Amph James Bond: Now Disc. "Skyfall" Video Blog by Sam Mendes

Well, I took out the DVD of OHMSS a few days ago and rewatched it after not seeing it in like forever. It was good. I could see elements of Daniel Craig's Bond in it. The ending is shocking, and Bond does seem to be human in this one. It's an okay film.

 

"Okay" film - Rogue and I wrote nearly a thousand words between us extolling it's virtues and you come back with, "it's on OK film"?

Can you give us some detailed analysis rather than just a few lines? What made it OK? What would have made it better?

E_S

 

The action scenes were really good. Very exciting and not comic booky. Bond was written very well, and not a cardboard cutout. I still have trouble with some of the acting, but maybe Lazenby was a method actor?

 

:%O No, Lazenby wasn't even an actor which explains a lot to many, and probably exonerates him for some.

E_S

 

Oddly enough, the movie reminded me more of The World is Not Enough than Casino Royale.

Interesting Dalton interview on Daniel Craig I found.


Dalton - who played Bond in "The Living Daylights" (1987) and "Licence To Kill" (1989) - says he was bombarded by obsessive fans during his stint as 007, reports WENN.

The 63-year-old actor says, "I shouldn't laugh. attention with Bond is huge - overwhelming. You can be told what's going to happen, but the only people who can understand it are Daniel Craig, Pierce Brosnan, myself, George Lazenby, Sean Connery and Roger Moore".

"I was still able to walk down the street and go to the pub, but there are awful moments like when you're waiting for a plane and a bunch of people decide to descend on you. They become blathering idiots when they ask you about Bond."

"It's as if you came out of a zoo. You've got to talk about the body, the workout, the Aston Martin, the girls. It's a weird thing. People were cross that I didn't really drive an Aston Martin or a sports car."

 

Love the banner!!

 

Bloody hell, Dalton's 63?

There's a great interview on YouTube with Dalton talking about his new film Hot Fuzz, but in it talk obviously turns to Bond and Dalton is full of praise for Craig. He says he tried to take the films back to the spirit of Ian FLeming and that Craig, in Casino Royale, had gone further in that direction that Dalton could.

Which is high praise, IMO.

E_S

 

Nice Bond web site - http://www.mi6.co.uk/mi6.php3

 

Well The World Is Not Enough is very much a love letter to OHMSS. The title comes from OHMSS the novel/film. "Orbis Non Sufficit" is the Bond family motto which is shown when Bond meets Sir Hillary. I would say that OHMSS, FYEO and TWINE form a poetic trilogy. All three are more romantic then you average Bond film, skiing figures into the plot of all three story, the emphasis is on one strong female character, Tracy, Melina, and Elektra. Bond visits Tracy's grave at the beginning of FYEO, and he avoids the question "Have you ever lost a love one, Mr. Bond?" in TWINE. In FYEO Melina is avenging her parent?s murder. In TWINE Elekta is the one who murders her father to avenge her mother and family. Bond forms an alliance with a crime boss in all three films as well, Draco, Columbo and Valentine. In OHMSS a woman Bond loves is killed, in TWINE Bond must kill a woman he loved. ?I never miss.? works on multiple levels.

There's a lot of connections between the three films and I'm always surprised no one really mentions them.

 

Doesn't Bond in Octopussy mention Sir Hillary, too. What was Octopussy's Dad's name?

 

Octopussy is the daughter of British agent Dexter Smythe. Bond was sent to find him and bring him back for a court martial, where he was to be tried for murder and theft. Bond allowed him to commit suicide instead, rather then face the shame of it all.

 

The family motto in the novel is explained to Bond by Sable Basilisk, not Sir Hillary, in the chapter "Bond of Bond Street?".

And I've mentioned the connections between OHMSS and the other films more than once.

Siths_Revenge: No, Octopussy's father was Major Dexter Smythe.

E_S

 

Ah, that's it. I know the short story is referenced in that movie.

 

Octopussy the short story is referenced in Octopussy the film, not in OHMSS.

E_S

 

Yeah, that's what I got confused. Oh well, my favorite scenes in The Living Daylights movie is the teaser where the 00 agents are getting murdered on Gibraltar.

 

I'm referring to the film. I should have added the word "crest" to make it clearer.

 

Since the thread has dropped off I'll post the next review.

Diamonds Are Forever 1971

[image=http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/8771/dafposterhz9.jpg]

Diamonds Are Forever is not a great film, nor is it a good film. It's a film of good moments. The film is probably most famous for the return of Sean Connery in the role of Bond. 1969's On Her Majesty Secret Service starring George Lazenby had been a box office success but it was not the Bond-sized blockbuster as hoped for. When Lazenby decided to quit the role after one film, it left producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman to look for a new James Bond. Among the names considered was Roger Moore, Burt Reynolds and John Gavin. Moore was committed to the TV Series "The Persuaders" and had to turn the role down. Even though Mexican-American actor John Gavin was signed to the role studio bosses successfully lured Sean Connery back for a record breaking 1.25 million dollar paycheck, all of which he donated to charity. With Connery back in the role the film was a massive financial success at the box office but has become a widely debated film among Bond fans.

While continuity has never been a major part of the Bond series, in the early films the SPECTRE storyline was always evolving. With this film that stops as OHMSS is completely ignored. Other then the presence of Blofeld there is no mention of SPECTRE, Tracy or the fallout from the events depicted in the last film. The opening teaser shows Bond hunting down Blofeld and killing him, presumably to avenge Tracy's death but it's never overtly stated as such. As far as the film is concerned OHMSS never happened which leads to the unfortunate line where Moneypenny requests that Bond bring her back an engagement ring. Way to go Moneypenny, just the thing to say to a recently widow man. If one views the film as a follow up to OHMSS it can only be regarded as a complete failure and utter betrayal to the previous film. Along with ignoring OHMSS the producers decided to introduce the outrageous camp humor that would become a staple of the Roger Moore era. In order to fully appreciate Diamonds Are Forever you have to ignore OHMSS and view it as a stand-alone film.

Sean Connery had not appeared in a Bond film since You Only Live Twice in 1967 and it shows. Although he was only 41 years old at the time Connery has really aged in the four years since we last see him. Despite his change in physical appearance Connery's presence is the film's strongest asset. Connery who had appeared bored since the last half of Thunderball delivers an amusing performance with just the right touch of danger. Connery shines in the comedic moments whether it's delivering such classic lines as "I was just walking my rat and I seem to have lost my way.", "I'm afraid you've caught me with more then my hands up." and impersonating Klaus Hergersheimer from G Section. The tension between Bond and Blofeld is also a highlight and their scene together in Willard Whyte's penthouse is the best in the film.

Charles Gray, while not the Blofeld of the previous films, is charmingly menacing, a tough feat to accomplish but one he does very well. Blofeld has many of the best lines and Gray delivers them with sadistic glee. Even Connery begins to crack a smile when Gray tells him "If we destroy Kansas the world may not know about it for years." Blofeld is backed up in the henchmen department by the equally amusing Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd, the "Nick and Nora Charles" of gay hit men. The film is also filled with numerous supporting characters including Bruce Cabot as Bert Saxby, Leonard Barr as Shady Tree and Marc Lawrence who has a very funny line, "I didn't know there was a pool down there." He would reappear in The Man With the Golden Gun as a hit man who faces Scaramanga in his fun house. Jimmy Dean the Sausage King is also good in the role of Willard Whyte and has the funniest line in the whole film. "Tell'em he's fired!"

Jill St. John as Tiffiany Case is one of the weakest Bond girls to appear in the series. Supposedly a professional diamo

 

Connery also got, in addition to his salary, an agreement from United Artists to finance the next three pics he wanted to make, as either actor or director, to return to DAF.

Also, another American cast then ditched = another mistake avoided.

Connery appears to be dialing this one in, as you say looking his age and definately in possession of a Q-issue spare tyre around the waste.

This is where I lose interest in Bond, and with a brief flicker in 1981, I don't really care for much of the films until 1987.

E_S

 

DAF is a horrible film. Everyone acts dumb in it, and the plot line seems like it's a poor man's SW even thuogh SW was still a few years away. Even the worst of Moore is better than this.

 

Yeah, that theme song continues the tradition of horrible Bond themes. I sware, there's only two really good Bond themes - "For Your Eyes Only" and "Nobody Does it Better".

 

As for You Only Live Twice, I'm equally unenamored of it; when you can make hundreds of ninjas attacking a volcano be utterly boring, you have reached a new low in action sequences.

To each his own, I enjoyed the ninja attack, and didn't find it boring it all. It had the right amount of action and tension.


This would prove a double edged sword. Lazenby was well suited to the role, but I'll get to that in a moment. The downside was that the advertising had made so much of a deal over Sean Connery being Bond ("Sean Connery IS James Bond!") that they felt it was wiser to not reveal the new actor to the public. So all advertising featured a black-haired man whose face was obscured.

I watched the theatrical trailer this weekend, they not only show Lazenby, they play up the fact he is different. "This is a different Bond" is a recurring theme of that trailer.


What follows is a gadget free action-thriller. Bond is very much on his own at Piz Gloria

They do make mention of radio-active lint (as a tracking device) and have a machine that can crack safes, but, yes, gadgets are definitely downplayed.


and her ability to come through for Bond when he needs it the most make Bond realise something people seemed, inexplicably, to find "new" with Daniel Craig's Bond

Heh, I know what you mean. The first thing I thought of when Bond started to fall for Vespa is "Oh, they've done this before (OHMSS). Well, she won't survive the movie, then."


Seeing Bond and Moneypenny share a look before they drive off in Bond's Aston Martin DBS is a fantasic moment too; it shows Bond as human and aware of the downside of Moneypenny's crush on him. You know it can't last at this point, and of course Blofeld ruins it by gunning Tracy down as Bond stops to remove flowers from the car. Just a small bit - watch Lazenby when he realises the Mercedes was driven by Blofeld. He's literally ready to fight again - a nice touch of realism.

And then...

A young policeman runs up to the car to find Bond cradling his dead wife, as if comforting her. In a broken voice, and with a solitary tear, Bond informs the policeman how she's just resting, and they have all the time in the world. Perfect.

Perfect, indeed!

When I first watched OHMSS, I thought to myself that this is what Bond would look and act like if he were a real person, and not an action hero superstar. Connery played an excellent Bond, but even Connery at his best was too 2-dimensional. Moore had this problems, too. But Lazenby kept both the James Bond flare and persona while seemingly like a real person instead of a super spy.

Of all the Bonds, I don't think any of the other actors could have pulled off what Lazenby did in OHMSS. The barn scene, the wedding and Tracy's death -- Connery wouldn't have pulled it off to the believablity that Lazenby did, which is why I call him the best Bond actor to date. Lazenby had a range of emotions, fitting well with the character that no one else brought.

In addition, his portrayal of "Sir Hillary" also showed a range of acting style. When he was in Sir Hillary mode, he ceased to be James Bond and it seemed believable that Blofeld wouldn't recognize him (believable, to an extend). Yes, the dubbing helped, but it wasn't just the dubbing, Lazenby carried himself differently.

He also played a scared Bond well. When he was fleeing Spectre agents in the village on Christmas eve, he looked terrified, without loosing that "manly" Bond quality.

OHMSS kept the action and adventure that the previous Bonds did, while making it feel real. I find Blofeld's plot no more believable (well, a little more believable) than his plan in YOLT, but this is part of the movie's charm -- it still feels like a James Bond movie. You get the fun that you got with previous films, the excitement and the escapism, but then you add Lazenby's believable acting style and a heart felt romance, giving the movie a dimenson no other Bond film has had. This is part of the reason I call it the best.

But not

 

<img src=http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/8771/dafposterhz9.jpg>

EDIT - OK, that second poster is too big to link.

 

Except I was talking about Dalton.

E_S

 

I want to stick up for DAF a bit. It's a guilty pleasure of mine, but not too guilty because I've never shared the general distaste for the film among fans. Of course it has its flaws - the unglamorous finale on the oil rig is an anti-climax (I'm not a great fan of Bond endings though), Blofeld is a reinvention too far (especially drag-queen Blofeld)and Tiffany Case slips too quickly from sassy diamond smuggler to dippy airhead conviniently kidnapped. That said, I like the way the film keeps us guessing about her allegiances. Connery breezes his way through the part: his elevator fight is a highpoint, and I've always liked the way he cooly steps out of the coffin after nearly being incinerated. The plot unfolds nicely and only begins to creak a bit when he reaches Las Vegas. I like the camp henchmen a lot, they bring a twisted sense of humour to the film which gives it a distinctive tone. I understand why many fans feel let down by the film's failure to directly address Tracey's death, but with Lazenby out of the frame, I think it was right for the filmakers to play this down and strike out in a different direction. Back in them dark days, it took years for Bond films to come on television (DAF is actually the first Connery I ever saw, which is no doubt why I'm more fond of it than most) and there were no DVDs, so most audiences would have been utterly baffled if DAF had played on the Tracey thing too much. If Lazenby was still in the part I guess they could have had a flashback but you know, this never happened to the other guy ...