It's an odd little Mission Impossible-style setup where Bond is actually given a team for once (or you can call them a Scooby Gang if you're that way inclined!). It makes sense that he would be, I was actually thinking the other day how it seems kind of silly that Bond is always on his own in half of the situations he gets sent into: if you're M and you think, say, Elliot Carver is a baddie and you only have 48 hours, then you'd send a little team of three or four people, wouldn't you?
But the weird thing in Thunderball is that Bond has all these people around him but they don't really do anything, and the film has zero interest in them. Pinder's there, but what's he for? He gets the lights turned out.. can't think of much else. Felix is there from the CIA and gets to do more for Bond than the MI6 team does, and yet it's still not much. It's all quite weird really. How come Q turns up for Bond when there's six other 00s out there around the world looking for these bombs?
It's more noticeable given the previous three movies where there is a sound reason for Bond to be a lone operative - in Dr No he is investigating a local matter and then finds he is in way over his head; the next one the admittedly unlikely plot demands he goes out there to woo the girl (though with help from the local colour like Kerim) and again in Goldfinger he is in a personal relationship of sorts, not with Tanya but instead schmoozing Auric Goldfinger, initially in a disguise of sorts, so outside help seems less likely to be required.
There doesn't seem to be any local man on the ground like there is in FRWL or YOLT so the 'help' is a bit spotty. Maybe a Governor of Nassau, of the kind who pops up in the short story QoS, to advise Bond - I suppose come to think of it that is what Nigel Small-Fawcett did in NSNA, wasn't it?
Well even in Goldfinger it's a fairly rough setup: they think Goldfinger is smuggling lots of gold out of the country to the extent it's affecting the Bank of England and the value of the pound- sending at least a couple of people to investigate would seem justified. Especially as Bond gets himself caught pretty much immediately! Plus of course M messes up by sending Bond at all: he knows he’d already been blown in Miami
I've never actually noticed before, but the whole golf scene, great though it is, gets Bond absolutely nowhere, does it! He doesn't get any information from Goldfinger, he manages to actively piss him off to the extent Goldfinger tells him to get lost, so he totally fails in getting closer to him... I guess he sees that he's the cheating kind, but he'd already learned that in Miami. I suppose he confirms he's interested in illegal gold, but they already pretty much know he's up to no good, they just don't know how. The only constructive thing he achieves is to put the homer on his Rolls, and he probably could have just hidden in the bushes and done that without a whole afternoon spent golfing! 😁
Paula was there from the beginning of the Nassau scenes when Bond meets Domino. Paula gets kidnapped by Fiona and the two henchmen in her hotel room. Felix alerts Bond to her as missing.
I understand this movie is difficult to keep track of, due to the improvised editing and constantly cutting back to Pinder's shop. It's a challenge trying to remember each scene in order. You could make a quiz show out of it!
Always have an escape plan. Mine is watching James Bond films.
It’s nice to see a lot of interaction on this thread. I’ve got to watch YOLT but it will have to be tomorrow as I’m playing in a poker tournament today, I hope Bond’s luck comes my way!
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
True - Goldfinger is a film that makes little narrative sense but it does make emotional sense.
I mean, Goldfinger should kill Bond early on, no real reason to keep him alive and entertain him. But it makes emotional sense because we the audience are enjoying their interaction and Goldfinger is too, in a way, he enjoys toying with Bond.
It is a fine example of Bond sh*thousery. But yes, you're right, it makes no sense for M to send him out given his cover has been blown. Except, I suppose, Bond is acting as a sort of freelancer on the make with a flash car looking to do some shared business. The homer device does lead him to Auric's factory where he finds out how he is smuggling gold. It's an example, like Dr No and DAF, and I guess OHMSS where a low-key bit of plot later uncovers a big terrorist crime event planned by chance, unlike the plots of TB and YOLT where it's all on the table straight off.
Contemporary thoughts from a schoolboy: What a spectacular movie! Look at that volcano! That music is incredible! Hey, did I just spot a bit of Fleming there?
Current thoughts from an old man: It is spectacular, being one of the Bond movies to truly benefit from a cinema viewing. The drop in the ocean scene. The fight at Kobe docks with that helicopter tracking shot. The Japanese scenery – Tanaka’s place, the village and the mountains.
When that volcano interior first appears it is jaw-dropping on the big screen. The detail, that rocket, the battle at the end.
The music is incredible. Paraphrasing no less than David Arnold, within the first few minutes you’ve had the “James Bond Theme”, “Capsule In Space”, and the title song – if that doesn’t sway you to Bond music, nothing will. (I was already swayed by the music in TB, but this didn’t hurt.)
Yes, there are bits of Fleming in there, but unfortunately they include the “going Japanese” scene which has suffered badly since – it wasn’t great at the time, either.
Our first look at Blofeld and … oh, it’s Donald Pleasence with a scar. Ah well. Unlike the book (since as we all know the films were made in a different order) he gets away at the end.
Only later did I notice, as I do now, Connery’s lack of energy and motivation. He’s still better than certain other actors who came later, though (naming no names to avoid quarrels).
The plot makes no real sense, but as has been commented on above that is hardly unique to this Bond movie.
I still look forward to watching YOLT from time to time and am still entertained by it, as I was this time.
Oh yeah, it absolutely does make emotional sense: I'm not criticising the film at all really - I think as long as you're absorbed by a film while you're watching it it doesn't matter if everything makes sense or not. It's why I don't really hold with the 'Silva's plan is impossible' criticism of Skyfall: yes it is when you sit down and think about it afterwards, but if you're totally engaged by it while you're watching it -as I still find that I am 14 years later even after seeing those narrative faults- then it doesn't matter at all (obviously folks who couldn't enjoy it because of that are much cleverer than me 😉). As I say- this is something I've only just noticed after decades of watching the film, so it's clearly not a problem with it. But it is fun as a fan to nitpick these little moments as if they're real life!
You're right that Bond is acting as a freelancer looking to make some business so that could kind of explain his actions in Miami, good point; but it's kind of funny how in other films when he does that kind of thing it leads him to get a bit closer to the baddie, learning something about their operation before he's inevitably rumbled and dangled over a piranha pool, whereas here he completely messes it up and gets rejected! I guess at least when, for example, he does it in Tomorrow Never Dies at the big party, he prods Carver enough to get a reaction, confirming to Bond that he's the baddie where he couldn't be certain before. Here in GF, he's already been told Goldfinger is up to no good with the gold, he's already killed Masterson, so he knows Goldfinger is the target: the only thing to be gained is to start a relationship to get closer to him, which he completely messes up! 😁 He just about manages to save a botched job with the homer-planting, but it comes close to a terrible day's spying for him!
And that's not forgetting how he needlessly gets two Masterton sisters killed, that must have been a nice summer for their family. The second one in particular - he alerts Auric by stopping her assassination attempt (perhaps more forgivable given its 1964, JFK and all that) and tripping the wire; of course you don't think that at the time.
The main flaw for me, seeing it at the London's Prince Charles last year I think, is that the plot finale really doesn't make sense in retrospect. If Bond has managed to tip off the authorities via Pussy, who has switched sides, then why on earth are they even letting him get near Fort Knox and nearly succeed in his plan?
I seem to have annoyed Barbel by telling him to piss off - he's gone back to posting in bold. 😁
The main flaw for me, seeing it at the London's Prince Charles last year I think, is that the plot finale really doesn't make sense in retrospect. If Bond has managed to tip off the authorities via Pussy, who has switched sides, then why on earth are they even letting him get near Fort Knox and nearly succeed in his plan?
Heh! Yes good point, they should have just raided his compound, really. I guess you could say it sort of makes enough sense that they lured him in to a confined space and could be sure they'd capture the bomb as well, rather than risk it not being at his farm and thereby having a Chinese nuclear bomb floating around lost in the US. And the logic would also be that he'd be surrounded by hundreds or thousands or troops so it should be a pretty easy capture- and yet he still got away! Really this film is a massive display of incompetence from everyone involved 😁
Is there anyone in it who doesn't fail in their task? Pussy maybe?
She's a rubbish lesbian, we don't see her cop off with anyone - and she is 'turned' by Bond as well.
Of course, she's not quite a lesbian in the film, more one of those disapproving librarian/schoolteacher types who need to be persuaded to be up for sex, all a bit Eric Stanton (was that the artist who did buxom sad-masochisitc comics?) If Bond 'turns' her there was thinking how sexist that all was but I'd have thought it's just being sexually fluid.
Pussy Galore was a brunette in the book, and from Texas. They pushed back the idea of an American Bond girl until Diamonds Are Forever.
Thunderball does look better than GF, I mean the lensing, in fact the cinematography improved as the decade went on, peaking with OHMSS, which looks contemporary at times, and going off a bit with DAF which had a look which was fashionable at the time.
For all that, I feel that GF looked best on telly in the early 90s when it seemed to be taken from the laserdisc version, or maybe the digitally remastered VHS tapes. It doesn't look as good as that now on telly imo.
I found a YT video comparing various release versions of the FYEO gunbarrel recently, and one of them was the VHS pan-and-scan which brought back a bit of a Proustian rush, as it's been years since I've seen a version where the frame has to move to follow the white dots moving across the screen, making them look like they're sort of slipping to the left rather than leaving static ones behind, if you know what I mean!
We did YOLT two nights ago. There are a few handwave 'because movie' moments in it but nothing as egregious as in TB. Overall, the plot and the narrative throughline holds up pretty well and the major set pieces are pretty great.
I loved the emotional moment when Aki dies. I get that some people find her superfluous but I disagree...her passing adds an emotional element that is pretty welcome and shows some genuine warmth from Bond.
If Amazon is going to indeed do some crossover streaming shows, one surrounding Tiger Tanaka might be pretty great.
Ranking:
FRWL
DN
YOLT
TB
GF
Current thoughts;
The 'going Japanese' bit may play badly today but it's lessened by the fact that, in the film, the Japanese are doing it to him. They're a part of the process so it's not meant as a cultural insult. Consider Mickey Rooney in BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S for something that is a broad, offensive cultural insult.
The score and the theme song are lush and gorgeous. It's probably the best overall soundtrack of the Connery run of films.
If Amazon is going to indeed do some crossover streaming shows, one surrounding Tiger Tanaka might be pretty great.
Yeah I've thought that before too. I don't want different 00 agents in Aston Martins, I want Tiger and Aki living in their luxurious beach houses, travelling around Tokyo in their private hi tech train and driving about in gadget-packed Toyotas!
@emtiem writes : I guess you could equally say: what's the point of Paula?
I am enjoying reading this thread, esp as I am not able to watch the movies this time around - although an enforced lay off for an op in the summer may help me play catch-up.
Re: Paula, as I am sure emtiem knows, was played by Martine Beswick who was Terence Young's girlfriend at the time [note she was also in FRWL as one of the fighting gypsy girls] and he offered her a role without there being one. Hence, if you watch Martine's appearances other than when she is kidnapped in Bond's hotel room and playing a corpse, you'll note another 'P' character Pinder is either in the scene or should be in the scene. I have no idea what Earl Cammeron thought about having his lines stolen by a dolly bird, but there you have it - maybe he never knew - but it looks plainly obvious to me. Paula is superfluous in every sense of the word.
In fact, had the scenes at Palmyra been properly thought through this should be happening: Bond detects radiation on his geiger watch when Largo shows off his underwater sleds in the basement he later infiltrates, this is the trigger for him to infiltrate Palmyra and he chooses the Junkanoo night, blowing out Domino in favour of chasing clues, almost getting caught and then being seduced by Fiona Volpe. She doesn't need a Paula to kill to get her black widow pincers into Bond's ego. After the Junkanoo chase, even with a cut ankle, Bond should turn up at Largo's box seat and say "Hello" to Domino, which is when they arrange that afternoon of love on the beach.
So, Pinder can have all Paula's lines.
As it stands, Leiter turns up at the Junkanoo in his tropical shirt waving at Bond and says "Paula's gone!" and Bond immediately assumes she's been kidnapped - I mean, she could have been out on a date - she's a good looking girl. Even more concerning, Bond says to Felix "Look after Domino for me" - but Felix has never met Domino - so I bet she's happy about that.
They really didn't think through much of Thunderball. But it is still one of the most enjoyable and best looking Bond films IMO, and ironically that's partly to do with Miss Beswick as one of the four [oh, no, five!] beautiful women Bond interacts with in the movie - as another wag wrote "The best Bond girls ever". Too right.
He does meet quite a few beautiful ladies in the next one! Fiona’s amazing but I can never agree when folks say Domino is one of the best Bond girls: yes she’s absolutely stunning and yes she wears a swimsuit which shows a bit of boob, but she’s really boring and characterless and there’s no connection between her and Connery. I don’t really get it.
Anyway, sorry, I keep talking about TB when we’ve moved onto YOLT.
Claudine Auger looks much better as Domino on the big screen, for some reason - some of the subtleties come to the fore. There's a cute moment early on when she and Connery have just met and they're walking up the beach, she gives a slight side look to appreciate his physique.
As @chrisno1 has observed, along with me, TB plays better as a big screen movie and so does OHMSS, on the small screen I find them a bit heavy and indigestible; they're not episodic, you are stuck with being invested in the plot, which is easier to do when you've decided to devote an afternoon to it. You can become immersed in Bond's world.
@emtiem There’s no problem in posting about previous films in the series as far as I’m concerned. It also allows others to post their reviews and comments who may have missed out on the thread when it started.
Only thing I would say is to not jump the gun and post reviews of movies before their due schedule (Mondays have been designated as the starting point for each movie and runs for seven days - non-Eon movies are not to discussed on this thread).
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
The producers decided that spectacle was the way forward and without doubt they put onscreen an action fest like never before. We get so much hardware, fights, chases, battles and glorious sets that the viewer doesn’t have time to think how ridiculous the whole thing is. But it doesn’t matter how ludicrous the plot is as we get swept into the action and go with the flow. This is what Bond should be, a mega-villain with an outlandish plot taken down by our hero with the help of some lovely ladies. As @Barbel wrote, if you haven’t seen this on the big screen then you can’t appreciate the grand scale of it all, it is truly stunning.
Sean is past his peak from the previous film but I don’t hold with the view that he is phoning in his performance. John Barry’s score is just wonderful. The sets are incredible. The gadgets are fun. The process work is lamentable (as it strangely so often is in the series) the lava flow at the end is awful. The office fight is excellent, certainly up there with the best in the series.
I like YOLT very much, flaws and all.
TB - FRWL - GF - YOLT - DN
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
I used to struggle to see the 'phoned in' performance accusations with Connery, but when you watch GF or TB, he's always adding value - the briefest flicker will come over his face as he does something cheeky, he's always adding little subtleties; like how he hands Fiona her slippers or how he performs in the clay pigeon scene- he's just so alive, there's a knowingness behind his eyes. And he's still really good in YOLT -he's Sean Connery- but those little subtleties are gone, there's an inner light which has been switched off a bit and in a lot of his close ups he just seems to be giving a bit of a blank stare. He's more than up to the job and easily outclasses the guy coming next even when he's not engaged, but I think if you watch a scene from FRWL or TB (or DAF!) next to a scene from YOLT you can see he's not really trying anymore in the latter.
Comments
But if memory serves, he has no idea about Paula or her whereabouts at that point in the film. He stumbles upon her in his search.
I guess you could equally say: what's the point of Paula? 😁
She pretty much exists just to get kidnapped, sort of. But it's not like anyone is even that interested.
Lots of fun to read @Napoleon Plural - top effort!
She's a completely extraneous character for sure. She gets fridged and has no impact on the story at all.
It's an odd little Mission Impossible-style setup where Bond is actually given a team for once (or you can call them a Scooby Gang if you're that way inclined!). It makes sense that he would be, I was actually thinking the other day how it seems kind of silly that Bond is always on his own in half of the situations he gets sent into: if you're M and you think, say, Elliot Carver is a baddie and you only have 48 hours, then you'd send a little team of three or four people, wouldn't you?
But the weird thing in Thunderball is that Bond has all these people around him but they don't really do anything, and the film has zero interest in them. Pinder's there, but what's he for? He gets the lights turned out.. can't think of much else. Felix is there from the CIA and gets to do more for Bond than the MI6 team does, and yet it's still not much. It's all quite weird really. How come Q turns up for Bond when there's six other 00s out there around the world looking for these bombs?
Because movie.
It's more noticeable given the previous three movies where there is a sound reason for Bond to be a lone operative - in Dr No he is investigating a local matter and then finds he is in way over his head; the next one the admittedly unlikely plot demands he goes out there to woo the girl (though with help from the local colour like Kerim) and again in Goldfinger he is in a personal relationship of sorts, not with Tanya but instead schmoozing Auric Goldfinger, initially in a disguise of sorts, so outside help seems less likely to be required.
There doesn't seem to be any local man on the ground like there is in FRWL or YOLT so the 'help' is a bit spotty. Maybe a Governor of Nassau, of the kind who pops up in the short story QoS, to advise Bond - I suppose come to think of it that is what Nigel Small-Fawcett did in NSNA, wasn't it?
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Well even in Goldfinger it's a fairly rough setup: they think Goldfinger is smuggling lots of gold out of the country to the extent it's affecting the Bank of England and the value of the pound- sending at least a couple of people to investigate would seem justified. Especially as Bond gets himself caught pretty much immediately! Plus of course M messes up by sending Bond at all: he knows he’d already been blown in Miami
I've never actually noticed before, but the whole golf scene, great though it is, gets Bond absolutely nowhere, does it! He doesn't get any information from Goldfinger, he manages to actively piss him off to the extent Goldfinger tells him to get lost, so he totally fails in getting closer to him... I guess he sees that he's the cheating kind, but he'd already learned that in Miami. I suppose he confirms he's interested in illegal gold, but they already pretty much know he's up to no good, they just don't know how. The only constructive thing he achieves is to put the homer on his Rolls, and he probably could have just hidden in the bushes and done that without a whole afternoon spent golfing! 😁
Paula was there from the beginning of the Nassau scenes when Bond meets Domino. Paula gets kidnapped by Fiona and the two henchmen in her hotel room. Felix alerts Bond to her as missing.
I understand this movie is difficult to keep track of, due to the improvised editing and constantly cutting back to Pinder's shop. It's a challenge trying to remember each scene in order. You could make a quiz show out of it!
It’s nice to see a lot of interaction on this thread. I’ve got to watch YOLT but it will have to be tomorrow as I’m playing in a poker tournament today, I hope Bond’s luck comes my way!
True - Goldfinger is a film that makes little narrative sense but it does make emotional sense.
I mean, Goldfinger should kill Bond early on, no real reason to keep him alive and entertain him. But it makes emotional sense because we the audience are enjoying their interaction and Goldfinger is too, in a way, he enjoys toying with Bond.
It is a fine example of Bond sh*thousery. But yes, you're right, it makes no sense for M to send him out given his cover has been blown. Except, I suppose, Bond is acting as a sort of freelancer on the make with a flash car looking to do some shared business. The homer device does lead him to Auric's factory where he finds out how he is smuggling gold. It's an example, like Dr No and DAF, and I guess OHMSS where a low-key bit of plot later uncovers a big terrorist crime event planned by chance, unlike the plots of TB and YOLT where it's all on the table straight off.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (1967) Dir: Lewis Gilbert
Contemporary thoughts from a schoolboy: What a spectacular movie! Look at that volcano! That music is incredible! Hey, did I just spot a bit of Fleming there?
Current thoughts from an old man: It is spectacular, being one of the Bond movies to truly benefit from a cinema viewing. The drop in the ocean scene. The fight at Kobe docks with that helicopter tracking shot. The Japanese scenery – Tanaka’s place, the village and the mountains.
When that volcano interior first appears it is jaw-dropping on the big screen. The detail, that rocket, the battle at the end.
The music is incredible. Paraphrasing no less than David Arnold, within the first few minutes you’ve had the “James Bond Theme”, “Capsule In Space”, and the title song – if that doesn’t sway you to Bond music, nothing will. (I was already swayed by the music in TB, but this didn’t hurt.)
Yes, there are bits of Fleming in there, but unfortunately they include the “going Japanese” scene which has suffered badly since – it wasn’t great at the time, either.
Our first look at Blofeld and … oh, it’s Donald Pleasence with a scar. Ah well. Unlike the book (since as we all know the films were made in a different order) he gets away at the end.
Only later did I notice, as I do now, Connery’s lack of energy and motivation. He’s still better than certain other actors who came later, though (naming no names to avoid quarrels).
The plot makes no real sense, but as has been commented on above that is hardly unique to this Bond movie.
I still look forward to watching YOLT from time to time and am still entertained by it, as I was this time.
Edit: Taken out of Bold to please @Napoleon Plural.
Oh yeah, it absolutely does make emotional sense: I'm not criticising the film at all really - I think as long as you're absorbed by a film while you're watching it it doesn't matter if everything makes sense or not. It's why I don't really hold with the 'Silva's plan is impossible' criticism of Skyfall: yes it is when you sit down and think about it afterwards, but if you're totally engaged by it while you're watching it -as I still find that I am 14 years later even after seeing those narrative faults- then it doesn't matter at all (obviously folks who couldn't enjoy it because of that are much cleverer than me 😉). As I say- this is something I've only just noticed after decades of watching the film, so it's clearly not a problem with it. But it is fun as a fan to nitpick these little moments as if they're real life!
You're right that Bond is acting as a freelancer looking to make some business so that could kind of explain his actions in Miami, good point; but it's kind of funny how in other films when he does that kind of thing it leads him to get a bit closer to the baddie, learning something about their operation before he's inevitably rumbled and dangled over a piranha pool, whereas here he completely messes it up and gets rejected! I guess at least when, for example, he does it in Tomorrow Never Dies at the big party, he prods Carver enough to get a reaction, confirming to Bond that he's the baddie where he couldn't be certain before. Here in GF, he's already been told Goldfinger is up to no good with the gold, he's already killed Masterson, so he knows Goldfinger is the target: the only thing to be gained is to start a relationship to get closer to him, which he completely messes up! 😁 He just about manages to save a botched job with the homer-planting, but it comes close to a terrible day's spying for him!
And that's not forgetting how he needlessly gets two Masterton sisters killed, that must have been a nice summer for their family. The second one in particular - he alerts Auric by stopping her assassination attempt (perhaps more forgivable given its 1964, JFK and all that) and tripping the wire; of course you don't think that at the time.
The main flaw for me, seeing it at the London's Prince Charles last year I think, is that the plot finale really doesn't make sense in retrospect. If Bond has managed to tip off the authorities via Pussy, who has switched sides, then why on earth are they even letting him get near Fort Knox and nearly succeed in his plan?
I seem to have annoyed Barbel by telling him to piss off - he's gone back to posting in bold. 😁
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Not at all, Napoleon, it's as I explained earlier. I just didn't remember to turn the bold off again.
The main flaw for me, seeing it at the London's Prince Charles last year I think, is that the plot finale really doesn't make sense in retrospect. If Bond has managed to tip off the authorities via Pussy, who has switched sides, then why on earth are they even letting him get near Fort Knox and nearly succeed in his plan?
Heh! Yes good point, they should have just raided his compound, really. I guess you could say it sort of makes enough sense that they lured him in to a confined space and could be sure they'd capture the bomb as well, rather than risk it not being at his farm and thereby having a Chinese nuclear bomb floating around lost in the US. And the logic would also be that he'd be surrounded by hundreds or thousands or troops so it should be a pretty easy capture- and yet he still got away! Really this film is a massive display of incompetence from everyone involved 😁
Is there anyone in it who doesn't fail in their task? Pussy maybe?
She's a rubbish lesbian, we don't see her cop off with anyone - and she is 'turned' by Bond as well.
Of course, she's not quite a lesbian in the film, more one of those disapproving librarian/schoolteacher types who need to be persuaded to be up for sex, all a bit Eric Stanton (was that the artist who did buxom sad-masochisitc comics?) If Bond 'turns' her there was thinking how sexist that all was but I'd have thought it's just being sexually fluid.
Pussy Galore was a brunette in the book, and from Texas. They pushed back the idea of an American Bond girl until Diamonds Are Forever.
Thunderball does look better than GF, I mean the lensing, in fact the cinematography improved as the decade went on, peaking with OHMSS, which looks contemporary at times, and going off a bit with DAF which had a look which was fashionable at the time.
For all that, I feel that GF looked best on telly in the early 90s when it seemed to be taken from the laserdisc version, or maybe the digitally remastered VHS tapes. It doesn't look as good as that now on telly imo.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
I found a YT video comparing various release versions of the FYEO gunbarrel recently, and one of them was the VHS pan-and-scan which brought back a bit of a Proustian rush, as it's been years since I've seen a version where the frame has to move to follow the white dots moving across the screen, making them look like they're sort of slipping to the left rather than leaving static ones behind, if you know what I mean!
Cutting pasting from last year:
We did YOLT two nights ago. There are a few handwave 'because movie' moments in it but nothing as egregious as in TB. Overall, the plot and the narrative throughline holds up pretty well and the major set pieces are pretty great.
I loved the emotional moment when Aki dies. I get that some people find her superfluous but I disagree...her passing adds an emotional element that is pretty welcome and shows some genuine warmth from Bond.
If Amazon is going to indeed do some crossover streaming shows, one surrounding Tiger Tanaka might be pretty great.
Ranking:
Current thoughts;
The 'going Japanese' bit may play badly today but it's lessened by the fact that, in the film, the Japanese are doing it to him. They're a part of the process so it's not meant as a cultural insult. Consider Mickey Rooney in BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S for something that is a broad, offensive cultural insult.
The score and the theme song are lush and gorgeous. It's probably the best overall soundtrack of the Connery run of films.
If Amazon is going to indeed do some crossover streaming shows, one surrounding Tiger Tanaka might be pretty great.
Yeah I've thought that before too. I don't want different 00 agents in Aston Martins, I want Tiger and Aki living in their luxurious beach houses, travelling around Tokyo in their private hi tech train and driving about in gadget-packed Toyotas!
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Roger Moore 1927-2017
@emtiem writes : I guess you could equally say: what's the point of Paula?
I am enjoying reading this thread, esp as I am not able to watch the movies this time around - although an enforced lay off for an op in the summer may help me play catch-up.
Re: Paula, as I am sure emtiem knows, was played by Martine Beswick who was Terence Young's girlfriend at the time [note she was also in FRWL as one of the fighting gypsy girls] and he offered her a role without there being one. Hence, if you watch Martine's appearances other than when she is kidnapped in Bond's hotel room and playing a corpse, you'll note another 'P' character Pinder is either in the scene or should be in the scene. I have no idea what Earl Cammeron thought about having his lines stolen by a dolly bird, but there you have it - maybe he never knew - but it looks plainly obvious to me. Paula is superfluous in every sense of the word.
In fact, had the scenes at Palmyra been properly thought through this should be happening: Bond detects radiation on his geiger watch when Largo shows off his underwater sleds in the basement he later infiltrates, this is the trigger for him to infiltrate Palmyra and he chooses the Junkanoo night, blowing out Domino in favour of chasing clues, almost getting caught and then being seduced by Fiona Volpe. She doesn't need a Paula to kill to get her black widow pincers into Bond's ego. After the Junkanoo chase, even with a cut ankle, Bond should turn up at Largo's box seat and say "Hello" to Domino, which is when they arrange that afternoon of love on the beach.
So, Pinder can have all Paula's lines.
As it stands, Leiter turns up at the Junkanoo in his tropical shirt waving at Bond and says "Paula's gone!" and Bond immediately assumes she's been kidnapped - I mean, she could have been out on a date - she's a good looking girl. Even more concerning, Bond says to Felix "Look after Domino for me" - but Felix has never met Domino - so I bet she's happy about that.
They really didn't think through much of Thunderball. But it is still one of the most enjoyable and best looking Bond films IMO, and ironically that's partly to do with Miss Beswick as one of the four [oh, no, five!] beautiful women Bond interacts with in the movie - as another wag wrote "The best Bond girls ever". Too right.
Six, Chris! 😊 Miss Moneypenny is weeping in her office.
@Napoleon Plural - Loved that Corgi ad.
He does meet quite a few beautiful ladies in the next one! Fiona’s amazing but I can never agree when folks say Domino is one of the best Bond girls: yes she’s absolutely stunning and yes she wears a swimsuit which shows a bit of boob, but she’s really boring and characterless and there’s no connection between her and Connery. I don’t really get it.
Anyway, sorry, I keep talking about TB when we’ve moved onto YOLT.
Claudine Auger looks much better as Domino on the big screen, for some reason - some of the subtleties come to the fore. There's a cute moment early on when she and Connery have just met and they're walking up the beach, she gives a slight side look to appreciate his physique.
As @chrisno1 has observed, along with me, TB plays better as a big screen movie and so does OHMSS, on the small screen I find them a bit heavy and indigestible; they're not episodic, you are stuck with being invested in the plot, which is easier to do when you've decided to devote an afternoon to it. You can become immersed in Bond's world.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
@emtiem There’s no problem in posting about previous films in the series as far as I’m concerned. It also allows others to post their reviews and comments who may have missed out on the thread when it started.
Only thing I would say is to not jump the gun and post reviews of movies before their due schedule (Mondays have been designated as the starting point for each movie and runs for seven days - non-Eon movies are not to discussed on this thread).
YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (1967)
The producers decided that spectacle was the way forward and without doubt they put onscreen an action fest like never before. We get so much hardware, fights, chases, battles and glorious sets that the viewer doesn’t have time to think how ridiculous the whole thing is. But it doesn’t matter how ludicrous the plot is as we get swept into the action and go with the flow. This is what Bond should be, a mega-villain with an outlandish plot taken down by our hero with the help of some lovely ladies. As @Barbel wrote, if you haven’t seen this on the big screen then you can’t appreciate the grand scale of it all, it is truly stunning.
Sean is past his peak from the previous film but I don’t hold with the view that he is phoning in his performance. John Barry’s score is just wonderful. The sets are incredible. The gadgets are fun. The process work is lamentable (as it strangely so often is in the series) the lava flow at the end is awful. The office fight is excellent, certainly up there with the best in the series.
I like YOLT very much, flaws and all.
TB - FRWL - GF - YOLT - DN
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Roger Moore 1927-2017
I used to struggle to see the 'phoned in' performance accusations with Connery, but when you watch GF or TB, he's always adding value - the briefest flicker will come over his face as he does something cheeky, he's always adding little subtleties; like how he hands Fiona her slippers or how he performs in the clay pigeon scene- he's just so alive, there's a knowingness behind his eyes. And he's still really good in YOLT -he's Sean Connery- but those little subtleties are gone, there's an inner light which has been switched off a bit and in a lot of his close ups he just seems to be giving a bit of a blank stare. He's more than up to the job and easily outclasses the guy coming next even when he's not engaged, but I think if you watch a scene from FRWL or TB (or DAF!) next to a scene from YOLT you can see he's not really trying anymore in the latter.