Skyfall - generation gap
Wickensbrew
Posts: 17MI6 Agent
In many of the critiques of Skyfall that I've seen on this site, many fans felt that the final act at Bond's home was derivative of "Home Alone." This is completely understandable
But...
I would posit that it actually owes more to a late season episode of the old I Spy tv series from the sixties. The episode is called "Home To Judgement." and it may be available to view on youtube - not sure. In any event it is perhaps the best episode of that particular series and made the career of the director Richard Sarafian who later went on to direct "Vanishing Point' and "Man in the wilderness."
I know on one hand it may be small beer - a trivial matter at best - but if you can access the "Home To Judgment" I would urge you to do so.
But...
I would posit that it actually owes more to a late season episode of the old I Spy tv series from the sixties. The episode is called "Home To Judgement." and it may be available to view on youtube - not sure. In any event it is perhaps the best episode of that particular series and made the career of the director Richard Sarafian who later went on to direct "Vanishing Point' and "Man in the wilderness."
I know on one hand it may be small beer - a trivial matter at best - but if you can access the "Home To Judgment" I would urge you to do so.
Comments
The drive through the woods to the lodge, is an homage to " The Shining"
And the final show down, I think was a nod to " Straw Dogs" ?
Either way I think that last half hour of the film is fantastic. -{
I was reminded of "The Shining" as well - I think it was partly the music and the scenery, of course. Good point about Straw Dogs too
From the first season (I think) in which Robert McCall has to defend
himself in a cabin from a gang of thugs. Using homemade weapons and
Explosives, that he made from the everyday objects and chemicals he
Found in the kitchen.
There have and will always be duplications of plots and scenes in films, but most of the time it's apples vs oranges. One can say that the third act in SF was derived from Home Alone or Straw Dogs or many other plots of films or literature. Many may have disliked it (I'm not one) just because the trapped characters used home made traps to trip up the intruders in both films, but this is no reason to use this comparison. This plot device has been used many times in fiction and like any other plot the importance is not as much as how it's done but the circumstances in which why it has to be done. Home Alone was a comedy and the scenes were done purely for a comic/cartoon effect. SF is an action/thriller and the scenes were done to reveal many layers of the plot: Bond's history and how it affected his adult character; his whole attitude about his childhood and the trauma in relation to his years spent there before his parent's death; his realtionship with Kincaid; his resourcefulness as a veteran agent using his skills to outmaneuver his enemies (though not without consequences), etc.
Many have also compared the rebooted Craig films to the rebooted Batman films. However, I always point out that though Batman was created before Bond, I doubt if Fleming used Bruce Wayne's history in order to come up with Bond's. Wayne's parents were murdered which set him on a lifelong course of avenging criminals -Bond's parents died while mountain climbing, an accident that made him an orphan who had to be cared for by his aunt until he was sent off to Eton. Hardly the same background story. Wayne's surrogant adult figure was Alfred.
Bond's was not Kincade - his aunt took over raising him.
Many can come up with comparisons in all films and in some cases they are blatant duplications of other plots or plot devices, but in instances like this they are very thin and weak IMO. It's just done because it's easy to do given the endless amount of fiction that exists in our popular culture.
I second this! {[]
As a long time professional screenwriter I am more than aware of the issues you raise. I was not trying to make an obvious comparison so much as introducing younger members to much of what has gone on before. In this particular case, the similarities are striking. The late actor Robert Culp wrote the script and the first act was a homage of sorts to the film "The Defiant Ones" while the siege of the third act ids, I believe, the first time many off these "home alonish" inventions were used.
Check it out.
Regards,
Wickensbrew
Even High Noon? In that they are all basically about all the odds being in
The villain's favour. Yet our plucky hero wins through in the end ?
Ideas for stories, and everything is either a combination or variant
Of those basic ideas.
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
As opposed to?
Scenes with Bond and M.
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
True, but this argument just leads to another widely criticized point about Skyfall: Why did Bond think it would improve his odds to take M to his isolated house in the countryside with very few weapons? That's like the exact opposite of what he should have done.
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
Okay. But explicitly expressed via dialogue in the film. ("Do we still have a gun room?" "Ah...they sold the lot to a collector from Idaho or some such place.") I was just answering the question.
Now, yes, it would have made more sense if there was some type of MI6 weapons cache somewhere en route he could have made use of or if someone from Q Branch could have intercepted him during the long journey and provided him with more firepower. However, I cant see why MI6 would have any type of munitions stored in places around England or Scotland, and if Q tried to order up a courier to intercept Bond to further kit him out Silva probably would have found out about it.
Instead, they let Silva believe Bond was taking M away on his own without any authorization and so was totally alone and without backup. Was this a great plan?
Not really, but it was the only thing Bond could come with on the fly. Wouldn't he have known there would be no weapons at SF? Perhaps, or perhaps he was hoping they had not been all sold. Again, he also had the Astons armorment along with his own and I still believe he thought he would only be up against Silva and a couple of goons. Silva showing up with a platoon of men and a heavily armed helicopter threw a big wrench into his small plan. Only his ability to quickly adapt to a fluid situation and keep changing the odds are what often saves him, though not without costs (losing his car, home and M).
As silly and improbable this may seem, for me it's what makes Craig's Bond more human and real. In the past there were sacrifical characters but usually it was through their own fault and not Bond's they died but in the end he always won unscathed and in the arms of a woman. Fun on the surface but more on the cartoon level. I say cartoon because in cartoons the hero usually has little or no sacrifices. In comics (such as Batman, Spiderman, Avengers, etc) the heroes suffer personal tragedy and do make sacrifices. Craig's Bond now makes mistakes and gets injured and loses people close to him. It makes him more real and more interesting as a fictional character to me.
Big thumbs up to this! {[]