Huh?

PoorMansJBPoorMansJB USAPosts: 1,198MI6 Agent
Are there certain lines of dialogue that make no sense to you and serve, perhaps, only as set-ups to some joke or situation that need a lead-in to get started?

The one that has always bothered me is Moore's "Well, I'm sure we're better off out than in" in MR. I mean, why? Why not just stay inside the tram where there's probably a phone or control box or at least protection from the elements? Because they wouldn't otherwise find themselves in a defenseless confrontation with Jaws, that's why.

So which lines peeve you?
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Comments

  • Dan SameDan Same Victoria, AustraliaPosts: 6,054MI6 Agent
    edited August 2006
    PoorMansJB wrote:
    The one that has always bothered me is Moore's "Well, I'm sure we're better off out than in" in MR. I mean, why? Why not just stay inside the tram where there's probably a phone or control box or at least protection from the elements? Because they wouldn't otherwise find themselves in a defenseless confrontation with Jaws, that's why.
    Isn't what bothers you about this scene is what actually happens rather than what Bond says? ;)
    "He’s a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine. And when they start not smiling back—that’s an earthquake. and then you get yourself a couple of spots on your hat, and you’re finished. Nobody dast blame this man. A salesman is got to dream, boy. It comes with the territory." Death of a Salesman
  • Golrush007Golrush007 South AfricaPosts: 3,418Quartermasters
    Dan Same wrote:
    PoorMansJB wrote:
    The one that has always bothered me is Moore's "Well, I'm sure we're better off out than in" in MR. I mean, why? Why not just stay inside the tram where there's probably a phone or control box or at least protection from the elements? Because they wouldn't otherwise find themselves in a defenseless confrontation with Jaws, that's why.
    Isn't what bothers you about this scene is what actually happens rather than what Bond says? ;)

    I agree, PoorMansJB. It is rather odd. But I have always enjoyed this scene very much. Although the fight on top of the cable car doesn't look very slick at times. MR was the first Bond film I saw, so this scene as always been stuck in my mind as one of the defining scenes in my personal Bond experience. I often say, if I hadn't seen MR first, I might not have become a Bond fan. There was something about it that drew me in, and now that I think about it, not many of the other Bond films would have excited me in the same way. I suppose it was Jaws that did it!
    But back to the topic, that it indeed one of the more confusing lines in the Bond series. In fact, off hand, I can't think of any line more confusing than this.
  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,238MI6 Agent
    It may be because should another cable car pull alongside, they are sitting ducks, they could be shot at. Maybe Christopher Wood mentioned this in the novelisation, not sure.

    Of course, Jaws could just have a machine gun... but maybe he couldn't get it through customs. This takes place after 2006's Casino Royale, of course, some 20 years into the future, where it may be hard to get hold of weaponry... :D
    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • clumclum Santa Cruz, CAPosts: 63MI6 Agent
    FYEO
    Blofeld(?)(to Bond): "I'll buy you a delicatessen in stainless steel!" ?:)
  • Golrush007Golrush007 South AfricaPosts: 3,418Quartermasters
    clum wrote:
    FYEO
    Blofeld(?)(to Bond): "I'll buy you a delicatessen in stainless steel!" ?:)

    Yes, that is bizarre!! I'd love to ask whoever came up with that, "What are you on about?!?!"
  • clumclum Santa Cruz, CAPosts: 63MI6 Agent
    maybe Bond makes a mean sandwich :))
  • The CatThe Cat Where Blofeld is!Posts: 711MI6 Agent
    Golrush007 wrote:
    clum wrote:
    FYEO
    Blofeld(?)(to Bond): "I'll buy you a delicatessen in stainless steel!" ?:)

    Yes, that is bizarre!! I'd love to ask whoever came up with that, "What are you on about?!?!"

    It was Cubby's idea, some maffia-lingo, I think it's connected to the institution of "protection money". I think he thought it was better-spread - I mean why would Blofeld start using obscure New York sayings? He could say something like "Who loves ya, baby?" instead. :p
  • jetsetwillyjetsetwilly Liverpool, UKPosts: 1,048MI6 Agent
    To this day, I don't understand what was going on with Solitaire at New Orleans airport. "My only regret is - I won't be there to see it." Does she want Bond dead? Does she think that because the taxi driver called him Jim that makes them bessie mates? Is she really that thick? Or is she trying to provide a distraction so he can escape? In which case, why doesn't she whack one of Kananga's men with her handbag instead of Bond? And actually, where did she get that handbag from anyway? Or that outfit? Did Quarrel Jnr have them on board his boat? For what purpose? Are they Rosie's left overs? Or is he a secret cross-dresser? Is that why he shares Bond's hairbrush? Does he share anything else as well? Does this mean Quarrel Jnr and Bond are secretly gay lovers with a sideline in drag? Is Felix as well? Is that why he calls Bond "Our Boy" when Quarrel gets on the boat at the end? Is Live and Let Die actually a subtly told tale of forbidden love in a resolutely heterosexual profession, decades before Brokebank Mountain (with an interracial three way twist)?

    You see the problems when you look too closely at a Bond film? The whole thing unravels before your eyes...
    Founder of the Wint & Kidd Appreciation Society.

    @merseytart
  • Golrush007Golrush007 South AfricaPosts: 3,418Quartermasters
    To this day, I don't understand what was going on with Solitaire at New Orleans airport. "My only regret is - I won't be there to see it."

    That has always had me confused as well. I've always assumed that she was trying to create a distraction to allow Bond to escape.
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 36,053Chief of Staff
    edited August 2006
    It may be because should another cable car pull alongside, they are sitting ducks, they could be shot at. Maybe Christopher Wood mentioned this in the novelisation, not sure.

    Nope, it's not mentioned- and "Well, I'm sure we're better off out than in" isn't said either.

    Also, re Solitaire and Bond at the airport: Roger Moore in "Roger Moore As James Bond" (1973) states that "Jane, as Solitaire, takes a swing at me to distract the attention of my captors. This feint gives me the chance to dive under a parked jet plane and escape".
  • HardyboyHardyboy Posts: 5,882Chief of Staff
    I've always been stumped by Bond's comment to Felix in Goldfinger: "They (i.e., the enemy) got a lot closer to you in Jamaica, didn't they?" Excuse me--? In Dr. No the villains got nowhere near Felix! I can only assume that the line was put in the film as a way of saying to the audience, "This is supposed to be the same guy who was in the first movie."
    Vox clamantis in deserto
  • MBE_MBE_ USAPosts: 266MI6 Agent
    "Blow up your pants"

    Yes the way Jill St John looks when she says it makes me laugh but what the hell does it mean?

    MBE
  • taitytaity Posts: 702MI6 Agent
    My guess that pants comment is something about farting. Not very classy.
  • darenhatdarenhat The Old PuebloPosts: 2,029Quartermasters
    Hardyboy wrote:
    I've always been stumped by Bond's comment to Felix in Goldfinger: "They (i.e., the enemy) got a lot closer to you in Jamaica, didn't they?" Excuse me--? In Dr. No the villains got nowhere near Felix! I can only assume that the line was put in the film as a way of saying to the audience, "This is supposed to be the same guy who was in the first movie."

    Yes, that line never made any sense to me. For some reason, I always thought it was a reference to Leiter's incident in LALD - the film wasn't made at the time, but in the novels, LALD preceeds GF. But in this case, the line still doesn't apply, because that would mean Leiter escaped with all of his limbs!
  • wordswords Buckinghamshire, EnglandPosts: 249MI6 Agent
    MBE_ wrote:
    "Blow up your pants"

    Yes the way Jill St John looks when she says it makes me laugh but what the hell does it mean?

    MBE

    She had no class that girl. Taken out of context though, that line is hilarious! :D
  • darenhatdarenhat The Old PuebloPosts: 2,029Quartermasters
    words wrote:
    MBE_ wrote:
    "Blow up your pants"

    Yes the way Jill St John looks when she says it makes me laugh but what the hell does it mean?

    MBE

    She had no class that girl. Taken out of context though, that line is hilarious! :D

    The kid actually had the better jibe when he said to the attendant: "Who's she? Your mother?" I think EON should do a spin-off film of this kid thirty years later...or maybe have him show up all grown up as the next Bond villian :p
  • darenhatdarenhat The Old PuebloPosts: 2,029Quartermasters
    Another thing that always struck me as odd was in LTK when Bond discovers Leiter's maimed body with the note "He Disagreed With Something That Ate Him":

    The telephone rings and Bond answers hurriedly. On the phone, we hear Leiter's police friend casually saying "Hey, Leiter, Where have you been?" This always struck me as odd since Leiter was supposed to have been on his honeymoon. It doesn't seem right that a friend would call up the morning after a wedding and ask what he was doing all night!
  • MBE_MBE_ USAPosts: 266MI6 Agent
    edited August 2006
    darenhat wrote:
    words wrote:
    MBE_ wrote:
    "Blow up your pants"

    Yes the way Jill St John looks when she says it makes me laugh but what the hell does it mean?

    MBE

    She had no class that girl. Taken out of context though, that line is hilarious! :D

    The kid actually had the better jibe when he said to the attendant: "Who's she? Your mother?" I think EON should do a spin-off film of this kid thirty years later...or maybe have him show up all grown up as the next Bond villian :p

    Perfect, there could even be a flashback to when he exactly turned to the dark side -- the day he was cheated out of his prize and realized the world was a dark corrupt place where cheaters win.

    *sniff*

    His #2 would be the kid Bond pushed into the river in TMWTGG.

    MBE
  • MBE_MBE_ USAPosts: 266MI6 Agent
    darenhat wrote:
    Another thing that always struck me as odd was in LTK when Bond discovers Leiter's maimed body with the note "He Disagreed With Something That Ate Him":

    The telephone rings and Bond answers hurriedly. On the phone, we hear Leiter's police friend casually saying "Hey, Leiter, Where have you been?" This always struck me as odd since Leiter was supposed to have been on his honeymoon. It doesn't seem right that a friend would call up the morning after a wedding and ask what he was doing all night!

    It makes no sense at all but a ton more than Leiter yucking it mere days later and flirting with a nurse. Oy.

    MBE
  • MoniqueMonique USAPosts: 696MI6 Agent
    MBE wrote:
    His #2 would be the kid Bond pushed into the river in TMWTGG.

    MBE

    :)) :))

    That "blow up your pants" never made sense to me..it's like she trips over it, and misses a word. They could have given her a better bratty kid line.

    Oh and ben? The gorilla scene always reminds me that DAF IS an LSD trip. I love it too though, wide pink tie and all.
  • Willie GarvinWillie Garvin Posts: 1,412MI6 Agent
    edited August 2006
    One sequence I've always found strange is in Diamonds Are Forever when Tiffany finds the special card Bond secreted in the pocket of the assassin he just killed.She turns to 007 and says in amazement: "You just killed JAMES BOND!"She's absolutely shocked.

    Apparently the name of that so-called secret agent is well-known to everyone everywhere.Bond's internationally famous.How else to explain a Vegas showgirl recognizing a British spy's name? No wonder the Bad Guys always get the drop on 007.Like Tiffany,they all see Bond's films(probably read the novels, too) and can thus accurately predict 007's every move.

    Yikes.:o
  • AlexAlex The Eastern SeaboardPosts: 2,694MI6 Agent
    "God forbid anything should go wrong.."

    Gotta love that gorrilla barker :D
  • MBE_MBE_ USAPosts: 266MI6 Agent
    edited August 2006
    One sequence I've always found strange is in Diamonds Are Forever when Tiffany finds the special card Bond secreted in the pocket of the assassin he just killed.She turns to 007 and says in amazement: "You just killed JAMES BOND!"She's absolutely shocked.

    Apparently the name of that so-called secret agent is well-known to everyone everywhere.Bond's internationally famous.How else to explain a Vegas showgirl recognizing a British spy's name? No wonder the Bad Guys always get the drop on 007.Like Tiffany,they all see Bond's films(probably read the novels, too) and can thus accurately predict 007's every move.

    Yikes.:o

    To be fair, Tiffany is not a Vegas showgirl but a well placed operative in a diamond smuggling syndicate. But it's still beyond grating that she knows who James Bond is -- unless Blofeld had his named leaked to everyone working in his criminal organization (even though they didn't know they were working for Blofeld) because he knows that James likes to use his real name and he wants his people to be on the lookout. Of course providing a photo or physical description might have made more sense. Here Bond gets away with a simply fake thumbprint. Now as shown in DAD his face would be scanned by a phone and sent to headquarters for further information. And why isn't Bond surprised that she knows who he is? You'd have thought that would make him worried.

    And yes as wonderful to watch as I think the GE PTS is it makes no logical sense in the context of the film. But it could have made even less if Campbell got his way and we saw 006 actually get a bullet in the head. Campbell says it was because of the ratings board and seems clueless that it might have been a big no no for the plot. Huh? personified!

    MBE
  • Willie GarvinWillie Garvin Posts: 1,412MI6 Agent
    edited August 2006
    If a bullet had actually gone into Trevelyan's head,then the bullet that went into Renard would've had to go someplace else.Near the heart,perhaps?("It's only a flesh wound.")If that had been the case, then those pseudo scientific explanations of Renard's growing inabilty to feel along with the increasing strength might've made just as much sense--which isn't very much.

    It is interesting,however, that Trevelyan and the General knew exactly in advance where 007 would be standing and also the precise angle of his vision when they enacted the false execution of 006.What if 007 had blinked,or closed his eyes,or run away?Or better yet,decided to kill 006 himself,making sure his friend was safely dead so that no vital secrets could ever be disclosed to the enemy?

    And as we know,although a blank was fired in the movie,in the real world blacks fired close to a person can be extremely dangerous--even fatal in certain instances.

    Something the actor Jon-Erik Hexum(of the spy series "Cover Up") wasn't aware of when he accidently killed himself by playing with a gun loaded with blanks. :(
  • BestBondSeanBestBondSean A Bavarian in CornwallPosts: 108MI6 Agent
    Hardyboy wrote:
    I've always been stumped by Bond's comment to Felix in Goldfinger: "They (i.e., the enemy) got a lot closer to you in Jamaica, didn't they?" Excuse me--? In Dr. No the villains got nowhere near Felix! I can only assume that the line was put in the film as a way of saying to the audience, "This is supposed to be the same guy who was in the first movie."

    I suppose with 'you' Bond is referring to the United States rather than Leiter, meaning the toppling of American space rockets was to close for comfort.

    For me some of Blofeldt's comments in DAF are too far fetched , yet in a strange way they always make me laugh, i think of the La Roch Faucault line for example.
  • PoorMansJBPoorMansJB USAPosts: 1,198MI6 Agent
    Isn't what bothers you about this scene is what actually happens rather than what Bond says?

    As suggested by my original post, a little of both, actually. The writer(s) need to place Bond in peril and the only way to do so in that instance was to excuse irrational action via dialogue that doesn't hold-up under even the most cursory analysis.
  • Dan SameDan Same Victoria, AustraliaPosts: 6,054MI6 Agent
    PoorMansJB wrote:
    As suggested by my original post, a little of both, actually. The writer(s) need to place Bond in peril and the only way to do so in that instance was to excuse irrational action via dialogue that doesn't hold-up under even the most cursory analysis.
    Oh, I see. Good point. ;)
    "He’s a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine. And when they start not smiling back—that’s an earthquake. and then you get yourself a couple of spots on your hat, and you’re finished. Nobody dast blame this man. A salesman is got to dream, boy. It comes with the territory." Death of a Salesman
  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,238MI6 Agent
    Actually is Dink meant to be a spy, or is this just banter between the two, referring to women as 'opposition'?
    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • Sir Hillary BraySir Hillary Bray College of ArmsPosts: 2,174MI6 Agent
    edited August 2006
    Actually is Dink meant to be a spy, or is this just banter between the two, referring to women as 'opposition'?
    Yes yes, thanks NP...the really weird thing to me isn't the Jamaica reference by Bond, but Felix starting the whole conversation off by seeming to refer to Dink.

    I've always found Olympe's "It would be interesting to attend night school perhaps" line to be a non-sequitur. I guess she's trying to say it would be fun to play around with Bond at night, but it sure is a strange way to say it.

    Another from OHMSS...in the Bond-Draco conversation in Draco's study:
    BOND: I'm sorry, Draco, but in my line of w--
    DRACO: Eh?
    BOND: You have connections not open to me...
    This sequence baffles me. Bond and Draco obviously know who each other are, and have been having an in-depth conversation. Suddenly, there's supposed to be some twist, emphasized by the Bond theme playing in the background. It just seems off. What I think they were trying to convey was that Bond suddenly realizes he has some leverage over Draco and can use it to find Blofeld. But the way the scene is constructed, it almost looks like the lightbulb going on is Draco's, the way he says "eh?" Maybe it's just down to Lazenby's lack of experience, but it doesn't work.

    Similarly, Octopussy's "I have no price on my head!" tantrum, followed by her storming out of the room, is certainly not consistent with the dialogue that precedes it.

    Finally, a series of weak links from FYEO..."I wanna win the gold medal!" is totally out of context and serves no purpose other than as a set-up for Bibi's put-down of Kristatos as a pervert, which in turn serves no purpose other than to get Kristatos mad at at Brenk, which in turn serves no purpose other than to make plausible Brenk's helping of Bond and Colombo. Pretty lame.
    Hilly...you old devil!
  • positivelyshockingpositivelyshocking Posts: 53MI6 Agent
    I agree about these last two, they stop the natural flow of conversation. Also in OP I can't stand the way that the original short story is simply thrown away in a few lines. The way that Maud Adams says the "You remember Major Dexter Smythe?" line sounds so false to me every time I hear it. Awfully written and frankly (though I have an enduring love for Rog!) terribly badly acted.

    Mind you conversely I feel that Roger does step his game up when acting against the likes of Stephen Berkoff in the same film.
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