"The lady will have a Bacardi on the rocks."
"For the gentleman, vodka martini. Shaken, not stirred."
"Hostile takeovers. Shall we?"
New 2020 ranking (for now DAF and FYEO keep their previous placements)
1. TLD 2. TND 3. GF 4. TSWLM 5. TWINE 6. OHMSS 7. LtK 8. TMWTGG 9. L&LD 10. YOLT 11. DAD 12. QoS 13. DN 14. GE 15. SF 16. OP 17. MR 18. AVTAK 19. TB 20. FRWL 21. CR 22. FYEO 23. DAF (SP to be included later)
Bond actors to be re-ranked later
Bach and Moore had great chemistry, even if Bach wasn't that much of an actress, she suited the movie quite well.
Their little banter at the Mojava Club (hope I spelled that right) clearly shows that.
"Hostile takeovers. Shall we?"
New 2020 ranking (for now DAF and FYEO keep their previous placements)
1. TLD 2. TND 3. GF 4. TSWLM 5. TWINE 6. OHMSS 7. LtK 8. TMWTGG 9. L&LD 10. YOLT 11. DAD 12. QoS 13. DN 14. GE 15. SF 16. OP 17. MR 18. AVTAK 19. TB 20. FRWL 21. CR 22. FYEO 23. DAF (SP to be included later)
Bond actors to be re-ranked later
I hate to do this but there are only two things that bring it down...
- Barbara Bach's acting, she isn't the best honestly and her plea to kill James Bond just irritates me throughout the second-half. There was really no need for it.
- The last quarter of the film (The Submarine / Ship) - It's probably no surprise but it does slow the film down a bit, especially compared to the fun-ness of the rest of it
- The last quarter of the film (The Submarine / Ship) - It's probably no surprise but it does slow the film down a bit, especially compared to the fun-ness of the rest of it
Hello fellow Kiwi! B-)
I actually like the change of pace through these scenes, they're well done and the fact that they've got to do a few things before the mission is complete is great. It's where all the jokes are put aside and the business needs to be done!
I've raised the issue before where the 3rd act of some Bond films actually becomes quite boring. In particular GF, TB, YOLT, GE and TND.
stromberg is a cool villain. Love the bit where he's promised to pay Markowitz and Beckmann 10 million dollars each and the shot of them celebrating in the helicopter.
Stromberg's death is really undignified and cold. The sight of Bond shooting Stromberg multiple times and Stromberg collapsing into his tea is really brutal.
The locactions are cool.
The stuntwork is excellent. The BASE jump from Mt Asguard is one of the most memorable scenes in the series.
Barbara Bach as Anya is a beautiful Bond girl.
The plot twist of Anya finding out that it was Bond who killed Barsov.
The humour. "All those feathers and he still can't fly!"
Naomi is a hot femme fatale.
The big battle at the end on the Liparus
Cons
Barbara Bach as Anya is wooden in parts and her Russian accent slips in some scenes.
Have you ever heard of the Emancipation Proclamation?"
Another Pro that I thought of last night after watching the doco is the return to increase in scale of the films.
OHMSS, DAF, LALD and TMWTGG are quite restrained in terms of production. The scale of TSWLM really solidifies Roger Moore's tenure. He carries the blockbuster.
Agree with your points on Stromberg, his voice is awesome too.
"When one is in Egypt one should delve deeply into its treasures."
(Hope I got that one-liner right.)
"Hostile takeovers. Shall we?"
New 2020 ranking (for now DAF and FYEO keep their previous placements)
1. TLD 2. TND 3. GF 4. TSWLM 5. TWINE 6. OHMSS 7. LtK 8. TMWTGG 9. L&LD 10. YOLT 11. DAD 12. QoS 13. DN 14. GE 15. SF 16. OP 17. MR 18. AVTAK 19. TB 20. FRWL 21. CR 22. FYEO 23. DAF (SP to be included later)
Bond actors to be re-ranked later
It's been quite some time since my last review (TMWTGG) but I watched TSWLM last night for the first time in many years.
Pros:
PTS
Titles
Music
Sets
Modelwork
Locations
Sondor fight
Bond - Fekkesh - Jaws - Anya first meeting
Train fight
Bond meeting Stromberg and naming species of fish
Lotus car chase and underwater scenes
Anya discovering that Bond had killed her lover
The Liparus sinking
Anya - Stromberg - Jaws - Hussein - Gogol - Naomi
Cons:
Using several actors who have played different characters in previous films (Walter Gotell not included because his performance is so good and looks very different from his FRWL appearance)
Some of Moore's puns are excruciatingly badly delivered
Jaws dropping a huge brick on his foot - ruins a good sequence and suddenly his previous threatening menace becomes clown like.
Use of stock footage of nuclear explosions is poor and reminiscent of DAF.
Jaws surviving.
Some process shots are poorly executed.
Observations:
Broccoli is now the sole producer and he has certainly upped the ante bringing Bond back to the massive productions of TB and YOLT. Lewis Gilbert resumes direction duties and strangely enough TSWLM has same plotlines as YOLT although transferred from space to under the sea. Roger puts in a very impressive performance here giving Bond a hard edge. Strange how the killing of Sandor hardly gets a mention whereas the killings of Dent from DN and Locque from FYEO gets some people hot under the collar as being cold blooded.
Conclusion:
I really enjoyed this I had forgotten how good it is - after a 3 year gap I think Broccoli saw it as a last chance after TMWTGG's relatively poor showing. There is hardly any of the silliness that would invade future Moore entries - the only thing I would have changed is not turning Jaws into a clown by the end because he was a genuinely threatening presence early in the film and he should have had a good fight with Bond at the end ending up with the shark killing him.
Anyway CHB will return reviewing MR in hopefully just a few days.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
What do you guys think of Carly Simon's "Nobody Does It Better"?
"Hostile takeovers. Shall we?"
New 2020 ranking (for now DAF and FYEO keep their previous placements)
1. TLD 2. TND 3. GF 4. TSWLM 5. TWINE 6. OHMSS 7. LtK 8. TMWTGG 9. L&LD 10. YOLT 11. DAD 12. QoS 13. DN 14. GE 15. SF 16. OP 17. MR 18. AVTAK 19. TB 20. FRWL 21. CR 22. FYEO 23. DAF (SP to be included later)
Bond actors to be re-ranked later
Pros:
* Roger Moore.- he looks at his best in this movie, and his performance is a fine balance of seriousness and comedy, making James Bond finally his own.
* Barbara bach.- incredibly beautiful and believable as XXX.
* The relationship between Bond and Anya is well scripted and developed. That he killed her lover adds tension to the story when she finds out. That she swears to kill Bond and he rescues her defines both characters . Just good scriptwriting.
* PTS. One of those before and after moments in the series. That ski jump re-established the Bond franchise. It's so good.
* Jaws. One of the most memorable henchmen in the whole series.
* Nobody does it better.- one of my favourite songs.
* Lotus. The submarine sequence still holds up.
* The tanker set. Possibly Ken Adam's masterpiece.
Cons:
* Even though it's not bad, Marvin Hamlisch disco flavoured score sounds quite dated.
* Curt Jurgens.- boring and two dimensional.
* The main plot is an obvious remake of YOLT, even down to things that could have been easily changed, like finding clues on a microfilm. They didn't bother.
I just watched it on bluray after years, and it holds up really well. It has some iconic moments that influenced later movies, like QoS. I detect a lot of TSWLM Egypt sequence in the opera sequence for instance. After all, Daniel Craig grew up with Roger Moore's Bond.
I really enjoyed this I had forgotten how good it is - after a 3 year gap I think Broccoli saw it as a last chance after TMWTGG's relatively poor showing.
Good point. I agree.
I think the US market was considered more with TSWLM - hence the larger sized production. The extended doco mentioned above covered a point that the US market started to take the character for granted and that there had to be big reasons to go and see Bond.
IMO, if Bond continued down the LALD/TMWTGG small style, fluffy production Bond probably would've started to decline as a character.
+Smartly paced and a good balance between action and story
+The dialogue is very well written
+That Lotus Esprit
Cons:
-Barbara Bach is not a very good actress, completely unbelievable as a secret agent, and her Russian accent is lousy
-Finally we get a main Bond girl that is supposed to be just as skilled as 007, and they had to turn her into the typical damsel-in-distress at the end
The words "far superior" are big in the Bond world.
It's clear you prefer YOLT to TSWLM, but having said that, I will admit that the plot is ripped off, as Gilbert clearly had a love for Cold War-based plots.
I much prefer TSWLM to YOLT, but it's all subjective.
"Hostile takeovers. Shall we?"
New 2020 ranking (for now DAF and FYEO keep their previous placements)
1. TLD 2. TND 3. GF 4. TSWLM 5. TWINE 6. OHMSS 7. LtK 8. TMWTGG 9. L&LD 10. YOLT 11. DAD 12. QoS 13. DN 14. GE 15. SF 16. OP 17. MR 18. AVTAK 19. TB 20. FRWL 21. CR 22. FYEO 23. DAF (SP to be included later)
Bond actors to be re-ranked later
The words "far superior" are big in the Bond world.
It's clear you prefer YOLT to TSWLM, but having said that, I will admit that the plot is ripped off, as Gilbert clearly had a love for Cold War-based plots.
I admit that I was being slightly hyperbolic, but YOLT is one of my favorites while TSWLM... not so much. Even Moonraker is better IMO, mostly due the fact that I can't stand Bach as Agent XXX, and because Drax is a more interesting villain.
"Hostile takeovers. Shall we?"
New 2020 ranking (for now DAF and FYEO keep their previous placements)
1. TLD 2. TND 3. GF 4. TSWLM 5. TWINE 6. OHMSS 7. LtK 8. TMWTGG 9. L&LD 10. YOLT 11. DAD 12. QoS 13. DN 14. GE 15. SF 16. OP 17. MR 18. AVTAK 19. TB 20. FRWL 21. CR 22. FYEO 23. DAF (SP to be included later)
Bond actors to be re-ranked later
"Hostile takeovers. Shall we?"
New 2020 ranking (for now DAF and FYEO keep their previous placements)
1. TLD 2. TND 3. GF 4. TSWLM 5. TWINE 6. OHMSS 7. LtK 8. TMWTGG 9. L&LD 10. YOLT 11. DAD 12. QoS 13. DN 14. GE 15. SF 16. OP 17. MR 18. AVTAK 19. TB 20. FRWL 21. CR 22. FYEO 23. DAF (SP to be included later)
Bond actors to be re-ranked later
The Mojave Club is truly an example of impressive set design.
"Hostile takeovers. Shall we?"
New 2020 ranking (for now DAF and FYEO keep their previous placements)
1. TLD 2. TND 3. GF 4. TSWLM 5. TWINE 6. OHMSS 7. LtK 8. TMWTGG 9. L&LD 10. YOLT 11. DAD 12. QoS 13. DN 14. GE 15. SF 16. OP 17. MR 18. AVTAK 19. TB 20. FRWL 21. CR 22. FYEO 23. DAF (SP to be included later)
Bond actors to be re-ranked later
I wasn't lookingggg
But somehow you found meee
I tried to hide from your loooovvveeeee
But like heaven above meeeee
The spy who loved me
Is keeping all my secrets safe toniiiiight
"Hostile takeovers. Shall we?"
New 2020 ranking (for now DAF and FYEO keep their previous placements)
1. TLD 2. TND 3. GF 4. TSWLM 5. TWINE 6. OHMSS 7. LtK 8. TMWTGG 9. L&LD 10. YOLT 11. DAD 12. QoS 13. DN 14. GE 15. SF 16. OP 17. MR 18. AVTAK 19. TB 20. FRWL 21. CR 22. FYEO 23. DAF (SP to be included later)
Bond actors to be re-ranked later
Here's my ranking of the Gilbert-directed Bond films:
TSWLM
MR
YOLT
I'm curious as to how others would rank them.
"Hostile takeovers. Shall we?"
New 2020 ranking (for now DAF and FYEO keep their previous placements)
1. TLD 2. TND 3. GF 4. TSWLM 5. TWINE 6. OHMSS 7. LtK 8. TMWTGG 9. L&LD 10. YOLT 11. DAD 12. QoS 13. DN 14. GE 15. SF 16. OP 17. MR 18. AVTAK 19. TB 20. FRWL 21. CR 22. FYEO 23. DAF (SP to be included later)
Bond actors to be re-ranked later
Comments
"For the gentleman, vodka martini. Shaken, not stirred."
New 2020 ranking (for now DAF and FYEO keep their previous placements)
1. TLD 2. TND 3. GF 4. TSWLM 5. TWINE 6. OHMSS 7. LtK 8. TMWTGG 9. L&LD 10. YOLT 11. DAD 12. QoS 13. DN 14. GE 15. SF 16. OP 17. MR 18. AVTAK 19. TB 20. FRWL 21. CR 22. FYEO 23. DAF (SP to be included later)
Bond actors to be re-ranked later
+1 {[]
"Better make that two."
Their little banter at the Mojava Club (hope I spelled that right) clearly shows that.
New 2020 ranking (for now DAF and FYEO keep their previous placements)
1. TLD 2. TND 3. GF 4. TSWLM 5. TWINE 6. OHMSS 7. LtK 8. TMWTGG 9. L&LD 10. YOLT 11. DAD 12. QoS 13. DN 14. GE 15. SF 16. OP 17. MR 18. AVTAK 19. TB 20. FRWL 21. CR 22. FYEO 23. DAF (SP to be included later)
Bond actors to be re-ranked later
Pro's:
Everything
Con's:
I hate to do this but there are only two things that bring it down...
- Barbara Bach's acting, she isn't the best honestly and her plea to kill James Bond just irritates me throughout the second-half. There was really no need for it.
- The last quarter of the film (The Submarine / Ship) - It's probably no surprise but it does slow the film down a bit, especially compared to the fun-ness of the rest of it
1. Dalton 2. Moore 3. Connery 4. Craig 5. Lazenby 6. Brosnan
Hello fellow Kiwi! B-)
I actually like the change of pace through these scenes, they're well done and the fact that they've got to do a few things before the mission is complete is great. It's where all the jokes are put aside and the business needs to be done!
I've raised the issue before where the 3rd act of some Bond films actually becomes quite boring. In particular GF, TB, YOLT, GE and TND.
"Better make that two."
stromberg is a cool villain. Love the bit where he's promised to pay Markowitz and Beckmann 10 million dollars each and the shot of them celebrating in the helicopter.
Stromberg's death is really undignified and cold. The sight of Bond shooting Stromberg multiple times and Stromberg collapsing into his tea is really brutal.
The locactions are cool.
The stuntwork is excellent. The BASE jump from Mt Asguard is one of the most memorable scenes in the series.
Barbara Bach as Anya is a beautiful Bond girl.
The plot twist of Anya finding out that it was Bond who killed Barsov.
The humour. "All those feathers and he still can't fly!"
Naomi is a hot femme fatale.
The big battle at the end on the Liparus
Cons
Barbara Bach as Anya is wooden in parts and her Russian accent slips in some scenes.
" I don't listen to hip hop!"
Another Pro that I thought of last night after watching the doco is the return to increase in scale of the films.
OHMSS, DAF, LALD and TMWTGG are quite restrained in terms of production. The scale of TSWLM really solidifies Roger Moore's tenure. He carries the blockbuster.
Agree with your points on Stromberg, his voice is awesome too.
"Better make that two."
" I don't listen to hip hop!"
(Hope I got that one-liner right.)
New 2020 ranking (for now DAF and FYEO keep their previous placements)
1. TLD 2. TND 3. GF 4. TSWLM 5. TWINE 6. OHMSS 7. LtK 8. TMWTGG 9. L&LD 10. YOLT 11. DAD 12. QoS 13. DN 14. GE 15. SF 16. OP 17. MR 18. AVTAK 19. TB 20. FRWL 21. CR 22. FYEO 23. DAF (SP to be included later)
Bond actors to be re-ranked later
Love the whistley delivery by Rog on this one! :007)
"Better make that two."
"Better make that two."
Pros:
PTS
Titles
Music
Sets
Modelwork
Locations
Sondor fight
Bond - Fekkesh - Jaws - Anya first meeting
Train fight
Bond meeting Stromberg and naming species of fish
Lotus car chase and underwater scenes
Anya discovering that Bond had killed her lover
The Liparus sinking
Anya - Stromberg - Jaws - Hussein - Gogol - Naomi
Cons:
Using several actors who have played different characters in previous films (Walter Gotell not included because his performance is so good and looks very different from his FRWL appearance)
Some of Moore's puns are excruciatingly badly delivered
Jaws dropping a huge brick on his foot - ruins a good sequence and suddenly his previous threatening menace becomes clown like.
Use of stock footage of nuclear explosions is poor and reminiscent of DAF.
Jaws surviving.
Some process shots are poorly executed.
Observations:
Broccoli is now the sole producer and he has certainly upped the ante bringing Bond back to the massive productions of TB and YOLT. Lewis Gilbert resumes direction duties and strangely enough TSWLM has same plotlines as YOLT although transferred from space to under the sea. Roger puts in a very impressive performance here giving Bond a hard edge. Strange how the killing of Sandor hardly gets a mention whereas the killings of Dent from DN and Locque from FYEO gets some people hot under the collar as being cold blooded.
Conclusion:
I really enjoyed this I had forgotten how good it is - after a 3 year gap I think Broccoli saw it as a last chance after TMWTGG's relatively poor showing. There is hardly any of the silliness that would invade future Moore entries - the only thing I would have changed is not turning Jaws into a clown by the end because he was a genuinely threatening presence early in the film and he should have had a good fight with Bond at the end ending up with the shark killing him.
Anyway CHB will return reviewing MR in hopefully just a few days.
New 2020 ranking (for now DAF and FYEO keep their previous placements)
1. TLD 2. TND 3. GF 4. TSWLM 5. TWINE 6. OHMSS 7. LtK 8. TMWTGG 9. L&LD 10. YOLT 11. DAD 12. QoS 13. DN 14. GE 15. SF 16. OP 17. MR 18. AVTAK 19. TB 20. FRWL 21. CR 22. FYEO 23. DAF (SP to be included later)
Bond actors to be re-ranked later
As much as I think of John Barry as the ultimate composer for Bond, Marvin Hamlisch nailed it with this song.
* Roger Moore.- he looks at his best in this movie, and his performance is a fine balance of seriousness and comedy, making James Bond finally his own.
* Barbara bach.- incredibly beautiful and believable as XXX.
* The relationship between Bond and Anya is well scripted and developed. That he killed her lover adds tension to the story when she finds out. That she swears to kill Bond and he rescues her defines both characters . Just good scriptwriting.
* PTS. One of those before and after moments in the series. That ski jump re-established the Bond franchise. It's so good.
* Jaws. One of the most memorable henchmen in the whole series.
* Nobody does it better.- one of my favourite songs.
* Lotus. The submarine sequence still holds up.
* The tanker set. Possibly Ken Adam's masterpiece.
Cons:
* Even though it's not bad, Marvin Hamlisch disco flavoured score sounds quite dated.
* Curt Jurgens.- boring and two dimensional.
* The main plot is an obvious remake of YOLT, even down to things that could have been easily changed, like finding clues on a microfilm. They didn't bother.
I just watched it on bluray after years, and it holds up really well. It has some iconic moments that influenced later movies, like QoS. I detect a lot of TSWLM Egypt sequence in the opera sequence for instance. After all, Daniel Craig grew up with Roger Moore's Bond.
Good point. I agree.
I think the US market was considered more with TSWLM - hence the larger sized production. The extended doco mentioned above covered a point that the US market started to take the character for granted and that there had to be big reasons to go and see Bond.
IMO, if Bond continued down the LALD/TMWTGG small style, fluffy production Bond probably would've started to decline as a character.
TSWLM and MR make me admire Broccoli immensely.
"Better make that two."
+Some of Ken Adam's best work
+Lewis Gilbert is a fantastic director
+Smartly paced and a good balance between action and story
+The dialogue is very well written
+That Lotus Esprit
Cons:
-Barbara Bach is not a very good actress, completely unbelievable as a secret agent, and her Russian accent is lousy
-Finally we get a main Bond girl that is supposed to be just as skilled as 007, and they had to turn her into the typical damsel-in-distress at the end
-Stromberg is one of the less memorable villains
-plot is derivative of a far superior film
Bond: Pierce Brosnan Villain: Hugo Drax Girl: Pam Bouvier
The words "far superior" are big in the Bond world.
It's clear you prefer YOLT to TSWLM, but having said that, I will admit that the plot is ripped off, as Gilbert clearly had a love for Cold War-based plots.
I much prefer TSWLM to YOLT, but it's all subjective.
New 2020 ranking (for now DAF and FYEO keep their previous placements)
1. TLD 2. TND 3. GF 4. TSWLM 5. TWINE 6. OHMSS 7. LtK 8. TMWTGG 9. L&LD 10. YOLT 11. DAD 12. QoS 13. DN 14. GE 15. SF 16. OP 17. MR 18. AVTAK 19. TB 20. FRWL 21. CR 22. FYEO 23. DAF (SP to be included later)
Bond actors to be re-ranked later
Bond: Pierce Brosnan Villain: Hugo Drax Girl: Pam Bouvier
"So does England!"
New 2020 ranking (for now DAF and FYEO keep their previous placements)
1. TLD 2. TND 3. GF 4. TSWLM 5. TWINE 6. OHMSS 7. LtK 8. TMWTGG 9. L&LD 10. YOLT 11. DAD 12. QoS 13. DN 14. GE 15. SF 16. OP 17. MR 18. AVTAK 19. TB 20. FRWL 21. CR 22. FYEO 23. DAF (SP to be included later)
Bond actors to be re-ranked later
Love that quote, and the little trumpet (or whatever that is) makes it funnier!
"Better make that two."
New 2020 ranking (for now DAF and FYEO keep their previous placements)
1. TLD 2. TND 3. GF 4. TSWLM 5. TWINE 6. OHMSS 7. LtK 8. TMWTGG 9. L&LD 10. YOLT 11. DAD 12. QoS 13. DN 14. GE 15. SF 16. OP 17. MR 18. AVTAK 19. TB 20. FRWL 21. CR 22. FYEO 23. DAF (SP to be included later)
Bond actors to be re-ranked later
New 2020 ranking (for now DAF and FYEO keep their previous placements)
1. TLD 2. TND 3. GF 4. TSWLM 5. TWINE 6. OHMSS 7. LtK 8. TMWTGG 9. L&LD 10. YOLT 11. DAD 12. QoS 13. DN 14. GE 15. SF 16. OP 17. MR 18. AVTAK 19. TB 20. FRWL 21. CR 22. FYEO 23. DAF (SP to be included later)
Bond actors to be re-ranked later
Great piece of music from MH to go along with it too.
"Better make that two."
Indeed it is! {[]
But somehow you found meee
I tried to hide from your loooovvveeeee
But like heaven above meeeee
The spy who loved me
Is keeping all my secrets safe toniiiiight
New 2020 ranking (for now DAF and FYEO keep their previous placements)
1. TLD 2. TND 3. GF 4. TSWLM 5. TWINE 6. OHMSS 7. LtK 8. TMWTGG 9. L&LD 10. YOLT 11. DAD 12. QoS 13. DN 14. GE 15. SF 16. OP 17. MR 18. AVTAK 19. TB 20. FRWL 21. CR 22. FYEO 23. DAF (SP to be included later)
Bond actors to be re-ranked later
Munro is so down to earth , loved talking to her in Blackpool :007)
TSWLM
MR
YOLT
I'm curious as to how others would rank them.
New 2020 ranking (for now DAF and FYEO keep their previous placements)
1. TLD 2. TND 3. GF 4. TSWLM 5. TWINE 6. OHMSS 7. LtK 8. TMWTGG 9. L&LD 10. YOLT 11. DAD 12. QoS 13. DN 14. GE 15. SF 16. OP 17. MR 18. AVTAK 19. TB 20. FRWL 21. CR 22. FYEO 23. DAF (SP to be included later)
Bond actors to be re-ranked later