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I actually welcomed the arrival of trolls when he was around. He'd tear them a new ass immediately, no questions asked, and it was always hilarious.
Oh so true! I'd forgotten that about him -- which is why this type of celebration is so important, to remind us of the little things we'd otherwise forget!
John Barry, in 1967
and at the award of BAFTA Fellowship 2005
Favorite Bond Soundtracks -
SirHenry said: To be fair, since this is a top 7 and not top 22 list, or the Barry soundtracks would sweep-
1. GF- Like the movie itself, the "Bond Sound" was created here. The scores that followed would not have that "sound" if it wasn't created here. There has yet to be a better theme than the title song.
2. DAF- The ethereal sounds Barry creates are just awesome. The Vegas big brass and horns are perfect- if you close your eyes and didn't know the movie was in Vegas, you might guess you were there or listening to a mob movie. And the mobsters still found their way in anyway! The title song Barry's second best without question, like GF I still get chilled to the bone listening to it after all these years. Brilliant stuff.
3. OHMSS- Probably one of if not the greatest instrumental ever in the movie genre. Provides me with this incredible boost of energy. I found the Nina song ill-fitting and awkward sounding and always skip the track. Otherwise a great soundtrack.
4. OP- I've been listening to it a lot more lately and appreciating it a lot more. I like the title song much better as an instrumental weaving it's way through the film. The locality themes in India fit well. It mostly all seems to fit really well.
5. LALD- The best non-Barry score in the series. Martin uses the title song like Barry, which I feel all Bond composers should do because it really helps give the movie and individual soundtrack an identity to help it stand out from the other movies, especially when the same composer scores multiple films.
6. YOLT- Another haunting theme that you can hum over and over. The Oriental themes are lush and atmospheric. Love it.
7. TND- Surprise, surprise, but I still feel this is Arnold's best work. I realize it is in part a tribute to the Barry era, but even his more original stuff is pretty good compared to most of his other work. Surrender is a classic theme of any Bond era and should have been the title piece, I rank the song with Barry's best pieces and it takes a lot to impress me like that.
SirHenry's Ranking of the Bond composers -
1. John Barry- Along with Miklos Rosza, I firmly agree with every opinion that John Barry Prendergast is the greatest film composer of all time and as I'm fond of saying, the Mozart of his time. He's an immortal whose music will be relevant as long as human society exists. Then. Now. Forever.
2. George Martin- He may not have a songwriting credit for the infamous and classic title song, but I can't imagine anyone else stepping into Barry's void and producing what he did here. Everything from the funky urban vibe to the eerie strings thematically fits the movie to the tee and he uses Barry's methods of weaving in the title song and one or two others he composed. As @chrisisall states, original yet very Bondian and I don't think any composer has yet managed this most difficult feat as well as Martin.
3. David Arnold- as folks have been pointing out, DA is an acknowledged disciple of Barry and considered him his mentor. While he has produced some terrific scores that have been very Bondian (TND, CR, QOS), his experiments with techno in an effort to establish his own style of Bondian sound have not quite worked out and both the TWINE and DAD soundtracks make that impression. Kudos for his excellent efforts but he is no more at Barry's level than anyone else. He finally started to hone in on something with CR and QOS, using the techno more sparingly and being smarter about it's use, and if indeed the rumors of EON being sour on Thomas Newman are true, we may see him return sooner than later. I would be equally interested in seeing how he's grown as a composer now that he's had some time to reflect on what he's done and how he could improve or change his direction.
4. Michael Kamen- I understand as a musician and composer why some see him as a generic 80's action kind of composer and that his big, bombastic sound in LTK differed little from his other efforts such as the "Die Hard" series. But what differentiates Kamen from the others we'll get to next is that like Martin and Arnold, he was also a fan of Bond and Barry and he not only understood what kind of sound Bond fans wanted to hear, he was also highly enthusiastic about the opportunity. His use of flamenco styled guitar really matches the Latin flavor of the adventure, and when he turns the London Philharmonic loose on the Bond theme- wow!
5. Thomas Newman- this starts the run of composers for whom scoring a Bond film was more of a job and less a labor of love. This gets proven to be especially true in his case when you notice the pronounced lack of the Bond theme and are told that he was not going to include the title song anywhere in his soundtrack until it was suggested that he should do these things. Technically Newman is a pro's pro and his use of techno/electronica is much advanced over Arnold's, but in respect to content a focused listen to his SF soundtrack reveals that he thought he too could reinvent the Bond sound and that's why this effort mostly doesn't match up with Martin, Arnold, and Kamen in understanding that the Bond sound is what people truly want. Or should if they truly understand anything about Barry's legacy for these films. I think he gets that now, and I'd expect better of him next time, if there is a next time.
6. Marvin Hamlisch- other than crafting a timeless title theme, Hamlisch shows proper respect for Barry in making use of it thematically within the film. He puts a modern for the time disco spin on the Bond theme in "Bond 77" to match the atmosphere of the current social climate. I give him credit for the attempt, but the disco and his keyboard use here are an acquired taste. Some like it, but if you hate disco it's annoying as all hell.
7. Monty Norman- as stated, he wrote the timeless Bond theme but it's Barry's orchestration and later use that breathed life into the notes. Otherwise the soundtrack is unremarkable and often not very good.
8. Bill Conti- when you revel in the glory of "Gonna Fly Now" like I do as a native of the Philadelphia suburbs, you realize that Conti is capable of greatness. Some of the things he does are very good such as the submarine scene and the climb up to St. Cyril's. The title song gets use. Otherwise it's more a disaster than not. The gunbarrel theme is nearly identical to Martin's, and his choice of instruments seem very out of place as disco and the brass/keyboard sounds were by then passe and old news. It fails on many levels, but not as much as what was to come in 1995.
9. Eric Serra- Severely underrated? Nope. Unfairly criticized? Please! In Jon Burlingame's book about Bond music, Serra states that he was given little to no direction from the producers. Rather than going with music that fit the Bondian style, he figures he can do what he wants and this soundtrack becomes the giant, toilet clogging dump of the entire series. I'm sure Serra would have done a lot of things differently and better in hindsight, because in all fairness he is a much better composer than this effort shows, but this soundtrack is still unacceptable and far below his own standards. So many things are wrong for the movie and antithetical to the Bond legacy. Pastiche please! The gun barrel theme is too radical and does not work. No use of the superior title theme (the best music in the entire film) anywhere. I wish Bono and Edge had done the soundtrack, unlike Serra they were Bond fans who weren't looking to do anything but pay their own tribute to Barry and the Bond legacy. Sparing use of the Bond theme that actually has to be rewritten for the tank chase by John Altman. So many atonal and dark sounds that do not fit despite claims to the contrary. The orchestration regarding the strings anywhere in the film is all wrong and his romantic themes sound like elevator muzak. No heart, no soul, no passion. More fitting for the likes of Bourne and "La Femme Nikita" and a huge mistake.
The ONLY thing that Serra does well is in the PTS where you hear the Bond theme on timpani drums, this really works as far as originality but after that it is what it is.
Sir Henry's words on Thomas Newman hit the nail so firmly on the head as to this guy's lackadaisical attitude to composing a Bond score that they drive it right through the coffin lid and into the twitching corpse of Newman's Bond career.
Technically he may be a good composer but he really is only doing Bond for the paycheck and that's just not on.
I can only smirk to myself at what Greg would've made of Newman's slovenly recycling of SF's score in SP. Would've given him both barrels and no mistake.
And we move along a bit now ... :)
Since I had time at work today, I scrolled back through SirHenry's comments a little bit. A few that stood out for me, or just made me smile because it sounded so typical SirHenry, are below. Granted, I only scrolled back through October 2013. We could make a small book from all the interesting things SirHenry said. He never shied away from controversy or giving his honest opinion, yet he was also a warm and loyal friend.
Note: Only one quote below (re: "PC") was included in the birthday tribute to SirHenry last year.
So here are some quotes from SirHenry ~ B-)
on trolls
Nov 2013
They don't deserve to be warned- just eliminated.
~~~
freedom of speech
Nov 2013
I lament the loss of freedom of speech in many walks of life. Once it was "everyone's entitled to their opinion". But no more. A very sad commentary in the modern age.
~~~
Nov 2013
F**k PC. That's all I have to say on the subject :)
~~~
On the character of Felix Leiter in the films:
Lord, Hedison, and Wright are the holy trinity of Leiters. The rest of this bunch sucked, especially that stiff in the blue jacket on the bottom.
~~~
SirHenry's favorite Bond locations:
Sept 2013
1. Mt. Kirishima, Kyushu, Japan (YOLT)- The site of Blofeld's volcano. Waterfalls, natural caves, lush forests, hard to beat Mother Nature at her finest. This is my favorite Blofeld locale for sure.
2. Shanghai (Skyfall)- I've never seen a modern urban city look as stunning as this at night. I've never seen any city that visually blew me away like this one did.
3. Egypt (TSWLM)- Part of "The Seven Wonders Of The World". Countless travelers over the centuries have gazed in awe at the sheer scale. Enough said.
[a bit more in a following post/edited]:
Piz Gloria gets a lot of love, indeed beautiful and scenic, but not my absolute favorite. I can only take so much of all that snow. The FYEO locations in Corfu were lush, and the Italian Alps ain't so bad either. The Bahamas are always outstanding for the colorful water.
~~~
And I found this interesting, from a thread named "MGM& Producers Finally Settle with McClory Estate" - because SirHenry talks about Quantum & SPECTRE -
History also tells us that Thunderball outdid Goldfinger in money, meaning that technically it rode on GF's tidal wave of success much more than the prospect of SPECTRE's return. I really don't feel it would much matter to the general public whether QUANTUM was brought back or Blofeld and SPECTRE were reintroduced, but BOND24 is going to ride on a whole lot of goodwill generated by Skyfall and for those reasons there is no reason to dump QUANTUM now than SPECTRE then- it's us hardcores who remember a villain and entity from 1971, not the general public who however does remember QUANTUM and personal dislike of QOS doesn't detract from the fact that they are the better known quantity these days. The only difference I see between QUANTUM and SPECTRE after two films is the absence of a head baddie. And an unexplored opportunity to improve a concept that became a joke in 1971 and a villain that's been skewed to the point that he was killed off in 1981. So until the research appears, my opinion is that as far as I am concerned, I've made the better argument for keeping QUANTUM and ending them properly within a storyline that reintroduces Blofeld and maybe SPECTRE later on down the line. Probably the best opinion of all that I've heard is that no organization nor a "blast from the past" is needed. An interesting villain like Silva is apparently all you do need nowadays to make a crapload of money.
As has been stated, spoiler free reviews are allowed here, and as I've been to the cinema yesterday evening, I thought I'd say some words on it here. More elaborate discussions will no doubt follow when everyone has seen the film (yes, I can wait that long @4Ever ;-) ). But here are some of my initial thoughts (that may alter after viewing it again, and again, and again...):
For me, personally, Lea Seydoux steals the show. I think she's utterly beautiful and radiant. She perhaps doesn't yet has the class Belluci has, but that comes with age and she has all the potential to follow this stunning woman's lead (or perhaps I've just fallen in love, which would be the first time for me in the Craig era).
Bond now is the fully grown, formed Bond that he became after the previous films. Craig as always delivers.
For true Bond fans there are quite a few tributes to the past. Some obvious, some lesser so. Lee Tamahori, you got this lesson in Skyfall, you're now getting it again. This is how it's done!
The film is the longest in Bond-history, but it doesn't feel like that. It's got a good pace, and the story is entertaining enough.
So, is it worth the hype? Personally, I think not. I'm sorry, I wish I could state otherwise, but there are too many things I just don't like as much as I could have. In the end I think it's due to the Purvis and Wade writing, but that, as said, will be discussed to excruciating detail at the beginning of next year no doubt. As for now it is a good Bond film, highly enjoyable, but don't have the highest of expectations. You could be dissapointed.
Meanwhile, let's enjoy the Autumn weather and our birthday tribute to SirHenry. (Yes, I just raised my glass to him, Shark; it's my dinner time.)
A note to all: Whenever you see do see SPECTRE, you are welcome to give a truly spoiler free, generalized, and rather brief review on this thread.
Cheers! :-bd
Goldfinger was the film that cemented the Bond template firmly in the minds of the movie-going public. Before Goldfinger, James Bond 007 was an interesting character, the star of a small handful of novels and two films that had seen a decent but not overwhelming box office return. After Goldfinger, 007 was a cultural phenomenon unrivaled by any other. Goldfinger brought so many iconic moments together in one place that it is easily the most remembered film in the entire Bond series; even now, 50 years after its release: when a member of the general public is asked to name a Bond villain, he or she will probably say, “Goldfinger,” to name a Bond girl, “Pussy Galore,” to name a Bond henchman, “Oddjob,” and to name a specific Bond car, “the Aston Martin DB5.” Sing a few bars of a Bond theme song? “Gold-FING-AH!” (And they may even follow up with a verbal “Bwah-BWAAH-Bwah!”)
Audiences of the day went absolutely bonkers for Goldfinger, with some theatres staying open 24/7 to meet the demand. Other films of later vintage certainly had similar lines snaking around the block, with hopeful theatre-goers lining up to see Star Wars or Harry Potter…but this was the first such instance. And what a remarkable cinematic experience awaited them once they were seated and the lights went down: from the “shocking, positively shocking” PTS to Shirley Bassey’s shine-tingling rendition of the movie’s theme song…from Bond discovering the respectable Mr. Goldfinger cheating at cards, to the subtle, shadowy introduction of the lethal Oddjob and the startling, iconic revelation of the Golden Girl…from the introduction of the classic Aston Martin with its array of optional extras to the quiet game of golf with a bar of Nazi gold at stake…and on and on and on, every scene in this movie provides one memorable moment after another. Oddjob killing Tilly Masterson with his steel-rimmed bowler hat…Bond strapped to a table while a laser beam threatens to cut him in two, starting with his most sensitive (non-government issue) equipment…capped off by one of the most memorable bits of dialogue ever presented on screen: “Do you expect me to talk?” “No, Mr. Bond -- I expect you to DIE!” We haven’t even gotten the villain’s dastardly plot, or spoken the unforgettable name of this film’s Bond girl, and already the classic moments are piling up, one on top of another, until the climax in the vaults of Fort Knox with its TRULY “shocking” death scene for Oddjob and the quickly-following assurance that Goldfinger himself will soon be playing his golden harp.
Perhaps the most notable facet of this film is the way that it improved substantially on Fleming’s already-memorable original novel. I have spoken before at length on this subject, so let me just say: Fleming should have had Richard Maibaum as a regular collaborator on his novels. "Goldfinger" the novel is full of implausibilities, glossed over smoothly by Fleming’s assured presentation. Maibaum’s script for Goldfinger the movie fixes them all and SHOWS us things happening where Fleming merely tells us they happened, like Jill Masterson’s death by golden asphyxiation. In the novel, Pussy Galore switches from Goldfinger’s side to Bond’s only AFTER the plot has clearly gone south, she does nothing to justify any mercy being shown her on the part of the authorities; in Maibaum’s film script, she is instrumental in alerting the authorities to the plot against Fort Knox and is entirely justified in ending the film in Bond’s arms. Goldfinger the movie is seen by many as the gold standard for Bond films. Our friend and thread founder, Greg Ferrell aka SirHenryLeeChaChing certainly thought this was the case, and I for one am happy to agree with him.
Stuffed full of classic scenes, dialogue, women, villains, gadgets and humour if you don't like Goldfinger…well there must be something wrong with you.
Really looking forward to BeatlesSansEarmuffs full SPECTRE review.
Legend is a word used to much, but I can safely say that SirHenry was a legend - witty and insightful. One can feel the warmth from his posts. I've been trying to find a specific piece between myself and Greg, but I got lost in his pithy, engaging posts. He was the first member I opened up to about my stroke. I felt safe opening to him. Very therapeutic to talk about it with Greg.
On seeing Spectre, I had a touch of melancholy when the MGM logo came up, thinking about SirHenry.
And on to Spectre. A quick spoiler free reaction.
Seen it twice. Both times, I loved it. Top ten Bond film. I got caught up with the story. Despite it lasting 2 and half hours, the film flew by. Great cast. The following is not a spoiler, but if you are like me, and don't want to know anyone opinions on Spectre until you've seen it, I'm putting this sentence in spoiler tags -
So I'd like to finish our "official" tribute to SirHenry/Greg Ferrell with this ... it is just a snippet of a personal message he sent to me in 2013. He is talking about this thread, what it meant to him (which is what he means by 'this thought of mine').
SirHenry said:
I'm grateful for all of you, not just for the friendships and special camaraderie that only we can truly understand, but for the personal time each of you have given to help this thought of mine become a reality.
We shall continue to talk about SirHenry, and recall things he said of course. His critiques and personal reviews alone are very helpful, worth reading again. But as we move on to take a bit of an in depth look at SirHenry's favorite Bond film, Goldfinger, I just wanted to share those words he said to me ... for he meant that for so many of you. >:D<
Cheers!
@BeatlesSansEarmuffs, that is a marvelous summation of Goldfinger; thanks! You are starting us off on Goldfinger in a fine way. It really has so many iconic moments, doesn't it? I especially took note of what you said here:
Fleming should have had Richard Maibaum as a regular collaborator on his novels. "Goldfinger" the novel is full of implausibilities, glossed over smoothly by Fleming’s assured presentation. Maibaum’s script for Goldfinger the movie fixes them all and SHOWS us things happening where Fleming merely tells us they happened
@Beatles, I do agree!
I will go back over my own Goldfinger review and post later today some more thoughts about this film - it is the one that blew the doors down and rocketed Bond into a global phenomenom (which was even more heightened by the time Thunderball was released). It's a great Bond film to look at now, as we have SPECTRE breaking records and being absolutely everywhere in the media. Goldfinger rather led the way in many ways. That theme song alone ...!! So perfect.
Here is on on set shot, showing just how much Shirley & Sean did not have privacy at times on the set ... ;)
Here is SirHenry's original thoughts on Goldfinger. From page 4 of this thread.
(I am not including his further thoughts with his ranking yet; I will later).
GOLDFINGER (1964)
"Do you expect me to talk?"
"Noooo Mister Bond, I expect you to DIE!"
The year was 1964. With the first two films in the series firmly establishing a growing fan base ready for future installments, and their plans to film "Thunderball" still unrealized due to legal proceedings between Ian Fleming and primarily two co-writers of the project, Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman decide to film a Fleming novel well known to the British audience through it's serialization and comic strips featured for several years in the Daily Express, the best seller Goldfinger. In this third installment, Bond is seen relaxing in Miami Beach (his first appearance on U.S soil) after blowing up a Latin American drug factory when his friend, CIA agent Felix Leiter, shows up with a new assignment straight from M. The subject is one Auric Goldfinger, a dealer in gold bullion whom the British suspect is running his own smuggling operation in order to increase the value of his own stock. What MI6 and the CIA don't know is that Mr. Goldfinger has partnered with both Red China and the American Mafia in "Operation Grand Slam", an audacious plot that involves a daylight raid on the storehouse of the the U.S gold supply, Fort Knox, and one that promises to cause mass murder and economic chaos while providing Goldfinger with an extremely hefty payday- unless Bond and his CIA allies can stop it.
Based on Fleming's 1959 novel, the 7th in his series, principal filming began in Miami Beach, FL in January 1964 while Sean Connery was busy making Alfred Hitchcock's "Marnie". While filming in Florida, EON and UA had already begun an aggressive marketing campaign that upped the ante from the previous films and would result in an eventual landslide of cash and notoriety for all involved. The production also used locations in England, Switzerland, and Muldraugh, KY near the actual Fort Knox, for which the filmmakers were allowed external shots but denied access inside the gold depository building. United Artists increased the film's budget to $3 million dollars, which equaled the combined budget of the first two films. After nearly 7 months, principal filming concluded on July 11th in Switzerland, with some last minute additional footage shot in Kentucky 3 weeks before the film's release in London on September 17th, 1964. The London premiere featured a turnaway crowd that local police were unable to control, which would prove to be the onset of "Bondmania", and the movie would go on to gross nearly $125 million during it's theatrical run. The movie was so successful both in popular and critical acclaim that it actually played 24 hours day, 7 days in week in New York to accomodate the overflow crowds wishing to see it, plus it broke box office records in numerous countries, became the fastest grossing film in history for that time, and launched Bond into the area of merchandising that remains profitable to this day. The movie won the series' first Academy Award in 1965 for "Best Sound Effects Editing" (Norman Wanstall), plus composer John Barry was also nominated by the Academy for the soundtrack, and designer Ken Adam was nominated for a BAFTA award. A huge rush of spy genre films (22 alone in 1966) and competing series (Matt Helm, Derek Flint) were launched by competitors in hopes of duplicating the movie's success.
In addition to being called perhaps "the most highly and consistently praised Bond picture of them all", the success of the film also had a large impact on the series itself, and the script became somewhat of a template for many Bond films to follow in the form of reliance on the Q character and his myriad gadgets, tongue-in-cheek yet not too "over the top" humor, and colorful, memorable villains and henchmen with physical characteristics. For all these reasons, such words as "iconic", and phrases such as "quintessential Bond" have been used to this day to describe the movie's impact and to this very day, many people who make up the world's general populace recognize the film in similar terms and as the series' most beloved entry.
THE CAST-
- Sean Connery as James Bond
- Gert Fröbe as Auric Goldfinger
- Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore
- Shirley Eaton as Jill Masterson
- Tania Mallet as Tilly Masterson
- Harold Sakata as Oddjob
- Bernard Lee as M
- Desmond Llewellyn as Q
- Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny
- Cec Linder as Felix Leiter
- Michael Mellinger as Kisch
- Burt Kwouk as Mr. Ling
- Martin Benson as Mr. Solo
- Austin Willis as Mr. Simmons
- Mai Ling as Mei Lei
- Richard Vernon as Colonel Smithers
- Margaret Nolan as Dink
- Nadja Regin as Bonita
B-)
(With Sean wearing the outfit I dislike the most ....)
I remember seeing it on a re-release in our ad-hoc cinema one summer, which would have been around 1970. I have to say from the opening dots to the 'James Bond will return…' legend I was hooked. Every summer I would look forward to the next Bond to come to town, and being an avid reader when I realised the films were based on books I sought out Fleming's novels. I used to spend longer than was probably good for me reading these fantastic adventure stories in my bedroom. And then a few years later ITV started showing them on British TV…oh joy.
As for SirHenry, I cannot even give one tenth of the Bond knowledge he had. I don't mind posting his own reviews when we look at a film - his trivia notes, too, are outstanding. The books are a whole other treasure trove, aren't they? I read them straight thru as a teenager. And for the films, every year I hoped for a Bond film! Of course I did. Diamonds Are Forever was my first one, though. I did not see Goldfinger until later, on video - I have yet to see it on the big screen! Which seems like a huge loss; I'll have to correct that in my lifetime somehow. I suppose in 6 years when I retire back in the States. ;) I'll have a whole list of Must Dos and that is one of them.
Goldfinger is just wonderfully iconic. Sure it has flaws, but it is a magnificent Bond film. Sean totally in command, and self assured in the role. Thunderball was SirHenry's favorite Connery performance, but he sure loved him in Goldfinger, too.
Feel free to discuss the flaws, though, everybody. ;)