and goofier yet, Bond pretends to be Scaramanga and adourns a third nipple in the process. Then he gets knocked out by a midget and two sumo wrestlers, and is taken to a martial arts school. You know things we're going to get weird because of the two options this rich Chinese guy had. You could kill him, get rid of him forever and not have to deal with the hassles he provides... or you could take him to your own privately owned school of up-and-coming Bruce Lee's. Now what choice jumps out at you? "Take Mr. Bond to school." Alright let me explain the options again...
Bond engages in a battle with the sort of top dog there. He must be because of that sinister black robe, while all the other proteges are wearing white. The fight set the template for many WWF wresting matches in the future, minus the inclusion of objects such as chairs or ladders. Bond then escapes quite easily, but is followed by the swarm of the students. Luckily his local pal is there with his nieces again. (I thought he said that he was going to drop them off.) Where they kick the crap out of the people who study martial arts daily. Does that seem likely? Not really.
Even more unlikely, that they take off WITHOUT Bond. But that 's exactly what happens. They don't stop and go back for him though, and neither does Bond hang around for them to return. He quickly hops on a boat where then we are treated with the return of Sheriff J.W. Pepper. What a joke! Bond then pushes off a little salesman kid, and slices the opposition's vehicle in two. And oh yeah, Pepper is pushed into the water by an elephant. Can you spell gong show? (An interesting thing I just thought of, why in the hell is Pepper vacationing in Hong Kong. I thought one of the last places he would want to go is China, and by choice no less. He's not a worldly character, let's put it that way.)
I could continue down this ridiculous path, but I choose to stop here because there's only some much negative I want to put in one review. I will not mention; the slide whistle which pokes fun at maybe the greatest stunt ever pulled in the franchise's history, or that Scaramanga has a car-plane that he transforms and uses as he pleases, or Mary Goodnight's blatant stupidity and yet she works for the British secret service, or that scene where her ass causes the laser to to detonate, or the ridiculous circus side-plot given to Scarmanga which includes this fun-house death maze on his island, and that he has a dwarf side-kick, or that stupid final fight against Nick Nack on Scarmanga's yacht, or how M mysteriously knows the phone number of Scarmanga's yacht, and knows that Bond has defeated him, or how the score sucks and sounds eerily similar to You Only Live Twice. (I mean seriously, when the song is slowed down, there is certainly a resemblance. Not only that, but the martial arts scene is similar to ninja camp, and the sumo wrestler match is very comparable to the boxing one in this movie.) No, I won't mention any of those things because there is one good thing about it I haven't really mentioned yet.
That thing I haven't mentioned is the delightfully evil performance by Christopher Lee. An accomplished and seasoned actor, he is the only rock to be found in this picture. He's convincing, delivers his lines with this sort of maniac look in his eyes, and is really good with Moore. You needn't look any farther than the aforementioned boxing scene, when Scaramanga is giving his back-story, and then cuts to the line "but then I discovered that I liked killing more." And looks directly in Bond's eye. Chilling man.
The major flaw that I would want rectified first and foremost is the whole evil scheme. To me the whole solar energy element to the story is superfluous. I don't see why they couldn't have scaled it back and just have Bond and Scaramanga play a cat-and-mouse game, because that would be just so interesting to watch. And also cut away that circus back-story, because that I also just don't get. And there you go. You have quite the interesting film on your hands, tinker around some of the rubbish that follows and you might have an upper echelon Bond picture, because here, they swung and missed dramatically. (Oh, and also if we could have had that rumoured Alice Cooper Bond song, that would have been pretty neat as well.)
There you have it. There's a lot wrong with this movie, all the rubbish attempts at comedy, the unbelievable nature of some of the scenes, uninteresting Bond girls, a bloated plot, Moore still isn't Bond yet, crappy music, and no go to action scene. Besides that, you had a pretty good first forty minutes, and then the wretched sludge-fest that ensued.
3/10
I completely agree with your review of this bottom-of-the-barrel effort. One can only hope is that your macaroni and cheese meal was at least as cheesy as this lackluster Bond movie! )
As I relax out on the balcony I peer out and look in wonderment at the lovely lake below. It's quite a vast lake, and there are about 70 or so other cottages that are set up around it. The sun which will set in about an hour, struggles to stay afloat in the western skyline, its rays reflecting on the blue H2O. Dark, green coniferous trees mark up the edges and outline of this body of water and the soft ripples of disturbed lake are calmly coming towards shore, rocking the dock as it passes. The family from two cabins down are returning inside after taking a beautiful trip around in their kayaks. And just now a youngish looking man has appeared around the bend on a pair of water-skies. He is being towed by a pair of other guys, about his age, with one of them, the driver, chuckling loudly. But at a lake like this one, it doesn't take much volume for it to reverberate around and allow the other vacationers to know what you are saying.
This has been a common occurrence the last couple of days, as I've taken residence at my own personal goldeneye for a week. Now British Columbia is no Jamaica I grant you, but the premise is the same. (But it's been as hot as Jamaica I can assure you.) I'm now hidden away on holiday, sunburnt and writing about James Bond. And that makes for a pretty good summer. At least Fleming and I think so. (Or maybe he wrote in the winters, who knows...)
The small cottage we've rented has a TV in the living room, but the satelitte reception is rather finicky. Enter the eldest teenage son, (that's me by the way) who always brings a couple of Bond DVDs on holidays, just in case. (Kind of the entertainment equivalent to the gun under the pillow.) Last night after a day of swimming and tanning, my family and I retreated indoors for dinner and a show. The meal was macaroni and cheese and the show was The Man With the Golden Gun.
My only wish though, because there isn't a lot to complain about, is that being in a serene environment, I was writing about one of my favourite Bond adventures like my beloved From Russia With Love or On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Unfortunately for me, this isn't the case because The Man With the Golden Gun is probably one of my least favourite in the whole series.
So instead of gloating about one that I adore, I'm going to slap around this movie like an unconvincing Roger Moore to Barbara Bach. (I don't mean Roger is unconvincing on the whole, but I didn't think he the type to smack around a woman for some information. I thought they were trying to change the character anyways. Like the scene at the beginning of Live and Let Die where Moore is prancing around his robe, I thought that was trying to signify the changing of the guard. But who knows...)
I'll level with you, the first forty or so minutes is quite good actually, excluding that sequence mentioned above. The premise is rather interesting, the world's best assassin, a man whom nobody can recognize, has his mark set on our favourite secret agent 007. And that's where it should have stayed. The most gripping moments of the film is when Scaramanga has Bond marked outside the Bottom Ups club, and Bond is completely oblivious. Then we discover that there is no hit, and the real evil scheme actually has to do with solar energy.
After that is when things start getting really screwy. Bond is taken away only to find that British Intelligence has travelled to Hong Kong, including Q and M. I thought a personal trip by M only occurred in potential World War III scenarios, but I guess solar energy is just as important as Bond finding the root of stolen rockets from the Americans and the Soviets.
Things begin to get goofier and goofier yet, Bond pretends to be Scaramanga and adourns a third nipple in the process. Then he gets knocked out by a midget and two sumo wrestlers, and is taken to a martial arts school. You know things we're going to get weird because of the two options this rich Chinese guy had. You could kill him, get rid of him forever and not have to deal with the hassles he provides... or you could take him to your own privately owned school of up-and-coming Bruce Lee's. Now what choice jumps out at you? "Take Mr. Bond to school." Alright let me explain the options again...
Bond engages in a battle with the sort of top dog there. He must be because of that sinister black robe, while all the other proteges are wearing white. The fight set the template for many WWF wresting matches in the future, minus the inclusion of objects such as chairs or ladders. Bond then escapes quite easily, but is followed by the swarm of the students. Luckily his local pal is there with his nieces again. (I thought he said that he was going to drop them off.) Where they kick the crap out of the people who study martial arts daily. Does that seem likely? Not really.
Even more unlikely, that they take off WITHOUT Bond. But that 's exactly what happens. They don't stop and go back for him though, and neither does Bond hang around for them to return. He quickly hops on a boat where then we are treated with the return of Sheriff J.W. Pepper. What a joke! Bond then pushes off a little salesman kid, and slices the opposition's vehicle in two. And oh yeah, Pepper is pushed into the water by an elephant. Can you spell gong show? (An interesting thing I just thought of, why in the hell is Pepper vacationing in Hong Kong. I thought one of the last places he would want to go is China, and by choice no less. He's not a worldly character, let's put it that way.)
I could continue down this ridiculous path, but I choose to stop here because there's only some much negative I want to put in one review. I will not mention; the slide whistle which pokes fun at maybe the greatest stunt ever pulled in the franchise's history, or that Scaramanga has a car-plane that he transforms and uses as he pleases, or Mary Goodnight's blatant stupidity and yet she works for the British secret service, or that scene where her ass causes the laser to to detonate, or the ridiculous circus side-plot given to Scarmanga which includes this fun-house death maze on his island, and that he has a dwarf side-kick, or that stupid final fight against Nick Nack on Scarmanga's yacht, or how M mysteriously knows the phone number of Scarmanga's yacht, and knows that Bond has defeated him, or how the score sucks and sounds eerily similar to You Only Live Twice. (I mean seriously, when the song is slowed down, there is certainly a resemblance. Not only that, but the martial arts scene is similar to ninja camp, and the sumo wrestler match is very comparable to the boxing one in this movie.) No, I won't mention any of those things because there is one good thing about it I haven't really mentioned yet.
That thing I haven't mentioned is the delightfully evil performance by Christopher Lee. An accomplished and seasoned actor, he is the only rock to be found in this picture. He's convincing, delivers his lines with this sort of maniac look in his eyes, and is really good with Moore. You needn't look any farther than the aforementioned boxing scene, when Scaramanga is giving his back-story, and then cuts to the line "but then I discovered that I liked killing more." And looks directly in Bond's eye. Chilling man.
The major flaw that I would want rectified first and foremost is the whole evil scheme. To me the whole solar energy element to the story is superfluous. I don't see why they couldn't have scaled it back and just have Bond and Scaramanga play a cat-and-mouse game, because that would be just so interesting to watch. And also cut away that circus back-story, because that I also just don't get. And there you go. You have quite the interesting film on your hands, tinker around some of the rubbish that follows and you might have an upper echelon Bond picture, because here, they swung and missed dramatically. (Oh, and also if we could have had that rumoured Alice Cooper Bond song, that would have been pretty neat as well.)
There you have it. There's a lot wrong with this movie, all the rubbish attempts at comedy, the unbelievable nature of some of the scenes, uninteresting Bond girls, a bloated plot, Moore still isn't Bond yet, crappy music, and no go to action scene. Besides that, you had a pretty good first forty minutes, and then the wretched sludge-fest that ensued.
3/10
I completely agree with your review of this bottom-of-the-barrel effort. One can only hope is that your macaroni and cheese meal was at least as cheesy as this lackluster Bond movie! )
For years as a kid TSWLM was my favourite Bond film.
Watched anything to do with it, even got up early Saturday
mornings to watch the Open Univesity's media course as it was
about the making of it. )
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
I believe there are two factions of Bond fans. Those who like Moonraker, and those who really don't like Moonraker. It seems to be the most polarizing Bond adventure that ever existed. Supporters are generally those who are Moore fans, or folks who enjoy the wacky, or more over the top. They have come to enjoy much of the humour envoked in this new run of Bonds, coupled with the quiet, reserved villains and take-over-the-world schemes. And while Moore was making me believe for a while in The Spy Who Loved Me, it isn't happening here. Moonraker is just awful.
It's not Moore's fault though, he is what he is now, his performance I believe similar to that of his last film. But a lot of what is happening around him just stinks on toast as far I'm concerned. There are moments that I think even he couldn't believe this was really happening.
The film starts actually really well though. This PTS is as visually stunning as ever before as Bond free falls from the airplane after Jaws turns up out of nowhere and ejects him. Queue up the Bond theme, and Bond is in a race to get to a parachute on the back of the guy he just ejected. It's such a cool scene because you feel like you're falling alongside them. I don't know about you, but this PTS really hit the nail on the head of what the sequence was made for, minus Jaws trying to fly like a bird and Jaws in general.
But then things start to get really cartoonish and over the top from there on out. Shirley Bassey's back to perform the Bind song, but quite honestly, the song isn't that good. But maybe my memories of Goldfinger and Diamonds cloud my judgement.
The main plot of the story involves the hijacking of the Moonraker, a shuttle on loan to the British government. Bond travels to the manufacturers home, a man named Hugo Drax, to investigate.
We then are taken by helicopter to Drax's palace. Drax is....very dry. Michael Lonsdale does an all right job, especially for what he was given. Drax is just a boring character in my estimation. I would like to see why he has his deep rooted believes, and basically just a bit of character development. On the whole, I don't like these sorts of villains. The rich types, sort of weak and wimpy physically. They're not my jam. And Drax is no exception.
Bond is taken to meet Dr. Goodhead, (a lady), played by Lois Chiles. Quick question, is Holly Goodhead the worst Bond girl ever? She's definitely right there. Chiles acting is just terrible. Terriawful. Her dialogue is just... Like after Bond goes through the spinny thing, she jogs in, "I don't know what could have happened. Something must have gone wrong with the controls." And Roger is about ready to crawl out of his skin. Cringe-worthy. (The first of a few anyway.) Even later on in Venice Goodhead does something else that just irks me. (Good to see also that Goodhead raided Marilyn Monroe's wardrobe for this scene.) In the hotel room Bond goes through her gagdetry, and arrives at her flame-throwing fragrance. *Camera shoots to her face* She does this shrug thing with a smirk. Has always bugged me. Or (starting to become a tangent), but even on the gondola, "Hang on James!" Yeah, there are more examples, but yes you get the gist. She can't deliver a line to save her life.
Flip back now to Bond's first rouse, the pilot Corrine. It's you're typical Bond to lady flirting. Although there is this curious question about her list. Bond says something to the effect of, "What about your mother's list?" "I never learned to read." What?! You're an illiterate pilot. How does that even make sense? Obviously the line is mean to be taken seriously, but still you don't really joke about not being able to read, but whatever...
Two action scenes follow which are just so-so. Although the ruthlessness of the beasts ravaging Corrine's body, is the equivalent of Drax flexing his muscles. It's interesting. But, then after a no nonsense approach to that killing, he chooses some extravagant deaths for Bond. I don't really get that aspect. Such as the latest boat chase. Isn't it happenstance that Bond is even on the boat into he first place? So either Drax is very much in touch with Bond's moment to moment activities, or Drax has those people in the boat circle all the time, just in case.
The next part is pure Moore cheese. The boat grows wheels and Bond drives around Venice all causal. This is basically a direct lift from The Spy Who Loved Me as they drive onto the beach. They even have the same guy looking at the wine bottle, blaming the alcohol. If you chuckled at the gag the first time like I might have, you didn't this time, especially with the pigeon doing a double-take. Cringe.
After Bond finds out that things are starting to get a little screwy from Drax's end, with the nerve gas and all, he's meet by buddy in the robes who nearly killed him before. It's a pretty good scrap, but it also seems like obligatory if you're going to have a character falling that you must show what is going on in that setting before said fall occurs. That little cut away just tips you off that it's going to end very soon, and draws you unnecessarily away, from like I mentioned before, a pretty good scrap.
Now here's another little problem I have with Moonraker. The return of Jaws. Maybe not the return, but how they use him here, is not how I would have liked to see him used. In The Spy Who Loved Me you're frightened of him because he's a seven foot psychopath with metal teeth. And they display him in that light. The fight in the train, in Cairo, etc. Here, he's just a punch line. A baffoon basically. The gondola scene is a prime example. Sure he bites the rope in two, (for a character that has metal teeth, perfectly plausible), but then there's this shot of him swinging his way to the nearest gondola, which is a little out there. So then they meet up and are face-to-face. Jaws clears the distance from a standing start, (using the force I presume), and they start to battle. But it's almost when writing the character, the filmmakers want to bake their cake and eat it too. We've gathered that Jaws is strong, but a punch and a kick and he's down. They drop him into the cable car, where he falls like a bag of hammers, and he gets up like nothing happened. And then punches through the ceiling. I can't wrap my head around that one. He can't be not that strong one minute, than devastingly strong the next. Right? (Also, a word about Bond and Goodheads escape. They slide the zip line with the chain. Wouldn't they be sliding down that thing like a bat out of hell? It doesn't seem like they are moving that quick. Am I on to something there, or should I make it relax?) Jaws then, who in turn is moving pretty quick, destroys the gondola place, and is once again unharmed. The music builds up and a french-braided blonde comes to rescue Jaws, and she is just smitten with love. (Who wouldn't be?) And they go on to live happily ever after.
Jaws is next seen in the second boat chase into the picture. The shot they use of him during the chase just again, makes me cringe. (Does he have to wear white shirts?) The rear-screen projection, and the stupid smile. Jaws continues to be awful with the firearms missing Bond on several occasions, before Bond notices the waterfall up ahead. He has a hang glider. Jaws doesn't. Figure it out. Before Jaws falls they quickly zoom in on his face and it is eerily similar to one I once saw Scooby from Scooby Doo use when caught by Old Man Jenkins. It's so ridiculous. But, he survives...
Bond finds Drax's lair, nearly gets killed by a humongous snake, before Jaws once again arrives. We finally get what Drax is really jiving at. But then again, not really. I want to really know why he's decided to kill everyone on earth and start over. He doesn't really explain. I wanted a Hitlerian rant of a raving lunatic, but then again, that's not how they wrote the character, so we don't get that bit.
And then I arrive at the my second main problem with Moonraker. The plot, but mainly the last forty minutes, just seems like a blatant attempt to cash in on the recent success of Star Wars. The laser gun battle sequence. Really?!! Watching it now and I feel like it was a deleted scene from Episode IV. And Jaws turns good too, but considering the film as a whole, ain't that far out there. (It's quote funny how everyone is wearing the yellow jump-suits, but Jaws is still rocking the white shirt with suspenders.) I'm sure Jaws has someone left on Earth he doesn't want to see killed. And he isn't going to survive anyway so... (I always found it funny too how Jaws' lady came along with him, perfectly willing to abandon any life she had before, willing to have her family killed, to go along with charade.)
But I think this was a microcosm of the James Bond films in the 1970s. The films tried to catch up on film trends; Live and Let Die (blaxploitation), The Man With The Golden Gun (the scene at the martial arts camp), and now this one. That's what separates the two decades at this point, 60s Bond were trend-setters, 70s Bond rode the wave of other trends. I know that James Bond hype waned in the later half of the decade and so interest was low, but it's my main reason for liking those 60s adventures more than the ones from the 70s.
Oh and before I start my conclusion. That absolutely killer line by Q when all of Bonds superiors are watching him bed Goodhead makes the film worth watching. "Bond what are you doing?" "I think he's attempting re-entry, sir." (Queue up Daltrey scream from Won't Get Fooled Again.) Killer line. But...we needed another line, because if there was one thing Moonraker needed, was more attempted humour. And that line removed the smirk I had on and put my mouth back into the cringe. Although it is the most convincing bit of dialogue Lois Chiles had uttered in the film.
Moonraker is a beautifully looking film. And you can definitely tell the filmmakers put a lot of money into it. (More than the first six pictures combined or something to that tune.) But it's too self-indulgent and it's like they were given carte-blanche to make any kind of movie they pleased. Which essentially allowed them to justify the amount of cheesiness. It's not my cup of tea, (at times it's like The Man With the Golden Gun on steroids). So I don't visit this film often and don't plan re-watching it in the immediate future either.
-{ Another great review. As a kid I loved MR but then I was always a fan of
SiFi. Older now and it's not so much a favourite.
Totally agree it looks fantastic ( one of the best looking Bonds) loved the
Death of Corrine, very " The Omen" . The never "learned to read", I always assumed
Was a simple throw away line. Lois Chiles is very Wooden
Drax is very under written, we never get the scene when he explains his need
To rebuild the world in his image, his passion for his plan.
Never thought much of the fight in the glass factory, always found it slow and
Find the gondola boat chase, frankly boring.
I also hate what they did with Jaws, he should have stayed a " Psycho Killer " )
Although I do love the space special effects ( done " Old School ") {[] , I remember
Reading Industrial Light & Magic were contacted but wanted a percentage, which
Wasn't going to happen. )
Even with it's faults, when I'm in the right mood and it's on TV , I'll happily sit
Down and watch it. ) -{
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
One of the main reasons this summer I wished to re-watch all of the James Bind adventures, was to see how they fit. How I felt about each particular movie. How they compared to each other. Which films were better than others. I was always curious about how my rankings would look. What would be my top 23. For Your Eyes Only is a perfect example.
I always knew that I liked the film. But I wasn't sure how it stacked up in my eyes to any of the Connery films, or the later ones. So, after not seeing this one for a while, I decided it needed a fresh look from fresh eyes. And I must say, For Your Eyes Only makes a solid case, for the best Moore Bond picture.
After Moonraker, this movie gives you sense that the filmmakers were going to try and go back-to-basics, tone down the humour and large budgets, for a more focused plot with interesting characters. And to its credit, it is the one Moore film with the least amount of forced, screwball comedy, and the most Fleming-esque tone throughout.
With all that being said, they really make you question liking it with some for the things they pull at the beginning. The pre title sequence is probably the weirdest thing in all of Bond. They purposely tried to branch away from Bond's marriage in the past, but here, out of nowhere, Blofeld just shows up. On a rooftop, in the wheelchair, playing with this remote control, which forces the helicopter into contortions he so chooses, Blofeld has Bond essentially trapped. But in typical Blofeld fashion, he squanders another great chance at ousting his arch-enemy. Instead he decides to giggle at every word that dribbles out of his mouth, and doesn't realize that Bond is actually helping his situation a great deal. Bond then takes control of the 'copter, picks up Blofeld by the wheel axis, and drops him down a large chimney. But not before offering Bond "a delicatessen in stainless steel." And as tempted as Bond surely was, he made the right choice. Can we just say that that is the weirdest scene in a Bond film?
Also, the title sequence is just cheesy. The song is just blah, and we can see Sheena Easton. The imagery just makes it feel like a cheap music video. Roger at this point, needed a much more uptempo song, but he'd have to wait for Duran Duran for that.
Call me crazy, but the chase scene that swings the film into gear is one of the best in the series. Bond and Melina meet after she kills her parents assassin, thus allowing Bond to escape. Together they depart in what appears to be a Volkswagen Beetle, and begin a rather thrilling and entertaining chase. It's rather well done, and the scenery looks quite pretty as well. And I've always enjoyed this "Bond, James Bond," introduction more than any of Roger's others.
This scene just begins treating us to a really good first hour of Bond. The snowy, white atmosphere and all of the activities around them gives it almost a Winter Olympics feel that is very neat. But, it's one thing to show the sports, and another to actually encorporate them into the story and the filmmakers did a good job of that. We get to see Bibi (I'll discuss her later...) doing her figure skating, Kriegler performing in the biathlon, and the hockey players starting to rough it up with Bond. (I particularly enjoyed that one.) But the best is the big chase when Kriegler breaks away on his skies, and we get to see Bond try and elude him. It takes you into a luge track, and Bond taking off on the ski-jump. With all these other people doing activities, all seemingly in close proximity, it's almost as if you're in the Olympic village with them.
One of the issues I do take with For Your Eyes Only, is some of the slowness during the second half. In particular, all of the underwater sequences with Havelock's underwater sub, when they try and recover the ATAC. It's a solid ten minute chunk that slows the film down to a crawl, and let's up in a spot that it shouldn't let up at. If that could have been edited down, I would have been thankful.
The other, is the character of Bibi and the weirdness she provides with Bond. At this point, if you haven't noticed Roger Moore's age, then you've been watching the film with both eyes shut. So then we have this encounter where Bibi is naked underneath the blankets and wants Bind to join here. Bond tries to be subtle, "I like you Bibi, but I don't think you're uncle Ari would approve." "Him, he still thinks I'm a virgin." "Yes, well come along, and I'll buy you an ice cream." My question is this, why? Why do they have to make Bond so old, and feel old? It makes it such an awkward viewing experience for everyone. Couldn't they have reworked that scene so some of the weirdness was avoided?
After watching For Your Eyes Only over again, one thing became clear to me as well, Melina is the most underrated Bond girl in the series. Carole Bouquet delivers an excellent performance, conveying the hardship of losing her parents well. I personally just love her eyes, and her long, straight locks. (There's something I quite like about long, black hair...)
Quick. Think of any James Bind villain. I'll give you a second. Got your answer? I assume you didn't think the main villain in this adventure, Aris Kristatos. I'm pretty sure he is the least talked about, and least loved villain in the series. There is a reasonable answer to this by the way, he just isn't at all memorable. There isn't a moment to remember him by. In fact, Locque and Kriegler are much more memorable because of screen time and role in the first part of the film. Except for perhaps that tremendous decision to lift Mr. Big's method for death of Bond and Solitaire in the Live and Let Die, dragging them through the ocean so they are stripped to the bone, Kristatos wasn,t given much to do. (What a great scene that was though.) I just wish there was more to Kristatos.
Columbo, I must say, is probably the most underrated ally in the series as well. He just regales me of those older, foreign allies such as Kerim Bey and Draco from Bonds ago. Plus, he as much interest in catching Kristatos or more than Bond himself. Although, I wish that in the end, Melina got her revenge by her own hand, sort of Domino style, but in any event, the ending was sufficient.
Speaking of the ending, the big exciting climax, is exactly that. The drama as well of Bond scaling the mountain and nearly plunging to his death. To the battle in Kristatos' house, the end really packed a punch, proving that a smaller budget Bind could do it once again.
The Moore-Bond sense of humour that we'd been accustomed to in the past was thankfully toned down and a lot less in your face, than say, Moonraker for instance. Instead, we get some great Moore ruthlessness, (kicking Locque down the mountain,) and some great action scenes. (In fact, upon first viewing this picture, there were times I was dumbfounded by the lack of cheesiness. At certain moments I was sure there was going to the typical stuff, and I almost had to pinch myself when there wasn't.) And when the humour comes, it actually is a little funny. Q fumbling around with the Identigraph, making some mistakes like we're used to seeing whilst watching older folks operating computers and electronics is genuinely funny. Except for the gag at the last minute, with the parrot phoning up Margaret Thatcher, (which isn't that bad actually,) it just doesn't fit the tone of the film and could have easily been left on the cutting room floor. But oh well...
Overall I must say, For Your Eyes Only is certainly a riser on my rankings. But for now it fits very comfortably with the other solid adventures.
Until this point, Eon had made no issue of Bond's age. Indeed, in MR his character is paper thin and cartoonish in all respects and a decision was definitely made by Broccoli, Wilson, Maibaum and/or Glen to improve the handling of their main character in the next movie.
Part of this involved embracing their star's age rather than ignoring it. He's seen mourning a wife who died more than a decade earlier; he puffs and pants during a chase; he spurns a young would-be lover.
Aging is one of FYEO's themes, not too subtly done in the subtext (and again contrast with MR where subtext and themes are concerned) for the three main male characters- eg, Bibi telling Ari he's too old- and this fits neatly with the revenge plot.
Moore/Bond's age is an integral part of this film, and handled far better here than it would be later when it was more of an issue (cue Duran Duran...).
Until this point, Eon had made no issue of Bond's age. Indeed, in MR his character is paper thin and cartoonish in all respects and a decision was definitely made by Broccoli, Wilson, Maibaum and/or Glen to improve the handling of their main character in the next movie.
Part of this involved embracing their star's age rather than ignoring it. He's seen mourning a wife who died more than a decade earlier; he puffs and pants during a chase; he spurns a young would-be lover.
Aging is one of FYEO's themes, not too subtly done in the subtext (and again contrast with MR where subtext and themes are concerned) for the three main male characters- eg, Bibi telling Ari he's too old- and this fits neatly with the revenge plot.
Moore/Bond's age is an integral part of this film, and handled far better here than it would be later when it was more of an issue (cue Duran Duran...).
Very sensible thoughts, Barbel! {[]
I've never seen it that way and it makes me even more appreciating the movie.
I wished that we'd have seen a bit more from Lisl - imo she had a very good chemistry with Moore.
Bond turning down a bedded chick was totally new back then and it was in the pre AIDS age, so it was a kind of stunner.
Bibi was unfortunately played very dumb - I am sure LHJ could have done it much better.
But 3 beautiful ladies in a Bond movie - and I applaud loudly ) and FYEO is my second favorite after OHMSS.
BTW the PTS was rather spectacular back then, it lifted the audiences out of their sets! Remember that these have been done for the big screen and not for Betamax or DVD.
President of the 'Misty Eyes Club'.
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
Sir MilesThe Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 27,754Chief of Staff
Moore's Contract was supposed to end after MR I think, but he stayed on. That's why we see Bonds legs walking through the Graveyard, originally to introduce a new Bond -{
1.On Her Majesties Secret Service 2.The Living Daylights 3.license To Kill 4.The Spy Who Loved Me 5.Goldfinger
Nice reviews as always, Samurai! I’ve come to look forward to reading your write-ups of these films. I’m so glad we still have eleven more after this (twelve if you count that NSNA atrocity).
MR is my least favorite Bond film, and it’s followed immediately by FYEO, which is my favorite. Now, I’m not saying that I think FYEO is “the best” – it’s just my personal favorite, the one I could watch again and again and never get bored with. Something about that film (perhaps the fact that it’s pulled directly from a Fleming story) makes it feel, to me, like the most Fleming-esque film in the entire series. Something about the scaled-down approach, the plot, the double crossing between Kristatos and Colombo, the revenge subplot, the action, the beautiful locations, the strong and lovely leading lady – it’s all just so very Bond. It has some flaws, of course – notably the very existence of Bibi Dahl and that bizarre opener (you’re right, Samurai, that this is the strangest scene in any Bond film) – but overall it’s just terrific. I love For Your Eyes Only, and when I think of James Bond movies, this is the one I think of.
Moonraker, on the other hand...well, the less said about it, the better. Let’s just say that it’s an insult to Fleming’s memory and I’m glad he wasn’t alive to see it.
Not the most coherent, not the most spectacular, and a world away from CR,GF,OHMSS, SF, FRWL etc but somehow the most successful. It gets better with each viewing
I love the plots within plots - they all have motivation to go after Kristatos - Colombo wartime escapades, Brink defecting, Melina her parents murdered. All done within sunny Spain, snowy Italy and the rock formations of the Meteora.
I tend to love Kristatos. You don't need a villain pressing buttons with his henchman.You need a shady crook who has been secretly dealing with the Soviets in the Cold War. He doesn't need to be a showy villain but one who keeps to the shadows. The interaction between him and Colombo is deep and bitter.
You don't need a splashy Blofeld villain. You need a hidden crook
Plus I love Julian Glover, one of the best British stage actors
1. For Your Eyes Only 2. The Living Daylights 3 From Russia with Love 4. Casino Royale 5. OHMSS 6. Skyfall
He's seen mourning a wife who died more than a decade earlier...
But this was really to introduce a 'new' Bond as Roger wasn't for coming back - well, not until his money went up )
All your other points are valid and are good 'spots' -{
I've never seen it that way.
To me, it was a message from the producers:
"Ok, in the last adventure, we went a bit "Star Wars" and we are now coming back to the classic Bond with a nod to his past."
And btw. Sir Roger played that scene so well - I am still getting goosebumps when I see it!
Dalton would have ruined it with some unnecessary tears!
I'd tend to agree actually on why they decided to show Bond at Tracy's gravestone. I too always assumed they were just bringing the character "down-to-earth" so to speak.
Until this point, Eon had made no issue of Bond's age. Indeed, in MR his character is paper thin and cartoonish in all respects and a decision was definitely made by Broccoli, Wilson, Maibaum and/or Glen to improve the handling of their main character in the next movie.
Part of this involved embracing their star's age rather than ignoring it. He's seen mourning a wife who died more than a decade earlier; he puffs and pants during a chase; he spurns a young would-be lover.
Aging is one of FYEO's themes, not too subtly done in the subtext (and again contrast with MR where subtext and themes are concerned) for the three main male characters- eg, Bibi telling Ari he's too old- and this fits neatly with the revenge plot.
Moore/Bond's age is an integral part of this film, and handled far better here than it would be later when it was more of an issue (cue Duran Duran...).
And a question about him turning down a younger woman in this movie. How much older is Melina intended to be than Bibi? I've always thought they were similar looking in age...
Comments
Thanks a lot Hilary! I must agree that is perhaps the lowest point for Roger, it's just not really in him. And a yes, I'm still a young buck
I have tried before - you are making the mistake of many youngsters who did not grow up with the cinema being the only place to watch a decent screenplay.
Tv programme was small and low budget and cinemas had to show big explosions, big stars ott plots and phantastic locations together with some laughs to fill the place.
No way that a 007 vs Scaramanga only story would have brought enough money to finance a 007 movie.
Before 'First Blood', explicit violence was in a very small niche of moviegoers. mainstream wanted over the top funny movies and thaht's why Bond needed to save the world and not his own arse only.
Technology was pretty low back then - no computers - no smart phones, no cgi so even the flying car was a kind of stunner back then and mildly spectacular.
I doubt that the old farts like Barbel, Sir Miles and Blackleiter (who bash the Moore age today) turned away in the cinema with disgust afterTMWTGG.
As for Pepper vacationing in Thailand or not: who cares - he was popular back then ( pc'ness did not even exist) and it looked great - so he was there
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
All I can is you're probably correct. I am seeing this through a 21st century perspective and I understand what you're saying. I do however stand by what I said. I offered what would have been my fix, so I would enjoy it more, it being pheasible or not. I do realize that the producers were in it to make some money and were bound by their audience, but my opinion is unchanged.
I for my part enjoy CR but don't constantly benchmark the older movies with it.
It takes a lot of fun away when you are doing that.
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
The Spy Who Loved Me begins on of the finest pre-title sequences yet. After the hijacking one of England and the Soviet Union's nuclear missiles, we see Bond having to pull out of Austria. After leaving his lady friend behind because England needs him, we see him just casually going for a ski when he is met by a few menacing KGB operatives. The score starts to pound away loudly, the intensity building after he shoots and kills Triple XXX's boyfriend with his ski-pole gun. Quickly it cuts to Bond's position of the mountain, he is quickly running out of space. With seemingly no escape, he just has to slide off and hope for the best. The music picks up, da-dun-da-dun-da, da-dun-da-dun-da, da-dun-da-dun-da rings out. Silence. You can hear the cold, brisk air hitting the mountains. Bond in the yellow ski-suit holds position and is free-falling. How's he going to get out of this one? Farther and farther he falls into the white abyss. He kicks off his skies. And then it flies out like a lifeline in the nick of time. The union jack from his backpack. Bond parachutes to safety and allows the viewer to catch its breath for a moment.
Roger Moore is at his finest during this film. After two sort of so-so performances in the last two films, he seems to really settled into his own character, and out of the shadows of Connery. The production staff also doesn't make him out to be any more than he is, and thankfully it worked to great effect. I think also the trust they put in Moore to spend a lot of money on this picture benefitted him. Live and Let Die and Golden Gun look very cheap compared to this film and the following one.
Moore looks his best at fighting this time too. And while I was laughing at him when he fought the sumo-wrestlers at Hai Fat's place, I'm rooting for him against Jaws in the train. I'm glad that Lewis Gilbert and John Glen decided to use multiple cuts instead of one running shot because it benefits Moore who isn't as physically skilled as a Connery or Lazenby. It makes him look more powerful and I definitely enjoyed it more.
If you thought Moore was sauve and sophisticated in the last two movies, then buckle up, because this is him on steroids. And yet, one again it works. He also starts flashing that smile we all are accustomed to. To me, it shows how much fun he's having playing the part. And his lines aren't as annoying before, sometimes they're even funny! Like at the pod for instance, "any man who drinks Dom Perignon 52' can't be all bad." Or the killer last line, "Keeping the British end up sir." After that line I always imagine the Daltrey scream at the beginning of Won't Get Fooled Again. Again, I'm not a Moore guy, but that's a killer line.
Barbara Bach, (maybe I should have called her Maud Adams just to even it out), isn't that great an actress, plus some of her dialogue just isn't that convincing. For example, when she's tied up into the chair in Stromberg's lair and Bond arrives, she cries "and Stromberg" it comes across so unconvincingly. There are other small moments like that, that detract from my overall experience slightly. But she is very attractive, and who doesn't like seeing her at the end all wet in the pod?
Before I watched The Spy Who Loved Me this latest time, I read a review (can't remember where), that stated that this and You Only Live Twice had very similar plot lines. I hadn't really noticed it up to this point. So with that in the back of my mind, I embarked on the film and surely I found several striking resemblances between the two, which include...
- The film beginning with a major hijacking of an important vessel.
- Villain very similar to Blofeld; does business in a similar way; misdirection
- Deaths by dangerous fish as punishment for wrongdoing
- M out of office and on location (but this is certainly becoming a theme in the Moore years)
- Grandiose villain lair that can be hidden
- Magnet used to get rid of baddies
- Large scale battle with many people at said lair
- Bond recruits previous captives to aid them in escape
- A transportation device that isn't built and needs to be pieced together (Little Nellie)
-Two slower Bond songs
- Bond and his girl escaping in a "pod" at the end where they are found by M and co.
Other than that, they are two entirely different movies. (He said tongue-in-cheek.) But that doesn't mean it's bad, in fact quite the contrary, The Spy Who Loved Me works.
The Bond song performed by Carly Simon, is all-time great. A beautiful slow song that is pulled off brillantly, it also gets stuck in my head. And there I'll be humming it around the house, or singing it the shower or whatever. It's just a good song.
An added element to this movie which again works, is the competition between Triple XXX and Bond. On of the best parts of the film is at the ruins with Jaws trying to recover the microfilm. Bond acting all too cool while Jaws is tearing the van apart and Anya is fumbling with the keys. ("Women drivers.") Plus later on when they are both with their superiors, each of them trying to one-up the other with their knowledge and skill-sets. It's unique and done well in that regard.
The biggest reason I enjoy The Spy Who Loved Me so much is because of the Spectre-ish feel it has throughout. With the aforementioned pre-title sequence, I got the sense from very early on that something diabolically evil was happening, coupled with an activity that we sort of link with Spectre, (skiing) and the great music in the background, it just set the tone for a great movie experience.
Stromberg I find to be too Donald Pleasance and not enough Telly Savales if you catch my drift. I would have also enjoyed a Goldfinger-esque rant where he just loses his corn, and describes why the human race is awful and the ocean is wonderful, but that wasn't in the cards. Maybe you can tell I enjoy the more raving mad villains, than the cool and calm ones, ie Pleasance's Blofeld, Stromberg, Drax... They're not my jam.
But Stromberg is clearly a lift from Blofeld. (I read that Cubby Broccoli wanted to use Blofeld and Spectre, but for legal purposes, couldn't. But then again, they basically did.) He even does the oldest Blofeld trick in the book, make the one person really nervous and think you're going to kill him, then kill the other. He does that here with the secretary, then goes on and bombs the two businessmen in the helicopter afterwards. Classic Blofeld.
The filmmakers did come up with a character all their own though. Jaws, a seven-foot psychopath with metal teeth is a henchmen they can't miss with. Jaws must have been chomping at the bit for some action. (Pun definitely intended.) He's a menacing individual. The fight on the train is pretty good, a little too reminiscent of another famous Bond moment, but still pretty good nonetheless. And the chase scene with the Lotus is highly entertainingly as well. A nice added touch with the underwater element. (Although when they first plunge into the water, Triple XXX looks clearly confused and scared, then later on tells us that she had first seen the plans for the vehicle years ago. Kind of strange...) It was interesting as the attack came in layers, first the motorcyclist, then Jaws in the car, then the helicopter. Even the divers afterwards. Stromberg wasn't playing around.
The final battle is just as spectacular. The magnitude of the fight is so interesting as well, it's as if you're watching something out of war epic many moons ago. Coupled with the delicious bit of drama when Bond nearly kills everyone with the nuclear missile because he's had one cup of coffee too many, and that sequence is right up in the closing action scene ranks.
Bond quickly builds his Wet Nellie and races over to Stromberg's lair to rescue Anya. Stromberg invites Bond in and assumes he's going to fall for the elevator trick. But, come on, does Stromberg take Bond for an idiot? Bond drops in, avoids Stromberg's last gasp, and ruthlessly shoots at least four times. (I think it's four.) This bit of new Moore ruthlessness is something else I enjoy, that moment along with him allowing Sandor to fall off the building is right alongside it too.
The 10th outing for James Bond was again billed as "The Biggest Bond of them all." And after, what I would call, two sub-par adventures, they had a hit with The Spy Who Loved Me. Roger Moore was out of my dog-house after this one.
8/10
I completely agree with your review of this bottom-of-the-barrel effort. One can only hope is that your macaroni and cheese meal was at least as cheesy as this lackluster Bond movie!
Besides of this i can fullheartedly agree with everything said, I am putting my BluRay on tonight
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
Yes it was sufficiently cheesy.
Watched anything to do with it, even got up early Saturday
mornings to watch the Open Univesity's media course as it was
about the making of it.
I believe there are two factions of Bond fans. Those who like Moonraker, and those who really don't like Moonraker. It seems to be the most polarizing Bond adventure that ever existed. Supporters are generally those who are Moore fans, or folks who enjoy the wacky, or more over the top. They have come to enjoy much of the humour envoked in this new run of Bonds, coupled with the quiet, reserved villains and take-over-the-world schemes. And while Moore was making me believe for a while in The Spy Who Loved Me, it isn't happening here. Moonraker is just awful.
It's not Moore's fault though, he is what he is now, his performance I believe similar to that of his last film. But a lot of what is happening around him just stinks on toast as far I'm concerned. There are moments that I think even he couldn't believe this was really happening.
The film starts actually really well though. This PTS is as visually stunning as ever before as Bond free falls from the airplane after Jaws turns up out of nowhere and ejects him. Queue up the Bond theme, and Bond is in a race to get to a parachute on the back of the guy he just ejected. It's such a cool scene because you feel like you're falling alongside them. I don't know about you, but this PTS really hit the nail on the head of what the sequence was made for, minus Jaws trying to fly like a bird and Jaws in general.
But then things start to get really cartoonish and over the top from there on out. Shirley Bassey's back to perform the Bind song, but quite honestly, the song isn't that good. But maybe my memories of Goldfinger and Diamonds cloud my judgement.
The main plot of the story involves the hijacking of the Moonraker, a shuttle on loan to the British government. Bond travels to the manufacturers home, a man named Hugo Drax, to investigate.
We then are taken by helicopter to Drax's palace. Drax is....very dry. Michael Lonsdale does an all right job, especially for what he was given. Drax is just a boring character in my estimation. I would like to see why he has his deep rooted believes, and basically just a bit of character development. On the whole, I don't like these sorts of villains. The rich types, sort of weak and wimpy physically. They're not my jam. And Drax is no exception.
Bond is taken to meet Dr. Goodhead, (a lady), played by Lois Chiles. Quick question, is Holly Goodhead the worst Bond girl ever? She's definitely right there. Chiles acting is just terrible. Terriawful. Her dialogue is just... Like after Bond goes through the spinny thing, she jogs in, "I don't know what could have happened. Something must have gone wrong with the controls." And Roger is about ready to crawl out of his skin. Cringe-worthy. (The first of a few anyway.) Even later on in Venice Goodhead does something else that just irks me. (Good to see also that Goodhead raided Marilyn Monroe's wardrobe for this scene.) In the hotel room Bond goes through her gagdetry, and arrives at her flame-throwing fragrance. *Camera shoots to her face* She does this shrug thing with a smirk. Has always bugged me. Or (starting to become a tangent), but even on the gondola, "Hang on James!" Yeah, there are more examples, but yes you get the gist. She can't deliver a line to save her life.
Flip back now to Bond's first rouse, the pilot Corrine. It's you're typical Bond to lady flirting. Although there is this curious question about her list. Bond says something to the effect of, "What about your mother's list?" "I never learned to read." What?! You're an illiterate pilot. How does that even make sense? Obviously the line is mean to be taken seriously, but still you don't really joke about not being able to read, but whatever...
Two action scenes follow which are just so-so. Although the ruthlessness of the beasts ravaging Corrine's body, is the equivalent of Drax flexing his muscles. It's interesting. But, then after a no nonsense approach to that killing, he chooses some extravagant deaths for Bond. I don't really get that aspect. Such as the latest boat chase. Isn't it happenstance that Bond is even on the boat into he first place? So either Drax is very much in touch with Bond's moment to moment activities, or Drax has those people in the boat circle all the time, just in case.
The next part is pure Moore cheese. The boat grows wheels and Bond drives around Venice all causal. This is basically a direct lift from The Spy Who Loved Me as they drive onto the beach. They even have the same guy looking at the wine bottle, blaming the alcohol. If you chuckled at the gag the first time like I might have, you didn't this time, especially with the pigeon doing a double-take. Cringe.
After Bond finds out that things are starting to get a little screwy from Drax's end, with the nerve gas and all, he's meet by buddy in the robes who nearly killed him before. It's a pretty good scrap, but it also seems like obligatory if you're going to have a character falling that you must show what is going on in that setting before said fall occurs. That little cut away just tips you off that it's going to end very soon, and draws you unnecessarily away, from like I mentioned before, a pretty good scrap.
Now here's another little problem I have with Moonraker. The return of Jaws. Maybe not the return, but how they use him here, is not how I would have liked to see him used. In The Spy Who Loved Me you're frightened of him because he's a seven foot psychopath with metal teeth. And they display him in that light. The fight in the train, in Cairo, etc. Here, he's just a punch line. A baffoon basically. The gondola scene is a prime example. Sure he bites the rope in two, (for a character that has metal teeth, perfectly plausible), but then there's this shot of him swinging his way to the nearest gondola, which is a little out there. So then they meet up and are face-to-face. Jaws clears the distance from a standing start, (using the force I presume), and they start to battle. But it's almost when writing the character, the filmmakers want to bake their cake and eat it too. We've gathered that Jaws is strong, but a punch and a kick and he's down. They drop him into the cable car, where he falls like a bag of hammers, and he gets up like nothing happened. And then punches through the ceiling. I can't wrap my head around that one. He can't be not that strong one minute, than devastingly strong the next. Right? (Also, a word about Bond and Goodheads escape. They slide the zip line with the chain. Wouldn't they be sliding down that thing like a bat out of hell? It doesn't seem like they are moving that quick. Am I on to something there, or should I make it relax?) Jaws then, who in turn is moving pretty quick, destroys the gondola place, and is once again unharmed. The music builds up and a french-braided blonde comes to rescue Jaws, and she is just smitten with love. (Who wouldn't be?) And they go on to live happily ever after.
Jaws is next seen in the second boat chase into the picture. The shot they use of him during the chase just again, makes me cringe. (Does he have to wear white shirts?) The rear-screen projection, and the stupid smile. Jaws continues to be awful with the firearms missing Bond on several occasions, before Bond notices the waterfall up ahead. He has a hang glider. Jaws doesn't. Figure it out. Before Jaws falls they quickly zoom in on his face and it is eerily similar to one I once saw Scooby from Scooby Doo use when caught by Old Man Jenkins. It's so ridiculous. But, he survives...
Bond finds Drax's lair, nearly gets killed by a humongous snake, before Jaws once again arrives. We finally get what Drax is really jiving at. But then again, not really. I want to really know why he's decided to kill everyone on earth and start over. He doesn't really explain. I wanted a Hitlerian rant of a raving lunatic, but then again, that's not how they wrote the character, so we don't get that bit.
And then I arrive at the my second main problem with Moonraker. The plot, but mainly the last forty minutes, just seems like a blatant attempt to cash in on the recent success of Star Wars. The laser gun battle sequence. Really?!! Watching it now and I feel like it was a deleted scene from Episode IV. And Jaws turns good too, but considering the film as a whole, ain't that far out there. (It's quote funny how everyone is wearing the yellow jump-suits, but Jaws is still rocking the white shirt with suspenders.) I'm sure Jaws has someone left on Earth he doesn't want to see killed. And he isn't going to survive anyway so... (I always found it funny too how Jaws' lady came along with him, perfectly willing to abandon any life she had before, willing to have her family killed, to go along with charade.)
But I think this was a microcosm of the James Bond films in the 1970s. The films tried to catch up on film trends; Live and Let Die (blaxploitation), The Man With The Golden Gun (the scene at the martial arts camp), and now this one. That's what separates the two decades at this point, 60s Bond were trend-setters, 70s Bond rode the wave of other trends. I know that James Bond hype waned in the later half of the decade and so interest was low, but it's my main reason for liking those 60s adventures more than the ones from the 70s.
Oh and before I start my conclusion. That absolutely killer line by Q when all of Bonds superiors are watching him bed Goodhead makes the film worth watching. "Bond what are you doing?" "I think he's attempting re-entry, sir." (Queue up Daltrey scream from Won't Get Fooled Again.) Killer line. But...we needed another line, because if there was one thing Moonraker needed, was more attempted humour. And that line removed the smirk I had on and put my mouth back into the cringe. Although it is the most convincing bit of dialogue Lois Chiles had uttered in the film.
Moonraker is a beautifully looking film. And you can definitely tell the filmmakers put a lot of money into it. (More than the first six pictures combined or something to that tune.) But it's too self-indulgent and it's like they were given carte-blanche to make any kind of movie they pleased. Which essentially allowed them to justify the amount of cheesiness. It's not my cup of tea, (at times it's like The Man With the Golden Gun on steroids). So I don't visit this film often and don't plan re-watching it in the immediate future either.
3/10
SiFi. Older now and it's not so much a favourite.
Totally agree it looks fantastic ( one of the best looking Bonds)
Death of Corrine, very " The Omen"
Was a simple throw away line. Lois Chiles is very Wooden
Drax is very under written, we never get the scene when he explains his need
To rebuild the world in his image, his passion for his plan.
Never thought much of the fight in the glass factory, always found it slow and
Find the gondola boat chase, frankly boring.
I also hate what they did with Jaws, he should have stayed a " Psycho Killer "
Although I do love the space special effects ( done " Old School ") {[] , I remember
Reading Industrial Light & Magic were contacted but wanted a percentage, which
Wasn't going to happen.
Even with it's faults, when I'm in the right mood and it's on TV , I'll happily sit
Down and watch it.
That says it all for me!
Review
( Although one of the shortest reviews was by Leonard Maltin on the film
"Isn’t it Romantic" to which he wrote " NO!" )
One of the main reasons this summer I wished to re-watch all of the James Bind adventures, was to see how they fit. How I felt about each particular movie. How they compared to each other. Which films were better than others. I was always curious about how my rankings would look. What would be my top 23. For Your Eyes Only is a perfect example.
I always knew that I liked the film. But I wasn't sure how it stacked up in my eyes to any of the Connery films, or the later ones. So, after not seeing this one for a while, I decided it needed a fresh look from fresh eyes. And I must say, For Your Eyes Only makes a solid case, for the best Moore Bond picture.
After Moonraker, this movie gives you sense that the filmmakers were going to try and go back-to-basics, tone down the humour and large budgets, for a more focused plot with interesting characters. And to its credit, it is the one Moore film with the least amount of forced, screwball comedy, and the most Fleming-esque tone throughout.
With all that being said, they really make you question liking it with some for the things they pull at the beginning. The pre title sequence is probably the weirdest thing in all of Bond. They purposely tried to branch away from Bond's marriage in the past, but here, out of nowhere, Blofeld just shows up. On a rooftop, in the wheelchair, playing with this remote control, which forces the helicopter into contortions he so chooses, Blofeld has Bond essentially trapped. But in typical Blofeld fashion, he squanders another great chance at ousting his arch-enemy. Instead he decides to giggle at every word that dribbles out of his mouth, and doesn't realize that Bond is actually helping his situation a great deal. Bond then takes control of the 'copter, picks up Blofeld by the wheel axis, and drops him down a large chimney. But not before offering Bond "a delicatessen in stainless steel." And as tempted as Bond surely was, he made the right choice. Can we just say that that is the weirdest scene in a Bond film?
Also, the title sequence is just cheesy. The song is just blah, and we can see Sheena Easton. The imagery just makes it feel like a cheap music video. Roger at this point, needed a much more uptempo song, but he'd have to wait for Duran Duran for that.
Call me crazy, but the chase scene that swings the film into gear is one of the best in the series. Bond and Melina meet after she kills her parents assassin, thus allowing Bond to escape. Together they depart in what appears to be a Volkswagen Beetle, and begin a rather thrilling and entertaining chase. It's rather well done, and the scenery looks quite pretty as well. And I've always enjoyed this "Bond, James Bond," introduction more than any of Roger's others.
This scene just begins treating us to a really good first hour of Bond. The snowy, white atmosphere and all of the activities around them gives it almost a Winter Olympics feel that is very neat. But, it's one thing to show the sports, and another to actually encorporate them into the story and the filmmakers did a good job of that. We get to see Bibi (I'll discuss her later...) doing her figure skating, Kriegler performing in the biathlon, and the hockey players starting to rough it up with Bond. (I particularly enjoyed that one.) But the best is the big chase when Kriegler breaks away on his skies, and we get to see Bond try and elude him. It takes you into a luge track, and Bond taking off on the ski-jump. With all these other people doing activities, all seemingly in close proximity, it's almost as if you're in the Olympic village with them.
One of the issues I do take with For Your Eyes Only, is some of the slowness during the second half. In particular, all of the underwater sequences with Havelock's underwater sub, when they try and recover the ATAC. It's a solid ten minute chunk that slows the film down to a crawl, and let's up in a spot that it shouldn't let up at. If that could have been edited down, I would have been thankful.
The other, is the character of Bibi and the weirdness she provides with Bond. At this point, if you haven't noticed Roger Moore's age, then you've been watching the film with both eyes shut. So then we have this encounter where Bibi is naked underneath the blankets and wants Bind to join here. Bond tries to be subtle, "I like you Bibi, but I don't think you're uncle Ari would approve." "Him, he still thinks I'm a virgin." "Yes, well come along, and I'll buy you an ice cream." My question is this, why? Why do they have to make Bond so old, and feel old? It makes it such an awkward viewing experience for everyone. Couldn't they have reworked that scene so some of the weirdness was avoided?
After watching For Your Eyes Only over again, one thing became clear to me as well, Melina is the most underrated Bond girl in the series. Carole Bouquet delivers an excellent performance, conveying the hardship of losing her parents well. I personally just love her eyes, and her long, straight locks. (There's something I quite like about long, black hair...)
Quick. Think of any James Bind villain. I'll give you a second. Got your answer? I assume you didn't think the main villain in this adventure, Aris Kristatos. I'm pretty sure he is the least talked about, and least loved villain in the series. There is a reasonable answer to this by the way, he just isn't at all memorable. There isn't a moment to remember him by. In fact, Locque and Kriegler are much more memorable because of screen time and role in the first part of the film. Except for perhaps that tremendous decision to lift Mr. Big's method for death of Bond and Solitaire in the Live and Let Die, dragging them through the ocean so they are stripped to the bone, Kristatos wasn,t given much to do. (What a great scene that was though.) I just wish there was more to Kristatos.
Columbo, I must say, is probably the most underrated ally in the series as well. He just regales me of those older, foreign allies such as Kerim Bey and Draco from Bonds ago. Plus, he as much interest in catching Kristatos or more than Bond himself. Although, I wish that in the end, Melina got her revenge by her own hand, sort of Domino style, but in any event, the ending was sufficient.
Speaking of the ending, the big exciting climax, is exactly that. The drama as well of Bond scaling the mountain and nearly plunging to his death. To the battle in Kristatos' house, the end really packed a punch, proving that a smaller budget Bind could do it once again.
The Moore-Bond sense of humour that we'd been accustomed to in the past was thankfully toned down and a lot less in your face, than say, Moonraker for instance. Instead, we get some great Moore ruthlessness, (kicking Locque down the mountain,) and some great action scenes. (In fact, upon first viewing this picture, there were times I was dumbfounded by the lack of cheesiness. At certain moments I was sure there was going to the typical stuff, and I almost had to pinch myself when there wasn't.) And when the humour comes, it actually is a little funny. Q fumbling around with the Identigraph, making some mistakes like we're used to seeing whilst watching older folks operating computers and electronics is genuinely funny. Except for the gag at the last minute, with the parrot phoning up Margaret Thatcher, (which isn't that bad actually,) it just doesn't fit the tone of the film and could have easily been left on the cutting room floor. But oh well...
Overall I must say, For Your Eyes Only is certainly a riser on my rankings. But for now it fits very comfortably with the other solid adventures.
7/10
And that's precisely why FYEO is my favorite Roger Moore Bond film.
Until this point, Eon had made no issue of Bond's age. Indeed, in MR his character is paper thin and cartoonish in all respects and a decision was definitely made by Broccoli, Wilson, Maibaum and/or Glen to improve the handling of their main character in the next movie.
Part of this involved embracing their star's age rather than ignoring it. He's seen mourning a wife who died more than a decade earlier; he puffs and pants during a chase; he spurns a young would-be lover.
Aging is one of FYEO's themes, not too subtly done in the subtext (and again contrast with MR where subtext and themes are concerned) for the three main male characters- eg, Bibi telling Ari he's too old- and this fits neatly with the revenge plot.
Moore/Bond's age is an integral part of this film, and handled far better here than it would be later when it was more of an issue (cue Duran Duran...).
Very sensible thoughts, Barbel! {[]
I've never seen it that way and it makes me even more appreciating the movie.
I wished that we'd have seen a bit more from Lisl - imo she had a very good chemistry with Moore.
Bond turning down a bedded chick was totally new back then and it was in the pre AIDS age, so it was a kind of stunner.
Bibi was unfortunately played very dumb - I am sure LHJ could have done it much better.
But 3 beautiful ladies in a Bond movie - and I applaud loudly
BTW the PTS was rather spectacular back then, it lifted the audiences out of their sets! Remember that these have been done for the big screen and not for Betamax or DVD.
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
But this was really to introduce a 'new' Bond as Roger wasn't for coming back - well, not until his money went up
All your other points are valid and are good 'spots' -{
I've never seen it that way.
To me, it was a message from the producers:
"Ok, in the last adventure, we went a bit "Star Wars" and we are now coming back to the classic Bond with a nod to his past."
And btw. Sir Roger played that scene so well - I am still getting goosebumps when I see it!
Dalton would have ruined it with some unnecessary tears!
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
I've just retrieved a nice analogy and - of course can't resist to throw that insult
When Acacia Avenue was a teenager they haven't received planning permission to build Stonehenge
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
That famous poster for FYEO.
MR is my least favorite Bond film, and it’s followed immediately by FYEO, which is my favorite. Now, I’m not saying that I think FYEO is “the best” – it’s just my personal favorite, the one I could watch again and again and never get bored with. Something about that film (perhaps the fact that it’s pulled directly from a Fleming story) makes it feel, to me, like the most Fleming-esque film in the entire series. Something about the scaled-down approach, the plot, the double crossing between Kristatos and Colombo, the revenge subplot, the action, the beautiful locations, the strong and lovely leading lady – it’s all just so very Bond. It has some flaws, of course – notably the very existence of Bibi Dahl and that bizarre opener (you’re right, Samurai, that this is the strangest scene in any Bond film) – but overall it’s just terrific. I love For Your Eyes Only, and when I think of James Bond movies, this is the one I think of.
Moonraker, on the other hand...well, the less said about it, the better. Let’s just say that it’s an insult to Fleming’s memory and I’m glad he wasn’t alive to see it.
Not the most coherent, not the most spectacular, and a world away from CR,GF,OHMSS, SF, FRWL etc but somehow the most successful. It gets better with each viewing
I love the plots within plots - they all have motivation to go after Kristatos - Colombo wartime escapades, Brink defecting, Melina her parents murdered. All done within sunny Spain, snowy Italy and the rock formations of the Meteora.
I tend to love Kristatos. You don't need a villain pressing buttons with his henchman.You need a shady crook who has been secretly dealing with the Soviets in the Cold War. He doesn't need to be a showy villain but one who keeps to the shadows. The interaction between him and Colombo is deep and bitter.
You don't need a splashy Blofeld villain. You need a hidden crook
Plus I love Julian Glover, one of the best British stage actors
I'd tend to agree actually on why they decided to show Bond at Tracy's gravestone. I too always assumed they were just bringing the character "down-to-earth" so to speak.
And a question about him turning down a younger woman in this movie. How much older is Melina intended to be than Bibi? I've always thought they were similar looking in age...