24 replies to this topic

[Scottlee]

(I can't remember his French sounding second name)

The point to this thread is to ask your opinions on what that guy's death is supposed to be. If that faint smack over the head near the fireplace is supposed to kill him then it's pretty lame. Anyone else think the ending to this fight could have had a little bit more invention, or at least shown a clearer demise for Jacque?

[Bryce (003)]

Hmmm....

Sounds like you're missiing something.

As I recall it's pretty bloody well clear what happens. Bond breaks his neck with the fireplace poker.

If your copy of TB is from TV, it may have been cut. The did it on a US version back iin the 70's.

[Genrewriter]

I think his demise is pretty clear. Having your neck broken with a fireplace poker is a pretty tough thing to bounce back from. OK, maybe Jaws could come back, or possibly Oddjob.

E.T.A: Looks like Bryce and I were going at the same time.

[Simon]

Bouvier, and yes, his neck was thoroughly seen to.

[Tanger]

I'm in England and I've never seen that scene cut Lee. Maybe you just missed it. Try watching it again and then see what you think.

[BONDFINESSE 007]

i wish it could have been a longer fight, but as it is its just one of the things in thunderball that i like

[Qwerty]

I enjoy that opening sequence to Thunderball a lot. Nothing like two guys fighting to the death, and Connery adds some real menace to the fight. In think the ending to Boiter is most efficient.

[Triton]

Originally posted by Scottlee
(I can't remember his French sounding second name)

The point to this thread is to ask your opinions on what that guy's death is supposed to be. If that faint smack over the head near the fireplace is supposed to kill him then it's pretty lame. Anyone else think the ending to this fight could have had a little bit more invention, or at least shown a clearer demise for Jacque?

His name is Col. Jacques Boitier played by stunt man Bob Simmons in the fight scene. You might be watching a cut of the film that was edited for television or edited for violence. When I first saw Thunderball on ABC television it was so cut up for violence and running time that the film didn't make sense and all the action scenes looked sloppy. For a number of years it was my least favorite James Bond film. It wasn't until I saw the theatrical version of the film on video tape that my opinion of the film changed.

Bond either breaks Boitier neck with a fire poker or strangles him to death with it, if it's the vase, the version you saw must have been edited. This may also explain why you think that the film is weak if you have watched an edited version. Like I said, the film never made sense to me until I saw the theatrical cut.

[Genrewriter]

Same here, I first saw Thunderball on ABC and liked it, but not overwhelmingly so. Needless to say, I was quite surprised to see the uncut version, the torture scene was a rather big surprise as it was cut almost completely in the network version.

[BONDFINESSE 007]

i have never seen the cut version of this bond film, was it that badly cut up? if so it sounds like something not even worth watching

[Genrewriter]

You can still tell what's going on in the film but most of the scenes are trimmed in some way, at least that's what I remember. It was a standard ABC hatchet job. The version I'm talking about was broadcast in 1987 and I haven't seen the tape it was recorded on in about ten years.

[Triton]

I agree with you Genrewriter, hatchet job is an apt description of how ABC edited the for film television. Most of the action scenes were trimmed so extensively and so choppy that it made me wonder why Peter Hunt had such a great reputation as an innovative editor.

I understand that in the more conversative television markets, some of the ABC affiliates would play other programs when the James Bond films were shown. Over twenty years later, it all seems rather silly.

[Turn]

Yeah, I suffered through the ABC cuts in the pre-VCR years too. The fights were always cut up and other weird things too: the entire teaser in GF; the gunbarrel in TB; the gypsy camp sequences in FRWL; even things like the line "Wait until you get to my teeth" or the scene where the fire extinguisher goes off all over Peter Franks' corpse in DAF got cut.

After I began buying the first wave of VHS tapes, I never went back to network again.

[Simon]

Originally posted by Triton


His name is Col. Jacques Boitier ..............

Ooops, you're absolutely right. Seemingly no one noticed my error above.

A sense of fairplay will prevent me from using the Edit button to save my blushes.

[Dr.Carl Mortner]

Sheesh -- from the way it sounds, ABC virtually cut out anything that wasn't just Bond walking around. I mean, it's hard to work around it: Bond kills, fights and has sex with beautiful women. Take those parts out of a typical Connery-era flick and you don't have much of a movie left.

[Scottlee]

I've seen Thunderball about 15 times over the years, and all those viewings have been on ITV (English channel). I'm guessing that something has been cut at the end of that fight, cos' it's not like I'm blind or anything. I've just never quite seen how the guy can die from a whack that seems far less firm that all the other hits he received. Perhaps I'll see things better once I've bought the DVD. I still haven't got around to buying it yet, as much I badly want it.

[ChandlerBing]

I remember back in the 80s during the summer when ABC would run the Bonds on Sunday nights. I would watch them, but be wincing at what they cut. OHMSS was a real bad one for editing. Even after they dumped the idiocy of making it a 2 parter and the loss of the phony narrator, they still cut the fight scenes down to nearly nil. Thunderball was really screwed bad, too. The underwater battle at the end was massacred, pardon the term.

[trs007]

The absolute worst ABC edit, was many years ago, they had Dr. No has part of a Friday night movie double feature, in a 90 minute time slot. Since the movie is one hour and FIFTY minutes--that was some hatchet job!!!!!!

[Triton]

That sounds pretty bad trs007. Tonight on ABC, the highlights of Dr. No heavily edited for television. But ABC television was my first introduction to the James Bond films, so I am grateful to them for that. I have been hooked ever since. I really don't know what my first James Bond film was come to think of it. I think it must have been one of the Roger Moore films, either Live and Let Die or The Spy Who Loved Me.

Thank goodness we are now able to watch the theatrical cuts on video tape or DVD and don't have to suffer through the censorship and commercials.

[Blox]

Genrewriter: It was a standard ABC hatchet job.

...Agreed. They even found some reason to resequence the gunbarrel in Goldfinger -- a gratuitious choice to say the least. The version of OHMSS shown during the winter olympics takes the cake with that hokey voice over -- that version was a mess.

[BondNumber7]

Originally posted by Bryce (003)
Bond breaks his neck with the fireplace poker.

Your probably right, but I always thought it was a sword with Bond pressing it against Boiter's neck and cutting it.

[Blox]

BondNumber7: Your probably right, but I always thought it was a sword with Bond pressing it against Boiter's neck and cutting it.

...confirmation comes a bit later in Shrublands from Miss Fearing who comments about the "nasty bruise" on Bond's body, to which Bond replies "poker -- in the hands of a widow." etc

Blox

[TonicBH]

The version of OHMSS shown during the winter olympics takes the cake with that hokey voice over -- that version was a mess.

Since this TV airing was way before my time... How was it edited, exactly?

[stromberg]

Originally posted by TonicBH


Since this TV airing was way before my time... How was it edited, exactly?

Never seen it, and will most likely never get a chance to, so I can't tell you anything about it. But maybe this thread might be helpful:
http://forums.comman...=&threadid=9491

[Blox]

TonicBH: Since this TV airing was way before my time... How was it edited, exactly?

...ABC broadcasted the film in two parts in 1976. Both parts were bridged with voiceovers by a Lazenby sound-alike. The film was also cut out of sequence. For example the film begins with Bond escaping Blofeld's Piz Gloria hideaway and then goes into flashback about how Bond first meet Tracy in the pre-title sequence. Here is a detailed description:

http://groups.google...news.com&rnum=4

Blofeld's Cat may have made a DVD dub from his BetaMax copy.

Blox