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Octopussy.
Octopussy by a country mile. In most other respects GF would win it but you said we had to go for tension (rather than set design, say) and Bond’s race to the circus is much more tense. I think the stakes are higher, which increases the suspense. Blowing up some gold and a few soldiers is not in quite the same league as blowing up a West German airbase full of civilians and thereby starting world war three
The second is easier, both great moments within the respective film, but I just love the OP countdown, the whole frantic scrabble to reach the bomb in time, so many obstacles in his way, the obvious disbelief of the base commander, Octopussy's realisation of the situation, and just for Max the Parrot my Sir Rog and that clown suit! Ridiculous on the surface, but filled with ominous flashbacks 009's death. With Goldfinger I just can't help giggling at how LONG the countdown stretches out those final few seconds! (Naturally, I'm steadfastly overlooking how long it takes Sir Rog to put on a clown costume and immaculate make-up, Rog can do anything!)
I like this plan, sometimes 'fun threads' can go on past their sell-by date, but 52 would keep us going nicely until almost NTTD time, so I'd enjoy it if you could keep it going a little longer, although I have no doubt it takes an awful lot of time and thought to come up with ideas each week, so I'm sure we'd all understand if you decide to draw it to a close sooner.
I've also got fingers crossed you come up with a fab idea to follow-on this thread sometime in the future, as I'd miss it when it ends! :)
Do what you must, I will respect your decision either way.
OP by far on this one, the most tense moment in a Bond film. The very last millisecond and the added detonator plunger device going off just as he removes it from the outskirts of the device makes the tension greater.
OP, I have always stated one of John Glens finest scenes was his handling of this set piece, Barrys music helps also!
Octopussy wins this surprisingly easily in my mind. As @MooseWithFleas said, it's an incredibly tense moment.
For the second choice, the winner goes to Octopussy... The tension feels like a tight wire and Moore does a damn good job.... I felt he was in peril, he was in fear. He was desperate.
First one is a difficult choice because I really like both. Certainly top three together with Sean's introduction. But Dalton wins it by a hair.
Second one is an easier choice. I always found the OP climax to be a bit underrated. People dismiss the clown suit, but forget how tense that scene actually is. GF's countdown is a bit messed up by its weird time shifting.
Both are great introductions and I want to split the vote, but I will give the edge to Dalton. He's Bond, no doubt from that introduction. He is still the closest actor to resemble the man in my head from the books. Somebody back in the day mentioned the other 00s look a bit like Lazenby and Moore to confuse the audience. I don't necessarily agree, but it's an interesting concept. What's refreshing is Dalton isn't introduced in the suave way, but as a man of action, on the job.
Lazenby's is also great. He gives all the trademarks. I love the idea of using the sniper scope to watch Tracy. Peter Hunt did a masterful job handling this.
I kind of thought GF would run away with question 2 because, well, it's GF, the peak of the series for many and can do no wrong. I'm pleasantly surprised by the reception OP has gotten, and I'll gladly add to that. Both films are great in their suspense of stopping the bombs.
GF set a great standard. John Brosnan in his book "James Bond in the Cinema" talked about what a great concept it was having the hero handcuffed to a ticking atom bomb in Fort Knox with a Korean karate expert bearing down on him. Bond has so many obstacles to overcome: Somehow get uncuffed; escape from, survive or kill Oddjob, who's determined to stop Bond from foiling his boss' scheme even if it means sacrificing himself; and stop the ticking bomb. The only real downside is Bond himself doesn't stop the bomb, it's that anonymous guy with Felix.
Moore's Bond seems to have just as many if not more odds against him. First, he has to negotiate a way to get to the bomb. He's out in the middle of nowhere and keeps hitting obstacles in trying to reach the base as the countdown clicks on. Even when he reaches it, as opposed to Connery's Bond in GF, who had the Leiter and his men and the U.S. Army backing him outside, Moore's Bond is totally alone, being hunted by the German police and the military police. Then he has to convince the skeptical top brass ("General, this man's either drunk of crazy") and Octopussy (Magda whispers "He'll destroy everything") of his intentions.
By OP, countdown scenes in Bond films had become as standard as vodka martinis or visits to Q Branch, so here's another. What tops this scene for me is after all the things he's had to deal with beforehand with the adrenaline pumping, Bond still has to defuse the bomb within a few seconds and surrounded by the people, not isolated inside a vast vault. It reminds me of a comment from one of the books of the early 80s, maybe Steven Jay Rubin's, about modern Bond's skills being needed to be updated to deal with the threats of the time and he has that skill he didn't in GF, which adds points here.
No, we aren't in a competition but happens that our rounds are kind of similar (of course with the difference that you have a top five and I choose two scenes/moments etc.) I only thought that it could be a bit unnecessary to go on when everything I ask, could also be discussed in your thread.
I support this. Peter Hunt did a great job with Lazenby's introduction and it was smart to take some successful ingredients from the famous Dr. No scene (like the caigar and the briefly unseen face) while still doing something completely new.
The introduction in TLD is simply great. The perfect time to show Dalton's face (after the tense and dramatic moment) and to say: "Look, this is the new Bond and he is DEFINITELY ready for action. The Connery introduction is more iconic, no doubt, but Dalton's introduction is my favourite. The whole PTS is amazing stuff.
I didn't expect such an obvious win for the OP Countdown. Did GF ever lose a round before??
I can't add much more to the very well written comments by @Benny , @BT3366 and @Max_The_Parrot. They sum it up perfectly and it shows why OP deserves to win here.
Both films have a very different approach and both work very well for the specific movie. It bothers me, too that Bond can't defuse the bomb in Fort Knox. But the real drawback is the ticking Countdown which is very fast in the beginning and suddenly the last 30 seconds go on for around two minutes…
I would also prefer it when the Countdown in OP would stop a few seconds earlier as the defusion at the very last possible moment/second but this is nitpicking.
The OP countdown grew on me the last years (I always liked it but I enjoy it even more today). I didn't like the "clownish" ending but it somehow works. (I can accept that he is very quick in changin clothes but how was he able to paint his face exactly the same way as the killed 00-agent and the clown in the circus?)
Electric chair..
Thanks for voting but this is round 44 and your vote belongs to round 3 ;)
OP
I think OP has one of the absolutely best second movie halves in the franchise; the bad clown disguise can't take anything away from that. It basically makes sense although the accuracy of the painting is silly.
While the GF countdown is really good as well, in OP one feels throughout the entire sequence how far Bond still is from achieving his goal and how difficult his challenge is.
Both introductions are liked a lot but the numbers are clearly on Dalton's side:
Dalton's introduction wins against Lazenby's: 11 : 3
The GF countdown has no chance against the OP countdown: OP wins 13 : 1
Round 45:
A) Which ally do you prefer?
Vijay vs. Sharkey
B) Which of the main villain's facial abnormalities/disfiguration do you prefer?
Le Chiffre is weeping blood out of the eye several times vs. Silva reveals a disfigured face after removing his prosthesis
Unfortunately, in LTK, Sharkey felt too much of a stock character and, although his death led to Bond reacting quite viciously (a plus), and one helluva stunt, it lacked the gravitas of actually losing a friend.
Sharkey was forgotten immediately, whereas Vijay's death haunted Bond afterwards ("No problem")...
B/I love Casino Royale, but one thing I personally felt we didn't need was the weeping of the tear duct. Doesn't take me out of the film, but really doesn't play into the narrative. In my opinion, it felt like it was something just thrown in there.
So, I will go with the disfigured face of Silva. I'm not a fan of the CG, but from a narrative point of view, it shows how much he went through when M tossed him to the wolves. He lives with betrayal every day; he looks in the mirror and he knows what deformed monster lurks beneath the surface of his skin. To me, this is an amazing little plot detail that adds some nice layers to Silva's story.
B) Le Chiffre weaping blood
Let Chiffre by a fair margin.
+1
Agreed. +1
B) weeping blood
Le Chiffre for the second one.
Vijay has solid chemistry with Bond/Roger and his death is very dark but he isn't as memorable as Sharkey who can easily differ between chainsaw and shark and has a nice comment for Killifer.
As written by @peter, the bleeding eye felt just thrown in because it was expected that villain Needs some Kind of abnormality. It works quite well but isn't really necessary.
Disfigured face: The prosthesis of Silva is a bit strange (how does it work?? and why didn't the cyanide kill him?) but I love the look we get to see briefly (almost a bit horrifying) and it is played too good to vote against it.
However, my choice is Vijay. He's a fresh and likeable character from his introduction with the snake cover. He's got the silly moments with the tennis racket in the chase scene, but he's not a comedy character or throwaway one like Ferrara in FYEO or Chuck Lee in AVTAK. Even gets his own catch-phrase, no problem.
He's a relatively inexperienced agent and since he's likeable and we've gotten to know him, it really makes you feel for him, especially knowing how he meets his fate with the buzz saw yo-yo. And to think, that could've been Q.
His death isn't just forgotten. A nice small callback moment comes later at Checkpoint Charlie when M leaves the German Karl to take Bond through the border and he uses "No problem" and Bond gets an uncomfortable look on his face, no doubt reminding him of Vijay.
For question 2, I'll easily take Le Chiffre. Although the weeping blood isn't in the book, it's really a Fleming-worthy touch. It's not a big thing, but just cool enough to make him that much more memorable and unique, like Scaramanga's third nipple (from the book too).
And that's where the whole Silva disfigurement works against him. His burning hatred for M should be enough. The character was already fascinating, so why did they need to add some horror movie moment? It adds nothing, except reminding me of the scene in Beetlejuice where his eyes bulge out.
It's like when they decided to make the Donald Pleasance Blofeld into a scarred character. It's too much, he's already a monster, does the physical appearance make him more evil?