278 replies to this topic

[Turn]

Gotta agree with Agent Sidewinder on FYEO's trying too hard to be the anti-Moonraker. They took a slim excuse for a plot and figured since the big stunts were popular the last few films they'd focus on a ton of reworked stunts from earlier in the series and some Fleming characters and situations and you have something classic. In my view OP does this blend much better.

[AMC Hornet]

Hear, hear.

[ChickenStu]

Overrated 

 

For Your Eyes Only: Tries too hard to be the anti-Moonraker at times, and even fails at that in parts (I'm still trying to work out how Bibi is less out-of-place than Dolly. At least the latter didn't speak and had some relevance to the plot). Bill Conti's score is as awful as they say....seriously, the ski chase music sounds like something rejected from Grandstand or Hockey Night in Canada than something from a Bond film.

 

Dunno what you're talking about! OK the bit where Thatcher is on phone to the parrot is a bit daft but otherwise I think For Your Eyes Only is wonderful! Had some great characters and was very faithful to the two Fleming stories from which it took it's inspiration!

And sorry - it may not be fashionable to admit this but I ADORE Bill Conti's score! Every time I listen to my CD of it - it makes me glad to be alive! 

[tdalton]

 

Overrated 

 

For Your Eyes Only: Tries too hard to be the anti-Moonraker at times, and even fails at that in parts (I'm still trying to work out how Bibi is less out-of-place than Dolly. At least the latter didn't speak and had some relevance to the plot). Bill Conti's score is as awful as they say....seriously, the ski chase music sounds like something rejected from Grandstand or Hockey Night in Canada than something from a Bond film.

 

Dunno what you're talking about! OK the bit where Thatcher is on phone to the parrot is a bit daft but otherwise I think For Your Eyes Only is wonderful! Had some great characters and was very faithful to the two Fleming stories from which it took it's inspiration!

And sorry - it may not be fashionable to admit this but I ADORE Bill Conti's score! Every time I listen to my CD of it - it makes me glad to be alive! 

 

 

Agreed.  For Your Eyes Only is a terrific Bond film. 

[Major Tallon]

I have several times set out my belief that FYEO is Moore's best Bond movie, and in the interest of avoiding repetition, I won't go through all that again here. 

 

So I'll turn to a different tack and say I enjoy the underwater scenes in "Thunderball."  The plot is big, bordering on the unbelievable, and I think we need to see the detail of how the bombs are stolen.  If you've seen the underwater scenes many times, I suppose they can be a bit slow, but if you'll imagine yourself in a crowded theater at the height of Bondmania, with hundreds of fans absorbed in the story, the sight of those sleds surrounding the sunken Vulcan and stealing the bombs not only makes the hijacking seem plausible, but visually spectacular.  For me, in fact, that's the point when "Thunderball" begins to come alive.  The final battle may go on a bit long, and the film suffers because they cut the part of the Q scene explaining the yellow dye on the scuba tanks, but there's some really stunning photography and some exciting action in there. 

 

The movie is not without flaws, but it's one I keep coming back to. To the extent that there has come to be widespread criticism of the underwater scenes, I think "Thunderball" is seriously underrated.

[AMC Hornet]

Agreed. People are too used to fast editing these days. Thunderball was not made for 2010+ audiences, it was made at a time when film makers took time to tell a cohesive story, and underwater photography was still new and exciting. I expect that someday newbie fans will consider the climax of Moonraker - with all that slogging through 0 G - to be boring as well.

[Odd Jobbies]

...I expect that someday newbie fans will consider the climax of Moonraker - with all that slogging through 0 G - to be boring as well.

Someday?

 

[AMC Hornet]

"...And those ninjas took forever to abseil into the crater...!"

[Turn]

Regarding Thunderball, being underwater is like being in another world altogether and that's brought out expertly. It's almost a character of its own. Maybe Stromberg said it best - "There is beauty, there is ugliness and there is death."

 

A lot of people have a fear of those types of depths. I've always thought the scene where Largo cuts Angelo's oxygen hose is a particularly cold and disturbing death. Later when Bond dives into the Vulcan searching for the bombs it's one of the eerier, atmospheric scenes in the series with the dead crew, sharks looming about and a general feeling of dread hanging over it.

 

Also the scenes where Bond is trapped in Largo's pool and imprisoned in SPECTRE's stronghold where they held the bombs are claustrophobic. There's just something disturbing to me about being trapped underwater to slowly drown to death or become prey to its predators.