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I would never take a Barry score for the mess that is NSNA if it meant none of his 80s work for the official series.
NSNA would have benefited greatly from names like Lalo Schifrin or Jerry Goldsmith. And if they wanted to go whismical, well, I think Mike Post or even Giorgio Moroder would have done a better job than Legrand.
It's a good thought. TMWTGG actually cones close to being quite good at the beginning, it has an interesting opening. But then it all falls apart rapidly and the Solex stuff is all so strange. Why is Bond going after a macguffin in this film? If your film is about the world's best assassin, then have Bond trying to stop an assassination! Scaramanga should be going after the M or the Russian President or something. Imagine an ending like Octopussy with Bond desperately racing against time, then once he's foiled the plan he follows Scaramanga somewhere and they have their duel.
Of course doing it in 1968 is no reason to think they'd do it any better but you never know. I'd almost like them to try it again as there's a good idea in there.
Yes I've been thinking about this recently and I'm afraid I'm come to the conclusion that it would have been so much better to have Roger Moore in OHMSS. Bond drifting around the resorts of Portugal being a playboy and visiting casinos and being suave? That was pretty much what Roger had been doing for years in the Saint and he'd do it again in the Persuaders: the opening of that film is made for him, and arguably Lazenby looks a little shifty and cocky in those scenes compared to how at home you can picture Roger being there. Roger could easily have held the screen next to Rigg and Savalas, which George couldn't, and the more sensitive and romantic sides Bond had to show in the film were something that you'd get plenty of glimpses of in his Bond films. Connery never did any of that. Plus he'd have brought something, some charm and glimmer and a comedy angle to the Hilary Bray scenes where Lazenby did nothing with them.
The fight scenes would have been worse, but I can't help thinking on the whole Roger would really have improved OHMSS. It needed a star playing Bond and it didn't get that. It might well have steered his subsequent films in a different direction too, for better or worse.
Yes, Mason would have been great, but Lonsdale was great too so there's not much in the way of 'what-if' to consider.
I watched Mason in a film on Talking Pictures TV the other night where he played a character that should have been George Smiley (he was Smiley in the book but changed name for the film) and I think that's a greater what-if: he should have been Smiley in the movies.
We got two Swedes in TMWTGG (and one was playing a British agent!) so it wouldn't have mattered I don't think. To be honest I think I'd find a French agent more refreshing than an American: you don't see DGSE agents onscreen very often.
Very interesting thoughts. Yes I agree with all of that. With regards to the Bond theme I think it's interesting that Octopussy and AVTAK both have their own sort of alternate action theme (Gobinda Attacks and He's Dangerous) and then TLD got Necros Attacks, which isn't used for Bond quite as much as the other two but still serves the purpose (in fact the orchestral versions of the theme song probably work more for an action theme for Bond). So I think Barry was very much in that frame of mind at that time so it's reasonable to assume he'd have done it for NSNA.
I get kind of frustrated by that fanmade version of NSNA that ditches Legrand's score and inserts official Bond music. It's fairly well done but when David Arnold creeps in it just doesn't feel authentic: I wish the maker had just restricted himself to using tracks from maybe TMWTGG-TLD as that would have felt more like a Barry score from the time of the film.
Yes indeed. I think it's very interesting that they still hired Pierce Brosnan after he attempted to get his own rival Bond movie off the ground with McClory: I wonder if they don't hold grudges too much if it means getting the best person for the job! :)
It only occurred to me recently: it just makes sense when you've got an assassin as the baddie, doesn't it? Maybe he's killing someone to start a war or get access to some KGB funds or something, it doesn't really matter. It should be the Day of the Jackal, 007 style.
TMWTGG is an odd old film, I watched it last week and it's kind of weird that Bond basically goes after Scaramanga without any actual provocation (he's basically framed by Anders). Luckily it turns out he's got the Solex thing which justifies Bond's pursuit of him, but even then it looks quite like an act of greed on the UK's part as Bond says the oil companies will pay to keep the Solex quiet: is that the UK's plan too? ;) Gibson was working for Hi Fat when he developed the Solex, the British are actually trying to muscle in on it.
Scaramanga is guilty of industrial espionage (and murder of course, but these people are always going to find an assassin if they want one) but really the British and Bond are the aggressors towards him. It's all a bit odd. Bond isn't defending the realm here but going out and taking what the realm wants, and Scaramanga is the one Bond villain who actually looks the most like a victim of Bond.
Well I do rather like the golden bullet thing, with Bond's life apparently threatened- that's rather good I think. So I'd still have Bond going out to get Scaramanga first, and Anders sending the bullet to alert Bond, maybe to Scaramanga's mission, is rather good. The film just falls apart after that.
Ha! He does!
I love that fan edit, and for the most part I can look past the lack of uniformity in the music, because the cues are generally well chosen and suit the respective scenes. The exception to that is indeed the Arnold music. The DAD music that plays during the horseback escape just doesn't fit.
In Brosnan's case, at least he got involved with that rival Bond film after losing the opportunity to play the part in the EON film series (through no fault of his own, by the way). I can understand EON looking past that. Had John Barry agreed to score NSNA back in 1982/83, that would've been a different situation, because he would have chosen NSNA over OP. I'm sure Cubby Broccoli would have been upset about it, especially considering he had taken a bit of a gamble on Barry back in 1963, when he agreed to hire him to score FRWL, because yes, Barry had done the Bond theme arrangement for DN, but he was still new to the film scoring business.
Do you know something? He actually does! I'd never have thought of him for the role but he has all the attributes needed to successfully bring the literary Drax to life! And Drax was the ultimate bounder!
TLD was a chance for the producers to shift the tone from the lighter Moore era to a more serious tone with Dalton taking over the role. However a light hearted scene was shot and while it was never finished in post production, the fact that time went into the shooting of the scene suggests that at one point it was going to be in the film.
The scene in question is the magic carpet ride scene. It would have followed Bond's escape from the police after the "assassination" of General Pushkin. The scene has Moore's Bond all over it and didn't fit within the film. However what if they had decided to include it. Do you think it would have confused the tone of the movie? Would it have undermined a great section of action with Pushkin's "death". Or do you think it is no worse then using a cello case to flee in the snow and should have been kept in the film.
What say you Mi6? What if the Magic Carpet Sequence had been left in TLD?
Last film I saw in the flicks was Pet Sematary and it was rubbish, nowhere near as creepy as the 1980s tv miniseries.
But now I’m really glad I went to see it, because it was actually in the cinema. I don’t know when cinemas will reopen again. It might not be for ages.
It would be depressing if the last film I ever saw in any cinema was a rubbish version of Pet Sematary. So I hope they do reopen, and soon, so that I can go there at the earliest opportunity and see something else. NTTD, with any luck.
that was a sheer Roger Moore moment that only he could have pulled of.
I don't think it would have ruined the film or anything, but it just makes for a snappier scene without it. I could have taken that escape being a bit longer, it always feels like it cuts away a bit sooner than I'd like, but the version of the carpet ride they shot was a bit bad.
I think you may have found the reason it made it into the script and was even shot. I think it would have worked with Pierce's Bond. I do think it was taken out for a reason as most deleted scenes are. It was a cute idea but poorly executed.
I do think so too. Regarding its execution with Brosnan, I think it gives some clues on on how the series could have evolved in term of tone through the late 80s and the 90s with a different Bond.
This allows me to go back to one of the first questions asked on the topic about what if Brosnan had starred in TLD. With this magic carpet sequence in mind, Bond 16 would have lighter than LTK and I doubt that the revenge story would have been used. I have no difficulty imagining that an installment similar to the Bond 17 treatment could have happened in 1989.
I don't mind the cello case scene. Bond has always been about being resourceful with what he has at his disposal and he's just been through a gadget-rigged Aston Martin chase, so it wasn't a distraction. The overall tone of TLD does just fine to not reduce the overall experience of a more serious Bond film without losing the fun and creative action.
Also, I've heard conflicting things about the magic carpet scene, such as it was written with Moore in mind. Can anybody confirm or deny that? I always thought from the beginning that Bond 15 was meant to be a reboot, first with the rejected Bond begins angle and then the approach for a new actor. So it would seem strange to include a Moore touch unless they didn't want to distance themselves too far from that era.
I think the right decision was made with Dalton and this sequence. I think it would have been too much. The cello case chase had already done enough with the silliness of the situation.