18 replies to this topic

[Aces High]

Last Tuesday ITV gave 'Dr.No' a 8pm Tuesday night slot,the following Monday ITV plan on giving 'Goldfinger' a 8.30 slot.Not bad for movies that are 40 years old..can't see 'Matrix'or 'Harry Potter'doing this 40 years from now.
Now for my question
'Does anyone know how many times ITV have shown each Bond filmsince 1976??'

[Dunph]

A hell of a lot? Does that count?

I love their reverence for Bond, all the films always get primetime billing, be it during a public holiday or at 8pm midweek, and their adverts for them are superb!

[Red Grant]

I was surprised myself to see Goldfinger on AGAIN and it got me thinking that there still must be a huge audience that watches them otherwise it wouldn't be justified. I for one don't bother watching the TV re-runs (why would you want to watch a speeded up, cut, advert filled, credits chopped off old film?) The Bond films on ITV have become a bit of an institution but they still appear to be well thought of as the do command high viewing figures and get well produced trails. I guess the people who watch them are just the usual ITV audience as people with the DVD's, videos etc already have superior versions of them. I forget that many viewers are probably like myself when I first saw the films...this is their first introduction to them and fuels the fire for more and eventually they become fully fledged Bond fans.

[David Somerset]

I haven't watched one on TV for ages. Well alright, not since Christmas when I got sucked into watching DAF. It's the exceotion not the rule now. Once upon a time, pre-video/dvd, I would have moved heaven and earth not to miss a TV screening.

[Dunph]

Me too, pre-DVD, my life revolved around the screenings, and when 00-Heaven was on, I only had a semblance of a life every Wednesday at 8:30.

Once they screened GoldenEye with a massive chunk taken off - The introduction of Natalya, Boris and Anna (who is later killed), so the film skipped from the theft of the Tiger in Monte Carlo to The arrival of it in Severnaya. The film still obviously made sense, but I was very shocked!

[Simon]

I move around a lot with work, so if am not doing anything, I would probably catch up with the TV version.

I say "version" as the GoldenEye I saw had the US Xenia headbutt scene at the dish instated, something that never made its way into UK cinemas or video. (Not sure about DVD yet)

Also the TND I saw recently had the kick to the head scene in the Stealth boat reinstated in the film, something which went missing in the video (again, have yet to see the DVD)

So there have been the od reason to tune in.

Does anyone know of the DVD status of those scenes?

[Aces High]

The headbut scene in Goldeneye is still missing from the UK DVD,as for Tomorrow Never Dies make sure you get the latest run as the older runs of the disc have the head kick & star knife throw from Wai Lin cut.

[Simon]

Cheers fella. Forgot about the throwing star.

I will endeavour to get the latest version. Appreciated.

[Simon]

While Goldfinger is universally respected as the best Bond film for any number of reasons, could anyone tell me why oh why, a large portion of the central part of the film is so totally redundant.

The part that extends from the hoods briefing to just before the mint julep is all film fluff that people either forget to question or extend forgiveness for what has to be style over content.

For the audience, yes, we have to have a briefing to understand what Goldfinger's plans are but in terms of the story, all of that could have been condensed into "the hoods congregate into a room and get gassed".

His briefing to the hoods was redundant as he had all he needed from them in terms of supplies.
He didn't need to separate Solo from the rest for dispatch.
He didn't need to count out 50 pieces of gold and case it up for payment.
He didn't need to trash a perfectly acceptable car.
He didn't need to separate the gold from the car.

He just needed to put them all in one room and kill them, sans briefing.

I daresay there will be people that can make up a backstory to the film to explain all this away but for what we actually see, the above just makes Goldfinger out to be an idiot.

[marktmurphy]

Thing is, as soon as the action moves to the US its a bit of a meander to the end- there's nothing much to look forward to after he leaves Europe.

[Simon]

Agreed.

Can't fathom why it wasn't sorted though as the producers covered off the implausibility of the novel regarding trying to actually steal the gold to then just nuking it. I figured the same level of thought would have removed the fluff.

[Dunph]

Off topic a tad, Simon, even the latest Bond DVDs have those cuts (The Natalya headbutt in GoldenEye, and the star throwing and head kicking in Tomorrow Never Dies).

They are all edited out. The only times I have ever seen them is on the TV.

[Simon]

Cheers, although Aces High above suggests there's a chance of fuller versions of later TND discs.

As and when I get hold of discs, I'll be glad to report back.

Anyone else have DVDs with these scenes intact for TND??

[Red Grant]

Originally posted by Dunphboy007
Off topic a tad, Simon, even the latest Bond DVDs have those cuts (The Natalya headbutt in GoldenEye, and the star throwing and head kicking in Tomorrow Never Dies).

They are all edited out. The only times I have ever seen them is on the TV.

The R1 DVD's are uncut (apart from the missing dialogue in OHMSS which was a mistake rather than a cut)...it's ironic that the country that made the films cut them because of our stupid laws and double standards. This is one of the reasons I rarely buy R2 DVD's. I want the film as it was in the cinema and not cut to suit someone elses morals. I am old enough to make my own decisions.

When Alfred Hitchcock was told that someone murdered their fourth victim after seeing "Psycho" he replied "Which films did he see when he killed the first three?" Films don't harm people...people do.

[Simon]

But there are instances when R1 will see less than other regions; to wit I believe there were all sorts of variations for LTK. I know I saw more in New York when I saw it there than in the UK.

[[dark]]

The Bond films are played on TV here in Australia very often as well. In fact, our first run of 00 Heaven [we've been through a few now], where they played a Bond flick each Saturday for a good few months in 2000 was my introduction to most of the Bond films.

The Spy Who Loved Me airs this week here - - it last aired towards the end of last year.

All the Bond flicks bar Casino Royale have aired in prime-time, too.

Just goes to show how timeless Bond is.

[Red Grant]

Originally posted by Simon
But there are instances when R1 will see less than other regions; to wit I believe there were all sorts of variations for LTK.  I know I saw more in New York when I saw it there than in the UK.

Agreed...I used to have the Dutch VHS version of the film which was significantly longer when the cut scenes were shown in full. In this day and age these cuts and negligible considering the film got a 12 rating anyway...I could never see the logic behind those decisions. Batman was released uncut at the same time and was as violent as LTK but it was comic book so that makes it ok....

[Simon]

Yup, and I believe there was a variation of Lethal Weapon 2 released at the time of LTK, the violence of which for its US rating was staggering. I can't confirm, but it might have been the same rating as LTK but when this comparison point was raised in the press, the MPAA said that there was a "perceived violence" to the Bond films that had to be taken into account.

Either there is violence or there is not. Not all this rating of a grading of a perception - it all got a bit lost up its own rear passage.

[scaramanga]

From Russia With Love is on ITV1 this Monday at 8.30pm! Whats going on? Somebody wanna tell the controllers at ITV they've put them in the wrong order? Last week it was Dr. No, this week it was Goldfinger and next week it's From Russia With Love!