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First Bond film I saw on Television, its always been a fan and critic favourite, so popped it in the blu-ray to see if it still holds up well! The answer is a definite yes! Lighter in tone to the previous FRWL, with Guy Hamilton taking the reins, its classed as a template for future Bonds. The larger than life villain, his distinctive henchman, a memorable theme and score, big set pieces, the one-liners! And of course, Connery, effortlessly cool, and dominant, his delivery of the witticisms flawless, he's a tremendous lead!
Not that it doesn't have its faults. I never really liked Honor Blackman, she's not that attractive or sexy, (Shirley Eaton is much sexier, and of course she has THAT death scene!) and the section at Goldfingers base is rather slow (told you all Bond movies have a slow section), the extraction of Mr Solo from the gold after the car crusher (similar sequence was done better in AVTAK, when Zorin drops him from the blimp!) and the big reveal to the consortium, and Bond just sitting in his cell, drags a little!
The pts is only ok, I always remember the guard, after 007 jumps down on him, waiting for Bond to kick him in the face! (Not as bad, mind you, of the motorcyclist waiting for Bond to kick him off the bike in DAF!!), the fight scene isn't as good as I recall, though the payoff brilliant, and the door slamming seguing into Bassey and Barrys classic theme!
Gert Frobe was a wonderful Nemesis, the card cheating, the golf match, the laser, he's terrific in all his scenes, and he has a great death scene! Harold Sakatas Oddjob character was equally memorable, and AVTAK missed a trick, by not having MayDay remain loyal to Zorin, like Oddjob does to Goldfinger, when he tries to stop the guy, and Bond, from diffusing the bomb, even though it means his death!
It doesn't really have an action sequence to rival the train fight from FRWL, but I can imagine people being wowed by the whole film it at the time.
Top 5 film for me, with FRWL at 6, I could easily swap them round as I enjoy both movies! Going to watch LALD again at the weekend, and its just over a year since the much maligned (on here anyway!) Spectre, so may watch it again, to see if I still enjoy it!
A woman scorned... Besides, I love the look on Zorin's face when he sees her pop out of the mine shaft.
I enjoy the way both films handled the situation. Although, there is no doubt that GF is the superior product, of course.
It's admirable to see Oddjob's devotion.
I made sure I entered my viewing yesterday, cheers.
I liked SP a lot more on my most recent viewing. I actually am feeling it may hold up better than CR in the future. Right now CR seems to me like a mixture of trendy 2006 cell phones, a film piggybacking on the 2006 reboot trend, a wee bit of the Fleming novel, and a ton of extraneous terrorist subplots and airport action scenes- all of which adds to a film that is feeling very little like Bond film. Solid as a thriller, but one I'm lately not popping in or getting all the way thru.
Yes, I noticed that too, dated horribly.
RE MayDay and her death scene, yes its a great moment and Zorins reaction, all I was saying was that it would have been more suspenseful had MayDay tried to stop Bond from removing the bomb!
If "timeless" is positive, then yes.
Exactly. Dates are meaningless in the factor of a film being 'dated'
2001 was 15 years ago yet the 'futuristic' 2001:A Space Odyssey still looks pretty darn fresh to me as I'm sure it did in 1968.
I feel the same way now.
I am convinced it'll slip considerably in people's rankings in the next 10 years to a lower Top 10 spot.
It'll join GE somewhere in the middle.
But it will remain everyone's favourite of this era.
Personally I am shocked that it actually might go down in my ranking. For 10 years it was firmly set No 4 after GE TLD and OHMSS, but now I am not sure anymore.
Yes, CR dropped out of my top 5 too. The further we are from it's release, the more the teenage angst of that film becomes apparent.
The 60s films have aged but in a good way. While some of the comments, costumes and sets "look" very "swinging 60s" (the Angels of Death, Pussy Galore's Flying Circus) they are still incredibly colourful and make full use of the outdoors.
One of my favorite Craig Bond quips is when he walks over to Silva and taunts him with, "last rat standing," right before Silva falls over dead.
About Thunderball.
Once more I noticed how incredibly dull the first 45 minutes are. Even my brothers-in-arms started talking and getting restless on the sofa and chairs after 20 minutes.
But from minute 45 when Bond arrives in Nassau to 1:45 Thunderball is GOLD.
Maybe even the best one hour of the whole Connery era.
Sadly the underwater fight, as epic and well done as it may seem, is one more time too many underwater, especially as the whole sequence plays almost 15 minutes, it's dragging.
The finale on the speeding boat, sped-up film really (what a shame) is rather short in comparison.
I do like the death scene or Largo immensely though, this was done brilliantly. One of my favourite kills of the whole series.
Overall TB just can't be compared to the perfect trilogy that is DN-FRWL-GF, it just isn't up to that overall quality.
Sadly it is one of the very few Bond films I feel about that way. So it will never escape my bottom five I guess, even if it is a fantastic movie by any standard really.
But it's Bond, and I can only compare it to other Bond films.
It's almost like they switched directors after 45 minutes.
The story though is great, always liked it and it's the one thing that keeps my interest when watching TB before it finally goes to the wonderful holiday resort.
I find I tend to lose interest shortly after the parkour/crane chase in the first half. To me it feels the first half is padding to get to the casino match. None of which was in the novel. The airport scene I don't much care for. You can find similar scenes in any typical '90s action flick. I still love the casino sequences, though I think baccarat might have made CR more timeless then the then popular Texas Hold em.
I suppose the freshness of CR wore off for me whereas something like TLD is still as immensely enjoyable for me as it was that hot summer day I caught the first matinee in 1987.