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Point 1, since starting this thread I've maintained that I welcome and count any review from an original, at any time. The only thing that I really want is for all the reviewers to make a commitment to do all 22 and eventually any new ones when we can sit at home with the DVD and concentrate on the film and criteria, and not just pick and choose. I should have been more clear about that from the beginning so I hope no one who's reviewed sees that as an issue, as unfortunately Baltimore did when he dropped out after DAF. I'm concerned that one reviewer is now three behind and posting on other threads while not returning my PM's, hopefully that's not a bad sign. Kerim has been in the middle of a move but we've talked and he's still in. I'm just trying to hold everyone in there, we're halfway there this weekend when #11 MR comes up.
Point 2, I know your review didn't change much as far as it's score, but as later films come up every review will make a difference in the eventual collective ranking. As examples, 4Ever's review of Thunderball moved the film from a first place tie with FRWL to third behind GF. And Baltimore's lambasting of GF is the difference between GF being #1 instead of just behind FRWL in #2. Spy's scores so far have been outstanding and it looks like a strong contender for classic status, thus reflecting the change in the Bond character and giving some of Sir Roger's films equal weight. It's a huge benefit in being an original and not just focused on later films where one first encounters Bond and tends to adopt that actor as the best one. Not saying that some of the younger fans don't recognize earlier values, but it's sometimes tough to convince a slam bang action fan of the Brosnan and Craig eras to appreciate psychological thrillers where storyline is much more the focus, hence why I've had to be exclusionary to a degree.
DR NO
BOND: A man who never appears to sleep (according to M), a gambler, a womaniser, a drinker and a smoker. Bond is a walking, talking advertisement for all the very best vices. Connery simply smoulders his way on to the screen and invents the anti-hero as he does so. Every great action hero of the modern cinema came from this moment in time. 5/5
WOMEN: Gorgeous bikini-clad Honey, the sexy Miss Taro, and of course Sylvia a woman of natural grace and elegance who turns in to a raving nymph the moment she clocks Bond. 5/.5
VILLAINS: The good Dr, an operative of SPECTRE, Professor Dent who attempts and fails to kill Bond twice, the sexy Miss Taro, the photographer who slashes Quarrel’s cheek, and the ‘blind’ assassins who are very scary killers until they try to kill Bond when they turn in to the 3 Stooges. 3.5/5
HUMOUR: Dr No isn’t the laugh out loud romp of the series to be sure, but there is humour to be had. And it is generally of a very black nature. Subtle wit to be sure 4/5
ACTION: Well of course in 1962 this was an action packed piece of cinema with fist fights, car chases and some lovely explosions at the end. All a bit tame compared to later films, so on balance we simply have to mark it down 2/5
SADISM: Ooh yes, we have the lady with camera who is threatened with a broken arm, but is tough enough not to flinch at her own sadistic slicing of Quarrel’s face. The planned death of Bond by spider bite, and slow drowning for Honey were reasonably grisly, plus Bond being softened up and drowning a man himself. Not bad as a sadistic bit of fun. 4.5/5
MUSIC: Again comparing this soundtrack to what was to come, it has to be down marked, despite introducing us to a certain iconic theme tune. 2/5
LOCATIONS London, Jamaica. Not a globe hopping Bond here so 2/5
GADGETS: Nothing to speak of. Dr No has nice hands though 1/5
SUPPORTING CAST: M and Penny enter early and make their mark, our first Felix appears as well as our first Quarrel. These are still splendid characters 4/5
OVERALL SCORE AND RECOLLECTIONS 33/50
What I remember best was the excitement of Dr No being debuted on TV for the first time. Everyone was talking about it, but a lot of people even in the mid 70s were disappointed that there was so little action, especially as the Roger Moore spectaculars had hit the screens.
Nevertheless the film still stands up so well. The combination of the right director, actor and writer can simply work wonders and even now the opening sequences where we see a beautiful woman murdered in cold blood by the three assassins is effective enough to raise the hairs on the back of the head.
Agreed, mostly how I see the movie, just thought the villains were better and the humor not as high but otherwise spot on for me. The updated DN score drops just a little from 3.50 to 3.48, not a big move either way. Connery and Andress' intros are the stuff of Hollywood and British legend. The movie was a visually a product of it's time and the budget reflected that, sometimes feels a bit more detective than spy, yet to me there is still an air of classic greatness and daring about it that transcends it's limitations, perhaps it was the risks it took. Moviegoers at the time had seldom if ever seen a woman as beautiful as Andress so barely dressed, my Dad said it really shocked a lot of people as well as the censors and was rather controversial and even wicked to some. And of course, being the fun loving perv he was, he thought Honey was awesome hahaha! That shock value is something we would remember that should be conveyed to younger fans, it's nothing nowadays but the mores of that time are what made it legendary and helped put Bond on the road to immortality. Bond callously pumping two into Dent was also considered excessively violent back then.
Also the style of film-making was quite new. These were considered to be fast cuts, not waiting for the action to finish before cutting to a reverse angle or close-up, actually cutting on the action was considered to go against all that was considered 'proper', but now because film-makers seem to require 15 cuts a second it can seem slower paced but was at the time revolutionary!
Have to announce some business here. Tomorrow afternoon will be ratings update day, as of 2pm EST this time as I'll be in meetings at work until at least 1:30pm. Starting on 9/14, it will move to evenings. Thus far for Spy I have only 3 reviews and I need a 4 out of 7 majority to add the film to the list. If not, it won't appear. I will say that based on the three reviews submitted it sits at #1. That's why having a steady 7 reviews for every film is very important to give every film a chance. If you're reading this and are behind, whether I've heard from you or not, I urge you to try and catch up. I don't want someone to drop out because they feel they've fallen too far behind. I want everyone we have doing the films to continue, it's a good mix because the 7 we have right now are all very even handed in praise or criticism in grading each category. I felt that we didn't quite have that prior to NicNac coming aboard and I really don't want to see that change.
Orson Welles was very complimentary of the editing of these early Bond films. I can't imagine anything better than an endorsement from Welles.
1. From Russia With Love- 4.07
2. Goldfinger- 4.04
3. Thunderball- 4.01
4. Live And Let Die (5 reviews)- 3.90
5. On Her Majesty's Secret Service- 3.87
6. You Only Live Twice- 3.64
7. Dr. No- 3.48
8. The Man With The Golden Gun (5 reviews)- 3.14
9. Diamonds Are Forever- 2.91
With 4 reviews needed and only 3 now available, last week's film is not listed here but should be the next time. After 3 reviews thus far The Spy Who Loved Me sits at 4.17 so it may become the new #1 next week. That's why all 7 reviews are critical, because every one counts.
Once again, below is a list of who hasn't reviewed a particular film, so you know which ones you have done and which you haven't. As always, you are under no obligation to do so, but it would be great if you could do each film when you can so we have a complete picture of how we all collectively feel. Also, please try to review your prior scores for different categories for the sake of consistency. If anyone is going away or has decided to drop out, kindly let me know. If any original wants to join in these reviews, let me know first.
As usual, if I have to break a tie, it will be done by dropping the highest and lowest scoring reviews for each film. The average of the remaining 5 will dictate who gets the tiebreaker and an extra percentage point.
LIVE AND LET DIE- No votes from 4EverBonded and DB5.
THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN- No votes from Kerim and DB5.
THE SPY WHO LOVED ME- No votes from NicNac, Kerim, 4Ever Bonded, and DB5
That's the latest from statistics central. Tomorrow I will review and release the eleventh entry, "Moonraker". Have a great weekend everyone and looking forward to all the insightful commentary and analysis!
The Spy Who Loved Me
Bond 5 out of 5 Roger truly shines - he finds his stride in his third Bond film, just the right touch of light wry humor (that so suits him); suave and sexy, confident, charming and also at turns serious. He makes Bond his own with this one, a Bond movie admittedly always near my #1 spot.
Women 4 out of 5 Barbara Bach is gorgeous and I like her portrayal of Anya just fine, even without a correct Russian accent. Men seem to be very fond indeed of Naomi (even though I don't see it; I think she is just okay looking - but then I cannot really vote on the ladies quite like the guys do), and all other women seem very nice looking and fit the story. No one is jarringly out of place here. And Naomi is wicked; also she is, like someone else pointed out, the first woman Bond killed.
Villains 3.5 out of 5 Curt Jurgens looks like he could be quite menacing but for me underplays the character so much that he isn't that strong a villain. I wish he would have let the maniacal madness out even further for Stromberg. Not a charismatic or strong presence but not bad either. The other villains are definitely memorable - Jaws and Sandor in particular. Well, I like the Jaws character and it didn't bother me a lot when they made his sadistic, twisted killer more of a fool. It wasn't completely way way OTT ... yet. And he was a villain that stood out for sure, in many ways.
Humor 4 out of 5 The humor in this one is so good, it seemed to flow right along with the story. Watching it again I think the script was really well thought out and was a delicate balance of serious moments and humor, with a generally lighter touch that really worked.
Action 4.5 out of 5 Plenty of great, fun, exciting and memborable action! And the action didn't drag out; the movie moved along well. The ski jump at the begining was -and is - so awesome and fun. The audience I saw it with cheered and clapped loudly when that parachute opened. But all the action was good and relevant. And the sets were amazing in this movie, so outstanding.
Sadism 3.5 out of 5 Sadistic yes - fed to sharks and Jaws killing by biting into his victim's neck - yuk! But as already pointed out there was little to no blood; not realistic at all. I noticed that more lately, but in the cinema I didn't take note of that. I do remember cringing in my seat when Jaws killed his victims, especially the first one.
Music 4 out of 5 You either like Nobody Does it Better or you don't, but I LOVE it. I think it was used very well throughout the film. I enjoyed the tribute music from Laurence of Arabia as Bond and Anya trekked in formal evening wear in the desert, the classical music also was a very nice touch (Stromberg's lair) - but the undercurrent of disco kind of beat does date the movie and I don't like those parts much. However, it is not so intrusive as to take away from the film for me.
Locations 5 out of 5 This is one of the best Bond movies for locations! So lovely and well filmed, just makes you want to go there. And they didn't rush through any location - you really got the feel of the place; excotic, lovely and fun. Superbly done.
Gadgets 5 out of 5 Great gadgets that fit the story even when fairly unbelievable. Very memorably the Lotus turning into a mini-sub that shoots rockets. Q outdid himself indeed. I even like the gun with barrel pipe under the table - a rather unusual ending for a villain but I liked it (and I liked how Bond used it).
Supporting Cast 4.5 out of 5 All were good indeed - Gen. Gogol, Shane Rimmmer's Captain Carter, Fekesh and Sandor, all the minor characters, and of course lovely Moneypenny (you can put her anywhere - pyramid? no problem - she stays unflappable) and a thoroughly exasperated Q who makes me smile every time.
Overall - I enjoy this movie so much. It is one of the few I watch again and again and again. This film is a very fun ride - stunning locations, great action, spectacular sets, and the consistent fine quality is evident everywhere. Everything is wonderfully designed (sets, wardrobe, gadgets, you name it). There is a very memorable henchman, a storyline that I liked, and a nice warm chemistry between Moore and Bach. The great PTS (my personal favorite) set things off on the right note and set the tone. That ski jump was so exciting and fun, and for me the movie just moved along those lines for the whole film - exciting and fun. Some serious moments (that I thought Moore played well), some silliness, yes but overall it made me feel more than ever that James Bond is cool and can do things you or I only dream of doing ... yet for 2 hours or so in a theatre we can go along with him for the ride. And when it is a film like TSWLM, it doesn't get much better than that for this female Bond fan.
"Look after Mr. Bond. See that some harm comes to him"
The year is 1978. Fresh off both tremendous financial and critical success in his first James Bond production without long time partner Harry Saltzman, Cubby Broccoli intends to next film "For Your Eyes Only" but then decides to delay the project to cash in on the "space craze" launched by 1977's "Star Wars" and instead elects to produce "Moonraker". Director Lewis Gilbert returns for his 3rd and last turn in the director's chair as does Spy screenwriter Christopher Wood for his 2nd and last appearance. In accordance with Broccoli's plans, Wood discards nearly all of the excellent original novel (which would later be resurrected with a few twists in 1995 and was a book Fleming hoped would be filmed during his lifetime) short of the lead villain. In this installment, deeply embarrassed by the theft of a American space shuttle entrusted to the care of the British government, M dispatches Bond to investigate the circumstances. It leads him to Sir Hugo Drax, the owner and manufacturer of the shuttle. With assistance from Dr. Holly Goodhead, a CIA agent and scientific specialist pretending to be on loan to Drax from the American space agency NASA, Bond follows the trail from the earth to outer space to prevent Drax from wiping out the human population in order to begin anew with his handpicked master race.
Production on Fleming's 2nd title, originally published in 1954, began in France on August 14th, 1978. In the case of this film, most of what would have been normally shot at Pinewood Studios in London was done in France due to high taxation at the time. Other locations used for the movie were Brazil, Italy, and the United States. Budgeted for a new high of $34 million, the film would premiere in London on June 26, 1979. Despite many critical reviews that frowned on the excessive camp and rightfully noted the blatant copycatting, the movie hit a positive note with enough moviegoers to become the highest grossing Bond film up to that point, "raking" in $210 million worldwide. In addition, Derek Meddings, Paul Wilson and John Evans were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.
THE CAST-
- Roger Moore as James Bond
- Lois Chiles as Holly Goodhead
- Michael Lonsdale as Sir Hugo Drax
- Richard Kiel as Jaws
- Toshiro Suga as Chang
- Corinne Clery as Corinne Dufour
- Bernard Lee as M
- Desmond Llewelyn as Q
- Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny
- Geoffrey Keen as Frederick Gray
- Emily Bolton as Manuela
- Michael Marshall as Colonel Scott
- Walter Gotell as General Gogol
- Blanche Ravalec as Dolly
- Françoise Gayat, Christina Hui, Chichinou Kaeppler, Beatrice Libert, Nicaise Jean Louis,
Anne Lonnberg and Catherine Serre as Drax's Girls.
BOND- Sir Roger's 4th performance, the second of what I call the "Bond Lite" trio, is one that I always had trouble gauging. Then I recently read a post that described what I couldn't put my finger on. The poster conjectured more or less that because there was so much silliness going on within the script, Moore just went with it and had some fun. I'll love to hear what my fellow reviewers think of that, but it makes sense to me. You have a poor script where everything gets skewered, you're getting paid big bucks, may as well have some fun. Truly, Sir Roger sense of wit and style is the saving grace if this movie has one in the acting department. But he doesn't exactly do anything to be a game changer either, it's pretty much Spy again in execution. He has some fine moments, in particular the centrifuge scene and some solid spying by night, but like the rest of the film good moments are too far and few between and thus so are his in reflecting on a score- 2/5
WOMEN- Texas born Lois Chiles leads the way as Dr. Holly Goodhead. Chiles is not unattractive, I'll give her that, and she occasionally shows she has an idea about changing her facial expressions. As far as my opinion of this particular performance, she brings an old adage to mind (no offense to teachers) which says "Those who can do, do. Those who can't, teach". Chiles largely retired from acting many years ago and as of 2002 was teaching drama in her hometown at the University Of Houston. Go figure. Her voice is mostly as monotone as the main villain, and her general performance is poor for a lead Bond girl. Next up is French actress Corinne Clery, who plays Corinne Dufour, a pilot in Drax's employ. I refer to this one as "Hairy Clery" (it does rhyme nicely I must admit) and let's just say I can tell I'm right about that. I find nothing remotely appealing about Clery in anything I've seen her in, and her acting is even worse than Chiles. Her character? MADONN, as my Italian friends would say, is she ever stupido! OK, she can fly a chopper. She can even drive a golf cart. But she can't read! Her death is a prime example. Two killer dogs are about to be set loose on you. Do you use the 10 seconds to jump in the golf cart and try to get a head start? No, you take off running into the forest. A smart move actually, dogs can catch the cart but they can't climb. Except she is too stupid to climb one. Her grisly death was powerful though. And welcomed by me at that point, as her character was finally put out of my misery. The stewardess was shown too briefly to figure in, leaving us next with Drax's "perfect specimens". Huh? You're kidding me Cubby, aren't you? Half of Blofeld's "Angels Of Death" aren't that great looking but in comparison, they blow this bunch away. Awful hairstyles on most of them don't help. I'm not joking when I say that I've met plenty of women on a regular basis in rock clubs during the 70's and 80's that the Moonraker women couldn't touch on their very best day. I don't think I need to bring up Dolly, so enough said there. However, I saw another saving grace in English actress Emily Bolton as Manuela, Bond's assistant in Rio. Very attractive and stylish like I expect a Bond girl to be, the only winner for me. Otherwise nothing special at all, much ado about nothing, mostly very forgettable, and worth no more than a half point to me because Bolton's screen time was regrettably too short- 1.5/5
VILLAINS- French actor Michael Lonsdale plays Sir Hugo Drax. The word "monotone" fits here too. Why do some people think Lonsdale is so great as Drax? I don't understand it. The outer space version of Stromberg, and third rate at that. Ever watch paint dry? How about timing how long a hunk of oatmeal will take to drop after throwing it against a wall? That's how compelling he is. I guess he is supposed to be chilling in his lack of expression and tone in ordering deaths, but he's boring as hell to me in every conceivable way possible. Once in a while he cracks a smile but by the time he raises his voice to Jaws (I'll get to him), it was as Bond quipped time for him to fly. I would take Charles Gray as Blofeld rather than this, he would have been an improvement. Then as mentioned, Richard Kiel returns to reprise his Jaws character, hired as a replacement for Drax's regular henchman who I'll speak of later. I guess that if you're going to cash in, you may as well bring back a popular character and somehow or other Jaws was and would achieve status as one of the series' most memorable killers. Right from the PTS, you already know you're going to get more of the same as he plunges thousands of feet into a circus tent sans parachute and (of course) survives to return later on. The twist is that he falls in love with someone as lame as he is and decides to reform, but only after realizing he and his lady don't fit into Drax's scheme. The best part of Kiel's performance was hearing him finally speak, but by that time the character was a running joke not to be taken seriously. Finally, we have Chang, Char, whatever who was played by Japanese aikido (a martial art made popular by Steven Seagal) master Toshiro Suga. Nothing special there for me, I'm sure Suga is very good at what he does (I have also had some aikido training and assure you that here he doesn't show what that style is about like Seagal does), but he looks to be nothing special by the time Bond is done with him. Boring, overly predictable, this is the absolute worst bunch of villains in the history of the series, and not even worth Bolton's half point- 1/5
HUMOR- Well, if you consider all the sight gags and the sound gags I'll note in the music section to be amusing, I guess to each his or her own. There's some funny lines here and there from Bond and Q gets off the best one of all in the end "I believe he's attempting re-entry sir" while Bond and Goodhead are seen having gravity free sex, but the humor is generally the complete opposite of LALD and mostly cringeworthy to the extreme. Sorry, I'd rather watch Matt Helm or Austin Powers, who at least know what they are and aren't, which in this case makes Moonraker worse than any of those entries by default because a Bond movie should never be that- 2/5
ACTION- A mixed bag for me, starting with the PTS. Some like it, I hate it. Bond catching the pilot is free fall is as unrealistic as most of the movie, it goes outside of the EON philosophy regarding this sort of thing and starts the film already going in the wrong direction. The Bondola chase is a floating gag. The Bond/CharChang fight? Meh. The things that are pretty good like the cable car fight and Amazon boat chase inevitably end with the running joke that was Jaws. Don't even want to get into the Star Wars laser battle ripoff, which you can see coming all the way from outer space. The only scenes that carry any Bondian tension are the centrifuge scene and Bond and Holly hunting down the death spewing space globes, otherwise forgettable stuff- 2/5
SADISM- FINALLY, something good to talk about! Corinne going "to the dogs" was a great and sadistic scene. Same for CharChang trying to kill Bond in the centrifuge. The orchid based death gas was nasty looking, Drax introduces Bond to his pet python and tries to cremate Bond and Holly alive. This I can get behind- 4/5
MUSIC- John Barry is back and so is quality music featuring lots of great pieces, and a change in style. The focus is much more on lush string arrangements rather than brass oriented, which would serve him well for his future Oscar winners in "Out Of Africa", and "Dances With Wolves" as well as the tear jerking "Somewhere In Time" (which like "Born Free" never fails to get the water works started for me). Memories. Dame Shirley Bassey returns for a 3rd appearance and sings the title theme, among my favorites in the series. The song gets instrumental use in "Miss Goodhead Meets Bond" which is exquisite. "Bond Lured Into Pyramids" is ethereal and afterworldly, it makes me feel as if I'm floating in the heavens. "Corinne Put Down" is simply brilliant, well, you get the idea. The only piece I don't much care for is the disco version in the end, another cash in. The other small negative is some Hamlisch copying by introducing more classical cues. The only one that works is the Chopin piece Drax pretends to play, the rest are cliches I'd expect like the Strauss piece that made the Bondola scene even worse than it was, plus reference cues to other space movies and "The Magnificent Seven" which are hokey at best. Assorted shorter cues are present as well. If this had been pure Barry as it should have been, I might have gone the full 5, but even Barry's genius like everything else here was treated irreverently- 4/5
LOCATIONS- The best part of the film. World class cinematography. More incredible Ken Adam sets, sadly the last time he would create them for a Bond film. Drax's French estate is magnificent, Venice is properly explored, Rio de Janeiro is stunning (my Dad was there on leave from the Navy during the Korean War and raved about it's beauty). What tops it all off is the splendor of the Amazonian rain forest and it's natural waterfalls. It doesn't get better for featuring multiple locations and using them for maximum effect-5/5
GADGETS- Bond has plenty of them, they're imaginative and well conceived and save his life several times. First up is a wrist motion activated dart gun which can fire either an armor piercing or poison dart. His regular watch contains a plastic explosive. His Amazon boat and Bondola have multiple fighting options. Holly has lots of CIA gadgets that are demonstrated but not used, and Q shows off his latest wares as well. Not even gadgets escape the juvenile humor treatment, but the movie is otherwise excellent in this regard- 4.5/5
SUPPORTING CAST- Sadly, this is the final appearance for Bernard Lee as M, who produces one solid final performance both funny and serious. Q is the same and Moneypenny thinking Bond's truthful answers to what delayed him are jokes is funny as well. It helps them more than the overall tone of humor. Geoffrey Keen is back as Minister Frederick Gray, and since this Moonraker after all, he gets humiliated not once but twice. Walter Gotell returns as General Gogol, brief but well done as he's interrupted entertaining a lady friend. American Michael Marshall rounds out the cast as Colonel Scott, who leads an American space fighting force and what do you know, they have laser guns too. Good, not great, but the film always reminds me how sad I was to say goodbye to Lee- 3/5
OVERALL SCORE AND RECOLLECTIONS- I had just graduated from high school and was really anticipating this film because the novel was among my favorite Fleming works. And 16 years later when it is more seriously revisited, it works just as well as I thought it would here. I didn't have a good feeling from the trailers as it looked to be copying Star Wars, which I never cared for. But I had faith. It couldn't be worse than even the marginal entries considering the source material. They'd never seriously let me down before. Instead, 2 hours later I was beyond disappointment and embarrassed to be a fan. And amazed that it was a huge box office success, I couldn't believe people didn't see through this charade. OK, good for Cubby, but bad for me. And 33 years later, I feel exactly the same way. The film fails miserably in every area that make for a great and classic Bond movie, a below average Moore showing, awful villains, plain Jane women with little acting skills, and even worse atrocious, appalling, juvenile humor that has no place in Bond movies. Even my son, whose age level this film plays well to, says this film isn't good. This "Matt Helm meets Austin Powers" cheesefest is dreck of the highest possible order for a Bond film, and rightly scores a miserable 28 out of 50 points for a score of 2.8
BOND 3 Moore is his old playful self but for some reason it falls flat this time. Not as good as his previous outing but just not silly.
Women 1 Lois Chiles is unattractive, has a so so body, acting sucks. She is the worst Bond girl up to this point. Is she the worst all time? that is yet to come...Corinne is nice looking but not enough screen time. Drax's master race women are just plain...Chiles drags the whole cast down.
Villains 1 Drax is BORING. Jaws turned into a Herman Munster clone. The character was well utilized in TSWLM but here he just stupid, stupid, stupid. I liked Chang and he keeps me from giving villains a big fat 'zero'
Humor 1 I just found the over reliance on slap stick too much. I did not laugh at any of the jokes (as i did in the previous outing) I found myself shaking my head during most of the movie. Many a action scene was ruined by the over the top shytt.
Action 2 I believe the PTS is the best of any Bond flick. It ended with an over the top joke (with Jaws flapping his arms--why do the filmmakers do this??) and landing on a circus tent and survives. the centrifudge scene is good too. But the rest of the crap just drags it down. The space /star wars battle with the blue laser lights made me want to barf like a chicken.
Sadism 4 Despite all the silly juvenile humor there are some nasty scenes and death murder. Keeping with the world of Fleming. But it seems out of touch with the majority of the film.
Music 4 Barry is back on his game with a good theme song.
Locations 5 very well utilized. Next to the PTS the best part of the film.
Gadgets 1 Silly, stupid, were there just to please the teenaged boys. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
Supporting Cast 3 Bernand Lee is good in his final performance. Q is up to his usual standards. Lois Maxwell the same.
Overall: 24 or 2.4
BTW did you get that I didn't like this film? Okay. You got that. I thought that Q's line about re entry (I remember the audience howling when he said it) just made me cringe. It is the worst line of the movie. I saw it with a date (a young lady I had met at church and was trying to impress-) and this film was an embarrassment. I was so shocked at the end. I did not know what to say. I did not wait for the end credits to see what the next film would be -as had been my practice, as soon as the credit started to rolI I took the young lady by the hand and headed for the exit. As far as I was concerned I was done with James Bond after seeing this film.
How could a film TSWLM do everything right and the next film do everything so wrong?
Spy had that good blend of humor and suspense with action but it all just fell flat this time around because of the imbalance and over reliance on humor and slapstick.
After the PTS the movie went downhill real fast. Cubby basically was re making TSWLM
with disastrous results. FYEO had been announced in the end credits of SPY as the next bond film but EON decided the time was right to cash in on the success of Star Wars and Close Encounters. Eon had gone from being a trend sitter to following trends. This was a common factor in the 1970's Bond films.
This crappy movie brought an end to the 70's, a decade that had started with lame DAF and finished with what I consider the worst film in the Bond stable.
One of our associates described this period as "Fools Gold Era" and I concur with that assessment.
I thought exactly the same regarding Spy vs MR. With Gilbert and Wood back in place, it was very much a remake with a different theme except this time they pushed slapstick humor ahead of suspense and all the things that make for a good to great Bond film. And Jaws was exposed as a running joke that could be more overlooked in Spy if it had been a one off, which in hindsight it should have been. As a result, I don't hold Jaws nearly in the esteem I do his predecessor, which was certainly Oddjob. Great observation on Jaws vs Herman Munster by the way, I can totally see where you are coming from on that one.
Disagree with gadgets, which remain a subject we all seem to be divided on. Maybe Nic can give us the original criteria for this, that might help because right now it seems to be either one likes gadgets (which I do) or one feels like Connery that they have no place. To me, Bond uses a gadget and it works, you reward the category with a point. Myriad gadgets such as Moonraker uses means the score should be high for this category, but I'll let Nic address that and hopefully he will. Plenty of them were used and well. The darts save him from the centrifuge and from Drax, that's effective. The explosive gets him out of being cremated when Drax takes off for the space station. Love that boat with all the weapons that eliminate most of the chasing vessels and the hang glider is a great escape from heading over the falls. I'd like that boat even without the weapons. It's only the Bondola that hurts this category for me, but it would have been nice to see Holly use a few of hers.
The 70's was not a great time for Bond fans with DAF and MR, yet produced two classics in LALD and Spy, so not a total waste. But the last two decades haven't exactly been great for me either. The 60's and 80's were the best times in general for me, but I've felt the Craig era has been pretty darn good thus far and I'll be better able to judge him when I see where his regular Bond goes come November.
Live and Let Die
Bond - 3.5 out of 5 Roger Moore steps in and steps up, providing a solid beginning for the new era of Bond. He is not quite as confident in the role as later but in no way seems a novice. He is smooth, charming (if also sneaky at times, as with his trick on Solitaire) and convinced me that yes, he could be James Bond (that belief in the character is not an easy feat: e.g., see Lazenby). I was encouraged by this film and wanted more of Moore.
Women - 3.5 out of 5 Really all of those points go to the lovely, lucsious looking, and fine young actress, Jane Seymour. Although Caruso was very pretty and underused (although Bond might disagree with me on technicalities here) ... the Rosie Carver character dismally brought this category down substantially. Jane showed vulnerability and some intelligence; Rosie showcased stupidity, lameness, and in no regard made us think that this woman could be an actual agent. When her wig came off, I sort of sensed that summed up her character: dumb and fake. Sigh. It wouldn't have hurt to have one more beautiful Bond babe in this film or at least take Rosie out of the picture.
Villains - 4 out of 5 Oh yes, blaxploitation was evident. But I must say this was a fine gallery of rogues. Yaphet Kotto was truly excellent! Powerful, evil, ruthless, sadistic, and manipulative - the menace just rolls off him in waves. And you don't want to get in a knife fight with him. A strong presence, a very good actor. Also, Baron Samedi was scary! Fine voice, impressive performance. All the co-horts worked well as a bunch of nasty hirelings doing Mr. Big's/Kananga's bidding. Tee Hee with his mechanical arm and sadistic streak rounded things out nicely. You don't want to meet any of these characters.
Humor - 3.5 out of 5 LALD had all kinds of little humorous moments; I especially enjoyed the taxi driver and yes, I laughed at Sheriff J W Pepper (again, I wonder what native Louisiana folks thought of him).
Action - 4 out of 5 A good amount of action, well placed and nicely edited, and some great chases. The boat chase in Louisiana was the highlight, but I also enjoyed the bus trip (with Bond driving - apparently you can put Bond in any vehicle on land, sea or air and he can drive it - such a natural; ha!) Also the train fight with Tee Hee. The battle with Kananga at the end could have been great - for Kananga was a worthy opponent - but it turned ridiculous quickly and gave a truly stupid ending to this otherwise memorable villain.
Sadism - 4 out of 5 This is one of the most sadistic Bond films - Kanaga, Tee Hee and Baron Samedi all seemed to truly get off on inflicting pain and suffering. The voodoo element helped top it off: snakes, coffins, little finger to be snipped off, burning, being fed to crocs/alligators, etc. Ughhh! (Very nice stunt scene, that skipping over the crocodiles!)
Music - 4.5 out of 5 Paul McCartney and George Martin - a pretty unbeatable combo as it turns out, even for a Bond film (and who would have guessed that back in the early 70's?; not me). The music fits the story well, adding pumping verve and excitement, along with a slower, sensuous feel at times. I thought Martin had a very good score with this film and used the theme song extremely effectively throughout. Paul's LALD is fun, fits the mood of this film surprisingly well, and changes pace in a fun, exuberant way - so much so that you can see why it has been used by many athletes throughout the years. It unleashes in the opening credits (after a gentle opening sung sweetly by Paul) with a knockout musical blast, similar in that regard to Goldfinger's theme, along with interestingly unsettling opening credits/titles sequence designed by Maurice Binder; this song works from the first moment on. And it's just plain fun to sing along with, too. The music was a plus and really satisfying in this Bond movie.
Locations - 2.5 out of 5 Just okay for me. I like Bond locations to be beautiful and a lot of this film wasn't pretty. Gritty streets of NY, funky yet not compelling New Orleans, and an island jaunt; I suppose the bayou was interesting. But overall not much for me.
Gadgets - 2.5 out of 5 Well there wasn't much in the way of great gadgets but it was serviceable. The magnetized watch was the most fun.
Supporting Cast - 3 out of 5 Pretty good indeed, especially if you count the bad guys in this category. But all others were fine; I like Hedison, Moneypenny of course, and I liked Quarrel Jr. But no Q? Come on now. Could have fit him in easily and this was Moore's first - it would have been better to bring that solid character back in fine form. Q was missed. (Was Desmond unavailable? I cannot fathom why he was not in this one. Does anyone know?)
Overall - Hmm. My scores are higher than I thought they would be, actually. LALD is one of my favorites, in my top ten, yet not until I analyzed each of these categories did I sense why. I don't like voodoo, so this part of the movie wasn't pleasant for me - yet it added a different, strange, and dark magic kind of evil shadow over the movies, which was unusual for a Bond film and was in stark contrast with the lighter touch of Roger Moore and the humor. This movie did change the feel of Bond films and could have been a dud or a winner - I say it shines because of four main elements that for me are really key to a fine (as opposed to mediocre or adequate) Bond movie (especially the first three, but the fourth adds an important dimension):
1) A solid Bond - Moore would grow into this role more later, but this was a fine beginning for him and he is a Bond I took to right away (and I say this though I was still yearning for Sean of FRWL). His performance definitely took the Bond films forward and gave it new life, a breath of fresh air, and hope for a long continuance of the series. Cheers indeed! (Also it's funny, when I just watched it again I noticed how really light brown his hair is in this one. We seem to talk about Bond's hair a lot these days, since Craig ...) ;)
2) A worthy villain - Kotto was excellent and menacing and memorable as Mr. Big/Kananga,
3) A lovely and well acted main Bond girl (kudos to Seymour in her debut), and
4) Great music (it adds so much to a film; music is important). I can score a Bond film high without music I love (see FRWL) yet it adds so much when the music is right for the movie.
So it is a study in contrasts for me, Live and Let Die. I remember leaving the theatre feeling happy and relieved with Roger Moore and wanting more of his Bond. I saw it 3 or 4 times that summer (each time more annoyed with Rosie) - a fun, action-filled adventure and a promising beginning to the decade.
Moonraker 1979 - for one night only
Bond - 2.5/5 - Moore had the potential to be serious in his earliest appearances and also for For Your Eyes Only, but in this release, simply acted the fool more or less the same as his final two releases. Still looked plausible, at just past 50 years of age, but some of the nonsense humor in this went out of control at certain times and Moore took center stage for it. Still looked the part, was serious every now and again, but hardly his best ever Bond performance
Women - 2.5/5 - Chiles is a disaster, instantly forgettable, but redeems itself with some fun performances from Bolton and Clery, both much more attractive than the equestrian looking Goodhead. The Drax girls seem almost trivial, despite how attractive they may be, they hardly feature and are easily looked beyond in this release
Villains - 4.5/5 - While not the best ever, Lonsdale gives us one of the best main adversaries of the series, some of the best lines of the series, and is a delight whenever he is on screen. The Chang henchman doesn't say much, but is a genuine threat on screen, and of course the return of Jaws, which didn't quite work second time around, but still a massive screen presence
Humor - 5/5 - Where to start?, The idea to put James Bond into space, the ridiculous Saint Marks Square sequence, Jaws going from a serious being into a complete buffoon, the ill advised childish nonsense of the circus tent fall after a quite brilliant pre credits sequence? You do the math
Action - 5/5 - Never lets up. During a view, never switch off, watch from start to finish more often than not. It never gets dull and never lets you down. Can't praise it enough. It only sags a bit when we go into Space near the end on route to the spacestation, but I still awarded it maximum score
Sadism - 2.5/5 - once again, not an area I look for. Not the biggest score for this, Drax wasn't a very nice piece of work sometimes, such as having his Dobermans tear Ms Dufour to shreds or wanting to wipe out the earths population for his own gains, but I feel I am content with what I gave it
Music - 4/5 - It's not Bassey that does it, it's the background scores for me, in certain scenarios, quite brilliant at times, with a better theme song intro, it could of had maximum points
Locations - 5/5 - any Bond release that takes you from California, to Italy, Brazil and then into Outer Space deserves a mention. A bit 'too' much globe trotting (and out of it) from Bond sometimes, but I feel it deserves a full score. Simply lots of places to get involved in. No other Bond adventure has gone into space
Gadgets - 3/5 - The poison tipped/cyanide wrist darts, Goodhead's CIA equipment, and explosive watch were good, but nothing overly special. A mention too, to Q's toys at the monastery when he gives us all a demonstration
Supporting Cast - 4/5 - Special mention to Bernard Lee in his last appearance. Q has a bit of an extended part, other minor characters come and go, one of the better Bond releases for extra characters
Overall - 4.5/5 - Could well be in my top Five now. Can easily watch it without need of a break, great opening, great musical scores, great locations, great lead villain in Michael Lonsdale. My biggest concern as always, was the dumb ass idea of putting Bond into space, the novel never went near it, and this after only 16 years when James Bond was his most serious and plausible with Connery and From Russia With Love. They simply cashed in on the Star Wars boom of the time. Great pity in retrospect, that profits and money took precedence over a common sense and fine adventure, but it's no good crying over spilt milk. They made the decision and we learnt to live with it, but it only came about in the last half hour so doesn't spoil the overall enjoyment
All said, a damn fine James Bond adventure. Gets damn silly and preposterous at times, but if you can look beyond that, there is simply lots to enjoy and get involved in
That was the last review
My review for Moonraker will be up next Sat. and then I will be completely caught up. I agree with you about the music; it was lovely throughout.
I must say that just like GF, I nearly completely 100% disagree with this review of yours and to rank MR ahead of anything short of DAD is pretty much in my opinion extremely laughable. I'll spare you the ROTFLMAO icon.
Moonraker
BOND- 2. Dear old Roger must have read the script, thought, 'ah Spy in space', no-one seems to be bothering on this one so I'll just enjoy some excellent locations and a fat pay pack. Fairly lacklustre performance but you can't really blame him the whole thing's a farce.
WOMEN- 3. Lios Chiles is in a COMA, sorry, was in COMA, she played the girl that gets the whole thing started, and on that five minutes of film she was giving a Bond role (well she was also in The Great Gatsby - I think), though not unpleasant on the eye, her character is quite boring. I just don't get that this woman is not only a trained astronaut, but also a competent CIA operative! Corrine Clery I really like, I saw her in a naughty French film sometime after this and she was quite rude! The rest of the women are just so-so, surprising as the previous Bond was littered with top class women, ah well…
VILLAINS- 2. Oh dear. Mostly forgettable and ML plays Drax as someone who is totally bored with the whole thing. Instead of letting Bond investigate and go away none the wiser, he decides to see 'that some harm comes to him' which would put even Miss Goodhead on to him! And Jaws. No, he really should have died at the end of Spy. Every encounter with him ends in a 'humours' situation, usually a stunned reaction to certain death, that he cheats ever time. Just awful.
HUMOR- 3. A none-Bond fan friend of mine saw this film before me, and when I asked him what he though, he said there was too much humour in it. Well he's right, 'witty' asides, facial reactions, sight gags aplenty, but having just re-watched this for this review I can honestly say I didn't laugh once. Every gag can be telegraphed and most just made me groan instead of laugh - and that whole Bondola scene is just awful. What were they thinking.
ACTION- 4. Again plenty of it (seems like they were trying to tick every box, but failed as a complete package). But there was never any tension, as you never got the feeling that Bond was in trouble, apart from maybe the centrifuge, which is basically the traction bed from TB, in fact while watching this film, I was constantly thinking, ah, they did that in so-and-so, oh, that's like that bit in whichever. Tedious.
SADISM- 3. Corrine's death was particularly nasty, though well shot, and the idea of extinguishing all human life is not nice. Though the most sadistic thing was releasing this film for public consumption!
MUSIC- 3. Aside from locations, the music was probably the best part, but has to be marked down for the 'Magnificent 7' and CEOT3K music cues. Groan. And the disco version at the end.
LOCATIONS- 5. A truly globe-trotting 007 this time out, some magnificent locations that are going to look awesome on blu-ray, if I can bring myself to watch it again. The waterfalls are truly beautiful and the way most of locations are shot makes one want to visit.
GADGETS 4. Many and varied gadgets, but also some really stupid, embarrassing one - yes, the Bondola again. Trouble is the film is awful that trying to recall the gadgets becomes a task, and the awful use of 007 on the micro-film camera is a step too far, just like the 007 on the back of the tarot deck in LALD, I don't know what we are meant to think about this, is it a joke, is clever or what, it really takes me out of the film…
SUPPORTING CAST- 3. Poor old Bernard's last Bond and what a stinker to go out on! Moneypenny looks like she should have retired by now and the rest are much of a muchness.
OVERALL SCORE AND RECOLLECTIONS- 32 or 3.2. Surprised it's that high! Bastards! is what I thought when first seeing this in the cinema. By this time I had read and re-read the Fleming's quite a few times. Moonraker being a favourite, I like the slightly different structure, three parts over five days, I like Gala Brand and the idea of Drax taking revenge by making himself out to be a hero of the people and then dropping a warhead on London appealed to me. And the travesty of a film we got just really did my head in. It is a well made, handsomely mounted film, but it just doesn't do it for me. I've not mentioned the PTS yet, so here goes. I like the hijacking of the shuttle, but the rest is just dead. A lot of this film is just Spy but warmed left overs. Spy 'tell him to pull out. Now!', MR 'he's on his last leg, sir.' Similar situations, tweaked. Anyway the PTS, what happens to the girl? Oh, that's right she changes into Jaws [wtf was he doing there?], who pushes Bond out of the plane, goes after him, the hamfisted oaf pulls the cord off his 'chute, flaps his arms like some plucked turkey (oh so funny) and brings the Big Top down - and survives. Again. Groan. Superb stunt work, but it is just pants.
If you can't guess I don't like this one too much! Thankfully, everybody fell back to earth with a bang and we get Roger's best performance as Bond in the next 007 adventure FYEO, hooray!
I am truly glad to be doing FYEO next, my favorite Moore performance and film. LALD is right up there for me as well and sometimes I've flip flopped them over the years but on the Moore 1-7 scale these two are always 1 and 2.
BONDNot only is Bond a man who can identify the Latin name for a random butterfly, he is now up to speed on his exotic fish. In a fast paced globe hopping adventure Bond has little chance to show off his knowledge of..well..everything I suppose, but we see a man able to handle a car, a wetbike and a camel with equal efficiency. Roger Moore ditches the ever so slightly edgy Bond for TMWTGG and returns to tried and tested Saint territory. Still he pulls it off. 3.5/5
WOMEN
Anya (or Agent XXX) is Russia’s finest agent which is odd considering the clumsy unprofessional manner she goes about her business. Bond beds a lovely blonde early on (and naturally she turns out to be on the other side), and Naomi, Stromberg’s henchwoman who parades around in a bikini, ogles at Bond, flirts with Bond, winks knowingly at Bond until she finally gets blown up…by Bond.
Bond girls in the 60s were exotic, shapely, glamorous and all together better than the girls in the 70s. This film offers a group of beautiful yet empty bed vessels. Even the Hi Karate girl turns up to gaze longingly into Bond’s eyes. 2.5/5
VILLAINS
Stromberg and his fanciful plan to return man to his roots ie the bottom of the ocean (!!). He inherits Dr No’s distaste for human contact. His henchmen are Sandor the baldy hulk and steel toothed Jaws. These two are more like it. They are just the sort of thing a big budget film like this needs. Of course they fight like Laurel & Hardy when it comes to but they look great. And Naomi, as mentioned above.
With hind sight we can be dismissive of the film’s villains, but the impact Jaws made at the time was immense. He joined OddJob in the ranks of Bond’s most flamboyant and iconic nemeses. As such, despite misgivings about Stromberg 4/5.
HUMOUR
The film has plenty of laughs, with sight gags (the Lotus, Jaws continuing failure to bump off Bond), and a few iffy but acceptable one liners from Bond., especially in Q’s lab.
The Union flag parachute had them laughing and cheering in the isles back in 1977.
And a final line that inspired a discussion forum. 4/5
ACTION
The opening ski jump is rightly praised, and does not make the mistake of TMWTGG by demeaning the stunt with unwanted sound effects.
The car chase is equally wonderful, and with plenty of fights and chases around stunning locations, TSWLM delivers the goodies. 4.5/5
SADISM
Stromberg dispenses of his secretary in the most gruesome of ways. Jaws nibbles a few necks. The film takes a light hearted approach but still manages to offer some yummy moments. 4/5
MUSIC
Nobody Does It Better - a phrase still used to describe Bond to this day, and a gorgeous song as well. Marvin Hamlisch provides his once only Bond score, which is a mixed bag of good and indifferent. Maybe more indifferent when some well known classical pieces stand out. 3/5
LOCATIONS
Marvellous use of the Alps, Egypt and Sardinia. Ken Adams manages to equal his volcano with a submarine interior that is simply spectacular.
Wonderful locations 5/5
GADGETS
A ski pole that turns into a gun, a cigarette that turns into a tranquiliser, a car that turns in to a submarine, a Q lab that offers a whole arsenal of entertaining methods to dispatch the enemy. How can we fault such excess? 5/5
SUPPORTING CAST
M is now starting to become a parody of the original M, Q is there for laughs, Moneypenny does what Moneypenny does.
We have new characters like General Gogol and Frederick Grey, but in time these characters would start to make the series a little bit too chummy. But SPY offers quite an interesting and diverse cast of characters when we thow in the likes of Kalba and Fekkesh 4/5
OVERALL SCORE AND RECOLLECTIONS
When I saw TSWLM at the cinema I was part thrilled and part worried. The latter was to do with the light, frothy nature of the film. More cartoonish than ever, and more reliant on action to fill the gaps, it bore little relation to early Bonds, despite having so much in common with YOLT.
But the other part of me enjoyed the roller coaster ride, the sheer scale of the film and the outrageous characters. The Bond films had been stripped down and rebuilt for a new generation, and there really was no going back, so I chose to climb aboard for another thirty odd years.
39.5/50
BOND:
Bond finally becomes what he had been threatening to become for some time, a globe hopping playboy with little of the subtle sophistication we had grown to love. 2/5
WOMEN:
We have Holly Goodhead of the CIA who (thankfully for Bond) can pilot a space shuttle, Manuela Bond’s contact in Rio who doesn’t appear the slightest bit surprised when a 7 ft giant tries to eat her (it must be standard fair at the Rio carnival), and poor Corinne who pays the ultimate price for aiding Bond. Also there is the pre credit girl on the plane and a bevy of beauties who are launched and one assumes perish into space.
Girls are tossed at the screen randomly and dismissively. They serve no real purpose, and the slightly better developed ones like Manuela are vapid. That Corinne’s personal tragedy is unveiled (did Bond not think this may happen?) and is so effective is down to good film making technique rather than the strength of the character development. Holly is beautiful and functional. For sheer number 3/5, but because of Dolly 2/5
VILLAINS:
Hugo Drax who has lofty ambitions to attempt something Stromberg failed to do; destroy mankind. His manservant is martial arts expert Chang who skulks in the shadows waiting for his chance, and Jaws, again, but this time a comical foil who thinks that if he flaps his arms hard enough he can fly. Drax has some outstandingly good one liners though, so 3/5
HUMOUR:
This is tough to mark because Moonraker is based around good old fashioned slapstick. It’s the Bond film Chaplin would have made had he lived and been given the chance. But the site gags are generally poor and the one liners unmemorable.
The best however comes from Drax and his quiet despair at seeing Bond round every corner. He has without doubt the finest lines. When he says
‘Frederick Gray! What a surprise. And in distinguished company, all wearing… gas masks’ it is a highlight not just of this film, but the entire series.
Only Q comes close to matching this with his most famous line ‘I think he’s attempting re-entry sir’3.5/5
ACTION:
The film for the first hour is quite enjoyable with witty banter, interesting scenes, good locations and decent action. The pre credit is good fun, the centrifuge sequence, the fight with Chang. It all goes pear shaped when Jaws shows up. Suddenly we are introduced to poor back projection, bad stunt doubling (is that correct wording?), shoddy miniatures. Plenty of action but the quality deteriorates remarkably and the good moments are lost in the sheer excess of stunts and explosions. 2/5
SADISM:
Corinne is savaged by Chang’s dogs, Bond fights off a giant python and survives being suffocated in the centrifuge. But Bond never looks in any real danger so this is a quite gentle romp that you could watch with your grandmother. 2/5
MUSIC: It’s John Barry with his heavenly music, his gorgeous undervalued theme song (sung by Shirley Bassey). Barry can adapt his skill to anything and his space themed music is as relevant to this film as his scores were for YOLT or OHMSS. But does Moonraker really deserve music this lovely? 5/5
LOCATIONS : A faultless collection of wonderful locations. Venice, Rio, the Brazilian rainforest, outer space. Maybe we could wish for less locations and more time in them, but Moonraker was all about excess.4.5/5
GADGETS:
Bond films had reached the point where every element we recognise and love was at it’s peak. More locations, more action, more girls, more gadgets. Sadly class and style were heading the other way. So Bond gets a dart gun for his wrist, a nifty power boat that turns into a hand glider and a ridiculous ‘bondala’ equipped with everything an agent needs if attacked on the canals of Venice. 2/5
SUPPORTING CAST:
M, Q, Grey, Gogol and Moneypenny do their stuff. And they are all wonderful and re-assuring, if getting a little over familiar. 3/5
OVERALL SCORE AND RECOLLECTIONS 29/50
I saw this at the huge Odean in Birmingham. I remember it well because when we came out my sister’s car had been broken into and the day’s shopping stolen. So, damaged car, lost shopping and most worrying of all a Bond film that appeared to have gone as far as a Bond film could go.
My biggest concern was that Cubby kept saying that the next one has to be bigger than the last. I therefore lost all hope and expected Bond 12 to be something akin to a Tom & Jerry cartoon. It dampened my excitement and although FYEO still failed to convince me that Bond could find a way back, I did take note of the more grounded content.
Moonraker was, is and always will be a monumental folly, a playground for Lewis Gilbert to realise his dream of a huge comedy/adventure extravaganza.
And yet so much of the film is done well. Nuggets of wonderful moments, sadly lost in the mix.
And if we have nothing else to take away we must savour some of the finest and funniest dialogue ever put in to the mouth of a Bond villain.
Must say when I shuffled through this thread..
http://www.mi6community.com/index.php?p=/discussion/3363/how-old-are-you-at-what-age-did-you-first-encounter-bond/p3#Item_68
I became aware that in just three pages we had 15 members posting who were over 30, 9 of them over 40. And I know of several more (despite what I have been told elsewhere that we are over run with 13 year olds!!) So maybe a few would like to come here and recall their memories of seeing these films for the first time.
THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN
Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun
BOND- Roger was very bi-polar in his second outing as Bond. One minute he was slapping around the future Octopussy, the next minute he was romancing her. I'd blame this more on the poor writing of TMWTGG, but Roger hadn't pegged his Bond character yet. I liked that was portraying Fleming's Bond at times, but other times Roger was doing a poor imititation of his future self. Roger also had to go through the indignity of grabbing a sumo wrestler's butt cheeks, relocate Saida's charm, slap Andrea, push a kid into the water and go on a car chase with Pepper. Rog gave it the old college try, but his character was just too incosistent in this film. (2)
WOMEN- Sweden was well represented in TMWTGG. Let's start with Britt Ekland. Her character was a dumb blonde agent. I think the Goodnight character gets too much flak. It's not like Halle Berry playing Jinx. Ekland didn't do anything to further dumb down the character (unlike Berry). Ekland gave a solid performance as the incompetent yet caring Mary Goodnight. Maud Adams was Andrea Anders in her first of three Bond appearances. Maud was slightly stiff with her Andrea character, and I don't just mean at the kick boxing match. She seemed genuinly uncomfortable, perhaps even timid in the interogation scene and with Christopher Lee. Maud would improve nine years later, but seemed rather unconvincing in her role. Saida and Chu Mi were good for a couple of chuckles. I'm not counting the Teenage Karate Schoolgirls. (3)
VILLAINS- The saving grace of TMWTGG. Very few people could have salvaged this misguided film, but Christopher Lee had the aura and screen presence as Francisco Scaramanga to singlehandedly make TMWTGG passable. Unlike past Bond villians, he wasn't maniacal or over the top. Scaramanga was the calm evil and Lee did a tremendous job in his delivery, particulary when taking over as Chairman of the Board from Hai Fat. Plus if there any other actor who played a Bond villian could have pulled off the mano y mano aspect better thann Christopher Lee, well you're wrong. Put Toby Stephens or Charles Grey as Scaramanga and this film turns into DAD. Nick Nack was basically there for comedy and Hai Fat was good, but not great. (4)
HUMOR- Overdone and excessive, although it did have its moments.
The Good:
JW Pepper meets the baby elephant
Bond vs Nick Nack on the junk
Goodnight speaking in code at the lunch table
Bond stealing Saida's charm
Phuyuck '74
Chu Mi
The Bad:
The slide whistle
The sumo wrestler
Elephant Boy going for a swim
The third nipple
(3)
ACTION- A perfectly good car chase through downtown Bangkok and over the broken jetty ruined by a slide whistle. A perfectly good karate fight ruined by two schoolgirls. A perfectly good river chase ruined by a boy being pushed off a boat. The Funhouse Duel, however, was not ruined. (4)
SADISM- Let's see, we have a man slapping around a woman, child abuse, locking a woman in a closet, jokes about short people, midgets getting stuffed in suitcases. That should cover a 70s politically incorrect movie. (2)
MUSIC- Lulu's main title song gets more flak than it deserves. I actually like the uptempo theme. However, for John Barry standards, the soundtrack was a disappointment. (3)
LOCATIONS- I've been to Bond Island in Phuket. That's a must see visit if you're ever there. Bangkok and Hong Kong are also great places to spend a week. Two good Asian locations were used in TMWTGG. (4)
GADGETS- For once, the best gadget didn't come from Q Branch or MI6. It was Scaramanga's golden gun, made of a lighter, a pen, a cuff link and a cigarette case. Very ingenious. Q had, a third nipple. (3)
SUPPORTING CAST- Bernard Lee's M was more crotchety than usual. Guessed he realized what he was working with. Only one scene with Lois Maxwell, but a good one in the "darling" exchange. Desmond Llewelyn was back after missing out on LALD. Desmond was made to look more of a fool in the TMWTGG. You're not really a good ally if you leave Bond to fight off the Karate Kids are you Lt Hip. (3)
OVERALL SCORE AND RECOLLECTIONS- (31) The Man With The Golden Gun is a guilty pleasure for me. It's one of those "it's so bad it's good" films. The writing is terrible. There are enough plot holes too play Whack a Mole with the script. There also the cringeworthy humor, the ackwardness of the treatment of women and children. There's plenty to be down about for TMWTGG. Yet, I find it to be the most enjoyable watches of the franchise. Bond facing a villian one on one rather than a group of villians is a refreshing change. You still have an awesome villain, good action, good humor at points and two lovely ladies to look at. And really, isn't that all we're mostly asking for in a Bond film?
MVP: Christopher Lee (Francisco Scaramanga)
I agree 100%, any original out there who hasn't spoken is always welcomed. The more commentary, the better we can pass the proverbial torch. I welcome any and all here no matter what their age so we can answer questions, it's only our weekly reviews that I feel I have to restrict to a degree for reasons I mentioned. Speaking of originals, as we all know advancing in age that there is a greater likelihood of health concerns, and I remain worried about DB5's silence and hope he is OK. He has some great insights only an original can have, and his input is welcomed at any and all times.
@ Kerim- Welcome back! Like our next film up for review, your return is as appreciated as seeing an old friend you haven't seen for some time, and I very much agreed with your thoughts on TMWTGG. It's got characters and moments that make you roll your eyes at times, but it's fun in a good way. When a Bond film delivers as far as the lead actor, women, villains, action, and a good storyline, I can overlook a lot of other things and still enjoy it.
Here comes the weekly ratings update :D
1. The Spy Who Loved Me (5/7 reviews)- 4.14
2. From Russia With Love- 4.07
3. Goldfinger- 4.04
4. Thunderball- 4.01
5. On Her Majesty's Secret Service- 3.87
6. Live And Let Die (6/7 reviews)- 3.83
7. You Only Live Twice- 3.64
8. Dr. No- 3.48
9. The Man With The Golden Gun (6/7 reviews)- 3.13
10. Diamonds Are Forever- 2.91
11. Moonraker (4/7 reviews)- 2.85
Again as stated above, welcome back to Kerim! DB5, you are also missed!
As usual, below is a list of who hasn't reviewed a particular film, so you know which ones you have done and which you haven't. As always, you are under no obligation to do so, but it would be great if you could do each film when you can so we have a complete picture of how we all collectively feel. Also, please try to review your prior scores for different categories for the sake of consistency. If anyone is going away or has decided to drop out, kindly let me know. If any original wants to join in these reviews, let me know first.
LIVE AND LET DIE/THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN- No votes from DB5
THE SPY WHO LOVED ME- No votes from Kerim and DB5
MOONRAKER- No votes from 4EverBonded, Kerim, and DB5
That's the latest from statistics central. Tomorrow I will review and release the twelfth entry, "For Your Eyes Only". Have a great weekend everyone and looking forward to all the insightful commentary and analysis!