It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
^ Back to Top
The MI6 Community is unofficial and in no way associated or linked with EON Productions, MGM, Sony Pictures, Activision or Ian Fleming Publications. Any views expressed on this website are of the individual members and do not necessarily reflect those of the Community owners. Any video or images displayed in topics on MI6 Community are embedded by users from third party sites and as such MI6 Community and its owners take no responsibility for this material.
James Bond News • James Bond Articles • James Bond Magazine
Comments
I found LALD to be really slow and overlong, it's a matter that showcased different types of chases (in boat, in runway, and in bus), those chases were too overlong and could be cut, and what's worse was the majority of the film's timeline was all about Bond escaping from the villains, nothing in the film really happens until the climax which was a fresh change of pace but ruined by a stupid villain's death, it's like TB, but at least, TB at least had plot progression, with LALD, it's just repetitive throughout.
LTK is really great, with real story in it, while it may be devoid of filmmaking quality (like cinematography), there's more meat in the plot and the characters, it's quick paced, and the action never hindered the plot progression, it's not just there as a design (like what TB does with the underwater scenes or what LALD does with the chase scenes), those action were crucial to the stories and more exciting to watch, not repetitive and have more tension.
The slow-motion scene in particular is unbelievably corny. Leiter and his cohorts running like they're about to invade Normandy, only to find two hapless pilots standing by an empty plane.
LALD remains firmly at #7 in my ranking of the Bond films and is a movie I always enjoy revisiting.
That slow motion shot of Felix and his men running was originally planned have the theme from Chariots of Fire playing over it. The music was laid into the rough cut for a screening for Cubby and the team, plus Dalton was there, and I remember Dalton laughing loudly at the gag, but the general feeling was it was clunky and the music was dropped and replaced by Kamen's score when the time came.
LTK without a shred of doubt.
Yes, the editing team, I was one of them, felt Kamen's score was, as you say, too Die Hard in places and he was encouraged to make greater use of the Bond theme. They also recorded a new version of the Bond theme with Eric Clapton, but it was all over the place and never used. I think this Mi6 site had a link to it once.
That explains an awful lot to me. It’s one of those moments I feel I’ve never quite ‘got’. And there were a few ‘music’ gags in the 70s/80s Bond films (ie. the Beach Boys cropping up during the AVTAK PTS). It’s similar to the bit where Dario seems to see Pam as an Angel - it’s there but I’ve always felt it was trimmed down slightly in the edit.
I really like LTK. It does have those few leftovers of absurdist, self referential humour of the later Moore films, but it also feels like a stepping stone to the more mature style that GE gave us.
As for whether I’d go for LTK or LALD… I’d say 6.5 times out of 10 it’d be LTK, but 3.5 times out of 10 it would be LALD. Just depends on my mood, but LTK is my preferred film of the two.
As opposed to LALD's fake story?
Ironically, Richard Maibaum said that LALD having villains process drugs in the jungle was not a Bond caper. Ironically, he did almost the exact same thing in LTK. Hypocritical as usual.
To be fair isn’t there some nonsense about stinger missiles and an American airplane that only gets mentioned in dialogue towards the third act?
It’s incredibly tacked on and utterly pointless (even wiki glosses over it in the plot synopsis) but I suppose it’s there.
Yes. LALD is a looong chase.
A rare time I agree with you.
It's almost inevitable that we all have a soft spot for the Bond films we saw as teenagers, especially in a theater. Mine is GF.
Part of the editing team?!?!?!? My hat is off to you. Personally. I'm glad they did not do the "Chariots" nod.
All of the above…
And, it was the first Bond that I saw in a theater; I was 10 and it was a life changing experience.
So Kananga doesn't have a plan? Bond doesn't have an assignment? It's just a chase film?
Okay.
What plan? We don't see anything about his plan. He only cares about Solitaire's virginity. ;)
It's a fun movie but a Matt Helm picture has more plot.
Me three. Sheriff JW Pepper does NOT help at all.
Kananga creates a plan to give away heroin and we are supposed to believe that it will create a monopoly? He's a Prime Minister but he had time to create a crime syndicate in NYC.
Sanchez creates cocaine that can be dissolved into gasoline and smuggled across the borders. The cocaine then can be created back to powder once it gets to a facility.
Both villains have outlandish plans. Sanchez is a more believed plot but to me both have a fantastical element.
The John Gardner LTK novelization has more about the stinger missiles with the American government. Not sure if the script had this or it was excised from the finished product.
I pick LTK. Dalton vs. Davi over Moore vs. Kotto.(However I'll always prefer Seymour over Lowell).
It is quite impressive. The final battle of Tanaka's ninjas vs SPECTRE ninjas in it remains my favorite final battle to this day.
Definitely AVTAK IMHO.
I remember seeing this poster a few months before MR's release:
I had not read any of Fleming's novels or short stories at that point but in the wake of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, the first Christopher Reeve Superman film and even the John Barry scored, Caroline Munro stared StarCrash I found this idea completely irresistible. I'm sure I was part of the target audience EON was aiming for at that time.
+1.
Two wildly different plots, styles, and tone but I adore them both greatly.
I think Dalton is perfect in both movies, so I would say it's a shame we didn't get see MORE of his greatness 😉
Couldn't say it better.
I can't think of a single thing that LALD did better than LTK, except weaving the theme song into the score, and even then I actually like Kamen's score better. I'm not a fan of either theme songs, to be honest, they're very cheesy to me.
As for everything else, I prefer LTK by a long mile.
Timothy > Roger; LTK action sequences > LALD action sequences; Sanchez > Kananga; Pam > Solitaire.
Plus LALD has too many instances of sexism (Bond tricking Solitaire to bed her) and racism. I know it was different times so I accept that the movie for what it is, but I can't bear myself to watch it.