[Bond]

Thanks for the response, Just your average movie goer! I can understand your dislike of Casino Royale, but it's been the most faithful Bond film since OHMSS, and I respect that.

Also, about your opinions on Goldfinger: here's an article I found online written by a skeptic of the general consensus:

Is Goldfinger Really The Best OO7 Film?
July 26, 2007 - by Nigel Kendall for The Time Online
For many people Goldfinger is the quintessential Bond film, the one that established a formula that is still going strong 43 years later. The third of the Sean Connery Bond films, this was the first to feature a pretitle sequence irrelevant to the plot of the main film; the first to have a real theme song belted out over the opening credits; the first to feature Q by name, and the first with the gadget-packed Aston Martin DB5, still the most famous film car of them all.

With its snappy script, sight-gags and one-liners, Goldfinger was the first Bond to go blockbuster, and yet if you scratch the surface, you find it’s not a “typical” Bond film at all.

Made at a time when the producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman still didn’t really know if they had a lasting success on their hands, Goldfinger takes the notion of the infallible secret agent, established in Dr No and From Russia with Love, and plays it completely against type.

This is the dirty secret at the heart of Goldfinger: JAMES BOND IS COMPLETELY INCOMPETENT THROUGHOUT. Don’t believe me? Consider, if you will, the bare bones of the plot.

In Miami, Bond is ordered to observe the antics of Auric Goldfinger (Gert Frobe). Instead, he lets his indiscipline get the better of him and interferes, which costs a young woman, Jill Masterson, her life.

Hauled over the coals by M, whose intervention with the Miami Beach Police prevents Bond from being arrested and jailed, 007 then embarks on a short game of cat-and-mouse with Goldfinger. This ends when Bond gets Masterson’s sister killed by a maniac with a flying hat, and is easily captured and forced to beg for his life as a laser threatens to separate him from his manhood. “Do you expect me to talk?” he asks, hopefully. “No, Mr Bond, I expect you to die,” comes the immortal reply.

So, by the halfway point of the film, Bond’s interfering, aimless ways have resulted in the premature death of two sisters and a humiliating capture by an overweight buffoon.

But what of the car, the great Aston Martin, fitted with oil-slicks, a bullet-proof screen, circular saws, machine guns and an ejector seat? What of it? After a brief chase in which Bond is prevented from making an escape by an arthritic pensioner with a machine-gun, Britain’s top secret agent is dazzled by oncoming headlights and crashes his world-beating gadget into a brick wall. How pathetic is that?

Worse is to come. Captured, beaten and humiliated, what does our hero do next? Perform a heroic escape? alert the outside world to the dangers of Goldfinger’s evil plan? Not a bit of it. When he’s not sipping Mint Juleps on the balcony of Goldfinger’s Kentucky ranch, he’s slipping notes into the pocket of a gangster who – along with the note – then gets flattened in a car crusher. So comfortable does Bond appear in captivity that the CIA minders (it is by now obvious that our moronic hero cannot achieve anything alone) decide not to intervene and leave him to enjoy his cocktails.

And so it goes on. Bond never escapes, and the film’s climax finds him, still a prisoner, helplessly trying to disarm a nuclear device. It takes the intervention of a kindly CIA man to show him the off switch. In the course of the film, Bond’s only moment of efficiency comes from killing his nemesis, right at the end.

It’s a miracle that Britain’s bumbling saviour made it that far at all, since Oddjob, the smiling villain with the evil hat brim, has previously come close to making mincemeat of him. One can only ascribe Bond’s continued nonchalance to the fact that he’s permanently drunk, snorting back the brandies in London, hitting the Juleps in Kentucky and enjoying “liquor for three” on Goldfinger’s private jet. When Q shows him the Aston Martin’s tracking system, Bond is delighted: “Allow a man to stop off for a quick one en route,” he exclaims. What’s really astonishing about Goldfinger is Bond’s ability to hold a Walther PPK straight with two litres of spirits permanently coursing through his system.

[Just your average movie goer]

Thanks, Bond. I enjoyed that article. It was also interesting reading that because I noticed how Bond got himself into all those jams when I watched it too - disobeying M's basic instructions at the start was a pretty big slip-up. And I also noticed how it's Bond who sets off the alarm at Goldfinger's Swiss Factory that gets him captured and Tilly Matherston killed (he jumps her and yanks her gun up into an alarm trip-wire). Quite the anti-Bond film indeed.

And hey, Civilian Number Two. It's good to see you again. I'm glad you liked the post. It's always nice to stop by.

[Bond]

You're welcome, Just. Glad I could provide some humour.

Tell me, do you have a set of seven Bond films you like the least, as well?

[Just your average movie goer]

Seven? It's a hard call because there were so many bad ones but let's see.

"Thunderball" was rubbish, an endless tirade of underwater sequences, sharks and spear guns.

"On Her Majesty's Secret Service" was tedious at best, especially with all the acid-tripping sequences. Combine those with Lazenby's horrendous wardrobe in the film and you can see where Austin Power's look came from (Bond didn't wear fluffy pirate shirts, kilts and Sherlock Holmes get-ups in any of the others).

"Diamonds are Forever" was a mess, a total shambles. From Bond trying to avenge the murder of his wife at the start of the film, it quickly descends into a comic farce. It's no surprise that Connery was paid $1 million U.S. to appear in this. You'd have to pay someone that much if you'd want them to do a moonbuggy chase and hold a straight face.

"The Man With The Golden Gun" could be the most annoying one I have ever seen. I kid you not. This irked me even more than "Die Another Day". And I was so disappointed that after enduring two gruelling hours with that blasted Spanish midget Nick Knack, Bond didn't kill him. If he had put Nick Knack in the suitcase and lobbed it over the side of the boat, then maybe, just maybe, it would have made everything all right. Also, they brought back that annoying hillbilly sheriff they had in "Live and Let Die". I mean seriously, that's like Lucas bringing Jar Jar back for Episode II.

After this, I would probably list a whole lot of the Roger Moore films. The only thing is I haven't seen most of them. I've only sat through three Moore films in their entirety - "Live and Let Die", "The Man with the Golden Gun" (why did I do that?) and "The Spy Who Loved Me" (which was actually silly enough to be funny, so while it wasn't a Bond film, was actually entertaining in its own Ed Wood kind of way).

Although what I have seen of the other films scares me. With "Moonraker", the ludicrousness of the plot is so well known that I knew to stay clear of it. "For Your Eyes Only" apparently has one of those annoying movie kid characters - I'm not sure if she's as irritating as Haley Joel Osmont or Jake Lloyd (or Hayden Christensen for that matter) but I've got a low tolerance for precocious little screen brats. "Octopussy" goes into some very scary, dark territory with Roger Moore disguising himself as a CLOWN, the source of all nightmares. And since when does 'Bond, James Bond" use disguises? Finally, in a preview for "A View To A Kill", I saw a very old Roger Moore smile at the camera and I found it very disturbing.

Anyway, on with the list...

"Licence to Kill" was dreadful. It crossed over into some territory where Bond should NEVER have gone... really sick, nasty stuff. There is a bad guy who whips his lover because she tried to get away from him. Before Felix Leiter is mauled by a shark, it is implied that his wife was raped and murdered. Then later, just in case we haven't had enough yet, the producers kindly throw in a scene where a guy gets locked in a decompression chamber, blows up like a balloon and explodes with a splattering of blood all over the glass. Now I have no problem with Bond being edgy and dangerous - but keep it clean. Watch "From Russia with Love" or "The Living Daylights" for instance. There's plenty of violence in those films and Bond is dangerous in them - but yet they never cross into 'sick' territory. It's all in the nature of the action. A movie doesn't have to be sick to be edgy. That just cheapens it and makes it ugly.

Anyway, moving on...

"The World is Not Enough" - this is where poor Pierce Brosnan, who is actually a very good Bond combining the hard edge with the dry wit quite nicely, began to be undermined by appalling script writers. I think in that other thread, I said I might have liked this at the time, but after some memory recollection, I realised that this was a tediously dull movie. The only thing good about it was Robbie Coltraine... and they killed his character off! Damn them.

"Die Another Day". Well, this did it, didn't it? It did what all the other Bond bombs had failed to achieve and just completely killed the franchise. They've never had to re-boot the series before this but after all of that, how could they save it? Invisible cars, using the sun's light as a giant death star laser, Halle Berry, surfing, John Cleese (as much as I like the man, he is somewhat distracting in a Bond film)... shocking. Positively shocking. And it managed it when the Bond franchise was experiencing a massive revival (because of Brosnan, who in return of his help, got shafted).

Okay, that's my seven. No doubt if I had seen any of the other Roger Moore films, the list might have been a little different but I think I've seen all the Moore I can handle.

When I watch the Bond films, I watch "Dr No", "From Russia with Love", "Goldfinger" and a ninety minute edit I made of "You Only Live Twice" (which cuts down on Ninja cries, piranhas and the dumb sequence where Helga Brandt captures Bond and basically lets him go). I then skip two decade void that followed, picking up again with "The Living Daylights" and finish the series off with "Goldeneye" and "Tomorrow Never Dies".


On a different note, I thought it's interesting that you chose Lazenby for your avatar because Lazenby is the Bond who seems most like the guy in the books to me - not a larger-than-life suave sophisticated agent but an ordinary man who gets himself into extraordinary situations and uses that old British stiff upper lip to get himself out of them. Anyway, I just thought that was interesting.

And please, call me 'Movie Goer'.

[Bond]

Okay, Movie Goer.

I'm really intrigued by the way you categorized your Bond films. Personally, I found For Your Eyes Only to be the darkest Moore film, and the one he should have ended his tenure on. Alas, he was pulled back into doing Octopussy after Kevin McClory's competition Bond film Never Say Never Again was announcing its release in the same year. A waste...

I can also get your dislike for Licence to Kill, seeing as it piles-on the heavy-duty violence, but it's very true to the books. In essence, it's basically a remake of Live and Let Die, yet it's closer to the book.

MG, I notice you said you made a ninety-minute cut of You Only Live Twice. I've always been facinated by doing this, and I'm interested in your opinion:

My cut would open with the Lazenby gunbarrel, backed by YOLT's Spanish-guitar Bond Theme, and the sequence would open into OHMSS's final scene. This would cut to the bit from FYEO where Bond visits Tracy's grave, then fade into DAF's opening, wherein Bond goes hunting for Blofeld, and we then splice in the scene where Bond is "assassinated" and we go from there. The second astronaut scene would be cut, of course, as would the ninja school, plane sequence, stupid string poisoning, and most of Blofeld's dialogue. As a consequence, his "introduction" to Bond, as well as his corny title line, would take the shaft. Also, the final, cliche scene of Bond and Kissy snogging would get chopped, as well; the film would end on the shot of the exploding volcano.

What do you think?

This post has been edited by Bond: 15 August 2007 - 08:16 PM

[Just your average movie goer]

Intriguing. You'd work with a few different films to make it into the follow-up to "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", as it was in the novels.

It sounds kind of cool, although it'd be strange using the Lazenby gunbarrel sequence when we're going to see Connery in the film instead. But maybe it make some continuity with the end of "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" so I guess that works.

I agree with chopping most of Blofeld's lines. In the version I made, you don't see Blofeld or his volcano base until Bond actually discovers it. I also took out the string poison scene as well since I can't see any reason for Aki to get done in.

You could probably do your edit - but it'd be a lot of work. You have to use several programs to do it, I recall, and it was rather painstaking... particularly if you want to make the sound and music cues meld well between the spliced scenes.

I did the process with "Return of the Jedi" as well, cutting it down to about one hour and I was planning to do the same with "From Russia With Love" and cut out that dreadful poison shoe nonsense at the end (another thing taken from the books that should have stayed there)... but I remembered the amount of work/time involved and didn't feel up to it.

If you're serious about it, there's a few programs you need - DVD Shrink and IFOEdit and possibly VOBEdit too (but from memory, probably not). All of these programs are freely available on the web. You'll also need a DVD Writer in/with your computer or you might as well not bother.

But basically, you use DVD Shrink to backup a DVD on a computer but it also has a 're-author' function that you can use to take just what you want from the disc. You can also select the starting points and ending points of various parts of the movie and crop them. After you do this, you can save them as VOB files. Name them in the order you want to put them together when you do this. When you finish however, you won't be able to put them on DVD because the IFO file won't match.

This is of course where IFOEdit comes in. You use it to choose the VOB files you want to make the DVD with and save them in a new folder and it will clean them all up, possibly merge the smaller ones together, and make a new IFO file there.

Then you need to make two folders - Audio and Video. Put all your new VOB files and their corresponding new IFO file into the Video folder. Nothing goes in the Audio folder. Then you copy the Audio and the Video folder onto a disc and you should have your new DVD.

By memory, the other program I mentioned VOBEdit was for splitting the VOB file up into its different components so you can play around with just one specific part of it. I think I used this in my "Return of the Jedi" to replace the 'Yub Yub' song with new music. But I'm pretty sure that was a tedious job.

Anyway, if you're really keen, have a look at those programs and also check out a site called VideoHelp.com which is full of good information to help you use them.


As for "For Your Eyes Only", perhaps I'll give it a go someday. Maybe I might like it.


EDIT - Why would you cut out the cliche snogging scene? It's a great tradition for Connery's Bond to finish the movie in a boat with a beautiful girl.

This post has been edited by Just your average movie goer: 15 August 2007 - 10:43 PM

[Bond]

EDIT - Why would you cut out the cliche snogging scene? It's a great tradition for Connery's Bond to finish the movie in a boat with a beautiful girl.

Because we begin the film with the tragic death of Bond's wife; I doubt he'd be up to any more elopement after that.

Hmmm, now what did you cut out of Return of the Jedi? The only notable thing I'd do is to bring the Emperor's arrival scene in right after Obi-Wan mentions him, as I think it'd be a good transition -- "speak of the devil", you know?

This post has been edited by Bond: 15 August 2007 - 11:01 PM

[Just your average movie goer]

Because we begin the film with the tragic death of Bond's wife; I doubt he'd be up to any more elopement after that.

Ah, sorry. I'd forgotten about that. How very "Diamonds are Forever" of me.

Hmmm, now what did you cut out of Return of the Jedi? The only notable thing I'd do is to bring the Emperor's arrival scene in right after Obi-Wan mentions him, as I think it'd be a good transition -- "speak of the devil", you know?

Really? I find it's better to keep the suspense with characters like the emperor... especially since he loses all his mystique the moment he opens his mouth and starts his incessant gloating and cackling.

Anyway, I cut out the bulk of the Jabba sequence. After Darth Vader meets Moff Jerjorred (or whatever is name is), it cuts straight to the middle of the sail barge fight so Luke is seen rescuing Han but we don't have to put up with all the innane rubbish that came beforehand.

After the gang leave Tatooine, I cut to Dagobah. We then proceed to the rebel meeting and then the gang flies their stolen shuttle away from the rebel fleet - and immediately afterwards, we see them coming out of hyperspace over Endor (notice - no Emperor yet).

The next cut I'm particularly proud of. We see the shuttle go towards the planet and Darth Vader turns away but the next scene shows Vader's shuttle descending onto the shield generator's landing platform at night. What's really cool is that we don't know it's Vader's shuttle until Vader steps out of it. We also know that some time has passed but we don't know what's gone on during that time. Then we get the surprise of Luke surrendering (you'll also probably notice here that I've avoided the ewoks thus far).

From then on, the movie plays out pretty much how it does in the original version, except there are no ewoks to be seen during the battle and I cut out some of the Emperor's dull drivel.

I also include some short scenes from the ground battle to show that there is a ground battle going on - but in these little snippets, you can only see the rebels and the stormtroopers. Oddly enough, it doesn't need an explanation because we already heard that Han was leading a squad down to Endor to take out the shield generator.

I also bring some broken scenes together. When Luke strikes at the Emperor and Vader blocks the blow with some one blade, I then cut straight into the lightsaber fight. It gives the scene a whole lot more energy and intensity.

Another change is that when Luke refuses to go to the dark side and the Emperor says "So be it, Jedi.", I cut straight to him zapping Luke. Trust me, it's MUCH better like this. These changes give the movie a whole new pace and feel and it's a much more exciting experience than the padded out nonsense we had originally.

Unfortunately though, right at the end, I had to include ewoks because it was now simply impossible to edit them out. But at least we can then assume that the rebels just stumbled across them after the battle and said something like "Hey, we're kinda knacked. You little furry guys wouldn't have anything to eat, would you?"

But anyway, it's a hell of a lot better.

... and now we're really off topic. Although, since it's your thread, you probably don't mind.

[Casual Fan]

One thing that is clear, at least to me, in this thread is that it would have been better for moviegoers Bond series really should have only been half a dozen movies. Yes, the franchise has been commercially successful and still survives in a way, but artistically most of the movies are just bad. And there is pretty much agreement that the early movies are the best, then everyone has a different choice of which of the later ones are good or not so bad.

On a heretical note, I like Thunderball, which does what I think a Bond movie should do, entertain without getting too silly. It doesn't look good compared with Dr. No, Goldfinger, and to Russia with Love, but looks great compared with most of the 70s and 80s movies, and holds up OK compared with the Dalton-Brosnan revival.

The first Roger Moore movie, whose name I forget, wasn't too bad, but in retrospect it was the turning point. The previous movies were either great or so-so, the next few ones were dreadful. I never really liked Dalton-Brosnan movies, simply because after the Cold War ended I could never get into the whole concept, and I think they are given too much credit simply because of what came before. Again, it would have been better if the series just ended with On Your Majesty's Secret Service.

[Bond]

Really? I find it's better to keep the suspense with characters like the emperor... especially since he loses all his mystique the moment he opens his mouth and starts his incessant gloating and cackling.

Anyway, I cut out the bulk of the Jabba sequence. After Darth Vader meets Moff Jerjerrod, it cuts straight to the middle of the sail barge fight so Luke is seen rescuing Han but we don't have to put up with all the innane rubbish that came beforehand.

For some reason, that reminds me so very much of Dead Man's Chest: cutting into the middle of the action, where you don't immediately know what's going on.

After the gang leave Tatooine, I cut to Dagobah. We then proceed to the rebel meeting and then the gang flies their stolen shuttle away from the rebel fleet - and immediately afterwards, we see them coming out of hyperspace over Endor (notice - no Emperor yet).

Then, how would you explain the Emperor suddenly popping up in his little room some 3/4ths into the film? He needs some build-up, I think.

The next cut I'm particularly proud of. We see the shuttle go towards the planet and Darth Vader turns away but the next scene shows Vader's shuttle descending onto the shield generator's landing platform at night. What's really cool is that we don't know it's Vader's shuttle until Vader steps out of it. We also know that some time has passed but we don't know what's gone on during that time. Then we get the surprise of Luke surrendering (you'll also probably notice here that I've avoided the ewoks thus far).

That reminds me of Attack of the Clones, where we go from Anakin asking the Jawas on Tatooine to Obi-Wan skulking around on Geonosis; due to the similar landscapes, it immediately disorients you, and you go "wha...?" Also, no revelation scene between Luke and Leia? Wouldn't you think that's needed, somewhat?

From then on, the movie plays out pretty much how it does in the original version, except there are no ewoks to be seen during the battle and I cut out some of the Emperor's dull drivel.

I also include some short scenes from the ground battle to show that there is a ground battle going on - but in these little snippets, you can only see the rebels and the stormtroopers. Oddly enough, it doesn't need an explanation because we already heard that Han was leading a squad down to Endor to take out the shield generator.

I also bring some broken scenes together. When Luke strikes at the Emperor and Vader blocks the blow with some one blade, I then cut straight into the lightsaber fight. It gives the scene a whole lot more energy and intensity.

Another change is that when Luke refuses to go to the dark side and the Emperor says "So be it, Jedi.", I cut straight to him zapping Luke. Trust me, it's MUCH better like this. These changes give the movie a whole new pace and feel and it's a much more exciting experience than the padded out nonsense we had originally.

That's understandable, considering how much drama was cut out of the Duel in Revenge of the Sith by cutting from Yoda/Palps to... a table brawl? For that section, they definitely should have kept it in the control room.

Unfortunately though, right at the end, I had to include ewoks because it was now simply impossible to edit them out. But at least we can then assume that the rebels just stumbled across them after the battle and said something like "Hey, we're kinda knacked. You little furry guys wouldn't have anything to eat, would you?"

Meh. It's all good.

But anyway, it's a hell of a lot better.

... and now we're really off topic. Although, since it's your thread, you probably don't mind.

Nope, not in the slightest. Feel free to talk more about your edits here, if you wish.

Casual Fan, all of that Bond silliness really started on Diamonds are Forever. Of course, they needed to resolve the cliffhanger from the end of OHMSS, but, really, it was so horribly done that they should have rebooted the series back then!

It's all right, though; it's still good in its own right.

[Just your average movie goer]

Casual Fan, I think you're quite right about the series being too long. Most of the movies are terrible. And I can certainly understand your point about Bond floundering in the post Cold War period. He can't really seem to find his feet.

Actually, that was another problem with the new 'Casino Royale' movie. They're starting Bond out in a time where his kind of profession is largely redundant.

And Bond, for your scathing review of my wonderful "Return of the Jedi" edit, in which you compare my masterpiece to utter trash like the Pirates of the Carribean sequels and the Star Wars prequels, I am compelled to refute every single one of your pitiful points. In the days of yore, I'd probably challenge you to a duel... but on the other hand, they didn't have movies back then so it probably would never have come up.

For some reason, that reminds me so very much of Dead Man's Chest: cutting into the middle of the action, where you don't immediately know what's going on.

We know what's going on. The text crawl at the start of the film told us that Luke was rescuing Han. As for the details of the rescue, they're hardly important. In fact, I could just as easily cut to the Falcon and Luke's X-Wing flying out of Tatooine and it wouldn't make any difference.

Then, how would you explain the Emperor suddenly popping up in his little room some 3/4ths into the film? He needs some build-up, I think.

Darth Vader said the Emperor was coming. At the rebel meeting, Mon Mothma said that they've learned the Emperor is personally overseeing the final stages of the construction of the Death Star. Both Yoda and Obi Wan have warned Luke about the Emperor. Darth Vader has told Luke he is taking him to see the Emperor...

Seems like plenty of build up to me. Also, like I said before, the guy needs all the suspense and mystery he can get because once you see him, he loses his credibility very quickly. Keeping him off-screen for as long as possible is actually doing him a huge favour.

That reminds me of Attack of the Clones, where we go from Anakin asking the Jawas on Tatooine to Obi-Wan skulking around on Geonosis; due to the similar landscapes, it immediately disorients you, and you go "wha...?" Also, no revelation scene between Luke and Leia? Wouldn't you think that's needed, somewhat?

ARGHHHHHHHHH!!!! How dare you compare that to Attack of the Clones?!!! It's nothing like Attack of the Clones!!! The effect, when you see it, is excellent. It looks like the rebel's shuttle is coming in to land at first. When Vader comes out, it doesn't disorientate you. It surprises you.

As for that revelation between Luke and Leia, that scene was so appalingly bad, it couldn't stay in. It was like a soap opera. Anyway, as far as plot necessity goes, Leia doesn't have to know about it. We only need Luke to know about it so Vader can goad Luke into attacking him at the end of the film - and as Luke already knows that, we don't need to worry about it. Anyway, there was no way of including that revelation scene without either A: including the ewoks or B: making it look really choppy.



Anyway, I'm glad you more or less liked the rest of it. But also, you have to understand what I was working with here. If I was making the movie from scratch, I could have done something truly remarkable. But I wasn't. I was editing a movie which didn't offer me much to work with and in doing so, I took something that was really mediocre and full of annoying, boring crap and turned into a much tighter film, in which we don't lose any narrative coherence, which is quite entertaining.


All right, I'll let you off the hook this time. But in future, be very careful about comparing the work of real artists to the Star Wars prequels.

[Lord Aquaman]

Nice to see you, Movie Goer.

You ever notice that Sean Connery never got a good send off from the Bond series? Seriously, he tried walking out after the lackluster "You Only Live Twice", then he got lured back for the equally banal "Diamonds Are Forever", then he did, God knows why, "Never Say Never Again", a remake of "Thunderball". All those comebacks and he could never get the send off right... but I'm sure he made a lot of money trying.

Bit of trivia: the late Stephen Boyd (Charlton Heston's friend-turned-nemesis in "Ben-Hur", one of the heroes of "Fantastic Voyage") was a candidate for the role of James Bond in 1962 when they were casting for "Dr. No".

[Bond]

You ever notice that Sean Connery never got a good send off from the Bond series? Seriously, he tried walking out after the lackluster "You Only Live Twice", then he got lured back for the equally banal "Diamonds Are Forever", then he did, God knows why, "Never Say Never Again", a remake of "Thunderball". All those comebacks and he could never get the send off right... but I'm sure he made a lot of money trying.

Well, Roger Moore almost got a proper send-off with For Your Eyes Only, but he blew it when he came back for Octopussy.


Another bit of trivia: Michael Gambon (Phillip Marlowe in The Singing Detective and Dumbledore in the Harry Potter movies) was considered by Albert R. Broccoli to be a good potential Bond in the wake of George Lazenby leaving the role; however, Gambon allegedly told Broccoli he was "out of shape" and had "tits like a woman", so they lured Connery back for Diamonds Are Forever.

[Just your average movie goer]

Hey Lord Aquaman. It has been a while.

Actually, I'm a big fan of "You Only Live Twice" (well, most of the movie anyway) and I always considered it a proper send off for Connery.

Hang on, I just thought of something interesting. In the book for "You Only Live Twice" (which is a very strange piece of work that COULDN'T have been used for the film), Kissy Suzuki seemed like the only woman in Bond's life who he could conceivably settle down with. All the "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" die-hards go on about how Tracy was different, and to a lesser extend Vesper in 'Casino Royale', but I have to disagree. I think Tracy would only be attractive to a man who liked collecting emotional baggage and I don't think in real life Bond would have considered Vesper long-term relationship material.

I don't know why I'm going on about this actually. I think I had some direction in mind when I started writing but I've forgotten what it was.

Um... Kissy Suzuki offered Bond an alternative life to big cities and espionage. But that's the books.

As for the films, well Mia Hama was cute and I liked her. Score extra points for "You Only Live Twice"!

Really, I'm just rambling off topic now. I'll post something else on the thread later when I've actually got something more interesting to say.

Anyway, hey Lord Aquaman.

[Bond]

I'm still angered they switched around OHMSS and YOLT; they ruined the whole continuity!