For Your Eyes Only in Review

I like the FYEO theme more than Skyfall. In fact, it's my 2nd fave of them all.

I like it, too, although I don't think Sheena had the voice to bring out the best in that song. I do remember it being heavily in the rotation on radio back in '81, but then it totally vanished. I bet I haven't heard FYEO on the radio since 1982.

Perilagu Khan wrote:

Watched this last night and had forgotten how good the action is in this film. Now I'm not wild about the PTS and the Citroen chase--although Conti's cheesy score has something to do with that--but the Kriegler ski jump/chase, the diving bell/sub sequence, Bond and Melina as shark bait, the shoot 'em up in Kristatos' warehouse and the St. Cyril's sequence are all absolutely top notch.

The PTS is undoubtedly a middle-finger salute in McClory's general direction ... a 'Do what you want with Blofeld, as far as we're concerned he's dead' sort of thing.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Perilagu Khan wrote:

Watched this last night and had forgotten how good the action is in this film. Now I'm not wild about the PTS and the Citroen chase--although Conti's cheesy score has something to do with that--but the Kriegler ski jump/chase, the diving bell/sub sequence, Bond and Melina as shark bait, the shoot 'em up in Kristatos' warehouse and the St. Cyril's sequence are all absolutely top notch.

The PTS is undoubtedly a middle-finger salute in McClory's general direction ... a 'Do what you want with Blofeld, as far as we're concerned he's dead' sort of thing.

Yep. I just couldn't stand the voice of "Blofeld" and it appeared to me that the chap who played him wasn't actually bald but had some sort of rubber scalp applied to his head. Kind of shoddy, I thought. Then, too, the PTS had nothing whatsoever to do with the rest of the film so far as I could tell.

Yeah, it's clearly a rubber skull-cap (and clearly a dummy when Bond pats him on it during the 'Keep your hair on' gag).

The FYEO PTS was cheesy as all hell, but admittedly I miss the old days where the PTS was a good bit of fun and action that didn't necessarily have much to do with the remainder of the film.

I think AVTAK is the last time that happened.

Octopussy I think

Ah yes ... now I come to think of it, View's has Bond retrieving the Zorin microchip from 003's body which of course drives the plot of the rest of the film.

Yes, I daresay OP was the last one. Doubt we'll see that sort of random fun again. What's No Time To Die Another Tomorrow's PTS gonna be? Some flashback of Madeline as a kid? Yipee.

CJB wrote:

What's No Time To Die Another Tomorrow's PTS gonna be? Some flashback of Madeline as a kid? Yipee.

I had a dream last night that the PTS will be Craig-Bond and Mads attending their dead child's funeral in Matera and it was intercut with Sam Smith yelping the theme song.

Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang wrote:

CJB wrote:

What's No Time To Die Another Tomorrow's PTS gonna be? Some flashback of Madeline as a kid? Yipee.

I had a dream last night that the PTS will be Craig-Bond and Mads attending their dead child's funeral in Matera and it was intercut with Sam Smith yelping the theme song.

That sounds scarily plausible.

Doesn't it? Woke up with a headache because I was so angry sitting in the cinema watching it.

She is very beautiful and I do like that intense look about her but something is missing for me too when it comes to her. Such a great character, yet I am underwhelmed by her presence. I should feel more for her than I do.
I feel the same about Sophie Marceau despite TWINE being one if my favorite movies. I've always wondered if was obvious to everyone or supposed to be that Elektra was the villain in that movie. I thought she was right away just because she looked so bitchy to me. lol Eye of the beholder and all that I guess and I am probably not a good one to judge as Mary Goodnight is one of my favorites.

Well, Elektra King is certainly the most obnoxious villain in Bond history.

Hello there Mr.Khan, I hope all is well with you. :)

I forgot to hit the quote button on my post last night so it ended up not making a whole lot of sense.
Is there a thread for "Bond Girls?" I couldn't find one.

Sarai wrote:

Hello there Mr.Khan, I hope all is well with you. :)

I forgot to hit the quote button on my post last night so it ended up not making a whole lot of sense.
Is there a thread for "Bond Girls?"  I couldn't find one.

I'm fine, Sarai and hope you're doing the same.

You should start a Bond girl thread if you like. I don't think anybody will give you any static.

Perilagu Khan wrote:

Well, Elektra King is certainly the most obnoxious villain in Bond history.

No that title would go to Graves or perhaps even Waltz' Brofeld. Elektra's fantastic.

Marceau's certainly attractive, but I have trouble buying her as someone ruthless enough to arrange the death of her own father.

Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang wrote:

Perilagu Khan wrote:

Well, Elektra King is certainly the most obnoxious villain in Bond history.

No that title would go to Graves or perhaps even Waltz' Brofeld. Elektra's fantastic.

I cringed with every frame and was happy to see her get her comeuppance.

 This was my last Roger Moore film to re-watch as I liked it the first time and didn't feel the real need to give it a second chance like some of the others. It's quite impressive, thoroughly enjoyed it all and didn't have to force myself to like any scenes or pretend they didn't happen. For me this is about as close to the Connery films as you can get but still had the Roger touch. I take back what I said about Melina earlier in the thread and would put her character as a top Bond girl. Intelligent, classy, sexy and deadly with a cross bow...nothing to not like there and she had some great kills and save the day moments. Columbo was a serious highlight for this film for me too. He was so cool I felt he could have carried the lead himself if he was playing an agent. So it's really a perfect trio of Bond, Melina and Columbo and if you are in it for the action this has to be one of the most action packed outings from beginning to end and all of it without sacrificing the plot. I had no problem with Bibi either, I mean any girl that jumps into a guys bed before he even shows up has to get points for style. 

BI wrote:

Marceau's certainly attractive, but I have trouble buying her as someone ruthless enough to arrange the death of her own father.

That's part of the film's genius. And Elektra's psychosis.

Perilagu Khan wrote:

Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang wrote:

Perilagu Khan wrote:

Well, Elektra King is certainly the most obnoxious villain in Bond history.

No that title would go to Graves or perhaps even Waltz' Brofeld. Elektra's fantastic.

I cringed with every frame and was happy to see her get her comeuppance.

Perhaps it's because she does a good job of getting you to love-to-hate her.

Sarai wrote:

This was my last Roger Moore film to re-watch as I liked it the first time and didn't feel the real need to give it a second chance like some of the others. It's quite impressive, thoroughly enjoyed it all and didn't have to force myself to like any scenes or pretend they didn't happen. For me this is about as close to the Connery films as you can get but still had the Roger touch. I take back what I said about Melina earlier in the thread and would put her character as a top Bond girl. Intelligent, classy, sexy and deadly with a cross bow...nothing to not like there and she had some great kills and save the day moments. Columbo was a serious highlight for this film for me too. He was so cool I felt he could have carried the lead himself if he was playing an agent. So it's really a perfect trio of Bond, Melina and Columbo and if you are in it for the action this has to be one of the most action packed outings from beginning to end and all of it without sacrificing the plot. I had no problem with Bibi either, I mean any girl that jumps into a guys bed before he even shows up has to get points for style.

Great little review. The folk at Eon were indeed looking to go back to the 60s Bond films with FYEO-- it certainly helps when the plot centres on a FRWL style MacGuffin.

Been watching all the Bond's on Blu Ray *AND* on a 65 inch 4k screen with a 4k UHD player. I don't know if they've been upconverting the data and I'm getting an even crisper, cleaner image, but either way it feels like I've seen some things about these movies that I haven't seen before.

I'm seeing a lot of background color, richness in texture and detail, that I'd not noticed before in both OP and FYEO.

The 65 inch screen really helped sell the scope and size of the rock-climbing sequence. For the first time I was really on edge and nervous about Bond's predicament. Thanks to the expansive size of the screen, I felt slightly agoraphobic just watching it.

So, anyway, this was the one pre-title sequence I never cared much for. Was the weakest of all of Moore's. In fact, why was "Blofeld" still in a neck brace? He was perfectly fine in DAF. I get why EON chose to use "Blofeld" in this movie, but they didn't make it pay off. Using gas works and rusted out warehouses as your pre-title sequence is a non-starter for me.

Good title song. The Blu-Ray combo with the 4k player/tv brought out some color and details that I've never seen in the title sequence before. Made it more colorful and not so bland as I've recalled it over the years. Still, I'd put it somewhere in the middle of Binder's Moore-series.

I like the plot and I like the use of locations. FYEO puts you right there in Cortina or in Greece. I like it when the films make extensive use of remote locations rather than doing it all on the soundstage.

Good mix of action as well: motorcyles, dune buggies, ski chases, underwater fights, rock climbing. Bond Girls were just....okay. Obviously Carole Bouqet was a beautiful woman, but maybe too young for Moore. I thought Lynn Holly-Johnson was good as light comic relief. If Bibi was the worst thing that you can say about the movie then I think we're okay. Didn't care much for Countess Lisl either way.

Film score holds well in some areas but sounds dated in others.

Decent villains; all well-acted, but none with the sort of signature dialogue or scene that'll make a clip reel when entertainment outlets do their retrospectives each time a new film comes out.

Maxwell is a treat, as always, but seeing her flirting at her age with 007....are we totally sure her character wasn't married at this point? I like to think that she was, and she and 007 just had a friendly flirtation going on, knowing it was never going to be anything more. Otherwise it comes off as kind of sad that she'd still be pining over 007 instead of having a real relationship with someone outside of work.

Not sure where Brink and Bibi were planning to go. Did they plan on using the winch to get off the rock? I remember growing up and thinking Brink may have had the hots for Bibi....was that implied or did I just imagine all of it?

I'd give the film a 7.5 out of 10.

"I remember growing up and thinking Brink may have had the hots for Bibi....was that implied or did I just imagine all of it?"

lol I don't know and didn't pick up on anything like that but interesting take on it.

I am loving the blu ray as well and agree with your review, great stuff and yeah the intro is rather dull looking and a bore. I always wondered what was with the scene with the Priest blessing Bond as he left the grave site. It came across as so creepy as if he were in on the plan.

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

So, anyway, this was the one pre-title sequence I never cared much for. Was the weakest of all of Moore's. In fact, why was "Blofeld" still in a neck brace? He was perfectly fine in DAF.

I always assumed they were implying he was seriously injured in DAF when Bond swung his pod into the building. Wouldn't still be in a neck brace a decade on, you'd think!