32 replies to this topic

[Guy Haines]

Frankly, I'm glad that Anthony Burgess' script didn't make it to the screen. Way off the scale, imo. (Plus, didn't Maxwell Smart of "Get Smart" battle an outfit named CHAOS. Or ws it KAOS? No matter.)

The Maibaum idea, on the other hand - that would have been intriguing. And I can see how it could be used now. There are a lot of well and truly fed up people around right now.(I could put it more strongly) And people prepared to take on the powers that be by unconventional means - look at the Wikileaks controversy, for example.

So, imagine a villain, a man of mystery, with an army of idealistic followers, organised over the 'net, and causing all kinds of mayhem - not just messing with websites and leaking confidential stuff but bringing banks, even countries to a standstill - and hacking into defence systems and controlling them.

These people think they are changing the world for the better. What a pity that the villain is, in fact, in league with Quantum, which is using all this to create a new order out of chaos - and make a few bob at the same time. But, how unfortunate for this villain, and Quantum, when it turns out that this army of "cyber-terrorists" is beyond control, and is planning something nasty for no better reason than to plunge the world into complete chaos, and take down the people who run the world with it.

A tricky one for 007, to put it mildly.

Would the film makers go along with such an update of Maibaum's original idea for TSWLM? Or would it still be considered "too political"? I wonder.

[winstoninabox]

TSWLM me is not really about hijacked subs that way YOLT is about hijacked spacecraft. TSWLM is about Bond's relationship with a beautiful Russian agent equivalent whose lover he's killed and the tension of what will happen when she discovers this drives much of the movie. This is entirely original and unique to this movie, and is what elevates it far above the hijacked nukes plotline that, yes, is used in many Bonds. It's what makes TSWLM one of the very best Bonds, IMO.

TSWLM is hardly a relationship movie. The Bond/Anya drama scenes basically consist of two or three short scenes that could probably have been snipped out with little cost to the movie (indeed, it might have even made it more of a straight-ahead thril ride). In other words, the relationship is a nice garnish to the film, but it's not the engine that drives it forward, in the way that the Bond/Tracy relationship propels OHMSS. TSWLM is far more enthused with its underwater cars, fleets of submarines, monster tankers, Jaws, and all-around spectacle. That, I wager, is what most of the public, and most Bond fans, remember about the movie. The Bond/Anya stuff is considerably further down on the list, especially because of Barbara Bach's rather limited acting ability.

Well one could make a comment about Laz's acting ability...

Anyone I agree that TSWLM does have an interesting relationship plot, however nothing is really done with it. People remember TSWLM pretty much for Jaws and the jump. And more technical people for the Liparus set.

My opinion is also in disagreement with zencat's.

While the relationship between Anya and Bond is a great idea (and one of the things which puts it slightly above the similarly disappointing MR), it is an idea underused in the movie. Think of the Bond movies where the relationship was central to the story such as OHMSS or CR. Those two movies are a completely different experience to TSWLM. The relationship is given time breath and have meaning to Bond, so much so that the finales are those two of the most emotionally powerful in the cinematic Bond. TSWLM's resolution to the love / hate relationship (and I am stretching the usage of the word love) between Anya and Bond is a champagne cork and a yet another double entendre . It's a small mercy that they weren't riding a train rushing into a tunnel.

[marktmurphy]

Frankly, I'm glad that Anthony Burgess' script didn't make it to the screen.

Well, I'm not saying that it should have done(!), but it does sound like a top read (in a nutty way!) and he's definitely got the Fleming mindset; it sounds more like a Fleming story than any of the other films.