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Amazing that QOS came out 2 years after CR. EON can still do it if they want to. And QOS is arguably the best film of the Craig era.
For me it's almost like the longer the gaps the more the law of diminishing returns applies. The beauty of the Cubby era was that he cranked them out like sausages. Consistency was valued over arty pretentiousness and the result was a production line of enjoyable romps.
I think one of the great ironies of the Craig era is that it's the film they made on the hoof, winging it and just getting the job done (QOS) that stands up as one of the best from the past 25 years.
The song is a guilty pleasure for me. So bad it's good. I always like the way Lulu says "Who will he bang" The whole soundtrack is a bit of a recycled mess. Many of the songs sound the same or are rather slight variations.
Hai Fat is an interesting character. He is just enough of an ego to think he's in charge and yet Scaramenga has the control. First time this has happened in a film. Similar to the dynamic between Nick Nack and Scaramanga. Nick Nack wants the fortune and hires hit men to take out his boss. He takes relish when he tricks his boss.
I may just have to give this movie a watch again.
Your take on it is interesting, but I suppose you are aware that you are in a clear minority regarding QoS as Craig's best? Even in the camp of QoS fans I think you would find almost no one who rank it above CR and probably very few who regard it as a better film than SF. Personally I really wish they hadn't rushed the production. I like the film as it is, but I think it could have been considerably better with a finished, revamped script.
The problem with the approach you advocate is that it leads to fewer and fewer Bond films with no discernable improvement in quality.
Does QOS have faults? Yes, of course it does. But would I rather have had 6 films of QOS quality over the past 12 year or the 2 dubious Mendes efforts and my answer is give me the 6 movies.
None (or very few) of the Bond films are perfect. They aren't supposed to be either. They are a special kind of popcorn movie. That doesn't mean to say care, talent and huge effort hasn't gone into making them, but they're not supposed to bear comparison with the latest Terrence Malick film.
The fun rather goes out of being a Bond fan with gaps like we've seen recently. Craig probably should have wrapped his 6th film in 2016 and handed over the baton back then.
I would second @Getafix on QOS being Craig's best, though I'll keep the details for another thread.
Regarding TMWTGG, another thing I like about it, is its score. Some consider it a lesser effort of Barry's, but I think there are some excellent cues in there. Tracks like Getting the Bullet, Hip's Trip, Chew Me in Grisly Land, In Search of Scaramanga's Island and especially both tracks in the funhouse (PTS and climax) are very atmospherical.
Which approach exactly have I been advocating? I certainly think EON should be able to churn out films at least every three years and ideally every two years. The only thing it would require is less of the behind the scenes drama we have had during the last decade which I think is not too much to ask for. Writing a decent script and complete a film production in two years, or three at the most, is really not that difficult and should not diminish quality.
What surprised me was that you hailed QoS of all films as a template. That one for me illustrates the exact opposite example of when a film was hit by unforeseen problems and most probably should have been patiently delayed.
Ideally we would have better writers than P&W but you can't polish a turd. Just make the film and be done with it. Dragging things out just drains the production of any energy and fun. SP is a prime example.
LALD and TMWTGG are not the best in the series but I am happier to have them than any number of SF or SP type films made once every 3, 4 or 5 years.
The situation with endless delays we have seen during the last decade have been peculiar, and it hasn´t really had to do with patient perfectionism at all. I once read an article by a writer who argued the succes of Skyfall was proof that longer productions and ´patient crafting´ as he put it was the way to go forward. The whole thesis didn´t make sense at all. Of the four years between QoS and Skyfall, only two of them were used to make the film, the other two were spent in a courtroom arguing about ownership rights. With Spectre, one year was wasted simply waiting for a director to finish other jobs. The quality of the two films notwithstanding (that is an endless debate I don´t want to get into here), the notion that a great Bond film requires at least three years of production is not based on any substancial evidence.
They initially flirted with the idea of making CR and QoS back to back, and then even bringing it out in May 2008.
I think I probably even prefer the TMWTGG score to, say, the YOLT score.
Seems like he didn't particularly want to be there in Bangkok. Must've been the wife's idea. So maybe he was so bored with the culture of Thailand that he decided to look at American cars!
I think I agree with this. There are some nice standout tracks on YOLT, but as a whole, I probably prefer TMWTGG. It's not spectacular (in Barry standards), but it's consistent.
That's how I've always thought about that scene. Also, some people can't help themselves going to a car dealership just to look at cars.
Agreed. TMWTGG is a nice listen that brings you in the right atmosphere. YOLT is a bit more bombastic and therefore not as easy to listen too on its own. For me, that is, of course.
I suppose one could say that Sherriff Pepper might have been checking out cars while away. I find the whole set up daft. They are in a showroom and the showroom car just happens to have keys in it. Pepper is just sitting in the passenger side of the vehicle. But it is still great fun and the chase is interesting.
Definitely agree. I feel that the TMWTGG score works slightly better within the film itself as well. I've never been too much a fan of the YOLT score in the first place, though.
Pepper ruins both films he appears in, but I remember those scenes being great to watch as a kid.
Once you get older and watch the boat chase from LALD and the car chase from TMWTGG again, you see exactly where the inspiration came from for the 70's Hal Needham/Burt Reynold's Smokey and the Bandit series. Pepper is basically Jackie Gleason's Sheriff Buford T Justice.
@jetsetwilly, it is interesting to think about scenes that are put in specifically to appeal to the kids in the audience. I'm thinking of Jaws dropping the stone on his foot, and the whole Piazza San Marco sequence.
I also used to prefer it to the MR score, although it has grown on me more over the years considering some of its memorable tracks never made the soundtrack album such as the gunbarrel, the precredits and Venice canal chase.
TMWTGG's theme lends itself to both the action scenes - Let's Go Get 'em has always been a favorite of mine, I've exceeded the speed limit numerous times to that track - and the romantic scenes. Then there's the rousing jazz version of the theme which is just fun to listen to. Barry was a master at the theme variation and the modern scores sorely miss that.
My Sentiments exactly....l also like 'Let's Go Get 'Em'....it's a perfect example of how a Composer can weave the title song into the Bond theme. It's a very Rich Sounding Score. Scaramanga also has his own theme that isn't part of the title Song....tracks like 'Death Of Hai Fat' , 'In Search Of Scaramanga's Island', 'The Solex, etc all Contain that theme.
These are just a couple of things that come to mind in comparing both soundtracks.