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That's all I'm saying. I don't rank YOLT as one of the best, just an enjoyable formula-defining romp. I've never really bought all the stuff about Connery dialling it in for YOLT though. Certainly he's not as panther-like and sharp as in the earlier films, but it's still a strong performance, IMO.
I see the 'peaks' in the series, in descending order, as probably being FRWL and GF, OHMSS, TSWLM, TLD and CR.
There is a theme in several of those, which is a strong and convincing relationship between Bond and the leading lady. It's really become much clearer to me recently that believeable chemistry between Bond and his leading ladies is actually an important igredient of a successful Bond film. The films where the women are just there as eye candy, as was the case during much of the Moore and Brosnan eras, tend to just feel a bit flat.
I agree; being in the mood makes or breaks TB for me. Same with QoS and a couple others probably to be honest.
That sounds about right.
These shots are distracting and bring down a strong film a few notches; with different music they could look like clips from Benny Hill. Come to think of it two of the elements that detract involve speed, these shots being too fast and the underwater battle too slow.
Yet he signed off on the awful speeding up of the Disco footage? Make your mind up Terence. Or was it that by this stage he was tired of the whole tedious TB leviathan and just thought 'sod it - anything so I can be done with this and get out of here.'
As someone else pointed out...
DN: Dr No gets dispatch easily, then it's only people running around and a few explosions.
FRWL: Yes, the iconic Grant fight, but there's still like 15 minutes more of film... Only a succesion of chase scenes, and of course it ends with the infamous 'waving at the camera'.
GF: As pointed out many times, having en entire military platoon division faking falling unconscious is bordeline ludicrous. Ok, Oddjob fight and the 007 on the counter is good. But Bond meeting the US president was a bit OTT, and of course the awful special effect for Goldfinger getting sucked out of the plane
TB: As @talos7 just pointed out, the underwater battle is filmed too slow, the fight on the boat is filmed too fast
YOLT: Ok, good epic battle but it kinds of drag on aswell. Blofeld gets wasy a bit to easily. And making a volcano erupt by the press of a button...
OHMSS: No comment on this one, it seems to be a popular one here and I quite like this one and can't find any serious issues. Apart maybe the Bond theme playing at the end credits doesn't really fit with the mood.
DAF: Less said is the best. Awful special effects for the laser exploding stuff, the oil rig sequence is just plain awful, and Blofeld is dispatched in the most anti-climatix fashion.
LALD: Not to bad, but ofcourse the infamous Kananga explodes like a balloon - quite litteraly!
TMWTGG: End battle with Nic Nac, 'nough said (and I am a big TMWTGG fan).
TSWLM: Good one, so that's 2.
MR: Yeah, gun-laser battle in outer space, Jaws speaks...
FYEO: Tatcher imitation speaks for itself :P
AVTAK: Good battle scene on top of the Golden Gate Bridge, but the last scene with a 57 years old Moore and Stacey in the shower, and the 'That's not the soap... Ouuuooooohhhhhhh'
TLD: 3rd good one, imo.
LTK: Brutal, Bond was completly burnt out after Sanchez dies. But that winking fish at the end...
GE: Proper epic battle with 006. But it ends with that awkward moment of Bond and Natalya kissing with an entire platoon watching, and that end credit song...
TND: As said before countless times, Bond goes full-rambo in this, firing 2 guns at once,
TWINE: Many people find faults in the submarine sequence, plus the last scene with the 'I thought christmas comes only once a year' is not very popular on this community.
DAD: Less said is better.
CR: 4th one, but some people have problem with the sinking house sequence.. But the 'Bond, James Bond' makes up for it big time, IMO.
QOS: I'll put this as the 5th one, if many people disagree I'll remove it.
SF: Ok, as pointed out before it is somewhat OTT that Malory would let Bond take the head of the MI6 to a remote location in the middle of nowhere, with no backup and making sure the villain and henchmen will come to that location too...
So yes, it seems that there are only 4 or 5 Bond end-climax that seem to not have any 'sore-thumb' in them. I could be wrong though, and if I am, please correct my list.
One has to remember that Peter Hunt was the one responsible for the crazy editing in the Thunderball finale and there was evidence of this before in the fight with Colonel Boitier in the PTS, although this was much more effective there by removing some frames of the film to add a fission to the fight.
I'd like to speak up for the FRWL ending though. For me it's perfect and one of the best in the series. "The succesion of chase scenes" are all brilliantly done, allways keeping the suspense and drama going, never dragging. The way Bond cooly handles the armada of boats chasing him is a classic Bond moment. And the last encounter with Klebb is even better! So easy and uncomplicated, yet more intense than all later shootouts combined. I think it might be the most underrated action scene in the franchise's history. And the ending with Venice and the end title song just oozes 60s class and elegance. Ah, how I love that film! 8-> :P
I also think the ending of QoS is one of the better ones btw.
The editor just does (or should do) what he is told.
The director ultimately has to carry the can. Blaming something on the editor means you haven't done your properly because you should be supervising things so he delivers your vision for the film.
Young either signed off that he was happy with the final Disco footage or left Hunt to do what he wanted - either the way the poor final result is due to negligence on the part of the director.
It'll be fascinating to know who signed off on the speed up climax....
Still, it looked daft, whomever was in charge. Perhaps it was McClory.....
Well from what I recall it was Peter Hunt who signed off on the sped-up finale, something about the interior shots (filmed by Terence Young in a studio) not matching with the exterior shots of the Disco Volante. This is explained at the end of the Thunderball chapter of Steven Jay Rubin's The James Bond Films (1981).
I take it as the effects of the day. I'm sure they did the best that they could.
:))
>:) You made my day, even if I have to clean coffee of my computerscreen.
Thank you, @royale65. I've been meaning to write something on the speeded-up ending of Thunderball and I may well make good on this as I think that a lot of people are in the dark on this bizarre decision on the part of editor Peter Hunt. I really must consult the Oracle - Steven Jay Rubin!
I found something:
http://www.shatterhand007.com/PeterHuntArticle/PeterHuntArticle.html
Hunt basically made the best of a bad film-making situation.
Totally awesome music. As a kid watching with my dad I always used to just think Largo's boat was insanely fast which made me think it was all even cooler.
I guess part of that childlike believability still sticks with me today. It's bad editing but I can deal with it.
Thanks for finding that very interesting article, @chrisisall! Here's the quote on the sped-up Disco Volante exterior footage:
"In the final fight between Bond and Largo on board the Disco Volante, Hunt sped up the shots of the ocean outside the windows of Largo's yacht. He had to do this because the exterior footage was shot by helicopter and didn't match the speed of the interior action. What we're left with is Bond and Largo fighting in quick rapid shots while the Disco is speeding through the Caribbean at tremendous speed. Hunt commented on this scene later in Steven Jay Rubin's book The James Bond Films: "There are times when you want to juxtapose certain bits of film and you can't. It's not possible. And that's how the gaps occur. It's better to have the speed of the film than to worry about continuity." This scene may have suffered 32 years ago, but by today's standards of MTV videos, this scene is more exciting than many contemporary action thrillers."