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The Kentucky sequence was borderline of becoming boring, and the highlight of that particular part was thinking about finding a recipe for a Mint Julep! Pussy Galore is still one of my favourite Bond girls, and Connery is Connery at his best, but compared to TB, which I watched last weekend, GF was only OK this time around. DAF is up next. Hope to see it sometime this weekend.
Also, I was not joking about that Mint Julep. If anyone has a good recipe to share, please do. Looks like a good summer drink. :-)
Edit: Noticed a little detail in GF as well: The clock hanging on the door in the plane when Bond places the tracking device in the compartment in the heel of his shoe, is identical to the clock hanging on the wall in one of the Shrublands health clinic scenes.
The Kentucky scenes do drag, especially the scene of the car getting crushed (I wish that had happened off camera), but there is always another great scene not far away. I think it has one of the strongest last 20 minutes of almost any Bond film.
So good!
I think Bond not being in the action makes it feel inconsequential to me at times, which is strange since a bomb is supposed to be going off. Hamilton repeats this in Diamonds, where Bond is largely isolated from all the interesting things going on.
You are very right, @0BradyM0Bondfanatic7. In Kentucky, Bond let things go their way, and isn't really presented with a lot of trouble. He easily manage to do enough to interfere with Goldfinger's plans. Within Fort Knox things get interesting of course.
One thing I wish was added for the finale was having Linder's Felix doing some shooting in the big fight. Bond was trapped and couldn't do anything to help, but Felix picking up a weapon and shooting his way to the vault to help his friend would've been a great visual because we know there's a race against time. In the 60s (and most elsewhere) it's like EON wanted to give him the least amount of anything to do, amounting to barely a purpose to him as an actual character. He doesn't go to Crab Key, doesn't dive and fight with Bond in Nassau, etc. GF was the perfect time to credibly get him in the action, since he was already there. Linder is also probably my favorite Felix of the era, so that's part of why I wanted more for him too.
Rare to see. I agree.
Lord is probably the best looking Leiter, as I enjoyed how they cast him to be Bond's sort of American doppelganger, but I prefer Linder strictly for how he and Sean got on. Linder is the only actor who shared the screen with Sean that made me think they'd actually be friends, while all the others had chemistry with the actor that was hallow or weak. Burton did alright too, but he also suffers from minor use in some respects; I do like how worn out Felix is with his government job, as you feel the weight of the work on him in the detective noir style that Diamonds plays from.
One of the biggest issues with the 60s films is definitely the inability on EON's part to wrestle down a consistent actor for Leiter. What makes it all the worse is not only that the actors changed for literally every movie, but also because Leiter went from the slim and young Lord to the pudgy and grey Linder to the slim and old (and greyer) Nutter and then all the way back to brown haired and pudgy with Burton. Because we never attached a definitive face to Leiter it becomes impossible to care about him in any meaningful way, or to view him as an important character because he never gets a chance to grow into a role of that salience. He's just a face we know that's going to change for the next film, and adds little else as a character beyond an exposition spewer or someone who drives or flies Bond places. Pretty insulting when you consider how great and full of life the Felix of Fleming's books is.
One thing about modern filmmaking that's great is that EON would never be able to get away with the bad execution they had in the 60s, because audiences just wouldn't buy the changing faces of the same character over and over. EON would know they'd have to settle on one guy and stick to it, otherwise what's the point. I hope Wright gets a third shot next to Craig, because outside of Hedison we've not got many definitive or interesting Leiter performances.
The changing look of Leiter from film to film is a problem. I try not to think about it, but it does affect the film experience in a (minor) way. Funny you should mention the young look of Lord. He was actually the oldest of the Leiter's. One year older than Linder, who looked much older in the part, and nine (!) years older than Nutter. Shows how much a little colour in the hair does, hahah!
Also agree on Burton's Leiter. He did quite well in DAF, and suits the movie just fine.
@Torgeirtrap, I think Linder's actually has the most to do out of the 60s Leiters when you really get down to it. He's in the opening, the film cuts away many times in Kentucky to show what he and his partner are doing, and he's there for the big finale and when the bomb explodes, then leads us into the ending at the airport.
Lord's Leiter is introduced, has some time at the nightclub, stops by to see Bond and Quarrel inspecting for radiation and sees them off to Crab Key and appears at the end, but I don't think his length of appearance or the utility he serves matches Linder (someone could do the numbers on how much each appear).
Nutter is similar, in that he appears in a few scenes (some of which where he's stalking Bond like a creeper), but he is really only there to throw out a line of exposition or to drive Bond somewhere. He may end up with the most screen time for the piloting sections, like when Bond is looking over Palmyra, but again I think Linder's Felix had the most utility and purpose (as well as credibility) in being there.
For the 70s Burton's Felix also had decent utility, and I hold that of the first series of films Diamonds Are Forever is really the only film outside of Goldfinger where it makes any sense for Felix to be in the field. Because those two films are heavily American based it makes sense to have the character in the action, and on his own turf. I really like that Diamonds has Felix pulling on his resources that he's earned in the agency to help Bond and Tiffany on the mission too, which shows how far he's come and the respect and authority he commands.
P.S.: I didn't know that about Lord's age! That's nuts.
It's not like he took time out for KFC.
http://image.wikifoundry.com/image/1/y4zpgQu4BhgacMT3yNfHVw59476/GW430
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He probably wanted some KFC in the Bahamas. Stalking Bond on the beach, on the deck, in the casino, at the hotel...it's got to work up an appetite. The sunglasses don't help to make it any less creepy either, especially when he wears them at night too. ;)
You are absolutely right, @0BradyM0Bondfanatic7 - going into detail. Wonder why I've felt that Linder doesn't really do nothing.
Just took DAF out of the bookshelf. Will keep an extra eye on Felix while watching. :-)
@Torgeirtrap, I view Diamonds as a sort of sunshine noir, with Bond as a slightly more shiny or vibrant Marlowe, so in that same token I view Felix as the kind of cynical, exhausted man who is sticking with his law enforcement job but with the recognition that his best days are behind him. I think Burton brings out the exhaustion of Felix well, a sort of "I'm getting too old for this" kind of guy who has been in the business of it long enough to want to see the tail end of it. In many ways he evokes more of the traits of a noir cop than Bond's detective like character does.
You'll have to let me know what feeling Felix gives off to you when you watch it. I think it's the film that used Felix the best, because if makes sense why he is there, the movie allows him to function logically as a partner to Bond, and Burton doesn't bore. A close second would be Hedison in Licence, but he's more of a plot device there when it comes right down to it and doesn't get to stick around long.
DAF isn't the greatest Bond film by far, but I've never been too bothered by the comedy, Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd and other weaknesses it might have. The oil platform sequence felt a bit "safe" perhaps, not really a wow factor, but still OK.
@0BradyM0Bondfanatic7: Had an eye on Leiter through the movie. Have to agree on the points about our American agent. Burton plays a Leier who know the business well, and is a bit tired, as mentioned. He works as a good counterpart to a Bond who is taking every chance to enjoy himself. The scene where he places his guys outside Bond's hotel door is a good example. The two opposites works very well in this movie!
That's a popular opinion. GoldenEye is a modern classic. There are some Bond films I enjoy more, but it's hard to find fault with the film.
GE flirts with my top ten Bond movies which is high praise, it's certainly one of the Bond films that gets better over time.
@Torgeirtrap, glad you enjoyed it. I find it far more enjoyable these days than Goldfinger and think it's a far better ending to Sean's work than You Only Live Twice. It was nice to see him enjoying himself again, and being more relaxed on screen in comparison to 67. He feels more eager, more interested, more engaged. It's not the man of 62 or 63, but good enough. I wish he'd been in better shape, but on the whole the movie has grown on me immensely over time like very few "campy" Bond films have. I love Wint and Kidd and how bizarre they are, realized quite well from their slightly more muted bizarreness in the novel, and the themes of the film, doubles and deceit, are beautifully layered through the double-faced smugglers Bond collides with like Tiffany, Saxby, Shady Tree and all the rest and of course the more overt doubles Blofeld uses to trick him. It's a great a-ha moment when the truth about Blofeld, his doubles and the mysterious Whyte's disappearance is revealed, all feeling very noir styled. I also love the action, not only the dynamic, claustrophobic and rough lift fight, but also the chase through Vegas that is easily a top ten chase in the series for me, and ones of my favorite movies chases of all time. I love how the score is reeled back and all we hear is the screeching of the red muscle car as Bond tears from street to street. Such an amazing use of sound, and with those Vegas lights dotting the strip? It's like looking at another world.
The imagery and premise is just so interesting: With Blofeld dead (or so he thinks), Bond is put on the scent of a routine smuggling job that snakes from Africa to Amsterdam and into Las Vegas, a desert landscape where the snake will eat its tail and our hero will bump shoulders with two-faced criminals and find the truth behind the mysterious recluse locked inside a tower overlooking the city of sand.
Great, great imagery and, as we were discussing in the Black & White Bond thread, visually styled like a noir and shot to call back to that mood and feeling beyond the obvious narrative influences.
The film is a terrific combination of comedy and thrills that are very well intertwined. One second, you are laughing or smiling, the next one somebody is getting killed. It makes for an engaging movie, with the laughs enhancing the suspense and vice versa. Wint and Kidd are the best embodiment of this quality of the film, but there is also the scenes with Peter Franks, Shady Tree, Bert Saxby... death and humor, hand in hand.
The premise of the film, with the idea of the secluded millionaire, is very clever in how it takes something from real life and repurposes it as one of Blofeld's plans. Also, it makes me very happy to see Bond in Vegas. It's the ideal playground for a Bond movie.
Tiffany Case is a very entertaining character. Jill St. John fits the movie and its tone like a glove. She may not have much to do in the last third of the film, but she's fun enough so I like the fact she sticks around.
On the subject of Leiter, I must say Norman Burton is my favorite of the actors that played the part. I like how he a) helps Bond by mobilizing plenty of people and resources for him, and b) has no qualms about letting Bond know he is annoyed at his antics. He is the funny, sarcastic Leiter. He is not cool in the Jack Lord way, but he's definitely not a throwaway comedy character and not a useless one.
Great pre-title sequence, too. It hits the ground running and doesn't stop for nothing. I love this. So ridiculous:
The absence of music during a significant part of an action scene is a common quality in Bond films scored by John Barry. It's there in the GF factory chase, the Peter Franks fight and moon buggy chase in DAF, the car chase in TMWTGG. The idea was to allow the loud and distinctive sound effects to be heard by themselves, only bringing music in at a later inflection point (for example, the car approaching the mirror in GF, or the car in the dead end in DAF).
The Diamonds Are Forever soundtrack used to be my favorite. Jazzy and suspenseful, it perfectly complements the film.
The mysterious Willard Whyte-character is also a highlight. Didn't that idea come from a dream Cubby had?
You are very right about Connery's performance, @mattjoes. A laid-back Connery suits the tone and style of the film wonderfully, and pairing him with Charles Gray is actually a great casting choice. Of course we all want a more dangerous Blofeld, but for this film, a Blofeld who is just really annoyed with Bond, is just as good.
@Birdleson Thanks' for the reminder! Will do that now :-)
@Torgeirtrap, you're right about the inspiration behind Whyte. Here's an excerpt from my review of it, where I outlined it better than I could off the cuff now:
"The script also boasts a lot of clever wordplay and satire, characterizing Willard Whyte as a pompous and elitist figure because he named his hotel The Whyte House, causing Felix to even comment quite dryly that Bond would have a better chance of meeting the president himself than the king of Vegas. Whyte’s alliterative character was originally inspired by that of Howard Hughes, a man who had become known for his own reclusive nature and general eccentricity at the time of filming. Legend says Cubby Broccoli himself planted the idea of a kidnapped billionaire in the minds of the writers after he had a bad dream where Hughes, an old friend, had disappeared after being kidnapped by someone. In the dream Cubby had gone to meet with the man somewhere in Vegas, but when he showed up and entered a room housing Hughes, there was an imposter in the man’s place (much like the scene where Bond scales the Whyte House to face the man directly, finding Blofeld in his spot). In an interesting parallel to the plot, Hughes himself was actually hiding away in a Las Vegas Hotel as the movie was filming. Life mimics art, and vice versa.
In another interesting detail about the production, Jimmy Dean, who played the Hughes-inspired Willard Whyte, was actually working as a performer at Hughes’ personal hotel The Desert Inn when the movie was being made. Dean was quite understandably anxious and uneasy at the thought of playing his boss in such a caricature-like role, but got on with it nonetheless. Hughes ultimately seemed to be a good sport concerning his role in inspiring the film, however, as he gave EON full permission to shoot at his casinos and other properties while they were in Vegas, requesting just one 16mm print of the film as payment for his services."
Pretty cool, eh? Only on a Bond production.
Interesting turn of phrase, there @0BradyM0Bondfanatic7. It's put me in mind of something. I know you're a big noir fan. Suppose you've seen Altman's THE LONG GOODBYE? I've seen it once, and several years ago, so what I'm about to suggest is a wire-thin inkling which I've long been meaning to try: oddly, I think it'd make for an enlightening double bill with DAF.