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Tom Jones’ rendition of "Thunderball" followed confidently in GF’s footsteps, all horns and bravado and throbbing insistence that was nearly rock & roll in its menacing sexuality: “So he STRIKES! (Bada-bada-BUMP!) Like Thun…der…BALLLLLLLLLL!” with Jones holding the final note until he nearly passes out. The pre-release promotion for TB was totally epic, with every single magazine on the stands devoting cover space to the new Bond release, and this theme song completely holds its own in the crush to promote the 4th Bond film.
I have to admit that (unlike GF and TB) I didn’t see You Only Live Twice until the early ‘80s, more than a decade after its’ initial release. (Details for this unfortunate lapse can be found in one of my earliest postings for this topic thread. Go on, kids, do your homework if you want to learn the background…) But I know I must have heard the beautiful theme song for YOLT on the radio at some point circa 1967, because I have a very clear memory of hearing an instrumental version of it as Muzak over a grocery store’s sound system during a shopping trip in the mid 1970s. “Gosh, that’s a pretty melody,” I remember thinking. “Wait a minute! Isn’t that a Bond theme? Yes! It’s…it’s….. You Only Live Twice!” And so it was, one of the most melodically pleasing of all the Bond themes to my ears.
I don’t think I ever heard the theme to On Her Majesty’s Secret Service back in the day…not surprising, as it was an orchestral theme with no vocal part (I suppose they just got NERVOUS over finding words to rhyme with “Service.”) But I do believe I heard Louis Armstrong’s “We Have All the Time In the World” on my parents’ favorite AM radio station, San Francisco’s legendary KSFO. (Can I digress for a moment? Back then, not all radio stations were as tightly formatted as they were even a few years later, to say nothing of the strictness of modern programming! In the early to mid sixties, generalized audiences were the expectation rather than the exception, and I can remember hearing Frank Sinatra, Allen Sherman, the Beatles, and Mr. Acker Bilk all on the same station -- the one my parents listened too. Also in the programming mix for that one station were baseball games played by the San Francisco Giants and free-form patter by the self-proclaimed “World’s Greatest Disc Jockey,” Don Sherwood. At that point in time, my listening habits were expanding to include the deeper album cuts found on FM radio, and my reading habits were likely to include Fantastic Four comic books by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby as well as Tarzan or John Carter novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and yes, a few novels by that fellow named Ian Fleming. I didn’t need to see that newcomer pretending to be Bond, whatever his name was. I had the real thing at my fingertips courtesy of the public library.)
So anyway, I didn’t see OHMSS until a few years after its’ initial release either. I did see Diamond Are Forever, though, at a local Drive-In theatre (details also available in postings from a few years back. Read ‘Em All!) Hadn’t heard Shirley Bassey’s theme song until I saw it at the theatre. Unlike several other fans, this isn’t one of my favorite Bond themes. I suppose I thought they were just re-treading familiar ground by bringing back Shirley for another go-round. Couldn’t they find someone new?
(BSE will return soon to reminisce on the theme songs of the Roger Moore Bonds, beginning with Someone New…)
What a great post! I wish there were more I could add, but my own experience of these early themes was very similar. Someone bought me a cassette player for Christmas on year (cutting edge back in the day) and I bought as much bond music as I could on cassette and relived the movies through the music. I suppose it was the only way to do this then, other than wait patiently for the movies to come round the circuit once more.
A question to all you seasoned operatives out there. We've had both Sean Connery and Roger Moore complain of being Bond before in both their tenures. So what do you think of Craig comments? And will it hurt the box office to Spectre i.e. some people may be turned off by Craig's "whingeing"?
Edit, found this will browsing Youtube -
A collection of all the gunbarrels. Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, For Your Eyes Only, Licence to Kill, GoldenEye, Die Another Day are my favs, plus the "origin" of the GB in Casino Royale. The best "turn and shoot" has to be Brosnan, whilst at the other end of the spectrum, Craig looks as if he's about to have a shit in Quantum of Solace. Both the last two Bond films have the GB at the end, bizarrely. Hopefully Spectre will rectify this glaring oversight!
SPECTRE is bulletproof. Even it turns out to be a terrible film people are primed to see the follow up to SKYFALL.
Exactly. Not that I think Thunderball is terrible but the general phenomenon is the same.
Brosnan's is my favorite gunbarrel walk; just smooth and cool.
I believe you are correct, @mathis1 and @royale65, that Bob Simmons did the earliest gunbarrel walks. :)
Yes, I think SPECTRE is bulletproof - well said, @delfloria. As mentioned by royale65, it is similar to Thunderball in this respect: the buildup and anticipation is massive, thanks to the previous Bond film's mega success. With SPECTRE coming off of Skyfall, they would have had to do something truly stupid for it to be a letdown (marketing wise). I think this has been handled quite well, to be frank. The publicity for SPECTRE has been exploding now and it definitely seems to be bigger, more lavish than for the previous Bond films of Craig's era. SPECTRE is everywhere, on all magazines and tv shows chat, and I do like the creativity of some of the campaigns.
I especially like the video for the contest, where you could be flown in for the London premiere, meet Daniel Craig, etc. In fact, I'm going to repost that. I think today may be the last day to enter! Please view for fun and enter if you'd like.
The SPECTRE posters are okay, in my opinion, but perhaps the only area in this publicity campaign that I feel were a little bit less exciting than what I had hoped for.
Here is that entertaining video for the SPECTRE contest (money to go to a worthy cause, also):
I read it, and there are no spoilers (unless you, at this point, still do not want to know anything about her character). No additional or spoilerish info, nothing that has not been shown in trailers. If you are okay with the SPECTRE trailers, this should be fine for you. Two videos: one is the trailer, and the other is Monica just talking about older women, in particular in the film industry. Or just enjoy the photos (SPECTRE and nonSPECTRE photos).
Monica: 'My advice is: eat well, drink well, have good sex and laugh a lot. The rest comes all on its own’ (How this reminds me of another incredible, jaw-droppingly beautiful Italian actress: Sophia Loren.)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/james-bond-spectre/monica-bellucci-interview/
And here is just a nice photo for you, too ~
What a wonderful article. Monica Bellucci comes over as a woman whose sincerity and insight belies her obvious beauty. This only reinforces the notion that women are like fine wines that get better and more beautiful with age.
Roll on next Monday.
And I'm glad you enjoyed the nice interview with Monica, @Darius. I did, too.
Ahem. Time for my big announcement (though you knew this was coming). I thought I could wait a few more days ... but I truly do not want this film spoiled for me. PLEASE NOTE:
A fond temporary farewell from me ~ 8->
With the press reviews and spoilers now allowed more on this forum as of today (Oct. 20th), I am taking my sabbatical as of right now. Not happy about this sabbatical, but it is necessary. :-w
That stellar gentleman known as @BeatlesSansEarmuffs will be in charge of this thread during my absence. He and I will stay in touch, just not via this forum.
Yes, alas - again! - Japan is dead last in getting this film. :o3 With my work constraints, I will not be able to see SPECTRE until Sunday, December 6th. I will definitely be charging right back here after that, eager to discuss every little detail, believe me. My expectations are high, frankly, but I feel instinctively that this film will deliver.
I'd like to finish up by re-posting my thoughts regarding reading again the old posts in this thread - or if you are new, going back to the beginning and reading several of our older discussions.
*******
About reading this thread ~
I'd like to say to everyone who stops in here - if you have a few minutes of extra leisure time, do take a look at the earlier posts in this thread. I do suggest starting on page 1, when SirHenry got this rolling. The first several pages have great input from Originals and then we started doing a review for each Bond film and ranking them, which also makes interesting reading.
There is a lot of gold in this thread, and I don't think it is pointed out often enough that reading these posts will truly be rewarding for many of you. After our main review and ranking, we again revisited all the films and SirHenry posted highly detailed, wonderful info, facts, trivia ... and we had some great discussions! We had just finished talking about Skyfall and discussing what we thought the next film (now SPECTRE) should include or not include, when an unexpected sadness fell on us; SirHenry passed away that month. Up and including part of page 66 we have his wonderful input and leadership.
My main point is simply that all those previous pages, those discussions, are worth reading again - and if you are new here, by all means dip in! Read at leisure, skip around pages, get a taste for the camaraderie we have had for so long; just enjoy the older pages. Then please join us here in our current discussions - and also feel free to bring to our current page anything you'd like to talk about that may have been sparked by something you have read on an earlier page.
Trying to avoid spoilers now for SPECTRE, even though it is merely days away? Only a couple of threads you feel safe entering? Now may be a great time to revisit this thread, back during its golden inception and stellar first couple of years. I hope some of you do; I believe it will be well worth your time.
*******
So I bid you adieu for now, dear Bondian comrades! B-) I will stay in touch with @BeatlesSansEarmuffs via personal email. This thread is now in his capable hands.
I do hope everyone enjoys SPECTRE. We will always differ on some things, but I hope that each of you sincerely find this Bond film enjoyable and worthwhile. @Beatles will be monitoring the discussions from now until my return, and discussing SPECTRE is certainly the main topic as of the October 28th (day after the London premiere).
Cheers! :)>-
Good question, Royale. Here's my take: Have YOU ever griped about your job? Lord knows I have! Whether it's to co-workers or close friends, spouses, or complete strangers, griping about one's job is part of the human condition. It's a necessary method of letting off steam at the end of the day. The only difference is, you and I don't have a thousand cameras, microphones, and notepads turned our way to catch every petty complaint for posterity. I take Craig's (or Connery's, or anyBond's) occasional bit of grousing in just that spirit. It's a hard job, he's entitled to take a moment to grumble about it without anybody thinking the less of him or the job he's just finished because of it. Also: Sir Roger's been quite candid about his bargaining technique between his last few films: "I'm tired of this. I don't think I want to do the next one, find somebody else." "Oh, please Roger? Pretty please?" "No, I don't think so." "Pretty please with sugar and an extra 5 million on it???" "Oh, all right." Whether Craig is setting up for his next round of negotiations with Eon or just letting off some steam at the end of a hard day's night, I don't really set much stock by it....and I doubt that it's going to make a bit of difference to Spectre's box office.
Oh, I see it goes up to TMWTGG. Wonder where my old album is now?
Just checking a few things and will be off soon ... lalalala! (trying to pretend I'm happy, when I'm frickin' NOT!) ... Why is Japan's in December?! Why oh, why?! :((
Never mind me, just getting it out of my system.
I think it's time to crank up some T.Rex. Now that's a good idea ...! ;) Marc Bolan helps tremendously, with every aspect of my life.
Rock on, everybody!
Very truly yours,
4EverBonded