What's up with Guy Hamilton anyway? I mean, he directed the quintessential best Bond and then followed it with three very campy bizarre films. He had every possible advantage in DAF considering the talent involved. Sean was past his prime, but I'm sure fans would easily forgive if the film was better.
My current 10 favorite:
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
What's up with Guy Hamilton anyway? I mean, he directed the quintessential best Bond and then followed it with three very campy bizarre films. He had every possible advantage in DAF considering the talent involved. Sean was past his prime, but I'm sure fans would easily forgive if the film was better.
Hamilton introduced camp to Bond with Goldfinger. Ejector seat? Oddjob? Skin suffocation? It was all a bit farfetched. He probably had to restrain himself from making it into the campy film he really wanted.
Can't remember about the ejector seat, but the other two examples are from Fleming.
But its true these are all more outrageous elements than anything we had seen in the first two films.
There's also a general change in tone in Goldfinger, its where Connery starts walking around with a big grin all the time, and cracking witty's, like he knows we know this is all really very silly.
But Terence Young, who did the relatively serious first two films, continues the new ironic tone with Thunderball, so maybe the change in tone isn't completely the choice of the director?
Connery smirked in Goldfinger, just after he threw the henchman in the tub which one could find to be shocking.
When Bond shoots one of the Blofelds, where did he find a piton for his rappel gun?
He had already shot both his pitons when he mountaineered about outside the Whyte House and we have established that he threw the one he used to propel himself upwards to the roof down below, so where did he find it?
Is it a snub-nosed revolver and I'm misremembering or am I missing something here?
PROS
-John Barry, Ken Adam, Shirley Bassey, the theme song and the transition into it with the cat
... the way the cat steps in front of the camera and meows, beginning the twinkling motif of the song, is a very slick moment, promising a much better film than what we get
-the cremation sequence is very striking. Especially fitting with all the death imagery in the Bondfilm series.
-it's a direct sequel to You Only Live Twice. Its nice there's occasionally some continuity in these films. And like Quantum of Solace, it seems to begin minutes after the previous Connery installment ended.
-I really like Jill St John. Its not her fault her character was so poorly written in the later scenes. She is convincing in the Amsterdam scenes, and funny and smart in the middle, eg while blocking the van at the gas station. She seems to be playing a completely different character in the final stretch. She does show some flesh! the various bikinis she wears on the oilrig are positively modest compared to the semitransparent underwear she struts round in at her apartment.
Also, she was in the very first Batman tv episode, she played The Riddler's moll. Adam West never did play Bond, but Jill St John links the two universes together.
-it makes sense Tiffany has heard of James Bond. After all, in Fleming's YOLT, his obit was published with specific reference to a book series based on his adventures. You Only Live Twice has already happened in this continuity, including a premature death scene for Bond. The whole point of convincing Bond's enemies he was dead required publicity, so maybe in this continuity too there was an Obit and a series of popular books. Which Tiffany has therefor read.
-Wint & Kidd. Whichever is the one with the cologne seems to be channeling Peter Lorre a bit: Mr Cairo also stank up the room with his cologne, once upon a time.
CONS
-tonally resembles Casino Royale more than any previous official Bond film. I know Brocolli/Saltzman felt OHMSS was a failure, but did they really think Feldman had the right approach?
-Connery, physically. I hate to pick on a person for their appearance, but he somehow looks older here than Roger did in his last film. And he moves slow and looks selfsatisfied too, like he's been hitting the free buffets at those casinos between scenes. Remember when he moved like a beast of prey?
-Leiter ... why even bother having him as a continuing character when its a different actor every time? he never does anything, and I never believe there's any genuine connection between Leiter and Bond. It comes as a complete surprise he invites Bond to his wedding after all the near anonymous near coincidental encounters they've had over the years
-Blofeld in drag
-Blofeld in general. Why does he now look like Dikko Henderson? Fleming had him perpetually changing appearance, does that connect? now he's surrounding himself with doubles. Has he spent so much time experimenting with plastic surgery he's now decided its easier if the rest of the world just looks like him? maybe Blofeld watched Feldman's Casino Royale and thought NivenBond's codename scheme a pretty good idea, only he uses faces instead of names.
Was he Dikko Henderson all along, and Pleasance just a fakeBlofeld? similar to Padme Amidala, or Ra's as Ghul, both of whom had misleading decoys speaking their lines for the bulk of their respective films? has Mike Meyers been making fun of the wrong Blofeld all this time?
-Las Vegas. looks cheap after so much exoticism over the past six films. Wikipedia tells me Connery stayed up late every night partying in the casinos, explaining his lethargic performance.
-they left lots of Fleming for future films. The ocean liner sequence is completely different to the way Fleming wrote it, and his version was much more cinematic. Brocolli kids, please adapt this scene properly. Also, the wild west town / train chase has potential too.
-what's with the mudbaths during the plastic surgery sequence? There is a mudbath in Fleming's DAF, but its in a completely different part of the story with no equivalent in the film (Wint & Kidd torture a jockey). Do mudbaths have something to do with plastic surgery?
OK lets say theres a logical explanation for Blofelds changed appearance
either (a) he always was Dikko Henderson and Donald Pleasance was a decoy, or (b) for some reason he has chosen plastic surgery to look like Dikko Henderson. Either way, good idea to change appearance when global law enforcement authorities are hot on your tail.
Why then use the doubles? Bond is looking for somebody who looks like Donald Pleasance, and as far's he knows Dikko Henderson is dead and irrelevant. Theres no point to having doubles for someone Bond isn't even looking for. Bond catching up to these Dikko-doubles in the opening scene only clues him in to Blofeld's new appearance, when he had no prior reason to suspect.
otherwise, when he encounters Blofeld in Whyte's office later in the movie, he would not have said "Blofeld! I thought you were dead!", he would have said "Dikko Henderson! what the deuce are you doing here? well sorry to have barged in unannounced and all that sort of thing old buddy, but if you happen to see Willard Whyte could you tell him I called", and then Blofeld could have continued with his scheme unsuspected.
Now if the doubles had looked like Donald Pleasance, while Blofeld now looked like Dikko Henderson, he would have really been on to something.
What's up with Guy Hamilton anyway? I mean, he directed the quintessential best Bond and then followed it with three very campy bizarre films. He had every possible advantage in DAF considering the talent involved. Sean was past his prime, but I'm sure fans would easily forgive if the film was better.
Hamilton introduced camp to Bond with Goldfinger. Ejector seat? Oddjob? Skin suffocation? It was all a bit farfetched. He probably had to restrain himself from making it into the campy film he really wanted.
Still it just doesn't fit well with the latter films. The camp presented feels so much different, where as in DAF and TMWTGG (even parts of LALD) it feels very forced and over the top in my opinion.
Does anyone know why Connery's voice is sped up in the pretitle sequence when introducing himself? It's at normal speed in the trailer....
"My name izzz Bnd. Jmes Bnd."
Cutting down run-time, perhaps? Or maybe, McLory got his revenge by kidnapping the editor and editing that part himself. Hence the awful sandals in the trailer.
The Sandals are a major mistake. The Onesie in GF I can handle as Connery deliberately camps it up to the Maid, plus he looks at his best, but the Sandals no never.
Of that of which we cannot speak we must pass over in silence- Ludwig Wittgenstein.
Does anyone know why Connery's voice is sped up in the pretitle sequence when introducing himself? It's at normal speed in the trailer....
"My name izzz Bnd. Jmes Bnd."
Cutting down run-time, perhaps? Or maybe, McLory got his revenge by kidnapping the editor and editing that part himself. Hence the awful sandals in the trailer.
The Sandals are a major mistake. The Onesie in GF I can handle as Connery deliberately camps it up to the Maid, plus he looks at his best, but the Sandals no never.
He wears sandals in Thunderball and You Only Live Twice too. Straight from Fleming!
It is, though. In the first two scenes of DAF (Asian man thrown through paper wall; gambler throttled against roulette wheel) Bond is played by Bob Simmons (note that we don't see his face) while Connery does the voice over ("Where is he? I shan't ask you politely next time. Where is Blofeld?"" followed by "One chance. Where can I find him?") then we see Connery as he says "My name is Bond. James Bond".
"My name izzz Bnd. Jmes Bnd."
Cutting down run-time, perhaps? Or maybe, McLory got his revenge by kidnapping the editor and editing that part himself. Hence the awful sandals in the trailer.
The Sandals are a major mistake. The Onesie in GF I can handle as Connery deliberately camps it up to the Maid, plus he looks at his best, but the Sandals no never.
He wears sandals in Thunderball and You Only Live Twice too. Straight from Fleming!
Don't recall those. Will check. Yes I know that they appear in Fleming. For the sake of clarity it's not neccessarilly Sandals per se, but those ones in particular just strike me as naff as does the too short pink Tie (don't tell me that's from Fleming as well B-) )
Of that of which we cannot speak we must pass over in silence- Ludwig Wittgenstein.
Pros include the relaxed self-reflexivity written for the returning Connery, John Barry's brilliance, the sardonic humour and a generally decadent ambience.
Cons include that any packaging or platforming today can't hope to recapture the magic of the 'event' of its original theatrical release.
Critics and material I don't need. I haven't changed my act in 53 years.
Pros include the relaxed self-reflexivity written for the returning Connery, John Barry's brilliance, the sardonic humour and a generally decadent ambience.
Cons include that any packaging or platforming today can't hope to recapture the magic of the 'event' of its original theatrical release.
Wait a second, you're two favorite Bond movies are DAF and LTK? Those are 2 very extreme movies, polar opposites. The most campy Bond and the most gritty Bond movies. Interesting choices.
Well, that's the beauty of being a Bond fan! There's a surprisingly wide variety of tone within what might appear to the uninitiated to be a limited genre- you know, those who think "all Bond films are the same".
Well, that's the beauty of being a Bond fan! There's a surprisingly wide variety of tone within what might appear to the uninitiated to be a limited genre- you know, those who think "all Bond films are the same".
Comments
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
Hamilton introduced camp to Bond with Goldfinger. Ejector seat? Oddjob? Skin suffocation? It was all a bit farfetched. He probably had to restrain himself from making it into the campy film he really wanted.
But its true these are all more outrageous elements than anything we had seen in the first two films.
There's also a general change in tone in Goldfinger, its where Connery starts walking around with a big grin all the time, and cracking witty's, like he knows we know this is all really very silly.
But Terence Young, who did the relatively serious first two films, continues the new ironic tone with Thunderball, so maybe the change in tone isn't completely the choice of the director?
When Bond shoots one of the Blofelds, where did he find a piton for his rappel gun?
He had already shot both his pitons when he mountaineered about outside the Whyte House and we have established that he threw the one he used to propel himself upwards to the roof down below, so where did he find it?
Is it a snub-nosed revolver and I'm misremembering or am I missing something here?
-John Barry, Ken Adam, Shirley Bassey, the theme song and the transition into it with the cat
... the way the cat steps in front of the camera and meows, beginning the twinkling motif of the song, is a very slick moment, promising a much better film than what we get
-the cremation sequence is very striking. Especially fitting with all the death imagery in the Bondfilm series.
-it's a direct sequel to You Only Live Twice. Its nice there's occasionally some continuity in these films. And like Quantum of Solace, it seems to begin minutes after the previous Connery installment ended.
-I really like Jill St John. Its not her fault her character was so poorly written in the later scenes. She is convincing in the Amsterdam scenes, and funny and smart in the middle, eg while blocking the van at the gas station. She seems to be playing a completely different character in the final stretch. She does show some flesh! the various bikinis she wears on the oilrig are positively modest compared to the semitransparent underwear she struts round in at her apartment.
Also, she was in the very first Batman tv episode, she played The Riddler's moll. Adam West never did play Bond, but Jill St John links the two universes together.
-it makes sense Tiffany has heard of James Bond. After all, in Fleming's YOLT, his obit was published with specific reference to a book series based on his adventures. You Only Live Twice has already happened in this continuity, including a premature death scene for Bond. The whole point of convincing Bond's enemies he was dead required publicity, so maybe in this continuity too there was an Obit and a series of popular books. Which Tiffany has therefor read.
-Wint & Kidd. Whichever is the one with the cologne seems to be channeling Peter Lorre a bit: Mr Cairo also stank up the room with his cologne, once upon a time.
CONS
-tonally resembles Casino Royale more than any previous official Bond film. I know Brocolli/Saltzman felt OHMSS was a failure, but did they really think Feldman had the right approach?
-Connery, physically. I hate to pick on a person for their appearance, but he somehow looks older here than Roger did in his last film. And he moves slow and looks selfsatisfied too, like he's been hitting the free buffets at those casinos between scenes. Remember when he moved like a beast of prey?
-Leiter ... why even bother having him as a continuing character when its a different actor every time? he never does anything, and I never believe there's any genuine connection between Leiter and Bond. It comes as a complete surprise he invites Bond to his wedding after all the near anonymous near coincidental encounters they've had over the years
-Blofeld in drag
-Blofeld in general. Why does he now look like Dikko Henderson? Fleming had him perpetually changing appearance, does that connect? now he's surrounding himself with doubles. Has he spent so much time experimenting with plastic surgery he's now decided its easier if the rest of the world just looks like him? maybe Blofeld watched Feldman's Casino Royale and thought NivenBond's codename scheme a pretty good idea, only he uses faces instead of names.
Was he Dikko Henderson all along, and Pleasance just a fakeBlofeld? similar to Padme Amidala, or Ra's as Ghul, both of whom had misleading decoys speaking their lines for the bulk of their respective films? has Mike Meyers been making fun of the wrong Blofeld all this time?
-Las Vegas. looks cheap after so much exoticism over the past six films. Wikipedia tells me Connery stayed up late every night partying in the casinos, explaining his lethargic performance.
-they left lots of Fleming for future films. The ocean liner sequence is completely different to the way Fleming wrote it, and his version was much more cinematic. Brocolli kids, please adapt this scene properly. Also, the wild west town / train chase has potential too.
-what's with the mudbaths during the plastic surgery sequence? There is a mudbath in Fleming's DAF, but its in a completely different part of the story with no equivalent in the film (Wint & Kidd torture a jockey). Do mudbaths have something to do with plastic surgery?
either (a) he always was Dikko Henderson and Donald Pleasance was a decoy, or (b) for some reason he has chosen plastic surgery to look like Dikko Henderson. Either way, good idea to change appearance when global law enforcement authorities are hot on your tail.
Why then use the doubles? Bond is looking for somebody who looks like Donald Pleasance, and as far's he knows Dikko Henderson is dead and irrelevant. Theres no point to having doubles for someone Bond isn't even looking for. Bond catching up to these Dikko-doubles in the opening scene only clues him in to Blofeld's new appearance, when he had no prior reason to suspect.
otherwise, when he encounters Blofeld in Whyte's office later in the movie, he would not have said "Blofeld! I thought you were dead!", he would have said "Dikko Henderson! what the deuce are you doing here? well sorry to have barged in unannounced and all that sort of thing old buddy, but if you happen to see Willard Whyte could you tell him I called", and then Blofeld could have continued with his scheme unsuspected.
Now if the doubles had looked like Donald Pleasance, while Blofeld now looked like Dikko Henderson, he would have really been on to something.
Still it just doesn't fit well with the latter films. The camp presented feels so much different, where as in DAF and TMWTGG (even parts of LALD) it feels very forced and over the top in my opinion.
1. Dalton 2. Moore 3. Connery 4. Craig 5. Lazenby 6. Brosnan
The Sandals are a major mistake. The Onesie in GF I can handle as Connery deliberately camps it up to the Maid, plus he looks at his best, but the Sandals no never.
He wears sandals in Thunderball and You Only Live Twice too. Straight from Fleming!
" I don't listen to hip hop!"
Don't recall those. Will check. Yes I know that they appear in Fleming. For the sake of clarity it's not neccessarilly Sandals per se, but those ones in particular just strike me as naff as does the too short pink Tie (don't tell me that's from Fleming as well B-) )
Pros include the relaxed self-reflexivity written for the returning Connery, John Barry's brilliance, the sardonic humour and a generally decadent ambience.
Cons include that any packaging or platforming today can't hope to recapture the magic of the 'event' of its original theatrical release.
Wait a second, you're two favorite Bond movies are DAF and LTK? Those are 2 very extreme movies, polar opposites. The most campy Bond and the most gritty Bond movies. Interesting choices.
1. Connery 2. Craig 3. Brosnan 4. Dalton 5. Lazenby 6. Moore
Very true. There is a Bond film for everyone.
1. Connery 2. Craig 3. Brosnan 4. Dalton 5. Lazenby 6. Moore