For Your Eyes Only is maybe the best of the Roger Moore 007 films, and certainly has the best opening sequence of any Moore effort.
Of course, that's not saying a lot, as most of Moore's Bond films are ridiculous, but at least I don't have to sit through Moonraker yet.
I remember watching this one on ABC when I was maybe 12. I was never able to stay up to see how the Bond films turned out — past my bedtime, of course — but I was always able to watch the openings.
For Your Eyes Only opens with Bond placing flowers at his deceased wife's grave, which is a throwback to On Her Majesty's Secret Service. That's not the only thematic similarity. For Your Eyes Only explores themes of revenge and gets the playboy-esque Bond back to more of the nitty-gritty realism, sort of.
A helicopter arrives to pick Bond up; this turns out to be a classic Blofeld attempt to kill Bond via remote-control. Of course! This sequence is both ridiculous and awesome at the same time, and sets up one of the best death scenes for any Bond villain. In short order, Bond simply commandeers the helicopter, scoops up Blofeld's wheelchair with one of the landing struts, and drops Blofeld down an industrial smokestack. I don't think Dad had seen the film before; he laughed hard.
Also, this film is the one with the guy who throws the motorcycle, and the other guy who eats the pistachios, and there are Greek people, and Q. disguises himself as a priest for some reason.
All the requisite Bond stuff is here: fast cars, exotic locations, car chases, gadgets, etc. Julian Glover shows up here —you might know him as General Veers from The Empire Strikes Back, or as Walter Donovan from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Carole Bouquet plays Melina, the requisite Bond girl. Her hair is impractically long.
That's pretty much where I start drifting in and out. There are some chase sequences, some on skis, some with dune buggies, and even the obligatory underwater fight scene that is not really that exciting. Bond drives a Lotus throughout the film, beds a few women, kills a few men, climbs a mountain, goes off a ski jump, rolls a car and keeps driving. If I didn't already know the drill, this might be more exciting.
Of course, this one is still good for light entertainment — but only just. In fact, even Moonraker makes for some goofy entertainment on a Sunday afternoon or evening, provided one does not expect much.
But I'm not in the habit of owning films like that. Why own this one at all? The Bond films are a source of great internal strife inside the author.
In short, as an obsessive-completist, I tried to outsmart myself by first establishing a "no double-dipping" rule for myself as related to Blu-Ray upgrades from DVD, and then I purchased the 007 Ultimate Editions on DVD in order to keep from buying Roger Moore films on Blu-Ray.
Thus far, I have prevailed over myself, only having bought all of the Connery and Craig 007 films on Blu-Ray. So like 1/4 of the series. Look, I can't explain everything. This all makes sense in my head, and I'd advise you not to contemplate. Just keep reading and hush, like you do when you visit TMZ, and this will all go much more smoothly.
John John John, you are way off base here. Moore was by far the best Bond... what with his bell bottoms, dry as a martini jokes, and complete lack of interest in giving his leading ladies a real kiss, not that there's anything wrong with that.
ReplyDeleteI actually really like Dalton's Bonds. He's not BOND like Connery, doesn't have the strength of story like Lazenby, doesn't have whatever it was that landed Moore 7 movies, doesn't have Brosnan's revivalist appreciation, and doesn't have Craig's "vodka martini", "shaken or stirred", "does it look like I give a damn" revisionist appraisal... but I still like him. I think he played Bond straight up, like a real operative and was really good for the franchise after Moore Moore'd it up 3 movies too many.
I don't mind Dalton, though a lot of people do. The Living Daylights is a bit too long and kind of boring in the middle, but Licence to Kill is a solid little story, even if the film feels a little like a made-for-TV movie. People talk about the "gritty realism" of Craig's Bond, but Dalton was trying the same thing 20 years previously. Moore attempted to do the same with FYEO, but didn't quite get there.
ReplyDeleteI don't hate the Moore films. They just have a different role. Wanna be glued to the screen? Watch Connery or Craig (or, if you're me, Lazenby). Wanna kinda sorta have a Bond movie on in the background while you're doing something else? Moore's your man. I haven't figured out where Dalton and Brosnan fit in this.