3 replies to this topic

[bribond]

Good morning,

 

Below is a post for my blog comparing Thunderball and Never Say Never Again.  It seems to be a lot of people compares NSNA to Octopussy at the time of release but I am interested in comparing original films to their remakes so I put together this look.  I hope you enjoy it.  Please feel free to post any comments.

 

 

http://briansthought...ever-again.html

[AMC Hornet]

"Bond and Domino are pulled into the air...It is a little silly and implausible (ie how are Bond and Domino going to get down, since obviously they cannot land with the plane)..."

 

BTW the Skyhook rescue system - developed in the early 1960s - worked by hauling the rescuees in through the tail gate of the aircraft (the same system was used to abduct an NVA general in John Wayne's The Green Berets in 1968)

 

Just sayin'.

 

Otherwise I agree with your overall assessment of NSNA. I would just add: Not as good as TB or OP, but orders of magnitude better than AVTAK.

[Mr. Somerset]

Be interesting to compare the films by specific elements: Shrublands scenes, Nassau scenes, casino/dance with Domino, death of Largo, etc

I love both films, but overall clearly, TB is the classic Bond.

In TB the Schrublands scenes have that playful Connery/Molly Peters banter, the rack, a GREAT barry score and some overall fun moments.

By contrast, I probably like the Schrublands scenes in NSNA equally. I love the seduction of Prunella Gee, the fight with Lippe, Fatima's thrashing of Chuck Cunningham himself Gavin Oherilhy,  and some of the jokes. 

Thunderball is drenched in beautiful Nassau atmosphere and surroundings. The Bahamas in TB is as much a character in the film as Bond. NSNA on the other hand gets thru this location quickly and it's off to France. I do love the scenes in the Bahamas in NSNA, though, but I'd give TB the edge.

The sequence where 007 rides the boat to the casino is pure Bond in TB. The Chemin de fer sequence is a slight replay of the DR NO sequence, but has great has great interplay between Bond and Largo. I'd say the same with NSNA although the game is different and very 1983. As far as the dance, TB is far more romantic in tone whereas the tango is kind of funny in NSNA.

Largo's death follows the book more in NSNA, whereas the fight aboard the Disco Volante in TB is fun back projection notwithstanding.

I really do love both films. NSNA gets a lot of flack for not being an Eon Bond, but I certainly prefer it to many of the other Eons,

[AMC Hornet]

I was watching NSNA just yesterday, but stopped it at the Domino slave auction scene.

 

I almost never quit before the end of a Bond film.

 

(And I do count it as a Bond film, even without the JB theme and gunbarrel.)