Last Bond Movie You Watched.

Excellent commentary! From the Comms room, Bond's reaction to the spider, Connery's eye after handing the phone up, Dr. No's visit to Bond's bedroom... you echo much of how I feel about the film!

Would Fleming suggest it isn't what an authentic spy would do? Surely he knew even his novels were fantastical. He had Dr. No die by dung after all...

Lazenby and Lord... what an idea! Also quite like the idea of a late sixties Dr. No. Dare I say it might have been even closer to the book, with its whackier elements - the fight with the squid, the endurance test... Rules relaxed in the swinging sixties, might have even had Honey's nude entrance (albeit shot around the uh... best bits).

Also those TND, GE, TWINE and SP 2015 placings... brings a tear to the eye.

Thanks Fields. I was being a touch facetious about what Fleming might say but yes I'd imagine Fleming would know that his novels were fantastical in parts. I read in Lycett's book he did annoy Young once by wandering down the beach during a shot or something but directors get wound easily.

I just like the idea of Fleming doing the occasional typical naval officer routine.

I didn't think about the whackier elements in a late 60s Dr No. There would have been, also, a 'proper' title sequence and song one imagines.

Ha, the rankings were five years ago and as we've seen, as we've discussed here and there, my mindset about those films and that era has changed a great deal since then.

I'd say one of their aircraft was missing...

From Russia With Love

the Bond series is promptly finding its feet, in that halcycon era where the world got itself four Bond films over the period 1962-65 (a measure perhaps how in those early days a film could be put together quicker) FRWL started to flesh out the world we know Bondwise. There's a PTS, the title sequence still has no song and we get the classic style of villain, girl, locations, henchmen, allies and music. Find myself wishing Young had done Goldfinger so at any rate there was some symmetery through to TB.

I did think when I saw this film as a child that Bond was honestly killed until the mask was ripped off. I think I saw no point carrying on if that was it.

Klebb is an awfully fascinating woman. Blofeld might be head honcho but she is the true villain of the piece. Grant is the muscle, eliminating the enemies along the way but she does the thinking, the scheming all with a cunning. Wonder what Fleming thought of her on screen. Titillated perhaps (he'd have loved Illse Steppat, the very image of his Bunt).

And then we have a rare case of a returning Bond girl, albeit briefly.

I'm focusing on details I don't usually and M/Bond is one. It isn't quite a father/son relationship as such but got to like how Bond looks after being caught doing something. In this case, when Bond tosses his hat onto the stand, makes his witty remark, shuts door and there's M just looking at him. The furtive look at the floor follows. I think had there been more, Lazenby would have done little things like this well enough. It didn't quite work with Moore as he was closer in age to Lee than Connery.
And dear Desmond Llewellyn. The first of many exasperated looks, gadgets and the rest. Could you imagine getting that case through airport security nowadays?

Last of our "your flight has just landed..." bits. I find it curious, not in a bad way though, Young including this in Dr No and FRWL. Helps in a way I suppose. Shame we didn't get more in the sixties as a 707 was a fine aircraft, especially in her Pan-Am livery (Bond seemed to keep Pan-Am going for a few trips- Dr No, FRWL and LALD).

Nice Bond/Moneypenny moment and indeed, that subsequent scene with everyone listening in. Love the sight of these chaps from the military/intelligence including M there and listening to some dirty talk (as such).

I can't add much to what I've ever said about Kerim Bey. He remains a top-3 Bond ally. Bond/Kerim, Bond/Draco and Bond/Colombo all perfect in terms of chemistry, charisma and so on. How lucky is Kerim Bey though? Saved by a randy bit of skirt.

As Connery expressions go, when the dancer gets under his face. I'd go as red as a tomato I suspect.

The whole gypsy camp scene is brilliantly done. Bond being accepted into the community, the dancer and then the girl fight which could well have been in a Fleming Bond. The camp features two great Barry pieces with Girl Trouble being one of them. Turns what in my town on a Friday night into something more epic, more dangerous with high stakes. It ends abruptly, musically, brilliantly as the battle starts and goes straight into the 007 theme. Wish the soundtrack had it as one track (someone put together Tennyson/Enquiry into one for example). Kerim overturning the table and blazing away is a favourite moment and how Bond goes around, almost casually, helping out his new allies and doing what he can.

If that is a great scene so is the Lektor scene. Bond still thanks the chap he asked for help even after the explosion.

There is an innocence with Tatiana and not the last Bond girl to be caught up in something over her head. I think in recent years she's somehow been overlooked by many that are familiar with Bond films. Not on this forum or in fan circles but modern audiences likely don't realise there was something before Brosnan.

As I used to say at Victoria Station, the Orient Express might well be the only train/line/route that bad publicity is good publicity -Murder on the Orient Express and FRWL. Kerim's death upon it is one of the most felt deaths, ally-wise, in a Bond film.

The best moment with Tatiana and Bond might well be when he confronts her after Kerim's death. He gives her a bigger slap than Lazenby's Bond did Rigg. The look/sigh Bond does after Tatiana weeps her first "I love you". For Bond, and any spy, it's par for the course.

Part of me wonders if Bond knew what Nash vaguely looked like. Had as he worked with Kerim Bey earlier have time to figure out his route out and thus know who his Station Y contact would be? Either way, he appears wary as Grant sits down when they first meet. Like I said recently, pretty sure Bond clocks the pill going into the wine. Did pick up on the flicker on Bond's face after Grant orders the red. Disgust. Man's a poltroon clearly. The punch-up is one of the best, purely for it being in such a confined space and Bond -like in OHMSS, in DAF with Franks even- at his most physical, relying on his brawn rather than gadgets.

By the time Bond reaches the Scottish Highlands Adriatic/Italy or wherever, Bond's patience has thinned out as demonstrated with the idiot pickup driver. In come the archetypal goons dressed in black. I do wince when the fire kicks off, what a way to go.

Right down to the end and the climatic defeat of Klebb it's a solid movie. Fantastically so.

If only Vladek Sheybal were alive today, perfect man to play Putin in a film.

10/10

Hilly Does 2020 Bond

From Russia With Love (presently 1st, 2015 placing 2nd scoring 9/10)
Dr No

--

...like listening to the Beatles without earmuffs

Our old fashioned double-header takes us into...

Goldfinger

if FRWL started to firm up what became the norm, Goldfinger rubber stamps it and is a wonderful byproduct of the era. By now Bondmania is cranked up, Connery has grown into the role, the characters are there like M, Q and 'Penny -we have Felix back, there's fantastic locations and the first of the all out soundtracks. Though in recent viewings since 2015 GF has gradually crept southwards and I find myself tired, it's a film that deserves to be seen on the big screen if not with loudspeakers cranked up. The PTS has "Bond Back in Action" which I like the sound of, the song of course is big, bold and brassy and there's enough in it musically to amuse and excite.

Got to like the use of back projection/on location filming for Miami. All but one of the actors weren't actually on location it seems and though I suppose the projection's easy to see now, it must've done a job back in '64. It's there with the likes of the Saint who managed to go all over the world every week whilst doing it all in Elstree with library footage.

In short order a classic villain, a classic henchman and the all out classic car. Always something to see the DB5 in its natural element, 1964. Connery gets to do something that technically Lazenby didn't get to demonstrate (as the camera was done to keep his face hidden as long as possible) and that is get excited by an overtaking woman in a flash sports car (to loosely borrow Fleming's words from OHMSS and I stress, loosely). Connery's Bond appears to relish this and to cap it off, the brilliant scenery and Barry's music.

It does mean of course that cinematic Bond seems to be too cautious or slow a driver as far as the women are concerned. - Tilly, Tracy and Xenia (and to a point, Fiona, albeit with him in the same car).

Tilly gets to demonstrate the idea of a bird with a wing down (and a stirring death) but also Oddjob's lethal effectiveness. Indeed, it is a marvel that by saying nothing Harold Sakata conveys so much and is bloody imposing. (the only time I've heard him speak was in a Quincy episode and I'm sure he was dubbed).

The car chase/action involves one of Connery's best WTF expressions as grandma comes out packing heat. If only Fleming had lived to see that. It's well done as a scene and all done at the studio (the first three films did have great locales, best actors but still utilised economy).

You forget that in these days the films were short (1h45) and thus GF is moving along at a decent pace. The raid is made fantastically tense by the music and that image of men crumpling to the deck as the Flying Circus passes over. The opposite is that the punch-up between Bond and Oddjob is made more intense by no music, not until the very end anyway.

Ken Adam's genius is on hand here. A case of the mountain coming to you and how. Who needs the real thing when you have the late great Adam?

Now-our players. Goldfinger as I say a classic film, dubbed or not he's almost cartoonish, devilish in his plan, driven by greed and a curious use of women. Though the death was Oddjob's in the book, having Goldfinger get sucked out of the fuselage is the perfect way to go for a villain. Though I am struck by the idea of Goldfinger in exile in Castro's Cuba. He'd either go mad or be shot.

The late Honor Blackman is one of the best Bond girls. Ms Whaller-Bridge could perhaps huff and puff all day but could not bring a more relevant character than Pussy. Sure she crumples to the infamous Bond charm but she's no pushover either side of that. You imagine she has rebuffed Goldfinger back in the day. Blackman gives her grit, strength, beauty of course and physicality. Avengers girls have all the luck.

Cec Linder got put into the mix late on after Jack Lord fell through and if he's seen as old Felix, it seems he was swapped with the chap Goldfinger plays cards with and so it seems the two options were, er, old.

I did notice before I go a nice fast edit, Hunt I assume, when Bond flips Pussy into the hay. Didn't notice it before.

7/10

Hilly Does 2020 Bond

1. From Russia With Love
2. Dr No
3. Goldfinger (present placing 3rd, 2015 placing 11th scoring 7/10)

Didn't respond to this earlier because I wanted to read it without rushing (same with your Thunderball soundtrack post. I'll get to that in the morning I think). Not a lot to argue with - nothing at all really. Two perfect Bond films back to back. Honestly, not something we'll see again until GE-TWINE, in my opinion.

Glad Honor got a special mention in a separate paragraph. You're absolutely right - in terms of relevant characters Pussy would be hard to top (pardon the pun!). And I guess that's where the genius to her character lies, intentional at the time or not - she's timeless. As CJB mentioned in another thread (and I paraphrase): they set out to create a great character, not to make a statement.

The gypsy camp sequence is the epitome of cinematic brilliance as far as I'm concerned. I've read on Facebook (I know, I know) that some feel it's padding. That it's boring, adds nothing to the film, it drags... Couldn't believe it. It's the very essence of James Bond and so, so beautifully done. It's vital to building rapport with Kerim, to seeing how Krilencu factors into the plan with the Lektor, how Grant must protect Bond to do the job-- not to mention to have Bond engage with local customs... and girls. It helps Turkey - as a location - become a character and I'm not sure any other Bond location has ever done it so successfully.

RE: Grant as Nash, I'm not sure he'd know what Nash looked like but it's seeing Connery recognise a disdain for this man. It harkens back to Fleming's Bond getting rubbed the wrong way about someone and more often than not, their being the villain. Connery does so well in conveying that distrust and antagonism with a few glances that really aren't played up by the wide angles and it's so intriguing to play witness to that... Nowadays Bond has no sense of judgement whatsoever.

Most kind as always. Yes, as you say I guess Bond wouldn't know what Nash looks like. Didn't think about the Fleming Bond disdain of someone who irks him however mildly. I am now of course, saying that, picturing Bond's reaction to the Sable Basilisk when he is trying to see Sir Hilary.

I think for the videos, I might couple the first three together and go separate best as I can. Does mean I might end up doing one better than the other (video or forum). Those early two or three really did look great.

---

My dear Colonel Bouvar, you shouldn't have opened that car door yourself.

Thunderball

well, this is 55 years old this year and as good to look at in parts as it was, I hope, to 1965 audiences.

However, from the moment the disc left my fingers for the tray, I had a thought (really, I do sometimes), that this film was not all it could have been perhaps. This is where the cracks started to show. The height of spymania with knock offs, suitors and admirers galore. With Connery perhaps a little fed up if wanting to move on (I'm spitballing). A film that became a mess, wielded into some shape by Hunt. A Bond seemingly either swallowed up by gadgets or at least a plethora of them.

You think after that I'd have it in for this film. On the contrary, in recent years it's bubbled upwards to hold an 8/10 score (as of 2015, I have seen it since though) and I like it more than as a child when it bored me stiff.

Do like the PTS, the wry one-liner or two, the punch up (the first glimpse of the editing -rapid cuts, sped up action, the works) and Barry's screaming, brassy music.

Never mad on the title song, don't dislike it or Jones but it just sits in my ears like the Beatles would to Bond. And I know lyrics shouldn't make sense but "strike like thunderball..."

The film is at odds. You get the shots or feeling of shots that Young employed Dr No/FRWL such as say when we first see Largo and then you get the archetypal villain's meeting with chief villain stroking a cat, dastardly payback to a traitor and throughout the film, these goons wear black etc. Granted the films were ripe for parody since they started but with Thunderball it feels writ large. Not anyone's fault as such but you think of Austin Powers perhaps with that SPECTRE meeting and the title sequence (which as I say I usually skip, I am by the bye for this 'athon watching all of them for a change) I just see Spy Hard with the silhouettes of the women swimming, diving, whatever.

Away from such things as the villains meeting, there is a good film. The above I suppose are minor if bubbling thoughts. Though OP is the film I remember watching in its entirety as a memory, TB is -like OHMSS- one I remember for certain moments and that would be the Vulcan crash, the pilot stuck in his seat underwater and the street chase (chiefly Bond going into the WC's to sort his wound out).

Had I remembered Fiona's first shot, I might have turned out differently. Subconsciously she must have been one of three I can think now that started my redhead fixation. That first shot prompts a Leslie Phillips style "Corr...."

Now, with respect not that I'm bashing her, Elektra King should have watched Fiona for lessons on how to be a stone hearted bitch (she does a good job, don't get me wrong). Volpe is the ice queen cometh, the true villain of the piece and it's a shame Fleming didn't get to see her in action. The private screening with Young, Cubby and Harry (maybe Connery) would've been entertaining for all the right reasons.

The sight of the E-Type outside Shrublands makes me wish Connery's Bond got to drive a convertible E-Type even briefly. Shrublands is of course in the way it looks etc right out of the book. And that's the rub, that as a first film TB would've been quite different back in '62. Young does it as faithfully as you can but all those gadgets weren't there, so there is more meat to the bones Fleming had in the book in more ways than one. And of course that idiot McClory. Why couldn't Fleming have gifted him another book like TSWLM as well? McClory seemed, to me, a madman in his fixation on remaking Thunderball. It seemed all he tried to do up to his death, even after NSNA, was remake Thunderball. Or his own image of TB.

Like the Displaced Persons office in Paris and the RAF briefing. Like the communications room at SIS in Dr No, it has a feeling of authenticity. I love the Vulcan anyway, incredible to think that seventeen years after this film, they were used (albeit with just the one executing in the war) to be Britain's first strike against the Argentines in the Falklands (the book Vulcan 607 is a must read).
There's good ol' Jack Gwillim. His bio makes for quick and interesting reading. One of the youngest men to attain the rank of commander in the Royal Navy during the war (he would've been around 34/35) he only started acting in 1953 by which time he was 44. Lived to be 91 and did all sorts until his death be it Woody Allen films, fantasy films, etc.

And this is where we get to meet Derek Meddings. About this time he had worked on Anderson fare from Four Feather Falls through XL5, Stingray and onto Thunderbirds (the first feature film was in 1966) with Captain Scarlet and others yet to come. The mark of the man is that be it Bond, Superman or children's TV, Meddings' work (and his team, let's give them plaudits) was exceptional. I watched Episode VIII (SW) before this and it looks all CGI etc. Until the 90s perhaps, Bond VFX was reliant on things like these models and that crash (or water-landing) must be one of the best effects in a Bond film. There's something damn chilling about Derval's death in that cockpit though. As a child I was terrified of water so one reason probably why it stayed in my longterm.

Now, the bit I always like or set even, is where we see M the Double O's (I believe our only sighting of 007 and the 00's together until TWINE?). Now on one hand the room looks a little grand for a meeting of intelligence, military and political bods but I like how they are all together looking at this threat. This scene could've done with Tanner. Perhaps standing just behind M by a foot or two, Bond sees the photo of Derval and flicks a look up. Tanner's eyes narrows.
And how quaint that each Double-O seems to get paired up with a RAF chap, ha!
There's something about Bond's wanting to go to Nassau different to other times he wants to do something because of a girl or whatnot. A slight edge, maybe the old naval man he was wants to get the jump on SPECTRE's plan to save the world more than the spy (a spy in reality would of course do a job for whatever, Queen and Country, rather than more).

Can't overlook that Paula might well be attractive, smashing and all that but appears as capable a field operative as any. I find her death striking on every viewing now. Not many in the Bond series as allies go take that route out when there's no other way. Indeed, as Bond peers into the room where she lies, as he turns his face is grim. In an instant.

And Domino of course, the late Ms Auger was a classic beauty. Find myself wishing she wasn't dubbed. Dubbing and me don't always go well. It doesn't detract from her but I wonder if in her natural voice, Domino's pain and emotion would feel more raw. Rawer? Her scene with Bond on the beach is top notch. No little finger, no whatever, straight up facts. Some tit is wanting to blow up the world, time is pressing.

Ah, Bond and Fiona in the car. Like how Bond is a little antsy at any rate and his wary response to her saying it's her hotel also. For all the samey-ness that the soundtrack feels like from time to time, the Search for the Vulcan is a top track and indeed, seeing Bond and Felix doing detective work, works.
Bond's wariness comes full circle in the hotel room later. Both give as good as the other, Fiona's line about heavenly choir and Bond's "don't flatter yourself..I did that for king and country..."
Again, like Pussy, Fiona is a prescient character and this was 1965. Babs et al if they're that much of a fan just need to let someone bring in a Fiona, Pussy even Tiffany. Bloody world we live in.

Now the street chase as I say is etched in memory and lately I became keen on the track. As I said in a thread elsewhere, the 007 theme went through variations and this one is no different. The steady building but not launching of the track straightaway as Fiona and her hired help track Bond (quick word of praise on how Bond escapes, by knocking the bottle out of the drunks hand into the cigarette lighters path and how the henchman, on fire now, still shoots after Bond). Throughout the series Bond gets into scrapes that though he's hunted, you have a definite feeling he's going to get out and so does he no matter how imperilled he might try to look (say the hunt from Kamal's palace in OP or Brozzer's sprint in the ice palace).
Street Chase here ranks alongside Bond's flight from the shed to the ice rink in OHMSS. It's a combination. Connery himself, the characters after him and the music (plus the fact he's trailing blood). Connery's Bond is rattled, they're after him, he's hurt and it's not long after they've killed Paula. (He even has that similar startled expression as Lazenby into the bear, when he runs into a partygoer). Thanks to the scene in the WC, when I've cut my finger or whatever, I bind it with my hankie...Oh, Hilly.

Anyway gang, the feeling of death close to hand peaks at the outdoor dance. Bond's charm is enough to spirit a stranger from the bar onto the floor willingly (I love the bitchy "You should've told me your wife was here!" fuck sake girl, you only had 10 seconds, no time for a bio). And that moment when Fiona cuts in with a face as cold as any iceberg. He's surrounded, they could cut down not only him but everyone on that dance floor. Barry's music intensifies, the carefree Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang suddenly is gone, the drum beat rattles along, the dramatic music builds and builds...

Got to like how the goons react to Fiona's death. That oh-shit/fuck/run for your lives expression.

For all Bond's unintentionally annoying M with his requests to go off on his initative and sort things out, usually because he's seen a girl's photo or a thirst for revenge, M does defend his man to the hilt as you see after the second RAF briefing of the film.

The film threatens to lag in parts, some of it feels like filler here and there such as when you get to 90mins in. And yet at 2hrs 5 or so, it's still a snip of a film to what we've had lately. A film 3+ can hold your attention if done right, say Ben Hur or Lawrence of Arabia, if done poorly or sluggishly, like some epics, you give up and so it can be with Bond. Even a shortish Bond can be problematic. Lately the contrast is great. Skyfall, long film, great. Spectre, longer film, not so. What hope No Time to Die!

Once it kicks off, later towards the end, it really kicks off. As I always note, I love seeing the Royal Navy come to the rescue (we had a firmer grip on the Bahamas I suppose back then, not imperiously so but the 1960s we still had presence in the shape of the RN). The Marines might well have jumped in, literally, from the burning blue but it's the ol' Navy that comes steaming to the rescue (HMS Rothesay. Rothesay's pennant number was 107. Some bright spark clearly had an idea during filming and for publicity a zero was over the 1). Unlike HMS Bedford in TND, she has to do it the old fashioned way regardless and it's her punching away whilst the goons blast away without hitting anything.

The punch up on the Volante is as good as any but the editing hinders/helps it. Had Hunt's patience and sanity gone by then? The music screams and then Bond gets the girl. Always like Auger's bemused expression as Bond fiddles with the life raft device for the B-17 to scoop it up.

And there we go, the peak of Connery's tenure. A word before we go on ol' Felix of course. We'll leave him for last. Initially I was never a fan of Mr Van Nutter. Like Jack Wade, not mad on his tailor you might say and he seemed a touch foolish (I mean, about to blurt 007 and then even with the goon knocked out saying he's CIA. Come on chap, Bond didn't go round saying I'm SIS/MI6). But lately I reassess and whatnot, once he gets introduced he's as good as any. No Lord, no Hedison but better than Terry, Linder and others. He helps Bond out piloting the chopper, he seeks him out when Paula goes missing and he does his bit as he has to (those Marines didn't turn up without notice).

Leaving YOLT till at least tomorrow now.

8/10

Hilly Does 2020 Bond

1. From Russia With Love
2. Dr No
3. Thunderball (presently 3rd, 2015 placed 6th scoring 8/10)
4. Goldfinger

This makes me want to pop Thunderball into the DVD player. I'm looking forward to some of your more scathing commentaries. As it stands now, I read and nod in agreement for most part (I say most part because, for example, I love Fiona, but I love Elektra that little bit more. And I prefer Linder to Van Nutter, because of the performance).

Good to read that you're watching the titles sequences this time round. Wonder if a fresh pair of eyes/ears on these sequences might change your opinion.

On the 'spy mania' elements of Thunderball... it's something I love. The refugee office with a secret passage to a glorious Ken Adam set, goons in black, the titles sequence especially. I also love the how that sequence ends with the red and blue pulse of bubbles... Something about danger and Bond/Britain personified in colour... the main reason I Bond and Wai Lin's outfits in Saigon resonate, whereas usually I give little thought to wardrobe: communist red and British blue. I digress. The larger than life aspects of the spy world works well here... It goes full throttle in YOLT, so looking forward to you revisiting that one.

Also, forgot to mention something from your FRWL post:

Hilly wrote:

If only Vladek Sheybal were alive today, perfect man to play Putin in a film.

Is this deliberating baiting? We already have the perfect actor for that.

I confess, I didn't think anyone round here did like Linder. Though if you want scathing, the thought of Golden Gun is making me antsy. The spymania thing I was thinking of all the pretenders and copycats. Bond's almost lost amongst them really but comes out on top in the end.

Yeah, Craig is our modern best hope for Putin in a biopic. Unless he slits his wrists first.

Darling, I give you best duck

You Only Live Twice once when you are born and once when you die

Well, the PTS has the film in a nutshell. Great SFX (that man Meddings and co), danger, death, funny lines, great music and well, that's it.

Occurs that this film put the willies in me back in the day. You're six or so and there's a guy being cast adrift into the depths of space, a woman dying noisily as poison rolls down a string and then people being killed by piranha (in Helga's case, as noisy as Aki). The stock footage at NASA does tickle unintentionally. You see that chap on the microphone and when it's all kicking off upstairs, it cuts back to that clip and he sort of looks unbothered.

The title sequence is good, better than TB's and the song isn't too bad.

Now, if you ask me Bond is braver than we give credence. Cast over the side of a ship (HMS Tenby at Gibraltar) in something that in theory becomes a straitjacket as such, sealing him in and relying on the divers of the sub (HMS Aeneas) to get their sharpish. Alright he has gear and if pressed, I suppose he could get out but that would freak me out. Good as always to see Bond in his old world of the Navy. (Likewise, good to see M back in his old stomping ground. Check out the egg salad on his chest and the gold rank bars), even Bond has some egg salad.
As I say on the review video thing (taking forever to get these things uploaded) there'd be a big stink if Parliament found out that one of HM Submarines has been given over as a floating office complete with secretary. And Penny is fetching in her wren outfit, the hair is top notch.

You know being shot out of a torpedo tube must sting a little.

If YOLT the novel was a Baedeker guide to Japan, YOLT the movie is the living embodiment but not in a bad way. Japan is one of those locations in a Bond film that helps the movie in all senses and is as important in that regard. Like Piz Gloria and the Alps in OHMSS, London in Skyfall...
And it should be said early that Barry's score is sublime. It has beautiful pieces in Mountains and Sunsets as well as The Wedding, plus the Bond theme has a certain sound and there's a sound in tracks like Aki, Tiger and Osato.

For a man who has had enough Connery has his moments. It always makes me wonder about actors that you hear don't try in a film or have had enough of things. You're an actor, you try but then that's a simple view. Connery might no longer be the Bond of Dr No/FRWL but he has certain expressions such as when he has said I love you to Aki and she says she has a car, "Oh?"

YOLT could've been so much more. What if OHMSS had been done in '67 and YOLT in '69? If OHMSS had been consumed by gadgets etc and YOLT got Peter Hunt, a 'basic' approach and involved the Castle of Death? As it is, it's a disjointed movie. For instance, Dikko Henderson. I've read about Richard Hughes in books by Alan Whicker and Clive James, I believe Fleming wrote about him in Thrilling Cities but they were mates so Fleming would know more. Either way, Dikko was a larger than life character in YOLT and as much as I admire Charles Gray in other films, just...just a middle-aged man in a kimono. Though I guess the only man I can think to play a Hughes-esque Dikko would be Paul Hogan. Or Bryan Brown.

I like the look of the sets at any rate such as Osato's office. Only Bond could duff someone up and help himself to some (admittedly pisspoor) Vodka. Alright he gets into the safe after but yes. Again I marvel at how safe-cracking tech changes. Here Bond has something that fits into his pocket, in OHMSS it's a ruddy printer-sized thing, in Moonraker it's a cigarette case and in TND a mobile phone.
Bond goes to the effort of waiting for the security to walk away, cracks it open and alarm goes.

I suppose there's a reason Aki leads Bond round the houses, make sure he's legit but it feels utterly futile. Take him to Tiger, knowing Tiger if Bond was no good, he gets killed and dumped in Tokyo Bay.

Dubbed or not, or perhaps he's dubbed, Tiger is immediately a favourite. Not favourite, favourite but he's there isn't he? Like Draco he feels straight from the pages of YOLT the novel. What I like is that he's a proper professional in the intel community. There's no dicking about. Armoured lifts, own underground train ("Your M has something similar? M wishes! That'd piss off commuters even in 1967)

"For an European..." easy, easy. But seriously they seem to bond straight off like Kerim Bey. I get used to dubbed-Tanaka that when he speaks his native language it takes me aback. I know it's the society in Japan but imagine the outcry with the women being chosen to massage etc

Always liked Karin Dor, disappointed she wasn't a natural redhead. She's quite alluring in Hitchcock's Topaz and here looks as attractive. Helga is a wishy-washy Bond girl though, clever but not clever really. Like how the likes of Osato, Brandt and that chap who greets 'Fisher' at the office all work at the volcano base. They have day jobs and still are used by Blofeld elsewhere. She of course has the healthy chest line and indeed, her figures seemed well rounded.

Bold of Osato/Helga to try and kill Bond with automatic fire right in front of the building. And indeed out of the door through the streets of Tokyo (works better in TSWLM as there's few people about). Another woman, Aki, though with a fast car taking Bond for a ride, chortle. It's a shame the newer films didn't have things like a helicopter that could pick cars up or fanciful vehicles. Forget the Vanish.
Japan's locations continue to be utilised well, the suma wrestling area, Kobe Docks, Tokyo itself, away from Tokyo -it all helps.

I know I think of things that others eyebrow raise but occurs to me that it's all well and dandy letting off a smoke bomb in the plane but what if it blinded her? I mean it didn't do Bond much good initially.
I like to think Helga as she descends sees the plane start to flatten its curve. Of course she sees it explode but prior it visibly was coming out of the curve (thanks to Bond of course).

Ken Adam's genius is of course writ large with the volcano set. As intricate in its moving parts as the sub pen in TSWLM. Lifts, gantry, cavern ceiling, life size model of a rocket etc. Here perhaps is where the Bond films start putting behind the economy seen in Dr No and FRWL.
I like how the Japanese chap says to Blofeld no money until war has broken out. Chum, if war breaks out between the USSR and USA, won't be anyone left to enjoy money.
Still, the Russians freak out more than the Amerikanzy when their rocket gets kidnapped. Love how the Americans sit there saying the British theory is bunkum. I found myself imagining what if the British had a rocket kidnapped? Image of chaps in pullovers, drinking tea, munching biscuits...
"Our rocket's being attacked!
-Calm yourself chap, these things happen. Somebody get me British Intelligence."


Osato you fecking coward. Like Hans though, no emotion at anything. Well, not until he gets eaten.

Interest wanes in the film suddenly. I don't know why but yes. Helga's been chopped and we're now at Ninja camp. Stands to reason Bond has to blend in somehow. I imagine that happened in the novel even if not explicitly described.

The music for Bond and Aki in their room is unexpectedly stirring somehow. As if Barry is foreshadowing the subsequent death. Interesting that there is none of that in OHMSS. Say when they drive down the coast road or as Bond gets out of the car to sort out the floral display (I'm not advocating the use of music here, just contrasting how the two work).

I do like Tanaka's "You killed him!"
Licence to kill buddy. It's that or be killed.

It lags the film a little I suppose but the wedding scene shows off Japan's scenery, Japan's traditions and has a beautiful Barry track. I remember watching this one of the times when I was younger with my family and I got lost in it because of the music. Strikes me now actually, hoho, that Bond's way of getting a wife chosen is the 1967 equivalent of swipe left or swipe right.

Ahem.

I like to imagine, not that he would, Connery raging off camera: "You have me shshave my chest hair! You get me to wear a schthupid wig! What next...!"

Didn't realise on the quiet just how much of the film is in Japan. You get used to films utilising Britain in ways to save money, not just Bond and here's a film in glorious technicolour in Japan. I read recently that for example, Spenser for Hire gave Boston an extra 50 million dollars in revenue from tourists. Bond to Japan must have made that look like birdfeed.

We plod along as Bond and Kissy (I get the girls muddled in the first half of the film. I'm not being rude, but Aki and Kissy look quite similar to my tired eyes) plod along.

As I note on the video, the film as is typical of the day, utilises the bevvy of ITC actors. That is to say The Prisoner, Man in a Suitcase, Saint, Randall & Hopkirk, etc, etc, etc. George Murcell, David Healy, David Bauer (both of whom reappear in DAF), Ed Bishop and Shane Rimmer. If Rimmer and Bishop described themselves as "Rent-a-Yanks" (both Canadian!) than all of them were Rent-an-Actors.
Having grown up on movies of 1950s early 60s, these faces often are as familiar as my own family. I suppose we have the equivalent now (the likes of those who have done King's Speech, W12 etc) but these chaps from that era were the best.

We then get the second of our great battles. Like the sub pen in TSWLM, the volcano set is then taken over for a great set piece.

Can't say anything about Blofeld just yet. I'm neither here nor there.

Good camera work as Bond walks up to Hans, that zooming in.

Noticed that in this last bit, Hunt's editing picks up.

Classic Shane Rimmer: "It's BLOWN UP!"

And there we go. Bond ends a second consecutive film in the water. Again the Royal Navy might get into some trouble for surfacing underneath a smooching agent (tonight the BBC reports that a sub captain, HMS Trenchard, has been sacked of his command for a lockdown party. Right out of the Navy Lark that is). I like the 'water' sound in the music as it zooms in on the life raft and I wonder how much effort it took to get the Aeneas to surface under the raft.

"Hello Aeneas, Mr Gilbert says could you try again?
-We're not a ruddy circus you know!"

So there we go, YOLT. It has its moments but it feels flat in other parts, is this because of Connery's attitude BTS? The story? The pace? I can't say. I just now that sadly, since 2009 when the annual Bondathon's started till 2015, YOLT has descended my ratings like a missile.

Well chaps as I say, I'm skipping OHMSS so you can say that's a 10/10 of course. I watched it few weeks back, at Christmas and nowadays I don't want to knacker it more than I should. So, Sir Hilary Bray (Baronet) OBE, KCVO, KCMG will return with Diamonds Are Forever.

6/10

EDIT

Hilly Does Bond 2020

1. On Her Majesty's Secret Service (currently 1st, 2015 placing 1st scoring 10/10)
2. From Russia With Love
3. Dr No
4. Thunderball
5. Goldfinger
6. You Only Live Twice (current placing 5th, 2025 placed 14th scoring 6.5/10)

I'm perhaps more forgiving with YOLT than you are. It's lighter than its predecessors but the 60s charm is in full swing, with sweeping sets, photography and a score to boot... I dig it.

Can't disagree with a lot here either, funnily enough. Thought I would. It sits around no. 14 on my list too. Have to say I too have always liked the way the Jap says, "no money to be paid until war has broken out". Such a distinct voice and delivered so efficiently.

Nancy Sinatra's song not bad? Isolation must be getting to you, you old devil! It's a Bond classic!

I didn't say I disliked the film's song. I employed British understatement. Before I watched the film I wasn't in the mood for it.

--

Wrong pussy

Diamonds Are Forever

forever....

...forever...

Well, here we go again for the thousandth time DAF. I'm going to hit this one differently to things. As I say I've seen this a lot growing up with it being Dad's favourite (and one of three Bond's we had on VHS for ages) and I reviewed it to death a couple of times here. So, adjust your set, pop in the Monkees' Head album and away we go.

In the PTS we have our one continuity to OHMSS, Blofeld at least employs the same goons as he did in OHMSS. Yes, yes, they died probably in OHMSS but look, it's the same goons. Bruce Forsyth and the other one.

Intriguing bit during the titles. Cat sitting in the, er...legs? V shape...just after Norman Burton and others' name disappears. I assume they looped it or some such (the cat shoots off as soon as it stops...) but just as Dame Shirley hits the "diamonds are forever, are forever..." the cat seems to be nodding its head to the beat.

We resume with a bored looking Connery, has he just been told that Cubby wants him to do the next one after this? No, poor M is trying to show *his* knowledge off. Bernard Lee looks a touch unwell or at least the makeup is a tad heavy in the white. OHMSS is but a memory, DAF might well have started with Bond stepping out of the shower to Kissy Suzuki. "Kisshhy I just had the most peculiar daydream."

Before wikipedia the fountain of all knowledge was Bond. Be it sherry, diamonds or perhaps why Laurence Naismith wants out. Naismith realises that he's actually meant to be across the road to Elstree to film Persuaders.

Again, No Time To Die might well be 'pushing envelopes' but we've had two strong women already -Pussy and Fiona and here we have two gay villains. Bruce Glover plays the role with such relish. Is it a stereotype? I'm sure bits are but no, I'm not bothered. They're not the scariest villains and yet they're two of the most realistic.

I always fancied a trip to South Africa says Bond. Aye, aye, says I, if only he did! I think he did in the  book. If Gold had problems I'd imagine Bond would have done. Furthermore I wouldn't be surprised in a South Africa-filmed Bond, he'd have relations with a black lady and the government having kittens.

MI6 go to the effort of giving our Peter a snazzy convertible, putting Moneypenny into a customs/immigration uniform at Dover (the hellhole of Kent) and that's it. I'm tickled by Bond using the ol' hovercraft (more is the pity they stopped these ones). A) the hovercraft went to France. So I guess he bombed up through France to Holland and B) surely he could've flown like in Goldfinger?
I know, I know, overthinking. Like the Sunbeam in Dr No, this car whose name escapes me, doesn't quite fit Connery in my opinion. Nor does it fit the actual Franks.

Ah, JSJ. If only they were brains. This intro with our Tiff left an indelible impression as a youth. For a start she changes her hair three times in the space of a few minutes or so. (That blonde wig intrigues me, it's right down to her backside. I got the impression she changes colour for the sake of it at home). DAF might not be a good Bond film (if we base it on 'Fleming' standard Bond) but it's entertaining in the lines. I'd love to have been privy to Manckewicz's process (nowadays I'd imagine we would've been, filmed during the making of for the blu-ray when it came out).

"As long as the collar and cuffs match..." and so on

Indeed, took me until a certain point to realise what Bond meant. My parents sure as hell didn't explain it. If we have a guilty pleasure Bond film, there must be a guilty pleasure role that we might besmirch and yet enjoy. Tiffany by JSJ is it. She's ballsy, not quite the novel's depiction but the way she does some of her lines and moves in a way.

Good luck Q getting those missiles into the bonnet of Lazenby's DBS. Too unwieldy and for a start, Lazenby locked the door and threw away the key.

Having been mates with the now much missed Eric Sykes, Connery does his tribute act to him as he lets Franks into the building. Now we'll excuse this Pythonesque commentary for the punch-up. Right there alongside the FRWL train fight and GE's dish fight. The confined space makes it. You have to love that it starts with Bond elbowing the glass and his startled expression. A fight in a lift (elevator), already desperate is ratcheted up when Barry kicks his music in.

Ms Case has a wardrobe even Kate Middleton would be envious of. It seems she's living up to her department store namesake.

Contrast this fight to a Moore-fight. With respect to Sir Roger, his was not a physical Bond and if it was doubled up. One reason why in the latest viewing other week, the GE dish fight rose sharply in my books.

"My God, you just killed James Bond!?"

HOW do these people know he's that important? The YOLT obit perhaps or as Sir Roger said, this is a man for whom every hotel bartender knew his order on sight. Has the Donald Trump of 1971 been immortalising him on twitter? (No twitter in 1971, ed.)

Connery continues his Sykes tribute by pretending to be Franks' brother. The attachment to his brother is touching whilst annoying the aircraft chap.

Still dig Glover's expression after the "Ms Case is most attractive" line. He just holds that stare even after Kidd tries covering his tracks.

I don't mind Norman Burton. To me there's some kind of chemistry between him and Connery, it might not be electric but it seems a good enough partnership.

Slumber Inc is a terrifying piece of music. Buried alive.

Forget Jinx, the first spin off proposed should've been Shady Tree but played by Don Rickles. Or Don Rickles should've been Tree. "You touch me again and you go down!"

say what you will but the you have caught me with more than my hands up line is exceptional

When I was younger I didn't twig the ashtray in Bond's chest. I thought Connery was taking a cig to his chest hair rather well.

Ah Tiff's face when the bloke at the stalls calls her a big girl. "You creep just get on with it"

"If she gives your men the slip?"

"Don't tell me you lost her?"

that's what I like about the Connery/Burton. Connery's Bond subtly needles Burton like a mate. Burton's Felix has no come back as such, he's ran ragged.

"Shove a couple of gallons in..." Tiffany you minx

There's something about that music as the camera shows Metz's van piling out of Vegas and you see the desert take shape.

Hand it to Connery, he pretends to be this radiation chap and is fussy about his clipboard and representing G Section admirably. Find myself wishing there was music for the Mustang haring round downtown Vegas. Always love the sight of the crowds watching (I only noticed a crowd on the street in the YOLT PTS yesterday).

"Mr and MRS JONES!?"
Again, Burton's getting fed up of his mate and Connery's enjoying it. Tiff now has crossed over into useless Bond girl. All submissive...well, I don't know there's too Tiff's. Ballsy, "I'm doing what he tells me Mr Leiter, honest".

Decent piece of music as Bond is buried. I'm no expert but I'd look at things I was putting underground as far as pipes went.

After this, Bambi and Thumper were employed by M at Quarterdeck once Mr and Mrs Hammond retired.

(Like the fact Barry gives it the perilous music the moment Bond is slung into the pool)

Lazenby would be backstage with those girls.

"George we need to film the revenge scene where you KILL Blofeld!"
[muffled] "George says could you come back in 15minutes?"

Q is there to help Bond but you only live once, so he's off to try the one-armed bandits. Sadly, we don't see Q after this as the people who run those places back then took him into a back room.

Hold up, Icarus is being unfurled in orbit. Scary that it's ripped off for DAD in a way. Though Gray's Blofeld could pull off the "behold, ICARUS!"

Curious how Ernst can target a Russian sub.

Swear the chap in the orange tie that tells Whyte (when he returns to the penthouse) he has a call is dubbed by Shane Rimmer.

So, off to the evil lair on water. Tiff has taken to her life as a moll like a duck to water. Blofeld has mustered up a bikini and she's...well..

"I do so hate martial music?" is a quote I hear in my head when doing my walking tour training start of year for changing of the guard. True story

Just twigged the sign in the oil rig- "No Pollution. NOT ANY"

I guess my focus was always on Miss Case.

Do like that Dubya Dubya flies his own chopper. Not only that but in what technically is a Special Ops bash. Don't get Trump doing that. Probably as well.

Is that a chuckle as Bond wrestles to figure out the controls of the crane? Must be. Connery is about 15mins away from ending his tenure.

Or like most chaps, give him something to mess about with he has a ball.

And Blofeld? Some say he's still swinging on that crane.

Love Wint's look of anguish as Kidd goes to his death. Tiff smiles as Bond shoves the bomb between Wint's legs, flashbacks to high school.

And there we go.

I did better in the video review as I'd just woken up. Anyway, that's not the point.

7.5/10

Hilly Does 2020 Bond

1. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
2. From Russia With Love
3. Dr No
4. Thunderball
5. Diamonds Are Forever (currently 5th, 2015 placing 12th)
6. Goldfinger
7. You Only Live Twice

Triple whammy.

Is that all it does?

Live and Let Die

the start of an era and a sluggish one at that. At least get to see Bond's flat which I always assumed went over two floors, looks like an one-floor job. Only twigged the monogrammed dressing gown though yellow is not Bond's colour.

Must be said that the song is first rate. The titles sometimes well...they're the usual.
Good to see New York but not enough of it, be it in this film or in the series. The score has its moments and Whisper Who Dares is one of them. Couples well with the filming, the darting camera (that random, quick shot of a startled woman) and Bond trying to get control of the car.

Moore is of course a contrast to Connery, it's also of course closer to Sir Roger himself in terms of the style. He knows how to wear a suit and you'd hope Sir Roger had a long contract on Saville Row. He does have a fantastic couple of expressions from when he hears Rosie's first assignment was Baines to her scream. Less about Rosie better. Any agent far too bothered by superstition has no business being one, newbie or not. The acting is not helping I suppose.

Yapphet Kotto has a quietly understated performance, at least as Kananga, and it works the better for it. Throwing the cartoonish villain into Mr Big provides the best of both worlds and then it all sort of collapses into one at the underground lair at the end of the film. Observe his casual, "if he finds it, kill them."

We ditch Rosie for the ever beautiful, who like a fine wine, has matured with age.  Much like Connery's Bond in Dr No, Moore's has no time for the superstition, tarot cards, withcraft etc.
The bus scene is classic Moore, what comes anyway, using a London bus to escape whilst with a beautiful woman with some comical villains chasing and quite inept at that. Corgi are missing a trick. Bring out a model of the bus but with a detachable roof that and San Monique squad car.

Admire Bond's gentleman ethos. Bond would have that anyway but you suspect it's also Sir Roger's. If there was coarse language in front of Seymour, he'd likely remind the offender that there was a lady present.

I'd have been tempted to place music from the moment Tee-Hee puts the finger in a grip. Though there is tension as she goes to look at the cards there perhaps could've been more prior. The pace feels off regardless, once we reach Louisiana it drags. Lack of score? Fluidity? I don't know nor am too bothered in reasoning. Pepper is a decent enough character, that is helped by the performance but yes.

And that means you, smartass

Boat Chase is a decent track on the OST and yet it just fades at the wedding and that's it for a long enough period.
It ends then there's more. It's the kind of film you expect it to end at a certain point but of course we're off to the island, tussling with the natives, almost fed to the sharks, inflate a man and get a train. Not even 20mins but by now my attention has wandered.

As debuts go, great -as debut films go, not so good.

6.5/10

--

The Man With The Golden Gun

Film's forty-five years old. Well, there we go. I've not watched this since 2015. I've never much cared for Golden Gun and now I don't have to sit with my parents, don't feel the need to seek it out. Something feels decidedly off about this movie. I've read people say the score is not Barry's most imaginative (even a 'poor' score has great moments), that it wasn't the greatest filming experience and so on. Perhaps some of this translates onto screen. Moore's Bond is not only still finding his feet but is off in some measure. The Bond girl in the shape of Goodnight is a vacuous airhead, more-so than other weak Bond girls but then in OHMSS the novel, she did always seem to be giggling and flirting so maybe it's truer than we realise. Don't care for the song in the slightest. The one redeeming feature is Christopher Lee.

Harsh in aspects? Probably.

So off we go. Twigged on this viewing that the 'model' of Al Capone blinks as he fires the gun and again when his arms get shot off.

No one looks terribly happy when Bond walks into M's office (I see the face of one chap and I think, he's been in everything, James Cossins is his name and I bet now I remember that, the two actor or more thread needs revision.) M's had enough, his butterflies are waiting. Tanner, as he is in FYEO, bears little relation to Fleming's idea. I always imagined that the literary Tanner would join Bond for a brandy in one of their offices at the end of a day or maybe even a pub/club.

Interesting that Moneypenny's answer to Fairbanks is Alaska. I know, I know but surely one of our own would be foremost rather than somewhere relatively obscure (maybe Fairbanks is where they keep the iceberg sub from VTAK with the requisite scantily clad blonde in attendance). Even Penny is snappy. Could the Saltzman/Broccoli division have affected things?

Ah here we are. The belly dancer. As chat up lines go, a magnificent abdomen is very Moore. Again you realise how different physically Bond is here to Connery and Lazenby. Moore usually employs a long legged lash to the chest, up the backside or whatever. The camera work gets frenetic, perhaps to make the fight more than what it is. No Hunt now.

A rare good moment is Bond's "or forever hold your piece". It's quite menacing for this Bond.

I like seeing Soon-Tek-Oh in things since Final Countdown and here his character is quite incompetent. In his ineptitude is best summed up at the kung-fu school. Let's not wait for Bond shall we? Had this been a Lazenby scene, cut to a rapid close-up of grim faced Bond who promptly fights his way to the boat executing a series of jabs, kicks and punches.

Though only Bond could waltz into a hideaway, see a nude girl and start stripping off for action when he's there for another purpose. A contemporary review says there's Carry On levels of smut in this film (or Carry On-esque humour at that) and when you see two sumo wrestlers, Sid James wouldn't have been out of place beforehand.

Oh, Jay-Dubya. Once was enough. Totally out of place in this film. There's comic relief and there's this.

Phuyuck? (in my best Bernard Lee), my sentiments exactly. One of the best stunts in any film is ruined by a damn whistle. Hope that car-plane has decent seats or things will be numb by the end.

It is somewhat appropriate that the next scene starts with a horrified, wide-eyed Bernard Lee (Hamilton presumably had him hold it for a while). Goodnight hasn't figured out she's airborne. Can only assume a car-plane is as smooth a ride as say Air Force One.

As we still had a navy back then and one based in Hong Kong, ideally Bond should've been inserted from a submarine. If Red China is that much a concern. I'd imagine China's air-watch was superior to their navy in those days.

Another Bond girl that the bad guy gets into a bikini.

NikNak grates after a while sadly. And Bond smashes all those bottles in defence then walks through it to capture NikNak.

Anyway. It's over, we're done. Skipping onto TSWLM presently.

2/10

He has just left, he has just left

The Spy Who Loved Me

I reviewed it when I watched it earlier in the year, so bare bones.

Filming at Faslane further lends authenticity to the naval background. Seeing Bond saluted, returns salute tickles. He is a three-ringer after all, reserve or not.

After Golden Gun a flash of clean air and fun in its way but sadly not one of the strongest. Not top ten anyway.

I did my videos prior and managed to keep them relatively short but probably needed an injection of caffeine or disinfectant.

6/10

Hilly Does 2020 Bond

1. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
2. From Russia With Love
3. Dr No
4. Thunderball
5. Diamonds Are Forever
6. Goldfinger
7. Live And Let Die (currently 7th, 2015 placing 15th scoring 6.5/10)
8. The Spy Who Loved Me (currently 8th, 2015 placing 18th scoring 6/10)
9. The Man With The Golden Gun (currently 9th, 2015 placing 24th scoring 3/10)

There IS a Corgi LALD bus, complete with slide-away top deck -







I have one, although Lord knows where it is.

Nice one Blunty. I know Corgi et al have done models of the bus from LALD but had no idea one was with slide-able roof.

Crafted my triple bill into a double, leave Octopussy until tomorrow.

I have friends in low places

Moonraker

As I saw Moonraker a month back, won't go into detail as such. It's on this occasion a fun film though it shouldn't be. Maybe this is where the series broke and afterwards it went in a more serious vent best s it could. Or tried to take itself more seriously than it had in a few years. Lois Chiles is quite alluring in that black outfit at Rio and the model work holds up in forty years and will never be bettered in a Bond film. Though I do like how quickly, once the laser fight starts inside the station, it all goes to pot. Within a few seconds massive explosions and debris all over the place.

6.5/10

Goodbye countess

For Your Eyes Only

in an ideal world I'd skip the PTS and the titles. There surely could've been something else they could have done in the PTS rather than the faux-Blofeld which takes the edge off some good filming like the chopper inside the warehouse or Bond climbing out of the chopper. The stuntwork is great.

Once we get past the titles (I don't get why we need Easton on screen, turns the titles into a music video but it's no big deal) it feels already different to the past few films. I guess we're now in a new decade, how films are done be it the film itself has change and so the appearance feels different. I'm tempted to say a Hunt directed FYEO wouldn't have had that PTS.

Curious, to my overanalytical mind, that the Vice-Admiral and First Lord of the Admiralty don't see Gray in uniform. But then times change, I think the First Lord only was in uniform to tell Thatcher the Argentines had invaded the Falklands because he had been at a shindig prior. Anyway, the location early on is incredible. Wonder if it looks better in blu ray.
I said it in the vid and I'll say here, I don't mind Melina. I have a feeling I should but as I say women with brunette hair used to sway me in my youth and Bouquet isn't a bad actress (admittedly she's better in a French series we called "Spin").

It's crazy how the absence of M makes that office seem vastly different. I had the same feeling watching this tonight as I did when I first went to my grandparents' house in 2017 after my nan passed. I fear great as he is as an actor, James Villiers doesn't feel like Tanner to me. Even if Freddie Gray wasn't there, I suspect Villiers' Tanner would even say "Morning, James."
A change of music, gradually as the film proceeds from zero seconds, it seems to settle into something good. Obligatory early 80 pop stuff aside.

Oh that moment when they break cover and there's the 2CV. Fact Bond is that stunned he stops. Some people surely must have groaned (as in fact I heard someone express annoyance in CR when you see Bond driving that Ford) but fear not Bond purists...It kicks off. About the only time Bond has to get help to turn his car over but once he gets in that drivers seat, we get an upturn.
After that first swerve Melina gives him a look as if to say: "I had no idea a 2CV could do that!"
And of course that nod he gives. "Hello chaps".
I'm assuming that's Martin Grace driving, if so or whoever is doing it, sure knows how to thrash a 2CV around.
I like the relationship that forges gently from the off. Bond is genuinely concerned for her and there's no attempt to bed her. Any other time Bond would I reckon. Even when he has important things (like in TLD, bails out onto a yacht. Needs to get out of Gib' to report and well...make that 2hrs).

This film is Pissed Freddie (it seems to alternate. Chirpy, moody, chirpy, moody). And old Smithers. Craig's film needed a Smithers type once. A Smithers who tests stuff and gets all pleased with himself and Bond is sour-faced. What a contrast in how times change. Now we use intricate computer networks, DNA whatever and in 1981, Bond and Q seal themselves in a room with basic computer animation, large reels and memory. Tickled by how Q says to Sharon, "I'll lock up". I'd have thought Q Branch was always open.

Initially Ferrera is too much of a nit, even Bond gives him a look on the balcony (as he stops because a woman passes) as if to say he's taking it too this spy lark. It's a gentle enough performance and his death is keenly felt.

One of the best stunts in a Bond film, understated perhaps, is the runaway piece. All manner of twists, turns, rooftops and the bobsled run. It is peppered with slapstick but doesn't detract too much. A double-taking pigeon might've.

Kristatos has the right amount of slime. Unlike some who change like Koskov and Saunders, he's just unpleasant from the start.
For a character in the film so briefly, the countess' death is a striking one followed by a grim expression as Charles Dance comes flying in.

It is hard to dislike Colombo, the last of the great great allies of Bond. Shame he wasn't back in a Dalton. That Dalton/Topol dynamic would've been something to see. That kick of the car s till packs a wallop. As much for Liesl as Ferrera.

Exceptional model work underwater when the two subs et al combat. Moment of peril as they are keel-hauled. I'm sure I read somewhere that Bouquet couldn't swim or had some kind of phobia of water, either way makes the scenes interesting as it looks they filmed it so you didn't see the double's face too often. (Edit, it says on wiki she had a pre-existing condition that went against doing underwater shots. The soundstage looks convincing enough for what it has to do). Wiki also says ol' Willy Bogler attached himself to the bobsled to get the shots, let's say he had big brass ones.

Something about that dust up between Colombo and Kristatos that always entertains. Two middle-aged blokes one of whom realistically wants to rip the head off the other.

Bibi needs help, fancies any bloke with money, ha. That's another thing if they had Colombo back. Imagine Bond's face when Bibi turns up.

And so, the end. You get all the way through with Bond only bedding one woman and it's not the main girl. The Thatcher moment is a touch surreal but about time a PM is seen congratulating Bond. June Brown was THE master impressionist of Thatcher so it stands to reason it should be her. Wonder what Mrs T thought about it.

Well, I like this film. I read the contemporary reviews and most hated it or didn't quite like it. It's a shame this kind of film came along for Moore now.

Hilly score 8.5/10

Hilly Does 2020 Bond

1. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
2. From Russia With Love
3. Dr No
4. For Your Eyes Only (currently 4th, 2015 placed 7th scoring 8/10)
5. Thunderball
6. Diamonds Are Forever
6. Goldfinger
7. Moonraker (currently 7th, 2015 placed 13th scoring 7/10)
8 Live And Let Die
9. The Spy Who Loved Me
10. The Man With The Golden Gun

DAF ahead of GF Hilly? When reading it I knew you'd place it ahead of YOLT, and my post was going to be centred on that - but Goldfinger too?

Good to see more appreciation for Burton's Leiter... Despite being physically wrong for the role, I'd say he turns in perhaps one of the better acted versions of old Felix. He's no Jack Lord but there's a character there.

I'll get to the other posts later today!

Afraid so, I fear I've gone into this marathon touch differently. Think I'm exhausted when it comes to GF. Repeated viewings in recent years haven't enthralled me. We'll see by the end of this thing. Trouble with scoring is that I'll be having a couple on 9/10 and they'll be stacked 2,3,4 or whatever in the list but are equal...so more of a pyramid hmm.

No, Burton is no Lord but as you say he's a better version acting wise of an older Felix. I think he's more on par with Connery's Bond in that film. Had he been Felix in say Dr No or FRWL it would be jarring. Burton did alright on the quiet -Planet of the Apes, Towering Inferno (dies a gruesome death early so not much to do in that), various shows like Quincy. Reliable actor I'd have thought.

Give GF a break for a few years. It'll become fresh again.

Made my way through your commentaries... I'm a little more forgiving with TMTWGG because of its ambience, Barry's score which has some very fine atmospheric music, and the lighter tone mixed some darkly bizarre elements. And I'm not phased by Pepper's return. In fact, he enlivens the film! Shame he didn't move to San Fran for a last hurrah in AVTAK.

I more or less agree with your sentiments with LALD, TSWLM, MR and FYEO. The latter - I was unaware that most contemporary reviews viewed it unfavourably. I'd have thought the opposite, with it's more character driven plot line and darker tone (well, darker comparatively to the likes of Moore's earlier efforts!).

I fear a JW return in VTAK might've finished me off. The FYEO reviews are on the wikipedia page, only a few but doesn't seem like many initially cared for it.

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We are two of a kind

Octopussy

Will perhaps be holding too high a placing in my rankings but next to FYEO a firm Moore performance. The cracks show after a while in the film with some of the gags and then VTAK undoes the work in FYEO and Octopussy. The PTS is top notch, some good model-work, back projection and stunt involved. Always something about that moment when Moore appears on the back of the Land Rover with  the AK-47. Surprise.

The titles follow a similar pattern from TSWLM to VTAK, certainly products of their era. Intriguing to think what Binder would've done for Craig's films.

Still something about the stalking of 009. The imagery of him running through the brush and then that shot of him crashing through the window. Seems Double 0's preferred disguise in a circus is a clown.

Like the Soviet council set and scene, sets off the subsequent Cold War feel rather well. The actor playing the chairman looks like the real deal. Without looking...Antonov? Brezhnev. I'll come back to that if I remember.
The auction scene isn't too bad, poor Wilmer almost having kittens. Understated introduction between Bond and PKK for the first time and then that music accompanying Bond's flight into India.

If Bond is the good guy riding into town, sorting out the town and leaving, one such moment in microcosm is at the casino and effectively rescuing the major whilst rubbing PKK's face in the muck. Battle flags were subtly raised in the auction and in full force now and onwards.

The, ah, humour sometimes is a bit jarring -"Step on it!" (reaches stairs), "this should shake them off", the tennis heads but then swiftly redeemed in a manner when the Bond theme flares up as the dagger plunges in. My claim to fame is that I did of course not only see Vijay Amritraj play invitiationals at Wimbledon when working there in 2010 but walk past him by a couple of feet twice that same week. Too nervous to ask for an autograph and a sweaty, hi-vis jacket mess (daily temps of 32/33C). Vijay is a good enough ally, classic in a way in the sense like Ferrera he seems a gentle enough soul and his death is hard to swallow for Bond.

PKK is just not imposing enough a villain in any shape or form. So it's left to Gobinda to be the muscle and the violence.

The one film where Moore's Bond takes great delight, almost childish at winding up Q is this. His nonchalant "that's all Q" to Q's "is that all?", the one-liners (good ol' Smithers. Thinking of him now Q's 1980s 'R' -no one else has followed Q to India), zooming in on the girl and so on. As well it ends when it does. (Just how quickly did Q Branch get their jacket mended? Not even five minutes).

The song might not be the best but it's one I've never minded in isolation (that is to say, away from the film) and the instrumental strikes me as luscious. Nothing groundbreaking, just does the job as a romantic tune.
A Dalton OP intrigues for the reasons any would-be Dalton film does. I suspect the adolescent stuff in Q's lab would be gone, the tut-tut scene toned down in terms of humour and his performance against Berkoff would be a great contrast. Though I imagine he would still have the same face as Sir Roger when told: "That's my little octopussy."

Weird never noticed the reg plate of PKK's car- KAM 1. Oh Hilly.

Magda is 50/50. Good looking but somehow lacking in parts (acting parts, ed.) Bond's reflexes are quite good when those legs come swinging up and over the balcony. Saw it coming clearly.

Octopussy's island of women has that dangerous tendency of feeling on the edge of parody (alright any film does) but it is verging on Carry On Up the Khyber without thankfully going into it. A PTS could've been, say with Dalton, Bond in the past -shot in black and white, going to confront Major Smythe -you never quite see Bond's face and then titles.

Maud Adams is a striking lady and gives some depth to her character. She feels Bond's equal in a manner of speaking and might not be some's cup of tea but there we go.

The shift to Germany is a contrast to India. The Cold War setting firms up from here on in as the bomb plot gathers momentum. Got to like that even blinded by the blowtorch, Bond gets in a lashing kick. Orlov's mania comes to the fore once the clash with Bond is done. You suspect Orlov is a few heartbeats from a mental breakdown and that's down to Berkoff. It just simmers beneath the surface even when he calmly speaks to Bond. Again, Bond his moments in this film and one is after shooting the soldier (that gormless expression as priceless), as he whirls around he instantly fires at Orlov. Any other time there's hesitation  (FYEO after he downs a dune buggy, Liesl's flying for her life and Bond is still staring at the buggy).

Only Barry could turn a ruddy Merc on a railway line into something quite epic. Remainder of the film has some good stunts, tension in the shape of the bomb defusion and the classic 'rescue the damsel in distress' moment. It might not be the best but it's not the worst.

8/10
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Yeah, and I'm Dick Tracy

View to a Kill

Oh here we go. Next to DAF my most watched Bond film. My birth year film in fact and that means we're both 35 this year. Rats.

Anyway. The PTS hints at what might have been. A firm Cold War setting, Bond investigating under the radar, pesky Soviets pursuing and a fine Barry score.

And then we have California Girls. In 1985. *shakes fists* damn you Mike Love
Scratch that above line.

And then Bond is rescued by a covert sub masquerading as an iceberg with obligatory Union Jack (I'm going on a limb to say that as it's a ship at sea, and Bond is a commander in the RNR, it's a Jack). Obligatory hot blonde who Bond obligatorily woos. Well, I say woos, just gets on with it.
(Five days to Alaska? First day they're still, er, debriefing. By the fifth day she's in tears having had enough of his company and he bemoans not having any caviar left).

As I say elsewhere and maybe before, I've seen this film far too much to ever find anything new about it as such or redress opinions or whatever and so it's a guilty pleasure film. It is writ large not good and yet, and yet, there is enough in it like Moonraker say to not write it off. The Essential Bond book says it's the second worse film to TMWTGG or both are equal. Yep.

VTAK is one song I never skip but the titles are sometimes quite bizarre even for Bond titles. The song is 80s, the film feels firmly 80s and the titles cements the deal (you can watch say Goldfinger and not necessarily think, ah, the sixties). The shot of Bond that floats up (the next woman on screen has green paint and is skiing) looks like it was done for TSWLM/MR/FYEO, it doesn't look like 1985 Sir Roge.
Find myself thinking, if only we could have Duran Duran back for another film. Fuck it.

I know what's coming but our chaps are all oldish chaps and it hurts. So be it, they're not bad actors and for Moneypenny it's a decent enough final appearance. Oh for Freddie Gray in LTK.

"What's this about Bond resigning?
-He's going after the drug baron Sanchez, to take revenge for Felix Leiter...
-Good God! This'll ruin my credit rating!"

Only VTAK could have these goofy bits like the California Girls, the fire engine chase, the end shower scene and so on and yet have some fantastic stunts (Martin Grace had the biggest balls to do the Golden Gate Bridge), a brutal massacre (perfect for Zorin's pathological, psychological madness), a striking ally's death (Tibett) and indeed the likes of Zorin and May Day. If we can get Christopher Plummer inserted into scenes in eight days, we can do that with Dalton or Brosnan.

"Detective friend of mine called Aubergine.
-Sounds fruity.
-Not that kind of fruity."

I am now of the opinion that May Day is one of the finest henchwomen (or is that henchpersons?) to have been in a Bond film. Surely in Bond 26 we get Lady Gaga or [insert popular artist here] as a hench...person. (I look into my crystal ball and say Bond 26 is going to be released in...2028 on the side of a double deck bus in London). May Day has depth to her without saying much. I sense she's not in a relationship as such with Zorin. Something about the persona strikes me as she's her own woman in all senses.

And as for Tanya, ordinary girl caught up in the spy game.

It might be a retread on Goldfinger but it has its moments and I'll take this over some of what came after. Moore probably should've have left after FYEO or at the very least Octopussy. It's hard to imagine Dalton despite what I said last time I saw this. Indeed, perhaps Brosnan and then he gets to do TLD/LTK...Who knows? There is an alternate timeline where all these what ifs happened.

6.5/10

Hilly Does 2020 Bond
1. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
2. From Russia With Love
3. Dr No
4. For Your Eyes Only
5. Thunderball
6. Octopussy (currently 6th, 2015 placed 8th scoring 8/10)
7. Diamonds Are Forever
8. Goldfinger
9. Moonraker
10. View to a Kill (currently 10th, 2015 placed 19th scoring 6/10)
11. You Only Live Twice
12. Live and Let Die
13. The Spy Who Loved Me
14. The Man With The Golden Gun

Hit the Dalton's as a double bill and thus one video. Too short a season see.

Thinking if there's a way of doing my own commentary. Maybe if I did it like Brosnan did. I had an idea last night to discuss each Bond individually as I go into vids with an idea and improvise. Fair idea how my tours went in between set points.

The Freddie Gray LTK line got me. Great joke. It would've been even funnier if Bond awoke to see Kwang and Freddie Gray.. "Freddie what the hell?" "My god Bond what have you been doing to foreign economic structures?" "Piss off." "The PM will want to hear of this!"

hegottheboot wrote:

The Freddie Gray LTK line got me. Great joke. It would've been even funnier if Bond awoke to see Kwang and Freddie Gray.. "Freddie what the hell?" "My god Bond what have you been doing to foreign economic structures?" "Piss off." "The PM will want to hear of this!"

It's quite plausible as I can hear Keen's voice when he says that. LTK's events might well have pushed Freddie Gray over the edge. I could somehow see Gray dragged into Bond's field team. Him and Q an unlikely partnership.

Good write-ups as always. Glad to see more appreciation for both OP and AVTAK.

Regarding Maud/Octopussy. I feel the depth to her character comes from the writing. I know you're fond of Adams but I really don't believe she rounds the character out as well as she should. Much more suitable that Andrea role in TMWTGG, imho.

Which brings me to Stacey. An essay on AVTAK and only one line dedicated to Stacey?! Times are changing. I do like your assessment of May Day. Is she working for Zorin in the name of love? Is it love? Perhaps it's lazy writing but somehow there seems to be too much beneath it all - maybe it's down to Jones' performance presence - to suggest little thought went into the creation of the Zorin/May Day dynamic. And of course Walken does exceptional work too, which helps buy into whatever is going on between them.

The AVTAK titles, again, one of the best in the series and perfectly accentuated by Duran Duran's song.

And on music, yeah All Time High isn't particularly Bondian but damn that instrumental version is as lush as anything more fitting in the series.

I guess I didn't go into Stacey much, so to speak, as I did or have tried in the appreciation thread. That and I twigged that in my video review I misspoke and called her Tracy.

I don't think there was much thought into May Day as a character beyond getting Grace Jones in. I think that there isn't a love as such or friendship -she has her own henchwomen in a way and perhaps it was purely professional. May Day hired as muscle as Scarpine seemed mostly brains not brawn.

Walken's intonations are top notch. I quite liked after Bond and Stacey escape the hut inside the mine and Zorin looks at May Day. The way he says and shrugs at her: "Get them!"

I guess with Octopussy it's more a physical presence I am blinded by than her writing.

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I've decided to skip Living Daylights as I only watched it a month back and don't want to knacker it. I'm trying to think should I do the same with GE as I only saw it a fortnight back. I might go for it anyway, giving it more focus than I did other week -as half my mind was listening to Brosnan.

I'm thinking of doing live commentary as such for a film. Trouble is that's a good 1h50/2h say regardless and if it takes upwards of 15hrs to upload 50mins, imagine 1h50! Ha

Maybe if I speak nicely to Brosnan or Esquire.

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EDIT, forgot to include the listings with Daylights

Bondathon 2020 rankings so far

1. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
2. From Russia With Love
3. The Living Daylights (presently 3rd, 2015 placed 3rd scoring 9/10)
4. Dr No
5. For Your Eyes Only
6. Thunderball
7. Octopussy
8. Diamonds Are Forever
9. Goldfinger
10. Moonraker
11. View to a Kill
12. You Only Live Twice
13. Live and Let Die
14. The Spy Who Loved Me
15. The Man With The Golden Gun

now it's subjective in a way. It holds the same /10 as Dr No so I guess it could be joint second. Skipping it or not, TLD is to me how a Bond film should be in the modern era. To me, Dalton makes the film what it is and my scoring of 9/10 is say 7/10 Dalton and 2/10 characters, locations etc or some such (maths is not my strong suit).
Some rave about Craig but personally, Dalton had the edge on that and more than that also.

Looking at it the list could look like this:

1. On Her Majesty's Secret Service, From Russia With Love
-
3. Dr No, The Living Daylights
-
5. For Your Eyes Only
6. Thunderball, Octopussy
-
8. Diamonds Are Forever
9. Goldfinger
10. Moonraker, A View to a Kill
-
12. You Only Live Twice, Live And Let Die, The Spy Who Loved Me
-
-
15. The Man With The Golden Gun

He was married once, but it was a long time ago

Licence To Kill

the more detailed review is in the LTK30 thread but this still occupies what some might say is an unnaturally high position in rankings. If Dalton is your favourite Bond it stands to reason, maybe, to have both of his films high enough. Had he done 3-4 films, maybe things would be different. As it is it feels as close to Fleming's Bond as can be possible. Much like TLD. Even in the setting of going rogue, Bond is Bond, acting on a kind of principle to take revenge.
It is the performances of Dalton, Davi, Del Toro and Howell amongst others that propel the film on an even course. Robert Brown's last gasp as M is encapsulated in the resignation scene and it's great to see Desmond Llewellyn's Q doing more in the field than ever. (I suspect if you added up his minutes on screen in total excluding LTK, they must equal his LTK minutes if not edge it a little).

It all started with the Dalton films what we have in the Craig era. Well, mostly. Dalton might shy away from Bond in interviews or whatever, not in an attitudinal way, but he is responsible for the best performance of Bond in film. The shame, as is often muttered in dark places, is that there was no more. That the Dalton era did not have a chance to either cement itself properly or end properly. You assume in 1989 cinemagoers, even the detractors of LTK, went home that day thinking, "well, see if the next one's any good in a couple of years".
Next thing you know, it's six whole years -a lifetime back then and now look. Five years since Spectre. Had this been the old days between 2002 and now we would've had at least eight films...Maybe. And we've had five.

9/10

We'll hit the Brosnan era tomorrow

Hilly Does Bond 2020

1. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
2. From Russia With Love
3. Dr No
4. The Living Daylights
5. Licence To Kill (currently 5th, 2015 placing 4th scoring 9/10)
6. For Your Eyes Only
7. Thunderball
8. Octopussy
9. Diamonds Are Forever
10. Goldfinger
11. Moonraker
12. View To A Kill
13. You Only Live Twice
14. Live And Let Die
15. The Spy Who Loved Me
16. The Man With The Golden Gun

Big call on Dalton giving the best performance as Bond! I'd personally give that to Brosnan were it not for Connery's exceptional work in DN and FRWL. I'm assuming, since you mentioned it within your LTK post that you think his performance in LTK is superior to that in TLD?

I'm totally with you on the villain performances in LTK-- Lowell, however I can't subscribe to. For so long she was one of my least favourite Bond girls but I've come to appreciate it. She has her moments but there are times where she grates so much... mostly when she masquerades as Miss Ms Kennedy.

The Miss Kennedy bit can be a bit awkward. Almost as if she becomes a different person entirely from pre-Isthmus City and cutting her hair. Some of it might be of course to blend into a world where women are a level below the men.

Is Dalton's performance superior to his in TLD? I might say it is but only just. TLD was a great debut for a new Bond, doubly so when you consider he was the third actor after Connery. Dalton was coming after a dozen or so films before his that oscillated between farce and seriousness. There's something about his turn in LTK that seals the deal. In a way, I think, there's a Flemingesque feel to things. I like to think Fleming would've seen his Bond on screen there and certainly the principle- Bond's friend has been attacked, his wife raped and murdered and so Bond goes to get the man responsible. Fleming had a sense of duty like chaps did back then and maybe, it's a big call I suppose, his Bond would have done the same.