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Comments
What's BaB? "Bond &" something?
That other site is not worth the visit, unless of course you enjoy unreasonably hating Craig or anything else about his current tenure. Not thinking you fit the bill there @Dragonpol, you seem like a reasonable chap from what I've read :)
Thank you. I hope I come across as reasonable as I think I am so in real life.
BaB is Bond and Beyond, where I also post as Dragonpol. You can visit (and please join) the site here:
http://www.bondandbeyond.forumotion.com
And no, I've never been a member of the Craig hating sites or even visited them!
I thought it might be Bond and Beyond, but I wasn't sure, so thanks for that confirmation.
I won't join though, as I would hate to balance here and there. I am a set and comfortable MI6 Community member and will go only here for any and all Bond discussions.
Yes, I post much more on here, and occasionally on there. It has sadly become very moribund of late. Something that can never be said of MI6 Community...
No, indeed. That's why I love this place!
The year is 1969 and the spy craze of the mid-60s is over. The War in Vietnam has generated an unprecedented wave of protests and draft resistance, as countless young people across the United States resist a government that seems tragically out of touch with the needs and desires of its own people. An anti-establishment tenor seems to have gripped the popular culture, with films like “Easy Rider” and record albums such as the Jefferson Airplane’s “Volunteers,” mirroring the mood of much (but by no means all) of the populace. Even the Beatles are singing about “Revolution.” It is not a particularly welcoming environment for the release of a new James Bond film featuring a new, untried actor in the title role.
“This never happened to the other fellow!”
Lots of Bond fans take issue with George Lazenby’s breaking of the fourth wall early in this film. I don’t really have a problem with it as a one-time only exception in order to address the elephant in the room (or perhaps that should be “the elephant no longer in the room”): the loss of leading man Sean Connery to the James Bond franchise. The film-makers went the extra mile and then a little further again to make this film special despite (or perhaps, because of) Connery’s absence. In many ways, they succeeded…which is why fans of the franchise often rate OHMSS in the top 10 of the series’ offerings, despite the fact that its star is not usually ranked among the better actors to portray the title character.
BOND 2.5/5 About a half-Bond. That’s all I can give George Lazenby, and I’m being generous. To be fair, he certainly looks the part, and he’s actually quite adept at the action sequences. But when he opens his mouth and tries to deliver some dialogue, Lazenby just can’t deliver the goods. Some of his best moments in this film are when he’s impersonating Sir Hillary Bray -- but that’s only because the actor cast as Sir Hillary, George Baker, is actually the one delivering those lines! When your star has to be looped to give an effective performance, you know your film has a problem! Perhaps the most obvious example of Lazenby’s absence of credibility in this regard is in the scene where Bond meets his father-in-law to be, Gabriele Ferzetti as Marc-Ange Draco. Ferzetti is subtle and expressive as he reveals Traci history and offers Bond an exceptionally generous dowry; Lazenby is bland and wooden as he turns it down. We do have to give Lazenby credit for one solid bit of acting, though: he does nail the grieving scene, after his new bride has been killed and he tells the police officer conveniently arriving a few moments too late, “We have all the time in the world!” Unfortunately for George Lazenby, the clock ran out on his tenure as Bond rather early, to no one’s fault but his own.
WOMEN 5/5 Diana Rigg, on the other hand, totally shines as Contessa Teresa (Tracy) di Vincenzo. Already enormously popular with audiences on both sides of the Atlantic thanks to her role as Emma Peel in British television’s long-running series, “The Avengers,” Miss Rigg brings significant acting skill and radiant beauty to her performance as the one and only woman ever to become Mrs. James Bond. Her appearance before an exhausted and endangered Bond at the skating rink near Piz Gloria is one of the most welcome sights in any Bond movie, very nearly on a par with Ursula Andress’ legendary emergence from the sea in Dr. No. But Miss Rigg is only one of several beautiful women who share in Bond’s attentions over the course of this movie. Blofeld’s “Angels of Death” consist of a dozen gorgeous women from around the world, including future “Avengers” starlet Joanna Lumley, sharing a Swiss chalet with 007 for a significant chunk of the movie…all a part of Blofeld’s current dastardly scheme, of course. I seriously cannot understand any review that awards OHMSS less than a full 5 points in this category!
VILLAINS 4.5/5 Telly Savalas is the strongest incarnation of Blofeld ever to be presented in the Bond series. He is cunning, ruthless, charmingly sinister, physically far more imposing than anyone else to assay the role, and overall a magnetic personality whenever he is on the screen. Ilse Steppat is equally memorable as Irma Bunt, Blofeld’s partner and the woman who pulls the fatal trigger on Tracy Bond. SPECTRE gives a good accounting for itself in this movie…but alas, once again, Blofeld orders his own men to sacrifice themselves pointlessly, sending “you three” to ski after Bond moments before impulsively deciding to cause an avalanche, killing his own employees as well as (presumably) burying Bond in a mountain of snow. Ernst, old buddy, here’s a tip: if you can take a living Contessa hostage after she has survived the avalanche you’ve caused, you really ought to realize that Bond himself might have easily ALSO survived the bloody avalanche! Your own men, on the other hand, are dead as doornails, and once again you’re responsible for killing people that you really could put to better use if you weren’t such a rotten ogre of an employer.
HUMOR 3/5 Lazenby is actually fairly funny as Sir Hillary Bray, but less so when delivering quips such as “He had a lot of guts.” This film doesn’t really concern itself much with humor, and the generally serious mood is one of its most laudable points in my estimation.
ACTION 5/5 This movie hews pretty closely to the original Fleming novel, and as such is generally held in high regard by Fleming purists. The downhill sequences (both on skis and in the toboggan run ) are exhilarating, and the assault on Piz Gloria is equally absorbing. While Fleming only rarely chose to put Bond on skis, the spectacular results achieved on snow and ice in this film led to that environment being used several more times in future Bond films. Special mention here should go to Willy Bogner for his camera work on the ski sequences and Johnny Jordan for his aerial photography. As noted earlier, Lazenby was actually quite adroit is the action scenes, so full marks in this category for all concerned.
SADISM 4/5 At first glance, OHMSS doesn’t seem to be particularly filled with sadistic moments, but upon further consideration, I think this movie deserves some detailed examination in this category: we have a SPECTRE agent skiing into a snow-clearing machine, with obviously gory results and a bad pun from Bond regarding the man’s “guts”…we have Campbell, Bond’s ally, strung up and inverted for Bond’s viewing once his masquerade as Sir Hillary Bray is exposed as a sham…and we have some very strange spiky “artwork” adorning the walls of Piz Gloria. The moment I first saw this adornment, I thought: “somebody’s going to end up impaled on that god-awful thing before the movie’s over!” Sure enough, during the assault on Piz Gloria, Tracy swings her assailant fully into those hideous metal spikes. Eww. But the real sadism of this movie is twofold: Blofeld’s plan, involving the psychedelic brainwashing and mental domination of his “Angels of Death," is sadistic enough once carefully considered; but the death of Tracy as the movie’s unexpected climax (unexpected by casual filmgoers who hadn’t read Fleming’s novel, at any rate) is a true masterpiece of sadism. Whether one chooses to credit Blofeld and Bunt, or Fleming, Broccoli and Saltzman with that level of cruelty is up to each one of us to judge for ourselves…
MUSIC 4/5 There is some very lovely music in this film, as well as some questionable choices made by the film-makers. The instrumental score for the title track is nice enough, but I for one missed being offered a vocal for that song. I understand there was some uncertainty that the actual title of the film would lend itself to a decent lyric. If true, this is a pointless objection. Many future Bond films were graced with title songs that only peripherally included the title itself, such as “All Time High” or “You Know My Name.” Additionally, this point seriously underestimates the skills a competent lyricist brings to the table. Nonetheless, we are given no lyrics to our title song; rather, we have a decent melody line marred by an early use of the synthesizer that sounds tremendously dated to modern ears…and a romantic ballad by Louis Armstrong used in the interior of the movie itself. “We Have All the Time In the World” is a touching enough song in its way, but I’m not sure that it really qualifies as a “James Bond Theme” type of song. The sound track music is quality work throughout the film…but at the very end of the film, we are fading out on a sweet, sad note as Tracy lies dying in Bond’s arms….and then BOOM! THE JAMES BOND THEME breaks in, running over the film credits, providing a jarring transition to say the least. What WERE they thinking? “Can’t have the audience leaving the theatre all depressed, oh no! We’ll give them an action-packed Bond theme to fill their minds as they leave -- THAT’ll erase any sense of depression!” Didn’t quite work that way, guys…
LOCATIONS 5/5 The locations in Portugal are wonderfully filmed, the wedding scene filled with bright, colorful flowers, and the footage of the Swiss mountains is just breathtaking. Probably the most attractively-shot Bond film to date.
GADGETS 1/5 There was a conscious decision made early on to reign in the parade of gadgets and offer a more realistically scaled Bond film here. It works for the film overall…but doesn’t really give us much of a score for this particular category. The oversized safe-cracker/photocopier doesn’t really seem necessary here, considering the Bond has a substantially smaller safe-cracking gizmo in the previous film…but I suppose Q just didn’t have time to develop a reasonably sized photocopy unit for use in the field. Or maybe Xerox’s patents are unbreakable even for Her Majesty’s Secret Service…
SUPPORTING CAST 5/5 Moneypenny and M are in top form this time out. What indeed would we ever do without Miss Moneypenny? Her bit with Bond tossing her the hat at the wedding is unquestionably Lois Maxwell’s finest moment. Q has a nice contribution as well, even if he doesn’t have any gadgets to offer Bond this time out. And Gabriele Ferzetti as Marc-Ange Draco is one of Bond’s best male allies of the entire series, ranking alongside Quarrel, Sharkey and Mathis in my estimation. Top marks to this category.
TOTAL AND RECOLLECTIONS 39/50 With a better actor in the role of Bond and a little bit of thought given to the gadgets used in this film, OHMSS could have been a shoo-in for the best picture of the franchise. As it is, the public was left with a disappointing entry, especially for those who were not fans of the Bond franchise in general. The film ended on a “down” note -- but is Lazenby to blame for that (despite his publicly abandoning the role before the film was actually released,) or were some combination of Broccoli, Saltzman, and Ian Fleming? Fleming was writing for novels, not for films -- and the needs of a Bond film are actually somewhat different than the needs of a novel. Fleming had left the literary Bond in questionable situations before, and the film-makers had chosen to ignore that aspect in their adaptations. Couldn’t they have taken a similar tack here? Peter Hunt has suggested that they could have ended OHMSS with Bond and Tracy driving away happily…then started up the next film with Blofeld & Bunt’s drive-by shooting just a few minutes later at the beginning of a very different DAF. This might have left the audience of 1969 in a more positive frame of mind…as it was, for the first time people were actively questioning whether or not there was still a need for James Bond 007 in the decade to come…
THE END of this review
But BeatlesSansEarmuffs will return VERY SOON
To review Diamond Are Forever
I’m glad that people have reacted favorably to my ‘60s timeline. Although it wasn’t intended as any sort of complete review of that tumultuous time, there were one or two items that I probably should have included to give younger Bond devotees a stronger sense of issues that have impacted the film series. The first is the Batman TV show, which ran from 1966-1968, and defined “camp” as that term is applied to popular representations of heroic fiction. The second is the issue of the health hazards of smoking. The first (fairly mild) “Surgeon General’s Warning” label appeared on packages of cigarettes sold in the USA in 1966, with subsequent revisions to strengthen that warning in 1970 and again in 1985. I don’t think the topic of Bond and smoking has been extensively examined in this forum before (although I’m sure someone will be happy to correct me if I’m wrong on this point.) A brief series-wide review of that topic may be in order: Connery’s Bond smokes cigarettes fairly habitually, as did Fleming and much of the adult population in the USA in 1962 when Dr. No first appeared. Lazenby’s Bond is perhaps even more of a dedicated cigarette smoker than Connery’s. Roger Moore’s version of the character is shown smoking cigars in a few films…but I don’t remember him ever touching a cigarette! Timothy Dalton’s Bond went back to cigarettes, and if any close-ups were filmed at that time I’d be willing to bet that those are specially-made for him with three gold bands on them. Pierce Brosnan’s Bond is not shown with a cigarette, but does smoke a cigar while in Cuba early on in DAD. Daniel Craig’s Bond has never been shown smoking, and when one considers the amount of running he does I doubt that he ever will! As I recall, one of John Gardener’s Bond continuation novels made the point that Bond has been trying to cut down his smoking habit in recent times (without complete success) and that his specially made coffin nails are now exceptionally low in tar. This seems entirely appropriate to me -- while I’m not one to preach matters of personal choice to anyone else, I think that just as a matter of professionalism, Bond should be striving to minimize the likelihood that he might have a heart attack while engaged in the sorts of strenuous physical activity that are often required in his line of work -- either amorous or combative.
I’ll probably attempt a reasonably full ‘70s timeline when we reach the half-way point in the decade. Just one point I’d like to make before we begin: the ‘70s were a very, very SILLY time, culturally at least. Disco ruled the radio and the most popular show on television, M*A*S*H, leavened its examination of serious topics with broad, character-driven humor (including Corporal Klinger, a transvestite serving at a mobile Army hospital in Korea.)
So much for the scene setting! MY DAF review will follow shortly…
There has been a topic on the old forums about Bond's smoking. Some people (Mr. Brown especially) wanted Bond to start smoking again. IIRC Moore's non-smoking was to distance himself from Connery's Bond, as with his Burbon-drinking. Pierce wanted Bond to smoke again and again, iirc Craig preferred Bond not to, as he used to smoke himself and was afraid he'd get back in the habit again if he'd have to smoke on screen.
I feel you have also identified the few, but main problems with OHMSS in Lazenby's dreadful performance and a lack of gadgets, which since we're on the topic and no one has brought it up, were very popular during the classic era except for with Sir Sean himself. I couldn't agree more that an "inspired" Connery performance would have put it over the top and made it the best in the series to date, but in the case of Lazenby I felt a few more of these could have made his presence less obtrusive.
As far as women and scoring, I could not bring myself to give the category a full 5 with Ruby Bartlett as a Bond girl. I like Angela Scoular's performance just fine for what it is, a fun-loving and quite horny character, but the way she's made to look is below Bond standards. It's a shame, because when you look at her pictures she wasn't normally this bad looking.
Well, as far as SPECTRE and Blofeld goes this was their last hurrah as far as I was concerned. We all know how horribly wrong it went going forward. SPECTRE was a fatally flawed organization and you can point out a whole lot of head scratching moments regarding their actions. Very agreed that Blofeld didn't value his minions, and when you listen to Draco mentioning how some of his men recently defected to his group, you can tell that he didn't see why they thought they'd have it any better. He seemed like a much better boss.
Finally, I would grade the music just a tad higher, but for me it doesn't quite reach the levels of Barry's work in 1967 and 1971. Although it must be mentioned that I believe that the OHMSS soundtrack was the first movie to use the synthesizer and it was part of Barry's genius in recognizing it's future value. I get the distaste in how the Bond theme blaring out in the end is as much of a mood killer as Tracy's death, but no one knows if this was his idea or not. It really doesn't have anything to do with his compositions for the film. For me, the real weakness in the soundtrack is the holiday song collaboration with Nina that drags it off of a perfect 5. It sounds hastily composed and very generic, not up to Barry's standards and certainly not a song that's going to make a commercial release of great holiday tunes.
Next up, this week's new ratings, which haven't changed significantly. Well, actually there was one change.
1. Casino Royale- 4.33
2. Goldfinger- 4.30
3. From Russia With Love- 4.26
4. Skyfall (4/7 reviews)- 4.15
5. The Living Daylights- 4.12
6. Thunderball- 4.09
7. Licence To Kill- 4.06
8. The Spy Who Loved Me- 4.05
9. On Her Majesty's Secret Service- 3.99
10. For Your Eyes Only- 3.91
11. You Only Live Twice- 3.90
12. Live And Let Die- 3.83
13. GoldenEye- 3.75
14. Octopussy- 3.73
15. Tomorrow Never Dies- 3.63
16. Dr. No- 3.57
17. Quantum Of Solace- 3.42
18. A View To A Kill- 3.28
19. The World Is Not Enough- 3.17
20. The Man With The Golden Gun- 3.13
21. Diamonds Are Forever- 3.02
22. Moonraker- 2.97
23. Die Another Day- 2.70
Below is the updated list of missing reviews-
SKYFALL- No vote from @NicNac, who is on hiatus but should be back long before @Beatles gets around to Skyfall. I am still hoping that another original will step up and provide a 7th entry for the film. PM me if you are interested.
OHMSS lost a single percentage point but remains at #9 on the list. After @Beatles YOLT review, the film wound up tied with FYEO and lost the tiebreaker vote, therefore dropping it out of the top 10 for the moment. I determine the tiebreaker by taking off the highest and lowest scores of the 7 submitted and averaging the remaining five.
That's all to report for the moment, have a great weekend everyone!
I think Moore was too old, but in hindsight the movie is better than anything after 1987.
Looking at the ratings, you won't find any support from the original fans short of the last 2 Brosnan films. Completely disagree with this. I much prefer every film that followed short of those two to a geriatric Moore who should have declined Cubby's offer to return for this.
@Samuel001- and now for an answer far more grounded in reality. The answer is not an easy one either. Personally I had grown tired of the Moore era after the 1979 release took Bond way too far from Fleming's vision, but then he came back with what I feel was his best performance in FYEO, and his popularity was obviously sorely needed in 1983 and may have saved the franchise from enduring more pathetic attempts at remakes or creating a rival series based on other Bond authors and their works.
No matter how you look at it personally, Sir Roger and his take on the character was very popular for a long time and I remember a lot of people were disappointed that he was replaced even after AVTAK proved him too old to attempt anything too strenuous. Pairing him with a woman half his age in Tanya Roberts, as it had been with Carole Bouquet, was equally just not believable. So I would say that the public had not quite tired of him in 1985 based on the feedback I was hearing, I simply didn't agree and welcomed the Dalton era and his two awesome films with very open arms. The bad ass Bond I knew was back!
By the time of MR he was in his 50's and Roger felt he was getting too old and wanted to quit after this fourth film. He finally relented and did FYEO which I agree is one of his best portrayals and one of his best films. He was more than 30 years older than his hot leading lady, Caroline Bouquet and Roger was starting to look his age by this time.
Despite his quitting after FYEO, Cubby feared that 1983 was not the time to introduce a new actor with Sean's NSNA coming out that year. Roger might have been using all this as leverage to get more $$ out of Cubby. Who knows?
He was shocked when he learned that he was older than Tanya Roberts' mother in AVTAK and despite this, TLD was written with him in mind. I find that just unbelievable.
AVTAK is also a very guilty pleasure of mine as well. It was the first Bond movie I ever saw in the theater so I suppose I will forever have a nostalgic connection with it. I'm glad that I was too young to realize that this was not Roger's finest hour! I agree with you that it does have some elements to it that work very well.
That being said though I wish Rog would have just walked away from it. Nothing positive came from this and it only hurt his legacy. I also agree with @OHMSS69 that it's crazy to think that they were still ready to push on with him in TLD. I'm not sure if Cubby was developing dementia or he just wanted to humiliate Roger? That's cruel to say but I just wish that he wouldn't have gone out on such a low note.
Speaking of first Bond movies in the theaters, I just wanted to let all of the "originals" know that I really enjoyed reading all of your stories of experiencing 007 when he was fresh and new. Thanks for a great thread.
I agree with you. They had much better chemistry together than Rog did with Tanya. Perhaps then we would have been spared all of the screaming!
Sam, I have to admit that I can't explain why Cubby wasn't looking at other actors during this period. Sir Roger doesn't get into any detail on the subject, but the obvious answer is that Cubby felt he had one more in him. @OHMSS69 mentions how TLD had been (at least partially) written with a Sir Roger return in mind, but Moore comments that the bottom line was they mutually agreed it was all over after AVTAK was successfully released and that the reports of him trying to stay on for TLD (in Cubby's posthumously released book "When the Snow Melts: The Autobiography of Cubby Broccoli") were untrue.
I would have rather had Alison Doody as Stacey myself. For me that's the best looking woman in the movie.
@CommanderRoss and @Pachazo- I absolutely agree that elements of AVTAK do work very well, enough for me that I always enjoy a repeat watch when the mood strikes me. For me, it's the outstanding cast of villains led by Chris Walken and Willoughby Gray that makes it's many weaknesses at least somewhat tolerable. And that includes Jones, believe it or not, who has some good scenes when she functions strictly as a killer. I can overlook a lot when Bond, the women, the villains, and the music are all working in harmony, but in the case of AVTAK the strength of the latter two are all that I enjoy in comparison to Octopussy, which should have been Moore's swan song. What I'd give to have had Dalton debut here! =((
Walken does a great job and I think this film was a "shot in the arm:" for his career. He was practically invisible after taking home the Oscar for "The Deer Hunter" but after AVTAK we started seeing a lot more of Christopher Walken. That insane laugh, those crazy eyes...I really loved him in 'The King of New York' that was a very good movie and I recommend it if you haven't already seen it.
Grace Jones, Willoughby Gray and the other members of Zorin's gallery of rogues is one of the high points of this film.
I have to agree that maybe a stronger actress could have played Stacey. Now Tanya Roberts is hot as they come, that face, that killer body, and those gorgeous legs but she is such an unconvincing actress.
Still I enjoy watching her. Call her my guilty pleasure...
You no doubt would love Roberts in "The Beastmaster" where she's scantily dressed. I also found her to be very hot back in the 1980's, but basically a Denise Richards type of actress when you get down to it, "all show but no go" on the screen.
I call TSWLM my guilty pleasure in the series. Not too many Bond films had that many hotties on the screen in the same movie 8-}
Now where is @Beatles with that DAF review? Sounded like he was doing it this week.
Had too much tea already. In a sparky mood.
So here is my Bond poem for today (not that you asked for one, but I feel like sharing; ha!) ~ (sung to Diamonds Are Forever, since we have been chatting about that one recently, too - if I can get the tune right, sort of, well not exactly ...)
Bond fans are forever ...
Bond films give them so much pleasure.
And through the years they may differ
And not every Bond film glitters ...
Still we know in the night
That no character is quite so right
as Bond is ,,,
Bond films are forever.
They shine on for years
And really never
Fade completely away -
Part of our life, we may say
James Bond is ...
Yes, there's Bond.
What good would others do me?
Bond is always true to me.
He's the best of the best,
Gives his all when put to the test.
He's a double-O ...
And that shows ...
James Bond is forever ...
Nobody does it better.
No matter the actor,
It really is the character
who thrills me.
James Bond is forever, forever, forever ...
Bond fans are forever, forever, forever
and ever ...
(big final drum beat)
You call TSWLM a guilty pleasure. I suppose you and I are in the minority that did not enjoy this movie. There were a lot of hotties in that one but I was never impressed with Barbara Bach. Her acting is sup par and her looks were not all that. I just didn't like her character either.
I also get sick of all the love that ski jump gets in the PTS, when you boil down to it, the guy jumps off a mountain, slow mo, opens a friggin parachute. Huh? WTF?
Now that PTS from MR (voted the worst film in the stable by Mi6 magazine) was much more impressive. More surprises, more thrills, all around the best stunt of the series.
The PTS from MR was quite good, yes I agree on that.
Of course some folks don't care for TSWLM, because we just have different opinions.
I am surprised when people really dislike it a lot, though.