The Award Winning : 'Bond...comments while you watch...'

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Comments

  • Posts: 11,189
    Clifton James was good as Pepper but the character is turned up to 11 here. He becomes excruciating.
  • Posts: 11,189
    "Oh Q shut up".

    This film has a very mean spirit to it.

    Bond is horrible to everyone, Britt Eckland is an unfunny joke, M is too grumpy, Moneypenny was bad tempered and the only half sympathetic ally is subject to domestic violence and eventually dies.

    Probably the cruelest Bond film.
  • Posts: 11,189
    "...no he won't be leaving"

    Damn Lee was good.

    Some great shots of the islands as Bond flies in too.
  • Posts: 11,189
    The solar lab set looks very 1970s
  • Posts: 11,189
    Lee is fun to watch but his scheme is dull as f...
  • Posts: 11,189
    "That's what I call trouble"

    I think that line was for the audiences benefit. Shame it's like something you would hear in a Scooby Doo cartoon.
  • Posts: 11,189
    The best scene in the film now with the two at the dinner table.
  • Posts: 11,189
    The tension bristles between the two here.
  • Posts: 11,189
    Birdleson wrote: »
    BAIN123 wrote: »
    "Oh Q shut up".

    This film has a very mean spirit to it.

    Probably the cruelest Bond film.

    I agree and I think that makes for an interesting film. I dig it.

    I think it feels needlessly cruel. Especially next to the cartoony moments in other parts of the film.

    It's more crude than interesting to me.

  • Posts: 11,189
    Good score during the final funhouse duel.

    Boom...Lee is down.

    Luckily the mannequin's gun had bullets in it.
  • ForYourEyesOnlyForYourEyesOnly In the untained cradle of the heavens
    Posts: 1,984
    BAIN123 wrote: »
    "That's what I call trouble"

    I think that line was for the audiences benefit. Shame it's like something you would hear in a Scooby Doo cartoon.

    Agreed, horrible line. Moore in general is just given a weaker part to play in this movie. He's not like in the other ones.
  • edited December 2017 Posts: 11,189
    They are trying to make him rougher but he just comes off as unsympathetic, leery and deeply unlikeable. I don't care if he wins.
  • Posts: 11,189
    "Goodnight are you still there!?"

    Oh the (unfunny) highjinx.
  • Posts: 11,189
    "We should make Hong Kong in about 8 hours. Give or...take a little"

    Ok I'm cringing again
  • Posts: 11,189
    Slapstick comedy fight. "I may be small but I never forget"
  • Posts: 11,189
    "Something came up"

    They do like that line in Bond.
  • Posts: 11,189
    "She's just coming sir"

    Ok as crude as that line maybe I do like how Moore delivers it.
  • Posts: 11,189
    Cheesy awful song at the end.
  • edited December 2017 Posts: 11,189
    Ok final thoughts.

    Overall not a good film. Cruel and muddled in tone with some unfunny farcical comedic characters and situations. But there are moments of greatness here and there. Thailand is photographed well and Lee and Moore shine when they are given good material.

    You can certainly sense the washed out feeling this film has and it's not surprising really that the film underperformed when it first came out. It feels tired, bitter and angry but tries to force laughs.
  • ForYourEyesOnlyForYourEyesOnly In the untained cradle of the heavens
    edited December 2017 Posts: 1,984
    BAIN123 wrote: »
    They are trying to make him rougher but he just comes off as unsympathetic, leery and deeply unlikeable. I don't care if he wins.

    Yeah. The Maud Adams arm-twisting scene is a shallow attempt at turning Moore into Connery, and then they give him a bunch of dickish lines and actions to make him seem tough. Instead he seems out-of-character once you've seen his other movies.

    Doesn't help that there's only half a plot in this movie and almost everything that was wrong with Live and Let Die comes back for another one (unsurprising as it's Hamilton again). Agreed with Goodnight being insufferable. Worst Bond girl in the Moore era, even worse than Stacey Sutton.

    John Barry's score is still good but I find it the weakest of all the ones he's done. Christopher Lee's about the only standout redeeming factor. Not enough, unfortunately; I still think this is by far the worst of Moore's seven outings. It hardly even feels like a finished movie to me.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    I love that ending.

    "Goodnight? Goodnight?"
    "Good night, Sir!"
  • Posts: 11,189
    Hmm...I think this and AVTAK are definitely his weakest. GG annoys me more than View but probably has more "atmosphere" to it
  • ForYourEyesOnlyForYourEyesOnly In the untained cradle of the heavens
    edited December 2017 Posts: 1,984
    BAIN123 wrote: »
    Hmm...I think this and AVTAK are definitely his weakest. GG annoys me more than View but probably has more "atmosphere" to it

    They're the two weakest of Moore's but I rank AVTAK higher as it actually feels like a finished movie and doesn't have a good chunk that feels slapped in for cheap laughs to take up time. Plus Barry's music is better there which contributes to the atmosphere, as do the high stakes set up in that one. For this one I only notice the atmosphere in Scaramanga's funhouse, and you forget about whatever stakes exist after there's twenty minutes of irrelevant dojo karate and boating. Not to mention that while Sir Roger's aged considerably, I prefer his Bond there by far. Also, Bond's got a better sidekick, there's a slightly less insufferable Bond girl, the movie's still clearly influenced by the times but not so overtly, time isn't wasted mulling over minor plot points, etc. AVTAK's clearly better to me.

    Only thing I can think of where TMWTGG is outright better is the ending. I'm not even sure if Christopher Lee is a better villain than Christopher Walken, but I do know that both go a long way to save their films.
  • Posts: 11,189
    BAIN123 wrote: »
    Hmm...I think this and AVTAK are definitely his weakest. GG annoys me more than View but probably has more "atmosphere" to it

    They're the two weakest of Moore's but I rank AVTAK higher as it actually feels like a finished movie and doesn't have a good chunk that feels slapped in for cheap laughs to take up time. Plus Barry's music is better there which contributes to the atmosphere, as do the high stakes set up in that one. For this one I only notice the atmosphere in Scaramanga's funhouse, and you forget about whatever stakes exist after there's twenty minutes of irrelevant dojo karate and boating. Not to mention that while Sir Roger's aged considerably, I prefer his Bond there by far. Also, Bond's got a better sidekick, there's a slightly less insufferable Bond girl, the movie's still clearly influenced by the times but not so overtly, time isn't wasted mulling over minor plot points, etc. AVTAK's clearly better to me.

    ...except the chase through Paris and the dire fire engine chase ;)

    I agree with you on the score and kind of on Moore's Bond aswell. The Moore of MWTGG would have probably left Stacey to die in the city hall fire after saving himself.
  • ForYourEyesOnlyForYourEyesOnly In the untained cradle of the heavens
    edited December 2017 Posts: 1,984
    BAIN123 wrote: »
    ...except the chase through Paris and the dire fire engine chase ;)

    lol

    That's a pretty bad scene as well but we already knew that Zorin was framing Bond for the fire/murder so he would've had to get away from the police anyway. Hai Fat's karate school came out of nowhere to take up time, and they even managed to slip in a boat chase, a kid selling a wooden elephant and Sheriff Pepper as a tourist to take up even more time. None of which made sense. Pepper buying a car in Thailand made even less sense. X_X
    I agree with you on the score and kind of on Moore's Bond aswell. The Moore of MWTGG would have probably left Stacey to die in the city hall fire after saving himself.

    He would've twisted Stacey's arm for pointing the gun at him and then threatened to break it unless she told him what Zorin's cheque was for.

    I'm so glad Hamilton wasn't directing AVTAK because I can scarcely imagine Tanya Robert's screeching in such a scene.
  • Posts: 11,189
    The thing is people talk about Fleming's Bond being rough and unlikeable, but I don't ever remember him actually being that cruel. I don't think I even him remember him hitting a woman to be honest. Yes he got angry with them (his rant in CR) but he was sympathetic to them too.
  • Posts: 3,334
    BAIN123 wrote: »
    They are trying to make him rougher but he just comes off as unsympathetic, leery and deeply unlikeable. I don't care if he wins.

    Yeah. The Maud Adams arm-twisting scene is a shallow attempt at turning Moore into Connery, and then they give him a bunch of dickish lines and actions to make him seem tough. Instead he seems out-of-character once you've seen his other movies.
    Considering that there had only been one Moore Bond movie that proceeded TMWTGG, it couldn't be classified as out-of-character at the time of its release. When I first saw this back in 74 I thought, at least Moore is playing Bond properly now, which I didn't feel like he did so much in LALD, where he came across as a bit stiff and pompous. That said, I feel the first two entries are closer to Connery's Bond than anything that followed. Well, apart from the tie-snatching scene on top of the building in TSWLM, that is.
  • edited December 2017 Posts: 11,189
    bondsum wrote: »
    BAIN123 wrote: »
    They are trying to make him rougher but he just comes off as unsympathetic, leery and deeply unlikeable. I don't care if he wins.

    Yeah. The Maud Adams arm-twisting scene is a shallow attempt at turning Moore into Connery, and then they give him a bunch of dickish lines and actions to make him seem tough. Instead he seems out-of-character once you've seen his other movies.
    Considering that there had only been one Moore Bond movie that proceeded TMWTGG, it couldn't be classified as out-of-character at the time of its release. When I first saw this back in 74 I thought, at least Moore is playing Bond properly now, which I didn't feel like he did so much in LALD, where he came across as a bit stiff and pompous. That said, I feel the first two entries are closer to Connery's Bond than anything that followed. Well, apart from the tie-snatching scene on top of the building in TSWLM, that is.

    He's quite pompous in Golden Gun I think.

    I don't really want to see Moore doing a Connery Bond. I want to see Moore doing his Bond.

    His leeriness and aggressiveness in GG though I feel almost goes too far. Connery wasn't quite as bad tempered as this.
  • Posts: 3,334
    Connery's Bond wasn't really his Bond as you put it, but more a case of the producer's and scriptwriter's perception of Bond which Connery followed convincingly to the T. And here's the thing, there's many here that sing the praises of Moore's acting abilities and yet he clearly struggled to convince the majority of you that he was anything other than a lightweight Bond, substituting assertive prowess for comedic tomfoolery.

    Connery's Bond, or Richard Maibaum's Bond, could certainly get rough with the ladies. Are you forgetting how he slapped Tatiana Romanova in the 1963 movie From Russia with Love?
  • Posts: 11,189
    I think Moore could be effective as a leader and someone demonstrating assertiveness. In the very next film he leads a group of Naval soldiers into battle and does it well. Likewise in FYEO (I know you aren't a fan of that film @bondsum but I still think it's a good example) he leads Columbo's men into Kristatos's hideout and convinces.

    Moore could lead and command but he didn't have the rough streak. As such it's harder to imagine him being sent to kill someone.
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