Octopussy

There’s a true fact: the amazingly successful and long-running James Bond franchise will never stop, and for good reason. They are the “Star Wars” fantasies for adults of every age. “Octopussy,” the 13^th in the series that started with “Dr. No” in 1961, is actually better than most and how people say of it.

The film, released in 1983, makes no invention of being based on anything except the Ian Fleming character and the huge good humor and fun of the filmmakers. Vincent Canby stated in his review, “Agent 007 faces a succession of unspeakable dangers and obliging women with the absurdly overstated, indefatigable waggishness that has outlived all imitations.” Roger Moore, reprising the role of 007, is now aging, which also evident of the character. The two have gotten kindly blended.

Canby stated, “Much of the story is incomprehensible, but I'm sure that the characters include a crazy Soviet general (Steven Berkoff), who is as feared by the Russians as by the Allies; a decadent Afghan prince (Louis Jourdan), who gambles with loaded dice and would not hesitate to blow up the world for personal profit, and the glamorous tycoon of the film's title (Maud Adams), who lives in a lake palace in Udaipur, India, from which she runs an international business empire of hotels, airlines and an East German circus.”

The point of any Bond movie is the amazing gadgets – this film includes a surprisingly pocket-size jet plane – and the variations made on the chases, scenes that, like hilarious vaudeville acts, shows one surprise to the next to find out the villain. In “Octopussy,” the best of these is a funny, pre-credit scene where Bond escapes Cuba, another in India where Bond is going up against a tiger at a part of an unusual “shoot” and one across East Germany that has a car, a circus train and an atomic bomb.

George MacDonald Fraser, Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson are the people on the story and screenplay, which was directed by John Glen, who does much better job here than on “For Your Eyes Only.” However, the stuff is completely better, and the budget seems like it is more. Peter Lamont’s production design is both excessive and funny.

This is another highlight in the franchise. Octopussy is my friend’s favorite protagonist Bond girl, and she kills it in this movie. If you have seen all the ones before this, definitely don’t skip this one. You will actually find yourself thoroughly enjoying it, I promise.

Look out tomorrow for a welcoming return of a previous actor in “James Bond Month.”

For Your Eyes Only

Roger Moore’s fifth James Bond film, in 1981’s “For Your Eyes Only,” was foreshown as a return to basics after “Moonraker.” Despite being hugely successful, “Moonraker” was also the most ridiculous of the Bond stories. The twelfth Bond movie, “For Your Eyes Only,” had veteran screenwriter Richard Maibaum partnering with executive producer Michael G. Wilson to create a more normal script that put the series’ trademark fun, women and song with the high-stakes mission of a more intense Bond.

Bond must recover the ATAC missile launching system before it can be used to destroy Western nuclear submarines. The main Bond girl Melina Havelock, played by the sultry Carole Bouquet, has her own plans: vengeance for the murder of her parents. The story includes a bit more mystery than usual, with Bond figuring out which of the two smugglers he should trust: Milos Columbo (a delightful Topol) or Aristotle Kristatos (Julian Glover). Peter Canavese stated in his review, “The story combines elements from two short stories from Ian Fleming's collection For Your Eyes Only: the title story and "Risico" (a bit is also cribbed from the novel Live or Let Die).”

Making this type of a darker Bond, Moore hesitantly agreed to film a part where Bond unnecessarily (and spectacularly) kills a gunman. Canavese said, “Around that defining scene is the usual Bondian fun, including gripping underwater and rock-climbing sequences, a ski sequence, and a cracking car chase, all with inordinately impressive stunt work.” As a former editor, first-time director John Glen knows what’s needed to make suspense. The downside of the film is loaded with an annoyingly old song by Bill Conti (the catchy theme song is sung by Sheena Easton).

Canavese said, “The film ends with a climactic showdown at one of the series' most novel villainous lairs, an abandoned mountain monastery, but it's the opening scene that takes the cake, with Bond escaping a death trap and turning the tables on Blofeld (identified in every way but name, due to a copyright issue).” The scene is both engaging in the action and ridiculously funny, a strange way to start the then carefully balanced Bond film. Canavese ended his review by noting, “The coup de grace is Blofeld's desperate plea for mercy: "I'll buy you a delicatessen—in stainless steel! Producer Albert R. "Cubby" Broccoli suggested the line, an old-timey reference to stainless-steel deli counter tops being prized Mafia currency.”

This is an exciting film that you should definitely check out because you will love it. If you weren’t satisfied with “Moonraker” like I was, then this one will get you excited for the series again.

Check in tomorrow for the next installment in “James Bond Month.”

Moonraker

I really want to apologize on posting this review really late. I was out for a lot of the day, so I'm going to try and post this before midnight. 

"Moonraker," the eleventh Bond and the fourth to star Roger Moore, released in 1979, is one of the silliest and weaker ones in the franchise. Dennis Schwartz stated in his review, "The best things it has going for it are its special effects, the impressive stunt work, the imaginative big chrome high-tech interior sets designed by Ken Adam and the usual exotic locations (in this one we globe-trot from Los Angeles to Venice to Rio de Janeiro and to the upper Amazon). Otherwise it's familiar 'save the world' plotline and repetitive set piece action sequences have become tiresome, the smutty double entendres have worn out their welcome, Moore makes for a lousy wisecracking Bond and the series is now firmly planted in the cartoon world." The theme song was done by Shirley Bassey. Director Lewis Gilbert and writer Christopher Wood don't invent any new ideas in here. The producers should have done more work to the weak plot than in the amazing production values (the cost was as much as the previous Bond films put together). 

The Moonraker, a U.S. space shuttle, is stolen in a midair kidnapping and disappears while the RAF plane, which was transporting it over to Britain, crash lands in the Yukon. James Bond's mission is to go to Los Angeles to visit the Moonraker's creator, the sophisticated evil genius magnate Hugo Drax, played by Michael Lonsdale, who lives in a castle fashioned after Versailles and is crazy about travelling into space. Drax's assistant Corinne, played by Corinne Clery, helps the curious Bond break into Drax's safe in his office, where he finds blueprints for special glassware from Venini Glass in Venice. Bond also meets former NASA astronaut Dr. Holly Goodhead, played by Lois Chiles, who acts fine to him. Drax displays he is the antagonist right away, but fails after a few tries in killing Bond in his space lab and on a bird hunt. However, Drax succeeds in killing Corinne by unleashing his trained killer Dobermans chase after her in the woods on his residence. 

Bond reunites with Goodhead in Venice where she tells him she's with the CIA. The two partner up to try and ruin Drax's plans to rule the world when they find out that the special glass containers he orders are being built for a nerve gas that kills people but not animals. 

When they go to Rio, Bond faces Drax's indestructible steel-toothed giant henchman Jaws, reprised by Richard Kiel, and finds out that a rare black orchid found in the upper Amazon is used to create the nerve gas. When he goes to the Amazon to confirm this, Bond follows a beautiful woman, played by Irka Bochenko, into an ancient temple, that is apparently Drax's headquarters. Bond finds out that Drax wants to release the nerve gas toxins in space around the world to annihilate the human population, and then he plans to repopulate the Earth with genetically perfect creatures to make a super race. 

Bond is put behind bars with Goodhead in the blast chamber of Moonraker 5, but they escape and take over Moonraker 6. When everything seems like it's over, they get Jaws's help, who is mad at Drax for not finding a place for him and his new girlfriend, played by Blanche Ravalec, in his recreation of Earth. 

Schwartz ended his review by saying, "The weak space-age plot has seen its better days. Things have gotten so out of hand in the Bond series, that I don't think Ian Fleming would now recognize his creation." 

In the end, I don't really recommend this movie. If you want to check it out, do so, but it is an underwhelming entry. 

Look out tomorrow for more "James Bond Month." 

The Spy Who Loved Me

Our next entry is an amazing thriller known as “The Spy Who Loved Me,” released in 1977. The plot (whatever is in here) is about a villain and underwater fan Carl Stromberg, played by Curt Jurgens acting really relaxed here, who plans to extinguish the planet for no reason so everyone can live underwater, or something along those lines.

None of that really matters though. What’s exciting about this film are the set-pieces. PiersBeckley described in his review, “From the adrenaline-inducing pre-credits ski chase to the gun battle as the crew of two submarines attempt to take a hollowed-out supertanker from an army of bad guys, the action sequences soar.”

Marvin Hamlisch’s musical score also has to be mentioned for the power and, strangely, the limitation. Beckley mentioned, “During the bravura pre-credits sequence he holds with no sound at all for a full 18 seconds - a brave move, and one that emphasises the power of the James Bond theme when it finally kicks in.”

The emotional tension of the film is Bond’s relationship with Major Anya Amasova, played by Barbara Bach, his equal from Russia. What she doesn’t know is that Bond killed her boyfriend – so when she and Bond start to fall in love, we know there’s going to be tension long before they do.

Beckley mentioned, “Comic-book sensibility is much to the fore here,” which is seen with Stromberg’s indestructible man Jaws, played by the late Richard Kiel, surviving getting drowned, attacks from sharks, and buildings falling on him with silent grace. He was apparently so popular that he came back in “Moonraker” two years later.

“The Spy Who Loved Me” doesn’t have anything in common with the original Bond novel other than the title. Beckley said at the end of his review, “For this reason, the film makers were able to distil the essence of Bond-film as opposed to Bond-book.”Goldfinger" may well have been the template on which the Bond films were based; but it is here that we see its ultimate form.”

In the end, I say definitely don’t miss this one at all. This is a welcome return to making Bond so engaging.

How does it go from here? Well stay tuned tomorrow when I look at the next film in “James Bond Month.”

The Man with the Golden Gun

Can a midget beat up James Bond in a fight? Where does a racist Louisiana State trooper vacation overseas? Can a needless nipple be evil? These and other questions are answered in "The Man with the Golden Gun," a switching but typically simple 1974 Roger Moore addition in the Bond franchise. 

This time, James Bond has twice the concerns that, surprisingly, show up midway through the movie. The main concern: three-nipple villain Francisco Scaramanga, played by Ian Fleming's cousin, the late Christopher Lee, wants Bond dead. With this, Bond's mission to retrieve a "solex agitator" (Peter Canavese stated in his review, "a MacGuffin if ever I saw one") is pushed aside for a bit. The solex agitator has the key to fixing – or, when someone evil gets it, worsens – the energy issue, a problem that's really serious 35 years later. Guy Hamiliton's third of four Bond directing Bond movies flings in Beiru, Macau, Hong Kong and Thailand. Bright dialogue by Richard Maibaum and Tom Mankiewicz. There's two beautiful "Bond girls:" Andrea Anders (Maud Adams, in her first of two Bond movies) and Mary Goodnight (Britt Ekland, who wears only a bikini in the final act). 

The plethora of characters in this Bond addition includes Hip (Soon-Taik Oh), who is basically plays the role of Felix Leiter in this film, Scaramanga's "dwarf" right-hand-man Nick Nack (Hervé Villechaize), and the familiar characters of M, Miss Moneypenny and Q. Sadly, we also get the irritating reprisal Clifton James as "ugly American" tourist Sheriff J.W. Pepper of the Louisiana State Police. This is the same character who first appeared in Moore's debut Bond film, "Live and Let Here." Here, he returns to witness a boat chase and jump into a car chase. 

Canavese said, "The Man with the Golden Gun serves us plenty of novelties to keep its two hours moving: the leaning remains of the Queen Elizabeth in Hong Kong Harbor turn out to be an MI6 base, and Bond competes with martial artists before his showdown with Scaramanga on his private island in Red Chinese waters. If it wasn't already apparent, the climax makes explicit that the core inspiration for Scaramanga is less, say, Carlos the Jackal than General Zaroff of Richard Connell's short story "The Most Dangerous Game." "My golden gun against your Walther PPK," Lee purrs, though the modular golden gun isn't his only toy; he also has a deadly funhouse and a fully-stocked Chinese junk." Despite that "The Man with the Golden Gun" is mainly filler, it's without a doubt fun, from Bond's famous "astral spiral" car stunt to Scaramanga's strange flying-car getaway. 

I sincerely think this movie had a great villain in Christopher Lee. Then again, this is the same man who played Dracula and later would go on to play Saruman. How can you go wrong with this brilliant actor? Definitely see this one because, even though it may be one of the weaker entries, you can't help but have so much fun watching this, so I say check it out and don't skip this one. 

Check in tomorrow when I look at the next entry in "James Bond Month." 

Live And Let Die

Our next entry in the month is the 1973 film, "Live and Let Die." After several British agents disappear, they are said to have died, James Bond travels from New York to the Caribbean to follow a mysterious drug lord called Mr. Big. His first area to search is the small island owned by Dr. Katanga, and home of the beautiful card reader Solitarie. 

After the mistake of George Lazenby, and the desperate and expensive recasting of Sean Connery in "Diamonds are Forever," this was a question of whether the franchise could last with another new casting as James Bond. The tension was all on to make it still go high or Roger Moore, the late TV actor described by Ian Nathan, "more debonair than versatile, would end up just as swiftly on the refuse pile and a new toupee would have to be ordered for the ageing Connery." 

Placing Guy Hamilton back as director was a smart idea, he had done "Goldfinger," the top notch and thrilling of every Bond film, and with a great scriptwriter from Tom Mankiewicz, they did the right thing – start Moore's run as Bond off great. This is a welcome return of Bond, bringing back the signature traits – action, judgment, persuasion – for a more modern phrase without breaking the ice. The film, with the beautiful Caribbean locations and crazy-scary things, is more playful than before – Moore decided this – without making this an irritating spook of his later films. Nathan mentioned, "On one side we get the use of alligators as stepping stones and the pompous puffball of rootin’ tootin’ Sherriff Pepper (Clifton James), caught up in the thrilling boat chase. On the other, the genuine aura of threat through weird voodoo henchman Tee Hee (Julius Harris), and the leaning toward — what’s this? — realism in Mr. Big’s (Yaphet Kotto) plot to take over the drug trade from the Mafia." 

Nathan continued by saying, "Naturally, there’s much of the regular Bondian kerfuffle — a stoney faced M, an irascible Q, the gadgets and Jane Seymour as one of the more memorable lady loves Solitaire — but delivered with a lighter touch." The final action scene doesn't come anywhere close to the same level as the previous installments, but Moore got off to a great start. 

This look on Bond is brought into the 70s on a strong note. Definitely one that you should check out because, if you were a fan of Moore, this will make you love him as Bond. He is a good actor to play him, and definitely one of the best, I give him credit for that. 

Let's see how Moore does when we continue his films in tomorrow's entry of "James Bond Month." 

Diamonds Are Forever

Next up we have the 1971 classic, “Diamonds Are Forever.” While looking at strange activities in the world diamond market, James Bond finds out his old enemy Blofeld is buying the gems to power up his dangerous laser satellite. With the help of a beautiful smuggler Tiffany Case, Bond goes to stop his enemy – as the fate of human life is resting in his hands!

After the small mistake of George Lazenby’s short run as Bond, the makers of the franchise gave Connery another huge paycheck to reprise the role one more time for a while. Ian Nathan stated in his review, “The result, while never losing Bond’s populist streak (it was another big hit), reveals more cracks than it ought. Connery ageing quickly, his hairline indeterminately assisted, doesn’t fully recapture the swagger of his halcyon adventures.”

Nathan goes on to say, “The plot, one of Ian Fleming’s better, is effectively unusual for its first half — a genuine piece of global policing for the British agent as he traces the diamond-studded clues from Amsterdam to Las Vegas (this remains the most Americanised of all the films), but here it founders with the re-appearance of Charles Gray, the third and least of the actors to play Blofeld.” Charles Gray is too superior and funny, with none of the coldness that Donald Pleasance had. Nathan mentioned, “The big finale, wastefully spilling about an oilrig off the Californian coast, is a washout compared to the glorious, Ken Adams-designed uber-bases we were accustomed to.”

Nathan mentioned, “Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, Bond’s guiding lights, were furiously trying to recapture the glory of Goldfinger, Bond’s high-water mark, corralling its director Guy Hamilton, writer Richard Maibaum and Welsh diva Shirley Bassey for a second opportunity to roll her tonsils around a theme song (a good one).” However, this is distant, a mirror of style and limitation of “Goldfinger,” with too much focus on action (a ridiculous moonbuggy chase in the Nevada desert is a weak attempt) and serious violence (Bambi and Thumper (Lola Larson and Trina Parks), two beautiful acrobats, beat so much out of poor Bond at a part that goes dangerously out of the fantasy realm).

Only, the cool quake in having Bond play the loud tables of Vegas, an opposite of the rich look of Monte Carlo. Jill St. John’s gorgeous redhead and the comic duo of henchman, Mr. Kidd and Mr. Wint (Putter Smith and Bruce Glover), murderers with, how Nathan put it, “a horribly leery modus operandi, stand the test of time.” Our fan favorite Connery, is clearly back against his better judgement and no sign of John Barry doing the songs, and intense pyrotechnics could finally fire the spark of his prime.

Connery has mad skills with great stunts, savvy dialogue and a crowd of beautiful Bond women. This is definitely not one to be missed since Connery is back one more time as Bond, and he, as always, kills it in the role. It may not be a good one, but I still enjoyed it a lot and do say watch it.

Look out tomorrow when we get our first look at a new actor to play 007 in “James Bond Month.”