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yestolerancepro · 1 year ago

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My dear girl, there are some things that just aren't done, such as drinking Dom Perignon '53 above the temperature of 38 degrees Fahrenheit. That's just as bad as listening to The Beatles without earmuffs!” A blog inspired by the music world of James Bond Part 3A The Bond songs I am not so keen on Thunderball and The Man with the Golden Gun

Introduction

Hello there as part 2 covered the Bond songs that I love its only fair we cover the Bond films/songs that I don’t really like.

Thunderball

Originally meant as the first James Bond film, Thunderball was the centre of legal disputes that began in 1961 and ran until 2006.[14]

This article from the Screenrant website details how Thunderball nearly become James Bonds debut adventure at the cinema and if it had been made how it would have altered the James Bond film series over the next 61 years read it by clicking here https://screenrant.com/james-bond-first-007-movie-thunderball-franchise-changes/

Former Ian Fleming collaborators Kevin McClory and Jack Whittingham sued Fleming shortly after the 1961 publication of the Thunderball novel, claiming he based it upon the screenplay the trio had earlier written in a failed cinematic translation of James Bond.[15][6]

The lawsuit was settled out of court; McClory retained certain screen rights to the novel's story, plot, and characters. By then, Bond was a box-office success, and series producers Broccoli and Saltzman feared a rival McClory film beyond their control; they agreed to McClory's producer's credit of a cinematic Thunderball, with them as executive producers.[16]

Later, in 1964, Eon producers Broccoli and Saltzman agreed with McClory to cinematically adapt the novel; it was promoted as "Ian Fleming's Thunderball". Yet, along with the official credits to screenwriters Richard Maibaum and John Hopkins, the screenplay is also identified as 'based on an original screenplay by Jack Whittingham' and as 'based on the original story by Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham, and Ian Fleming'.[16]

Thunderball Brought to Book

Screenrant the film website recently published an article ranking all 14 of Ian Flemings James bond books Thunderball was number 5 in thier list here are their comments about the novel

In many ways, Thunderball is arguably Fleming's most straightforward novel, though that's not a bad thing. The plot involves Bond investigating the disappearance of two nuclear weapons, which eventually leads him to the Bahamas and the home of SPECTRE agent Emilio Largo. While it offers very few surprises in the way of plot - Bond saves the day and gets the girl once again - Thunderball is, nevertheless, a charming and well-paced thriller that brings a fresh burst of energy and wit to the series.

The 5 Basic rules to get a James Bond film to work

Let me start by saying that is a lot to like about Thunderball so I will start with the positives first and tell you why I don’t really like later,

The are 5 key areas in any Bond film that need to be tackled if you want to stand a chance these are in no Particular order the Bond Girls the gadgets the Villians the story and the music Thunderball as produced by Kevin McClory hits 4 of the 5 of these key objectives right on the nose indeed The What Culture website picked out the Bond girls in Thunderball as their standout moment of the film

22. Thunderball - The Bond Girls

With its bloated length and excess of underwater action, Thunderball's definitely the worst Bond film of the 1960s, and the unofficial remake, Never Say Never Again, is arguably better but it's still an enjoyable, glamorous retro action flick that gets some things absolutely bang-on - most of all, its Bond Girl characters.

While the Bond Girl was always a very important part of the series' formula, it was only with the fourth film in the series that the Bond series got this archetype absolutely right for the first time.

Few of the Bond Girls from the first three films were all that great. Even the best such character from the first three movies, Dr No's Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress) doesn't get enough to do in her film.

In contrast to its predecessors, Thunderball did a great job with its Bond Girls. There are two main Bond Girls - Domino (Claudia Auger) and Fiona Volpe (Luciana Paluzzi) - and they both rank amongst the franchise's finest even after all these decades.

Domino is a fantastic female lead that really feels like a fully-realized character, mainly because she actually has a compelling story going on. Ultimately, it's her actually who kills the lead antagonist, not Bond.

Similarly, Fiona Volpe is a very sinister and unsettling femme fatale who feels like a real threat to Bond and, even if her death scene was disappointing, she's still among the finest female villains in the Bond canon.

And talking about Fiona as played (Luciana Paluzzi) - The movieweb film website picked her as number 1 in their list of the deadliest women in the Bond Franchise this is what they had to say about the deadly SPECTRE female agent.

SPECTRE’s skilled assassin Fiona Volpe (Luciana Paluzzi) is tasked with seducing and killing a French Air Force pilot, and helps a fellow enforcer surgically alter his face to resemble the victim and take his place. Their plan is to steal a nuclear bomber armed with two warheads. After seducing and making fun of 007 (Connery), she holds him captive with the help of two other agents, but he manages to escape. Later, she catches on with him at a club, and attempts to distract him with slow-dancing, while her henchman fires at him from behind a curtain. But Bond spins her around just enough for her to be the bullet’s recipient.

“I forgot your ego, Mr. Bond. James Bond, who only has to make love to a woman, and she stars to hear heavenly choirs singing. She repents, then immediately returns to the side of right and virtue... but not this one!”

Volpe is the ultimate female villain because she is one of the few who are immune to 007’s charm. One of her most memorable scenes include her firing missiles at a car she’s pursuing on her motorcycle.

Q Branch

Gadgets again Thunderball scores high in this regard as well in fact it out does its predecessor' in the area Goldfinger and that used a lot of hardware.

In Thunderball we have :

Homing pill

When Bond takes this pill, it emits a signal that can be detected only by a certain receiver

Air supply

A small device that can be carried on the person without notice and when in use, is held in the mouth to provide four minutes of air in emergencies when the user has to go underwater. (Effectively a miniature Scuba set.)[18][9]

Underwater jetpack

Bond is equipped with a jet-propelled scuba tank.[9]

Breitling 'Top Time' Diver Chronometer watch

with built-in Geiger counter.

Underwater camera

capable of taking eight shots in succession in darkness using an infra-red film.[21]

Geiger counter camera

A camera that conceals a Geiger counter. Bond gives this to Domino to look for the bombs on the yacht.[22]

Miniature Very pistol

a pocket-sized flare gun firing a red signalling beacon.[22]

Cassette recorder hidden in book

Bond uses this to learn that Quist is hiding in his hotel room.[23]

Perharps the most famous of all the gadgets is the Bell Rocket Belt Jetpack indeed it top the list of Best Gadgets used in the Bond films on the Den of the Geek website

1. The Jetpack

Whether it’s science fiction or semi-realistic thrillers, the jetpack has become an example of a gadget that has captured moviegoers’ imaginations. Humans want to fly and the concept that one could be propelled using the thrust of an engine strapped to their back is a thrilling proposal. Jetpacks of course exist in the real world, and the iteration seen in Thunderball is not quite as fictionalized as many might expect, despite it differing from the hydro-packs audiences can actually experience today.

007 has flown a wide array of aircraft in his time, yet none seem quite as volatile as Connery’s backpack during his fourth film’s opening sequence. The Bell-Textron gear was originally built for the U.S. military but could only last in the air for about 20 seconds, making it a largely redundant design. Despite the dangers it posed, the production strapped Bond (or a stuntman) to the jet, with the character making a quick getaway through the air from his pursuers. It’s a remarkable moment in the movie, with the sound design reminiscent of a powerful plane thruster, helping to sell the idea of its sheer strength. Bond might look slightly clumsy getting lifted in the air by the jetpack, but the premise itself was intriguing enough to mesh well with his style and there really wasn’t anything cooler to a kid watching the scene for the first time.

The final great strength of Thunderball is the amazing score by John Barry the above part of the blog quotes the sleeve notes written for the 2003 re-release of the full Thunderball score under the James Bond remastered series by Neil Bond.

Music

John Barry produced one of the most cohesive and propulsive of all of the Bond scores for Thunderball but he faced some trouble over his original title song taking his cue for Japan’s nickname for 007 Barry wrote a sly,insinuating tune called Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (with lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and recorded it with both Shirley Bassey and Dionne Warwick . In keeping with his prior approaches to From Russia with Love and Goldfinger, Barry also wove his title melody into the fabric of his score and jaunty tune worked particulaly well as a counterpoint to the Bahamian night-life depicted in the film.

click here for a link to a you tube video of the song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrNeTRrX4Zs or if you perfer the Shirley Bassey take on the song click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1debbldqGc

A change of course

However shortly before the film premièred however the producers realised the previous films had featured the films title in the song and they requested that Barry write a new song called Thunderball Not only did Barry face a rush deadline but Ian Fleming’s original title did not lend itself particularity well to lyrical treatment Since know one was actually sure what a Thunderball was.

Barry turned to Song writer Don Black to describe a mysterious man who runs while others walk and who strikes like Thunderball opening with a menacing six bar brass fanfare derived from The James Bond theme. The songs ambiguous lyrics meant the singer could be describing Both Bond or the films villian Largo

The song was recorded by Tom Jones who reportedly nearly passed out recording the songs final note

For the score Barry was able to write a great deal of atmospheric undersea water music for 007s survillance of Largos operation with low flutes and undulating suspended textures Early on the composer introduces a slow and subtle expression of the pulsating 007 theme he first created for Russia with love this theme became the basis for Barrys scoring of the Spectacular underwater battle and the climatic fight aboard the disco Valantie

The result is the most sustained and spectacular action music in the franchises history Barry was under enormous pressure to finish The Thunderball score and he only completed the first half of it when it became the time to release the soundtrack album

Part of the unreleased Thunderball score was included on the 2nd disk of the American version of the first Best of Bond CD in 1992 which featured a Thunderball suite of music totalling 16 mins of music the CD also included the Bassey and Warwick versions of Mr Kiss Kiss Bang the complete score was released in 2002 as part of the James Bond remastered series in 2002

But doesn’t include the Shirley Bassey or Dionne Warwick recordings of Mr Kiss Kiss Bang.

One more key strength of Thunderball is the killer 10 minute opening title sequence detailed by the collider film website in this article where they describe the scene as follows

These are hands down the 10 most intense minuites you will ever see in a Sean Connery James Bond Film I think they are slightly over egging the pudding but you can read the article here https://collider.com/sean-connery-james-bond-thunderball-opening-scene/

So after all those positives what don’t I like about Thunderball?

Well I find it really hard to watch at 2 hours 10 mins the film is a bit too long for me and the film editor Peter Hunt who did such a good job on the other films really should have got together with the script editor and cut a good 10 or 20 mins to make a much pacer film.

to watch a trailer for Thunderball click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JowkFmI1Fo&list=PL17vqAEJv6CUxmeZBk3JGDLBbcPEd4CDp&index=9

to watch a video with Sean Connery’s best moments as James Bond from the Storm Chaser Z Youtube channel click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfRuzgSR_XE&list=PL17vqAEJv6CV1syq4_fFKgBwSqGdJzH9z&index=288&t=56s

To read an article about how the Sean Connery James Bond films are ranked by James Bond fans click here https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2554534/james-bond-sean-connerys-movies-ranked

To watch a Sean Connery tribuite video called Thunderball 007 click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYMZTIncsCM

The Man with the Golden Gun

Roger Moore’s 2nd film as James Bond released Just a year after Live and Let and Die I think it was released to the public too soon Its not helped as well that film is based on an Ian Fleming James Bond novel that was not one of his best as this Screenrant article points out which ranked all 14 of Flemings James Bond books Man with the Golden Gun was number 13 on their countdown they had this to say about the book

The Man with the Golden Gun shouldn't be treated too harshly, given that it was Fleming's last Bond novel and was released eight months after he sadly passed away. Because of this, the book feels half-finished, almost like an early draft of something that Fleming intended to do rewrites on before sending it off to be published. And while there certainly is a decent novel in there, unfortunately, the version that made it to bookstores is a limp and lackluster imitation of Fleming's earlier 007 works.

As with any James Bond film even the bad ones there are some good things in it I like the Title track by Lulu (which was never released as in the UK or the US) the Bond girls in the film played by Maud Adams Andrea Anders and Britt Ekland as Mary Goodnight are Both very good.

As is Christopher Lee playing the man with the Golden Gun himself Francisco Scaramanga The What Culture website picked out his performance as the best thing in the man with the golden gun here are there comments

The Man with the Golden Gun, with its low stakes, dull story and general lack of memorable moments (aside from, perhaps, the barrel roll jump) which was highlighted in another article about James Bond this time looking at the 25 best set pieces in a James Bond film the barrel roll jump was number 24 in Yard Barkers list

This is a fairly standard car chase at first, and a highly annoying one at that given the presence of Clifton James’s J.W. Pepper. Why the redneck Louisiana sheriff from “Live and Let Die” would be vacationing in Thailand is a mystery for the ages; all that matters is that he’s along for the ride when Bond improvises a jump across a collapsed bridge with two spiraling ends. The “corkscrew jump” made the Guinness Book of World Records, but plays rather underwhelmingly in the movie thanks to composer John Barry’s baffling decision to score the stunt to a slide whistle.

The Man With The Golden Gun is easily the single most mediocre instalment of the series. That being said, it is still fairly watchable, mainly because the villain is so great.

A superbly crafted, ultra-cool and gloriously badass assassin, Francisco Scaramanga is an exceptionally entertaining antagonist who really stands out in what is otherwise such a low-effort of the series. It certainly seems like more effort was put into him than into any other part of the movie.

He was already a very strong villain on paper, but Scaramanga was elevated to an absolute all-timer by one of the most on-point casting choices in Bond history. The great Sir Christopher Lee fit the part like a glove and gave an absolutely formidable performance.

As much as Scaramanga deserved a far better film than the one he got, he's still one of the best Bond villains ever.

And the Golden gun itself was number 4 in Den of the Geeks Best Gadgets to feature in a James Bond film

Going back to the villainous theme, The Man With The Golden Gun included such a spectacular gadget that the film was named after it. The talented and deadly professional hitman, Francisco Scaramanga, had been given that very nickname because of the unusual firearm he carried with him. It might have been a calling card that has featured in the legacy of Bond pictures, but the gun was also crafted in a genius way to conceal it in everyday life.

Firing golden bullets, the weapon was custom made to separate out into different fragments, each of which represented a regular item: a pen, a lighter, a cigarette case, and a cufflink could all be disassembled from the firearm. Low frequency metal detectors are also far less effective at finding gold, meaning security would be a lot easier to travel through with the device on one’s person.

The slow assembly of the gun helps to raise the ominous tension of any scene. The gadget is such a perfect display of James Bond movies at their best, the narrative itself being driven forward by this conflict-causing surprise weapon, which not only rivals some of the best guns that Q has created but has also been involved in plenty of other Bond projects. It’s difficult to find a spinoff game for instance that doesn’t allow players to utilize the popular golden artifact.

So why does The Man with the Golden gun miss its Target?

Guy Hamilton’s direction he was so good in Live and let Die yet its so bad here the man problem is James Bond himself Guy Hamilton has forgotten what made Roger Moore Bond tick there are even a few scenes in the film where Guy is trying to turn Roger Moore’s Bond into Sean Connery and it doesn’t work

Setting the film during the Energy Crisis of 1973 has dated the film very badly lastly why are people who work for Universal exports so angry with each other and acting out of character? To watch a trailer for the man with the golden gun click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF5fr3Zhi7E

To watch a video review of the film by Oliver Harper on his own You Tube channel click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1kiQD7J-ao

Pictures Thanks to Google images

1) one of the many posters for James Bond Thunderball 1965

2) Domino and James Bond at the Beach

3) Fiona Vulpe

4) Q on holiday in Thunderball

5) James Bond with his Jet pack

6) Dionne Warwick

7) Shirley Bassey

8) Tom Jones

9) Man with the Golden Gun poster from 1974

10) one of the best stunts ever seen in a Bond film the barrel roll from Man with the Golden Gun

11 and 12 Francisco Scaramanga with his Golden Gun

Notes

Thank you to the following websites for their links and content What Culture website for their best moments of Bond Den of the Geek for their top 10 countdown of Bond Gadgets Wikipedia for its background material on Thunderball

Oliver Harper youtube channel for the retrospective review of Man with the golden gun Stormchaser Z for the James Bond era videos also Neil Bond for his Thunderball soundtrack sleeve notes

And the Yard Barker website for their article title 25 Best Set piece from the Bond films

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