Last Unofficial Bond Movie You Watched

Do we post in the 'Last Movie You Watched' thread or the 'Last Bond Movie You Watched' thread? For the sticklers of forum etiquette, this is the new place. Whether it's Never Say Never Again, CR54, CR67 or, ahem, CR06.

Never Say Never Again

Years ago, I think I vouched to never watch it again but I guess I should have listened to the film's title.

I actually enjoyed it a lot more than expected. It's equal parts uninspired and pastiche, but it's damn less offensive than 3 of the 4 of the most recent Bond films. It looks a lot better than I remember, actually, and the jazzy score sometimes works a treat. Kershner's not very good at directing his actors, however. There's so much over acting from Fox, Atkinson, Brandauer, McCowen and of course, Carrera. Basinger, who is usually excellent, gave only a serviceable performance. Maybe it's her age/inexperience, or maybe it's poor directing. I'll lean more toward the latter. Connery delivers, however, and von Sydow is inoffensive.

The writing is a bit daft in some scenes, but there are also some great lines too ("From here?"  ) . It would be a disservice to call the Moneypenny scenes as 'vanilla', because it's so much blander than that. The Shrublands fight sequence is about two hours too long, the Domination game is daft, Bond dancing the tango is hilarious, however you forget about its ridiculousness when Bond tells Domino that Largo is responsible for her brother's death. That was probably Basinger's best moment, and I like Bond's insistence to keep dancing. The idea of keeping face could have been much more effective in different circumstances. The final act is a little contrived also, but you can go along with it.

There's also something terribly bizarre about watching seniors play on arcade games. And not bizarre in a benign sort of way.

I'd rank it ahead of CR06, QOS, and SP.

You can maybe put the shoddy direction of the actors down to Kershner's decision to approach it as if there'd never been a Bond movie before. I do recall thinking before that Brandauer seems to be acting in an entirely different flick altogether.

The 'From here?' gag is good, but it's recycled from Clement and Le Frenais' 70s classic prison sitcom 'Porridge'.

Yeah you're probably right.

Brandauer didn't really come across as villainous. He was about as threatening as Ekland's Mary Goodnight.

Brandauer was a suggestion of Connery's, apparently. I barely remember von Sydow's Blofeld ... maybe if he'd played it a little more like his Ming The Merciless from the 1980 Flash Gordon, he'd be more memorable.

I'm sure that after Empire Strikes Back, Kershner seemed like a safe pair of hands. Oops.

Connery must have had an affinity for him. They worked together again in The Russia House. And yeah, I couldn't remember von Sydow's Blofeld either. I was trying to picture him when I saw his name on the opening credits but to no avail.

Finally caught up with CR '54 on YouTube last night. An odd beast, no doubt ... you've Our Man transformed into a CIA agent for US TV, his contact at the casino is a 'Clarence Leiter' and the girl is Valerie rather than Vesper and she's also been surnamed Mathis. Lorre's Le Chiffre comes across as more of a mobster than anything else. Unsurprisingly, the ball-beating torture is replaced with pliers being used on Bond's toes. The whole shebang lasts less than an hour.

It's undoubtedly a bit stagey and of its time, but as the first bit of filmed Bond ever it holds a fascination of course and some Fleming is still discernible. Not much point in comparing Barry Nelson's Bond to the others as he's not much like them, although he does get a couple of decent wisecracks.

As an aside, I also looked on YouTube for the TV movie Return Of The Man From UNCLE (which earns a mention in this thread due to Lazenby's appearance in it as the Aston Martin-driving 'JB') but it seems it isn't on there in its entirety. Shame.

Could you link the '54 version, BI? Wouldn't mind giving it a watch.

Can't whilst on the work 'puter, I'm afraid ... our company's Google settings filter out YouTube.

Not a problem, whenever you can.

If you have the original MGM DVD of CR '67 it is included as a bonus but IIRC trimmed by a minute or so. The original VHS issue by Spyguise was uncut, and there is a unofficial Blu-ray online that I think was from a print scan but is watermarked and not very good.

The one I watched.

Must give it a go one day to say I tried. I watched Airport last night and Barry Nelson is one aspect of it I like. Kind of weird to think he was effectively the first Bond. Do we know what Fleming thought of the '54 CR? Must've swallowed an olive when watching it.

Think he was publicly supportive but privately disparaging about Dr No. Guessing CR '54 wasn't to his taste.

Thanks BI. Got my TV viewing for one night this week!

No probs FM, but add other things ... it lasts all of 51 minutes.

Ha, right now, an hour of television is all I can afford myself. Work and all.

While I still haven't got round to the '54 version, I did finally check out the '67 Casino Royale. What a bonkers film it is! How the hell did they get THAT from Fleming's novel?

That said, it's superbly photographed nonsense. Orson Welles would have made a great Le Chiffre in an Eon Bond film. Physically more akin to Fleming's vision but such presence and gravitas. Ursula Andress is excellent. I wish they hadn't dubbed her in Dr No. I think that's why I'm not as drawn to Honey as others are (N.B. don't worry, I still am). There's a disconnect between her performance and tone of her voice as you can see that's there's something happening behind her eyes but her voicework doesn't match. Would I dare say I prefer her in CR67 than DN? I don't know. Hmm...

Woody Allen is a riot. "So long suckerrrrrrs!"

The codename theory I assume originated from the James Bond Training School.

I don't even know what else to say.

They must have been on some great stuff back then to come up with this.

It's a stupid but silly film. There is nothing from the source material. Likely that Fleming died beforehand as surely it'd have finished him off. I do like Welles and anything he did he usually made good. I am drawn to Miss Moneypenny in CR67.

This is the perfect opportunity to share this again. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr Burt Bacharach...

Moneypenny's daughter is, in the words of Tanaka, very sexiful.



Finally, perfect music to accompany such a film. Suddenly CR06 makes sense now.

That music makes CR06 much more appealing, huzzar. Still hope for Craig yet as a comic actor.

All of the ladies in CR'67 are very sexiful!

To me CR67 is an amazing piece of work that should have never worked-BUT IT DOES! It's what Austin Powers should have been and the best of all the 60's spoofs.

Not a fan of Austin Powers, HGTB?

Not sure CR67 works per se - the early Scotland stuff esp. Just a lot of harmless fun.