Last Bond Movie You Watched.

Sarai wrote:

haha nice to see you Khan. You know after all the mockery I threw at that film I almost didn't want to admit to liking it now.  I considered not saying anything  

Puddin', I bet your face is mighty red right about now.

The funny thing is was mainly YOU I didn't want to fess up to about it haha

hey it's still not like top 10 or anything

Yes, I'm probably the strongest LTK booster in these parts. Pretty sure I rank it #3 and have had it up there for a long, long time. As for it not making your top 10, all I can say is "yet." You're still a young, nubile lass.

Nubile eh?? I like it!! I'm going to start using that word.

Just be careful about how you use it, dear. You could get more than you bargained for, tossing around a word like that in the wrong company.

I'm always around the wrong company but I am getting more intrigued here.

Do you like that band, Bad Company?

I have funny memories of that band because my dad used to listen to it tripping on LSD.

Sounds as though you had an interesting childhood. The strongest thing my dad ever "tripped" on was Pabst Blue Ribbon.

quite interesting to say the least but I was so young I just thought all dad's tripped out like that

Well, depending upon the time and the place--say, Berkeley, California, 1968--most dads probably did.

here it was Ontario/Canada 2000's

Sarai wrote:

here it was Ontario/Canada 2000's    

Blimey! You really are nubile!

A View to a Kill

for the 1000th time. I won't go into much for the first near hour. So, I'll commence from just before San Francisco where the film seems to enter a different level. Tibbett's death is always striking as it's Macnee and one doesn't bump off Macnee unless we have to...

...Stacey isn't as dense as we might make her. She certainly has street smart with her cocky responses to Bond.

Though I've seen this film more times than I care to remember, I can't help but feel Zorin isn't all there at the best of times. Perhaps it's a byproduct of his genetic engineering but he's a second away from losing it at all times, he's cocky, he's psychotic and the rest...

...also, I can't help but feel that Grace Jones actually did her damndest for this film. She's a classic Flemingesque villain. Though she's labelled as Zorin's bird, I always feel she's separate to him. Sure, they have this connection but she almost seems distant to him in spite of everything.

The fate of the KGB chap is always boneshivering.

(an aside, is that I've said it before, but San Francisco is criminally underused in this film. The fire engine chase might've gone down Lombard Street for example, perhaps even over the Golden Gate Bridge etc)

Though Anya was intended here, I don't think it would've worked. As she had been a main character in TSWLM, her being in VTAK briefly (in comparison) wouldn't have worked. I buy this former affair here more than I would if Anya was in the film. I mean it'd be like if Pam Bouvier had appeared in GE or TND, or whatever.

It is curious that Gogol turns up. He's bollocked Zorin for 'killing' 007 and yet he picks her up in Chinatown presumably on the basis of getting one up on Bond.

Bond in VTAK is the closest he's been to Simon Templar as he'll ever be, in that I refer to his aliases. In the same film he's St. John Smythe and John Stock.

In my mind Stacey was rebellious in her teenage years. Perhaps grandad left her the house as he considered her his favourite. She's the black sheep of the Sutton family.

On one hand Bond is a dirty perv by advancing on the shower but then it of course allows Stacey to creep on him. I find it curious that he maintains the Stock cover here. She doesn't know he's Stock unlike Howe, so just say you're Bond.

Now in spite of myself I do like this scene in the house. The music for one thing, but how Bond (or rather Sir Roge's double) does the tuck and roll, blazing away.

"Now you tell me!"

It might not be quite the same, but the music as Bond tackles the goons has that feverish intensity as when Bond fights in the PTS of Thunderball. The worked up Bond theme.

It's another reason why I wish VTAK had a proper soundtrack release.

Say what you will about her, but the late Tanya Roberts had the most affixing eyes and the voice was affecting.

I do like how Stacey tries her bit during the fight. Perhaps it's a case of she thinks it's Zorin's stooges trying to get her out of the house again but it's admirable.

If I didn't know better though the portrait of Stacey's grandpa is strikingly similar to Helen Hayes' late husband's portrait in Herbie Rides Again.

Still Bond persists with Stock. "Actually, I'm Bond, James Bond..."

And then Bond is woken by Stacey with her legs up to her armpits. There's worse ways to wake I suppose.

Again, it wouldn't have happened but still, I wish they put Moore's outttake in.

"FUCK HIM!"

Poor Chuck, not enough to be bumped off but to be done right on the doorstep of Stacey's home. It's a kind of brazenness that Zorin's goons have.

Clearly the security in City Hall needs updating. Stacey waltzes in and he's like "Oh, hi Miss Sutton!"

"You too have joined forces!?" Zorin of course knows who Bond is and he knows Stacey by now so that giggle works.

Howe, poor schmuck, is a bit dense. Always, Zorin is rather thrilled with himself. Childlike, seeking approval.

"Brilliant. I'm almost speechless with admiration."

Now, again, Stacey is a normal woman thrust into a world beyond what she's used to. In that, she's a geologist and next thing she knows she's in a lift surrounded by fire so of course she shrieks "James!"

However, here comes Captain Tracey.

I don't care how many times I see it, Barry's fanfare, Bond and Stacey silhouetted against the smoke, Bond carrying Stacey onto the ladder, skipping a step, the crowd...

...

Do we need the fire engine bit? Well, it's a Moore film and VTAK exists in this neverworld between OP and TLD...so yes.

I do like Stacey flicking the sirens on. Fuck it why not?

Is there any point to Bond swinging out onto the ladder? It never feels like it but we do have Barry's "He's Dangerous".

Say what you will but Stacey can handle a fire engine even she's shit scared. Now, personally (and I wouldn't question Barry normally) but I'd keep music going for when Bond jumps the San Mateo Bridge.

Now, it's 1985 and that means it's the year of Police Academy 2 and personally that seems to affect the SF cops here. I mean we effectively have Procter in the car that's held on the bridge.

We have the gormless Dirk Benedict lookalike and yet the brief flare of the siren doesn't seem to alert anyone else. Check Stacey's slow eye roll as she realises the guy merely wants Bond to wear a hard hat as opposed to rumbling who they are.

And this is where we cross over into gritty Bond or Dalton's era. Where Zorin massacres the miners.

As a child it was faintly terrifying largely for the electrifying fate of some of the miners

Whether folk like it or not, the massacre is in line with Zorin's character. He's already sent his lady friend and her mates into the tunnels knowing they'll all be killed. He takes a perverse joy killing the miners.

It is rather curious but somehow workable that in a flash Bond and Mayday find common ground.

It should also be noted that the airship, as it takes shape, has a British number (i.e starts with a G).

Now, as Zorin says "Silicon Valley!" as the airship ascends, this is where you could slap a view to a kill in.

May Day is no fool, she tells Bond what to do and gets the job done. Had it been now, May Day could've had a spin off film or two.

But then Bond reverses...snapping at her that if it goes, it all goes.

There is something, however slight, about May Day sacrificing herself. The smile fades just before it goes. She knows what's up to, she knows what's going to happen.

I like to think Stacey is deafened by the blast hence why she doesn't hear a ruddy airship zeroing in on her.

I likely have said it before, but imagine if you lived in San Francisco, completely unaware a Bond film is being made and you look up to see Martin Grace hanging on for dear life to an airship.

It is a measure though of the city, that it allowed this to happen. More-so when you read in 1968 the authorities wouldn't let Bullitt race over the GGB.

MORE, MOAR POWAH!

Stacey though is not done. "Are you crazy!?" as she lays into Zorin.

Now, one might say she's dense but it's admirable that Stacey instantly leaves the airship for the bridge in spite of the fact she's almost a mile above the Golden Gate. Scarpine like Gorbinda in the previous film has this unstinting loyalty to his master and like Gorbinda does nonetheless think, what the fuck, when Zorin tells him to go out there.

It is also striking that the main villain's death happens a while before the end, in that he dies and we still have this bollocks with his creator.

Now I have to wonder, the long shot we know is Martin Grace but I assume there's a female stuntwoman with him.

"Is Commander Bond here, I'd like..."

well, Gogol, he's getting his rocks off.

So the film ends with Q effectively being a dirty pervert and Roger Moore realising he's the same age as his gal's mother.

The fire truck chase essentially redoes the DAF Vegas chase but this time with dramatic stakes intact so there's a point to Bond's wrecking of everything in his path and countless cop cars. Barry's score highlights this relentless dark pursuit as he does through the whole score. It's really one of his best and a truly great score few highlight. The original LP and Japanese CD sound incredible but sadly there's no expanded version. The 2003 remaster is horrid.

AVTAK has a deeper nuance to the characterizations especially Bond and Zorin. Over the years I've come to realize that FYEO, OP and AVTAK when combined give us TLD and LTK. To be honest of the final Roger three, AVTAK is my favorite in spite of its lowered stakes and slower pacing. It's all in the deeper felt nuance of character and at times has a bit of the 80's Gardner Bond novels flavor.

Jones is absolutely at her best here. Just look at Conan the Destroyer and see the difference. In that film she twirls a staff and is otherwise just there. In AVTAK she radiates menace in every scene and May Day's turn is perfectly earned and executed.

Terrific write up as always, Hilly.

hegottheboot wrote:

Jones is absolutely at her best here. Just look at Conan the Destroyer and see the difference. In that film she twirls a staff and is otherwise just there.

I've only seen 'Destroyer' once, and I've memory-holed it to the point where I forgot Jones was even in it. Terrible movie. Damned shame, as 'Barbarian' is the best sword-and-sorcery film ever made.
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MOONRAKER

Needed some light entertainment so fired up Moonraker.

Dolly's milkers could satisfy a whole nursery.

Thanks Lads. You know I've never seen the Conan films so I only know Jones for VTAK (acting-wise).

I never saw them until a year or two ago when I found the DVD set and was trying to see more John Milius stuff.

Barbarian is a great film with real ideas in it. It's not perfect and sadly Arnold wasn't a very polished actor at the time but it's damn good and very dark with much historical references as Milius always does.

So of course he never got to come back and do the sequels. Destroyer was amazingly made by Richard Fleischer and Jack Cardiff. The script is extremely dull but honestly I didn't mind the movie all that much. It could have been a good old fashioned adventure film but it's completely flat. But the photography is gorgeous.
So imagine my surprise when I try the long derided Red Sonja which is a quasi sequel to Destroyer made by Fleischer and Cardiff with Arnold returning but not playing Conan.
It's a better film than Destroyer hands down. I may be full of problems, but it moves much more quickly, has some spirit to it, some darkness of story and tone-and has a great Morricone score.

Neither is worthy of being in any way related to Barbarian but I did enjoy them for what they were.

Hilly wrote:

[b]A View to a Kill[/b


(an aside, is that I've said it before, but San Francisco is criminally underused in this film. The fire engine chase might've gone down Lombard Street for example, perhaps even over the Golden Gate Bridge etc

Not the first time I've seen this criticism levelled at View ... one of the books I have on the films mentions that it really doesn't include as much of San Fran's local 'colour' in the way that other Bonds do when Our Man has gone international, even suggesting that perhaps footage of a gay parade could have been included (although that likely would've been too much for mid-80s Bond ... one can imagine much 'Aren't these films meant to be family entertainment?' muttering from parents.)

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Hilly wrote:

[b]A View to a Kill[/b


(an aside, is that I've said it before, but San Francisco is criminally underused in this film. The fire engine chase might've gone down Lombard Street for example, perhaps even over the Golden Gate Bridge etc

Not the first time I've seen this criticism levelled at View ... one of the books I have on the films mentions that it really doesn't include as much of San Fran's local 'colour' in the way that other Bonds do when Our Man has gone international, even suggesting that perhaps footage of a gay parade could have been included (although that likely would've been too much for mid-80s Bond ... one can imagine much 'Aren't these films meant to be family entertainment?' muttering from parents.)      

Whereas nowadays I can well imagine Bond, wearing a pink thong, a feather boa, purple eyeshadow, false eyelashes, a beret and nipple clamps, while sashaying along in a meaux pride parade.

Undercover work can have its challenges .

Silva wouldn't have minded seeing Bond in nipple clamps.

Dikko Henderson might not have, either, although that is hearsay.

The contrast between Gray's upper-crust, camp and very English onscreen Henderson and the garrulous 'man's man' Aussie in the YOLT novel always amuses.

True that.

In saying that, who could pass up more Gray campiness?