Wade’s James Bond Page IV

Ranking All Things Bond

#11

Octopussy

• The pre-title teaser came into its own midway through Roger Moore’s tenure as Double-O Seven. Three consecutive Moore films have top-notch opening sequences, & Octopussy is one of them.
• Octopussy’s plot is overly complex & a bit confusing. The beginning of the film revolves around a counterfeit Faberge egg. Later, one of the villains seems to destroy the real egg in an apparent plot hole. However, the plot is convoluted enough that it is difficult to be certain whether the egg is indeed the real one or the counterfeit.
• Octopussy was directed by John Glen, who directed all of the EON Bond films of the 1980s (For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, A View to a Kill, The Living Daylights, & License to Kill). Octopussy was the 13th of the EON James Bond series.

• Whatever void Maud Adams creates as the final girl of Octopussy, Kristina Wayborn more than fills.
• Octopussy features Robert Brown’s first appearance as the new M, & bestows a much-expanded role to Desmond Llewelyn as Q.
• Octopussy is also the first film to feature James Bond riding a horse.

• “All Time High” performed by Rita Coolidge was the first Bond theme song not to mention the film title in the lyrics.
• Louis Jourdan delivers a solid performance as the villainous Kamal Khan, & the auxiliary villains exhibit appropriate menace.

• I did not care for the Tarzan call, but I did enjoy the climactic fight, which finds Bond once more climbing around the exterior of an airplane in flight. Nobody does it better!
• Released the same year (1983) as the non-EON Thunderball remake, Never Say Never Again, featuring Connery’s return to the role he originated, Octopussy slightly out-performed the contender at the box office (although Connery pulled twice Moore’s salary).

#12

You Only Live Twice

• The original screenplay of You Only Live Twice, released in 1967, was written by well-known children’s author Roald Dahl. Dahl is perhaps best known for his books James & the Giant Peach & Charlie & the Chocolate Factory. Dahl also wrote the screenplay for Ian Fleming’s children’s book, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Dahl was married to Patricia Neal, perhaps best known for her parts in The Day the Earth Stood Still, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, & Hud. You Only Live Twice was the first Bond film to depart significantly from the Fleming novel. Many elements of You Only Live Twice, whether intentionally or not, echo facets of Thunderball. Blofeld’s pirhana pool is reminescent of the omnipresent shark menace of Thunderball, while Helga Brandt resembles a less interesting Fiona Volpe.
• You Only Live Twice is the fifth film in the EON James Bond franchise.

• You Only Live Twice features the third appearance of Blofeld, but it is the first film of three consecutive Bond adventures to feature Blofeld as the main antagonist, to mention Blofeld by name, & to show Blofeld’s face. Charles Gray, who played Dikko Henderson in You Only Live Twice, later played Blofeld in Diamonds Are Forever.

• The action of You Only Live Twice takes place largely in Japan, & the picture was filmed mostly on location in Japan. You Only Live Twice is unusual among Bond films in its strong focus on a single culture. In You Only Live Twice, Bond states that he has never been to Japan, despite telling Tatiana Romanova in From Russia with Love that he had visited Tokyo with M before. Bond also tells Moneypenny that he took a first in Oriental languages at Cambridge. It seems more than a little odd that someone with as much time in the military & intelligence fields as Bond has by the time of You Only Live Twice would never have exploited so obvious a point of strength...

• During the filming of You Only Live Twice, Connery announced that he did not want to return to the role of James Bond, &, in fact, he did not appear in EON’s next installment in the series. Sir Sean did, however, reprise the role of 007 in two subsequent films—one of them an EON production & one not.

• Mie Hama & Akiko Wakabayashi (who play Kissy & Aki in You Only Live Twice) both appeared in Kingu Kongu tai Gojira (King Kong vs Godzilla) in 1962. Neither Kissy nor Aki is given a last name in the film version of You Only Live Twice. Kissy is Kissy Suzuki in the novel. Aki does not appear in the novel.

• You Only Live Twice was the first film to showcase Double-O Seven piloting a helicopter & the first in which he does not drive an automobile. You Only Live Twice is the only film in which Bond’s death is elaborately faked & the only one in which he undergoes a faux wedding. You Only Live Twice was the first Bond film directed by Lewis Gilbert, who also directed The Spy Who Loved Me & Moonraker.

• You Only Live Twice was also the first film to feature 007 in a Royal Naval uniform, but the character (played by two different actors) would don the uniform twice again—in The Spy Who Loved Me & Tomorrow Never Dies. Ironically, these films share other extensive plot similarities with You Only Live Twice, such as the scheme to foment nuclear war between two nations by either hijacking or destroying military vessels &, in Tomorrow Never Dies, Bond spending extensive screen-time in East Asia romancing Asian agents. You Only Live Twice is also the first film in which Bond eschews black tie formal wear (although he does wear several kimonos).

• The Nancy Sinatra theme song is among the best of the series.

#13

Never Say Never Again

• Released in 1983 (just four months after the debut of Octopussy), Never Say Never Again, directed by Irvin Kershner (Eyes of Laura Mars, The Empire Strikes Back), starring Klaus Maria Brandauer, Kim Basinger, Barbara Carrera, Max von Sydow, Bernie Casey, Edward Fox, & Rowan Atkinson, featured the return of Sean Connery to the role of the perennial British secret agent after a dozen-year absence. A remake of the 1965 EON film, Thunderball, Never Say Never Again was the second non-EON-produced Bond film. Kevin McClory (who had co-written Thunderball with Ian Fleming) served as executive producer on Never Say Never Again. Never Say Never Again’s worldwide box office take was $160 million—$27 million less than Octopussy’s.

• Lorenzo Semple Jr wrote the screenplay for Never Say Never Again. Semple is perhaps best known as the co-creator of the 1960s Batman TV series, for which he wrote the pilot, first four episodes, & the film treatment. Semple also wrote the screenplays for The Parallax View, The Drowning Pool, Three Days of the Condor, King Kong (1976), Flash Gordon (1980), & Sheena (1984).

• Semple’s screenplay is fast-paced & witty. The scene in which Bond plays an unusually competitive video game with Largo & Bond’s final confrontation with Fatima Blush (the remake’s version of Fiona Volpe) are especially enjoyable. But Never Say Never Again is plagued by the same problem Thunderball had—boring underwater scenes, & overall Never Say Never Again is just not as good as Thunderball. Never Say Never Again lacks Thunderball’s elegant charm, gripping tension, & lush scenery.
• Never Say Never Again’s musical score is often criticized as uninspiring, &, of course, lacks the James Bond Theme, which is owned by EON.

#14

A View to a Kill

• Released in 1985, A View to a Kill was directed by John Glen, who directed all of the EON Bond films of the 1980s (For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, A View to a Kill, The Living Daylights, & License to Kill). Glen has directed more Bond films than anyone else.
• Although A View to a Kill is nominally based on the Fleming short story “From a View to a Kill,” it is the second Bond film (after The Spy Who Loved Me) in which not even a character name from the Fleming original finds its way into the film. “From a View to a Kill” takes place in Paris. This is the only point of similarity between the story & the screen version.
• The pre-title teaser of A View to a Kill is notably inferior to those of the four preceding Bond films as well as the two successive ones. A View to a Kill is the second of three consecutive Bond films to feature another Double-O agent prominently, albeit 003 is never seen alive in the film.
• A View to a Kill also stars Patrick Macnee (The Avengers, Battlestar Galactica), Grace Jones, & Alison Doody (Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade). Macnee was the third cast member of The Avengers to appear in a Bond film. Diana Rigg & Honor Blackman preceded him.

• A View to a Kill was Roger Moore’s seventh & final appearance as the English superspy. Nevertheless, A View to a Kill is the first Bond film to feature one of Charlie’s Angels (Tanya Roberts), as well as Double-O Seven’s first appearance in Paris or San Francisco (and, indeed, his fifth trip to the United States).
• “A View to a Kill” performed by Duran Duran (a group itself named after a character in the 1968 SF film Barbarella) is, to date, the only Bond theme song to reach #1 on the US Billboard Top 40 Pop Singles chart. “Live & Let Die” & “Nobody Does it Better” both charted at #2. “For Your Eyes Only” peaked at #4, while “Goldfinger” reached #8. The latter four songs are all, IMHO, better than “A View to a Kill.” What is “dance into the fire” anyway? Who does that?
• The climactic battle atop the Golden Gate Bridge is reminiscent of the climax of North by Northwest atop Mount Rushmore.

• Zorin’s plan to strike a blow against the United States’ economy by destroying Silicon Valley resembles Goldfinger’s scheme. Even Zorin’s briefing to the other bad guys resembles the briefing in Goldfinger right down to the execution of the one criminal who refuses to go along with it.
• Christopher Walken’s performance seems strangely subdued for a psychopathic, megalomaniacal, over-the-top Bond villain. Perhaps this is due to the poor quality of the script.
• Early in the film, Bond calls Zorin “psychotic” & later, a “psychopath.” The terms are not synonomous, & since psychotics are almost completely out of touch with reality, you are not likely to find this trait in a villain able to go toe-to-toe with James Bond for over two hours. A psychopath is a completely amoral personality, lacking an innate sense of right & wrong & is, therefore, a perfect Bond villain. Thus, Bond’s second assessment is more likely the correct one.
• A View to a Kill was filmed just after the completion of the new 007 Stage at Pinewood Studios. The old stage had burned to the ground just prior to shooting.

#15

Diamonds Are Forever

• Released in 1971, Diamonds Are Forever was directed by Guy Hamilton (who also directed Goldfinger, Live and Let Die, & The Man with the Golden Gun) & was the seventh EON Bond film.
• Diamonds Are Forever was the sixth & final EON Bond film starring Sean Connery as the MI6 agent & featured his return to the role after the part had transferred to George Lazenby.
• Diamonds Are Forever stars Jill St John (Tiffany Case), Charles Gray (Blofeld), Bruce Glover (Mr Wint), & Jimmy Dean (Willard Whyte).
• Diamonds Are Forever was the last EON film to feature either SPECTRE or Blofeld (by name).

• Jill St John was the first American Bond girl.
• Diamonds Are Forever grossed $116 million worldwide against a $7 million budget.
• Diamonds Are Forever eschews the main villains of the Fleming novel, mobsters Jack & Serraffimo Spang, but does include the homosexual gunmen Mr Wint & Mr Kidd (Bruce Glover & Putter Smith).
• Diamonds Are Forever received an Academy Award nomination for Best Sound.

• Bambie & Thumper are ridiculous Bond antagonists, & Wint & Kidd lack any of the competence & menace the villains possess in the Fleming original.
• “Diamonds Are Forever” was the second Bond theme song performed by British singer Shirley Bassey.
• In Diamonds Are Forever, Bond appears in Japan, Egypt, France, the Netherlands, & the US. This was Bond’s first cinematic trip to Egypt, the Netherlands, Los Angeles, & Las Vegas.
• Bond never fires his Walther PPK throughout Diamonds Are Forever.
• Although tame by the standards of today, Diamonds Are Forever marks the first use of semi-obscene language by James Bond. He calls Tiffany a “bitch.”

#16

Quantum of Solace

• Released in 2008 & directed by Marc Forster, Quantum of Solace, the 22nd EON Bond film, stars Daniel Craig (in his second appearance as the superspy), Judi Dench, Olga Kurylenko, & Mathieu Amalric. Quantum of Solace grossed $586 million worldwide making it the second-highest grossing Bond film ever.
• Quantum of Solace was the first Bond film that was a direct sequel.
• The title, Quantum of Solace, comes from a Fleming short story, which features Bond as a character but does not contain a traditional Bond adventure. The film itself has none of the characters or plot points in the story but does share a theme—a woman who wants to kill a man who abuses her.

• Quantum of Solace marks the triumphant return of the gunbarrel sequence, albeit at the end of the film. Quantum of Solace also uses the James Bond theme, although sparingly & often as a subdued undertone.
• Quantum of Solace also marks the first time Bond does not sleep with the “final girl.” Moreover, Quantum of Solace is the first film in the franchise in which 007 does not say, “Bond. James Bond.”

• In Quantum of Solace, Bond travels to Italy, England, Haiti, Austria, Bolivia, & Russia.
• Quantum of Solace, marks the second time an actor (Jeffrey Wright) appears as Felix Leiter in a second film—the first time in consecutive films. Wright is also the second Black actor to portray the CIA agent.

#22

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service

• Released in 1969, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service stars George Lazenby (in his one & only appearance as the superspy), Diana Rigg (The Avengers), & Telly Savalas (Kojak). On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was the only Bond film directed by Peter Hunt. Grossing $64 million against a $7 million dollar budget, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was a box office success, although appreciably less successful than its predecessor, You Only Live Twice.
• The producers of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service put special effort into conveying to audiences that, although played by a different actor, this was the same James Bond, by showing clips from the previous films in the credits sequence & by having Bond look over souvenirs from his previous assignments.
• On Her Majesty’s Secret Service marks the first appearance of Bond’s office & the only appearance of M’s house.

• On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is perhaps the closest of all of the Bond films to the original Fleming novel.
• On Her Majesty’s Secret Service reveals Bond’s family motto, “Orbis Non Sufficit” (“The World Is Not Enough”).
• On Her Majesty’s Secret Service had the longest running time of any Bond film until the release of Casino Royale in 2006.
• In On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Blofeld fails to recognize Bond despite meeting him face-to-face in You Only Live Twice.

• On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was the first film (and novel) to showcase Bond’s skiing skill.
• On Her Majesty’s Secret Service sees Double-O Seven in Portugal (first time onscreen), England, & Switzerland (second trip).
• On Her Majesty’s Secret Service features Bond’s only actual marriage (which lasts less than a day).
• On Her Majesty’s Secret Service features the only time Bond kneels in the opening gunbarrel sequence. This is also the first time we see Bond use an automatic weapon.