Weekly Bond Poll: Round 59: secondary Bond girls & helicopter flights

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  • BennyBenny Shaken not stirredAdministrator, Moderator
    Posts: 15,138
    I’m sure I’m not alone in saying this has been a very enjoyable thread to participate in @goldenswissroyale
    Many thanks for helming this for 52 weeks, giving us something to contemplate and get the old brain cells working, making us think about each pairing. Often not as easy is might seem at first.
    Great job @goldenswissroyale and thanks.
    Hope we can revive this down the track. =D> <:-P
  • peterpeter Toronto
    Posts: 9,509
    So sad to see this game retired!! Always so much fun @goldenswissroyale !!
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    That year went quick. Cool thread.
  • goldenswissroyalegoldenswissroyale Switzerland
    Posts: 4,483
    Many thanks to you three!
  • OctopussyOctopussy Piz Gloria, Schilthorn, Switzerland.
    Posts: 1,081
    Thank you!
  • Max_The_ParrotMax_The_Parrot ATAC to St Cyril’s
    Posts: 2,426
    Thanks for all the hard work and thought you've put into this thread, looking back at the first page I was surprised to see I've been here from the start, I didn't realise I'd been around that long! I've enjoyed each week, have a deserved rest before you come back with your next master plan for world domination!!
  • goldenswissroyalegoldenswissroyale Switzerland
    Posts: 4,483
    Thanks, @Max_The_Parrot. A bit of world domination is always a plan I try to implement.

    If I remember it right, my first round was one of your first posts on this forum.
  • Max_The_ParrotMax_The_Parrot ATAC to St Cyril’s
    Posts: 2,426
    If I remember it right, my first round was one of your first posts on this forum.

    Must have been, I was on my best behaviour! 😝
  • Posts: 1,917
    Sad this thread is ending, but appreciate the great fun I've had with it and appreciate goldenswissroyale's efforts each week and fellow posters' views, which many times went against what I expected. It really made think about Bond preferences and consider things I hadn't, which is why I come to MI6 to begin with.
  • goldenswissroyalegoldenswissroyale Switzerland
    edited December 2020 Posts: 4,483
    I plan to bring this thread back later next year and thought it could be fun to do a special round for Christmas. Most of us meet a bit less people this time as usual. The good thing is that we have more time for our favourite franchise...

    Two questions where you have to pick one of the two possible answers. You can simply vote or also describe why you prefer the one moment/part over the other.

    Weekly Bond Poll: Christmas Special

    A) Which song/music do you prefer as an (even more) important part and successful ingredient of OHMSS (in other words: which one adds more to the fact that you like/love the movie):
    John Barry's main theme (title song) On Her Majesty's Secret Service vs. We Have All The Time In The World (Louis Armstrong)

    B) Which snow action moment do you prefer: bobsled run in FYEO (a bob, Bond on skis and the villain on a bike! All in the bobsled run at the same time!) vs. a cello case instead of skis (Bond and Kara change the vehicle and are chased and fired at before they finally cross the border)

    Pick your favourite for A and B. Is it an easy pick or do you have to think hard? Maybe you should rewatch all three movies before answering! Merry Christmas to everyone!
  • ThunderballThunderball playing Chemin de Fer in a casino, downing Vespers
    Posts: 814
    A) Really tough, I love both songs, but I’ll go with ‘We Have All The Time In The World’. I love Satchmo.

    B) Also tough, love both films, but I’d say FYEO scenes. I may love TLD way more, but that action sequence in the former is a bit more enjoyable.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 16,428
    A) That is darn tricky, but I'm going to go with the main OHMSS theme. It's just so exciting, and threaded through the whole thing. I think if that were the actual Bond theme I'd be okay with it!

    B) Oh, FYEO most definitely! Amazing stunts and so exciting.
  • A) Hard call. If you asked me which is my favorite to listen to I'd say "We Have All the Time in the World." Classic, timeless song. But if we're talking about which does more for the movie, I have to go with the OHMSS main theme. With its driving rhythm, it goes very well with the passing-of-time theme of the titles and starts the film off perfectly.

    B) Gotta go with FYEO. I like TLD's cello chase too, but the ski/bobsled/motorcycle chase in FYEO is just plain fun. As @mtm mentions the stunts are terrific and the ideas outlandish, and Conti's "Runaway" zips along with energy and a triumphant spirit. A real highlight of the film.
  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    Posts: 13,818
    A) OHMSS Main Theme. And I love "We Have All the Time in the World".

    B) Bobsled run in FYEO. All that action is so fresh and superbly presented on screen.

  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    WHATTITW and FYEO.
  • peterpeter Toronto
    Posts: 9,509
    So happy to see this back! And as usual the choices have ended up giving me a massive headache!

    1/ I'll have to go with We Have All The Time In The World, although I love both. It's just when I hear the Armstrong song I truly become overwhelmed with emotion!
    2/ slightly easier choice: FYEO. I don't like the music at all, but the stunts are so well conceived and executed.
  • goldenswissroyalegoldenswissroyale Switzerland
    edited December 2020 Posts: 4,483
    WHATTITW and FYEO.

    Did you realize that you asked a question about breasts? The acronym of the song isn't really appropriate for a christmas special :-?
  • goldenswissroyalegoldenswissroyale Switzerland
    Posts: 4,483
    peter wrote: »
    So happy to see this back! And as usual the choices have ended up giving me a massive headache!
    I'm always looking forward to read your thoughts. I'll try to come up with more next year.

  • PrinceKamalKhanPrinceKamalKhan Monsoon Palace, Udaipur
    Posts: 3,262
    Weekly Bond Poll: Christmas Special

    A)John Barry's main theme (title song) On Her Majesty's Secret Service

    B) Cello case instead of skis (Bond and Kara change the vehicle and are chased and fired at before they finally cross the border) The Living Daylights
  • goldenswissroyalegoldenswissroyale Switzerland
    Posts: 4,483
    Good to have a first vote for the cello case.
    It's a perfect end to one of my favourite action scenes (from salt corrosion to just a cello).
    But I completely understand that the bobsled run gets more votes. The image where we have the bob, Bond on skis and the guy on the bike behind each other is an outstanding action moment: fantastic real stunt work, funny and exciting at the same time.

    The first duel isn't decided yet!
  • Posts: 1,917
    John Barry's main OHMSS theme, no question. Just a great theme I never get tired of. I'd say absolutely if a composer offered something close to this quality for the main title as opposed to some pop star of the moment warbling for the sake of more attention to the project in that capacity.

    A great memory of the song: Way back in 1980 before OHMSS was to be shown on the ABC network, I went to my uncle's house to listen to his OHMSS soundtrack to get ready for the experience and the title theme hit my like a psychedelic experience I wasn't ready for with the synthesizers and such. So I was thrilled to see it with the credits. I had only seen the film a couple of other times and it was perfect and made me an early convert to OHMSS at a time it wasn't popular to like.

    The Armstrong song is nice. I like it and it works as a great romantic instrumental theme throughout. It has just never got me on any other level. Don't be outraged, but I have actually skipped it when listening to the OHMSS soundtrack.

    Now had Do You Know How Christmas Trees are Grown been in the mix, I'd have gone for it over the other two. Kidding. I played it for a former girlfriend once as one of my favorite Christmas songs and I thought she was going to drop me there and then.

    For question 2, I will also go for the TLD cello case as opposed to FYEO for several reasons. Before TLD came out, a friend of mine moaned about the sequence as something out of the Moore era after seeing it in a trailer, but it turned out okay. Not a standout sequence but it's Bond being resourceful and good fun without being too out there and outrageous.

    Whereas I've never been an FYEO fan as it seems to be just a greatest hits collection of what worked in previous films as the series turned from FX to stunts, none of which improve on the originals for me and the ski chase is a prime example, save for the gripping ski jump and the build-up, which has nice drama and an actual sense of danger.

    OHMSS set the standard, with skiing and the toboggan run. I'll give taking the chase onto the toboggan run as original, but it gets played too much for humor opposed to danger. How the hell the bikers can't shoot Bond with those guns on the bikes is beyond me.

    I will agree on the Conti score. I'm a fan whereas most people can't stand it and Runaway adds energy to the sequence.


  • goldenswissroyalegoldenswissroyale Switzerland
    Posts: 4,483
    Interesting thoughts @BT3366.
  • Max_The_ParrotMax_The_Parrot ATAC to St Cyril’s
    Posts: 2,426
    Oh we have a Christmas special!! I shall have to chip in. I’m just popping in quickly so I won’t give an in-depth analysis, but I think for the first I would go with the OHMSS theme. I do like WHATTITW but if anything I prefer listening to the song outside of the film (such as on the soundtrack or compilation albums) rather than in the film. Whereas the OHMSS theme is a real adrenaline fuelled belter.

    For the second definitely FYEO, it’s a great sequence with Sir Rog and feels much more substantial an action sequence than the cello chase.

    Thanks for resurrecting @goldenswissroyale I look forward to more rounds in the future!
  • marcmarc Universal Exports
    Posts: 2,610
    A) I almost always prefer orchestral/instrumental music over vocal, so it's the main theme for me. It's really good, although played too much IMO; could at times have been replaced by something more lush or suave.

    B) Both are among my very favourite sequences of the franchise, at least if the cello chase is viewed as combined with the preceding car chase. If not, the better one is clearly the FYEO Cortina chase. Conti's music here and in many other sequences works almost perfectly.
  • goldenswissroyalegoldenswissroyale Switzerland
    Posts: 4,483
    marc wrote: »
    A) I almost always prefer orchestral/instrumental music over vocal, so it's the main theme for me. It's really good, although played too much IMO; could at times have been replaced by something more lush or suave.

    B) Both are among my very favourite sequences of the franchise, at least if the cello chase is viewed as combined with the preceding car chase. If not, the better one is clearly the FYEO Cortina chase. Conti's music here and in many other sequences works almost perfectly.

    It's only about the cello part and the part in the bobsled run.
  • marcmarc Universal Exports
    Posts: 2,610
    Allright, FYEO bobsled run it is.
  • goldenswissroyalegoldenswissroyale Switzerland
    Posts: 4,483
    There seems to be much love for the Armstrong song but Barry's OHMSS main theme is a too strong contender:
    OHMSS main theme wins against We have all the time in the world: 7 : 3

    My vote would also go the the main theme: The love scene with Armstrong's song is wonderful but the main theme (specially combined with the ski action) can't be topped.

    The FYEO bobsled run wins easily against the action with the cello case in TLD: 8 :2

    The whole snow action scene in TLD and FYEO are fantastic (imo). So much great ideas, stunts; the perfect way to entertain me again and again. The cello case used as a sled a great final for the sequence (I hoped for something similar in SP: Why couldn't the chase go on with sled after the plane crashed in the cars??) The last seconds of the TLD snow chase are amazing: All the men behind them on skis and on the snow vehicles shooting before Bond and Kara cross the border with a last good joke.
    I probably prefer the TLD snow action to the FYEO snow action (both are awesome!!) but the specific moment in the bobsled run puts such a bright smile on my face that I would also vote for FYEO. @BT3366 said that FYEO only was kind of a "greatest hits collection" of older movies. It's alright to feel this way but this moment still stands out for me and I haven't seen a bob, a guy on skis and a guy on a motorcycle so close behind each other in a bobsled run before. Not before and never again. That's a crazy stunt and it's sad that such cool stunt work is missing in most newer action flicks (apart from the Mission: Impossible films).
  • Posts: 1,917
    marc wrote: »
    A) I almost always prefer orchestral/instrumental music over vocal, so it's the main theme for me. It's really good, although played too much IMO; could at times have been replaced by something more lush or suave.

    That's an interesting view. I don't think it's overused and perfectly applied to the ski chases and part of the car chase. One of my personal favorite moments is when the SPECTRE goons shoot the phone booth and the theme kicks in as Bond runs for Tracy's car. There are other action themes - the beach fight, for instance, and the love theme is used in variations and that's part of Barry's genius is having more than one variation or creating secondary themes and still making them fresh without overdoing it.

    Sadly, today's composers can't seem to follow that. They can't make creative use of the theme (possibly as the themes are often done so late in the production) and don't have an action theme but instead go for repetitious music that is instantly forgettable even after multiple listens.

    Goldenswissroyale, with this mission completed, can we look forward to future polls?
  • marcmarc Universal Exports
    Posts: 2,610
    Yes, it isn't used in a whole lot of scenes, I think, but in the decisive highlights of the film it comes across as a bit obtrusive IMO. It's a solid score that works but isn't comparable at all to my favourite Barry scores like MR, DAF, TLD, AVTAK... feels rather disappointing to me in comparison to almost all other 'Barries', actually. Complaining on a high level, of course.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 16,428
    Gosh, there's plenty I would criticise OHMSS on, but the score isn't one!

    Just goes to show we're all different! :)
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