Amph 60+ Years of James Bond 007

I refuse to consider Moonraker self-knowing, post-modernist, deconstructionist or what not. It's a piece of **** that only has any fans because it wears the 007 bramd. Let's call **** ****.

 

My question: Did women of the 70s actually find Roger Moore attractive? Even as a heterosexual male, I can understand the appeal of most male leads--Connery being a preeminent example--but what was the allure here? He looks like the sort of fellow who would deliver a lecture on sex education, rather than doing the deed.

 

Eh, Moore's a fine-looking chap fundamentally -- strong jaw, symmetrical, whatever. The problem is that he started in the role when he was 45, and just kept getting older. He might have been a hunk in the sixties, but he sort of aged into just looking like a banker. Which is fine if you're a 45-year-old divorcee looking for your second husband -- I'm sure he got the over-forty ladies' hearts beating -- but especially after TSWLM or so, it strains credulity to the breaking point that he's got twentysomething women falling into bed with him. It finally hit Moore when, doing A View to a Kill, he realized he was older than his leading lady's mother. The problem isn't portraying him as attractive for his age; it's portraying him as sexy to twentysomethings.

 

Sorry, I don't mean it in that sense. It's a stupid movie, it's a stupid cash in, and it's not clever or even trying to be, but I can't consider it the worst of a franchise that includes a villain with a bullet slowly burrowing into his brain. That honor must go to other films. It's in the bottom bracket for sure, and isn't worth watching except out of curiosity (and only barely then), but I still can't see it as the worst.

 

I'll take bullet-burrowing over genocide space station laser battles any day.

Moonraker isn't as bad as the leaden Die Another Day, and maybe TWINE and/or TND are worse . . . but Moonraker is still scraping the absolute bottom of the barrel in a twenty-three movie franchise.

 

Moonraker: Bites down on your nuts hard, and locks its jaw. Avoid.

 

DRAX: Take care of Mr. Moore. See that some harm comes to him.

CHANG: Yes, Sir. I've arranged for Albert Broccoli to cast him in For Your Eyes Only.

DRAX: Excellent.

 

DarthLowBudget: I can't hate Moonraker either. It's harmless, and boasts Ken Adams sets and a John Barry score.

The Brosnan flicks, on the other hand...

 

For Your Eyes Only (1981)

Behind the scenes

After the adaptation of Moonraker, and without the rights to Casino Royale, Broccoli was now out of Fleming novels to adapt. He moved on to Fleming's collections of Bond short stories. The first, For Your Eyes Only, provided the film with its title, and both the title story, along with the short story Risico, were raided for story elements. Numerous concepts from Bond novels that had been discarded in the process of adapting them to film were also brought into the script, which was written by Maibaum and Cubby's stepson Michael Wilson (the biological son of the first-ever live-action Batman, FYI). Wilson had a long tradition of cameos in the Bond movies starting with Goldfinger, but worked as a lawyer. He eventually took a position in EON's legal department, but ended up helping out Cubby more and more on the conceptual side. He'd gotten an executive producer credit on Moonraker, and took the same on FYEO, but writing the script was a new level of hands-on.

After the wildness of Moonraker -- and, to the creative team's credit, despite its massive financial success -- the brain trust decided to bring the series back down to earth with a deliberate throwback to the more serious, grounded, intense thrillers of Connery's day. The return to the series' roots was appropriate, as the film series' twentieth birthday would hit the year after FYEO was released. Broccoli made a point to include an opening scene in the film that tied back to the history of the franchise by showing Bond killing Blofeld -- unnamed for legal reasons, but there are only so many cat-stroking bald guys in Nehru suits in the Bond universe -- who had apparently somehow survived Diamonds Are Forever. The scene served two purposes. In throwing Blofeld down a smokestack, Broccoli got in a personal screw-you to Kevin McClory, establishing that he didn't need Blofeld in the franchise to have success.

But by including the well-known previous villain, as well as a visit to Tracy's grave, the scene was designed to introduce a new Bond actor inside a context that made his connection to the series' history clear. As I said in Moonraker's entry, Moore's initial contract had expired, and he was now contracting for additional movies on a film-by-film basis. Broccoli doubted Moore would be back, and had to screen-test actors, including Michael Billington, a perennial favorite who had screen-tested for LALD and would probably have gotten the role had Moore not been available. He then got cast as Amasova's lover in TSWLM -- the man the audience was initially intended to think was Bond's Commie counterpart Agent XXX -- but was still screen-tested for three movies in a row after that, starting with Moonraker, due to Moore's questionable commitment. Also approached? Timothy Dalton, who turned the series down, both because he expected Moore to come back, and because, as something of a Fleming purist, he didn't care for the direction of the series.* Had he known how different FYEO would be, he might have changed his mind, so I think we should all blame Moonraker for ultimately ruining our shot at a long, productive Dalton era.** Moore ultimately signed on, but the scene stayed in.

Cast as the villain was Julian Glover, who had himself been auditioned for Bond back in the days of the Connery transition. The creative team very much liked him for the role, and Wilson said it was a pity that Glover was too young for the role when first considered, but too old once it was free again. Not that that stopped Moore, who was on the wrong side of fifty when he made Moonraker and was fifty-three when FYEO was released. Glover was forty-six. With this appearance, Glover added to a resume that includes perhaps the best rate of appearances in major fan-favorite franchises -- he's had significant roles in Star Wars, Indiana Jones, James Bond, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, and Doctor Who. The only thing he's missing is The Lord of the Rings. Quick, someone make a petition to cast him in The Hobbit Part Three. And speaking of Star Wars, FYEO features a pretty remarkable collection of Star Wars alumni, featuring General Veers as the villain, Rebel pilot John D. Branon as his henchman, Boba Fett as Q's assistant, and Lobot as anonymous-Blofeld.

Also notable as far as casting was Cassandra Harris as Countess Lisl von Schlaf, the secondary Bond girl. She was married to a certain Pierce Brosnan, and brought him to Broccoli's attention, with both members of the couple sharing meals with him and Harris lobbying Broccoli to consider Brosnan for Bond in the future. Brosnan would eventually be cast as Bond, but, sadly, only after Harris's early death from cancer.

As Lewis Gilbert had moved on from the series, John Glen was promoted to the director's seat, the first new director to the series since Peter Hunt twelve years before. Like Hunt, Glen was promoted from a position as editor and second unit director -- a position he had first held on Hunt's OHMSS before returning for TSWLM and Moonraker. Glen would become the most prolific Bond director of all time, directing every Bond movie throughout the eighties for a total of five films.



At the time of filming, Bernard Lee, the original M and, with Lois Maxwell, the only actor to appear in every Bond film to that point, was seriously ill with stomach cancer. He attempted to film his scenes as M but wasn't up to it, and died while the film was in production. While the M scenes were still to be shot and Cubby Broccoli could have quickly recast the role, he thought such a last-minute replacement would have been a distasteful response to Lee's loss, and refused to recast the role out of respect. Instead, the position was left empty for one film, and the script was quickly rewritten to redistribute M's role between Q and Chief of Staff Bill Tanner, who was said to be acting head of MI6 while M was on leave.

As lead actress Carole Bouquet was unable to work underwater due to a medical condition, but had been cast for a role that involved extensive underwater scenes, the scenes using her were actually shot on a dry soundstage, with several effects used -- fairly convincingly, actually -- to simulate underwater conditions. The other major noteworthy item from production is that the Eastern Orthodox monks residing at the Monastery of the Holy Trinity in Meteora, Greece, objected strenuously to the Bond films shooting there, though a bishop with authority had granted the production filming rights. Devoted to peace, they didn't want their monastery associated with the violent, sexy Bond films. They sued, and their case went to the Greek Supreme Court, which determined that they could allow or deny filming inside the monastery, but had no rights over the filming of exterior shots. Since the striking exteriors were the main thing the production wanted, that would have been fine, except that the monks did everything possible to disrupt filming, hanging clothes, flags, and anything else they could find on the outside, and preventing helicopters from landing on the mesa. The filming team got around their protests with great difficulty and expense.

Promotion had some bumps, with some outlets objecting to the striking poster image, which was felt to expose too much lady-buttock. Several edited the image, which had achieved extra exposure by putting bikini briefs on the model backward. Despite the kerfuffle, or perhaps because of it, the film was a big commercial success, setting an opening-day record in the UK and taking in the second-highest total for a Bond film at the time. It would remain in that position until the Brosnan years.

Plot

When an MI6 spy ship sinks with an ATAC device aboard, used to issue orders to the British submarine fleet, Sir Timothy Havelock, a marine archaeologist, is sent by the government to retrieve the ATAC in secret. He and his wife are murdered in front of their daughter Melina, and 007 is sent to track the assassin and find out who else is trying to recover the ATAC. Bond tracks the hitman, Gonzales, and sees him taking a payoff at his estate. While he is there, Melina kills Gonzales with a crossbow, and Bond escapes with her, then makes her agree to let him handle the situation instead of seeking further vengeance for her parents.



Bond identifies the man making the payoff as Locque, and goes to Locque's haunts in Italy. There, Bond's contact, Ferrara, puts him on to Aristotle Kristatos, a wealthy businessman, British-decorated WWII resistance hero, and known anti-Communist who had provided Ferrara with intelligence in the past. Kristatos tells Bond that Locque works for the vicious gangster kingpin Columbo. Bond has to fend off several attacks in town, as well as the advances of the teenage figure skater for whom Kristatos serves as a patron, and finds that someone has lured Melina there to attack her as well. Ferrara is killed, and Columbo's symbol left at the scene of the crime.

Bond heads to Corfu to go after Columbo, and finds him at his casino after talking with Kristatos. Bond takes Lisl von Schlaf, Columbo's associate, home, only for Locque to attack and kill her the next morning. Columbo's men drive off Locque and capture 007, then bring him before Columbo, who had overheard Bond plotting with Kristatos to kill him. Bond explains himself, and Columbo tells him the truth: Kristatos is the vicious, unscrupulous criminal, not Columbo, and he is in fact a Soviet double agent searching for the ATAC himself, and Locque is his assassin. Kristatos has been setting Bond up to kill Columbo, a former resistance colleague and rival, much more principled, smuggler. Bond throws in with Columbo and raids one of Kristatos's warehouses in Albania with Columbo's organization. There he kills Locque.

Bond then reunites with Melina, and they find the wreck site and finally recover the ATAC. On surfacing, they find Kristatos waiting. He takes the ATAC and has Bond and Melina keelhauled. They escape and convince Kristatos that they died, leaving them free to follow his trail (via talkative parrot) to an old monastery, where he has holed up waiting to hand off the ATAC to General Gogol. Bond, Melina, and Columbo and his men infiltrate the monastery, where Bond kills henchmen Apostis and Kriegler. Columbo goes to stop Kristatos as he flees with the ATAC, but is shot. Bond arrives just in time to prevent the handover to Gogol, grabbing the ATAC from Kristatos. The defeated villain tries to kill Bond after Bond spares his life, but Columbo kills him with a thrown knife. Gogol holds Bond at gunpoint and demands the ATAC, but Bond throws it off a cliff instead, the sort of typical Cold War stalemate that Gogol takes with a rueful grin.

Bond himself



This is Moore at his dramatic best. The role for Bond here is toned down -- there's still far too much of the obligatory terrible puns and bad comic interludes, but they're deemphasized in favor of down-to-earth sleuthing in a basically serious Cold War thriller. It's a conscious throwback to the early Connery years, and it's incredibly welcome. Bond is tough and callous, getting yet another moment of cold brutality (Moore didn't want to do the scene, which is how you know it's good). Moore tones down the mugging and plays the part like he's in a drama instead of a farce, and he gets one of the best Bond girl relationships to work with. Melina is an actual human being with her own agenda and agency, and Bond engages with her on a human, emotional level. He respects her quest to avenge her parents while also trying to protect her, as an amateur, and persuade her to let him handle it. He clearly cares about her trauma, expresses actual feelings for her, and gives her a reason to fall for him. In a series that all too often assumes a relationship without building one, FYEO builds a real relationship for Bond and uses it to let us see him in a new light, bringing out a protective, sympathetic side (dangerously paternal, given how damn old Moore is, but at least we've got Bibi to throw that into relief, too, and show Bond rejecting a woman's advances because she's too young for him).

How it fits into the series

Like pretty much all the Moore films before it, FYEO doesn't outline a clear, coherent trend in the direction of the franchise. A back-to-basics take on the character that tries to resuscitate the Fleming and classic-Connery element of the Bond mythology, it comes directly after the most extravagantly fantastic, absurdist-camp, genre-aping Bond film ever, which itself came directly after a back-to-basics retreat from camp excess and genre-aping. The two Moore films following FYEO, however, didn't follow its back-to-basics lead. They never went as outrageously camp as Moonraker or LALD, but they retreated to the Moore usual of lightly campy Bond-formula, minus the genre-aping that had pushed previous entries over the top. The last traces of Connery grit, which had regularly appeared in at least a scene or two of Moore's first several films, disappeared entirely after FYEO, and Moore got to sleepwalk entirely in bland leading-man mode. If anything, FYEO points more directly toward the direction in which Glen and the production team would go with Dalton, when they had a leading man who wanted to take the series back to Fleming himself. In fact, FYEO feels very much like a Dalton film mistakenly made with Moore, and would have been enormously improved by his presence.***

In terms of the larger series, there are two notable developments. One is the introduction of John Glen. Only the fifth Bond director, Glen would become the most prolific, knocking out five films in a row -- his nearest competitor, Guy Hamilton, made four films, and only three in a row. Glen was the only Bond director throughout the eighties, the only director to work with Timothy Dalton, the director who made more of Moore's films than any other, only the second director never to have directed Connery in the role, and the first one never to have worked on a Connery film in any capacity. He was also the last director to work directly under Cubby Broccoli, and the last of the EON house directors. EON initially started with Young as its director, only moving on after he backed out of the series for Goldfinger, and then bringing him back again with Thunderball. The series shuffled through three directors before and after Thunderball, but then fell back into a comfortable groove, hiring two of the three back to make multiple films in a row until they left the series. It was clearly EON's preference to have a consistent house director churning out film after film, and once they built up a stable of them, they kept going back to that well or promoting from within. In the new paradigm dating from GoldenEye on, however, EON has made each film with a different director from the last, and only Martin Campbell has returned, making two films a decade apart.



The second, more sobering shift, is the death of Bernard Lee, the original M. Bond's actor had changed, but his primary supporting cast, ever since FRWL put Desmond Llewelyn in the role of Q, had been remarkably stable, keeping that continuity even as the lead shifted. Bernard Lee was the first member of that supporting cast to go. A memorable and definitive M, alternately warm and stern, Bernard Lee did a fantastic job defining the role of Bond's superior and conveying one of the classic tough-but-fair, paternal authority figures of cinema. Lee was a prolific actor outside the Bond franchise, both on stage and screen, during an era heavily populated with British acting heavyweights. I remember him fondly for his role in the noir masterpiece The Third Man as the friendly Sergeant Paine. Lee had had some serious difficulties starting in 1972, when a fire swept through his house. Lee and his wife Gladys were trapped in the bedroom one story off the ground; Lee, in his sixties, jumped to the ground from the window and ran to get a ladder, but couldn't rescue Gladys. The next month, Lee was mugged on the street. He had always enjoyed a good drink, and started drinking more, which put him into debt as he struggled to get work. His steady work with the Bond franchise helped keep him afloat and overcome his depression, as did a chance run-in with Richard Burton at a pub. Burton encouraged him and paid off Lee's debts out of his own pocket. Happily remarried, Lee died at age seventy-three of stomach cancer after appearing in, according to IMDB, 142 movies. He left behind a daughter, Ann, from his first marriage, who followed in his footsteps as an actress. Lee's grandson, Jonny Lee Miller, is currently a successful actor.

Review

In my opinion, this is the best of Moore's run. It can't escape all the silly flourishes of the Moore years, but by and large it's a stripped-down return to the early years of the series. The storyline is maybe one of the best in the series, simple, effective, and just complex enough to stay interesting and surprising. Bond isn't facing off against a genocidal millionaire maniac, or even a SPECTRE plotter – the UK has lost a communications device used to signal missile strikes due to a ship with one aboard sinking. Bond's job is to recover it before it winds up in the hands of the Soviets. For the first time, Bond is playing directly against the USSR and its agents in a straight, effective Cold War plot. What makes it work is that the Western agent Bond works with and whose lead he follows is actually a Soviet double agent. It's a nice twist, putting Bond in a situation we normally don't see him, and giving the villain a deep presence in the film.



Glover is up to the task as that villain – his Kristatos is one of my favorite Bond villains. Initially appearing to be the ally character, he's a knowledgeable, sophisticated, wealthy informant who knows everything that's going on, a war hero decorated by the British. It's great seeing him deceive Bond, manipulating him into eliminating an old friend and more scrupulous rival smuggler. When he's fully revealed as a villain, a sellout working for the Soviets, Glover doesn't have to change much about his performance, just letting the character's coldness and arrogance show through a little more. You can definitely see why Glover was considered for Bond – he's great at playing a suave, ruthless killer. He's dangerous and he's enjoying himself. I especially like the way he calmly stalks around the fight when Bond lands in his hideaway, looking for his opportunity to grab the ATAC and go. The character type of the wealthy, respected Western society figure who is secretly a Communist agent is fascinating, reflecting the sellout ambition and corruption that made the real world of Cold War spying so dangerous. I also like the little touch that he's sponsoring a figure skater's training – it makes him feel more fleshed out; he doesn't just do villainous things all day. He also does benevolent-appearing rich-person things that reflect intense, unnervingly vicarious ambition at their core.

Moore also gets a chance to turn in a decent performance as Bond, toning down the mugging for the camera to play a more down-to-earth Bond, one who engages in an actual relationship as actual people displaying actual human feelings with the lead Bond girl, rather than giving us the lazy trope of women falling into bed with Bond purely because he's James Bond. We also get another great cold Bond moment, as ever over Moore's objections, when he kicks Locque over the cliff. I also like the changeup of Bond being pursued by a woman whom he wants nothing to do with. It's welcome to see some variation on the formula, and Bond's discomfort and experienced disdain at the advances of a sexually precocious teenager give Moore good material to work with. "Yes, well, you get your clothes on and then I'll buy you an ice cream." I also really liked the return of a vulnerable Bond. Bond pinned down by Kriegler's fire, trying to figure out how he's going to get out of this situation, and then shortly thereafter desperately trying to avoid enemy attention in the crowd and figure out how to avoid the killers behind him in the crowded line, are fresh, tense, interesting action scenarios, and a hundred times more exciting than any of the ski-stunt material surrounding them. And that's not a knock on the ski sequences.

We also get a solid Bond girl in Melina Havelock, one who is assertive and acting on her own agency, seeking revenge for her parents' death. She's motivated and capable, though as an amateur she's not Bond's equal, which nicely strikes the balance between keeping her a strong character and keeping Bond in charge.



And while Kristatos isn't a real ally, we do get two ally characters, and both are solid. Columbo calls to mind Kerim Bey, a cheerful, experienced ally with the slight air of the charming scoundrel who puts his resources at Bond's disposal. Like Draco, he's a criminal who's willing to help Bond take down a much worse criminal. His personal feud with Kristatos also gives some added depth to the movie, and I especially like that he got to be the one to actually kill him. I also like Ferrara, the bundled-up, mild-mannered informant who's tragically wrong about Kristatos.

We get a nice array of villains, too. From General Gogol's typically affable (and hilariously womanizing) appearance, to the henchmen Locque, Kriegler, and Gonzales, there are a lot of distinctive personalities involved against Bond. Each of the henchmen are distinct from each other and have their own blend of menace, and they get disposed of throughout the film, giving Bond a succession of victories, rather than saving everything for the end. It also saves us from the curse of the leftover henchman.



Maybe my favorite aspect is the conscious attempt to make a throwback to the first three films or so. And it's not just the buttoned-down, low-gadget, espionage tone, though I appreciate that, and I love it when the Bond movies make well-chosen exotic locations the star, as St. Cyril's monastery is here, rather than relying purely on Ken Adam's set design. The scene with Moneypenny and Bond throwing his hat is a wonderful tribute. Bond plays baccarat once more. Even the device of the title appearing on a document, seen in Dr. No, From Russia with Love, and Goldfinger, makes a reappearance. It gives the film a wonderful sense of paying its respects to the greatest years of the series and getting back to basics. Moore even wears a sharp gray suit and tie at one point, like a real adult, instead of the endless parade of beige sport jackets and safari suits.

Of course, the film isn't without its drawbacks. The procession of incredibly stupid assassination attempts, contrived to make "exciting" setpieces, seen throughout the Moore films, don't go away. The attempts to kill various people with motorcycles, dune buggies, and hockey players only bring to mind the question, "Has no one in this movie ever heard of a gun?" The way none of Kristatos's henchmen in the finale ever heard of reporting in, either, is frustrating. Some of the action setpieces aren't much – I love submarine warfare, but this isn't what I had in mind, guys – and I could do without the comedic notes inserted into the Citroën car chase, but overall the action is pretty solid. The worst is the opening sequence, which brings Blofeld back from the presumed-dead for no particular reason, turns him into a cheesy-sounding doofus who is defeated without any gravitas or dignity to the moment, and never bothers to try to make any real sense out of what's happening. It's also very apparent by this point just how obligatory, strained, and lazy the quips are. "Hey, he fell off a cliff, so I said something about heights!" Go to hell. I could also do without the terrible eighties score. The ending gag with Thatcher is simply dreadful.

Even with those limitations, the back-to-basics tone makes this an absolute winner. It's a tight, tense Cold War espionage thriller that puts its emphasis on character and plot rather than the formula elements. It has a great cast filling well-written roles. Its problems are pretty limited in nature. After the disaster that was Moonraker,**** this is exactly the correction that needed to happen.

Rankings

1. From Russia with Love
2. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
3. Dr. No
4. For Your Eyes Only
5. The Spy Who Loved Me
6. Goldfinger
7. Thunderball
8. You Only Live Twice
9. The Man with the Golden Gun
10. Diamonds Are Forever
11. Live and Let Die
12. Moonraker*****

Questions for discussion

1. Is For Your Eyes Only, as I have asserted, the best Moore film? Perhaps someone thinks FYEO was a step in the wrong direction?
2. How awesome would it have been if they'd have gotten Dalton for this?****** Or would he only have been trapped in a franchise that veered back to camp without the painful experience of Moore's two more tepid, geriatric snoozefests to jolt the filmmakers into a serious commitment to corrective action?
3. We've started with some more rankings -- how do Kristatos, Melina, or anything else rate?
4. I sort of discounted a lot of the campier elements because everything else was so good and such an unexpected step so far in the right direction -- does anyone want to argue that I'm underestimating their effect, or overrating it overall compared with other films?
5. Commentary on Bernard Lee?

*Moonraker, **** you.

**Seriously, **** you, Moonraker.

***No, really. Go **** yourself, Moonraker.

****I'm not kidding, Moonraker. **** you.

*****Yeah, Moonraker. Bottom of the list. That's where you belong. **** you.

******Thanks for nothing, Moonraker. ****er.

 

I firmly believe this is Moore's best film, and it has the hallmark of every other film in which they've tried to get a more serious tone to Bond - Fleming.

Moore is decided uncomfortable with elements of the tougher side of the character - kicking Locque off the cliff in the Mercedes springs to mind. And you're right about the daft assassination sequences - the whole bike thing was just an excuse for a formulaic ski chase.

But honestly, when did Moore get a script this good that didn't rely on cartoonish villains with cartoonish plots? Never.

 

Yeah, the cliff thing is really frustrating. Moore even acknowledged that it would be the Bond thing to do, just not the Moore-Bond thing to do. Then your Bond ain't Bond, son. Thankfully, Moore kept doing the scenes despite his objections, until his last two movies, which basically removed all those elements and gave us the neutered, affable old gentleman Moore apparently wanted to play.

 

Moonraker was the first Bond movie I saw in a movie theater, my Dad took me when I was 11 or 12. I remember loving it when I first saw it, simply because I was at the theater and it was Bond, James friggin Bond. I think the only other Bond movie my Dad saw at the teater was Goldfinger. Talk about opposite ends of the spectrum.

There really isn't much else to say, except maybe that that still of Jaws at the end of Havac's review is spot on perfect for capturing the craptacular lunacy that Moonraker is.

And also that it's my favorite of the books.


As for FYEO, I said a few pages ago that it's hands down the best Moore Bond, for the reasons Havac and Ender have said.

 

My favorite Moore film, the only one I never tire of watching, although their depiction of rural Spain used to be a running joke among my friends. I agree it could have been an awesome Dalton movie, perhaps better than The Living Daylights as an introduction.

Beautiful main theme by Sheena Easton, too.


1. From Russia with Love
2. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
3. Goldfinger
4. For Your Eyes Only
5. Dr. No
6. The Spy Who Loved Me
7. You Only Live Twice
8. Thunderball
9. The Man with the Golden Gun
10. Diamonds Are Forever
11. Live and Let Die
12. Moonraker

 

Man, school is causing me to fall way, way behind on this thread.

I've obviously got a reputation - rightly so! - as a fellow who enjoys and prefers terrible Bond movies, and for the most part I do (Moonraker excepted. Seriously. **** Moonraker.), but I must concur with the bulk of the thread on this one: For Your Eyes Only is great. It's got everything - a car chase, a clue-giving parrot, the biathalon, and ****ing Topol.

I think I might actually prefer Columbo to any other Bond sidekick just because I find Topol's performance so incredibly entertaining (For the record, I once said I would've watched an entire series devoted to Bond and Tiger Tanaka buddy spy shenanigans. I don't bestow that honor lightly.), enough so that the film's flaws - and, taken as what it is; a genre spy flick, there aren't many - basically evaporate for me once he shows up. Not even the incredibly annoying figure skater character can get me down, because Columbo is imminent.

I can't add very much to Havac's review aside from that bit of Columbo fanboyism, so I'll sum up with this is either my favorite or second favorite Moore film, and certainly a bizarre diamond in the rough between Moonraker and...

Oh god, it's Octopussy next. Maybe I need to revise my Moore rankings.

 

Count me down as another fan of Culombo and his pistachios.

 

For Your Eyes Only has the best Bond theme.

 

CLOWN BOND.

Okay, so I'm an over-the-top Kristatos fanboy, you're an over-the-top Columbo fanboy . . . where's our over-the-top Melina Havelock fanboy? Speak up!

 

Hey, clown Bond is not bad when compared to Tarzan-ing and mechanical aligators.


Time to update the rest of my lists:

1. Ernest Stavro Blofeld (OHMSS)
2. Francisco Scaramanga
3. Doctor Julius No
4. Auric Goldfinger
5. Rosa Klebb
6. Aristotle Kristatos
7. Hugo Drax
8. Emilio Largo
9. Ernest Stavro Blofeld (YOLT)
10. Doctor Kananga
11. Ernest Stavro Blofeld (DAF)
12. Kurt Stromberg
13. Not Ernest Stavro Blofeld At All (FYEO)

1. Red Grant
2. Wint and Kidd
3. Oddjob
4. Jaws (TSWLM)
5. Irma Bunt
6. Fiona Volpe
7. Emile Leopold Locque
8. Hans
9. Baron Samedi
10. Tee Hee Johnson
11. Jaws (MR)
12. Bambi and Thumper

1. Tracy di Vicenzo
2. Anya Amasova
3. Melina Havelock
4. Tatiana Romanova
5. Honey Ryder
6. Corinne Dufour
7. Solitaire
8. Pussy Galore
9. Andrea Anders
10. Rosie Carver
11. Domino Derval
12. Holly Goodhead
13. Tiffany Case
14. Sylvia Trench
15. Kissy Suzuki
16. Bibi Dahl
15. Mary Goodnight

 

I will let you live for making Tracy #1 Bond Girl, but Tatiana should be #2. Seriously. Smoking hot 60's Bond girls > Ringo's ex

 

She's lovely, indeed, but her character isn't that special. I suspect she's not even going to be in my final top 5.

 

Right here, son.

But I'm biased.

Also: ski -> ski jump -> bobsled chase is maybe one of my favorite Bond sequences.

 

Wait, what does "I'm biased" mean, DP? What did you have with Carole Bouquet??

 

I can't say or AaylaSecurOWNED will mock me.

 

Ironically, For Your Eyes Only is difficult for me to watch precisely because it’s a comparatively realistic spy thriller, and Moore just doesn’t belong. Sure, his performance is decent enough, but nowhere near the level that any other Bond actor (yes, even Lazenby) could have attained. For once, he truly is a pale imitation: too old, no virility, little to no menace. Oh, if there was ever a juncture for Dalton to jump into…

Despite this, the mere existence of this movie is justified by informing us that Bond established an acceptable age-seduction-limit; for the longest time, I was kinda worried that he’d hump anything with XX chromosomes.

 

"That's what I love about these Bond girls, man. I get older, they stay the same age." -- Roger Moore.