James Bond 007 film-by-film thread

I think the Spoto book said that the rear projection scenes were shot late, after Tippi and Hitch had a falling out after Hitch made a pass at her and they were communicating through intermediaries.
Spoto said Hitch was losing for interest every day as the shoot wound down and couldn't have cared less how the scenes looked.

It pains me to say it, but it seems sometimes that the thing that interested him about the film was the rape scene.

 

Moonraker

You know, if there's one thing Bond franchise is guilty of anything, it's bandwagoning. Think about it; You Only Live Twice took advantage of interest in Japan generated by the '64 Olympics, blacksploitation allowed Live and Let Die to get made, the kung-fu school in Golden Gun owes its existence to Bruce Lee, Octopussy was influenced by Indiana Jones, Licence to Kill takes a few cues from big dumb 80's action films and Jason Bourne has haunted the Daniel Craig films.

What I'm getting at is the success of Star Wars and Close Encounters made Broccoli push ahead with Moonraker and I must admit its full plunge into fantasy is both ridiculous and charming at the same time. Oh, and that opening free fall is boss!

This is a 2nd tier film for me. (see my previous entry)

P.S.: "I think he's attempting re-entry"; not even Mike Myers would stoop that low!

 

That's what they said in the doc on the Blu-Ray of Marnie (from the 2012 UK Masterpiece boxset). The first writer (male) tried to write around the rape scene as depicted in the novel as he knew it was very iffy. Hitchcock fired him (or they mutually agreed to part) because that was the one scene he wanted and the writer wouldn’t do it. The second writer (a woman) said she didn't even question the implications of the scene and wrote it without any concerns. Only years later did she realised that it was a questionable sequence. So yes, Hitchcock appears to have made that whole film mostly for the rape scene. Me, personally, I didn’t even recall the rape scene from my viewing circa 15 years ago so it wasn’t very memorable as I recall lots of other things instead.

 

Agreed.

I'm adding reviews of the five Bourne movies to the end of this thread. I recommend others think about doing the same.

 

Interestingly, the end of The Spy Who Loved Me originally teased For Your Eyes Only as the next Bond film during it's theatrical release and through the next two decades when it was shown on television and released on home video. It was seemingly finally removed around the time it (and the Bond series in general) got a comprehensive remastering for the digital disc era.

Five??? I know of only three; Identity, Supremacy, and Ultimatum... it's the Bourne TRILOGY to me and always will be .

 

I like the one where he finally escapes - Bourne Free

 

Not as good as Bourne on the Fourth of July though...

 

Bourne in the USA

 

It's there in the version I have, which is the Bond 50 blu-ray set.

 

EON should just call 25 The Bond Identity.

 

I like the prequel, Bourne Yesterday.

 

For Your Eyes Only
I thought this one was okay, but not particularly interesting or memorable. I only saw it about a month ago, and I've already forgotten most of what happened. That being said, I remember it being pretty decent for most of the movie, but got really boring towards the end. A lot of it felt like it was repeating On Her Majesty's Secret Service, but it was still fairly entertaining. The attack on the mountaintop base could have been a really great scene, but I thought it was done in a really dull way. I would rank For Your Eyes Only as a middling Roger Moore film and a mostly forgettable Bond film.

 

I’m playing catch up here, but I just watched You Only Live Twice and wanted to review it. I liked it a lot and would rank it as my second favorite Sean Connery film after From Russia With Love. Some of the main things I liked about it were the pacing and the tone, which I think are a serious improvement over most early Bond films. The pacing was suitably fast and didn’t get bogged down as severely or as often as some of the preceding films. I liked that the tone felt light and fun, but not too campy (for a Bond film at least). The action sequences were some of the best of the era and never looked fake or sped up like in most other early Bonds. The cinematography was also some of the best in the series.

The film wasn’t perfect though, and I do have a few complaints. One big thing was that the secondary characters were some of the weaker ones. Blofeld wasn’t in it much, and none of his underlings has much personality. The film tried to shuffle between too many Bond girls for any of them to be fully developed. All the “becoming” Japanese and ninja stuff was stupid and kind of offensive by modern standards, so I wasn’t a big fan of any of that. I’ve never liked it when the climax of a Bond film is a big, noisy battle scene in the enemy lair, and the one in this movie is no exception, but I do think it was better than the others.

Overall I would say this is one of the better Bond films in my opinion.

 

Nancy Sinatra owned that film.
Heck I've repeated myself twice.

 

It’s very curious that people are defending Moonraker and saying nice things about it. I just assumed everyone would be lining up to bury hatchet after hatchet in it as it’s generally loathed.


For Your Eyes Only (1981)

James Bond (Roger Moore) tries to find a missile launching computer lost off the coast of Greece.

It's a pretty decent film but it's also rather forgettable. It feels like a filler film between more ambitious productions. What is here is nearly good but it never kicks up a gear and becomes anything more than watchable. It has a few good set piece action sequences but none that would make it onto a list of the best Bond scenes ever.

The getaway in the crappy little car was the highlight of the movie.

The music ranges from weak to outright bad.

The gymnast Bond girl is annoying and adds nothing to the plot so she could have been deleted.

It's a perfectly decent and enjoyable movie but it's definitely a very minor addition to the series. It's a bit too done before to impress or leave much of an impression.

Above average


Best to worst IMO (films ranked as I watched them so this list has some weight to it)


Live and Let Die (1973)

The Living Daylights (1987)

Diamonds Are Forever (1971)

Licence to Kill (1989)

Goldfinger (1964)

Dr No (1962)

Thunderball (1965)

The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)

Moonraker (1979)

The World is Not Enough (1999)

Goldeneye (1995)

Octopussy (1983)

On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)

Casino Royale (2006)

For Your Eyes Only (1981)

Never Say Never Again (1983)

Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

Die Another Day (2002)

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

You Only Live Twice (1967)

Skyfall (2012)

Spectre (2015)

Quantum of Solace (2008)

A View to a Kill (1985)

From Russia with Love (1963)

 

For Your Eyes Only--my Favorite Moore Bond. No gadgets. Just tough Bond (love him pushing the car off the side) and lots of stunts. The plot is simple instead of convoluted, I don't care if half the film is him trying to figure out who is the villain.
The ocean thing is partially lifted from the book Live and Let Die. Some great music in there.

The little blonde skater girl is just horrible, but fortunately she is not onscreen much. The Bond girl is kind of blah, but she doesn't have a lot to do, so I can look past that.

It's all downhill from here for Moore.

 

Sugar Walls gal helped with the theme song, s'pose.

 

For Your Eyes Only is back-to-basics Bond, and is all the better for it (although I have great affection for Moonraker).
The down side first: the pre-title sequence is ropey, mainly due to the particularly jaunty Bill Conti score and the obvious dummy Blofeld (who cannot be called Blofeld), Bibi is arguably unnecessary and the Margaret and Denis Thatcher "cameo" at the end is regrettable, would-be comedic end to what is quite a gritty Bond outing, certainly by Roger Moore's standards.
But there is much to admire. The plot itself is quite conventional and straightforward, the 2CV chase is justifiably held in high regard, the ski sequences are very impressive and Julian Glover and Topol add gravitas. Carole Bouquet's Melina is arguably even more no-nonsense than Holly Goodhead, but lacks her feistiness, appearing almost sullen at times, which is unfortunate.

 

well she is trying to avenge the death of her parents so that has to be considered.

 

Top three James Bond's up to 2019.
Goldfinger
OHMSS
From Russia With Love

(4th Casino Royale /Craig)

 

Absolutely. But before she sets out for revenge, she must first dig two graves.

 

Moonraker is often rather daft. I enjoyed it at the time, but when you grow up you feel that something more serious and more Fleming is the order of the day. I turned to From Russia With Love (still do) as a favourite. But when you stop getting up yourself, you find that there is a lot to enjoy in Moonraker.

The pre titles outlines how the movie goes. A fantastic stunt as Bond free falls in search of a parachute. A real technical achievement. But they have to introduce Jaws at the end. They could have left it as a brief challenge, but instead he flaps his arms like a big old bird. They don't always seem to know when to stop the joke. Or they really are aiming it at the kids.

There is a strong first half to Moonraker. Drax appears early and his one-liners are frequent and super. Corinne is elegant and an appealing ally. Her death is chilling. The centrifuge scene is surprisingly tense and well shot.

The gondola scene is a slump in the good first half. It's a silly gadget on the water, but you can laugh at it until he parades around the square with everyone and his pigeon double-taking him. There is a decent fight with a decent foe, Chang.

Then we are off to Rio and things don't fall apart but there are more silly moments. Jaws features again, and his cartoon nature his been ramped up. When he falls in love with a curvy midget you know something weird is happening.

Bond meets a girl in Rio and spends no time or effort in seducing her, if you can call it that. The Bond girl features more in the second half, which doesn't help. Goodhead is another equal to Bond. Except somehow they have found a worse actress than Barbara Bach. A totally wooden performance. Bring back Anya. No don't.

I like Drax's Amazon tech centre, and then Bond goes into space. I often see people say this is where the film loses it, but I think the shuttle launch looks great and the space later shoot out is a lot shorter that the draggy battle at the end of Spy. Bond finishes off Drax's plan by turning all Skywalker and bringing down the lethal globes.

The music score by John Barry is one of his best. Much slower than other entries, this stately approach pays off especially for the space shuttle's flight into space. There is other fine work for the centrifuge, the hijack of the shuttle, Corinne's death, Bond's freefall and his approach to the girls in the amazon. Top notch score.

Moonraker isn't as stupid as it makes out. It's a decent entry with a good pace and it looks stylish and expensive. It just has some moments where it goes overboard on stupid. But they are just moments. Overall I'd put this mid-table.

 

I can’t wait until you have the guts to say “Bring back Bibi!”

 

For Your Eyes Only brings Bond back down to earth. It's generally a good move.

The budget and excesses have been trimmed and Bond joins the Bond girl Melina on her revenge mission. She is a step up from the last three Bond girls. Roger Moore suddenly looks a lot older here.

The pre titles featuring Notblofeld is OK, but I hate the hammy delivery "Meeester Bond!" After some scene setting we get a really fine and inventive car chase. It is rather quaint how long Bond and Q spend working on photoshop. I think they were in there all day.

Ice skater Bibi is irritating. I know she is supposed to be, but I don't see the need for her. She does nothing for the plot. At least she isn't an irritating main character like Mary Goodnight.

There is an extended ski chase with some good tension mid way through when the baddies corner Bond at the ski jump. Columbo (just one more thing) is an old school ally. He is rather good. The villain Kristatos is not so memorable. Nor is his henchman who is just a weak Red Grant photocopy.

The warehouse attack and Bond killing the assassin Loque are followed by a long underwater scene and then the keel-hauling of Bond and Melina (lifted from Live And Let Die). These are all fine scenes. We go straight from this run into the climactic ascent of the mountain. This is very different from all the massive battles we have had before. It is tense and refreshing.

What better way to round off the movie than with Thatcher getting chatted up by a parrot. Well the silliness had to sneak back in somehow.

No John Barry this time. We get Bill Conti, fresh from his triumphant Rocky score. He doesn't bring much of that pomp here. He goes all disco in the action scenes and it doesn't work as well as Bond 77 in Spy. But he does come up with better music for some of the slower scenes such as for the submarine descent and battle. One of the weaker scores.

Overall this movie is a big improvement over the last three. It does lack having any really iconic scenes which is probably why people tend to forget this one. But the set pieces are all good, the silly moments are much fewer and it is entertaining. Top 10 for me (although I suspect by the end of this I'll have more than 10 entries in my Top 10).

 

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