OHMSS. It was my first time watching it and had no expectations. While Lazenby's performance wasn't great, the movie itself was fantastic. Honestly, my second favorite Bond film after Casino Royale.
Great to hear and of course you had your own OHMSS moment before!
From the episode: Swiss Miss
That episode is top 5 for sure.
Right up there with Killing Utne and the one with Savio Masscalzone.
During the last years that film has made quite a career in my ranking. Nowadays I rank it No 16 but it really is a tie with my No 15 MR.
DAF is the Bond film I have watched most since 2014. Five times alone since the beginning of 2016.
My opinion about the Connery era may be outside the norm anyway. I consider DN and GF (and OHMSS) the crowning achievement of 60s cinema, especially when it comes to Bond.
FRWL, at the moment is just outside the upper half of my ranking at No 13. It has been in the Top 10 every now and then.
I much prefer to watch DAF though. And TB will always come last in my Connery ranking.
John Barry's score helps the film quite a lot, especially in the scenes that are not that great like the end-game on/above the oil rig.
Jill St. John's Tiffany Case, is and will forever be my favourite Bond girl. THIS may be my favourite image in all of Bond.
Every little thing she is almost wearing in DAF is a work of art fashion wise, her hairdo is always perfect. I approve.
Everything up to arriving in Las Vegas is actually quite perfect imho. Mr. Wint & Mr. Kidd are my favourite henchmen. I do love other henchmen as well, almost as much, Stamper, Xenia, Necros, MayDay...just to name a few. But that duo in DAF is the cream on the cherry.
I have such a gay time with them :P whenever I watch DAF. Bruce Glover's performance is simply priceless, fabulous and such fine comedic acting!
Honestly, this warms my heart and other things every time I see it )
The plot may be silly, the film may be silly, but the dialogue in DAF belongs to the most witty, most memorable and most funny in the series.
Amsterdam is fantastic from start to finish and naturally, the lift fight is my favourite in the series! Yes you heard that right... https://youtu.be/jpffY6ZRfZk
So there is a lot in DAF that I have on top of my different rankings. Henchmen, score, Bond girl, fight...
I never had a problem with Charles Grey as Blofeld, in fact I find him rather fitting and amusing, even when cross-dressing :P
I even don't mind her! Lana Wood as "Hi, I'm Plenty!" But, of course you are...
I'm afraid DAF catches me with more than my hands up, whenever I watch it
...and to think that the literary Tiffany Case was a blonde and a better character than Vesper, literary, of course.
DAF is a guilty pleasure of mine and even if the plot isn't all that great, it has things that would never happen in a modern Bond movie.
Exhibit A, the moon buggy chase.
Exhibit B, the diamond laser...from space. (No, DAD doesn't count)
It's silly fun throughout and Mr Wint and Mr Kidd are too my favourite henchmen, second only to Red Grant, Oddjob, May Day and Jaws but Gray as Blofeld stinks. Pity how they had the Blofeld character figured out and they ruined it by having him return in Diamonds.
It should of had Serafinno Spang as the villain, as it originally was.
Totally agree. DAF to me is the funniest film of the series. Always have a good time watching it.
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I'm going to join the DAF is hilarious club. I may have hated it if I had watched it when it came out but it's too funny for all the right and wrong reasons.
I'm going to join the DAF is hilarious club. I may have hated it if I had watched it when it came out but it's too funny for all the right and wrong reasons.
It was the first Bond I ever saw, in the cinema when I was seven, and I was hooked - I have a feeling you'd still have loved it if you saw it first, Sterling Archer.
It's an odd little film. Perhaps the coldest of the Bond films, though Golden Gun gives it a run for its money. Connery's Bond doesn't come across as particularly likeable. The film appears to be an in joke to the audience, showing how a leading man can also be a bit nasty, like the Flashman series would do.
A big shout-out to Benny of the Mi6 community who notices some decades after that when Bond visits Strangways house, the three blind assassins are lurking in the background. You can see the thread, with accompanying picture, here:
Showed the dinner scene from Dr. No and the laser torture scene from Goldfinger in class the other night. Before that, Tomorrow Never Dies was on TV, and I caught the last quarter or so. It's still the best of the Brosnan Bonds to me.
Generally, one of my faves, but it does seem to me that Rog is already very old in the role, whereas I always had it that he started to age around FYEO. He looks particularly leathery chatting up Lois Chiles in Venice.
Though Jaws returns, he looks little like his former self. He doesn't have the double breasted suit and looks a lot less menacing, I assume that's deliberate. Still, it is still him and saves MR looking like a sequel.
Bond B-movie tarted up by a new soundtrack culled from the official EON series, with cues from John Barry but also Marvin Hamlisch, George Martin, David Arnold et al, nothing from the Craig era however, as this fan bootleg preceded it - shame as maybe Craig's stuff would have fitted this Connery swan song.
Removing the old soundtrack strips the film of any character or integrity it originally had - no bad thing in itself! It does however add interest and the fan, known as Blofeld's Cat, also edits the film so it moves along faster. Consequently, Barbara Carrera's performance, which I'd always found irritating, works well against the more flamboyant score while K Maria Brandauer seems less dynamic and impressive, oddly. Connery seems the same, maybe even worse, it's just not Connery's Bond imo, he has nothing of the balls, brio or bravado of the old films, he just seems wan and knackered out.
Highlights include the hijacking of the bomb, to the OHMSS cue of the office-safe-cracking scene, the bike chase to Bond 77 from TSWLM, also stuff from Dr No in the Nassau scenes. Sometimes the fan should realise that less is more, he could do with repeating a previous cue later in the film rather than digging up a new one.
Time always adds a new perspective, and while Max Von Sydow was not given the chance to be an impressive Blofeld, who do I find he now reminds me of?
Oh! Jeremy Corbyn!
In newly confident, post-election mode... "It seems to me a choice is available to you... to go into partnership with the DUP or allow us to form a Government." Wouldn't work though, we all know Jezza is against nuclear power!
Perhaps Blofeld could appropriate his chant: 'Oh, Ernst-Stavro-Blo-feld!' to the tune of Seven Nation Army. Which does sound a bit like Barry's OHMSS, come to think of it.
Mind you, as Blofeld/Corbyn's steel haired, knackered out nemesis, Connery has been superseded by Teresa May.
I suppose this film does somehow now fit the Craig era, you could even imagine that this is Craig's Bond a few years down the line - not many! and his stepbrother Blofeld from Spectre, as physically there is a resemblance on both sides.
Not much of a Bond film even with the new score, I do find it a moderately enjoyable watch and indeed have seen this version three times over the last few years, which is more than I've seen the original over three decades. Still, parts of the film really are crap, including the silly Shrublands fight, a chase around the houses affair as one critic had it.
You can find it here, I should point out that the version I saw preceded the Blu-Ray and is not superb picture quality; it's okay though.
Showed the dinner scene from Dr. No and the laser torture scene from Goldfinger in class the other night. Before that, Tomorrow Never Dies was on TV, and I caught the last quarter or so. It's still the best of the Brosnan Bonds to me.
What was their reaction?
Also, why did you show it?
Watched most of Octopussy yesterday. Someone else has probably said this already, but the pre-credits scene with the Acrojet is so good it's really wasted in a pre-credits scene - how much more impact would it have had if the writers had found a way to incorporate it into the main body of the film. An extended version of the night-time chase with 009 carrying the faberge egg and crashing into the ambassador's residence might have made a good pre-credits sequence, if a Bondless pre-credits scene was acceptable.
Also, once the silliness of the Indian scenes is out of the way, the East German scenes are really impressive - they really went all out with the stunts on Octopussy and manage to create a surprising amount of tension even among such absurdities as Bond in a gorilla suit and a clown outfit.
Saw OP yesterday (after LTK, the ultimate in summer Bond films).
Then again I'm on a Moore bender, counting all of his eyebrow raises ...
The East German scenes were very interesting seeing such a symbol of that time in a Bond film. One of my favourite sequences in any Bond must be Bond trying to find and disarm the bomb. Yes, it had already happened in Spy in a way but the tension is real.
Barry's soundtrack doesn't really stand out but there are some very good pieces there (love the use of All Time High).
I would've been very happy had it been Roger's last Bond film.
Caught FRWL on T.V. Didn't know it was on and I have it on all formats bar Laser Disc. It was still an unexpected thrill to stumble across it. Still dukes it out with OHMSS for my top spot. On balance FRWL probably comes out on top. It really is superb, possibly perfect.
Of that of which we cannot speak we must pass over in silence- Ludwig Wittgenstein.
I also watched OP yesterday and when you consider it released the same year as Never Say Never Again, you can see why it grossed the most. Bond is about the whole package not just the actor playing him. Have to say though I do feel Sir Roger should have probably stopped there as he was starting to show his age a little.
Cheers :007)
My name is Bond, Basildon Bond - I have letters after my name!
I also watched OP yesterday and when you consider it released the same year as Never Say Never Again, you can see why it grossed the most. Bond is about the whole package not just the actor playing him. Have to say though I do feel Sir Roger should have probably stopped there as he was starting to show his age a little.
Cheers :007)
Exactly. OP (and even TB since you're mentioning NSNA) did have the whole package.
From Kamal Khan to Maud Adams, from the spectacular Acrostar stuntwork to jumping carriages in Berlin it truly was one of Roger's best.
Comments
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By all means, start an Archer thread elsewhere so we can stick to the business at hand.
A friend recommended it to me, knowing that I'm a Bond fan. Sadly, I didn't really care for it. Oh well…
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
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I enjoyed it at first, but like most pastiche it runs out of steam pretty quickly. Harmless fun in its way though.More of an occasional watch for me.
Please, back on-topic!
During the last years that film has made quite a career in my ranking. Nowadays I rank it No 16 but it really is a tie with my No 15 MR.
DAF is the Bond film I have watched most since 2014. Five times alone since the beginning of 2016.
My opinion about the Connery era may be outside the norm anyway. I consider DN and GF (and OHMSS) the crowning achievement of 60s cinema, especially when it comes to Bond.
FRWL, at the moment is just outside the upper half of my ranking at No 13. It has been in the Top 10 every now and then.
I much prefer to watch DAF though. And TB will always come last in my Connery ranking.
John Barry's score helps the film quite a lot, especially in the scenes that are not that great like the end-game on/above the oil rig.
Jill St. John's Tiffany Case, is and will forever be my favourite Bond girl.
THIS may be my favourite image in all of Bond.
Every little thing she is almost wearing in DAF is a work of art fashion wise, her hairdo is always perfect. I approve.
Everything up to arriving in Las Vegas is actually quite perfect imho. Mr. Wint & Mr. Kidd are my favourite henchmen. I do love other henchmen as well, almost as much, Stamper, Xenia, Necros, MayDay...just to name a few. But that duo in DAF is the cream on the cherry.
I have such a gay time with them :P whenever I watch DAF. Bruce Glover's performance is simply priceless, fabulous and such fine comedic acting!
Honestly, this warms my heart and other things every time I see it
The plot may be silly, the film may be silly, but the dialogue in DAF belongs to the most witty, most memorable and most funny in the series.
Amsterdam is fantastic from start to finish and naturally, the lift fight is my favourite in the series! Yes you heard that right...
https://youtu.be/jpffY6ZRfZk
So there is a lot in DAF that I have on top of my different rankings. Henchmen, score, Bond girl, fight...
I never had a problem with Charles Grey as Blofeld, in fact I find him rather fitting and amusing, even when cross-dressing :P
I even don't mind her! Lana Wood as "Hi, I'm Plenty!" But, of course you are...
I'm afraid DAF catches me with more than my hands up, whenever I watch it
DAF is a guilty pleasure of mine and even if the plot isn't all that great, it has things that would never happen in a modern Bond movie.
Exhibit A, the moon buggy chase.
Exhibit B, the diamond laser...from space. (No, DAD doesn't count)
It's silly fun throughout and Mr Wint and Mr Kidd are too my favourite henchmen, second only to Red Grant, Oddjob, May Day and Jaws but Gray as Blofeld stinks. Pity how they had the Blofeld character figured out and they ruined it by having him return in Diamonds.
It should of had Serafinno Spang as the villain, as it originally was.
-{
I'm going to join the DAF is hilarious club. I may have hated it if I had watched it when it came out but it's too funny for all the right and wrong reasons.
It's the Adam West Batman of the Bond films.
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
Small world, Barbel :007)
It was the first Bond I ever saw, in the cinema when I was seven, and I was hooked - I have a feeling you'd still have loved it if you saw it first, Sterling Archer.
It's an odd little film. Perhaps the coldest of the Bond films, though Golden Gun gives it a run for its money. Connery's Bond doesn't come across as particularly likeable. The film appears to be an in joke to the audience, showing how a leading man can also be a bit nasty, like the Flashman series would do.
A big shout-out to Benny of the Mi6 community who notices some decades after that when Bond visits Strangways house, the three blind assassins are lurking in the background. You can see the thread, with accompanying picture, here:
Three Blind Mice
Also, Sylvia Trench has a very pointy nose, apropos of nothing. Almost the Child Catcher.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Generally, one of my faves, but it does seem to me that Rog is already very old in the role, whereas I always had it that he started to age around FYEO. He looks particularly leathery chatting up Lois Chiles in Venice.
Though Jaws returns, he looks little like his former self. He doesn't have the double breasted suit and looks a lot less menacing, I assume that's deliberate. Still, it is still him and saves MR looking like a sequel.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Bond B-movie tarted up by a new soundtrack culled from the official EON series, with cues from John Barry but also Marvin Hamlisch, George Martin, David Arnold et al, nothing from the Craig era however, as this fan bootleg preceded it - shame as maybe Craig's stuff would have fitted this Connery swan song.
Removing the old soundtrack strips the film of any character or integrity it originally had - no bad thing in itself! It does however add interest and the fan, known as Blofeld's Cat, also edits the film so it moves along faster. Consequently, Barbara Carrera's performance, which I'd always found irritating, works well against the more flamboyant score while K Maria Brandauer seems less dynamic and impressive, oddly. Connery seems the same, maybe even worse, it's just not Connery's Bond imo, he has nothing of the balls, brio or bravado of the old films, he just seems wan and knackered out.
Highlights include the hijacking of the bomb, to the OHMSS cue of the office-safe-cracking scene, the bike chase to Bond 77 from TSWLM, also stuff from Dr No in the Nassau scenes. Sometimes the fan should realise that less is more, he could do with repeating a previous cue later in the film rather than digging up a new one.
Time always adds a new perspective, and while Max Von Sydow was not given the chance to be an impressive Blofeld, who do I find he now reminds me of?
Oh! Jeremy Corbyn!
In newly confident, post-election mode... "It seems to me a choice is available to you... to go into partnership with the DUP or allow us to form a Government." Wouldn't work though, we all know Jezza is against nuclear power!
Perhaps Blofeld could appropriate his chant: 'Oh, Ernst-Stavro-Blo-feld!' to the tune of Seven Nation Army. Which does sound a bit like Barry's OHMSS, come to think of it.
Mind you, as Blofeld/Corbyn's steel haired, knackered out nemesis, Connery has been superseded by Teresa May.
I suppose this film does somehow now fit the Craig era, you could even imagine that this is Craig's Bond a few years down the line - not many!
Not much of a Bond film even with the new score, I do find it a moderately enjoyable watch and indeed have seen this version three times over the last few years, which is more than I've seen the original over three decades. Still, parts of the film really are crap, including the silly Shrublands fight, a chase around the houses affair as one critic had it.
You can find it here, I should point out that the version I saw preceded the Blu-Ray and is not superb picture quality; it's okay though.
https://ifdb.fanedit.org/james-bond-007-never-say-mcclory-again/
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Also, why did you show it?
I'll always defend Diamonds are Forever. The wittiest Bond film ever and I've had some great times in Amsterdam visiting the locations.
Also, once the silliness of the Indian scenes is out of the way, the East German scenes are really impressive - they really went all out with the stunts on Octopussy and manage to create a surprising amount of tension even among such absurdities as Bond in a gorilla suit and a clown outfit.
Then again I'm on a Moore bender, counting all of his eyebrow raises
The East German scenes were very interesting seeing such a symbol of that time in a Bond film. One of my favourite sequences in any Bond must be Bond trying to find and disarm the bomb. Yes, it had already happened in Spy in a way but the tension is real.
Barry's soundtrack doesn't really stand out but there are some very good pieces there (love the use of All Time High).
I would've been very happy had it been Roger's last Bond film.
There is so much to love about this film, I didn't even mind the tarzan call.
(I couldn't help myself)
Cheers :007)
From Kamal Khan to Maud Adams, from the spectacular Acrostar stuntwork to jumping carriages in Berlin it truly was one of Roger's best.