Is "Bond goes Japanese" the silliest thing in Connery's era?

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  • MayDayDiVicenzoMayDayDiVicenzo Here and there
    edited February 2015 Posts: 5,080
    I have to mention the hearse driving down the cliff in Dr. No and miraculously exploding. I mean, it's just silly to assume that such a gentle gradient could cause a vehicle to explode.

    Also from the same release, during the finale when Bond goes to save Honey. She's tied to floor, with the water slowly starting to flood. By the time it reaches her ankles, she'll be seventy years old. I know that the original scene was going to have crabs surrounding her, eventually tearing her to death, but if that is not feasible, why leave the scene in? Just have her tied to a chair a la Anya in TSWLM, at least it would make more sense.

    Then you have the silly portion of Goldfinger when Auric reveals his plans to the gangsters (awful ones at that, mind you) only to kill them straight after- meanwhile, Mr Solo has been taken on a car journey only then to be killed in the most unnecessarily elaborate way, when Goldfinger could have just had left him with the rest of the gangsters.
  • edited February 2015 Posts: 7,507
    Sark wrote: »
    yes the beach ball thing that Bond rolls up to the oil rig in is very idiotic. Has he never heard of this thing called the element of surprise? You'd think with Blofeld's experience in the previous two films he'd just shoot Bond on sight. There's absolutely no reason to keep him alive. In GF not killing Bond made some sense. Not here.

    Also the car going up on two wheels in the narrow alley, then coming out of the alley on its opposite wheels[!]. It's not even subtle.

    I think DAF is the definition of a half-assed movie. No one cared.


    The most ridiculous thing is that the "good army" is waiting for Bond to give a signal for them to attack. They expect Bond to be able to switch the control casets all by himself and then give a signal as well. There is no reason why Bond should be able to do this. If Blofeld doesn't kill him on first sight, he should at least not let him wander around on the platform and the control room the way he pleases. The whole sequence is not only mindboggingly stupid, but also not very exciting at all. Easily the worst ending climax in the series!
  • edited February 2015 Posts: 15,115
    I have to mention the hearse driving down the cliff in Dr. No and miraculously exploding. I mean, it's just silly to assume that such a gentle gradient could cause a vehicle to explode.

    Also from the same release, during the finale when Bond goes to save Honey. She's tied to floor, with the water slowly starting to flood. By the time it reaches her ankles, she'll be seventy years old. I know that the original scene was going to have crabs surrounding her, eventually tearing her to death, but if that is not feasible, why leave the scene in? Just have her tied to a chair a la Anya in TSWLM, at least it would make more sense.

    In DN the explosion was a technical mistake due to budget and FX standards at the time. Nothing silly in itself. Same thing with Honey. We don't know how fast the tide would have gone up, had Bond not intervene. In any case, it would have gone up, she would have drowned and nobody would have saved her. Again, there is nothing silly in the scene per se.

    IMO, the silliest scene in Sean Connery's tenure was either Blofeld in a drag in DAF or the whole "You've just killed James Bond" scene. Maybe this is the true moment when James Bond left completely the realm of plausibility to turn into self parody. Far more than "This never happened to the other fella". Or Bond turning Japanese, which again was technically odd but not silly per se.
  • MayDayDiVicenzoMayDayDiVicenzo Here and there
    edited February 2015 Posts: 5,080
    Ludovico wrote: »

    Or Bond turning Japanese, which again was technically odd but not silly per se.

    How is not silly? Connery's wig, makeup and him speaking Japanese with a strong Scottish accent push this whole scene, for me, far into realms of silliness. Not to mention that it is offensive. Bond looks absolutely ridiculous. You can paint it up with "it was to fool people from a distance", but Connery's height alone (he's 6ft 2 for Pete's sake) shows that this is implausible.

    A real low point in the series.
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    edited February 2015 Posts: 23,883
    I suppose you could put it down to the time the movie was made.

    EON probably thought that disguse looked good for 1967. In that day studios thought nothing of using white actors in roles representing other ethnicities.

    Witness Arabesque from 1966 with Gregory Peck for instance. Or even Octopussy with Louis Jourdan playing an Indian. In 1983! That was quite a disguise...
  • edited February 2015 Posts: 15,115
    Ludovico wrote: »

    Or Bond turning Japanese, which again was technically odd but not silly per se.

    How is not silly? Connery's wig, makeup and him speaking Japanese with a strong Scottish accent push this whole scene, for me, far into realms of silliness. Not to mention that it is offensive. Bond looks absolutely ridiculous. You can paint it up with "it was to fool people from a distance", but Connery's height alone (he's 6ft 2 for Pete's sake) shows that this is implausible.

    A real low point in the series.

    It had everything to do with the time it was shot and nothing to do with the intended effect. We now see it at silly, it was not intrinsically so.
    bondjames wrote: »
    I suppose you could put it down to the time the movie was made.

    EON probably thought that disguse looked good for 1967. In that day studios thought nothing of using white actors in roles representing other ethnicities.

    Witness Arabesque from 1966 with Gregory Peck for instance. Or even Octopussy with Louis Jourdan playing an Indian. In 1983! That was quite a disguise...

    Exactly. And Joseph Wiseman played a half-Chinese character.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,790
    Birdleson wrote: »
    chrisisall wrote: »
    Music? Lift fight? Mountaineering about the Whyte House? Nice cheeks?

    I really don't know where that is coming from. That lift fight is one of the best in the franchise. What is it that is silly about it? And infiltrating the Whyte house? I love that whole scene.
    They said pick anything from DAF and it's silly; I was giving examples of good stuff to show them wrong.
  • edited February 2015 Posts: 159
    The awful dubbing of that guy during the PTS of DAF. 'Cai....Cai....Cairo!

    Indeed. Was it done on purpose? I can't imagine that nobody noticed that mistake or simply didn't care.

    Also, about YOLT, i didn't mind Bond being Japanese, but one of the most annoying things were the dreadful effects of the volcano eruption at the end.

  • KerimKerim Istanbul Not Constantinople
    Posts: 2,629
    chrisisall wrote: »
    Kerim wrote: »
    Pick something from DAF. You can't go wrong.

    @Kerim for the win.
    Both of you for the lose.
    Music? Lift fight? Mountaineering about the Whyte House? Nice cheeks?

    The lift fight was fine until the fire extinguisher came into play. Tiffany overdramatizing about Franks (Bond) killing Bond (Franks) kind of killed it.

    Music, not bad, but not the best.

    Mountaineering the Whyte House. That speaks for itself.

    Nice cheeks. Seriously?
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,790
    Kerim wrote: »
    Nice cheeks. Seriously?
    At 11 years old I was amazed. At 55 I still remain impressed.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,790
    Birdleson wrote: »
    You're talking about Tiffany Case's ass? Definitely!
    Not to put to fine a point on it, but yes.
    :))
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Posts: 7,546
    Didn't know where else to put this but thought it was great. Passed this computer repair shop tonight near where I live, if it isn't a Goldfinger reference I don't know what to think :D

    24enrlw.jpg

  • Political correctness is EVERYWHERE!!!
  • Posts: 12,526
    Didn't know where else to put this but thought it was great. Passed this computer repair shop tonight near where I live, if it isn't a Goldfinger reference I don't know what to think :D

    24enrlw.jpg

    :)) That is brilliant!
  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 5,131
    quote="MayDayDiVicenzo"]30wxkqo.jpg

    It's so bad that I wanted to punch the screen. What were they thinking? A 6ft, hairy Scotsman donning a wig and makeup, looking like an absolute prat, and people think he's Japanese? They couldn't even be arsed in later scenes and just seemed to forget about it...and for good reason.[/quote]

    Why does Bond have a degree in Oriental Languages in YOLT, but can't type on an oriental keyboard in TND??????[
  • Posts: 11,189
    Why does Bond have a degree in Oriental Languages in YOLT, but can't type on an oriental keyboard in TND??????[

    Ha, oh the joys of being a hardcore Bond fan :D The "commoners" wouldn't notice that, particularly as the films were 30 YEARS apart.
  • sunsanvilsunsanvil Somewhere in Canada....somewhere.
    Posts: 260
    "Is "Bond goes Japanese" the silliest thing in Connery's era?"

    No. Doesn't even register as silly to me. The fact that the staff applying the disguise are in bikinis in a giant Ken Adams'esque set....maybe, but even that's just in line with everything else up to that point.

    For me the silliest thing in Connery's era is pretty much all of Diamonds Are Forever.
  • SarkSark Guangdong, PRC
    Posts: 1,138
    Is a first in Oriental languages even a thing? I'm learning Mandarin and imagine it'd take quite a lot of study to get even a basic understanding of Japanese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean and who knows what else.

    @Sunsanvil has a good point though.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
  • Campbell2Campbell2 Epsilon Rho Rho house, Bending State University
    Posts: 299
    Going Japanese is from the book even. Inthe film it's redundant because Bond's cover and Tanaka's security are blown anyway. But the idea itself isn't silly. They should have given him a better makeup like Brando in that Teahouse movie. As is it looks just like Connery with a different hairpiece.
  • MayDayDiVicenzoMayDayDiVicenzo Here and there
    Posts: 5,080
    Then again, I don't understand why people have a problem with Bond disguising as a clown.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,790
    Bond's Japanese disguise was fine. And some Japanese ARE that tall. From 200 yards with binoculars of the day he'd pass.
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    edited March 2015 Posts: 23,883
    Making Connery look Japanese was always going to be a difficult thing to pull off - even in 1967. I mean, the man could not look less Japanese to begin with.

    It did not translate well on screen, and sadly the whole section of the movie was pretty slow to me, but the disguise itself didn't bother me that much.

    I just wish they had sped up that whole boring section and got on with it, spending more time with Blofeld or Spectre No. 11 even.
  • Posts: 15,115
    Let's not forget that five years before Joseph Wiseman was playing a Germano-Chinese man... And nobody thought it was odd. Not that it was: you can be of mixed race and look more like one race than the other. But it was also the spirit of the time: white actors played Asians or other ethnic groups.

    I don't like YOLT, I consider it the first movie of the franchise that remarkably went downhill. But Bond turning Japanese was not the silliest thing in the Connery era, heck it was not the silliest thing in the movie!
  • Posts: 1,552
    At least they didn't go for the Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's look [-X

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  • Campbell2Campbell2 Epsilon Rho Rho house, Bending State University
    Posts: 299
    mbteahouse_cu_300x225_040820080127.gif


    This i Brando in Teahouse of the August Moon. They did a far better job in making him look Japanese. I think they could have pulled it with Connery but didn't want him to look too different.
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    edited March 2015 Posts: 23,883
    Seeing that Brando photo makes me relieved they did not try to make Connery look too Japanese. My word!
  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 5,131
    Remember that he disguises himself as a deaf and dumb (quote) Japanese person in the novel. But admittedly in both a 6ft 2in (or 6ft in the novel) Japanese is quite rare in comparison with the West.

    Doesn't bother me though. However, in the film I always wondered what the scalpel was for???
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,716
    Sean Connery gave us an Oscar worthy performance in YOLT. Since he won the Oscar for portraying an Irish immigrant with a thick scottish accent, his Japanese impersonation was just as good.
  • SarkSark Guangdong, PRC
    Posts: 1,138
    Don't forget his classic turn as the Russian submarine commander with the thick Scottish accent ;)

    I haven't known many Scots, but Connery's accent seems different from most of the ones I see on tv. The guy who played Obi Wan in the new Star Wars movies and Craig Ferguson don't sound anything like Connery.
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