My Journey Through Bond

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Oh, I've seen them all a bunch, too. But it's fun to do them linearly. Oh, speaking of, I need to buy Never Say Never Again. Do you know off hand if I should watch it before or after Octopussy? Both came out the same year, right?

It doesn't fit into the series at all so it doesn't really matter. When I'm doing a run through I usually do it after as it was released after Octopussy in 1983.
 
Oh, I saw it in the theater when it came out - I remember it's not worth it! But hey, completist!!!
 
You Only Live Twice

I really liked this one with only two minor gripes. One, why did they change the Bond theme in the beginning only to use the good one in the helicopter sequence? I liked my Bond with twangy guitar. Two, Asian Sean Connery? Really? I'm supposed to buy that?

The audio mix was much better on this disc. I wasn't constantly fiddling with the volume controls.
 
You Only Live Twice

Asian Sean Connery? Really? I'm supposed to buy that?

How about Asian John Wayne?


john-wayne-genghis-khan.jpg
 
The Nelly scene was good, it established the quintessential "hollowed out volcano" trope, and it has one of my favorite lines, "she is very sexiful".
 
The Nelly scene was good, it established the quintessential "hollowed out volcano" trope, and it has one of my favorite lines, "she is very sexiful".

Although it's a great and memorable scene it's a very manufactured action sequence that has absolutely no point other than to show off a gadget.

If you went to all the trouble of making a Volcano base that looks like the real deal from the sky WHY would you send attack helicopters to raise people's suspicion when they're flying over it? Just silly.
 
Oh yes! Almost forgot the obligatory blog rehash:

You Only Live Twice (1967) - Sean Connery

Hey folks, ever wanted to see what Sean Connery would look like if he tried really hard to look Japanese? Ya, me neither. Of all the films in the Classic Era this one tends to stand out like a sore thumb. It feels different from the others and seems like it's simply following a formula rather than telling a story. That's a shame because despite that it's full of great memorable scenes and the story itself, while outlandish, is interesting. Connery had tried to quit the role after Thunderball and by this point was tired of being Bond and it sometimes shows in his performance. There are also a lot of scenes that don't make much sense including one of my favourites, the Little Nelly scene.


The Good: A FREAKING VOLCANO FORTRESS AMBUSHED BY NINJAS! Yes, that needed to be in all caps.

The Bad: Connery as a very unconvincing Japanese man. One of the weaker scores and a plot that seems simply there to string together action scenes.
 
Tonight was On Her Majesty's Secret Service

Thought George was a good yet different Bond. This one has had the best action scenes so far. My biggest complaint/question is why doesn't Blofeld recognize Bond? They've met before right? And what happened to his scar?
 
From Russia with Love
Not a big fan of this one. Seemed like it dragged on and there were too many frame speed ups in the fight sequences. I hate those. Hate. Hate. Hate. The scenes between Bond and Shaw were great. I had no idea that was Robert Shaw until the movie was almost over. I didn't much care for the audio on this one either. I spent too much time turning the volume down only to have to turn it back up when folks were talking.

What...? The goofy midget old lady hacking at Bond with her shoe-knife didn't save the flick for your!? ;)
 
Tonight was On Her Majesty's Secret Service

Thought George was a good yet different Bond. This one has had the best action scenes so far. My biggest complaint/question is why doesn't Blofeld recognize Bond? They've met before right? And what happened to his scar?

Great film for sure.

George did his best Connery impression but seemed a little uneasy in the role. I think if he had stayed on he could have been really good but that's all history now.

The thing to remember about this film is that it was written and meant to be in the order: OHMSS then YOLT.

Connery was reluctant to stay on after Thunderball and by the time they signed him they had missed their window to shoot OHMSS so they re-wrote YOLT and filmed that instead.

OHMSS is supposed to be the first time Bond & Bolfeld meet. YOLT is supposed to be a grief ridden & suicidal Bond seeking revenge on Blofeld in Japan.

Instead what we get as a "revenge" flick is DAF which, quite frankly, isn't. However I will let you watch before I comment further on it...
 
Oh yes, from my blog:

On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) - George Lazenby

After the seemingly phoned in performance and script of You Only Live Twice, Connery called it quits on James Bond for real. This left the production looking for a new face and a script that would cement that James Bond could continue without it's famous leading man. What resulted was a film that was very true to the original novel by Ian Fleming showing a more emotional Bond. It has a very classic feel to it and although he's no Sean Connery Lazenby holds up well in the roll. The scenery is beautiful, the action scenes are awesome and memorable, and the love interest is played very genuinely. This film wasn't received well by audiences which is a shame, it's certainly one of my favourites of the franchise by virtue of it returning Bond to his roots. It's a good spy adventure with little in the way of senseless frills.

The Good: Great action scenes, the invasion of Piz Gloria specifically. Bond sliding down the ice on his stomach firing a machine gun? Yes please! Also this film has one of the best scores of the entire series if not the best.

The Bad: The hypnosis scenes with the girls at Piz Gloria was very weak. Other than that, not much.



And thoughts on George omitted from an earlier post:

George Lazenby in his sole appearance as 007 did his best Sean Connery impression. It wasn't bad but to be honest I think he may have been a little young for the role. He's quite convincing in the action sequences but in the scenes where he needs to be suave and confident he misses the bill. He just doesn't have the same presence that Connery has and, in the opinion of a heterosexual male, not nearly the same sex appeal.
 
As much as I love OHMSS I cannot help but try to imagine how much better it might have been with Connery.

How much more effective would Bond and Theresa's love been? Heck, even Moneypenny's tears at the wedding aren't quite as effective because we have yet to accept Lazenby as Bond.

There is some really wonderful stuff in this movie. For once Bond is in real danger. Bond the superman is not here in this movie. He might get caught.....he might get hurt.....they might find out who he is.
The one scene where he turns up his coat collar and sits, hopeful he doesn't get spotted, but you know he will be. No gadget to save him. This makes this movie wonderful.
And Barry's score is fantastic.

Some of the box office failure lies in the marketing. Connery left, the world knew it, and the poster had a big blank Bond face with a question mark inside. Oops. Market the heck out of your new Bond. Sure, he is not Connery, but sell the new guy, don't hide him.

DAF however, is giving us a preview of the Moore films to come.
 
How much more effective would Bond and Theresa's love been? Heck, even Moneypenny's tears at the wedding aren't quite as effective because we have yet to accept Lazenby as Bond.

Biggest difference I see is that I don't think Bond would have cried at the end of the film if Connery had starred.
 
There is some really wonderful stuff in this movie. For once Bond is in real danger. Bond the superman is not here in this movie. He might get caught.....he might get hurt.....they might find out who he is.
The one scene where he turns up his coat collar and sits, hopeful he doesn't get spotted, but you know he will be. No gadget to save him. This makes this movie wonderful.
And Barry's score is fantastic.

That scene in particular was much like the one in Thunderball when he gets shot in the leg and flees. It's a great scene and shows real fear.
 
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