24 replies to this topic

[ChickenStu]

Here's one that's always bothered me about the pre-title sequence of "For Your Eyes Only".
Starts off with Bond at his wife's grave, right? Then he's attacked a bald headed man in a wheelchair, with a cat.
This guy attacks Bond by remote controlling the helicopter that Bond is in.
You've all seen it, you all know the bit I'm talking about so here's my question.

"Is that bald guy supposed to be Blofeld?"

[IndyB007]

in a word, yes.

[Athena007]

Yep, it was the solution to "getting rid" of Blofeld since there were issues with the rights to SPECTRE and Blofeld between Kevin McClory and Eon.

[Mr Malcolm]

It is indeed supposed to be Blofeld. Though you never know, he has tried faking his own death before!

[ACE]

Yes, he is supposed to be Ernie Blofeld.

The original script made mention of the 10th anniversary of their last meeting. FYEO was made in 1981, minus 10 years = DAF.

FYEO was going to feature a new Bond so there was a bit of a continuity fest going on. Micahel Billington (Sergei from SWLM) claims to have flown over to Corfu waiting to take the role when Roger was hired at the last minute.

As Athena007 correctly points out, the film rights to Blofeld (emanating from the Thunderball novel) were McClory's so the explicit mention of Blofeld was exised at the last minute.

ACE

[crheath]

I heard that it was actually a joke Broccoli was making towards Kevin McClory. He was told before the making of the movie that, due to the Thunderball rights, he was not allowed to use the Blofeld character anymore. So, to respond to the decision, he decided to use a sequence where, legally, he cannot say it's Blofeld, he cannot use the Blofeld name, or he cannot have any dialogue referring to Blofeld in the past. He's just a guy with a white cat, bald, and has a long grudge against Bond... who else could that be?

[B007GLE]

The funny thing is since in Thunderball Blofeld is not bald and doesn't have a cat (or any pets, at least none mentioned by Fleming) McClory really couldn't complain the Broolli had stolen his intellectual property.

I for one hope that someday we see Bond fight a bald man with a cat (and a pool full of piranhas) who calls himself Dr. Shatterhand but who has clearly met JB before.

[Mister Asterix]

The funny thing is since  in Thunderball Blofeld is not bald and doesn't have a cat (or any pets, at least none mentioned by Fleming) McClory really couldn't complain the Broolli had stolen his intellectual property.

I for one hope that someday we see Bond fight a bald man with a cat (and a pool full of piranhas) who calls himself Dr. Shatterhand but who has clearly met JB before.

[mra]Yeah, it

[Qwerty]

Yep. Shame he never really received a more renowned death like some of the other villains.

[ACE]

Yep. Shame he never really received a more renowned death like some of the other villains.

Au contraire!

I suggest Blofeld's cinematic death has been the most renowned and painful of all - being dragged through the courts since 1963, lawyered to death slowly from 1965, 1975, 1979, 1983, 1997, 1999 and 2000. I wouldn't wish it on my most hated enemy!

He's really going to need that delicatessan. In stainless steel after all that!

ACE

[DLibrasnow]

Perhaps Eon/Danjaq could even claim the cat is their character.

Perhaps the cat was in one of the film scripts that Kevin owned the rights to? I don't have a copy of the book Thunderball in front of me but how is Blofeld described?

[stromberg]

On a side note, it seems to have gone unnoticed around here that John Hollis, who not only played the "bald guy" but (according to imdb) also had a small role in CR67, passed away a few weeks ago on October 18th.

[Qwerty]

Yep. Shame he never really received a more renowned death like some of the other villains.

Au contraire!

I suggest Blofeld's cinematic death has been the most renowned and painful of all - being dragged through the courts since 1963, lawyered to death slowly from 1965, 1975, 1979, 1983, 1997, 1999 and 2000. I wouldn't wish it on my most hated enemy!

He's really going to need that delicatessan. In stainless steel after all that!

ACE

Touch

[Blofeld's Cat]

Yes, it is supposed to be Blowers, but the biggest quandry is about his wheelchair console. When he presses the left button the right display comes on, and when he presses the right button the left display comes on.

[Flash1087]

On a side note, it seems to have gone unnoticed around here that John Hollis, who not only played the "bald guy" but (according to imdb) also had a small role in CR67, passed away a few weeks ago on October 18th.

That's my birthday...what a downer.

Did he do the 'voice', too, or did he just sit in the wheelchair?

[Qwerty]

On a side note, it seems to have gone unnoticed around here that John Hollis, who not only played the "bald guy" but (according to imdb) also had a small role in CR67, passed away a few weeks ago on October 18th.

That's my birthday...what a downer.

Did he do the 'voice', too, or did he just sit in the wheelchair?

I believe he did the voice as well.

[Loomis]

Perhaps Eon/Danjaq could even claim the cat is their character.

Perhaps the cat was in one of the film scripts that Kevin owned the rights to? I don't have a copy of the book Thunderball in front of me but how is Blofeld described?

I don't have a copy to hand either, but isn't he described by Fleming as tall and obese, a hulking figure with a huge gut? Curiously, we've had all shapes and sizes and interpretations (from New York gangster to high camp) of Blofeld in the films, but he's never been the porker of the novels.

[ACE]

From the Fleming, he actually looks like Robbie Coltrane with a crew cut.

George Almond once did a great illustration of the literary Blofeld.

ACE

[spynovelfan]

He's lost nearly half his weight by the time of Fleming's OHMSS! Around 280 pounds in THUNDERBALL and 150 in OHMSS.

My image of Le Chiffre is pretty close to Robbie Coltrane:

[[dark]]

Y'know, Coltrane wouldn't be an all-too bad Le Chiffre.

Obviously, I'd rather not see it happen, lest we go down the Whittaker / Wade route again, but he's got the looks and the acting chops for it. Probably can't base that on his Bond performances though, which were mostly played for laughs (although when he was menacing, he was quite good; case-in-point, the casino sequence in The World Is Not Enough).

[Qwerty]

Y'know, Coltrane wouldn't be an all-too bad Le Chiffre.

Just imagine if Pierce Brosnan was still going to portray Bond.

[ChickenStu]

Thanks guys. What was that "Delicatessen in stainless steel" thing about? What did that line mean?

[Mr Malcolm]

Thanks guys. What was that "Delicatessen in stainless steel" thing about? What did that line mean?

Erm...maybe someone thought it sounded funny at the time? It certainly makes me giggle!

It's right up there with Zukovsky's 'big and black and the driver's a very good friend of mine' line from TWINE, IMO!

[Qwerty]

Thanks guys. What was that "Delicatessen in stainless steel" thing about? What did that line mean?

I think there was a huge thread on here recently discussing just that very line.

[dunmall]

I thought the rumour was that Cubby thought the line was hilarious so in it went but any way! Yes The Bald Guy, actor John Hollis is one of Mata Bond's exotic attendants in 1967CR, he is also one of Doctor No's Guards (he holds Sean still while the other Guard beats him after dinner).
And he is the villian's henchman in the Bond rival film Deadlier Than the Male!

As for Blofeld's cat, it is purely the invention of the EON guys, but at the same time I remember reading a newspaper article in the Sydney Morning Hearld, during the late 1990's where Mclory claimed that the cat was his! lol