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Looks like it's time for you to bust out your copy of The Wicker Man, @chrisisall. ;-)
In response to your list:
He looks amazing in it.
True. Moore does. Although I prefer his Bondian looks in TSWLM and MR. He seems more confident in the role too in those.
It has a kickarse song.
I absolutely agree. The song deserves much more credit than it usually gets.
It has Barry music.
And not just that. Given what little time Barry had to complete the score, I'd say he did a fantastic job. The score always sets the right mood. There's even a hint of tension at times.
It has bizarre within some kind of reason.
This is what I struggle with most. I don't mind 'bizarre', but in this case it feels more like problems with the script that resulted, unintentionally, in some bizarre qualities. Not sure that's a compliment; more of a happy side-effect of sorts.
It has amazing model work explosions.
True. And often overlooked because it's not your typical "big spectacle Bond".
It has Britt Ekland.
"Fair maid, white and red,
Comb you smooth and stroke your head"
Yes, Britt was cute in the film. However, I don't think she was used as anything more than a tight-bikini model. It saddens me that the character of Goodnight was given so little to do, considering how sweet and practically 'maternal' she came off in the book. Now, I'm not suggesting that Moore's Bond needed a mother figure looking after him. Still, after her promising introduction in the film, the cinematic Goodnight has nothing to contribute anymore. The film doesn't take her seriously, exemplified most awkwardly by pushing her in the closest while Bond (presumably) makes love to Andrea. Bond, furthermore, has her tag along but hardly notices her. Her presence on Scaramanga's island almost doesn't affect him. She's his pastime between more important moments. I'm not drawing the feminist card; just give the poor girl something to do. I have confidence that Britt could have pulled it off. Now, she's mostly dead weight in the film. Sexy dead weight. But dead weight nevertheless.
It has Christopher Lee.
Yes, but as with Walken, I regret that the role didn't fully deserve the actor's talents. The film version of Scaramanga lets me down. The character needed more oomph. He works for me as the mirror image of Bond, but some of the maniacal qualities that Fleming dealt him weren't coming through. It makes sense that you have Lee play a villain. I'm just not convinced this was the perfect match.
It does not have disco music.
It does not have a Tarzan Yell.
It does not take place in space.
It does not feature a villain's death as a balloon popping.
Well, neither do most other Bond films.
It is not a retread of Goldfinger or YOLT.
Fair enough. But neither are LALD, FYEO and OP, and those films work far better than TMWTGG for me.
Overall, it's a film I enjoy -- then again, I enjoy all Bonds -- but it should have gone through more rewrites still. The solar technology plot fails to blend in with the rest of the story, in my opinion. Some of the clownish stuff is just too much. Some things just 'happen'; there's no obvious reason why. It was a good start, but another year of production could have done this film many favours.
I love that little exchange between M and Bond.
M "Nobody knows where he is or what he looks like. So I think it's fair to assume he has the edge on you. Don't you agree? That's all double-o-7"
Bond walks away and turns back.
Bond "If I found him first sir that might change the situation."
M "Dramatically, wouldn't you say?" M smiles, Bond smiles.
M "Good day Bond." M returns to his paperwork, Bond smiles and leaves the office.
I love how Lee and Moore play it. God I hope the new fella and the M can return to this type of reporting relationship. More like what Fleming wrote.
I guess I love the off-the-cuff/ imperfect feeling the film gives me... LALD was just too slick, and TSWLM was just too big (and it had Jaws, phuyuck!).
Also, I've never seen The Wicker Man! Based upon your liking of it I just ordered a Blu ray of it- the final cut. Thanks!
@chrisisall
Please share your thoughts on The Wicker Man afterwards. I do hope you find Willow's Song, and Britt's nocturnal dance, as haunting as I do. (And don't mind the Cage remake, unless you enjoy Nic Cage in everything.)
Re TSWLM being too big: the film is big, yes, but too big? I'm happy that we can "shop" for all kinds of Bonds, depending on our mood. Some days I like suspense thrillers such as FRWL, other days I prefer a more fantasy driven OTT Bond like TSWLM or MR. 😉
OTT that I like means DAD to me.
I'm not sure what you're referring to; is this something I said recently?
Do you think it's a good idea? I don't think it has anything to do with anything else; it's just a random Macguffin, and worse: actually makes Bond and MI6 into the bad guys, weirdly. I think a decent MacGuffin should at least play into the themes the film is leaning into, but this film has such a great central hook of 'the world's greatest assassin' that I don't think it even needs a Macguffin.
The weird thing is, the Solex plot even has a chance to pay off in Scaramanga's big laser gun, which could have been the whole reason for him wanting the Solex (he wants to assassinate Air Force One in mid air or the moon with it or something) but they throw it away with absolutely no purpose- it's a bit maddening!
It had potential, is all I’m saying. I guess a racist sheriff is more important in TMWTGG than using other possible greatness, in a creative sense. It also proves that contrary to his ego, even Richard Maibaum could take creative mistakes. He probably blamed someone else for it’s failure as a plot point.
Also, the plot twist with Andrea sending the golden bullet is a clever one.
This is what I was referring to when you said you thought he went alone in OHMSS.
To my mind this is the first but I can see how OHMSS might have some of the going alone angle. I think it was played up more in TMWTGG.
Yeah i really like that bit of the story; the first portion leading up to Gibson being shot is really nice.
Aha, got you. Well Bond tries to quit and is saved by Moneypenny and uses his leaves time to investigate Blofeld’s whereabouts with Draco’s help rather than MI6’s. You’re right about the ending too.
Well , LALD doesn't have a real plot. Solex thing at least is something.
Not sure if that’s the best way of describing story vs plot or if that’s actually the issue with the film, but it’s the sense I get. LALD at least knows what it’s about.
I actually don’t know how the Solex came about for this film. I guess it was relevant at the time, but I’m not sure if it was a thing that the producers wanted in there, or if there was a bit of a clash between Maibaum and Mankiewicz’s ideas that was never fully ironed out in final drafts. It feels like it’s a film of two different ideas though, and ultimately both are being diluted in order for one to accommodate the other.
EDIT: just had a quick look at the wiki article for this film. Apparently Mankiewicz’s initial drafts were more about the Scaramanga vs Bond angle but he clashed with Hamilton and Maibaum was brought in. The rivalry/Bond’s equal idea was seemingly watered down. I guess as an alternative they used the Energy Crisis/Solex. So basically the opposite way round to my theory, haha.
It does point to this being a film of two concepts that never quite work together. Shame as on their own both could be developed into cool Bond movies. They just don’t commit fully to either.
As the saying goes, "there is a good film in there." I think with some more time to polish things they would have had a better overall film.
With these early 70's films we started to see that everyone knew who Bond was and he had this huge rep following him around. This seems to start with DAF and would continue through out Moore's run. Roger said that is what made some of this world so ridiculous that a spy would be that well known and he leaned into that when playing the character.
Compared to FRWL and GF where it is alluded that even getting his double-o-7 required "sweating" agents, or opposite numbers in different organizations providing information. DAF we have a small time smuggler knowing who James Bond is and the producers seemed to give up on the spy angle of the character. We now had a popular agent known by many.
It’s something I’d love to see explored in a future Bond film. I think it would have more impact today.
Yes that's a cool idea, it would have been interesting to see that played up more or mentioned that it's something making the mission harder for Bond. I guess it doesn't seem that remarkable in one of Roger's films as he seems to be recognised everywhere he goes in most of his films.