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
A VIEW TO A KILL (1985)
featuring a heck of a crowd on the piste.
Four top 10 placements were given to Rog's final PTS: one 8th, one 10th and two 9th places.
Only two participants rated it outside the top 20, but both of those were penultimate places.
AVTAK received 85 points in total.
Still a good PTS for me: #15 in my list.
Like the slide whistle in GG, the inclusion of the beach boy’s soundtrack and the snow boarding really take me out of the whole sequence.
It's so much fun! Although yes, I prefer others better, but it's not that bad, Beach Boys? Well, I don't think it's that much distracting, really? Sure it's out of place, but for me, it doesn't offend me that much (and I liked some of Beach Boys' songs and one of them is California Girls, so.....😅)
The action was decently shot, and it's fun seeing Bond doing action in the Siberian Ice and taking action against Russians!
It's a decent PTS, not one of the greats, but not one of the bad ones either.
At least LTK has a double story to tell and a context to provide in its PTS, and both are heavily built on by the rest of the film. The PTS to AVTAK almost feels like a mandatory checklist item, and an excuse to do action. And that's fine, provided that everything is better framed. Have Bond sneak in, do some cool spy stuff, make us understand what's at stake, ... By comparison, CR managed to squeeze more narrative content out of its couple of PTS minutes than the whole of AVTAK's PTS.
I will admit that the blonde and her iceberg ship are a treat, though.
Bond on a mission behind the Iron Curtain only happened four (!) times in the franchise, and this is one of them. That's a big plus by defintion for me.
Other big pluses: the ski stunts, the iceberg sub, the Barry music and, of course, Mary Stavin.
Ranked it 14th myself, but could have ended up higher on another day.
FOR YOUR EYES ONLY (1981)
featuring one of Wheelchair villain's less useful associates.
There were four top 10's for FYEO: one 6th, one 9th and two 10th places.
Only three members rated it outside the top 20, with two penultimate places as its worst ranking.
Which means the majority just ranks Blofeld's final pre-reboot EON moments somewhere in the middle.
FYEO's total is 89 points.
(P. S. hoping most of you already noticed I try to find poster work that includes at least one shot of the PTS. This one proved to be really difficult though, I had to settle for this signed movie still.)
FYEO has a cool PTS. Alas, it waves on an entirely different tonal frequency than the rest of the film, making it almost the trailer for another movie preceding this one. The throwaway Blofeld isn't exactly a memorable foe either. And I'm not sure I applaud taking the biggest bad in the series out by throwing him, wheelchair and all, into a large industrial tower.
Though that priest really overdoes the sign of the cross!! The helicopter action is excellent ( Love that relieved expression on Bonds face when he exits the building!) And then we come to Blofeld tribute act and the "Delicatessen' speech and its WTF? It is redeemed somewhat of the cool shot of him being dropped into the chimney tower and a nice fade into the titles!
I have it at the last place of my rankings, and I've explained already my reasons for disliking it!
The visit to Tracy's grave almost took many years and many films, this should've been right after OHMSS, or maybe a film following after it, but not as far as 1981.
But I've felt that this is like the Producers regretting not giving Tracy a due that she deserves, or a regret of not making a revenge sequel to OHMSS, and like "Hey, remember Tracy? We've forgotten her, sorry fans, here we are, Bond still not forgotten her yet!", and it's insulting, is it a sorry letter to the fans? Well, I don't liked it.
Like sure, it's meant to introduce a new Bond actor into the role, but why still retained it even with Moore returning? I don't get it, I think there's much more a deeper reason why it remained.
And it's also weird in the sense of that OHMSS was still seen as the Franchise's black sheep/dark horse at the time, so I'm wondering what the critics and fans thought of it, because at that time, no one likes OHMSS (let's be real, that's the reality back in the day), I mean, they could choose something from the Connery Era just to remind audiences that this is still the same Bond, so why OHMSS? Especially the Producers' history of forgetting that film's existence for so many years (hence, not referencing it in DAF, and the TSWLM one, well, it's a blink and miss moment, just subtle), but here, it's explicit, it's just felt weird to me.
And then there's Bond throwing Blofeld off the chimney, like that's weird, and not even showing Blofeld's face? This is the most absurd Bond outing, at least with the previous PTS in this game makes more sense compared to this one, this one just felt disjointed, weird, and nonsensical.
For me, that PTS only existed to explain the behind the scenes about McClory and his Blofeld sentiments, and the introduction of the new Bond actor (although keeping Tracy's grave even with Moore returning was another different reason).
For me, it's not a nice nod, more like a bad retcon!
And no, I have my other mate in here, it looks like we're in the minority for this one, @007HallY?
I really don't understand how this should be insulting to visit the grave of your own wife?
You say that this should have happened in an earlier movie. But a) This PTS doesn't say that he never visited the grave before (we can believe that he did it several times, but we don't need to see it).
And b) yes, it would have make sense in DAF. But then, I would critisize this in DAF and not in a movie that finally shows that Tracy isn't forgotten.
For me, showing the grave many years later is a great touch.
I quite like it and this was actually one of my favorite PTS when I was younger.
That is a pretty amazing stunt; such a shame it didn't make it to the final cut.
I'm sure that's Marc Wolff flying, as he did in the opening to FYEO - the stuff he does is incredible. And hanging onto the outside of that helicopter is no mean feat either.
The FYEO is good but my gripe is maybe that the location is a bit grim (FYEO is the only Bond film that feels like it could have been made by Euston Films!) and Bond defeats the baddie by... pulling out a cable. I get the daring feat of climbing around the outside of course but that feels a bit perfunctory somehow.
Same for me- I can see the objective issues with it, like not that much really happens, but I think it rockets along and it's just good fun. I can never get the problem with California Girls either - it's just as celebratory as the Bond theme would be if it were blaring out; I think some fans take it too seriously.
It's obvious that the Producers have tried to forget OHMSS' existence, it's obviously played in DAF.
And to show it after so many years, explicitly, it's just questionable, instead of a memory, it's more of a regret or sorry letter from the Producers.
And added to it was the fact that OHMSS was still considered as dark horse or black sheep at the time, but the Producers didn't thought of the audiences would be reactions to seeing it in this film.
It's just weird.....
Haha, yes I think this is a PTS which winds some people up. I don’t enjoy it either and it feels like it’s drifting towards outright pastiche (which is something FYEO does a couple of times).
I like the idea of Bond visiting Tracy's grave, it gives the series one of those rare instances of continuity.
Of course Moore wasn't Bond in OHMSS, but given his age in this film, it seems plausible that he is the same Bond.
The inclusion of Blofeld may seem odd, but given the history, and his involvement in the murder of Tracy, it does fit.
The helicopter stunts are breathtaking, and exciting. It's not a perfect pts, but the run time and simplicity, really work.
They could've use something or someone from the Connery Era to ensure that the new Bond actor or Moore's Bond was still the same Bond, because they didn't acknowledged OHMSS in DAF, and Cubby tried to forgot that film's existence for years, but here, he chose to acknowledge it? (The TSWLM one is a blink and miss thing anyway).
Is it something to do with the news came up to him that Connery was working up with McClory? And Cubby decided not to reference any of the things from the Connery Era? But instead retcon OHMSS instead? Because Blofeld wasn't even the one played by Charles Grey, he's wearing a neck brace akin to Blofeld in OHMSS, so there's a sign of avoidance.
And considering that DAF did a lot more in the box office than OHMSS.
I honestly don't understand the need to assume what a scene means based off assumptions and guesses of what the producers were thinking.
Thus the continuity was established, including the Tracy story, along with the bald and similar Blofeld to that played by Telly Savalas in OHMSS.
It would've given the 'new' Bond a history to past Bond films, whilst including an exciting action sequence.
I know that history, I know that introduction of the new Bond actor intention.
But I'm asking here is they could've use something or someone from the Connery Era to ensure the continuity.
Actually they even have the intention of making the killing of Melina's parents as the PTS, so it's not set in stone or originally intended from the get go.
And OHMSS was still seen as the black sheep of the Franchise at the time, it's not until the Craig Era that OHMSS starts gaining appreciation and being re-evaluated, but, back then, it's viewed as a mistake, so, the Producers using it here is a bit weird, considering the film's reputation at the time? Do the Producers wanted the Audiences to reconsider OHMSS and its place in the Franchise?
Not even Blofeld had a hair similar to Charles Grey in DAF (and he's the last version of Blofeld ever seen), so why not use him? Are they counting DAF out of existence in here and pretend it didn't happened?
That's what I'm wondering even now.
I think the Moore Era never referenced the Connery Era, Lazenby referenced Connery by showing the gadgets in the desk, the same for Brosnan in DAD, I'm not sure if the Dalton Era referenced Connery.
The LTK one makes sense, because it's the 10th Anniversary of OHMSS, it's stated in IMDB, the reference was intentional.
The TSWLM one, it's a blink and miss in that, it's just mixed in the dialogue, it's not played up as a big thing like what they've done in FYEO PTS, where they explicitly showed the events of OHMSS (Tracy's grave, a Bald with a neck brace Blofeld), like it's supposed to be a sequel to OHMSS in some way, not even acknowledging the events of DAF, even Tracy's name was fully shown and the year she died (1969) not using the one from the book (1963).
Anya just mentioned it and it's subtle, not, again, explicitly shown, it's just too quick and small.
When Anya mentions that Bond was married, but his wife was killed, Bond goes from being amused at Anya's knowledge of him, to a man who still grieves his wifes death. It's a subtle yet good scene, that doesn't hide the story of OHMSS, but reminds us of Bonds past. OHMSS was never seen be EON as a black sheep. That story likely comes from urban legend and possibly the press around OHMSS.
The reason to keep Blofeld in neck brace and bald, is in keeping to the Blofeld of OHMSS, and also the most memorable of all on screen Blofelds, Donald Pleasance. Whilst Charles Gray was the last incarnation of Blofeld, he wasn't that memorable.
Your question @SIS_HQ as to why FYEO uses a scene to remind audiences of Tracy or OHMSS and not one from the Connery films, is valid. But none of the Roger Moore films evoke memories of the Connery Bond films. No cigarettes, no vodka martini's shaken not stirred (ordered by Moore's Bond) no DB5.