Before I begin, I've got to say that it is a real pleasure to discuss the James Bond films with a fellow Bond enthusiast, here of all places. Thank you for this
Thank you also.
I also like Maud Adams a lot. She is not my favourite Bond Girl, but close enough. My wife hates her though, she finds her super ugly. She (Maud, not my wife) is also the only actress to have played two different Bond Girls, as she was also Scaramanga's wife in The Man With The Golden Gun (which I like a lot, contrary to many fans). Sadly, she has expressed disinterest with her work in the franchise, despite how great she was in it. In the documentary Bond Girls Are Forever by Maryam D'Abo, she can barely watch herself and borderline regrets having shot James Bond movies, which is a shame.
Ah yes Maryam, she played the blonde eastern european bond girl very well. She could also be quite sinister, the way she drugged Bond without him realising.
I consider Maud to certainly be the most beautiful bond girl to date. She also was quite clever too, she wasn't just an "Oh James!" She risked her life because she wanted to escape Scaramanga and as Octopussy, she had quite the clever smuggling operation going on. I remember the first time I saw that film, to begin with I thought Kristina's Magda was Octopussy, because of that tatoo. Then when Octopussy appeared WOWWWWWWW! Although if memory serves Maud played the part because Moore was a bit concerned about him and a younger woman. Lol a fact which got worse in AVTAK.
"Goodnight Stacey i'm sleeping in the arm chair." "Won't you tuck me in James purrr?" "Errrrr no I have to guard the house and I think your cat wants to sleep on my lap."
Maud also appears as an extra in AVTAK as well. Somewhere...
On the part during which Moore is brutalizing her (she's so sexy when she is just out of the shower
), which I loved because it is precisely this kind of stuff that reminds the viewer that Bond films are not just pure comedy and silliness, she commented "we couldn't do that nowadays".
Yes when she comes out with a water pistol lol.
Unfortunately that was the last film where Moore continued the Connery trend of being a bit brutal, not just with Maud but aiming at Lazar's groin.
Brutal was also something the fleming Bond was known for...
John Glenn made Roger kick the car off the edge in FYEO though, although Moore didn't enjoy it. Too bad because when he wants to be, Moore can be quite dark. If you like Moore btw, I recommend the Saint. A lot of episodes come across as b movie 007, with constant re-used set pieces and bad accents lol.
On the subject of the Golden Gun I do like the Bond vs Scaramanga parts of the film and the funhouse is really cool. That must have been quite the set to build! The Golden Gun has to rank as one of the best weapons in the entire franchise too.
I just wish the Bond vs Scaramanga was in the film a lot more. Apparently there was to be more of that in the earlier screenplay but it was changed to the silly Solex Agitator?! For goodness sake we spend about 2 mins of Q and M and Bond talking about the Solex Agitator?! A really agitating moment!
Bond nearly dies as well because of Goodnight's buttocks
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Speaking of D'Abo's documentary, it was interesting to see that it was not necessarily the most iconic Bond girls who ended up being the proudest about their work. Also, the ones who were the prettiest back then did not necessarily age the best. I absolutely loved the interview of Jill St-John (the very American Tiffany Case from Diamonds Are Forever) who was just as badass and uncomplicated as she was in the movie, while sounding a lot smarter than her character~
Tiffany Casesh? "Well that's a nice little nothing you are almost wearing, I approve!"
I actually stood on the steps of the building used for her apartment a few years ago, much to the strange look from the man inside decorating the walls lol.
I told my gf to take a photo and I tried to look like I was ringing the doorbell.
Hehe, don't wanna sound like I'm bragging, but I knew this one 😛 Also the one about shark scene in Licence to Kill being from the Live and Let Die novel.
Yes, if memory serves it is not just the shark scene, but the whole boathouse that Sanchez hides in was inspired by the one used by Mr Big.
That scene when Dalton walks around at night and kills the traitor Ed, I am pretty sure Bond in Live and Let die sneaks around the very same boathouse at one point. John Glen was the director of LTK and wanted to take the series in a darker direction. On the subject of LTK I can't remember whether it was when Dalton parachuted, or when he jumped out of the plane, but I know that Cubby was very upset that Dalton did a stunt lol. What's he doing out there get back inside! I can just imagine Dalton smling and waving at him and Cubby as white as a sheet.
I think it's a bit much to call it a Goldfinger remake. Goldfinger is a very special film in the franchise, introducing such tropes as the gadget-laden sports cars, the charismatic antagonist, the weird yet nigh-unstoppable hechman, the psychological jousts between the hero and the villainous mastermind, the impressively choreographed action scenes... and yet Bond spends a good half of the film in captivity, and ends up defeating his opponent using his brain more than flexing his muscles.
Yes that is the thing about Goldfinger which makes it unique, Bond doesn't really do a lot, just spends the film trying to survive. The disappointing Sherry scene is rather amusing, which a touch of bon wa.
You probably also know that the laser, was in the novel a motorised Saw lol. Just as the poisonous spider in Dr No was a centipede and Dr No dies from having Birds mess thrown on top of him, I am so glad that was changed to the water reactor!
A View To A Kill is different enough to stand as its own thing. While the villain's motivations do mirror those of Goldfinger's, they fit also very well in the era's budding computer craze. The variety of locations and various sub-plots tie together nicely, and the sadism of the villain (Goldfinger is a ruthless businessman, while Zorin is a handsome devil who loves to see people suffer; would have made a great Dracula-esque villain in a Hammer film) are enough in my view to clearly separate the films. The only real weakness is how forgettable Tanya Roberts was as Tracy Sutton; I had to look her up yet again, as I keep forgetting even her name. Although I would still rank her higher than Molly Goodnight, who in my view was the worst Bond Girl, because she is at least pretty (Britt Ekland wasn't, IMO). The gorgeous Alison Doody should have had more screen time, also, her character of Jenny Flex (lol) was gravely underused. There could have been a great scene where she tortured Tanya Robert's character, for example.
Lol yes, maybe she would of actually been bare foot like in that poster lol.
Hmm ok you have a point, the films are slightly different but certainly very similar. I would probably but Stacey and Mary nearly on the same level then. Mary was a ditsy blonde getting in to trouble, Stacey was a not so ditsy blonde getting in to trouble. But Mary gets 1.0 over Stacey because of that really annoying screaming and not looking behind her. Stacey there is airship behind you, IT'S BEHIND YOU! *face palm*
THAT, on the other hand, I did not know!
Damn, why do they keep cutting out stuff like this? Super interesting, thank you~ Tomorrow Never Dies is my favourite of the Brosnan Era, I keep returning to it.
That is not all, Ricky Jay rip, the man that played Henry Gupta was initially hired by the director of TND, because he could perform some tricks with cards. He saw him on the street doing it and said ok you are hired. These were also cut in the film!
The scene where Stamper communicates from the boat with Gupta in Hamburg, had a cut moment of Gupta tossing his card across the room, very deadly sharp metal cards!
As if this isn't enough, when Bond and Lin are in Saigon yet another cut scene was filmed, where Gupta tries throwing his deadly card weapons at Bond!
I mean wtf! Why would you cut that out, it makes Gupta look like a deadly character. Not just a man that gets shot that presses buttons on a computer.
That director was a moron, he hired Ricky because of what he could with cards yet cut those moments out! Incredible!
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned
One of the things I like about Bond films is the characterization. The writers often make their characters very 3-dimentional instead of the usual caricatures one can see in more run-of-the-mill action movies. The logical twist of May Day flipping her coat after being betrayed and the glorious way in which she blows herself up without hesitation RIGHT UNDER HER EX LOVER'S EYES just to tell him: "I made sure your plan failed, see you in hell!" was amazing.
Yes.
I've already said my piece about Stacy Sutton and Britt Ekland so I won't go back on it, but your comment about feet made me chuckle. Only "specialists" like us notice this kind of details, haha
Yes I just always found this detail on the film poster weird. Barefoot in a pink dress....
Maybe you're right, it is all a matter of perception. When I think of Bernard Lee, I remember a warm and supportive boss, if a tad bit traditional (his reaction to the dart in the horse's backside on the painting that hangs in his office in Moonraker
) and strict when needed. I remember him most for the secret base inside the capsized boat in The Man With the Golden Gun, and most of all for his defense of his best agent after Sir Frederick Gray wants to take him off the case if not firing him outright in Moonraker. His show of trust was quite touching.
Yes, "007 no slip ups or we are both in trouble."
Hmm maybe he gradually warms to Bond then, because he is certainly quite strict and cold in the early films. Because of what we said before, the new generation perhaps.
That's where I REALLY disagree. Dame Judi Dench is the best M ever. Killing her off was blatantly stupid (another proof that the writers of the new era clearly do not know what they are doing) and she is sorely missed. I absolutely loved her introduction in Goldeneye, when she is briefing Bond; possibly the best briefing scene in the whole saga. In a slightly 4th-wall breaking fashion, she addresses him the same critics that film reviewers had voiced about the franchise itself, and bluntly asks the new Bond to prove his relevance in this (then) new era. And she does that with such class! A true British upper class lady; I can totally imagine her ordering the most brutal of actions in order to see the completion of a mission. I liked how the writers gave her M a central-ish role in the plot of The World Is Not Enough (a flawed movie that tries hard but misses its mark by a few inches) and how she is constantly navigating between allowing Bond to do what he is good at, and restraining him.
Hmmm, I have just never really cared for M being a woman.
The scene you mentioned with Admiral Roebuck (forgot the actor's name) was especially funny to British viewers because Judi Dench and him played a married couple in a sitcom that was popular at the time.
Yes I know I never watched it, but I remember seeing brief footage of it.
Except Goldeneye, whose inception was still supervised by Cubby (he had picked Brosnan to replace Roger Moore, but he had been unavailable due to Remington Steele, and it's Timothy Dalton who got the part), the Brosnan era was handled by Barbara and Saltzman, and I think they did a terrific job! It is really the Craig era where during which everything is falling apart, and not slowly as you mentioned but more like an avalanche if you ask me.
Yes Brosnan very nearly did the living daylights, fortunately we got Dalton instead. As if that isn't enough, Dalton was asked as far back as OHMSS, but he felt he was too young.
I used to be Barbara Brocoli's staunchest supporter. Her stubborn and resolute defense of her late father's cultural heritage, the finesse with which she handled the licencing of the IP, and the tremendous amount of pressure she lives constantly under every time they shoot and release another installment of what is the longest franchise of cinematic history... All this made me really respect her work, an oddity of Babylon-Hollywood.
But lately, things went the wrong way. It is really painful for me to see what the Bond films have become, and the future does not look too bright either
The name is bond feminist bond. To be honest on the subject of Hollywood, it started going down the toilet ages ago imo.
Before we had this woke nonsense, films were becoming remakes of previous films and directors and film makers don't take chances any more. Or they try to and Hollywood says no we need to keep to the program.
Forgetting of course that the 70s was an interesting time for films and directors. Steven Spielberg's first ever film for example Duel, was an incredible film and he took some serious chances and gambles. That is what a film should be about, not a let's play it safe and structure a film like this, because it worked 20 years ago. They just don't get it any more.
I knew that too. By the way, it is criminal that they have done away with the gun barrel sequence in recent years
Again, it's been a real pleasure. Cheers, mate!
We need Bob Simmons again.
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Yes, it is always a pleasure talking about this. Have you ever seen the classic advert for the James Bond vhs releases? I always thought that was well edited, since the first time I saw it as a child.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBr4qtZlKoc
When I was at school my friend actually won a competition, or he might of filled out a magazine I can't remember. By doing so he would get all James Bond films on VHS sent to him, one every month I think it was.. Up until I think Goldeneye or maybe only LTK.
Judging by the fact Brosnan was not in the trailer I would say up until LTK. Suffice to say he would lend me his films and every time I would press play, that trailer would come on. That takes me back!
It also features one of the most handsome men I have ever seen in the person of henchman Gobinda (played by Bollywood star Kabir Bedi). 
