25 replies to this topic

[DamnCoffee]

Watching The Spy Who Loved Me last night, and something really bothered me.

Why on earth did Fekkish run off like a fool, after seeing a 7ft man on a hill half a mile away.

1) If I was as scared as he was, I would stay where I am.
2) I would also stay in a place surrounded by lots of people, I would be more likely to get killed AND feel safer.

But no, he has to run off and hide like a loon. Plus, I don't think Jaws could spot him from that far away, if he was in a crowd.

[Jim]

This is why the film fails as a documentary.

Next time - The Lion King: Exposed - a searing look into the fraud of talking animals.

[Zorin Industries]

Quite...

[Loomis]

This is why the film fails as a documentary.

Next time - The Lion King: Exposed - a searing look into the fraud of talking animals.

I was watching RAMBO the other day. It's a very good and entertaining film, although I'm troubled by the idea that a 62-year-old man who apparently eats or drinks nothing whatsoever could virtually singlehandedly destroy an entire platoon of Burmese troops after at least one night of no sleep at all and on totally unfamiliar terrain. Bluntly, I find it a bit.... well, unconvincing. Any advice on this matter would be gratefully received.

[Glenn]

Another failing as a documentary is the sequence after the pyramids. Bond and XXX climb into the back of Jaws van in Cairo, and get out at the Temple of Luxor, hundreds of miles to the south. After escaping Jaws they drive miles and miles to the Nile when in fact you can throw a stone from the temple to the Nile, find a boat and ask the owner to take them to Cairo. The boat owner, being a crafty Eygptian, takes them instead hundreds of miles south to Abu Simbal in a single night. His boat must have flown over the Aswan Dam! Bond notices nothing and prompt enters the temple there to meet the rest of the gang. What a geography lesson.

[Safari Suit]

Next time - The Lion King: Exposed - a searing look into the fraud of talking animals.

OK, the film-makers may have "enhanced" their efforts a bit, but it's still one of the more impressive attempts at mounting (ha, ha, mounting, lions) a production of Hamlet with an all-animal cast that I've seen.

[Vauxhall]

I was watching RAMBO the other day. It's a very good and entertaining film, although I'm troubled by the idea that a 62-year-old man who apparently eats or drinks nothing whatsoever could virtually singlehandedly destroy an entire platoon of Burmese troops after at least one night of no sleep at all and on totally unfamiliar terrain. Bluntly, I find it a bit.... well, unconvincing. Any advice on this matter would be gratefully received.

I can't help you on the specifics of this matter, but Jack Bauer lives by similar values of course: 168 hours of his life have been catalogued on television so far and not once has he been seen to sleep, eat or go to the bathroom. These fictional heroes rule.

[DamnCoffee]

I love how I haven't got any answer to question after 6 posts.

[Vauxhall]

I love how I haven't got any answer to question after 6 posts.

My real answer is two-fold:

1. to allow the makers of THE SPY WHO LOVED ME to use some arty tracking shots of the Pyramids of Giza and the surrounding desert at night as Fekkesh flees
2. Fekkesh was incompetent

[sthgilyadgnivileht]

I don't think Fekkesh was a particularly bright spark, but I think he ran off to lock himself away from Jaws in the pyramid. He probably didn't realise Jaws had those metal teeth that could bite through the chain. That's my guess anyway!

[sharpshooter]

My real answer is two-fold:

1. to allow the makers of THE SPY WHO LOVED ME to use some arty tracking shots of the Pyramids of Giza and the surrounding desert at night as Fekkesh flees
2. Fekkesh was incompetent

Agreed.

I also think the man just freaked out. The biological response of animals to acute stress is fight or flight. He definitely wasn't going to fight Jaws and win. His insticts told him to get as far away from Jaws as possible. Sure, it wasn't the smartest thing to do, but there's not much logical or rational thinking going on when one is distressed.

[right idea, wrong pussy]

My real answer is two-fold:

1. to allow the makers of THE SPY WHO LOVED ME to use some arty tracking shots of the Pyramids of Giza and the surrounding desert at night as Fekkesh flees
2. Fekkesh was incompetent

Agreed.

I also think the man just freaked out. The biological response of animals to acute stress is fight or flight. He definitely wasn't going to fight Jaws and win. His insticts told him to get as far away from Jaws as possible. Sure, it wasn't the smartest thing to do, but there's not much logical or rational thinking going on when one is distressed.

Good point. In a way he never bothered me that much because Manuela in MR behaves even more stupidly. She goes closer to him out of curiousity, then chooses to fight him with a knife rather than run, then doesn't make a single cry for help when she is surrounded by carnival-goers. I don't know that they would have paid any attention to her, but at least trying would have been better than waiting for Bond to turn up in the nick of time.

[RufusCobb]

This is why the film fails as a documentary.

Next time - The Lion King: Exposed - a searing look into the fraud of talking animals.

Ha Ha Ha. Love it, Jim. I read this at work and it made me laugh out loud!

Edited by RufusCobb, 03 July 2009 - 10:02 PM.

[Mr. Blofeld]

My real answer is two-fold:

1. to allow the makers of THE SPY WHO LOVED ME to use some arty tracking shots of the Pyramids of Giza and the surrounding desert at night as Fekkesh flees
2. Fekkesh was incompetent

Agreed.

I also think the man just freaked out. The biological response of animals to acute stress is fight or flight. He definitely wasn't going to fight Jaws and win. His insticts told him to get as far away from Jaws as possible. Sure, it wasn't the smartest thing to do, but there's not much logical or rational thinking going on when one is distressed.

Good point. In a way he never bothered me that much because Manuela in MR behaves even more stupidly. She goes closer to him out of curiousity, then chooses to fight him with a knife rather than run, then doesn't make a single cry for help when she is surrounded by carnival-goers. I don't know that they would have paid any attention to her, but at least trying would have been better than waiting for Bond to turn up in the nick of time.

Somebody else summed this up better (and much more amusingly) than I could:

That night, we see that Bond has managed to arrive right in the middle of Carnival, in another example of the Perpetual Mardi Gras Rule. Bond and Manuela maneuver their way through the crowd, passing dancers and dudes in big giant clown head suits. Happily, director Lewis Gilbert doesn't try and top Thunderball's Junkanoo sequence by staging an action scene here, but that doesn't mean the choices he makes are good ones. Manuela tells Bond about a back entrance to the C&W warehouse, which they sensibly head for. As they do, one of the Big Giant Clown Heads watches them.

They go into the alley, and for some reason, Bond tells Manuela to be his lookout while he checks the warehouse. Why she would need to do this is beyond me: If you're an evil organization trying to keep an eye on your secret plans, why would you have somebody watching when there's a huge festival going on? Response time would be reduced to the bare minimum, so Bond has very little to worry about.

Anyway, Manuela stands around doing nothing while Bond climbs up into the warehouse. As she waits, we see the Big Giant Clown Head Guy moving towards her. Gee, you don't think this is telegraphing too much, do you? Inside the warehouse, Bond only finds a cloth patch for Drax Air Freight, and the rest of the warehouse is empty. Down on the ground, Manuela stares blankly at the Big Giant Clown Head Guy as he reveals himself to be Ted Nugent. Okay, not really; actually, it's Jaws in disguise. You could almost excuse the rest of this movie if the filmmakers had kept Jaws in a clown suit the whole time.

Manuela pulls a knife, which seems like it wouldn't be terribly effective when your opponent outweighs you by at least a hundred pounds and has a two-foot advantage in height. But hey, that's why I'm not in the British Secret Service. On a related note, don't spies usually have guns? I find it hard to believe that the Service is so under-funded that an agent in Rio can't get her hands on one...

...but, hey, I'm rambling; when a good start goes to crap on you, that tends to happen. Manuela's knife is knocked away by Jaws almost instantly, making me wonder, again, why the hell this girl doesn't have a gun. Jaws grabs her and is about to put the bite on her when a group of Carnival revelers interrupt. Jaws covers up by pretending to dance with Manuela until they leave; after they're gone, it's back to business -- until Bond intrudes.

Now, the smart thing to do here would be to have a brief scuffle between Bond and Jaws, with Bond possibly using the crowd to elude the killer (like in Thunderball); unfortunately, the filmmakers opted to hold out on us. Bond and Jaws only get as far as exchanging shiny smiles before the revelers suddenly return. Jaws gets caught up in the flow of the crowd and Bond and Manuela escape. I guess Jaws thought, "What the hell?" and decided to party 'til the sun came up. Hot damn, Drax sure is getting his money's worth, huh? Maybe he should have asked that henchman agency to send over Nick Nack from Man with the Golden Gun, after all; he'd be getting the same amount of work done.

Bond and Manuela walk through the alley and Bond reports the empty warehouse and the patch, so Manuela tells him Drax Air Freight runs out of San Pietro Airport. Manuela, ever the trooper, asks if Bond wants her to take him there. Bond tells her she needs some rest and drives her back home, thus ending the character's screen time. Yeah, that was worth the time for screen tests, costume and makeup costs, and the salary for the actress. Like the rest of the Carnival sequence, it's a lot of money thrown around with very little payoff. I only mention this because it's actually quite the missed opportunity, and the fact that the film is played for laughs hurts it in so many other ways besides the obvious ones (lack of tension, etc.).

I don't want to turn this into a screenwriting seminar, but this sequence, like many others in the film, could have greatly benefited from a little tweaking: Imagine the sequence starting with Bond and Manuela moving through the crowd. Bond catches a glimpse of Jaws but can't be certain. Steering Manuela to an open area, he asks her if she's armed. Rather than a knife, she reveals a pistol. Bond tells her to check out the warehouse as Jaws heads for them. Bond sees Jaws and tries to lose him in the crowd. Inside the warehouse, Manuela finds the place empty.

Down below, Bond is cornered by Jaws. They begin to fight when Manuela fires a warning shot at Jaws. She comes down and Bond notices a crowd heading for them. Jaws moves for them, but takes a bullet in the teeth which, of course, accomplishes nothing. Bond and Manuela slip out through the crowd as Jaws is carried away.

Now, that isn't perfect, and it probably takes up a bit more time than needed, but it keeps Jaws menacing and gives Manuela something to do besides stand around, look good, almost get killed, and act as Madame Exposition (Of course, in order for it to work, you'd have to rewrite the entire film...).

-- Ed Harris, page 5 of his Moonraker recap

[Zorin Industries]

I love how I haven't got any answer to question after 6 posts.

Really? That's not how I read 'em...

[Aris007]

Watching The Spy Who Loved Me last night, and something really bothered me.

Why on earth did Fekkish run off like a fool, after seeing a 7ft man on a hill half a mile away.

1) If I was as scared as he was, I would stay where I am.
2) I would also stay in a place surrounded by lots of people, I would be more likely to get killed AND feel safer.

But no, he has to run off and hide like a loon. Plus, I don't think Jaws could spot him from that far away, if he was in a crowd.

I always wonder about the same thing whenever I see the film! He's so stupid! Jaws could'nt do anything to him while he was in the crowd! The stupidiest thing though is that he ran to go and close himself in a cell, where it was easier for Jaws to kill him! I don't get why he did it!

[Judo chop]

I always figured that, following the conclusion of the film, the tour group is to continue on to view the inside of the pyramid ruins. Fekkesh had already paid for his non-refundable ticket and he'd be damned if he was going to die before getting his money's worth.

Either that or he believed that the Egyptian gods would preserve his soul if he perished in a proper tomb.

Either way, the problem is not that Fekkesh ran. The problem is that the script never takes the time to expound on who Fekkesh - The Man really is. Damn that James Bond guy and all of his camera hogging!

[Mr. Blofeld]

Either way, the problem is not that Fekkesh ran. The problem is that the script never takes the time to expound on who Fekkesh - The Man really is. Damn that James Bond guy and all of his camera hogging!

Well, he does have the lovely Felicca at his apartment (although she is coerced by Sandor into playing along for Bond), so he must get a lot of nookie when he wants it...

[Jeao007]

I thought the same thing when I was watching it with my brother a few nights ago. But oh well, I guess he had to die sometime..

[Double-Oh Agent]

It just gave the filmmakers an opportunity to show how dangerous Jaws and his chompers are--not only can they sever one's jugular, but they can also slice through iron chains.

[AMC Hornet]

My question isn't "why did Fekkesh run?" or even "who is this Fekkesh twerp anyway?", it's: Why did Bond have to contact Fekkesh in order to (eventually) reach Max Kalba?

Sheik Hussein obviously knew about them both, to the degree that he had Fekkesh's address handy. He could have sent Bond directly to the Mujaba Club - unless, of course, he'd already made a deal with General Gogol, and was delaying Bond for Anya's benefit.

Ultimately, the reason was so that we could see some footage of Cairo, a liplock with Feliccia followed by a rooftop fight and finally a package tour of the Pyramids' Son et Lumiere show.

Face it, the Bond movies would be poorer without the travelogue element, and logical exposition has never been a strong feature. Consider the source material.

[Nicolas Suszczyk]

Watching The Spy Who Loved Me last night, and something really bothered me.

Why on earth did Fekkish run off like a fool, after seeing a 7ft man on a hill half a mile away.

1) If I was as scared as he was, I would stay where I am.
2) I would also stay in a place surrounded by lots of people, I would be more likely to get killed AND feel safer.

But no, he has to run off and hide like a loon. Plus, I don't think Jaws could spot him from that far away, if he was in a crowd.

I always wonder about the same thing whenever I see the film! He's so stupid! Jaws could'nt do anything to him while he was in the crowd! The stupidiest thing though is that he ran to go and close himself in a cell, where it was easier for Jaws to kill him! I don't get why he did it!

Indeed. And he should have stayed next to Anya Amasova cos she is a KGB agent... unless he felt like a stupid for being protected by a woman .

[Vauxhall]

And he should have stayed next to Anya Amasova cos she is a KGB agent... unless he felt like a stupid for being protected by a woman .

Ah, if only that Keys/Gray script had been commissioned, we'd have known.

[Jeao007]

Fekk Fekkesh and his Fekkesh-ness.

[Royal Dalton]

And he should have stayed next to Anya Amasova cos she is a KGB agent... unless he felt like a stupid for being protected by a woman .

Ah, if only that Keys/Gray script had been commissioned, we'd have known.

The Sky Who Loved Me?

[DaveBond21]

And he should have stayed next to Anya Amasova cos she is a KGB agent... unless he felt like a stupid for being protected by a woman .

Ah, if only that Keys/Gray script had been commissioned, we'd have known.

Ha. I honestly think that Nicolas' dad hacked into his CBn account then.

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