-Walken was among the best villains and he worked well with Gray & Bauchau
-I liked Jones' May Day
-one of Barrys best scores imo (an actual genuine score , not the soul-less generic scores of today)
-Moore & Macnee work well together
-the pts was decent , despite silly Beach Boys cue
-Eiffel Tower jump was good
-ditto the horse fight
-Golden Gate fight was among the best action scenes
-the plot seemed decent , not on the level of 60s Bonds......still prefer this over Brosnan Bonds (cept GE)
From the obvious radio controlled helicopter at the start to the May Day dummy at the end with everything in between my least favourite Bond movie along with Octopussy and FYEO .
I think they did the horse breeding part so as to not reveal the main "sink SV" plot immediately......but I can see that fans might be bored by it and want OHMSS non-stop action.
I remember seeing this in the theater and the only scene that I thought Roger Moore looked too old to be Bond was his scene with Moneypenny.
But Moneypenny was a few months older than Bond. Moore and Maxwell worked so well together. They had by far the best chemistry of all the Bonds and Moneypennys together.
Is say that Moore had the best Relationship with Maxwell.
1.On Her Majesties Secret Service 2.The Living Daylights 3.license To Kill 4.The Spy Who Loved Me 5.Goldfinger
BIG TAMWrexham, North Wales, UK.Posts: 773MI6 Agent
For me, A VIEW TO A KILL is the most infuriating Bond as it contains many fine elements, but is let down by some really stupid stuff. I lay the blame at John Glen's door. He clearly wants to have his cake & eat it with a mix of serious & comic but the tone's jarring. Some of the serious stuff's too on the nose (e.g. Zorin gunning down all his employees) & the comedy stuff's just not funny.
The pre-credits sequence is indicative of the film as a whole. A good ski pursuit whose thrills are completely undone by inappropriate music, in this California Girls. Turn the sound down & play an arrangement of the Bond theme over the surfing stunt & see how much better it plays out. An error in judgement. Similarly the fire truck chase; it could have been a simple but effective spin on the usual car pursuit. Instead Glen peppers it with daft sight gags & has the scene outstay its welcome by smashing up a load of police cars. Even worse, the J.W. Pepper wannabe isn't a particularly good actor. For me, this sort of thing is far worse than Moore's age & Tanya Roberts' performance.
It's still a watchable film but could have been so much more. Perhaps we need a Director's Cut - but by another director!
Spending 50 minutes on horses really dragged the pace.
Agreed! That's one of the reasons I find AVTAK to be the most boring of the Bond films.
Boring? I can't fathom how grace jones in bed with Roger Moore could be boring? Disgusting but not boring
I actually think the scenes in France in the first half of the film are the best, especially with Patrick Macnee. He has such great chemistry with Moore.
AVTAK I'm very fond of. First Bond movie I rented on VHS and watched from start to finish. In other words, the movie that hooked me. If you imagine Dalton on it, which is not far fetched, you realise how good the film actually is. Suddenly Bond is 20 years younger, so the action scenes become believable, and Dalton's more serious approach would give the film a darker tone (no California Girls).
We all came in somewhere. My first was DAF in 1971, and I wouldn't pretend that this doesn't have something to do with my repeated impassioned posts of defence of the movie against its critics! I remember finding plenty to enjoy in AVTAK on first viewing, too, starting with the John Barry/Duran Duran collaboration accompanied by Maurice Binder's garishly 80s main titles: AVTAK brings back fond memories of my final undergraduate year.
'Catching Bullets' remains my favourite ever book about the Bond films: great concept for a fresh approach, very amusing and steeped in appreciation of the movies.
Critics and material I don't need. I haven't changed my act in 53 years.
Childhood viewings leave me with a fondness for AVTAK but even at it's best it's a good-bad movie. Moore is of course way too old--thanks to his example we know James Bond shouldn't appear in his late 50s (and Fleming says the cut-off age for double-Os is 45). Other casting demerits: supposed geologist Tanya Roberts plays a helpless ditz (even a blimp can sneak up on her); Walken's character is so thinly written he doubles-down on his mannerisms; Grace Jones looks great but seems to be in a different movie--the idea of her and Roger Moore making love is like something out of a Dali painting.
AVTAK's tone is all over the place--Beach Boys in the pre-credits (not even the Beach Boys's original "California Girls" but a cheap soundalike!), while the majestic rescue from city hall is followed by Keystone Kops ("the dumb police-car crashes seem to have got in by mistake--they belong to a back-roads chase comedy" wrote Pauline Kael). And the script takes its unsweet time--the horse-doping scenes at Chantilly go on forever and the process of uncovering Zorin's plot in the bay area is only slightly less lethargic. John Glen and the editors must have been on depressants.
Good bits: John Barry's score (his liveliest since Diamonds Are Forever); Duran Duran coupled with Maurice Binder's kinky-eerie dayglow nudies; the ski-work in the pre-credits; seeing progressively bigger pieces of Bond's car sheered off in Paris (a rare example of a comedic scene that's actually funny); the let's-destroy-Silicon-Valley-with-an-earthquake plot (still worth attempting); the businessman's surprise slide from the blimp into San Francisco bay; Mayday's self-sacrifice; and, best of all, the genuinely iconic fight on top the Golden Gate bridge, which has aged well thanks to the mix of location filming and large models. Walken's demented chuckle as his hands slip from the cable is one of the finest moments in Bond villainy.
For me, the thing I could not get past was Tanya Robert's constant screeching of "James!" "James". The film would have been much better without her in it. (I liked Christopher Walken, Patrick McNee and the fight on the Golden Gate Bridge.)
LoeffelholzThe United States, With LovePosts: 8,989Quartermasters
I'll be charitable here: I enjoy the theme song, the Eiffel Tower jump, and the Golden Gate finale.
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"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
I fancied/fancy Tanya Roberts in the movie, and I like her sexily throaty screams and chuckles. She was very 'Perils Of Pauline', but a good counterpoint to May Day. I like the fantasy, too, that a middle-aged Englishman can be in with a chance with a Californian babe... still dancing into the fire!
Critics and material I don't need. I haven't changed my act in 53 years.
Spending 50 minutes on horses really dragged the pace.
That's the part of the film I like best, when Bond's undercover at Zorin's chateau. The scenes are perfect for an older Bond, plus they have Patrick Macnee!
Yep, this is why AVTAK gets a pass mark from me. I really enjoyed AVTAK when I was starting to watch Bond, probably because I enjoyed Moore's subtle humour throughout and the non-action scene's pace. But overtime, I started to like the film less and less. Overall the film doesn't succeed like many of the others do as "complete" films with all elements working well.
Moore works pretty hard in this one to make it work, but everything around him doesn't seem to.
Comments
30 today......... :007)
IMO the good stuff :
-Walken was among the best villains and he worked well with Gray & Bauchau
-I liked Jones' May Day
-one of Barrys best scores imo (an actual genuine score , not the soul-less generic scores of today)
-Moore & Macnee work well together
-the pts was decent , despite silly Beach Boys cue
-Eiffel Tower jump was good
-ditto the horse fight
-Golden Gate fight was among the best action scenes
-the plot seemed decent , not on the level of 60s Bonds......still prefer this over Brosnan Bonds (cept GE)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2nZXn1U2qo
facebook.com/catchingbullets
www.markoconnell.co.uk
Brilliant and very funny!
-{
Great!!
I have been inside San Francisco's city hall. It was twenty years ago mind..
I also remember thinking that I shouldn't be liking this movie, but I do. This has always felt like my guilty pleasure in the Bond series.
But Moneypenny was a few months older than Bond. Moore and Maxwell worked so well together. They had by far the best chemistry of all the Bonds and Moneypennys together.
The pre-credits sequence is indicative of the film as a whole. A good ski pursuit whose thrills are completely undone by inappropriate music, in this California Girls. Turn the sound down & play an arrangement of the Bond theme over the surfing stunt & see how much better it plays out. An error in judgement. Similarly the fire truck chase; it could have been a simple but effective spin on the usual car pursuit. Instead Glen peppers it with daft sight gags & has the scene outstay its welcome by smashing up a load of police cars. Even worse, the J.W. Pepper wannabe isn't a particularly good actor. For me, this sort of thing is far worse than Moore's age & Tanya Roberts' performance.
It's still a watchable film but could have been so much more. Perhaps we need a Director's Cut - but by another director!
I actually think the scenes in France in the first half of the film are the best, especially with Patrick Macnee. He has such great chemistry with Moore.
Absolutely. And, Iceland aside, all shot for real and showcased for real.
facebook.com/catchingbullets
www.markoconnell.co.uk
'Catching Bullets' remains my favourite ever book about the Bond films: great concept for a fresh approach, very amusing and steeped in appreciation of the movies.
AVTAK's tone is all over the place--Beach Boys in the pre-credits (not even the Beach Boys's original "California Girls" but a cheap soundalike!), while the majestic rescue from city hall is followed by Keystone Kops ("the dumb police-car crashes seem to have got in by mistake--they belong to a back-roads chase comedy" wrote Pauline Kael). And the script takes its unsweet time--the horse-doping scenes at Chantilly go on forever and the process of uncovering Zorin's plot in the bay area is only slightly less lethargic. John Glen and the editors must have been on depressants.
Good bits: John Barry's score (his liveliest since Diamonds Are Forever); Duran Duran coupled with Maurice Binder's kinky-eerie dayglow nudies; the ski-work in the pre-credits; seeing progressively bigger pieces of Bond's car sheered off in Paris (a rare example of a comedic scene that's actually funny); the let's-destroy-Silicon-Valley-with-an-earthquake plot (still worth attempting); the businessman's surprise slide from the blimp into San Francisco bay; Mayday's self-sacrifice; and, best of all, the genuinely iconic fight on top the Golden Gate bridge, which has aged well thanks to the mix of location filming and large models. Walken's demented chuckle as his hands slip from the cable is one of the finest moments in Bond villainy.
Agreed - and this is the movie's main problem. (To a lesser extent this is an issue, too, with OP and TLD.)
Absolutely!
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
1 - Moore, 2 - Dalton, 3 - Craig, 4 - Connery, 5 - Brosnan, 6 - Lazenby
28 years. And she wasn't a kid at 30...
I also know a couple with a larger age difference (34 years), and she was much younger than Tanya Roberts when they got married.
Yep, this is why AVTAK gets a pass mark from me. I really enjoyed AVTAK when I was starting to watch Bond, probably because I enjoyed Moore's subtle humour throughout and the non-action scene's pace. But overtime, I started to like the film less and less. Overall the film doesn't succeed like many of the others do as "complete" films with all elements working well.
Moore works pretty hard in this one to make it work, but everything around him doesn't seem to.
Bad script/direction?
"Better make that two."