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This may be another reason I hated MR so much when I saw it in 1979. I had read the novel a few years before the film came out. Not only did I enjoy the book, I remember thinking what a great movie it would make. Then along came the "adaptation" with barely anything used from the text other than the name Hugo Drax!
The term was very dated in 1981 so it didn't resonate with those that weren't of Cubby's vintage or associations. Cubby did have some shady Hollywood connections. He was familiar with such lingo.
I only know this because I looked it up a lot time ago, and its come up in other Bond thread discussions before. At the time, the expression went right over my head.
As for the theses.
1. I'm good with the way Gogol chose not to gun down Bond, just to get his hands on the ATAC. As @willy pointed, its consistent with Gogol'sdepartment's not wanting to get directly involved. This was the Gogol way. But he was happy to have Kristatos serve it up to him, but alas Mr. K was not up the task, foiled by Bond.
2. I do believe we are meant to believe that Blofeld was now dead after being dropped down the smokestack. A guy in a wheechair does not survive that fall, just as Zorin, two films later, doesn't survive his drop into the San Francisco bay.
Mind you, Smokestack Blofeld could have been a double. ;) so he still could have been brought back, but for the time being, I think Cubby wanted to stick it to McClory.
The ending of DAF regarding Blofeld was ambiguous by design, in case Eon wanted to bring him back.
But by FYEO, with NSNA on the horizon, Eon was done with Blofeld, basically because McClory was being in a pain in the backside.
Personally I didn't like this scene. Cubby I think put his disdain for McClory ahead of the franchise. This was an ignominious way for the best Bond villain of them all to go.
Nothing needed to be done here. They could have just continued to ignore Blofeld as they had managed to do for the last 4 films.
3. The Bibi character was a waste of space IMO. I could have quite done without her. But this was the Rog era. There was always something in each of his films that grated.
1) Yes, I took this as Gogol having developed a respect for Bond since the events of TSWLM. Perhaps he gave Bond a free pass (this time) for saving Anya's life and stopping WWIII. He's been in the game long enough to know how these things work. He wanted the ATAC but not enough to kill Bond for it and make the Cold War escalate into a real war. Although his "no direct involvement" line seems a little contradictory when he goes to pick up the ATAC himself.
2) I will begrudgingly agree that I found Blofeld's death to be satisfying and conclusive. At least it provided closure on the matter as it was extremely unsatisfying to leave his fate open ended at the conclusion of DAF. Dropping him down the giant chimney was stupid though.
3) No, Bibi was not necessary to the narrative but I don't think that she makes the film worse as some people do. The story definitely could have have been told without her though.
Blofeld never really became the great cinematic villain he should have been. His ever changing face and build coupled with the way he went from cold Europian megalamaniac to charming American gangster to cross dressing British fop was simply off-putting. I never cared about Blofeld, he was never truly Bond's arch-nemisis, simply a villain who kept getting away.
Dropping him down a chimney was maybe a metaphor for how Fleming's great creation was treated on film.
Bibi - let's give her some love. FYEO may have edged towards serious -cough - Bond film making but it was still a film crafted in the manner of TSWLM and especially MR where the action sequences were devised and the plot was fitted around them.
Ski chase - tick
Car chase - tick
Underwater sequence - tick
The Bibi scenes at least offered an extra dimension and showed that the writers were thinking at least a little beyond how they could squeeze a fight on an ice skating rink into the plot.
The character gave Kristatos a decent cover and his need for her to become a champion exposed a little of his obvious psychotic personality.
And the humour from the character wasn't out of place. The Bibi scenes avoided the daft sight gags that infected Moonraker, and gave us a couple of awkward scenes that a middle aged man may find himself in, but there was nothing wrong with that. The icecream gag and Bibi's 'virgin' comment were perfectly decent and amusing.
If anyone wants to rant and rave why not start on the Thatcher gag added to the end.
Thank you so much for furnishing that link for me, @BeatlesSansEarMuffs. I believe I have heard of that programme before, but it seems I missed its broadcast. I will look forward to seeing it now. Thanks again.
^:)^
Cubby should know.
I add my ^:)^ to that also. Never understood that reference till now. Thank you sir.
That line has been hauting me for my entire life, I could never get a reasonable, logical explanation for it until now. @timmer receive my most heart-felt thank you =D>
I feel a bit like Doktor Kaufman at the moment.
1. This was the first Bond film to be based on one of Ian Fleming's short stories (instead of one of his novels). Interestingly, there are several scenes in this film lifted from other Fleming tales. Examples: The assault on the smugglers' boat and warehouse is lifted intact from a short story entitled "Risico", and the sequence featuring Bond and Melina being dragged through the coral is actually lifted from the climax from the book, "Live and Let Die". The Identigraph appeared in slightly different form in the book, "Goldfinger".
2. The title song is the first in the Bond series in which we see the person who is singing, in this case Sheena Easton. The song was a Top 10 hit in both the UK charts (#8) and US charts (#4, 25 July 1981). It received an Academy Award nomination for Best Song, and was featured in a song and dance number at the Oscars on 29 March 1982. It featured dancers dressed as villains and henchman such as Dr. No and Ernst Stavro Blofeld as well as the real Harold Sakata and real Richard Kiel reprising their roles as Oddjob and Jaws respectively. A dancer played James Bond and at the end of the sequence he took off in a rocket with Sheena Easton who had been singing the title song live. This was just one of a medley of five song and dance numbers for each Best Song nominee on the night and it also acted as a preamble to the presentation by Roger Moore of the Irving Thalberg Honorary Award to 'Albert R Broccoli' in honour of the James Bond movie series. Starting with this film and the rise of the MTV Generation, all Bond films have had music video tie-ins.
3. The voice of the man in the wheelchair (unofficially Ernst Stavro Blofeld) in one of the movie's trailers is different to the voice of the character in the actual movie.
4. Carole Bouquet had previously visited the set of Moonraker as the actress is French and interiors and some exteriors of that movie were filmed in Paris, France. She was remembered when it came to casting this movie. Two actors in the movie had previously appeared in the James Bond spoof Casino Royale. John Hollis (Ernst Stavro Blofeld) played a monk whilst John Wells (Denis Thatcher) was Q's assistant Fordise.
5. The name of the underwater apparatus that confronts James Bond with a man inside whilst they were in the Neptune submarine is called a JIM Suit, named after its creator Jim Jarratt.
6. "For Your Eyes Only" was the first collection of Ian Fleming James Bond short stories and was first published on 11 April 1960. The collection was subtitled "Five Secret Occasions in the life of James Bond" and was the eighth James Bond book. It included the short stories "The Hildebrand Rarity", "Quantum of Solace", "From A View To A Kill", "Risico" and "For Your Eyes Only". These stories were originally conceived in the 1950s as scripts for a never-produced James Bond TV series. The last two of these provided material for the film along with some story elements from the novels "Goldfinger" and "Live And Let Die". Fleming's working title for the "For Your Eyes Only" story was "Man's Work" whilst its title when it was written as a TV episode for CBS was "Rough Justice" then as "Death Leaves an Echo".
7. When shooting the still for the movie's main poster, photographer Morgan Kane allegedly asked his model to put the bathers on backwards as they hung too low over her legs. After the poster had been released, some newspaper editors felt that there was too much buttock shown in the poster. To show less skin, the bathers were extended or shorts were added to the hips in the posters. The original poster caused outrage amongst various groups, causing Saskatchewan, Canada, to rate the film "Special X", despite being rated PG or equivalent virtually everywhere else. That rating was later lowered. Apparently the model's identity was not known for some time. More than one model alleged they were the owners of the legs but it was finally revealed they belonged to then 22 year old New York model Joyce Bartle.
8. The literal translations of some of this film's foreign language titles include Only For Your Eyes (France, Italy, Spain); On A Deadly Mission (Germany); Agent 007: Strict Confidence (Denmark); From A Lethal Viewpoint (Sweden); Top Secret (Finland); 007 For Your Eyes Only (Brazil); Only [strictly] For Your Eyes (Norway) and 007 Only For Your Eyes (Portugal)
9. The character of the father of Melina Havelock (Carole Bouquet), Sir Timothy Havelock played by Jack Hedley, was inspired by oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau. He was once personally acquainted with James Bond creator Ian Fleming.
10. Last EON Productions James Bond movie solely released by United Artists. They would merge with MGM before the release of the next Bond film, Octopussy.
11. World wide public interest in the 1980 Lake Placid USA Winter Olympics was the inspiration for the production to use a Winter Olympics location and to include story action within its associated sports. The film used the Italian Alps location of Cortina D'Ampezzo which had hosted the 1956 Winter Olympics. As such, there are sequences set at Cortina D'Ampezzo's Winter Olympic venues. Winter sports featured in the film include the biathlon, ski jump, ice hockey, downhill skiing, ice skating, cross-country skiing and bobsled toboggan run. Cast member Lynn-Holly Johnson (now Givens) was a professional ice skater, noticed by Albert R. Broccoli for her turn at acting in Ice Castles. Her character in the film was an aspiring Winter Olympic medalist funded by Aristotle Kristatos.
12. This was the first James Bond script to be written by regular James Bond writing duo team Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson. This writing partnership would continue until Licence to Kill. It was also the first James Bond movie directed by John Glen whose first Bond movie he worked on was On Her Majesty's Secret Service as second unit director.
13. Director John Glen estimated that every foot of film shot during the attempted drowning of Melina and Bond by Kristatos cost about £ 2,700 UK pounds.
14. The name of the Jamaican Bond girl Judy Havelock in the "For Your Eyes Only" short story was changed to Greek Bond girl Melina Havelock in the film. The Cuban Major Hector Gonzales also comes from this short story. The Lisl Baum character from the "Risico" short story also had a name change to Contessa (Countess) Lisl Von Schlaf for the movie. The Aristotle Kristatos and Columbo ("The Dove") character names also come from "Risico," but Henrico Colombo was an Italian in the book - the movie changed him to Milos Columbo, a Greek.
15. Product placements, brand integrations and promotional tie-ins for this movie include Olin Skis; Bogner Ski Suits; Seiko Time (U.K.) including the Seiko H357 Duo Display & Seiko 7549-7009 watches; Diner's Club; Philips Industries; Garmont Boots; Mitsui Yamaha UK Motorbikes; Tyrolia Ski Bindings; Visa Card; Lotus Cars, S.A.; Automobile Citroën; American Express; Kelloggs; Interflora Florists; Scubapro Diving Equipment; Jewel Water Buggies; Osel Mantis one-man submersibles; Perry Oceanographic submarines; and Normalair-Garrett (NGL) Deep Dive 55 sea diving helmets, wet-suits and breathing equipment including the Deep-Dive 500 lift support system.
16. It was an early intention of the production to put James Bond in a scene with Greece's classic architectural building, the Parthenon. Old world architecture had previously been a backdrop for Bond in From Russia with Love (Istanbul and The Basilica Cistern) and The Spy Who Loved Me (Cairo and The Pyramids). But in this case permission was refused to film at The Parthenon.
17. Topol suggested to producer Albert R. Broccoli that he invite former co-producer Harry Saltzman to the Premiere and he did, marking the first reunion between the two men since their break up after The Man with the Golden Gun.
18. Topol was injured when he was hit by flying debris during the dockside action sequence.
19. Regular James Bond film production designer Ken Adam did not work on the movie because he had gone to work in Hollywood on Herbert Ross's musical, Pennies from Heaven.
20. A line of dialogue had to be cut from the opening helicopter sequence due to legal reasons involving Kevin McClory. The bald man could not be called Blofeld as Kevin McClory had won a court case some years previous and owned the rights to the use of SPECTRE and Blofeld. Disposing of Blofeld so early was producer Albert R. Broccoli's way of telling McClory that the success of 007 did not depend on him. McClory later released a rival Bond movie, Never Say Never Again, featuring the Blofeld character. Blofeld has not appeared in EON productions since this movie.
21. Stuntman Paolo Rigoni died during the filming of the bobsled chase.
22. To enter the identigraph booth, Q enters a five digit code. Those five digits were the first five notes to the chorus of "Nobody Does It Better", the theme to a previous Bond film, The Spy Who Loved Me. James Bond responds by entering the final two notes. See also Moonraker.
23. One of the Bond girls was played by Caroline Cossey, stage name Tula, who was later revealed to be a male to female transsexual. She appears as one of the poolside girls, in a white bikini.
24. The assassination of Melina Havelock's parents was first intended as part of the pre-credits sequence. The reaction shot of the murder was intended to cut to a close-up on her face whereby the look of anger and revenge in her eyes would then segue into the main titles.
25. In earlier drafts of the script, the chase sequence in the snow had James Bond pursued by bad guys in snowmobiles rather than on motorcycles.
26. For a time it was believed that Roger Moore would not be returning to the role of James Bond. A round of screen tests for a new James Bond were held and James Brolin, Lambert Wilson and Timothy Dalton were considered. Maryam d'Abo, who would become the Bond Girl Kara Milovy in the later film The Living Daylights, played Tatiana Romanova in the screen tests.
27. Director John Glen has indicated that for a time it was considered bringing back the Jaws character for a third time but eventually the idea was rejected as it was believed that he did not fit the tone of this film.
28. In the opening sequence, James Bond visits his deceased wife's grave at Stoke Poges Church, adjacent to Gert Fröbe's golf course from Goldfinger. The scene was written when Roger Moore was considering retirement from the series, to provide story continuity between different Bond actors. Ironically, the teaser scene has absolutely nothing to do with the plot of the movie that follows, leaving it more connected to earlier Bond films than to the one it opens.
29. The stunt double for Cassandra Harris (Lisl) was injured when hit by the dune buggy in the beach scene.
30. First credited appearance of MI6 Chief of Staff Bill Tanner, played here by James Villiers. The character had previously appeared (played by an uncredited Michael Goodliffe) in The Man with the Golden Gun. The character would be resurrected as a regular in the Brosnan Bond films, played by Michael Kitchen in GoldenEye and The World Is Not Enough, and in the Craig Bond films, played by Rory Kinnear in Quantum of Solace and Skyfall.
31. Steven Spielberg was very much interested in directing a James Bond film and did have talks with Albert R. Broccoli to direct this film, but Broccoli told him he only wanted British directors to helm the Bond series. Shortly afterwards George Lucas offered Spielberg an iconic hero of his own in the form of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
32. Deborah Harry (Blondie) recorded a theme song for this film, which was rejected by the producers. It appears on the 1982 album "The Hunter." Surprisingly, Sheena Easton and Deborah Harry both appeared together in Body Bags
33. Was originally planned for production and release in 1979 as the follow-up to The Spy Who Loved Me. It was even announced as such in the closing credits of the earlier film. However, it was decided to make Moonraker instead, which delayed production of For Your Eyes Only for several years. Following the release of Moonraker, some newspapers erroneously announced that the next James Bond film would be called "The Sea Wolves". Roger Moore did make a film entitled The Sea Wolves, but it was not a Bond movie.
34. Begging Bond to spare his life, Ernst Blofeld baffles viewers with the cryptic line "I'll buy you a delicatessen, in stainless steel!" It is reported that the phrase is attributable to Albert R. Broccoli, who recalled accounts of 1930s New York mafia gangsters offering full-service delis as a bribe to cohorts, complete with stainless steel countertops.
35. The following actors are dubbed by Robert Rietty: John Hollis, John Moreno, and John Wyman. Some bit-part players are dubbed by Rietty as well.
36. The film saved United Artists from financial ruin. At the time of the film's release, the studio was still reeling from Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate, a notorious $40,000,000 bomb that was about to force UA to file bankruptcy. When this film took in a worldwide gross of $194,900,000, the studio was saved and afterwards turned its focus toward blockbusters and less on personal films.
37. Charles Dance's first screen movie role was as the thug Claus in this film. Incidentally, he would later go on to play James Bond author Ian Fleming in Goldeneye.
38. Hockey jerseys in the rink brawl scenes are exact replicas of the "Montreal Canadiens" from NHL, as well as the USA and Swedish National Team Jerseys at the time, minus the logos.
39. The helicopter sequence in the pre-credits sequence involves Beckton Gas Works, which Stanley Kubrick converted to Vietnam in 1987 for Full Metal Jacket.
40. The exploding Lotus at the start of the film was a tacit acknowledgment that Bond would not be relying on fancy gadgets in this film as he had done in the last few entries in the series.
41. After viewing Flash Gordon, the producers at one time wanted to cast not just Topol (Zarkov) in this film, but also Timothy Dalton (Prince Barin) as Bond and Ornella Muti (Princess Aura) as Melina, even writing the part specifically for her.
42. Greece is the major setting for this movie but it wasn't for any of the "For Your Eyes Only" short stories. It was however the key setting in the Kingsley Amis James Bond novel "Colonel Sun".
43. According to the movie's CD soundtrack sleeve notes, Composer John Barry could not compose the score for this movie as he allegedly could not return to the UK for taxation purposes.
44. The story involving the sinking of the ship the St. Georges off the Albanian coast was inspired by an international incident on 11 April 1968 when a Soviet submarine was blown up and sank in the Pacific Ocean. Seventy personnel died and the US Navy located the wreck using the nautical Glomar Explorer, a mission funded by Howard Hughes, whom the Willard Whyte character in Diamonds Are Forever was based on.
45. Vehicles featured included two Lotus Esprit Turbo 2.2 sportscars, one white and one copper metallic to contrast against the white snow after the other is blown up; a yellow Citroën 2CV fitted out with a Citroën GS 4-cylinder boxer engine for a drive in the country to escape two black Peugeot 504 sedans; black Yamaha XJ 500 and Yamaha 500 XT motorcycles; Hector Gonzales's black, yellow & white Cessna U206G Stationair Amphibian seaplane; a remote-control Universal Exports red & white Mi6 Augusta / Bell 206B Jet Ranger helicopter; Aris Kristatos' black Everflex top white Rolls Royce Silver Shadow / Silver Wraith II car; a white two-person Neptune lock-out submersible exploratory mini-submarine; a PZL-3A / PZL Mi-2 / Polish Mil Mi-2 standard Soviet light helicopter; Colombo's yacht SS Colombina; the archaeological research vessel Triana; a black and yellow one-person atmospheric submersible Osel Mantis mini-submarine; the fishing trawler electronic surveillance spy ship HMS St. Georges containing one ATAC device; Emile Locque's black Mercedes Benz 280SE; a black GP Beach Buggy; and Aris Kristatos' motor yacht the Santa Mavra.
46. Third consecutive James Bond movie which excerpts famous theme music from another movie. The Spy Who Loved Me excerpted the theme from Lawrence of Arabia while Moonraker excerpted the theme from The Magnificent Seven whilst this movie excerpted the theme from Jaws.
47. The first line of the Ian Fleming James Bond short-story "For Your Eyes Only" read: "The most beautiful bird in Jamaica, and some say the most beautiful bird in the world, is the streamer-tail or doctor humming-bird." The last line read: "She fell in behind and followed him, and as she walked she pulled the tired bits of golden-rod out of her hair and undid a ribbon and let the pale gold hair fall down to her shoulders."
48. When Bibi flirts with Bond (Roger Moore), she states that Aristotle Kristatos (Julian Glover) is much older than Bond, and while Bibi pursues Bond, she later tells Kristatos that Kristatos is "too old for her". The Kristatos character is also a 1939-1945 War veteran. In fact, Glover was born in 1935 and is eight years younger than Moore.
49. This movie is one of a handful of action-thriller films made within a five year time-span around the time of the mid to late 1970s that used a mountaintop monastery in Greece. The pictures include Sky Riders, Escape to Athena and For Your Eyes Only.
50. Peter R. Hunt, who directed On Her Majesty's Secret Service, was approached to direct this movie, but was occupied with making Death Hunt, a film with a similar setting.
51. The previous Bond film, Moonraker, was a huge financial success but fans and critics complained that the series had become too focused on wild gadgets, outlandish plots, over-the-top villains and screwball comedy. As a result, producers decided to return to a more realistic storyline in 'For Your Eyes Only', using previous Bond films From Russia with Love and On Her Majesty's Secret Service as models. Therefore, this film contains many story elements similar to those films; the ATAC is similar to the Lektor, Kriegler is similar to Grant, Columbo is similar to Kerim Bey and the winter sports sequences are similar to those in On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
52. The only film in which Bond drinks the traditional Greek apéritif ouzo.
53. The Operation Undertow file handed to 007 by Tanner is dated 11/80.
54. The name Melina was something of an homage to Honey Ryder, the Bond Girl from Dr. No, the first movie in the series. Melina is the Greek word for Honey.
55. Although an accomplished cross-country skier, Moore wasn't insured to do any downhill skiing. Willy Bogner handled all the skiing for him. Any closeups with Moore were done with him strapped to a sled pulled downhill, while Bognor skied backwards while looking into the camera. Moore tried to learn downhill skiing in Gstaad. His children had school afternoons there and were embarrassed that he kept falling over. But he eventually became quite reasonable at it.
56. Roger Moore's vertigo made the rock-face climax especially hard to do. Moore has said that he took a small amount of Valium and drank a glass of tall beer before some of the scary climbing sequences which helped him through the close-up shots. Stunt-man Rick Sylvester performed most of the work. Moore only had to dangle over a 4 foot drop, while Sylvester dangled over a 20 feet drop.
57. Carole Bouquet was dubbed. However, she dubbed herself in the French version.
58. The third consecutive Bond film where Bond's mission takes him to Italy. Bond wouldn't return there for another 25 years until Casino Royale.
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59. In the movie, James Bond rejects Bibi's (played by Lynn-Holly Johnson) advances, presumably due to her being too young for him. Bond does has a relationship with Melina (played by Carole Bouquet). Melina is presumably much older than Bibi in the movie. In reality, the two actresses are only a year apart in age.
60. Cameo
Michael G. Wilson: a Greek priest at a village wedding in Corfu.
61. Robbin Young: The Winner of the "Be a James Bond Girl" Competition as Girl in Flowershop. Playboy Magazine, which had had a long association with James Bond, ran a competition in their magazine for a reader to become a Bond Girl in 1980. The prize was a cameo in this movie and a photo-spread in the magazine. Young appeared in the flower shop scene when motorbikes crash into the florist's front window. Playboy published some of the James Bond short stories by Ian Fleming including "The Hildebrand Rarity" in 1960 whilst the James Bond character was seen reading a copy of the magazine in On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Bond has a Playboy Club membership card in Diamonds Are Forever.
62. Roger Moore hated the end scene with Margaret Thatcher. He felt it didn't suit the seriousness of the rest of the film. He also didn't like getting a clue about the ATAC from a parrot. Moore thought that the type of silliness he usually got accused of.
http://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/movies/fyeo_trivia.php3?t=fyeo&s=fyeo
It looks like it's from the same source! I just edited out the more obvious references.
So much for that idea going forward.
May I be permitted to add my heartfelt praise to you on this explanation, @timmer! Finally it makes sense. Perhaps Blofeld heard the term used by the gangsters in DAF?
Anyway, this was the first movie in which Moore is starting to look older than the villains, and too old for the gals. Perhaps because it was written with a younger actor in mind, with Moore holding out for high pay. So that nobbles the romance of the story -we can't really believe that Moore has good intentions for Havelock, it seems less romantic than it should, he just wants to get in her knickers. It also hurts the realism a bit, as Moore is obviously too old for those ski scenes with a lithe young sportman in his 20s doing the stunts. Factor in some broad dialogue and a workmanlike director and for me it's not a classic, it's all a bit Saga cruise. Any serious scene gets dumped on with a silly joke - see the pts, which builds up very promisingly, then tosses it all away.
For me, FYEO is one of my fav Bond films. So let's see; I basically disagree with everything you said, even though you said it all so charmingly. And lucky you to know the phrase that has been a question mark for so many of us.
AVTAK seems to be the complete opposite when he's all over the blonde in the iceberg sub five minutes into the movie.
Melina was grieving. She had a close bond with her parents who she saw gunned down in front of her eyes. The last thing on her mind is romance.She is very fragile. She even cracks up at those gardens on Corfu. Rogs' attitude is protection therefore his age is acknowledged. His persona is fatherly thejn lecherous.
And the last scene? Her parents murderers are dead. She can relax and express gratitude.
A bloke in his 50s probably should not be trying it on with a woman in her 20s anyroads, at least Bibi was up for it, frankly what's the difference in the age gap? Not too much. An actor in his 30s would have allowed for romantic possibilities, even though we know Bond always moves on.
As for the stainless steel line, maybe you should knock about on other forums once in a while.
4EverBonded - you actually think it's plausible that old man Moore can do those ski stunts?
But we have just explained to you the relationship between Bond and Melina wasn't about romance - at least not until the last scene which I always thought was shoehorned. She had other things on her mind.
Well, I think it came up in Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, a book which came out in the years before GE and was later reissued. It's been around since, though I can't place where. Guess it wasn't worth a thread.
Yes, Melina had other stuff on her mind, Bond didn't necessarily. Anyway, just saying that with Moore's traditional approach to sex/romance, a new actor might have conveyed the romance of the situation a bit better, mind you they tried that with Dalton in TLD and imo that didn't quite work either, but Dalton seemed a bit stiff to me.
Maibaum said that the whole point was that Bond can't get to first base with this woman cos she's obsessed with revenge.
Thanks for the clarification Sandy! I don't doubt that at all.
The points about Melina vs Bibi and Bond's handling of one versus the other as far as for sexual purposes were something I thought about releasing as a 4th thesis question for the film. The difference is in how their roles were presented. Melina was portrayed as a mature woman, and Bibi as a teenager. And they both pulled it off very well. Real time rewind- the actresses themselves were only a year apart in actual age.
In my opinion, and believe me when I say that I wouldn't have traded Carole for anyone else in this role because she was just so right for it, between this movie and AVTAK it always appeared to me that Moore was a bit too old for his leading ladies. I thought Maud Adams was much more believable and age appropriate. But that isn't exactly a complaint- despite my children's opinions on the subject, if at the age of 51 a nice looking woman in her early-mid 30's wanted me, I'd be on it pronto :))
After seeing her recent Kay's Jeweler commercials, that's a big, hot damn, yes! Jane looks wonderful and has aged so gracefully. She was always beautiful. Gong Li is 46-47 if you can believe that and she is stunning. But if I could still have Berenice Marlohe or Jamie Chung, well, my kids can call me a old perv all they want ;)
Here's their rules of prospective girlfriends for Dad-
40+- that's okay
30-39- questionable as the age decreases
under 30- see above old perv status.