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The good: Connery is back to being the same virile, agile, uber-confident panther he is in Thunderball and more so than in his last two EON-produced outings. I love Moore, but what a joy it would've been to see a couple more Connery-led entries in the '80s. I also love the Klaus Maria Brandauer-Barbara Carrera villainous duet - both are so oddball in ways not yet seen in the cannon. Also, I love the use of Cote d'Azure and particularly Villefranche-sur-Mer where I recognized some places I've been to. There's something about the locations, style, and Michel Legrand's score that give NSNA a '70s/'80s Belmondo-action movie feel.
The bad: While there aren't too many grating moments (in contrast to the EON films of that era), the lack of a John Barry score, as well as the aforementioned pedestrian direction, and strange editing all give NSNA an obvious "unofficial" feel.
Still, a treat to enjoy every once in a while.
Between Dalton’s two Bond films, I am generally of the impression that TLD is the better Bond film, but LTK is the better film. If that makes sense,
Lots to love here. Rogue Bond (when it was a first), Sanchez is one of my favourite villains and I love Davi’s performance. He is so affable yet menacing at the same time. I noticed for the first time, when Bond is at his villa, Sanchez makes him a coffee and asks if he wants cream or sugar. What a guy! An excellent host.
Carey Lowell is also very underrated as a Bond girl. Stunningly attractive yet very capable, intelligent and is well tied into the overall plot.
Big props to the Kentworth tanker chase at the end.
Yeah I understand the criticism that it lacks certain Bond trappings, but for me it keeps the essentials and uses them well, whilst disregarding all the superfluous stuff.
Overall, had a great time with it.
Only real complaint is that Hedison should have been Leiter in TLD, that would have added to the impact here,
Totally agree re David Hedison. Some say he was too old for Daltons Bond, but i thought their relationship was convincing and he would have made more of an impression than Terry.
Also agree about Carey, gorgeous and sexy and great chemistry with Dalton!
One of the best of the Bonds, the train fight still looks brutal
even now. Must have been " Shocking" back in 1963.
Not one of my favourites, but I thought i would give it another watch! My attitude towards it hasnt really changed. Roger is great, and looks fab in his naval uniform (my favourite moment is when he descends from the helicopter!) But as Cubby used to call them "the bumps", ie the exciting bits, for me there is very few bumps here! Apart from the ski jump, admittedly, really thrilling,, the rest of the action is very poor. Curt Jurgens is a boring villain, Barbara Bach is gorgeous, but is a personality vacuum! And those that criticise MR for its silly humour, well, it really started here with submersible car, Jaws and his antics ripping up vans and dropping blocks on his foot, and bad musical cues from Marvin Hamlisch.
I still prefer MR, daft as it is, it still has better sequences, production values, villain and excitement!
Jaws was never the same after the dropping of the block on his foot; he went from killer to clown.
You Only Live Twice
Deep down I know that this isn't the best Bond film, but I still have a bit of a soft spot for it.
Seen in ultra high-definition on a 55 inch screen, Dr. No looks prettier than it ever in my experience--Jamaica is greener, the sea bluer, everything is more vibrant and textured. It also brings out the film's age, in a positive way. The sets look a little more like sets but that makes them even more impressive, especially in light of the small budget. Being able to see so many details and textures drives home that Dr. No's visual aesthetic owes more to the 50s than 60s. More than ever, I felt like I was watching a vanished world. I paused the film to explain the joke involving Goya's Duke of Wellington joke.
This time around I developed greater appreciation for how the screenwriters--Maibaum, Wolf Mankowitz, Johanna Harwood, and Berkely Mather--built upon and further developed Fleming's plot, especially the excellent subplot with Professor Dent. On the other hand, Felix Leiter remains a useless third wheel.
A repeat viewing left me slightly more critical of the performances. Connery immediately shows he had the presence needed for the role, and his introduction will forever be perfect. But he's less at ease and some of his line readings are rushed or jumpy, especially when dealing with lengthier dialogue. Nevertheless, he owns the screen and moves beautifully--he was never more lean and agile.
With all due respect to the late Nikki van der Zyl, I don't think she gave the right voice to Honey--it's a little too soft and childish for a character who might be innocent but is also a tough cookie and tomboy, and the accent doesn't fit anywhere. John Kitzmiller starts out strong but diminishes as the script gradually lets him down. It's funny that the film of Live and Let Die perfectly cast the character, but as his own son!
Ultra HD is not always kind--the car chase with the hearse never looked great, but here the back projection is even more obvious. The eye make-up on some of the mock-Asian actors is a little more obvious.
So much of what the Bond series would become is already present in Dr. No--this time around what You Only Live Twice cribbed is especially clear. But in 1962 the series was far from bloat and self-parody. Felix Leiter and Spectre are in Dr. No because Thunderball was the first novel Maibaum and the producers tried to adapt, yet if they'd tried filming it in 1962 they'd have probably gone broke. Yet when they filmed it 3 years later the series had become a victim of its own success.
@Birdleson, seeing YOLT at age 7 must've really gotten your imagination going! I think the first Bond film I saw was either DAF or GF, probably both, on TV around age 18, then TSWLM in the theater, then when FYEO came out I was hooked. I also remember as a boy seeing Mr. Freeze's first appearance on Batman on TV in a rerun. It was on TV not long ago but I couldn't stay awake long enough to catch it for the sake of nostalgia, with the references to the dynamic duo trapped in the cold zones, "baked Alaska" etc.
No change. Dr No has always been one of my favourite Bond films, and cotinues to do so. It's a little rough around the edges, but I can't hold that against the film too much.
Silver Anniversary Bondathon (1996-2021)
1. Dr No
2. You Only Live Twice
Again, no change. Peak Connery era Bond, and still one of my favourite in the series. The Bond theme playing obnoxiously loud while Bond checking his room is a bit much, but that's a small complaint in an otheriwse fine film.
Silver Anniversary Bondathon (1996-2021)
1. From Russia With Love
2. Dr No
3. You Only Live Twice
YOLT is filled with huge set pieces the largest outdoor set ever constructed, An over the top helicopter fight sequence. Sean is a little heavier, but I don't see the lack of interest that some do. Donald Pleasance makes a menacing Blofeld and must be one of the most impersonated and spoofed villains of all time. Even with Jan Werich being the first choice and in one scene you can see his hair above the top of Blofeld's office chair. the sets are amazing even the smaller ones like Blofeld's study behind the control room and Osato's office. Basically everything is dialled up to eleven with YOLT.
Story wise, it's Dr No on a bigger scale from toppling rockets to hijacking them and was more or less remade twice again with TSWLM and MR.
but was sucked in to watching the entire film again :D
It used to be my favourite Bond film many years ago!
Now it languishes in the bottom half of my Bond film list... 😕
I liked Goldfinger when I was younger, but the old I get, the less I like it (in that way, it's sort of the opposite of OHMSS). It might be generally considered to be THE Bond film, but I feel cold towards it.
Silver Anniversary Bondathon (1996-2021)
1. From Russia With Love
2. Dr No
3. You Only Live Twice
4. Goldfinger
A Coldfinger one might say.
Wonderful stuff. Connery is just so good. So many great scenes but the meeting between Bond and Dr No is the highlight. Beautifully shot with Connery and Wiseman absolutely riveting in the scene.
Love the way it looks on bluray 👍
I debated whether to put TB above or bellow GF. GF doesn't do much wrong as such, it just doesn't do it for me. Wheras with TB, there are parts that don't sit well with me (Bond blackmailing Pat for shex at Shrublands), the painful to watch Q scene, all the underwater scenes that slow the film down to a glacial pace, and I know this might sound unfair, but the editing in the final fight is distracting.
I do miss Bond sussing out that someone isn't who they claim to be via their poor etiquette. "My dear Col. Bouvior, I don't think you should have opened that car door by yourself." See also Grant in FRWL.
Silver Anniversary Bondathon (1996-2021)
1. From Russia With Love
2. Dr No
3. You Only Live Twice
4. Goldfinger
5. Thunderball
As I said on GF, this is th eopposite. I didn't care much for OHMSS when I first got into Bond, and a few years afterwards. But as the years have gone by, I started to apprecite this film, and Lazenby more. He wasn't an actor at the time, but I think that he excelled in more areas than those he didn't (which was nothing that a few more films couldn't have fixed).
Silver Anniversary Bondathon (1996-2021)
1. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
2. From Russia With Love
3. Dr No
4. You Only Live Twice
5. Goldfinger
6. Thunderball
That's it, that was me. I didn't appreciate what it is that makes OHMSS so special within the series.