The James Bond Film Discussion Thread (With Bonus Lazenby!)

[The Old Mixer]

There was also the hint of Bond's open wound regarding Tracy in TSWLM.

Y'know, "Mr. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang" is quite the earworm...since posting a link to it in my review, I've had the intro in particular stuck in my head all day.

 

[cardinal biggles]

Yeah, a frequent critique of the film is that the underwater scenes drag on for too long, especially the scene where Largo's frogmen cover the Vulcan bomber with the camouflaged netting.

The underwater stuff goes on waaaay too long. It's beautifully filmed, but it fucking draaaaaaaags compared to later underwater sequences in The Spy Who Loved Me, For Your Eyes Only, and Tomorrow Never Dies. My beef isn't that scene so much as the later underwater battle between Bond and the Coast Guard vs. Largo's frogmen, it's almost impossible to tell who's on which side. The least they could have done is given one side flippers or wetsuits that were a certain color.

 

[cooleddie74]

If it weren't for the lush John Barry score during the underwater sequences some of them would be almost unwatchable. The music helps save some parts of that movie.

 

[The Old Mixer]

My beef isn't that scene so much as the later underwater battle between Bond and the Coast Guard vs. Largo's frogmen, it's almost impossible to tell who's on which side. The least they could have done is given one side flippers or wetsuits that were a certain color.

But they did...the bad guys wear black, the good guys wear orange...or is it red?

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[cardinal biggles]

Looks like they're wearing red, so I stand corrected.

Thunderball is definitely near the bottom of my Bond rewatch list, so it's been a while. And you'll notice that in the shots where someone is in the foreground the red suits show up well, but in longer shots the red is hard to pick out. That could just be the limits of underwater lighting and photography at the time.

 

[Colonel Midnight]

^ Most likely the limited tech at the time - red is the first color to ‘go’ (disappear) as you go down in the water column.

Cheers,
-CM-

 

[cooleddie74]

I'm still wondering how Bond and Domino managed to have sex underwater.

 

[cardinal biggles]

^ Most likely the limited tech at the time - red is the first color to ‘go’ (disappear) as you go down in the water column.

Cheers,
-CM-

A lesson that was certainly remembered for both of the Moore films with extensive underwater sequences. There's lots of whites and yellows that show up really well in both TSWLM and FYEO.

 

[cooleddie74]

A poll names OHMSS the greatest Bond film and George Lazenby responds.

 

[cooleddie74]

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[cooleddie74]

"Mr. Bond...Mr. Bond! I'm so glad I caught you. Your office called. They're sending a helicopter to pick you up. Some sort of emergency."

"Yes, it usually is. Thank you."

 

[MakeshiftPython]

“I'll buy you a delicatessen in stainless steel!”

It’s so odd that pre-title sequence turns out so goofy in the end with Bond killing Blofeld in a manner that’s no different than Looney Tunes, but then 30 minutes later we have Bond trying to warn Melina about the personal costs of vengeance. Did the filmmakers just not put two and two together? It’s kind of hypocritical that Bond gets to kill the man who killed his wife but the movie tries to make it seem like Melina killing Kristatos would be a bad thing.

QUANTUM OF SOLACE is severely flawed, but at least Camille got to kill the man who murdered her family.

 

[cooleddie74]

FYEO is an amazing Bond film - one of my Top 5 - but yeah, there's a deafening hypocrisy in Bond's behavior when Melina wants to avenge her parents' deaths when only a number of days or weeks before 007 himself finally got revenge on Blofeld for Tracy's murder and happily dropped him to his death. I guess that could be one of Bond's unacknowledged attributes: he frequently does the things he tells others are bad to do. Perhaps because he knows killing his his job and sometimes you have to be a hypocrite?

Who knows...but thankfully it never affects my enjoyment of FYEO even if the dialogue stands out in stark contrast to the pre-titles sequence. Or even Bond's ruthless hunt for Blofeld in an attempt to avenge Tracy in the pre-titles sequence of DAF. The man went around the world randomly beating the snot out of or even choking people to find out Blofeld's hiding location.

 

[CorporalClegg]

The rockface sequence is the best setpiece of the entire franchise.

 

[Nerys Myk]

"Mr. Bond...Mr. Bond! I'm so glad I caught you. Your office called. They're sending a helicopter to pick you up. Some sort of emergency."

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[cardinal biggles]

The pre-credits sequences don't always tie into the film itself, and this is one of those times. Quite frankly it's so ridiculous that I've always mentally separated it from the rest of the film.

 

[cooleddie74]

It's almost as jarring a tonal difference as when Corrine Dufour is attacked and mauled to death by Drax's Doberman Pinschers in Moonraker, a movie that veers between near-comical scenes(Dolly meeting Jaws) and something straight out of a Gothic horror film(Dufour's death). Bond movies have their dark as well as funny moments but wow, are the Blofeld death scene and Corrine Dufour's demise so disconnected from the rest of the films in which they exist.

 

[MakeshiftPython]

Don’t forget the ending that has Thatcher talking to a parrot. FYEO has such jarring bookends.

FYEO is an amazing Bond film - one of my Top 5 - but yeah, there's a deafening hypocrisy in Bond's behavior when Melina wants to avenge her parents' deaths when only a number of days or weeks before 007 himself finally got revenge on Blofeld for Tracy's murder and happily dropped him to his death. I guess that could be one of Bond's unacknowledged attributes: he frequently does the things he tells others are bad to do. Perhaps because he knows killing his his job and sometimes you have to be a hypocrite?

Who knows...but thankfully it never affects my enjoyment of FYEO even if the dialogue stands out in stark contrast to the pre-titles sequence. Or even Bond's ruthless hunt for Blofeld in an attempt to avenge Tracy in the pre-titles sequence of DAF. The man went around the world randomly beating the snot out of or even choking people to find out Blofeld's hiding location.

The whole thing with Bone not wanting to see her succumb to vengeance probably would have played better with a more psychologically tortured Bond like Dalton or Craig, but Moore really does the best interpreting what he’s given to fit with his Bond.

 

[cooleddie74]

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[CorporalCaptain]

FYEO is an amazing Bond film - one of my Top 5 - but yeah, there's a deafening hypocrisy in Bond's behavior when Melina wants to avenge her parents' deaths when only a number of days or weeks before 007 himself finally got revenge on Blofeld for Tracy's murder and happily dropped him to his death.

There are at least two important differences.

In FYEO, Bond didn't seek confrontation with Blofeld. Blofeld caught Bond after killing his own man. Sure, Bond could have flown away once he regained control of the helicopter, but after turning the tables he had the opportunity to prevent inevitable future murders by taking advantage of the situation and using his license to kill to eliminate the threat once and for all. Melina on the other hand was going hunting again after she likely would have been caught and killed trying to get away in her Citroën 2CV6 after her first assassination, were it not for Bond.

The rockface sequence is the best setpiece of the entire franchise.

I thought so until I watched it so many times that now I can't unsee the backdrops behind Moore in some of the shots. But the stunt work and location shooting are outstanding, and it's genuinely tense. However, I'm sure Bond is happy that Kristatos fostered an environment in which his guards preferred personal glory to the idea of calling for reinforcements.