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OR EMAILMovie Notes: For Your Eyes Only
For Your Eyes Only: The name is…
Starring Roger Moore, Carole Bouquet, Julian Glover
Directed by John Glen
= 4 stars
Amazon link
Roger Moore (James Bond)
Caronline Bouquet (Melina Havelock)
Lynn-Holly Johnson (Bibi Dahl)
After the over the top, outer space location of Moonraker, the twelfth James Bond adventure is contrastingly low-key and sublime. It seems to be an intended return to the basics, and as a result For Your Eyes Only is reminiscent of the sixties’ Sean Connery films. Most notably, the crazy sets and at times overbearing cartoony humor (which plagues some of the early Roger Moore Bonds) is pretty much eliminated here - save for a few Bond quips and the odd finalies to chase scenes. I enjoyed this film.
For Your Eyes Only opens with an obvious nod and closing door regarding the 60s films. Bond is seen placing flowers on Teresa Bond’s grave - his wife from Her Majesty’s Secret Service - one loose end that definitely deserves some tying. Bond is then trapped in a helicopter by Blofeld, the master villain from several earlier films. Bond eventually turns the tables and drops Blofeld down a smokestack, killing him once and for all. This sequence simultaneously a nod to the Bond films of the past and a ceremonial cutting of two plot threads, presumably so future Bond entries could move forward.
The plot concerns the loss of a military computer on a ship at sea. The KGB wants the device and hires Greek businessman Aristotle Kristatos (Julian Glover) to get it. Bond must stop the gadget from falling into the wrong hands, which takes him to Greece, underwater, and eventually battling baddies in a mountaintop monestary.
Some good points: great action scenes such as a car chase and a stressful situation where Bond and Melina Havelock (the outstandingly even Carole Bouquet) are tied to a boat and dragged across a reef, chased by sharks. The theme song, For Your Eyes Only is one of my favorites. Lastly, the return to a more basic, espionage plot also makes the dangerous situations more thrilling.
The only low points are the cheesy seventies music, lack of any stellar Bond gadgets (Bond’s car blows up in one early scene), and an ice-skating “Bond Girl” Bibi Dahl (Lynn-Holly Johnson) who tries to bed Bond despite her obvious youth, leading Bond to quip, “Now why don’t you put your clothes back on, and I’ll buy you an ice cream.” Funny, but a bit wince-inducing.
Lastly, I was amused to learn about a two-issue, For Your Eyes Only comic book adaptation by Marvel. I guess there were several James Bond comic books. Yet another thing to add to my reading wish list.
IMDB: For Your Eyes Only
Wikipedia: For Your Eyes Only
Rotten Tomatoes: For Your Eyes Only 74%
Categories: 4 Star Movies, General, James Bond, Movies :: Tags: ::
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"yep I like most of their stuff and love particular songs. definitely looking forward to whatever they release next." -
Nicely down-to-earth, but a little too much so to buy a conspicuously aged Roger Moore as James Bond. Intended to introduce a ‘new’ incarnation of Bond (hence the jarringly comic despatch of the unnamed ‘Blofeld’ character in the pre-credit sequence), this is the movie which (in a ideal world) should have followed ‘OHMSS’, and starring an increasingly-comfortable George Lazenby. Instead it was made twelve years later and features a good performance by Moore, believable characters and, in the wake of the ludicrous ‘Moonraker’, a plausible plot and minimal ‘humour’. The theme is a good one, but while the soundtrack music is fine when intended to convey suspense, it suddenly Jumps The Shark when action scenes are accompanied by distractingly bad disco music. Still, with a gritty ‘UK TV Hard-Man Cop Show’ feel, this was the first ‘proper’ Bond movie after years of self-parody. The only thing wrong with it is the grandfatherly leading man.
Yeah - this one is by no means the best bond, but when I watched it I had just suffered through moonraker and it’s also better than what comes after (view to a kill). Slammerworm - do you have a blog? You should start one! I’d read it!
Cheers. We’re watching one of these things every week and when I went looking for a comparative complete set of Bond reviews your site did the job. No blog for de Woim, but there’s a bunch of stuff over on Jump The Shark.
Just as a footnote, say the name of the teeny-bop skater out loud in an american accent and there’s yer pun. Sir Roger should have nailed her.