61 replies to this topic

[JimmyBond]

"Pushing buttons in random order" is an argument? Guess he just slap dashed it in the Aston Martin in GF too...

Well, that sequence has the benefit of not being overtly long, and being quite exciting. But yes, that pretty much was the beginning of the end for the Bond who got out of harry situations by using his wits.

[avl]

Although ironically they went back down to earth with a bang with the next one - even though both Bond and, worse, Blofeld turned into '60s swinging playboys in that one

[JimmyBond]

Although ironically they went back down to earth with a bang with the next one - even though both Bond and, worse, Blofeld turned into '60s swinging playboys in that one

I think OHMSS had the spectacle of YOLT while maintaining a realistic FRWL type story. Had the public accepted Lazenby as Bond (or had Connery played in the film) OHMSS would have probably been a huge success and they would have never went the slapstick route they did in the 70s...but that's a topic for a different thread.

[SecretAgentFan]

I think YOLT has to be regarded as Bond

[avl]

[quote name='SecretAgentFan' post='528156' date='6 March 2006 - 15:29']
I think YOLT has to be regarded as Bond

[hcmv007]

I just think Bond was being a polite guest to Henderson. I was glad that it wasn't like the book, however, and I do enjoy this film quite a bit.

[Publius]

"Pushing buttons in random order" is an argument? Guess he just slap dashed it in the Aston Martin in GF too...

I said "predictable" order. Random would have been a most welcome improvement. Still wouldn't have been exciting, though.

The first thing to bear in mind about YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE is that it's MUCH more faithful to the spirit of the novel than it's usually made out to be (as well as a far better film than most critics and fans would have you believe - quite why its vastly inferior remake, THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, gets all the glory while YOLT is often relegated to the dustbin of 007 history is beyond me). And just as the novel is Fleming's masterpiece, the movie version may well be Eon's.

Ah, but not all of us have read the novel. TSWLM works better because it's more than just a YOLT remake: it has Roger Moore in solid form, good score and great title song, wonderful locations and exciting action, takes itself even less seriously (despite there being more gravity to the situation), and more, not to mention it feels more like a respectable Thunderball retread than anything else.

With YOLT, although the score is good, the title song is obnoxious, many of the "bizarre elements" are laughable and/or cliche, and its villain is just downright lame. Sorry Fleming. What's more, the "epic feel" has never been that noteworthy to me. Simply having nice cinematography in as foreign country as you can imagine isn't enough to make a good epic, in my judgment.

All in all, it starts off strong, begins to slow down and weaken, and takes a quick nosedive around the time the ninjas step in.

[avl]

The comparison with TSWLM is interesting - I agree YOLT takes itself more seriously. I think thats because of Connery - even at its most outlandish, ConneryBond is never as knowing, never camp in the way that Moore routinely is. In TSWLM Rog plays it for laughs with us the audience in on the joke. Bored though he may have been of pushing Little Nellies buttons , Connery keeps the thing at some level grounded, and I think YOLT is ultimately the more satisfying film for that reason.

[stamper]

Lame vilains in YOLT ? What about Jaws ? I know millions of kids worship him, but quite frankly, he is in my book one of the worst vilains in Bond history, totally grotesque. I think the original Maibaum script (young terrorists take out SPECTRE and want to destroy just for the sake of destroying) might have been more interesting, oh yes. This was 77, and vilains were disco. They should have been punk. I always heard Bond were 5 mn into the future. In my opinion, from LALD on, their watches were ten minutes late.

Edited by stamper, 07 March 2006 - 12:21 AM.

[JimmyBond]

Jaws may have been a bit on the silly side, but he had presence, and he was deadly. Everytime he was onscreen you didnt know if Bond would be able to beat this behomoth of a man.

Moonraker made him silly, but he's undeniably cool in TSWLM.

[Turn]

YOLT did not hide what it was trying to be, nevermind what the subject matter is of a film, it's how well-made it is as a story. YOLT is excellence in both departments.
TB i felt was trying to be more than it could grasp, it wanted that GF pompness and the intelligence of FRWL but each of these elements paled in comparison to their predecessors.
I remember Brocolli said once "We always wanted to do a From Russia with Love, but ended up with a Thunderball."

Actually it was Michael Wilson who made the above quote.

And your first comment is off. YOLT has no real story. Bond seeks how Japan ties into missing space capsules. It's about Bond racing from one location to another in a different vehicle which one critic described as like an episode of Thunderbirds. Some have even called it a remake of Dr. No.

It's really one of the least interesting stories in the series. It's basically a chance to show off some beautiful scenery of Japan, show off fantastic gadgetry, stunts and is over the top in every way. It may be excellent in those areas, just don't tell me it's excellent in story and/or subject matter.

[Colossus]

I said "predictable" order. Random would have been a most welcome improvement. Still wouldn't have been exciting, though.

Your argument is still a paradox, Q showed Bond the controls in YOLT, he showed them in GF, yep, so.... he pressed the buttons predictably? Did you even watch the sequence?
Guess it was predictable for Bond to use the smoke-screen, slippery liquid, back shield in GF, he should've just neglected the gadgets made for the situation and rammed his car the good ol' fashioned way eh?

Edited by Colossus, 07 March 2006 - 08:19 AM.

[Colossus]

And your first comment is off. YOLT has no real story. Bond seeks how Japan ties into missing space capsules. It's about Bond racing from one location to another in a different vehicle which one critic described as like an episode of Thunderbirds. Some have even called it a remake of Dr. No.

Nope, it's on. Even with the core story similarities remaining from the novel, guess the novel has no story either. This "remake" spawned two other Bond movies with similar story structure.

just don't tell me it's excellent in story and/or subject matter.

The subject matter is purely on taste, that is, subjective. However the way the story is constructed is better than the way the overly indulgent Thunderball is.

[avl]

YOLT has no real story. Bond seeks how Japan ties into missing space capsules. It's about Bond racing from one location to another in a different vehicle which one critic described as like an episode of Thunderbirds. Some have even called it a remake of Dr. No.

I hadn't thought about that, but it sort of is, isn't it. Dr No turned up to 11

[JimmyBond]

I said "predictable" order. Random would have been a most welcome improvement. Still wouldn't have been exciting, though.

Your argument is still a paradox, Q showed Bond the controls in YOLT, he showed them in GF, yep, so.... he pressed the buttons predictably? Did you even watch the sequence?
Guess it was predictable for Bond to use the smoke-screen, slippery liquid, back shield in GF, he should've just neglected the gadgets made for the situation and rammed his car the good ol' fashioned way eh?

What he's trying to say (and I agree with him) is that Bond uses each gadget on Little Nellie in the exact same order that Q shows them to him. In Goldfinger, Bond did it out of the sequence that Q showed him...plus the car chase is more exciting because we actually don't know if Bond is going to get away or not, the fact that he doesnt get away makes it even better; Bond is fallible. In YOLT Bond predictably destroys every helicopter in a routine fashion, nothing exciting about the sequence.

[henchman_hussle]

I agree with the starting idea of this thread of the sean bond movies i find this the hardest to watch not to say that it's bad but the least of the first 5.

Edited by henchman_hussle, 07 March 2006 - 05:54 PM.

[JimmyBond]

I dont find the film hard to watch, it has a rather brisk pace actually. But that's because nothing is really happening, it's like Dahl was told to get us from point A to B and then C as quickly as possible. There are no surprises, it all plays out pretty much how we expect it to.

[krypt]

I love the title song. I love the score. I love 007 in Japan.

But when I first saw YOLT way back when, it felt more like a Bond spoof than an actual Bond film.

Still, it's Connery, God bless him.

[Colossus]

I find Thunderball to be the weakest of the '60s Bonds. Just A to B all around.

[stamper]

I find Thunderball to be the weakest of the '60s Bonds. Just A to B all around.

Surely you can't say all those scenes are not classics, from memory :

- teaser (my sincere condoleances)
- the rack torture (someone will be sorry this happened)
- Some people on the road really burn you up these days
- any scene with Fiona Volpe (aahhh, Luciana...) including the drive to the hotel, the death dance (she's just dead), the bathroom scene (not from where I'm standing), the chase during the carnival
- He got the point !

etc...

[krypt]

Ahh Fiona Volpe. What a lovely indeed.

I love that scene in TB where she and Bond are pulling up to the hotel in that sports car and she's all dolled up for the evening and he's dressed down in casual attire ... wait a tic. Where have I seen that before ... ?

[Kissy]

I find Thunderball to be the weakest of the '60s Bonds. Just A to B all around.

I think that it's after DAF weakest Connery Bond. The under water scenes are just so boring. YOLT looks a lot like Thunderball. Both movie's have Connery in an exelent performance, both movies have great oneliners, some good action scenes and they go in the same line. But Yolt is by far superior.

In Japan man come first.
I have to retire here.

[Colossus]

Heck, Never Say Never Again is better than TB. in fairness, TB is better than DAF, i agree Kissy, DAF is the worst Connery Bond.

Edited by Colossus, 08 March 2006 - 11:54 PM.

[krypt]

I see a lot of comments from fans saying that they found the underwater sequences boring. Personally I love Bond's underwater work in TB, NSNA and even FYEO. Does anyone else on the board love the ocean as much as I do? (One reason that I choose to live on the Gulf Coast). I guess my love affair with the ocean comes from my family's Naval tradition.

[JimmyBond]

I too love the underwater sequences from Thunderball. I think the fight between the Frogmen at the end of the film is one of the best (and original) action sequences in the Bond series, it doesnt slow down the film at all.

[avl]

Its so often badly cut on TV transmission, I think that has had an impact on its reputation.

[Scottlee]

I was thinking today how much YOLT is frustratingly like DAD...

- Wonderful first half. Dubious second half.
- Slightly bizarre ending to the pre-title (Bond killed? Bond captured? What's going on here?)
- Gorgeous scenary is one of the major plus points of the films
- Outrageous vehicles filled with gadgets
- A question mark over the future of the Bond actor immediately after the picture is released
- Controversially OvEr ThE ToP in terms of spectacle.

[bondrocks14]

I was thinking today how much YOLT is frustratingly like DAD...

- Wonderful first half. Dubious second half.
- Slightly bizarre ending to the pre-title (Bond killed? Bond captured? What's going on here?)
- Gorgeous scenary is one of the major plus points of the films
- Outrageous vehicles filled with gadgets
- A question mark over the future of the Bond actor immediately after the picture is released
- Controversially OvEr ThE ToP in terms of spectacle.

Agreed. If only they had made Brosnan look like a Korean in DAD. Would've complimented YOLT perfectly!!!

[stamper]

I'm rereading the novel, and I'm surprised as there is actually much of the novel in the movie, they just jettisoned the plot for another one, while still incorporating many scenes even rewritten, from the book.

[roboas]

Obviously the makers of Austin Powers thought that YOLT was silly enough to model a central character after Blofeld. I enjoy watching the movie, but I think that you can not compare it to the previous four - on the other hand, it is miles ahead of DAF.