Never Say Never Again

It is good to see James Bond again. It is good to see way he smiles from under lowered eyebrows, and the way he shouts commands in a sudden emergency, and it is good to see the way he eyes women. Other secret agents may see what a woman looks like under their clothing with their eyes. Bond is more polite. He undresses them, and then thoughtfully puts clothes on them again. Roger Ebert said in his review, “You are a rogue with the instincts of a gentleman.”

It has been 12 years since Sean Connery played James Bond, 12 years since “Diamonds Are Forever,” and Connery saying he would “never again” play James Bond. Ebert said, “What complex instincts caused him to have one more fling at the role, I cannot guess.” Maybe he woke up one day and thought that he was in good shape at 53. Then, with a nod to the way his friend Roger Moore, who made his own version on a different type of Bond, Sean Connery went back to play Bond again.

The movie is titled “Never Say Never Again,” released in 1983. The title has nothing to do with the movie – except why Connery acted in it – but doesn’t matter, nothing in this movie has anything to do with anything else. It’s the same plot of Bond where the essential needs are put together more or less in a cool way.

We start with a threat (SPECTRE has stolen two nuclear missiles and is wanting to destroy the world). We go on with Bond, his newest gadgets, his mission assigned. We meet the beautiful women who are Bond girls (Barbara Carrera as terrorist Fatima Blush, Kim Bassinger as the innocent mistress of the evil Largo). We see the villains (Max von Sydow as Blofeld, Klaus Maria Brandauer as Largo). We see beautiful locations, Bond surviving near misses, and him sparing with the evil Bond girl and redeems the good one. All the same.

What makes “Never Say Never Again” more fun than most of the Bonds is more complex than what was mentioned. For one thing, there’s more of a human element here, and it’s shown with Klaus Maria Brandauer, as Largo. Brandauer is an amazing actor, and he chooses not to play the villain as a cliché. Instead, he brings a type of tragedy and charm to Largo, and since Connery always has been a certain kind of human James Bond, the emotions here are more convincing this time.

Ebert said, “Sean Connery says he'll never make another James Bond movie, and maybe I believe him.” Seeing how he starred in this film, so many years later, is one of those once in a while movie miracles that don’t really happen. The Beatles never had a reunion. Bob Dylan and Joan Baez never appeared on the same stage after the breakup. Thankfully, Sean Connery came back as James Bond. Good work on you sir.

This may be the least of the Bond movies that starred Connery, but it was still a nice movie to watch, especially since it was the last of the Bond movies that Connery starred in. It was also the only other Bond film that was not produced by EON, but I wanted to include it in this month.

Look out tomorrow when I look at the last Bond movie to star Moore in “James Bond Month.”