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SOLO: The Movie (SPOILERS)


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#1 coco1997

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Posted 28 October 2013 - 10:57 PM

As with every new Bond continuation novel, I can't help but imagine what a cinematic adaptation of said novel would look like. SOLO takes us back to 1969, which means a film starring either Lazenby or Connery, with a potential release sometime in 1970. A few musings regarding a SOLO Bond film...

 

* The overall look and feel of the film would be like a proto-LALD. London (Bond's flat)/Zanzarim (Fictional African nation)/Washington D.C. is not dissimilar to London (Bond's flat)/San Monique (Fictional Caribbean island)/New York City.

 

* Breed's method of killing his victims would have been too gruesome for audiences back in 1970. The producers would have had to come up with something else.

 

* Coming off the heels of OHMSS, could SOLO perhaps have accommodated Blofeld in its story in some fashion?

 

* There'd have to be a few action sequences added to liven things up. As is, SOLO is relatively action-free.

 

* Any casting suggestions for the main characters? We have:

- Kobus Breed
- Bryce Fitzjohn

- Blessing Ogilvy-Grant
- Hulbert Linck

- Solomon Adeka

- Quentin Dale (the new Q)

- Brigham Leiter

 

Any thoughts on a hypothetical SOLO film? What would have to be changed in/added to the book for it to work as a successful entry in the Bond film franchise?



#2 TheREAL008

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Posted 29 October 2013 - 12:05 AM

Come to think of it, I could see Lazenby doing this but it has to have a follow up feel to OHMSS which SOLO simply doesn't have or ever will. I like the idea of having Blofeld in the story, but it would have to drastically change to be more akin to YOLT the novel. 

 

M sends Bond on a diplomatic mission to Africa to lend aid in a civil dispute between two warring African tribes who are being manipulated by Dr. Shatterhand who's sending his assassin Breed to kill chosen targets on both sides. Blessing Ogilvy-Grant sells out Bond to Shatterhand and Breed is sent to assassinate him. Believing Bond is dead the operation in Africa is a disaster and civil war ensues.

 

Bond survives and returns to London, files a report to M who in turn gives Bond a fortnight's leave. Unable to put this behind him, Bond begins the search for Breed and Blessing where he travels to Washington D.C where he stumbles into a CIA operation investigating Breed and Grant. When he's ordered not to interfere Bond ignores and makes the CIA operation worse for wear. Bond encounters Blessing, Blessing informs Bond that Shatterhand is really Blofeld and that he's holed up in Japan and Bond shoots her.

 

Enraged, and knowing that the CIA will report Bond as a rogue operative now; Bond travels under the scope to Japan where he's immediately snatched up by Tiger Tanaka. With Tiger's assistance he and Bond discover Blofeld's location on a guarded island. With the help of the Japanese navy, Bond, Tanaka, and a handful of operatives and commandos assault the island. Tanaka and Breed have a very good battle, while Bond goes directly after Blofeld to where Bond has the fight of his very life, resulting him squeezing the life out of Ernst Stavro Blofeld with his bare hands.

 

Afterward, as Tanaka and the Japanese navy tidy things up, Bond is betrayed by Tanaka and turned over to British authorities where Bond is taken directly back to M. A philosophical discussion about honor and duty ensues between the two whit M dismissing Bond from his presence, angry at his finest officer. Bond leaves M's office. Kisses Moneypenny for what he believes is the final time, walks out of the office altogether and back onto the elevator.

 

M watches Bond leave out the building from his window, smoking his pipe and thinking hard over Bond's fate. Deciding to keep him onboard the Double O Section when Tanner enters, holding an EYES ONLY folder.

 

 

Make of it what you will, feel free to add to it if you want to. But it would have been a better story than what Boyd had given us. ;)



#3 coco1997

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Posted 29 October 2013 - 12:28 AM

Nice ideas, 008. In my mind I'd prefer to keep the film closer to the book (no Japanese locations or Tanaka) but you found a smart way to combine both stories into one.



#4 _JW_

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Posted 30 October 2013 - 11:42 AM

If this was a follow-up to OHMSS with Lazenby it wouldn't be too hard to work Blofeld in. SPECTRE wants to control the oil fields and are thus the shadowy operatives behind all this. Heck, maybe Blofeld has had some more plastic surgery and he's reinvented himself as Hulbert Linck? OR - instead of the lengthy plot synopsis conversation at the end, Bond and Leiter travel back to Africa and confront Blofeld in an action packed finale?

 

Sticking with the late 60's/early 70's era, here's my fantasy cast:

 

James Bond... George Lazenby

Kobus Breed... Hardy Kruger (with a bit of 'grotesque' eye scarring makeup, natch)
Bryce Fitzjohn... Stephanie Beacham (it has to be an actress who really did a Hammer film or two back in the day, no?)
Blessing Ogilvy-Grant...  as soon as she adopted the afro look in DC all I could think of was Pam Grier, although the time period would have made it one of her earliest films
Hulbert Linck... someone like Ernest Borgnine, maybe?
Solomon Adeka... with the shaven head descriptions I kept picturing Woody Strode (one of the gunslingers at the beginning of Once Upon a Time in the West)
Quentin Dale... only one choice here... a young John Cleese!
Brigham Leiter... a young Johnny Cash (hey, he did movies, and it's not like we haven't done stunt casting in Bond films before)


#5 coco1997

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Posted 07 November 2013 - 03:07 AM

Good suggestions, _JW_. I'm unfamiliar with a few of the actors, but they certainly look the part.



#6 Dustin

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Posted 07 November 2013 - 08:29 AM

Breed's missing upper jaw - was that inspired perhaps by SKYFALL's Silva? Would have been difficult to create that effect - and for the whole film at that - without proper CGI. A 70s production would probably have to go with a different physical trait for Breed.

I agree that SOLO's plot doesn't really carry a film, not without some changes. I'd start right in Africa, with Bond already established in his cover in the rebel enclave and doing a fair amount of spying there. Atmosphere ought to be a mix of SAIGON and LAST KING OF SCOTLAND. Bond should be seen doing some sabotage, Blessing should be depicted observing him, her background mysterious. In one scene then she should be revealed as Bond's contact and ally. As Bond proceeds he manages to escape capture a few times and Breed should suspect him.

Bond then pulls off an operation that helps Zanzarim forces to break the rebel resistance, something more significant than just hiding their juju-man until morals collapse. However, Zanzarim forces are no angels either and a massive exodus of all kinds of characters congregates at the airport, Bond and Blessing together trying to catch the last plane. Breed appears with his own men and collars Bond and Blessing. In some back room he's setting to torture Bond but Blessing shoots him.

Next Bond is back home where he celebrates his recovery and meets Bryce. After turning 45 he's taken off the 00-list and sent to Washington under diplomatic cover. Due to some accident he finds evidence of Breed now being in the United States too. Bond asks permission to investigate further, which M denies him. From there one would have to find some kind of scheme for Breed that is more involving than the drug smuggling. Breed could hold Adeka hostage, who is a major authority of the Zanzarim people and the only hope of conciliation for the war-torn nation. Breed could negotiate with the US government for safe conduct and a big slice of the oil lease in exchange for the politician. Blessing should be shown trying to cut her own deal with the government and with Bond. Bond should be able to locate and free Adeka, only to find Blessing killed by Breed.

Edited by Dustin, 07 November 2013 - 08:34 AM.


#7 coco1997

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Posted 08 November 2013 - 01:37 AM

Interesting ideas, Dustin. You took a more streamlined approach. One of my only complaints is that you might lose out on the opportunity for a great Q scene with Bond meeting the new Quartermaster at MI6.



#8 glidrose

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Posted 08 November 2013 - 04:53 PM

Hulbert Linck... someone like Ernest Borgnine, maybe?


Huh? Too short and fat. Linck is 6'6'' and has thinning grey-blonde hair.

And can we please put a moratorium on this Shatterhand stuff? I sincerely hope the filmmakers never use the name just to stymie the fanboys. Or perhaps they should use the name for some very minor henchmen, or even Bond ally, just to get it over with and vex the fanboys who desperately want a world-shattering villain to carry this moniker.

#9 Dustin

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Posted 08 November 2013 - 06:48 PM


And can we please put a moratorium on this Shatterhand stuff?.


The funny thing is: the German translation of the 60s - until very recently the only translation available to German readers - gave Blofeld's alias in Japan as Guntram Martell. Shatterhand was simply too popular as hero of Karl May's Western fantasies to be used as a villain's name in another popular series.

So it goes.

#10 coco1997

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Posted 09 November 2013 - 10:15 PM

Something I'd have really liked to see on the screen is Bond's road test of the Jensen Interceptor and his subsequent concern over whether he could afford such a purchase given his salary as a government agent.

Who knows? If Lazenby's Bond had taken off in an alternate universe, the Jensen could have been his Bond's signature car.



#11 ACE

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Posted 23 March 2015 - 08:07 PM

Albert R Broccoli's Eon Productions presents
DANIEL DAY LEWIS
as Ian Fleming's 
JAMES BOND 007
SOLO
         O
           7
starring
Lupita Nyong'o as Blessing
Rutger Hauer as Breed
Wesley Snipes as Adeka 
Robin Wright as Bryce Fitzjohn
Dave Franco as Brigham Leiter
Ben Whishaw as Quentin Dale
and Skellern Skarsgard as Hulbert Linck



#12 coco1997

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Posted 23 March 2015 - 08:41 PM

Great suggestions, ACE.  B)