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And I like your humour.
1- erm
2- :-\"
3- give me a minute, just thinking.
4- :-w
5 - oh, yes, The Living Daylights, if you swap discs really quickly it comes right after the bit in AVTAK bit where it says "James Bond wil return". Does that count?
I also love Rog hamming it up as James St John Smythe and belittling Tibbet at every opportunity.
That being said, on to AVTAK:
I always liked the PTS:
007 in the USSR, we onely had that twice. Big plus.
Skiing!!
Mary Stavin!
Love the iceberg sub too.
Apart from that the Eiffel Tower stunt, the Golden Gate finale, May Day's sacrifice and the the whole sequence at Chantilly.
Bond in Siberia - he uses the grappling hook in a different way than intended
title sequence - one of the best sequences and songs
Ascot races - their enclosure badges read 'Thursday 1984'; you can see the moment Zorin activates the transmitter on his cane; Bond bets on Pegasus then buys Moneypenny dinner
Bond and Tibbett's banter as they check the room for bugs
searching for Pegasus - secret lab; microchip warehouse; escape
lurking at the car wash - the scene is well done
Bond observes the KGB planting a limpet mine at the pumping station
bungling in the dark - Zorin catching them, and his secret of genius
May Day's sacrifice
Special mention:
Zorin chuckles to himself after booting a miner off the edge.
“Intuitive improvisation” while Zorin briefly waves his gun at his own head (that’s brilliant)
Jenny Flex
the Wine with Stacey melody, that’s really lovely
Sorry that I went on too quick. I thought that nothing more was going to happen and it was you that “encouraged“ me to shorten the time. Taking your ranking into account, the Palmyra infiltration definitely deserves the second spot after the SPECTRE meeting
@TheGoldenGun the bathtub moment is by far my favourite of TB.
The Paris car chase and pretty amazing stunts in that, I like the lasery skiing title sequence, the whole part in the chateau especially with Tibbet, Mayday is great, I love the airship stuff, the bridge fight is fantastic, Zorin is a top baddie, I love a good villain-turning-good ending... yeah I just enjoy the feel of it.
Really nothing you like about it? Is AVTAK your number 24 of the EON Bond ranking?
Even my least favoured Bond movies (MR, DAD, DAF) feature a lot for me to enjoy.
And that's probably about it! Everything else I love :)
Good that you mention it. I think this scene belongs in my top five.
1. The title sequence / Duran Duran’s theme song (see prior post)
2. Christopher Walken as Max Zorin is deliciously demented, especially his killing of Howe at city hall. “Intuitive improvisation” indeed.
3. Patrick Macnee as Sir Godfrey Tibbett – I really love the by-play between his character and Bond as they check the room for bugs.
4. The Golden Gate Bridge final – what could have been a disaster, but it actually works – as does Moore’s “there is never a cab when you need one” quip to conclude it.
5. John Barry’s score – with the possible exception of TMWTGG, Barry’s scores are always on point for me.
Although I like Tanya Roberts the person, her “Stacy” really drags this movie down. (J-A-M-E-S!! J-A-M-E-S!!!). I’ve often wondered how AVTAK would have worked with a actress a bit closer in age to Moore and if “Stacy” had been played as a bit more mature. A point I’m reminded of since this week marked the birthday of fellow “Charlie’s Angels” alumni Jaclyn Smith. I missed opportunity IMO.
Bond's resourcefulness through the Glen films deserves mention, such as the tyre breathing.
Yes, indubitably - Sir Rog has a fine time posing as an eccentric Englishman, in almost a pastiche of the roles he stereotypically played.
The final act in particular is terrific, from the mine under the San Andreas lake – surely one of Lamont's most technically impressive sets – right through to the thrilling climax on top of the Golden Gate Bridge.
But that really isn't a moment. So, I'll suggest a couple of moments -
Bond's rescue of Stacey from the burning City Hall. The motif, usually associated with the lyric "dance into the fire", is used brilliantly by Barry, as Bond carries Stacey down the ladder. Terrific stuff.
"Wine With Stacey" is a superb romantic, and kind of melancholic, rendition of the title theme. On a more personal level, a couple of months after my stroke, I was watching AVTAK. Reaching the dinner scene, a strange thing happened; I experienced goosebumps down the right hand side of my body. Full sensation had returned to my body. And for that, I'm grateful for AVTAK, thus I have some sentimental feelings towards this film.
Sorry only just seen your question.
I was been tongue in cheek to a degree but yes you're right, AVTAK is bottom for me. It is without doubt my least watched of all the Eon Bonds.
It is both silly and boring which for me is a toxic combination.
The stunt double work is really lazy as well, it's almost like they stopped bothering to pretend it was Roger. I love Moore as Bond and feel this film let him down, he should have stopped at Octopussy.
1- Bond saying "here let me help you" to Tibbett and only taking a brolly. Very funny gag.
2- Tibbett's death in Cubby's Rolls. Very macabre.
3- The Goldengate bridge fight. The combo of large scale miniature, back projection and the real thing works really well.
4- Moore's anger at Zorin when he catches up with the Rolls "killing Tibbett was a mistake"
5- Howe's office "brilliant, I'm almost speechless with admiration"
It's followed up by a similar gag. After Bond punches out the truck driver, while disguised as a fire chief, he says to Stacey, "give me hand", where by Stacey picks up the driver's hard hat.
Among those that haven't been mentioned so far:
- Bond discovers the simulation of Silicon Valley being flooded
- the whole build-up to the plot reveal, like worries about Zorin's pipeline activities, the earthquake, the 'a view to a kill' line in the blimp
- fire-truck chase (yes, I like it a lot)
- Vivaldi being played while Bond does some spying in Zorin's chateau
- humour in the warehouse fight (yes, I like that, too)
Yes I think I only spotted that little bit of echoing recently: it's actually a really neat bit of rhyming between scenes! They're both lovely gags, the brolly one especially. "Oh thank you sir" :D
Another of my favourite gags are possibly the filthiest double entendres ever in the Moneypenny scenes:
"The trip back from Siberia took a lot out of me"
and
"I'll fill you in later"
:))
And Walken's performance should definitely be part in my top five ranking. But which moment stands out the most?
I also
Thanks for your personal story. The Barry moments you picked are also scenes I like a lot and this is mainly due to the wonderful music. Bond's Rescue of Stacey from City Hall is much more touching and heroic as it deserves.
I never realized the similarity of the two gags. Like @cwl007, I like the "Here, let me help you" gag a lot. I understand that some find Bond's treatment of Tibbett "unappropriate" (this was once discussed in another thread) but it is very funny (imo) and it is obvious (in other scenes) that Bond and Tibbett are very good friends.
Tibbett is a wonderful ally, Zorin a great villain and Jenny Flex is lovely to watch.
Some mentioned MayDay's sacrifice. This is another great moment.
However, feel free to go on with the discussion. I appreciate all your opinions and suggested moments.
The ranking will go on for at least three days (at the least till Sunday evening). I hope there is also enough time for one of our biggest Moore fans to join this round: @Max_The_Parrot.
Round 3: AVTAK. Part 2: Ranking
2. Pre-title sequence in Siberia
3. Golden Gate Bridge finale
4. May Day sacrifice
5. Pola Ivanova
Yes you're right, I remember reading or hearing somewhere that Bond's treatment of Tibbett was inappropriate and mean spirited. That for me totally misses two factors.
1, Bond and Tibbett are pretending to be master and servant and Bond is just taking the micky to add to the guise.
2, as an audience member I think what you are watching during that sequence is Moore and McNee, who were good friends in real life, enjoying playing off each other. Great chemistry.
Oh wow yes, people have really said that? I think that whole relationship is completely Bond: James is a bit of a dick to someone, but in such a weirdly charming way that we actually still him like him for it! Which is basically a sort of perfect distillation of Bond's character throughout all of the movies!
And that actually sort of shows why, despite him playing down his own ability for years, Roger was really talented: can you imagine many other movie stars managing to pull off bullying a (senior!) colleague in such a way, and then boasting to him about how he might have to sleep with a beautiful woman, and yet still remaining the hero we all like? :D
I don't want to change the subject too much, but it's another way Dalton's Bond sort of misses the mark for me: he doesn't really do enough of that sort of thing- there's very little of that vicarious pleasure of watching Bond be a terrible arse and actually charmingly get away with it; that fun is gone. What does he do- order an expensive hamper?
1. Airship to Silicon Valley
By this I mean the whole sequence beginning with Zorin's speech to his investors, played with gleeful panache by Walken, and culminating with the blimp's eye view of the San Francisco Bay Area—including the chilling departure of the Taiwanese tycoon through the floor, the double double entendres of being provided with a drink and anybody else wanting to drop out, and the shared delivery of the film's title spoken by Zorin and May Day with such reverence and such awe as they look down upon their destiny. The whole sequence is the perfect encapsulation of the film's humor, beauty, style, and cool.
2. The steeplechase
Simply one of the tensest and most grounded action sequences of Moore's tenure. Before it begins, both Bond and the audience know just what he's in for upon Zorin's understated delivery of "Then you lose." Barry's dramatic score propels the scene through to its gripping finale as Bond jumps onto the side of the Rolls, only to discover May Day has replaced his dead colleague behind the wheel. Bond's icy rebuke "Killing Tibbett was a mistake" and Zorin's flippant "Then I'm about to make the same mistake twice" end the sequence on the perfect note.
3. Bond's been expecting May Day
I suppose this one might make a few people's bottom moments list, but it's scenes like this that really give AVTAK its unique flair. It isn't so much the fact that Bond beds May Day (though Barry's sax-powered rendition of the main theme doesn't go unwelcomed) as it is all the tension that comes from Bond racing back to his room and finding himself caught in the hall with Zorin and May Day standing at the door. Walken once again turns what might have been a throwaway moment into a hilarious bit of characterization, giving May Day the go ahead with a shrug and a nod.
4. May Day's sacrifice
In a welcome deviation from formula, the henchwoman herself is betrayed by her psychotic employer and lover and teams with Bond at the eleventh hour to take revenge. Sure, Jaws turned good guy in Moonraker, but that ended up being played as much for laughs as for anything else. Mayday's was a dramatic turnabout and Barry gives her a fittingly dramatic end with fiercely swelling percussion. That last skyward look on Grace Jones' face, eyes glaring glacier-cold, justifies this scene as one of the film's top moments.
5. The Golden Gate fight
To be honest, this is mostly for that haunting music that plays as Bond is improbably swept over the tallest of San Francisco's skyscrapers, clinging to a mooring cable for what in real life would have been several minutes, but the thrill of seeing the stunt actors battling atop the actual Golden Gate with those terrifying camera perspectives looking down mark this scene out as one of the series' greatest accomplishments. The scene loses points for Willoughby Gray's screeching and it may have been more impressive viewed on a small screen when I was a kid, but then Walken's final bemused chuckle, as mystifying as the expression on Mona Lisa's face, clinches the deal for me.
6. Wine with Stacey
A simple scene without much of anything at all going for it in the dialogue department, yet Barry's sublime music turns two people sharing a bottle of wine into a moment filled with feel-good emotions. Bond is also at his most gentlemanly here, taking it upon himself to bake a quiche and fix the telephone and at the end of a long day of beating up goons, tuck the leading lady into bed and watch over her from the comfort of the rocking chair. Moments like these make AVTAK a special entry in the Bond canon.
7. Bond follows Stacey over the Golden Gate
A very brief moment—it's little more than a transition in location—and yet Barry's incredible music and the beautiful shots of the bridge fill me with such nostalgia during this part that I couldn't leave it off the list.
8. Chasing May Day up the Eiffel Tower
As with the Golden Gate, it's just plain cool to see stuntwork choreographed around such an iconic world landmark. The moment where Bond nearly goes over the side himself triggers my own fear of heights every time I see it, and leaping down on top of the descending elevator car to continue the pursuit is such a purely Bondian moment.
9. Bond and Tibbett arrive at the chateau
More of Barry's impossibly gorgeous music—there aren't enough adjectives to describe what a score this really is—and the views of the chateau itself are nearly equally stunning. The repartee between Moore and Macnee is top-notch stuff as so many others have mentioned here and is perhaps at its funniest as Flex leads them up the stairs.
10. The pre-titles
Certainly not the greatest in the series—this opener has its shortcomings—but the part that gets ribbed the most is actually I think the part I like best: Bond innovatively snow-surfing down the slope on the detached ski of a snowmobile to the tune of "California Girls" (in a silly bit of foreshadowing if you like). This was just plain fun to watch as a kid and it's still fun today. The iceberg submersible replete with Bollinger, beluga caviar, and a blonde pilot in the most 80s tracksuit possible was fun as well in line with the best of the Moore era excesses. And of course, I couldn't finish this list without mentioning the terrific jazzy bit of score Barry introduces before the electric main titles (which deserve their own spot here, too).