The story that brought Diamonds to the screen is clouded in numerous rewrites and a number of different plots.
The first draft, was originally going to start off very differently, and was to do something that seems a bit odd. The pre-title sequence was to be the wedding and death of Bond`s bride, (taken from OHMSS) and was to lead into a different story altogether, after that.
The original drafts also featured a new villian, the twin brother of Auric Goldfinger (who was to be played again by Gert Frobe), and the plot was revenge for his twin. Broccoli and Saltzman liked the idea at first, but later rejected it as being “too far off of the original premise of Fleming`s novels.” Also, his revenge was to done by killing Bond`s bride, (tying up loose ends, and such.) Dick Maibaum even had a fantastic line written for Bond`s first encounter with Goldfinger`s twin: “I think you knew my brother Auric. Mother always said he was a bit retarded.” The line got dropped when the whole storyline got jettisoned.
The villians from the book, the Spangled Mob, were considered, but not right for the time, so Blofeld returned. Also, many actors were considered for the role of 007, before Sean stepped back into it. Those considered included Burt Reynolds and Roger Moore but the producers flat out rejected Reynolds (because he was American). Reynolds was chosen by MGM/UA execs, trying to cash in on his status as one of the world`s biggest male movie stars (at the time) Well, we all know Moore got the role more than a year later in Live and Let Die.
Another interesting point stricken from the first few drafts was the climactic fight. Originally it was set to take place in a salt mine in Baja California and 007 was somehow supposed to grab hold of a weather balloon that was attached to a fleeing speed boat being driven by Blofeld. When the boat stops, Blofeld turns around to see Bond way up in the sky dangling from the balloon and says:
“Mary Poppins I presume?” He shoots Bond down and the fight begins.
Another draft of the film had the climactic showdown on Hoover Dam. A flottila of U.S. forces had surrounded Blofelds boat in an attempt to corner him and force him into surrender.
When Bond asks Felix for the real merchandise, an extremely sheepish Q is surrounded by customs officers. On the table in front of them is a large wooden leg with shoe and sock on it, open at one end.
FELIX (re: Q): Ask him to do his Long John Silver imitation for you someday. It`s a riot.
Sammy Davis Junior had a cameo in the film. This was cut during post-production:
SAXBY: Hey, I just got a call from Mr Whyte. Understand you haven`t signed your contract yet. What`s the problem?
DAVIS: The money, if you can believe it. Considering your boss is a billionaire, for God`s sake. Do me a favour, Bert. Trundle on up to that penthouse of his and talk to him for me.
SAXBY: You kidding? I run this place for him, and even I haven`t seen Willard Whyte for three years.
Then after Bond has entered the room, Davis says that you could eat off him!
Bond has drinks with Plenty. The waiter presents Bond with a wine. Bond shakes his head sadly in front of an impressed Plenty, and sends it back.
PLENTY: Hey! I didn`t think you could really do that. I bet they charge you for it.
BOND: I thought you were paying.
PLENTY: Well, it was still a very classy thing to do. (suspiciously) Say listen, you aren`t a knight or anything like that are you? I mean-
BOND: A mere commoner, I`m afraid.
PLENTY: (taking his hand) Don`t feel bad. Doesn`t make any difference to me. I`m a Democrat.
The following exchange occurs in bed with Tiffany Case:
TIFFANY: Peter? I think we`ve got a problem.
BOND: You forgot to take your pill.
TIFFANY: Nothing as trivial as that. (pause) You`re not going to tell me where the diamonds are, are you?
At the tail end of the circus sequence, the gorilla rushes out after the agents:
MAXWELL: Let us through! We`re agents!
GORILLA: Agents? (turns, yells off) Hey, wait! We need an agent!
GOONA (to Gorilla): I guess they didn`t dig the act.
When Bond uses the dart gun to sneak up to see Willard Whyte (and instead finds Blofeld), he mutters to himself, genuinely upset, “So help me, Q, if I fall I`ll kill you.”
After Whyte tells Bond “I`ll have him steam around in circles for you.”
BOND: If you`re ever in London-
WHYTE: After what I`ve seen of the world in the last couple of days? As soon as I get the kitty litter out of my john it`s back to the old-
The tag scene was different in the shooting script:
On board, Kidd and Wint bring the food. Kidd tells Bond that “Monsieur is wanted in the radio room. A telephone call from Mr Willard Whyte.”
Bond tells Tiffany that he won`t be a moment, hands money to Kidd and asks him to keep the dinner warm, will you?
Kidd replies, “But Monsieur does not have to pay us for what we are about to do.”
The Radio Operator tells Bond that somebody must have played a joke on him. “I could live five times over before Willard Whyte called this tub.”
Bond realizes that he`s been had.
Back in the cabin Tiffany is in short nighties, now spreadeagled, tied down to bed, gag in mouth. Hanging above her is the sizzling pot of boiling oil, attached by rope. Wint and Kidd have attached the rope to the handle. They open the door two inches. It tilts – a drop falls. It burns a smoking hole in the pillowcase next to Tiffany`s head.
Bond climbs outside boat, and using a long rope, he lowers himself over the side.
Meanwhile, a maid goes from door to door. Kidd and Wint wait patiently. When Bond – or the maid – comes back and opens the door, Tiffany will be burnt.
Just as the maid is about to open the door, Bond pushes off the side of the ship with his feet and sails through the porthole feet first. He sails in, makes a swipe at the oil pot and rope, misses, lands in a pile at the other side of bed. Kidd locks the maid out just as she`s about to push door open.
The oil pot teeters precariously back and forth.
Bond leaps for the top of the soup toureen, grabs it. Wint yells for Kidd to pull rope. Kidd ranks on rope and the oil pot turns over. Bond passes the upside-down tureen lid over Tiffany`s face, catches the oil, throws it into Wint`s face.
He screams – Bond pushes him hard to one side, impaling him on a sharp point of carved ice Cornucopia, killing him. Kidd has passed skewers through Sterno flame – they are now ablaze. He jumps Bond from rear. Bond twists away, grabs brandy bottle, breaks neck of it on table, and slings brandy at Kidd. Flames shoot up Kidd`s arms – his whole body is on fire. Bond yanks blanket from bed, wraps it around Kidd, smother flames. He picks up the bundle, stuffs it through and out of the porthole, looks down at Tiffany. She`s still bound and gagged, tied to bed, legs spread apart.
Critics of the film A VIEW TO A KILL, who may be looking for someone or something to place blame on, will have to look further than the shooting script to make their points. Reading the first draft and subsequent revisions leaves the reader with the impression of a serious, ambitious, tight and well thought out fun romp of a script by Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson. Whatever happened afterwards can only be left in the hands of the cast and crew.
The original concept for the film was to have Zorin try to alter the course of Halley`s Comet and make it smash into Silicon Valley. Halley`s comet would make its appearance later in 1985. Perhaps reasoning that the idea was too fantastical, the writers began taking a different approach to the script. The draft, dated June 20th, 1984 and revised several times in the ensuing months, doesn’t differ greatly from the film. The plot is the same, the characters are in place and most of the dialogue makes it. What is different is how startlingly professional and solid the character of Stacy Sutton is, the role of Pan Ho is slightly larger than in the film and two whole sequences were snipped from the script (one was filmed, one was not).
The script opens up exactly as the film does, with 007 deep in the heart of Siberia trying to retreive the microchip from the body of 003. The only difference in the action in the script calls for Bond to throw his axe at one of the Russian soldiers (which he does not do in the film) as well as have a close call with the helicopter blades (pictured above but not used in the film). Bond snowboards across a lake, pulls out a flare gun and destroys the helicopter before jumping into the waiting arms of Kimberly for a little spy lovin’.
KIMBERLY: I thought you’d never get back.
BOND: I ran into a few unfriendly natives.
In the script the acceleration of the submarine causes Kimberly to fall onto the bed, whereas in the film Bond deliberatly manipulates the controls so that Kimberly falls into his arms. This is one case where the filmed version is better than the scripted version. In the script, Kimberly merely falls into the bed and Bond says: “It’s five days to Alaska.” In the film, Kimberly puts up a fey protest against Bond’s not so subtle pass at her:
KIMBERLY: Commander Bond!
BOND: Call me James. It’s …five days to Alaska.
The action then shifts to the MI6, where both script and film follow a parallel course with little to no differences. We then move on to the Ascot Racecourse, where the whole office has gone for the day. Bond and M have their binoculars trained on Zorin’s luxury box. Here, Maibaum and Wilson’s description of Zorin gets interesting, especially if you know who they might have had in mind when writing the part: Zorin, tall, slender, impeccably dresses, in his late thirties. Unusually handsome, he has one grey and one blue eye. David Bowie was reportedly offered the role of Zorin. Could he have been in mind while this was being written?
The summary of May Day is somewhat non-descript and puzzling, especially when you consider that the role was written with Grace Jones in mind (see her Celebrity Profile for more information). There’s nothing in the description that would tip off the reader that May Day was a black woman with a fierce, Amazonian streak in her: Seated beside him (Zorin) is MAY DAY, a shapely, tall, somewhat bizarrely dressed twenty eight year old girl with distinctive a short hairdo and a beautiful but saturninely placid face.
Also cut was a short exchange between Sir Aubry (officiating the race) and Zorin after Zorin had won the race:
SIR AUBRY: This is becoming habitual, Mr Zorin.
ZORIN: Each times only makes me more grateful, Sir Aubrey.
M asks Tibbett to set up a meeting between Bond and Aubergene to compare notes. Bond heads to Paris and meets with Aubergene, where they discuss Zorin and his racing activities over a bottle of LaFitte Rothschild 1979. Aubergene gets hooked, literally, by May Day in both script and film, and nothing has been changed here, including the ensuing chase up the Eiffel Tower and along the Seine.
The script then moves along to Bond in a Parisian jail cell.
INSIDE PARIS JAIL: GENDARMES PIMP TWO PROSTITUTES
M waits impatiently. PIMP and TWO PROSTITUTES manhandled through barred doors to lock up area as a disheveled BOND, dressed in last night’s black tie, comes out escorted by GUARD. He stops at sergeant’s desk. SERGEANT takes sealed envelope containing Bond’s possessions, rips it open and dumps contents on desk. An underwater wrist watch, fountain pen, lighter etc. He starts to pick up watch by winding stem.
SERGEANT: One watch….
The stem pulls away and is actually the end of a garrot cord which winds out from watch. He lets go of stem, in surprise. He winds it back into watch. BOND picks it up and puts it on.
BOND: An old family heirloom.
He picks up fountain pen, unscrews top.
SERGEANT: One pen….
He scribbles on on the pad and screws top back on as he hands pen to Bond.
SERGEANT: ….in working order.
The pad begins to smoke and curl up, unnerving SERGEANT slightly. He picks up lighter.
SERGEANT: One lighter….
He flicks it. It is the miniature acetyline torch, a large flame shoots out singeing the sergeant’s eyebrows. He drops the lighter and pushes the remainder of Bond’s things away.
SERGEANT: Take them! Just sign here.
This whole scene was cut from the shooting script, possibly because the producers decided they wanted to make only one police department look like fools, and chose the San Francisco Police Department to fit that bill. The next sequence contains minor changes in dialogue, but the point to take away from this scene is that the filmed version fleshes out Bond’s motives for going after the assassin better than the original draft did. In fact, as scripted here, TIBBETT seems to completely ignore Bond’s question, as if he’d not heard it at all.
IN CAR: BOND AND M AND TIBBET
As CHAUFFER drives away from station. M holding a sheaf of bills, etc.
M: (caustically) Your release gratifies me, 007. All it took was 600,000 francs in damages and penalties for violating most of the Napoleonic code. May I remind you this operation was to be conducted discreetly.
BOND: Under the circumstances sir, I felt it was more important to identify the assassin.
M: Any ideas?
BOND: None that make any sense, sir. What did Aubergene hope to learn at the Zorin thoroughbred sales?
TIBBETT: I think I can arrange an invitation, Sir. Bit short notice, but I might be able to squeeze Bond in.
M: Very well, and try to avoid any more international incidents; the exchequer can’t afford them.
The script then moves along to Chantilly, where Bond’s Rolls-Royce, driven by Tibbett, rolls through the front gates of the palatial estate. There, Pan Ho and Scarpine are checking security. In the script Pan Ho gets all the lines given to Scarpine in the film during this scene, right down to the “no, those are the servants quarters” line. Oddly enough, Scarpine is described as a “swarthy, middle aged, Corsican, deceptively pudgy and amiable looking”. Hardly a fitting description of the sophistication that Patrick Bauchau exudes in the role.
Moving along…we eventually find Bond and Tibbett driving up to the Guest Quarters, where they are met by Jenny Flex. After Jenny offers to call a porter, she takes Bond straight up to his room. Much has been made about the sexy conversation between Bond and Jenny as they ascend the long staircase with dialogue such as: “I expect you spend quite a lot of time in the saddle”, “Yes, I enjoy an early morning ride” and “I’m an early riser myself”. Shockingly, none of it is in the script, suggesting that maybe Roger Moore did one of his famous improvisations on the set, or someone else, thought the dialogue up right before shooting the scene.
Bond and Tibbett de-bug the room and then go to the balcony, where yet again there is a slight change in the dynamics of the dialogue.
TIBBETT: Another wealthy owner?
BOND: Or a Zorin inamorata? Whoever she is, I like her style, Maybe my stay here won’t be all official business.
TIBBETT: Were on a mission.
BOND: And she’s part of it.
Later we cut to the reception in the chateau garden, where Bond is acosted by Scarpine, who has noticed Bond mulling around in areas he’s not supposed to.
SCARPINE: Enjoying the party, Mr. Sinjin-Smythe?
BOND: Immensely. Always enjoy a good knees-up.
The reference to the “knees-up” is obscure, vague. Wisely it was cut and replaced with something else.
Later Bond encounters Zorin and after a bit of chit chat, Bond asks him if he is interested in fly casting. In the film, Zorin’s immediate reaction is negative and evasive. Here in the script, he takes the cool approach.
ZORIN: Delightful pastime. I must do it more often. But I’m neglecting my other guests. Enjoy yourself. You will find the young ladies stimulating company.
The script gets weak momentarily when Bond finally meets up with Stacy.
STACY: No, I’m not interested in race horses.
BOND: As long as you don’t feel the same way about English bachelors who fancy American girls.
Ugh. The movie version is only slightly better, with both Roberts and Moore taking on strange, higher pitched accents for the scene.
The fight scenes in the warehouse, as well as Zorin and May Day’s training, all go pretty much according to script. One minor difference is that when May Day opens her door to find Bond in her bed, she says his name loud enough so that Zorin knows who is in there and what’s about to happen.
The next morning Bond meets with Zorin to discuss purchasing a horse, but here the exchange in the movie is nowhere to be found.
ZORIN: Good morning. You slept well?
BOND: Never better.
The omission of the line “A little restless at first, but I got off eventually” in the script and subsequent rewrites suggests Moore improvised the material on the set. Regardless of how it came about, the filmed version is much superior to the way it was originally conceived.
What follows is Tibbett getting killed in the car wash and Bond in the chase of his life atop Inferno. Both script and film closely follow one another until Bond makes contact with what he thinks is Sir Godffrey Tibbett driving the Rolls-Royce. No major changes here, but it does allow for PAN HO to get more screen time. She holds the gun on 007, not SCARPINE, and then eventually she knocks him out cold and puts him in the back of the car. Bond escapes a watery grave by inhaling air from the car tire, in both film and script.
We then cut to the meeting between Zorin and his Cartel members.
ZORIN: Gentlemen, you may find the venue of our meeting unconventional, but I assure you we will not be overheard.
It’s interesting that this line was cut from the film, as it makes perfect sense. Silicon Valley is widely known for its industrial espionage and listening devices.
Zorin then dismisses the Taiwanese member who wishes to be no part of Project: Mainstrike.
ZORIN: May Day will provide you with a drink.
May Day jettisons Taiwanese member out of airship and he plummets to his death below, in San Francisco Bay.
ZORIN: (to May Day) Did he get his drink?
Obviously this punch line is too cerebral. It requires the audience to think too much; water of San Francisco Bay = drink? So the line was wisely replaced by the funnier “So, would anyone else like to drop out?” Furthermore, there is no line in the script where May Day exhales: “What a view!” and Zorin: “To a kill.”
We now cut to Bond on Fisherman’s Wharf, preparing to meet Chuck Lee. The dialogue in the script is closely matched by what appeared in the film, but the script takes a detour when Bond is introduced to O’Rourke that the film chooses not to.
O’ROURKE: …that Zorin Oil Pumping Station ruined one of the best crab patches in the bay.
BOND: Scared them away?
O’ROURKE: No, they didn’t go nowhere, they just disappeared.
BOND: I’d like to have a look. Can you get me near the station?
O’ROURKE: That’ll be tough. (slowly a gleam comes to his eye) I might just have a way.
LARGE CRAB BOAT DAY
Deck crowded with CRAB MEN holding placards protesting Zorin Oil Company. BOAT approaches PUMPING STATION JETTY.
DECK OF BOAT CRAB MEN BOND, LEE, O’ROURKE standing together.
BOND: See if you can get a little closer.
O’ROURKE: O.K.
INT. PUMPING STATION ZORIN at window. CONLEY, SCARPINE and MAY DAY join him. TECHNICIANS in B.G at control console.
ZORIN: What do they want?
CONLEY: A bunch of hotheads. They want us to stop pumping.
ZORIN: (to Scarpine) Keep them away.
CRAB BOAT BOND AND LEE on deck. See LAUNCH approach.
ZORIN LAUNCH SCARPINE with blow horn and uniformed armed guards.
SCARPINE: This area is restricted. Keep your distance.
CRAB BOAT O’ROURKE joins BOND and LEE
O’ROURKE: This is as close as I can get.
BOND: I”ll wait until dark.
The script then offers two scenarios regarding the pumping station. The first scenario involves Bond infiltrating the pumping station via scuba gear. Bond narrowly escapes being mauled by the intake propeller of one of Zorin’s pipelines by throwing his air tank into the blades and jamming it. MAY DAY mistakes the tank as belonging to Klotkoff and he is subsequently thrown into the pipe himself, to be chewed to death by the twirling blades.
The other scenario involved a more hands off approach by Bond. In this situation, he infiltrates Zorin’s pumping station using Q’s snooper pet. In fact, at this point, Q has come out to San Francisco and aids Bond in inspecting the station. This would help explain why Q was snooping on Bond and Stacy at the end of the film.
The cut scenes:
Q AND GUARD over map.
SECOND GUARD: Go back to the lights and hang a left.
Q: Hang a left?
SENTRYBOX DOG on leash sees SNOOPER and barks furiously.
SNOOPER scuttles behind some pipes.
Q AND GUARDS SECOND GUARD turns to DOG.
SECOND GUARD: Shut your yap, mutt.
DOG continues to bark. He hands the map to Q and goes to the sentry box to quiet DOG.
Q (confused): A left hand turning….
FIRST GUARD: Be cool. Forget what Jim said. There’s an easier way. Go past Gus’ about a mile to the MacDonald’s…
420-423 DELETED
JETTY SNOOPER scoots under the pipes and is well hidden.
Q AND GUARDS Dog is quiet now. SECOND GUARD rejoins them.
SECOND GUARD: (to first guard) No, it’s a left turn at (indecipherable) then right.
FIRST GUARD: That’s the long way. (to Q) Go to Van Ness. Then take a left.
Q: Thanks very much, chaps.
He leaves them arguing and gets into VAN.
BEACH ROAD PARKED CAR
We do not see who is in it. VW van passes CAR.
VAN continues down the road and stops. The pumping station on jetty is in B.G.
ZORIN PUMPING STATION NIGHT
Dim lights along JETTY. STATION HOUSING rests on piling about two feet off jetty floor boards. Window of CONTROL ROOOM lit. FAINT SOUND OF PUMPING.
MAIN GATE TO JETTY GUARD stationed there, his back to jetty.
JETTY GUARD IN B.G. SNOOPER moves away from GUARD between pipes.
EXT. BEACH VW VAN NIGHT
Lights out. Jetty in B.G.
INSIDE VW VAN Q AND BOND at console manipulates controls. Snoopers POV on TV monitor.
SNOOPER approaching RAMP leading up to deck around station housing. SOUND OF PUMPING GROWS LOUDER as SNOOPER moves up ramp to deck.
NEW ANGLE SNOOPER stopping below sill of CONTROL ROOM WINDOW. Telescopic stalk extends up out of SNOOPER’S turret until it reaches window level.
SNOOPER’S POV INSIDE CONTROL ROOM ZORIN, CONLEY, MAY DAY, TECHNICIANS watching CONTROL BOARD.
CONLEY: The porosity levels are still low.
ZORIN: (sharply): Increase them.
IN VAN BOND, Q watching and listening at TV SCREEN showing GROUP in STATION CONTROL ROOM. Voices from TV are faint and somewhat obscured by sound of pumping.
CONLEY ON TV: We’re at maximum pumping now…
ZORIN ON TV: We have a deadline. I’ll hold you personally responsible if we miss it.
SUDDEN SOUND OF GROWLING. Q reaches hastily toward REMOTE CONTROL UNIT beside screen.
SNOOPER AT WINDOW Turret stalk swivels, top pans down. CAMERA ANGLE WIDENS TO INCLUDE GUARD DOG growling at robot. Stalk whips back to window.
SNOOPERS POV GROUP IN CONTROL ROOM as MAY DAY reacts to dog’s growl and exits.
SNOOPER retracting stalk. DOG edges closer, growling.
IN VAN BOND at a loss. Distorted view of menacing dog on TV monitor. Q reaches across, hits button.
Q: Repellent.
SNOOPER squirts stream of liquid at dog which yaps, backs off and then barks, SNOOPER scoots away from him around corner of housing.
IN VAN Q AND BOND
Q: Foul smelling stuff.
RAMP SNOOPER scuttling down it, then disappearing under HOUSING FLOOR BOARDS
SNOOPER POV as turret holds and trains on MICROPHONE under and against floor of control room, positioned there by BOOM ARM extending up through gap in jetty floor boards.
SNOOPER moving to gap and panning “EYE” down through it.
IN VAN BOND, Q
BOND shakes his head.
BOND: Too dark.
Q: Try infrared.
He switches to it.
SNOOPER POV ON TV SCREEN TWO MEN in rubber dinghy between piling beneath JETTY. One of them is KLOTKOFF. SECOND RUSSIAN, slenderer, could be Venz but we cannot see the face. They are equipped with earphones and waterproof tape recorder. CAMERA PANS UP TO MIRCOPHONE AND ZOOMS IN.
IN VAN BOND, Q looking at screen
Q: An RM 214 Russian sound probe. We picked one up in Istanbul six months ago.
BOND: (puzzled) The Russians bugging Zorin, too?
SUDDEN BARKING SOUND FROM TV
On JETTY FLOOR BOARDS which are under housing boards. DOG appears from under RAMP. SNOOPER scuttles further back under ramp out of sight.
RAMP MAY DAY looking under it.
HER POV She sees the MICROPHONE but not the Snooper.
RAMP MAY DAY quickly moves up to DECK.
IN VAN BOND, Q at darkened TV SCREEN
BOND: Where’s Snooper?
Q: Stuck somewhere under the ramp.
UNDER JETTY RUBBER BOAT RUSSIANS KLOTKOFF takes small wooden oars and quietly paddles out from under jetty. As he peers out from behind piling he is jerked out of boat.
WIDER ANGLE KLOTKOFF dangling by the scruff of the neck held by MAY DAY, who stands across beam below jetty. She cannot see other Russian in rubber boat.
RUBBER BOAT SECOND RUSSIAN takes waterproof TAPE RECORDER and silently slips over the side into the shadows.
JETTY MAY DAY and KLOTKOFF on deck joined by ZORIN, SCARPINE, and GUARDS
IN VAN Q, BOND trying to locate Snooper. BOND gets up.
BOND: Snooper’s a write off.
Q: (stubbornly) I never desert a fellow agent in the field, double-oh seven.
BOND takes STAR LIGHT GLASSES form wall and exits van.
JETTY KLOTKOFF held by GUARDS on deck near clean out hatch. He pleads with Zorin in Russian. ZORIN, impassive, nods to SCARPINE who opens hatch. ROAR OF IMPELLER, SCARPINE motions to GUARDS. They chuck KLOTKOFF in. Impeller labours for a few seconds and then resumes normal sound.
BOND standing next to VAN viewing jetty with STAR LIGHT GLASSES. Q joins him. BOND reacts to something to his left.
BOND’S POV through star light glasses. A BLACK FIGURE wades through the surf.
BOND with glasses.
BOND: At least one got away. (suddenly dawning) It’s their car down the road. I want the tape.
He hands GLASSES to Q and runs off.
When comparing the two scenarios, a few things come to mind; one being that in both cases, Bond’s actions lead to Klotkoff being discovered and killed. Both versions of the script also want to give off the impression that Venz may be the other Russian accompanying Klotkoff since they are the only two we have been introduced to so far but as we find out later, it was really Pola Ivanova.
The script continues on exactly as the film does, with Bond and Pola sharing a relaxing evening in a hot tub. Bond later questions Mr. Howe and spies Stacey at City Hall. He follows her to Whitewood Estates, her home, and the two get into a fight with some of Zorin’s stooges.
Over dinner Bond suggests the notion that he stick around to protect Stacy.
BOND: Look…it might not be a bad idea if I stayed here tonight.
She turns to face him, almost in his arms.
STACEY: (slight smile) To protect me?
BOND: They may be back.
STACEY: (smiling) I hope not.
The next day Bond and Stacey, as in the film, realize tremors are originating from Zorin’s wells on the Hayward Fault. Stacey stalks off to confront Howe. In the film, their argument is off camera. The script gives clues as to what might have been said.
STACEY: Elevated porosity levels and increased seismic activity call for immediate investigation.
HOWE: (vehemently) I refuse to be a party to your vendetta against Max Zorin!
She ends up being fired. Later, she meets up with Chuck Lee, and much like the film, Lee is killed off by May Day, who later teams up with Zorin to kill Howe and trap Bond and Stacey inside a burning elevator within City Hall. The two escape, only to be confronted by the Captain of the San Francisco Police Department. Bond is about to be arrested when he takes off in a fire truck with Stacey. Oddly enough, there is no line: “Where’s that guy going? That ladder’s unlocked!” In the original draft, the fire truck chase is vastly downplayed, with no swinging ladder.
In the film, Stacey says something to the effect of: ‘Is it true what you said back there, about the British Secret Service?’
Bond replies: “I’m afraid it is.”
In the script, the dialogue is clunky, pointless and uneven:
STACEY: Are you really James Bond?
BOND: You’d better believe it.
First of all, why would STACEY ask him if he was really James Bond? Does she know another James Bond? She asks the question of him as if he were a legendary superhero, like Batman or Superman, whose alter ego she’s just discovered. And he’s already lied twice by calling himself Sinjin Smythe and James Stock, so he can’t really be believed.
Stacey takes over the driving duties in the script, Bond jumps into the back and swings the rear end wildly, causing the two police cars to lock front fenders. The Captain then gets on the radio and has the draw bridge operator raise the bridge to prevent Bond from getting across. Bond waves Stacey on and she goes for it.
Having gotten away, Bond and Stacey drive to the Main Strike Mine, where they infiltrate the organization by posing as miners. Most of the mine sequences follow the film very carefully, with Zorin’s betrayal of May Day, Jenny Flex, Pan Ho, Conley and his men, and even including May Day’s sacrificial death.
The script indicates the blast rocks the inside of the airship, and that Zorin, Mortner and Scarpine have to recollect themselves. Stacey runs down the hill to meet with James when James is shocked to see Zorin’s zeppelin coming after them.
BOND smiles and jogs in her direction. His face suddenly registers alarm.
HIS POV STACEY is running towards him. But swooping down silently behind her is ZORIN’s AIRSHIP. It is gaining on her.
BOND shouts a warning.
BOND: Stacey! Behind you.
He picks up speed.
AIRSHIP AND STACEY A door opens on the side of the ship. ZORIN appears with one arm extended as the ship closes on STACEY.
STACEY confused by Bond’s reaction.
ANOTHER ANGLE The shadow of the ship covers her. She slows down and turns. She comes face to face with Zorin who grabs her around the waist.
Unlike the film, at least the script addresses the issue of how Stacey manages to be surprised by a blimp in an intelligent and reasonable matter.
Stacey, now firmly seated as an unwilling passenger next to Mortner, says:
STACEY: Zorin’s mad. He’ll kill us all.
MORTNER: Just sit there and shut up.
After the zeppelin crashes into the bridge tower, Stacey makes a beeline for the door. SCARPINE grabs her but she grabs the fire extinguisher off the wall and knocks him cold with it. This is in stark contrast to the film, where Zorin tells Scarpine to go out and get him (Bond), to which Stacey manages a sneak attack from behind with the fire extinguisher and cold cocks Scarpine.
The climactic finale works itself out just a little bit differently than in the film. Yes, Stacey at first hides underneath the pipe, but she eventually climbs back up to the bridge tower. At this point Zorin has now gone over the side and Mortner now comes to the opening in the gondola. He’s ready to begin firing at Bond with a gun when Stacey uses the ripcord knife to slit the bag of the airship. If you freeze frame and then magnify the sequence in which Zorin pulls Stacey into the airship, you`ll see a danger sign on the left side of the door warning not to pull the rip cord or damage the bag. The airship begins to deflate and rolls off the bridge and tumbles into the sea. Stacey redeems herself and saves the day.
Whatever faults the film may have, the script itself is not the sole reason for blame. It jettisons most of the gadgets in exchange for Bond having to rely more upon his instincts. In a world where Bill Gates is the richest man alive, and one of the most powerful, it’s not hard to see that once again, the Bond screenwriters were ahead of their time.
Past Editor of 007Forever, Michael Kersey was right on the mark when he humorously yet seriously pressed for EON to hire Haile Berry as a Bond girl. See story below.–Editors
I’m talking about interracial romance. Yes, as President and Editor-in-Chief of 007Forever, i’m asserting my Executive Privilege and getting back on my soapbox again about this issue. No, I will not just let it die.
Normally I love everything EON puts out. And if I don’t, I still try and be supportive. So what am I doing complaining about Bond20 when it hasn’t even come out yet? I’ll tell you what i’m trying to do. I’m trying to influence EON and MGM into casting a black actress in the leading role for the next Bond film. The mere fact that credible rumors of Whitney Houston being asked to participate in the new film lead this egomaniacal Editor into believing his constant drumbeat for a “woman of color” in the next Bond film is being heard loud and clear. Apparently my drumbeat was misunderstood slightly though, as I prefer not to have a [deleted] playing opposite Pierce Brosnan.
Three of the most mentioned names I receive when someone tells me who they’d like to see play a Bond Girl are: (in no particular order) Halle Berry, Salma Hayek and/or Catherine Zeta-Jones. Tyra Banks has graced the cover of Sports Illustrated…alone. Why in 2001 has Bond not had a black leading lady? In 2002, Bond will celebrate his 40th anniversary on the big screen, and what better occasion is there than this for EON to step up to the plate and join the rest of mankind who have already entered the 21st century by hiring my top two picks: Halle Berry and Michael Michelle.
The lack of black characters in Bond films is bad enough when you consider that most have been villains, pimps, double agents or misidentified as prositutes. Other than Bernie Casey’s portrayel of Felix Leiter in Kevin McClory’s Never Say Never Again, in which no one in the audience gasped or shrieked in disbelief, black characters in EON’s official Bond films have been few and far between. Really EON, do you want Kevin McClory to beat you on this issue?
The last time Bond had any sort of romantic dalliance with a black woman was in the 1985 caper A View To A Kill. Of the four women Bond shagged, Grace Jones was one of them. However, she played the villainous MayDay, and she only turned good in the end after killing a half-dozen people and being betrayed by her Nazi-progeny boyfriend. Up to that point, she was perfectly willing to go along with Max and send California plummeting into the Pacific Ocean. Many of the new generation of Bond fans weren’t even born in 1985, or were only a few years old when the picture came out. For these young fans, they’ve lived a life of relatively “color” free Bond films.
Before MayDay there was….Rosie Carver. And that was in 1973. You’ve got to give credit to producers Broccoli and Saltzman at the time for not only having the first black/white interracial love scene in a Bond film, but to writer Tom Mankiewicz, who, if he had had his way, would have cast Diana Ross as Solitaire. And let’s not forget, this was Roger Moore’s first Bond film. United Artists was going out on a limb here. The last time a new actor tried to take over the role of 007 (George Lazenby), the results were less than spectacular. Connery had to come back in and temporarily save the series. Anyway, if you have thought about right here levitra without prescription how much you can take. Psychological counseling is needed if the underlying issues are not treated, this can cause your blood pressure to drop. Learning about Tantra Yoga, and Tantric sex, will improve male sexual health at any age. Make sure that you never hold any type of diabetes as they can still lead a normal life.
But the lack of any black women in leading roles in the official Bond films has now reached the pathetic stage. Why is it that Hollywood casts Halle Berry, Angela Bassett and Thandie Newton as love interests in their respective movies, they all go on to be big hits, and EON sits on its hands, doing practically nothing? And then the first real bit of news we hear about casting is that they are considering hiring a [deleted] to sing/act opposite Brosnan for Bond20. Not to be outdone, the Mariah Carey camp has let it be known she to is up for a role in the new Bond picture. Whether those are dualing divas trying to outspin and out-public relations one another remains to be seen, but we can at least hope that the fact that the two strongest candidates rumored for roles in the next Bond film are black.
If it came down to Mariah vs. Whitney, i’d rather have Mariah. But she doesn’t have enough acting experience to star in a Bond film, and that’s a pretty BOLD STATEMENT when you consider that acting isn’t always a prequisite for playing a Bond Girl/Bond Woman.
In the 1920’s, the Klu Klux Klan (KKK) had 5 million members. Today, their pathetic little organization has less than 7,000 red-necking, white-trashing, trailer-parking members. Exactly whose demographics are MGM and EON trying to play to? The 7,000 trailer-trash bigots who probably can’t afford a movie ticket anyway, or the millions of 21st century moviegoers for whom race is no big deal?
So, in closing, may I please make a suggestion? Well, i’m going to anyway, because it’s my website. Here’s my suggestion: Hire either Michael Michelle from “ER” or Halle Berry as the leading lady in the next Bond film. They are talented, beyond beautiful and almost in a class that can only be described as “heavenly”. Second tier candidates could/should include Vivica A. Fox or Tyra Banks.
Please EON, I beg of you, join us in the 21st century and hire a beautiful, black actress named either Halle or Michael. Please bring back the cutting-edge, trend-setting Bond films we used to have, rather than just following the “pack mentality”. Even if you were following the “pack or herd mentality”, by now you should’ve hired a black actress. So what gives? Come on. Get with it!
That’s my opinion. It’s 100% accurate and I’m sticking to it.
9. The Scottish, Welsh, English, Australian, Irish Killer in Brioni
8. Far Up, Far Out, Far Moore!
7. You Only Live For One Movie, Maybe Two If You Have Metal Teeth
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5. Sleeping With My Enemies
4. The Best Undercover Spy Ever Whose Name Everybody Knows At The Grocery Store
3. For More Bucks Only
2. Shaken Not Stirred Hairdo, Even In Freefall Off A Cliff
1. Bad Guys Wear Jumpsuits, Villains Wear Nehru Jackets
And we had a heck of a time just narrowing the list down to ten!
10. When Bond drops the soap in the shower, Stacy offers to get it, in reply to which 007 says: “That was not the soap.” Apparently Stacy`s lack of intelligence extends to matters of anatomy also.
9. Even after being shot at by Zorin in the mine control center, 007 still has to push her out the window to get her to escape.
8. Nearly kills herself and Bond when she steamrolls down the Golden Gate Bridge pipework and then gets kicked in the face when she grabs Zorin`s shoe.
7. Manages to make every catastrophe about “her needs.” Witness her theatrics in the burning elevator shaft: “James! Don`t leave me! James!”.
6. Draws Bond into a firefight with some of Zorin`s goons but neglects to tell him the gun she gave him only contains rocksalt. This substance is the prime culprit in the degradation of cyclic GMP. Some sexologists say that penis size does not matter, but this is not true in most of the cases. Henceforth, for then has given oral jam and delicate tab cases for simpler utilize. levitra with its stronger and longer duration of effects. cheapest levitra resume to laud this breakthrough but the medical community excited with the performance of this magic pill, Slidenafil is being tested for other medical uses. The tablet ensures smooth circulation of blood to the man’s purchase levitra reproductive system reaping low flow of blood to the penile tissues.
5. Nearly plunges 100 feet, headfirst down a mine shaft because she wasn`t looking where she was going!
4. While fleeing for her life from an impending earthquake and with Mayday hot on her tail, she inexplicably freaks out at the sight of rats.
3. While grabbing Scarpine from behind, yells: “Are you crazy?!? Stop it!” After all she`s been through with Zorin and his henchmen, is this really a question that needs to be asked?
2. “Seawater? That’s incredibly dangerous!” Well, duh! Then she confronts Mr. Howe to make him “stop Zorin now”, only to get herself fired from her job.
1. Is snuck upon by a blimp. Even Helen Keller`s blindspot was never that big.
(Unfortunately, Dr. Holly Warmflash isn`t one of them)
10. Jenny Tull
9. British Naval Commander, Mary Thyme
8. Chastity Everhard
7. Dr. Sharon Freelove
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5. Tess Tickle
10. BOND – “That’s a nice little Aston you’re almost wearing, Q. I approve.”
9. Q – “Now, pay attention, Double-Oh McClory…”
8. BOND – “See you back at the Old Folks’ Home!”
7. BOND – “Well, I guess he got the point…of my Email.”
6. JONES – “Doctor Chanukah Jones. No jokes. I’ve heard them all, eight times a year.” BOND – “Still, you are far more attractive to me than your cousin, Indiana.” Childhood experiences of abuse or trauma are also tadalafil online australia known causes. Nothing could be further from the truth. So far the medicine was viagra online prescription http://appalachianmagazine.com/2016/07/23/virginia-mine-collapse-registers-3-4-on-richter-scale/ under the patent act that the same formula cannot use the other companies. It is a wonderful drug for curing erectile dysfunction.
5. BOND – “A reclining love seat, Q? You must be joking!”
4. GIULIETTA – “Would you like to check my figures?” [beat] BOND – “No, I brought this handy calculator.”
3. EMILIO PEPPERFINGER – “Dr. Pepper, Mr. Bond. The world’s most sparkling beverage…”
2. Q – “Right. First, your new, exploding Viagra prescription. Plus all the usual refinements.”
1. BOND – “No, M, he’s dead in Berlin. Right. Happy Mother’s Day to you, too.”
10. BOND – “Well, what genius gadgets do you have for me this time, Q?”
[beat] Q – “Nothing. Do some work for a change.”
9. KOSKOV – “McDonald’s Big Mac, the best!” [beat] BOND – “The brand on the list was questionable, sir. So I took the liberty of choosing something else.”
8. M – [from interior of plane above Rock of Gibraltar] “Gentlemen, this may only be an exercise as far as the Ministry of Defense is concerned. But for me, it is a matter of pride that you have been chosen to demonstrate Suzanne Sommers’ new buttocks reducing machine.”
7. MOMMY – “Hi, I’m Mommy.” BOND – “But of course you are.” MOMMY – “Mommy O’ Mia!” BOND – “Named after your father, perhaps.”
6. BOND – [Scowling in Moneypenny’s direction] “Sir, I have the honor to request, you will accept, my resignation, effective forthwith, from our regular tiddlywinks foursome at the St. James Club…”
5. QUARREL – “Crab cakes scare me plenty! Friend of mine, went up to Dr. No’s place once for seafood. Only trouble is, they never come back again.”
4. BOND – “My dear girl, there are some things that just aren’t done. Such as drinking Dom Perignon ’53, without a twinkie for a chaser, or some lovely Oreo cookies. That’s almost as bad as listening to the GoldenEye soundtrack without earmuffs.”
3. BLOFELD – “Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ernst…Stavro…Blofeld…they told me you were assassinated in Hong Kong?” BOND – “Not quite. I simply ingested some rather alarming Chinese Takeaway there. Luckily, Q provided Alka Seltzer for just such an emergency.” BLOFELD – [still soft spoken to Bond] “You only burp twice, Mr. Bond…”
2. BOND – “Whoever she was, I must have scared The Living In Harmony With The Wetlands, Volume II out of her…”
1. TREVELYAN – “…But where your parents had the luxury of dying in a climbing accident…my parents survived the British betrayal, and…” BOND – [annoyed] “Luxury? Sorry? Sorry? To have no parents and live with old Aunt Charmian at age twelve? Beg your pardon, bruddah?!”
8. Villains just don`t have bullets in their heads like they used to
7. 88% of Bond fans can`t be wrong
6. Women make passes at spies who wear glasses If the entire effect of goes on using a kind of levitra brand, there is no need of taking levitra sale. The main ingredient of this medicine tadalafil free is Tadalafil. Don’t Ignore ED Diabetes and heart condition can become expensive for treating and even deadly when they are left unchecked. The is a pill for the erectile dysfunction and heart disease: It is no secret among health care professionals that erectile dysfunction is a warning signal of vascular disease.
5. They made more Bond movies before this one?
4. Travel with MI-6 and “Ski the World”
3. “I`m having some trouble with a banker…”
2. It`s the only Bond movie you can see on a giant screen this week
1. After this one, you might even say, “Pierce Brosnan IS James Bond”
With A Tip of the Bowler to Messrs. Lee Pfeiffer, Kees Boer and Craig Chenery (Goldfinger is their fave.)
10. Connery as Bond
9. See above
8. Villains just don’t play golf like they used to
7. The Queen Mother, Queen Elizabeth, and the Royal House can’t be wrong about their favorite flick
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2. They make an excellent bourbon and branch water in Kentucky
10. I imagine you spend quite a lot of time in the saddle.
9. I was a little restless at first, but I got off eventually.
8. No ma`am, I`m with the economy tour.
7. Well, I`d heard that the price of eggs was going up, but isn`t that a little high?
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5. Trifle overpowering your scent!
9. Diamonds Are Forever: “That`s a nice little nothing you`re almost wearing.”
8. Goldfinger: “Shocking. Positively shocking.”
7. Thunderball: “Do you mind if my friend sits this one out? She`s just dead.”
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5. Diamonds Are Forever: “Mrs. Whistler did want some pictures of the canals for the children.”
10. Recess pleaded for “due to problems delivering subpoena to Ian Fleming”
9. Keeps threatening, Largo-style, to “put the evil eye” on the Judge
8. Sues alt.fan_james.bond newsgroup for claiming Moonraker is a better film than Thunderball
7. Argues in court that all Bond films are essentially remakes of Thunderball including the three films made BEFORE Thunderball.
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5. Bought all possible “Warhead 2002” Internet domain names so they can sell them back for mint prices
4. Keeps trying to electrocute the Judge in his chair and calls her “Number 11”
3. Will end up sueing us over this top ten list.
2. Feels confident they`ll win because “there`s a first time for everything”
1. Makes motion to drop the THUNDERBALL case to sue AOL instead, claiming Kevin McClory and Al Gore invented and patented the Internet
10. The revolving door to his bedroom frequently jams up.
9. Having that “not so fresh feeling” right before a romantic interlude.
8. Secret trips to Beverly Hills plastic surgeon between missions aren`t covered in MI6`s health plan.
7. Mistaking your silver bullets for your suppositories.
6. Never able to escape the shadows of the one…the only…the original…the best James Bond: Barry Nelson.
5. Trying to take a whiz in a men`s room urinal, only to be interrupted by George Michael saying “Ah, Mr. Bond, we meet again.”
4. His Aston Martin may be a computerized, kick-butt arsenal of gadgets, but it won`t translate the Taco Bell drive through window worker`s words into English
3. The World Is Not Enough…and neither is the penicillin.
2. Hard to look suave and debonair with your colostomy bag sloshing around in your Brioni tux
10. Pat Buchanan as “Sheriff J.W. Pepper” (Pepper is less liberal than Buchanan)
9. Ellen Degeneres as “Pussy Galore”
8. Callista Flockhart as “Plenty O’Toole” (The real Plenty, Lana Wood, appeared at Bond Weekend II.)
7. Rosie O’Donnell as “M” (she would emasculate him, then take his gun away!)
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5. Bill Clinton as “James Bond” (he chases more skirt than 007)
In our never-ending quest to get the latest information that could be learned about Bond20, 007Forever decided to forego it’s usual list of reliable sources in California and Europe and go straight to the person who assured us they knew what was going to happen in the film even before the producers, writers and director knew: Miss Cleo. You’ve seen her television informercials at 2 a.m. while you’ve been downloading junk off the Internet. Right now she’s the hottest psychic in the world and you can visit her website at www.mycleo.com
In fact, Miss Cleo has officially joined the staff at 007Forever and will be providing you, our faithful visitors and friends, with her uncanny insight into the production of the next James Bond movie. Miss Cleo’s column will appear monthly at 007Forever, unless Miss Cleo ends up in jail because of that nasty lawsuit brought against her by the Attorney General of the State of Missouri. But enough about that! We want to know the latest goings-on in the world of 007, so I had a complimentary tarot card reading and here is what Miss Cleo divulged during our interview/tarot card reading:
MK: How are you doing today, Miss Cleo?
Miss Cleo: Miss Cleo is so tired. I got so many calls today from people wanting dee free Tarot readings. So many people don’t be knowin’ who their babies daddies are. And the girl at dee checkout counter at the WalMart be lyin’ to Miss Cleo! I saw the price of dee Summa’s Eve and dis girl wanted to charge me more! I told her da Tarot says she was gonna get run over wit Miss Cleo’s AMC Pacer if she don’t be changin’ that price back. She didn’t like the free Tarot advice Miss Cleo gave her so she be callin’ her manager over. They trew Miss Cleo out of dee WalMart.
Bad tings be happening to those who cross Miss Cleo! Just ask George Lazenby. But anyway, after this interview i’m going to hit dee ganjah and I know i’ll feel much betta.
MK: Uh, okay. Thanks. Now can we get on to the subject of James Bond?
Miss Cleo: Oh yes. Let me shuffle my deck here. The deck never lies, ya know? (Miss Cleo shuffles her deck, but like Bond in The World Is Not Enough, I ask her to cut the top three cards; she does). Ah, the Death Card. I sense empty movie theaters. Someone is destroying the audience’s notion of what James Bond should be like.
MK: Oh, you must mean Kevin McClory.
Miss Cleo: Yah, mon. He called me a few years ago, askin’ me for some career advice. I told him Never Say Never Again wuz goin’ to make him ah big Hollywood producer. Today I got a package in dee mail from him. It was a pig’s heart with a nail staked trew da center. Ya tink he’s tryin’ to tell me sumthin’?
MK: Probably, but forget about him. Everyone else has. Tell us about the next Bond film? What will the title be?
Miss Cleo: Final Assignment.
MK: Final Assignment?
Miss Cleo: Final Assignment.
MK: Are you sure? How can that be?
Miss Cleo: I’m tellin’ ya, the cards show that the next Bond film is goin’ to be called “Final Assignment”. The cards, plus I read the script for it at www.bond20.com. So who you gonna believe? Bond20.com and myself, or Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli?
MK: You, of course. I just can’t understand why the producers would lie about the title of the next film.
Miss Cleo: You call it a lie, I call it fudgin’ wit da trooth. In many ways, the producers and I are a lot alike. Luckily I be makin’ lots of money because so many people call me for Tarot readings. Sometimes Miss Cleo feels bad for messin wit people’s emotions and making dem tink they can’t do anyting without calling Miss Cleo. Barbara and Michael are da same, mon. They make da fans feel like day can’t live wit out 008 in their lives.
MK: You mean 007?
Miss Cleo: Yeah, whatever.
MK: Okay, so we know that the title of the next film is FINAL ASSIGNMENT. Who will star in it?
Miss Cleo: I’ll have to use my crystal ball for that question. The future is very hazy mon. I can’t see much.
MK: Would $20 help?
Miss Cleo: Yes, suddenly the haze is gone and I can see for certain that Pierce Connery will play the role of 007.
MK: You mean Pierce Brosnan?
Miss Cleo: Yeah, whatever.
MK: Who else will star in it?
Miss Cleo: Arnold Vosloo.
MK: But you didn’t even look at the cards or into your crystal ball to find that answer. How can you be so sure?
Miss Cleo: I checked your website out before da interview, but don’t be tellin’ your readers dat, okay? It could destroy my reputation.
MK: Who will be the new Bond Girl?
Miss Cleo: Oh, wit out a doubt, Whitney Houston!
MK: Really?
Miss Cleo: Oh yes. Let me tell ya how I know. We had a party last night at ma mansion in Miami and we partied wit J-Lo…and Ricky Martin was there with his boyfriend…and of course Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown showed up. I gave Whitney a free tarot readin’ which revealed she will star in the next Bond film, and then Miss Whitney tried to slip Miss Cleo some coke, baby. But Miss Cleo say: “Just say no to drugs”.
By the way, have you seen my bong? I seem to have misplaced it.
MK: Ummm…okay, well what is the plot of the new film going to be about?
Miss Cleo: Can’t tell. Very hard when you get the Page of Pentacles and the Page of Swords. I see action in the film; that much I can tell you. I still like watchin movies, babies, even if i know what’s gonna happen at dee end. I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that James Bond saves the world at the last minute and lives to tell another tale.
MK: But isn’t that kind of predictable?
Miss Cleo: Didn’t you see Tomorrow Never Dies, babies? Nothing gets more predictable dan dat. You dawn’t need to be psychic to predict how dat movie is gonna end.
MK: So the movie is called Final Assignment, stars Pierce Brosnan and Whitney Houston…what kind of car will 007 drive in Bond20?
Miss Cleo: I am seeing the letters B….M….W. Dat’s all I can tell ya mon. Dee spirits are saying BMW, whatever that means, and i’d stake my life on what the spirits tell me. So you can tell your readers that Miss Cleo knows for a certainty 007 will be driving a BMW in the next movie. I’m dyin’ if i’m lyin’.
MK: Great. What else can you tell us?
Miss Cleo: In case you guys haven’t been watching your televisions lately I should tell you I got all kinds of new commercials on, mon. One of dem says you can win a trip to Florida to meet me. Lemme tell you, babies, dat’s a lie. Dey made me say dat one night after lacing my ganga with some PCP. Don’ enter dat contest; it be a trap!
MK: Can we please get back to talking about James Bond?
Miss Cleo: Oh yeah, here are some other predictions: The Devil Card. Now that means that the filming of da movie is going to be plagued with problems. I see poorly written female roles played by nubile, struggling actresses young enough to be Pierce Brosnan’s daughter. I consulted the Tarot again and the Page of Wands tells me dat da movie will be heavy wit da special effects and lite on da plot.
MK: But isn’t that the way all the James Bond films are?
Miss Cleo: Look, do you want your free Tarot reading or do you want to keep flapping that wordhole of yours? Pipe down. Speaking of pipes…I still can’t find my bong.
MK: Okay, we’re cool. What else do you see?
Miss Cleo: Well, the Chariot Card shows the wheels coming off. That means da production is going to unravel and shut down for a period of time, most likely because of the lawsuit I predict Kevin McClory will file again next year. You know what they say mon? The millionth time is da charm!
MK: But the official Bond film, Final Assignment, will get made, right?
Miss Cleo: Yes, because Kevin McClory’s lawsuit will be dasmissed for the millionth and one time. I predict that Final Assignment will be released in the United States on November 15, 2002. And if you don’t believe me, ask the studio head of MGM, because that’s what he told me as I was getting prepared for dis interview.
MK: What kind of reviews will the movie get?
Miss Cleo: It doesn’t take a psychic to answer that.
MK: Then what are we paying you for?
Miss Cleo: As I was saying, da movie will get mixed reviews, but da fans won’t care because dey gobble up everytang related to James Bong no matta how bad or how good tit is. Pierce Brosnan’s fourth Bond film will be his biggest yet, and make da most money of any of his films. Miss Cleo predicts he should stop making anymore James Bong films after Final Assignment lest he contract Roger Moore Syndrome.
MK: Is there anything else you would like to say?
Miss Cleo: Yes, can anyone recommend a good relaxer for mah hair? It’s out of control! Dee Tarot ain’t helpin much, mon, it just say yo woman is cheatin! She told you she was a nurse that worked da nite shift at the hospital, but da trooth is she’s a crack ho’ and a prostitute. Where did ya think she was getting all that money to buy you those lavish gifts mon? And her beeper and cell phone ringing constantly, 24/7? She’s been trifling mon. She played you. Neva lie to Miss Cleo. Da cards reveal all.
MK: A little too much, i’m afraid. 007Forever would like to thank you for your psychic insight into the production of the next James Bond film and look forward to hearing from you in the future.
Miss Cleo: Your welcome, mon. Miss Cleo is so happy she has all dees 005Forever friends.
MK: You mean 007Forever?
Miss Cleo: Yeah, whatever. Dee spirits tell Miss Cleo all your readers are wonderful, wonderful people. Well, except for a couple of you are real jerks. I’m sensing some really frightening evil in the Chicago area…
Hollywood (Reuters) – All of Hollywood turned their attention to 007Forever, Sunday, March 25th, 2001 as the 1st Annual “Bondies” were handed out. The Bondies celebrate the best, and worst, in 007 cinematic achievement. Recipients of the Best Artistic and Technical awards received a 6-inch tall, 24 karat, gold-plated statuette of the classic tuxedoed action icon while winners of the “Worst” categories received their prize, a check for a $1.98 and a hard-plastic, metallic-gold, spray-painted statuette, at a star-studded, all-you-can-eat buffet dinner hosted by Shoney`s.
Though few stars nominated for the WORST categories showed up, a couple did manage to come in and take advantage of the all-you-can-eat buffet. Icebreaker hosted the event and got the evening off to a hot start by announcing the winner of the WORST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING OR SUPPORTING ROLE.
Folks, it was not even a competition. It was a massacre. Tanya Roberts handily won this category witha whopping 60% of the vote total. Poor Denise Richards could only garner a measly 27% of the vote. Talisa Soto, Mie Hama, and Akiki Wakabayashi were way behind in single digits.
Mrs. Roberts was also our first inductee into the 007Forever Hall of Shame for a performance so bad that it literally brings tears of pain to the eyes of everyone who watches it 16 years later. Ms. Roberts, accompanied to the stage by her husband, accosted Icebreaker and angrily grabbed the plastic statuette and check out of his hands. She said: “You can take this check and sho-“. Before she could finish her sentence, her husband interrupted: “Don`t bother Tanya. He`s a psychopath.” Moving on…
The award for WORST PERFORMANCE BY AN INANIMATE OBJECT was Sean Connery`s toupee in Never Say Never Again, winning a staggering vote total of 75%.
For WORST ACTOR, the race was only slightly closer. Sausage king Jimmy Dean led the pack with over 40% of the votes, while Alan Cummings and Michael Lonsdale race a close second with 19% and 20% of the votes respectively. Christopher Lee and Curt Jurgens were a distant 4th and 5th place.
WORST ORIGINAL SCORE was another blowout. Michael LeGrand handily beat his competition with more than half of all ballots cast. Eric Serra had a strong second place showing, but both David Arnold, Bill Conti and Michael Kamen were in distant 3rd, 4th and 5th place.
WORST TITLE OR THEME SONG was extremely close, with Eric Serra`s Experience of Love running neck and neck with Lani Hall`s Never Say Never Again but in the end, Eric Serra won out. The deciding vote was cast by Jeremy Schabow. Yes folks, the race was that tight.
WORST SCREENPLAY was a bit closer, but Casino Royale still managed to win that contest by 11 percentage points. Never Say Never Again came in with 30% of the vote. LTK, TND and TMWTGG were far behind.
WORST DIRECTOR was another blowout. Irvin Kershner easily won that honor with a whopping 42% of the vote. Everyone else was a distant 2nd through 5th place.
WORST FILM was somewhat a suprise, as most picked Casino Royale for that award, shocking industry insiders who believed License To Kill would walk away with that coveted honor. Casino Royale had 41% of the vote, with Never Say Never Again getting 25%. Everyone else had meager votes cast.
When it comes to BEST 007, Sean Connery is the winner hands down. His performance in Goldfinger won for BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR PLAYING JAMES BOND with 35% of the vote. Connery also came in 2nd with 21% of the vote for his performance in the scene where 007 kills professor Dent. Timothy Dalton came in with a close 3rd place finishing for his performance in License To Kill. Apparently a lot of people loved his line delivery when he sent Killifer to the sharks. George Lazenby cradling a dead Tracy garnered 17% of the vote and for some bizarre reason, neither one of Roger Moore`s scenes received more than 4% of the vote. We think the ballot may have confused some voters who probably meant to vote for Moore rather than Lazenby, so we are going to disqualify these results.
Shirley Bassey won for BEST TITLE OR THEME SONG with her rendition of Goldfinger.
John Barry was up four times in the category of BEST ORIGINAL SCORE and won by a huge margin for his work in ON HER MAJESTY`S SECRET SERVICE with 62% of the vote.
Judi Dench lost an Oscar for “Chocolat” but won a “Bondie” for her performance in THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH with 44% of the vote. Lucianna Paluzzi came in a close 2nd with 37%.
Desmond Llewelyn handily beat his competition for BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR with 46% of the vote.
Diana Rigg won big for her role as Tracy in ON HER MAJESTY`S SECRET SERVICE. She had nearly double what her next closest competitor, Sophie Marceau with 22%, got.
Sean Bean won for BEST ACTOR by beating out rival villain Robert Davi. Bean garnered 36% of the vote.
Richard Maibaum was the surprise winner for BEST SCREENPLAY with ON HER MAJESTY`S SECRET SERVICE. Maibaum was unable to attend the ceremony and receive his award due to his being dead. 007Forever accepts this award on his behalf.
Guy Hamilton won the Bondie for BEST DIRECTOR for his work on The Man With The Golden Gun. Just kidding! Yeah, it was Goldfinger he won for. Everyone knew that was coming. No one was within striking distance, though Michael Apted did manage a very respectable 2nd place showing with 20% of the vote.
And last but not least was BEST PICTURE and to no one`s suprise, GOLDFINGER beat everyone to a bloody pulp with 50% of the vote total.
With all awards shows, some of the major surprises included those who didn`t win. Octopussy managed to be shut out of every category, while On Her Majesty`s Secret Service and Goldfinger all had good nights, racking up several Bondies each. The nominees were as follows:
For artistic merit:
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Judi Dench (The World Is Not Enough)
Luccianna Paluzzi (Thunderball)
Barbara Carrera (Never Say Never Again)
Gloria Hendry (Live and Let Die)
Grace Jones (A View To A Kill)
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Sophie Marceau (The World Is Not Enough)
Diana Rigg (On Her Majesty`s Secret Service
Izzabella Scorupco (Goldeneye)
Honor Blackman (Goldfinger)
Maud Adams (Octopussy)
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Vijay Armitraj (Octopussy)
Desmond Llewelyn (Octopussy)
Joe Don Baker (The Living Daylights)
Clifton James (Live and Let Die)
Robert Carlyle (The World Is Not Enough)
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Louis Jourdan (Octopussy)
Christopher Walken (A View To A Kill)
Klaus Maria-Brandauer (Never Say Never Again)
Robert Davi (License To Kill)
Sean Bean (Goldeneye)
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR PLAYING JAMES BOND
George Lazenby (holding his dead wife in On Her Majesty`s Secret ServiceL)
Sean Connery (shooting Professor Dent in Dr.No)
Sean Connery (strapped to a laser table in Goldfinger)
Roger Moore (confessing to killing Anya`s lover in The Spy Who Loved Me
Roger Moore (confronting General Orlov and defusing the bomb in the circus in Octopussy
Timothy Dalton (“You earned it. You keep it, old buddy!” from License To Kill)
BEST DIRECTOR
Michael Apted (The World Is Not Enough)
John Glen (The Living Daylights)
John Glen (Octopussy)
Guy Hamilton (Goldfinger)
Lewis Gilbert (The Spy Who Loved Me)
BEST SCREENPLAY
Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson (The Living Daylights)
Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson (Octopussy)
Richard Maibaum and Paul Dehn (Goldfinger)
Richard Maibaum and Joanna Harwood (Dr.No)
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BEST MOTION PICTURE
The World Is Not Enough
Goldfinger
The Spy Who Loved Me
The Living Daylights
On Her Majesty`s Secret Service
Technical Achievements:
BEST SET DESIGN
Ken Adam (Fort Knox-Goldfinger)
Ken Adam (Blofeld`s volcano – You Only Live Twice)
Ken Adam (The Liparus – The Spy Who Loved Me)
Ken Adam and Anton Furst for (Drax`s Space Station- Moonraker)
Peter Lamont (The Mainstrike Mine – A View To A Kill)
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Emma Porteous for The Living Daylights (Kara and Bond`s Afghan wear)
Emma Porteous for Octopussy (Octopussy`s royal palace wear)
Marjory Cornelius for On Her Majesty`s Secret Service (Blofeld`s Angel`s wear)
Anthony Mendelson for Thunderball (Junkanoo costumes and formal wear)
Emma Porteous for A View To A Kill (Ascot racing wear)
BEST THEME OR TITLESONG
Paul McCartney and Wings (Live and Let Die)
Carly Simon (Nobody Does It Better-The Spy Who Loved Me)
Sheena Easton (For Your Eyes Only)
Duran Duran (A View To A Kill)
Shirley Bassey (Goldfinger)
BEST ORIGINALSCORE
John Barry (Goldfinger)
John Barry (On Her Majesty`s Secret Service)
John Barry (Octopussy)
John Barry (Moonraker)
George Martin (Live and Let Die)
Awards for dubious artistic and technical achievement:
WORST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING OR SUPPORTING ROLE:
Tanya Roberts (A View To A Kill)
Talisa Soto (License To Kill)
Mie Hama (You Only Live Twice)
Akiki Wakabayashi (You Only Live Twice)
Denise Richards (The World Is Not Enough)
WORST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING OR SUPPORTING ROLE
Jimmy Dean (Diamonds Are Forever)
Alan Cummings (Goldeneye)
Michael Londsdale (Moonraker)
Curt Jurgens (The Spy Who Loved Me)
Christopher Lee (The Man With The Golden Gun)
WORST SCREENPLAY
License To Kill
The Man With The Golden Gun
Never Say Never Again
Casino Royale (1967)
Tomorrow Never Dies
WORST DIRECTOR
Roger Spottiswoode (Tomorrow Never Dies)
John Glen (A View To A Kill)
Guy Hamilton (The Man With The Golden Gun)
Lewis Gilbert (Moonraker)
Irvin Kershner (Never Say Never Again)
WORST FILM
The Man With The Golden Gun
Never Say Never Again
Casino Royale
License To Kill
Moonraker
WORST TITLE OR THEME SONG
Lani Hall (Never Say Never Again)
Eric Serra (The Experience of Love)
Rage (Make It Last All Night-For Your Eyes Only)
Sheryl Crow (Tomorrow Never Dies)
Scott Walker (Only Myself to Blame-The World Is Not Enough)
WORST ORIGINAL SCORE
Eric Serra (Goldeneye)
Bill Conti (For Your Eyes Only)
Michael LeGrand (Never Say Never Again)
David Arnold (The World Is Not Enough)
Michael Kamen (License To Kill)
WORST PEFORMANCE BY AN INANIMATE OBJECT
Roger Moore (A View To A Kill)
Sean Connery`s toupee (Never Say Never Again)
Roger Moore`s eyebrows (Octopussy)
Sean Connery`s baby blue, terry cloth robe (Goldfinger)
Roger Moore`s “colostomy bag” (The Spy Who Loved Me)
From the moment Bond blasted onto the world film scene, he has proven to be a rich target of censorship for those who weren`t quite prepared for his attitudes on sex, violence, nudity and race relations. American cinemagoers were a decade or two behind the rest of the world, particularly Europe, when it came to matters of sex and nudity.
While ABC-TV was concentrating on making sure no Americans got a glimpse of nipples or buttocks, UK censors were adamant about protecting impressionable Brits from the more violent of Her Majesty`s secret escapades.
Young fans (18 and under) who have grown up with the Bond films on TBS, premium cable networks like HBO or Showtime, or even have had access to DVD or VHS, they have had the rare opportunity to see most, if not all, the Bond films in their entirety; something that their elder Bond fans didn`t always get a chance to appreciate.
Censoring, or editing, Bond films broke down into two different reasons: content or time. By and large, most cuts made into the Bond films as they premiered on television or debuted at the theaters were based on reasons of sensuality or violence.
DR.NO November 1974 marked the first broadcast of Dr. No on ABC-TV. Only a few shots were cut but they included the Three Blind Mice shooting Strangeways (you see them shoot but you do not see Strangeways slump violently into his car) and Bond shooting Professor Dent, cold-blooded, in the back.
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE In early 1974, From Russia, with Love made it`s premier [on ABC-TV] with the pre-credit sequence cut out and reedited after the belly dancer credits. This would begin the often cruel and incompetent censoring of the Bond films as shown on ABC. Other scenes such as the gypsy camp and the Orient Express fight between Bond and Grant were trimmed relentlessly.
Fan Ryan Harvey comments: “Of all the changes made to the Bond series for network broadcasting, the most obnoxious must be the network version of From Russia, With Love. The gypsy camp sequence was cut and there was no shooting of Krilencu. This entire sub-plot and central action scene is completely excised. The movie jumps from the scene where Bond and Kerim Bey are spying on the Russian embassy using the periscope. Bey introduces Krilencu; Bond takes a look at Tania`s legs, and then Kerim bay folds up the periscope to conclude the session. ABC cut it for time and violence (the girl on girl action was deemed to violent and fraught with sexual overtones) but without it, a very crucial piece of ambience vanishes. For a brief moment in this spirited adventure, even James Bond is shocked by the violence–it`s a powerful moment, especially to non Bond fans who often think of the series as just “goofy cartoon violence. Cut to a commercial.
When we come back, Bond is walking into his hotel room to discover Tania is lying there. Nearly 15 minutes of intense Bondian action and character, gone! It`s unconscionable.”
GOLDFINGER It was September 17, 1972 when ABC presented the world premier of Goldfinger on the Sunday night movie beginning at 9pm. The movie went off without a hitch except the gun-barrel icon scene was eliminated totally. A few shots were cut out to tone down the sex and violence. The scene with Oddjob enveloped in a shower of sparks at Fort Knox was cut. Only showing him touching his hat and falling to the floor. ABC was very sensitive in those days.
The spring of `74 had ABC reprising Goldfinger, except this time the entire pre-credit sequence was cut out completely and would never be seen again until HBO presented the movie on cable in 1980. Censors felt Bond allowing a woman to be knocked unconscious was unconscionable and the electrocution of his would be assailant too violent. Many fans that were first initiated into the world of Bondage came into it via the airings of the Bond films on ABC and were completely unaware that a pre-credit sequence existed until watching it on VHS or TBS.
THUNDERBALL The fall of `74 brought Thunderball to ABC-TV. In September, the showing of Thunderball came with all scenes in their respective order but just a few shots cut out or muted, such as: Bond giving Patricia Fearing a mink backrub and the scene where he says to Domino at the pool side, “Wait until you get to my teeth.”
Future airings of the movie would “up” the censorship quotient. For example, ABC objected to Bond pressing Nurse Fearing`s nude body up against the steam room window. The network also completely cut out Fiona Volpe`s bedroom encounter with Bond. Many a fan`s heads were being scratched when Volpe remarked about their sexual encounter, despite the fact that none had been shown. Their scene, with her arms intertwined with the steel bars on the bed, gave a hint of bondage that censors could not tolerate.
YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE In October 1975, ABC presented You Only Live Twice. This time ABC literally ruined the pre-credit sequence. The movie begins with the space capsule but twelve seconds into the scene the shot cuts to Bond already dead in his bed and the credits begin to roll. When the credits end the scene segues to Hong Kong harbour. We see and hear the boats passing in the channel and then the scene cuts back to the space capsule with the astronaut just beginning his space walk. The rest of the pre-credit sequence continues without any abrupt interruptions but when we get to Bond dead in his bed the scene cuts to Hong Kong harbour again. This sequence was probably the most confusing of all the Bond films that ABC presented – until On Her Majesty`s Secret Service came on for the first time.
ON HER MAJESTY`S SECRET SERVICE It was February 1976 and it was sweeps month for the big three networks. ABC was doing very well in the ratings with it`s mini series “Rich Man, Poor Man”, but during the last two Mondays of February, ABC presented On Her Majesty`s Secret Service in two parts. The first part, after the gun-barrel icon, opens with a close-up of Bond`s foot as it is being placed in a ski. A British voice (not Lazenby`s) begins by saying, “Bond, James Bond here. Agent OO7, on her majesty`s secret service.” The scene continues with Bond skiing down a moonlit mountain pursued by Blofeld`s men. Practically the entire ski chase is introduced as part of the pre-credit sequence with this inane voice-over. Even the part where Bond meets Tracy at the ice rink is there as part of a segue into the opening beach scene. But the scene with M and Q at Universal Exports is missing entirely. ABC had done the worst possible thing to a Bond film. They added narration. Throughout the first half of OHMSS, the audience had to endure this blasphemy. To the people who have never seen this film before, they thought the producers at EON were to blame. Whatever the case, this movie did not recover for years to come.
DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER In September of 1975, Diamonds Are Forever came on the ABC Friday Night Movie. Dialogue such as Bond saying “Welcome to hell, Blofeld,” Willard Whyte saying “Bond, get the hell off that rig” and of course Shady Tree`s comments to Bond as he saves him from a fiery death all ended on the cutting room floor. Also, the waterbed scene with Bond and Tiffany is missing. After the Las Vegas car chase ends, ABC went to a commercial, when they came back from the commercial break we see Felix Leiter and his men looking for the bridal suite where Bond and Tiffany are staying.
The film also proved to be too much and too far ahead of its time with the gay humor as far as ABC was concerned. The network cut scenes of Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd holding hands after blowing up a helicopter, Kidd commenting to Wint that Miss Case was quite attractive `for a lady`, and Wint clearly enjoying having the tails of his tux wedged up his buttocks by Bond. These are scenes that are standard and taken for granted as they air on TBS. ABC-TV also cut a significant percent of Bond`s fight with Bambi and Thumper in order to dodge any suggestion that the two girls may be lesbians.
TBS did some editing of its own as well. At one time TBS cut the scene where Bond pulls off Marie`s top and twists it around her neck, yet ironically, aired the same footage for during a promotion of the film. During their “15 Days of Cyber-Bond”, TBS muted Tiffany`s remark to 007: “For God`s sake, come up with something original.”
LIVE AND LET DIE The fall of 1976 came the television premier of Live and Let Die with minor scenes trimmed out for broadcast, such as Mrs. Bell saying “Holy s***” as Bond cuts off the wings of the Cessna, the explosion of Adam`s boat was cut down and the part where Tee Hee is pushed into the bathroom wall of the train by Bond and a handy upper berth ladder.
ABC cut the scene of Banes actually being bitten by the snake in the pre-credits sequence. Viewers who had no prior knowledge of the film would be led to believe that Banes simply died of exhaustion and fear.
During Apartheid, South Africa completely cut out any reference to Bond and Rosie Carver having sex (and presumably cut scenes of Kananga slapping Solitaire and Solitaire getting undressed in front of several black men). The image of Rosie Carver/Gloria Hendry in the poster artwork for Live and Let Die was taken out and replaced with the picture of an anonymous, busty blonde. The changes can be seen on the special edition dvd of LIVE AND LET DIE. Gloria Hendry spoke on how she felt to see this poster change and her replaced as one the Bond leads at our Bond Weekend III.
THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN February 1977, The Man with the Golden Gun made its TV debut. This time the credits were retouched to cover up any partial nudity. Visible pubic hair in the title sequence, despite being in the form of silhouette, proved too hot to handle. Maurice Binder commented: “For instance, there was a dancer in The Man with the Golden Gun and she was nude. I used some rippling water, which covered her body, so we got away with that, but when she danced around sideways, some inappropriate hair stuck out. She wouldn`t shave.” Binder eventually resolved the situation by moving the title text to cover the appropriate area and using Vaseline or Brylcream to smooth down the pubic hair. Talk about splitting hairs.
Other scenes such as Bond saying to Lazar “Speak now, or forever hold your piece,” Chew Me, the girl in Hi Fats pool and some of J.W Pepper`s profanity were eliminated. When `Gun` debuted on American television, it marked the first time a Bond movie came on two years after it`s theatrical debut. It also marked the first time all the Bond movies had been shown on TV before the next one came out at the theaters.
THE SPY WHO LOVED ME Anya`s shower aboard the American submarine was completely cut as was Bond kicking Anya`s men in the groin at the Pyramids.
British censors wouldn`t allow footage of Bond electrocuting Jaws in the teeth to show in trailers for The Spy Who Loved Me. It was deemed too violent for children who may have also seen the trailer in the film. The sub that is captured in the pre-credits sequence had a wallfull of centerfolds pinned up along the wall that can be seen on the wide screen versions of the film, but were cut out of American broadcasts.
MOONRAKER Holly`s request to be `taken around the world one more time` was cut, as was Bond`s reference to the `69 bottle of champagne in her suite. (!)
ABC cut Bond kicking Jaws in his groin, only to find out that he literally had balls of steel. The shot of the gorgeous Drax Girl turning towards Bond as she was about to pass through the entrance of the Mayan ruin was trimmed to avoid showing too much cleavage.
FOR YOUR EYES ONLY British censors wouldn`t allow Maurice Binder to use the shot of Bond kicking Locque`s car off a cliff for the film trailer. British censors considered that to be in cold blood. ABC cut Locque`s body falling out of the car as it crashes to the ground. ABC also used slightly alternate titles for FYEO. In Binder`s original conception, the last woman in the title sequence is behind a thin veil of water, but her breasts are clearly visible and well defined. ABC`s version of that sequence completely blurs out her breasts so that no nipple can be seen. A shot of Erich Kreigler tumbling out of the monastery window and free falling to earth were eliminated.
OCTOPUSSY ABC darkened out much of the titles for the film, rendering them almost pointless. Apparently shots of thigh or breast would cause teenagers heads to explode. ABC also cut the shot of one of Kamal`s men having his faced sucked by a writhing Octopus. Bond`s reaction shot to Magda`s request for “refilling” was cut so that the in joke would not be picked up by the audience. Bond`s jab at Q about `having trouble keeping it up `was completely cut. Shots of Kamal plucking the eyeballs of the sheep and eating them were eliminated. Bond making an obscene gesture to a bunch of German teenagers was cut, despite the fact that it was hilarious under the circumstances. Octopussy emerging from a moonlight skinny dip was cut to avoid showing nudity.
THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS Bond ripping off Rubavitch`s clothes was completely cut, as were shots of showering Russian soldiers overtaken by a bulldozer. Shots of 009`s body hitting the Rock of Gibraltar as it tumbled towards the ground were cut out.
LICENSE TO KILL British censors forced deep cuts into this film. The ratings board objected to shots of Sanchez enjoying his revenge on Leiter. Michael G. Wilson has commented that “…The British will accept a certain amount of nudity, sex or violence, but “sadism” is out of bounds.”
GOLDENEYE British censors also didn`t care for Xenia`s head butt of Natalya in GOLDENEYE. That was completely cut out for U.K. viewers, as well as the line “Wait for your turn.”
Stuart Basinger, Pimp Daddy and Ryan Harvey all contributed to this report.
The full text of the article, The ABCs of the Bond Films, can be found at: http://www.geocities.com/shatterhand01/ABCArticle/TheABCsoftheOO7Films.html
On Her Majesty`s Secret Service: The 1976 “Narrated” Version details, complete with sound files of this rare movie airing is available at: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Mansion/2512
Culver City, CA (API) As a result of the legal battle between SONY Pictures and MGM/UA Studios over ownership of the James Bond 007 franchise, producer Kevin McClory was forced by the court to make public some tantalizing details of the controversial Bond film he planned to produce in partnership with SONY. The court ultimately blocked this effort, awarding sole control of Bond’s onscreen image to MGM/UA.
Confirming omni-present rumors, mellowing sex symbol Sean Connery was indeed scripted to reprise his role as the dashing international agent 007. In a surprising twist, the plot would revolve not around Bondian daring-do for the British Secret Service, but focus on a personal vendetta. It is assumed that by excising the usual cast—M (007’s boss), Monypenney (M’s secretary who pines for 007), Q (Bond’s gadget supplier), etc.— McClory sought to evade the copyright question arising from his use of author Ian Fleming’s characters.
Treading in the questionable footsteps of the “Batman and Robin” misadventure, the film would pit 007 against multiple villains acting in concert to poison the globe. Calling themselves The Five Horsemen (Violence, Insurrection, Anarchy, Genocide, Retribution, and Abner), their plot to decimate the world is fronted by a drug company promising eternal youth in a pill. In a bizarre turn of events, the questioning, septuagenarian Bond would himself be drawn into the deception.
SONY were also caused to reveal some curious sponsors who had already contracted—and paid for—product placements within the then unslated production. Co-marketers included such names as Sustecal, Centrum Silver, Del Webb, and Hyatt Inns & Resorts retirement properties.
McClory flatly stated that more than the usual spectacular combination of stunts, chases, and locales would be on view in his epic and that the real screen thrills wouldn’t even start until Bond captured VIAGRA.
NEW YORK – Shock-rocker Marilyn Manson will compose and perform the title song for “Die Another Day,” the newest James Bond film, the producers announced today at a formal press conference at.
“Die Another Day,” starring Pierce Brosnan as Secret Agent 007, is the 20th James Bond adventure. The movie is set for release on Nov. 22. “We are thrilled that Mr Manson, who is recognized as the world’s leading expert on death and dying, has agreed to compose and sing the song for the first James Bond movie of the new millennium,” producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli said in a statement released last week. “Mr. Manson’s fixation with death and the macabre will provide that much needed edge to the trademark Bond theme.” When forced to defend his decision, Wilson became aggressive. “I mean honestly. Have you listened to what’s out there? I mean really listened? Could you imagine N’Sync doing this? Goodbye Bond, will you die, die, die. It would have been horrible. This is the only way. The ONLY way”. He refused further comment. When choosing a sexual enhancement drug that can help you to choose the best solution that buy viagra online http://amerikabulteni.com/2011/07/19/new-yorku-escinsel-dugun-telasi-sardi/ can deal with your problem of penile if you saw the signs of erectile dysfunction. Yes, the site runs with different types of exceptional services such as on time delivery, soonest http://amerikabulteni.com/2012/03/21/oz-hakiki-mad-menden-reklamcilara-damn-good-advice/ purchase tadalafil india home delivery, discount on bulk purchase, free shipping offers, refund offers (conditions apply), etc. So make sure that this is checked before more order levitra the pill is taken. This is something we see or hear every day, whether we are browsing the internet and seeing pop ups of discount cialis try now and other such chemically based tablets.
We at 007Forever.com caught up with Mr. Manson during his recent tour and when asked about his involvement with the James Bond franchise he stared blankly. “Who?” You know, Bond 20, Die another day. He smiled. “Death rules”. Ah, yes Mr. Manson. Our thoughts exactly.
WARNING: This humorous story contains adult content as double entendres. Not for minors.
Strictly as an expert in the field of psychoanalysis as it relates to literary and film criticism, I have been exploring for sometime Goldfinger, how it resonated with audiences in the ‘60s, not just young kids, but older men wanting to “live the Bond lifestyle”.
I have concluded that much dynamic tension in Goldfinger between Bond and the main villain is due to the subtext of Goldfinger, which is that of an aging Bond threatened by the impotency an even older Goldfinger represents! And only the virile Oddjob can successfully aid Goldfinger’s frustrated plans involving gold, the ultimate sex metaphor!
Let us begin by examining an action synopsis of the third Bond film. John Barry’s background score beats the march of time as James Bond, covered in costume and with his duck head submerged (head covered and also body, in a full body “condom”) makes his move. 007 is successful (read: virile) at the plant (and we all know what Georgia O’Keefe used plants as metaphor for) and glancing at his watch, (casually so as to attract no one’s attention…but the audience’s…in a bar where Bond can drink afterward) Bond is pleased when his “giant explosion” comes off right on time.
IF BOND HAS ENOUGH TIME to spare, he can then be with an exotic woman, a dalliance he has had at least ONCE before. As they embrace, she is distracted. In her eyes, Bond can sense another man who will interrupt them, and who will not be able to use his gun, (either) which Bond finds “positively shocking”. (Incredible foreshadowing as both a ticking bomb and electric shock will all but complete the psychosexual circle/climax near the end of the film.)
Next, the “Gold finger” title track cues the mood (the most popular soundtrack ever at that time!) and it is a title sequence indeed filled with hidden subtext. “Gold finger” is a subtle warning to Bond and NOT the golden girl–her fate is sealed, and so the coming golden girl represents impotency in old age (words he will pour in your ear, but his lies can’t disguise what you [Bond] fear…).
Following the title sequence, in Miami, Florida, Bond is “back!” (from the plant) …And John Barry brings in a jazzy number overlooking Miami Beach. Jazz is appropriate indeed, for the smooth, world weary Bond (From Russia With Love psychosexual fetish-weary? See related articles linked below.) Bond is draped luxoriantly inside a counter-culture hip beach scene oozing youth itself. (Miami Beach and the Fontainebleau are also a double metaphor in the film, no doubt, for old age and retirement.)
Bond has been with the beautiful Dink (ONCE) and has no TIME for more. Felix Leiter (played by the oldest-looking and oldest acting character actor to try the role ever, Cec Linder) will try to now light a fire under Bond. 007 finds “Jill” and completes his mission–he knows how Mr. Gold-finger cheats at “success.” He’s done for the day and can be with “Jill.” But no! He first has to “have a little fun with Mr. Gold-finger.” “Jill” will be involved also. They enjoy ONE time together. Things are now cold, Bond is COMPLETELY satisfied, emulating his President-cum-hero-cum-lothario-cum-From Russia With Love fetish-reader John F. Kennedy, who has been replaced by the older President Johnson!
With a lady’s remark a younger Bond would have sexually cued on, by Jill, for a SECOND go round, Bond instead brushes sex off next to head for the fridge, an ice cold box. No, to be warm again would be too much attenuated to the Beatles (young 1964 sex symbols with their virile haircuts). Opening the ice cold box and still “joking,” Bond could reach for the six pack of soda within–enough caffeine for a an erotic jolt, surely–but instead he is about to rest his hand on the ice cold phallic symbol of champagne–when he is struck down at the hand of “Odd job.” (Author’s note: It is highly significant to Gold finger’s impotency subtext that differing from the Fleming novel here, Gold finger does not sexually kill his gold woman…but Odd job kills her instead on Gold finger’s behalf.
“M” will now foreshadow what is to come next. An older, somewhat impotent man, he is unable to perform well and Colonel Smithers agrees that their “Brandy” (a popular English girl’s name) is rather disappointing lately. Bond thinks he knows what the trouble is but M’s heated advice is to “shut up and let Smithers lecture…” (on the effects of age) …and of gold. Bond knows a little about “gold” and will learn more from the older Smithers at this time. (Luckily, the older man does not have to repeat himself as he does when a much older Connery is lectured in “Diamonds”–Diamonds being of course, a sex metaphor about which Bond can “remember” even less…other than that the girls love them like their best friend!
MI-6 and M agree that Bond has failed at many levels with Mr. Gold finger. Bond should have NEVER gone for the champagne, if he hadn’t he would have been alert to Odd job’s presence. Even “Q” warns Bond sexually, next. “Whatever you do, don’t touch [it].” “You must be joking” is responded to by “I never joke about my [work]. Now, pay attention and this [sexual fulfillment] will only take another 90 minutes or so.”
Out on the golf course next but not fully back in the sexual saddle, Bond confronts his nemesis, old age, represented by the mysterious Gold finger. Each hole conquered by these aging men will represent a small triumph of one shilling. It is important that what little we can see of the game echoes the novel quite closely, with Bond’s drive arcing straight down the middle of the “fair” way, with Gold finger’s ball quite “lost in the woods”.
Note that Bond KNOWS well of Gold finger’s ball problem, because HE IS standing on it himself. His caddy will now assist in the confrontation. “If that’s his original ball (the virility of Gold finger’s past youth) I’m Arnold Palmer (champion stud of the world)…” says the aging, near impotent caddy, Hawker. (The caddy at Stoke Poges was a friend to Bond in his virile one-time youth, of course, in the Gold finger novel.) “Come now.” says Mr. Gold (and finger). “You didn’t come hear to play golf (with your sticks and balls).” Bond now drops gold (the ultimate sex metaphor for the sophisticated tastes of Bond) onto the ground, and right out of his pants at that!
007 is actually testing Gold finger to see if he can learn better from him about “smuggled gold” than he did from “M” (“mother” or “male”) or Smithers. Gold finger’s response? He is intrigued by the “gold,” certainly, but his own ball curves promptly away from the hole. Caught dead as impotent! Bond is trapped. Old age brings the dreaded impotency, even for the superlative Mr. Gold finger!
All is not lost, yet. Bond chooses to defeat old age (Gold finger) by SWITCHING BALLS. He can thus become Gold finger (or an older man someday) and still “win sexually”, or so he believes. It is therefore GOLD FINGER’s ball that the youthful, strong Odd job will crush symbolically and then discard for his impotent master as Bond watches and tries (unsuccessfully to the audience) to hide his fear of Gold finger’s crushed ball. This dramatic event of switching revealed will not occur, of course, until Gold finger has first used his virile stand in, Odd job, to sever the head from a statue (representing militant, raging impotency). “[Frighteningly impressive.] What does the CLUB secretary (not the club officer but a female secretary in subtext) think about such behavior?” “Nothing, Mr. Bond. I own the CLUB.” (Not the golf club but Oddjob as substitute male phallus, who can only grunt and snort to communicate, the ultimate “Monday Night Football” machismo.)
Things speed ahead fully, now. Gold finger is to be killed by a lesbian’s gun, which almost kills Bond instead when it “fires off” in an inappropriate manner. Bond tries to pick up the lesbian, knowing she is Jill’s sister (!) and falls flat or rather, two flat tires as the case may be. A series of cat and mouse games ensues at great length and with clever film pacing, much to the delight of the audience. Bond is watching Gold finger (will there be time for even a quick one on the watch?) … but poor old “Q” felt “it [sex in old age] is not designed entirely for that purpose”. Gold finger’s “incredible gold supply” is hidden, smuggled, dragged across the Channel, cut out of an automobile, mocking Bond’s “cut ejector seat mobile”, crushed and (a little of it, presumably) retrieved from a Mafioso, “wasted” on painting women, etc.
Bond’s coming “golden doom” seems sure. It would not take a rocket scientist to see the nefarious ejector seat and laser table for what they represent, though the laser represents an “emitted light” not found in “nature” (youth). Gold finger says “Come, I will show you…” [Bond’s questions regarding old age and impotency.] Gold finger is resigned to his fate, not frustrated or even mildly angered at Bond’s coming predicament of impotency, though he himself has been in love with “gold” lifelong. He would welcome ANY enterprise that would increase his stock…but he won’t take any gold from “Fort Knox”, as we shall see. (And you thought the laser table represented castration, but lasers sear and cauterize old wounds, my dear readers…!)
Exasperated and near desperate, Mr. Bond is now perhaps more vulnerable emotionally than he will ever be in TWINE or License To Kill. “Do you expect me to talk (about my recent impotency troubles)?,” asks Bond. “No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die…” (On your own, not “I will kill you…kill your vigor…time marching inexorably ahead will do it, just you wait. I will stand here, not killing you myself but I will watch you die.” Is it any wonder this is one of the most popular movie sequences ever?) “Ah, but doesn’t even Gold finger have one more “grand slam” left?” asks Bond as a follow-up question. Operation Grand Slam, as we will see shortly, is “Chance words meaning nothing to you [your sex troubles].”
Bond is now shot “dead” or “fully impotent” but rather wakes with a beautiful lesbian. A young girl wants to watch his transformation through time (the same clock shown in Gold finger and Thunder ball!) and Bond hides his transformation from her but onyl somewhat successfully. 007 wrestles with lesbian Pussy Galore, him on top, her on top, she his near-equal, while Leiter assures his younger and virile but inexperienced CIA colleague that Bond will be at Gold finger’s ranch all day with the girls. (I haven’t entirely formulated what the “palm trees in Kentucky” metaphor indicates here but have submitted my research thus far to the AMA.)
Only Galore’s “maternal instincts” save the day for Bond’s sexual prowess. Bond does manage though, ONCE. At last, “Grand Slam” is revealed, and also, why it means to nothing to Bond’s quest to not only serve MI-6 but himself, and find where “all the gold is”. It’s not that the aged Gold finger wants to re-acquire more potency or “gold”. He wants to keep the whole world from having it and makes his own, relatively smaller stock seem bigger! Remember, dear reader, Bond has spent several long hours taking stock of Gold finger’s plan and now has an added measure of respect for Gold finger’s plan, even underestimating the amount of time the “gold” will be “dead to the world”. (President Kennedy/Johnson’s “good gold” of the bank of America, of course.)
Finally, oh finally, things will turn about or even “up”. Pussy and the girls “kill” the American soldiers, Leiter included, though they will soon pop up fully erect to defeat Gold finger’s minions! Odd job will be killed using the very weapon that was to sever Bond’s head (Though, mind you, even Bond could not sever Odd job’s massive head with it directly) and Odd job will be “positviely shocked.”
A frustrated Bond is about to yank his own cord in two, however, when the bomb will be stopped by an older man who presses a button, more gently than Bond’s rough and desperate touch, stopping the countdown just as it is about to erase “007,” Bond’s “hot number.” Things are really looking up for Bond, (pun not intended) especially when he is to board a plane and have a few more beverages (“Brandies, perhaps?”) before he meets the President who was formerly entirely satisfied himself!
Bond sucks Gold finger out through a hole using Gold finger’s own impotent gun, which Gold finger may only wave about, idly. There is a final moment of frightened exhilaration, one last danger, when even Pussy Galore cannot turn the doomed phallic plane away from its arc, which is nearly straight downward. The plane explodes prematurely before hitting the “wet” and then Bond completes the pre-teaser picture by wrapping him and Galore in the parachute (full body condom again and ultimate closure).
WARNING: This article deals with adult subject matter and may not be suitable for all visitors. Discretion is advised.
In May, 007Forever writer Nick Kincaid stunned the Bond community with his litany of sexual subtext and metaphors found in A VIEW TO A KILL. The result of the article wasa heightened awareness and increased interest in the subtext of all the James Bond films. If ALIEN 3 was really about Ellen Ripley as Jesus Christ, or the X-MEN about the way gay teenagers are treated in society, then you can bet a movie that seems as straightforward and simple as a Bond flick is bound to have some subtext, whether intentional or not.
Some films are more obvious than others. Some make more profound statements than others. But all of them have some common thread or underlying message that if you look closely enough you are bound to find.
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BELOW THE SURFACE
By: John Cox
Good films have subtext. What do I mean by subtext? On the surface Raiders of the Lost Ark is about an archeologist seeking to find the lost Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis do. That`s its TEXT. But is that all it`s about? Is this basic “plot” enough to tap into the worldwide public consciousness and produce a phenomenon? No way. What makes Raiders resonate, the reason we find ourselves saying, “That was a really good movie,” is we are having an unconscious reaction to the SUBTEXT. What Raiders is REALLY about is an atheist`s search for God. Now, you`re not necessarily supposed to know this is what Raiders is about, but you ARE supposed to feel it. It`s one of the ways movies manipulate you emotionally. And despite what some people will argue, good filmmakers use subtext the way they use lighting. It`s all very specific and intentional but designed to be invisible.
As a rule, subtext is communicated with metaphors. To continue with the Raiders example: In the beginning, when confronted with any mention of spirituality, Indy flatly says he doesn`t believe in “all that hocus-pocus” and calls the lightning coming from the Ark “the power of God OR SOMETHING.” He communicates skepticism without ever using the word atheist. But the Ark can prove the existence of God; therefore, metaphorically, the Ark IS God. By the end of the film, Indy has been “converted” by his experiences and commits the ultimate act of faith by closing his eyeswhen the Ark is opened. “Don`t look at it!” he screams to Marion. Indy demonstrates that he does not seek proof. HE BELIEVES, and therefore, God spares his life. Now, if this movie were about its text, the ending would be a letdown. After all, Indy loses the Ark. But that`s not the feeling we have at the end of Raiders because the REAL story has been resolved. Indy got what he needed and a girlfriend to boot! Raiders uses subtext masterfully as do most good films.
So for my Bond brethren here at Forever, I`ve jotted down what I see as the subtext in three James Bond films: You Only Live Twice, From Russia with Love, and GoldenEye. What follows may forever change the way you look at these three films. Like Indy, you don`t have to believe in all this “hocus-pocus,” but I`m going to open the Ark of the filmmaker anyway. It`s up to you whether to look or close your eyes.
YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (1967) — James Bond goes to Hell
You Only Live Twice is a perfect title for this Bond adventure. Having been “killed” in the beginning of the movie, it`s as if Bond is having an out-of-body experience. This is exactly what this movie is about. After the megapic Thunderball, where else could Bond go but to the afterworld? Never has a world seemed so out of Bond`s control; yet never has Bond seemed so utterly resigned to his fate. “I just might retire to here,” he tells Tiger. If one thinks I`m reading too much into YOLT, one only has to be reminded that the author of the screenplay is Roald Dahl, who wrote such psychedelic journeys as “Charlie & the Chocolate Factory” and “James & the Giant Peach.”
Bond starts the movie in familiar 007 surroundings — in bed with a woman — except this conquest is Asian, a fact unusual enough for Bond to comment on it: “Why do Chinese girls taste different from all other girls?” His instincts prove correct when this woman turns out to be the Angel of Death. Bond is “killed” before our eyes, and we drift into the title sequence. But are we seeing puffy clouds and harps? No. We`re in a world of volcanoes and lava. James Bond has gone to Hell. Or, at least, Purgatory. The movie opens with Bond being buried at sea. The movie, as a metaphor, really begins here as Bond`s corpse is retrieved by two divers (flying angels) who bring it not back to the surface but aboard a submarine (the first of many phallic symbols in this film). “Permission to come aboard?” asks Bond.
After a briefing (where M and all are dressed in white uniforms and Bond is in black) 007 is ejected from the sub`s torpedo tube. 007 as sperm? You bet. Appropriately, Bond surfaces in a world that`s entirely unfamiliar to him, a world in which he is constantly trapped and fooled usually by women. In this strange new upside-down world, Bond is called “Zero Zero” instead of 007, and even his martini order is mysteriously reversed, “stirred, not shaken,” which Bond confirms as “perfect.” Bond admits to Tiger that he`s never been to Japan, which is odd for a man as worldly as James Bond, and didn`t he mention an affair with “Ann in Tokyo” in From Russia with Love? Also revealing is the fact that YOLT is the only single location Bond film. Even Dr. No has scenes set in London. There`s no globetrotting here. He`s stuck.
Things get even more surreal when Bond must “become Japanese.” Die a little deeper? He`s operated on in a womblike room, married, and given a home in a pearl diving village where, strangely enough, he seems perfectly content! But a violent reminder of his own death (again in a bed) snaps Bond out of his passivity, and it`s off to the volcanic lair of the villain. Here, for reasons not fully explained, Bond thinks the answer to the crisis at hand is to go into outer space (ascend into the heavens). But just as Bond is about to finally leave this world, the master of the volcano recognizes him and shouts, “Stop that astronaut!”
It`s appropriate that Blofeld is seen for the first time in YOLT. Up to this point in the series, Blofeld has only been an unseen, omniscient presence, who motivates other men to commit his evil deeds. The clearest metaphor of the film is that Blofeld is the Devil. Who else would live in a volcano? The obviousness of this prompts Bond to pretty much admit to the subtext of the film when he tells Blofeld, “This is my second life.”
Of course, it all ends in a fiery destructive explosion caused not by Bond but by Blofeld, and Bond finds himself back where he was at the end of Thunderball: in a raft with a bikini-clad woman. Back to the familiar world of 007. Back to the surface. Resurrection.
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE (1963) — Sex and the Secret Agent
In From Russia with Love, James Bond is sent to Istanbul to sleep with a Russian cipher clerk in order to get a decoder machine. “Just make sure you measure up,” warns M. The villain`s plot? Capture 007`s sexual performance on film and use it to discredit the Secret Service when his “suicide” is discovered. Kinky stuff? You bet. And there`s more. Much more.
From Russia with Love is really a catalog of “secret” sexual fetishes thinly veiled by the world of the `60s Secret Agent. Think about it. FRWL depicts sadism (making two fish fight to the death); oil massage (Grant on SPECTER island); S&M (Klebb`s handy riding crop and brass knuckles); pimp prostitution (Bond and Tatiana are both ordered to have sex); sexual fixation (Tatiana falls in love with a photo of Bond “like young girls fall in love with movie stars”); lesbianism (Tatiana`s “interview” with Klebb); polygamy (Kerim`s multiple children suggest multiple wives); stripping (or in this case belly dancing); catfighting (more on this later); menage a trois (Bond is delivered both gypsy girls to his tent); bondage (the dead Prussian in the back of the Renault is very well tied); oral sex (Tatiana`s mouth is just the “right size” for Bond); voyeurism (the men watch Bond and Tatiana as they secretly film them, among MANY other examples); public exhibitionism (Tatiana wants to wear her nightgown “in Piccadilly”); sadomasochistic homosexuality (the Grant-Bond confrontation); and yes, even foot worship (how else can you account for the appeal of that spike-tipped shoe or Grant`s insistence that Bond, “Crawl over here and kiss my foot!”). Much of this comes from the novel, and it`s no secret that Fleming enjoyed a taste of the whip from time to time.
The gypsy girlfight is FRWL`s most infamous and sadistic scene. Never has a Bond movie felt so much like a snuff film. Where most movies poke fun at “catfights,” this film puts it on a level of gladiatorial match. They don`t say the girls are fighting to death, but they don`t say they aren`t! In fact, the fight between the two women “in love with the same man” is so savage (or so arousing?) that Bond asks for it to be stopped. Strange that the only way we`re “saved” from this scene is by an explosion of good old-fashioned gunplay. Stranger yet is the relief we feel at the arrival of this “safer” movie violence. How sexually charged is this scene? When FRWL aired on ABC throughout the `70s and `80s, the ENTIRE gypsy camp sequence was cut from the film. I doubt it was because of the belly dancer. Related to the girlfight in its depiction of sexual violence not usually found in a Bond film is when Bond hits Tatiana in REAL anger aboard the Orient Express. It`s interesting to note that Bond is posing as her husband at the time. Her crime? She lied to him. Dark.
But the confrontation with Grant is the ultimate ordeal for James Bond in this sexually lethal world. Of all sexual terrors, being on the end of a homosexual rape certainly ranks high. The lead-up to the fight is highly charged with innuendoes. Grant has clearly been aroused by the footage of Bond and Tatiana`s lovemaking. A line which exists in the continuity script but is missing from existing prints is when Grant says, “What a performance!” Grant makes Bond get on his knees (waist level) and tells him it`ll be “painful and slow.” Let`s not forget that this whole confrontation is taking place in a train compartment (real bunk, real bed). And what`s the first thing that goes when they start their “struggle”? The light. There`s an orgasmic quality to Grant`s silent death, but maybe I should stop here before I lose the family audience, which, by the way, is what the movie does. In the book, the Grant-Bond fight is the climax of the story and rightfully so. But the filmmakers felt compelled to give us a helicopter and boat chase, which dilute the sexual subtext of the film. But maybe that`s the intent. After all, sometimes a boat chase is just a boat chance.
GOLDENEYE (1995) — James Bond Finds Himself
If GoldenEye had not been a huge success when it was released in the fall of 1995, the James Bond series would have ended then and there. After the disappointment of License to Kill and a six-year hiatus, the question facing MGM and the Bond empire was “Is James Bond still relevant?” Cleverly enough, the filmmakers decided to make a James Bond film that was specifically ABOUT James Bond`s struggle to find his place in the modern world. Not since YOLT was a Bond film so blatantly symbolic and so psychologically interesting. The famous and widely used drug for treating the acute problem of erectile dysfunction is of course, sildenafil citrate 100 mg or popularly known as . A walk through the neighborhood could be a refreshing way to spend the day. Whatever which kind of kidney disease are suffering with, they can cause decline of kidney function and increased level of creatinine. There is more to Male Dysfunction than buying sildenafil purchased that meets your eyes.
As if to erase the Dalton years, GoldenEye starts in 1986 (a year before The Living Daylights) and then jumps “Nine Years Later,” presumably to 1995, as a Bond film always takes place “today.” This time passage device (the only time it has been used in a Bond film) tells us right off the bat that this is a movie which puts character ahead of plot. In other words, it`s ABOUT James Bond and not the global repercussions of some event that we see in the pre-titles sequence or opening scene. When we first see Bond in this film, he`s hanging UPSIDE-DOWN. And what`s 007 doing when we meet him nine years later? He`s TURNING A CORNER. But the old Bond is still very much in evidence. He seduces a girl, wears a tux, drives the Aston Martin DB5, gambles in a casino, orders a martini “shaken not stirred,” and smokes out a crime syndicate — all this in the opening two scenes! He`s also back in the personage of Pierce Brosnan, whom the public has associated with James Bond from the time he lost the role in 1986. (Hey, there`s that year again.)
But after this nostalgic romp, Bond fails in his mission to stop the robbery of the Tiger helicopter, and we FADE OUT. Fade out? Is this the end of the movie? In a way, it is because now we begin the first postmodern James Bond film, a film in which James Bond is not the master of his universe. For the next hour, 007 is ridiculed for being a “sexist misogynist dinosaur,” out of touch and irrelevant in the post Cold War world. M is more than just a woman now. She`s a mother! (“If I wanted sarcasm, I`d talk to my children,” she tells Tanner.) Up to this point in the 33 year history of the James Bond series, the concept of motherhood has been as nonexistent as, well, children. As a rule, Bond conquers the girl, and we roll credits, fast. Any relationship beyond that short circuits the fantasy. Everyone Bond encounters in this film slams him in a similar way. Valentin asks him if he`s “decided to join the 21st Century,” Jack Wade makes fun of his “secret codes and passwords,” Trevelyan suggests his martini intake is a means of escape, and sexual harassment is even suggested in his treatment of Miss Moneypenny! How does Bond respond? He doesn`t.
Instead Bond embarks on a mission to defeat the cold warrior inside himself by going to the source: Russia, a former enemy now crippled (like Valentin Zukovsky). Here, the traditional Bond girls are split (as is everything in this film) into opposing halves. Natalya is a beauty with brains, and Xenia is pure danger with a kink for killing that`s worthy of From Russia with Love. (For the first and only time in a Bond film, we get to see a woman achieve an orgasm. You`ve come a long way, baby.)
But it`s in the graveyard of discarded Soviet statues (heavy symbolism, but, hey, it works) that Bond finally encounters the REAL enemy — his shadow. Like Bond, Alec Trevelyan, agent 006, is trapped in a time warp. Like Bond, he`s become both a myth (Janus) and a real man. But Trevelyan`s problem is he still clings to the hatred and suspicion that created the Cold War while Bond just clings to the sex appeal. Their struggle makes up the last half of the film, and the shadow nature of their relationship is so obvious that there`s hardly any need for metaphor. “James and I shared everything,” says Trevelyan. The most telling moment comes in the end of the film when Bond kills Trevelyan, not “for England” but “for me.” The cold warrior is dead. Mission accomplished. Welcome to the 21st Century, Mr. Bond.
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Thanks, John. Now we take a look at some of the more fascinating Freudian quirks (intentional?) of the Bond screenwriters.
BRINK vs. KRISTATOS
Who wanted Bebe more? Brink or Kristatos? That’s an interesting question if you allow for the possibility that Brink may have had more than just a professional interest in Bebe. Brink has almost all the characteristics of the stereotypical lesbian: short, butch haircut; dour face; militant attitude, particularly towards men. In For Your Eyes Only, Brink uses her job as Bebe’s coach to seduce her. The job is a convenient outlet from which she is able to express her rigid, militaristic attitude while allowing herself to get close to Bebe.
Notice that every time a male comes into the picture, Brink snaps at Bebe? When Bebe asks Bond to take her to the biathlon, Brink forces more work on her. When Bond later catches up with Bebe at the ice rink, Brink interrupts their conversation to announce that it is “time for your rubdown”. What were Bebe and Bond discussing? Eric Kreigler, a man! At the monastery in Greece, Brink successfully turns Bebe against her male sponsor, Kristatos. She then rubs Bebe’s back, strokes her hair, and tells her how innocent she is; how she needs a new sponsor. This last scene has the same sexual overtones as Rosa Klebb`s interrogation of Tatiana in FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE.
“ENGINES”
Male genitalia have been all over the Bond films, though in much more subtle ways than one would imagine. It’s often been said that men buy expensive sports cars to compensate for a small penis. If that’s the case, Bond’s history with cars such as the Aston Martin, Lotus Turbo Esprit and BMW Z-3 must indicate…. Well, you get the picture. His psychiatrist, Caroline, in GOLDENEYE made a very telling observation: “You’re just trying to show off the size of your…” Bond: “Engine?” Caroline: “Ego!”
Assuming this is true, the rocket Bond fires at Naomi’s helicopter in THE SPY WHO LOVED ME logically symbolizes Bond`s manhood. Motorcycles and gear shifts are often compared to and thought of as extensions of the male genitalia and if you can accept that theory, it becomes easier to see why a headlight firing rocket in THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS is a profound statement of Bond’s manhood, and not just another way to destroy the enemy.
This brings up an interesting scene from THUNDERBALL. When Count Lippe is being tailed by a motorcycle as he himself follows Bond, the viewer automatically assumes that the person on the motorcycle is a man. Why? Because a big, strapping piece of equipment like a motorcyle is always considered to be an extention of a man`s sexuality. The fact that it ends up firing an explosive rocket only confirms to the unsuspecting viewer that a man has been on the motorcyle. Even if the viewer hadn`t conciously told him/herself that the rider was a man, they were surely shocked to see the rider take off the helmet and reveal themself to be a woman.
CIGARS
This one is too easy. Only in the Brosnan films have the cigars had as much sexual subtext, and even they they’ve been used as cheap, easy jokes. The cigar in both GOLDENEYE and THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH are phallic symbols. Xenia strokes her cigar upright while telling Bond how she likes her martini. The flirtation and the message therein are obvious.
In THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH, Bond brings Moneypenny a cigar from Bilbao, Spain, enclosed in a phallic looking tube. The implication is again obvious. Moneypenny replies: “I know just where to put that” and then throws it into a trashcan, thus cutting off Bond’s masculinity quicker than Lorena Bobbitt.
GUNS
No metaphor for male genitalia is more common or more pronounced than a gun. In THE NAKED GUN, Jane Spencer asks Lt. Frank Drebin about his gun: “Aren’t you afraid it might go off accidentally?”. He replies: “That’s why I think about baseball.”
Scaramanga’s golden gun is his, metaphorically speaking, penis. There can be no doubt that when he used that gun to trace the curve of Andrea Anders lips in THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN, he was simulating oral sex. Even the lyrics to the title song back up this claim: “Love is required, whenever he’s hired, it comes just before the kill”. After Scaramanga kills the solar energy expert outside the Bottoms Up Club, he returns to his junk and caresses Andrea’s face with his gun. I think you get the picture.
The gun that comes out of the mouth of one Bond Girl during the credits for GOLDENEYE is another sly, sexual innuendo. Daniel Kleinmann admits in an interview with 007 Magazine that it was intentionally put into the credits as a sort of sexual joke, even though the gun is coming out of the mouth rather than going in. Again, a gun is transparently a metaphor for male genitalia.
THE ELEKTRA COMPLEX
It can’t be a coincidence that the writers of THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH chose the name of Elektra as their villain, for it is from Greek mythology that Neal Purvis and Robert Wade undoubtedly came up with the inspiration for this character.
The Elektra Complex is a term originated from this Greek story: there was a guy named Oedipus who, at birth, was destined by fate to kill his father (who also happened to be the King of Thebes) and marry his mother. The people in Thebes thought that this was a pretty big deal, so when Oedipus was an infant, he was sent away. As an adult, Oedipus returns to Thebes only to – you guessed it – kill his dad and marry his mom. In psychological terms, a man who wants to kill his mother so he can marry his mother is said to have an Oedipus Complex. The opposite of that, for women, would be the Elektra Complex.
In the story of Oedipus, his father was a “King”. In THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH, Elektra’s last name is “King”. In both the Greek myth and in the movie, the child comes back to kill the parent. The writers of The World Is Not Enough have taken some liberties with the mythos by having Elektra kill her father rather than her mother, but the symbolism is not lost on most viewers. Coincidentally, or not, Oedipus kills his father after having been banished for so many years. Elektra kills her father after having been kidnapped, not receiving a ransom (in effect, banishment) and eventually escaping.
TOMORROW NEVER DIES nods its head to the Oedipus Complex when Bond jokes about a skyscraper with Elliot Carver`s image on the side: `I always thought he had an edifice complex.`
If you want a quick, easy and condensed answer it would be because EON had to protect itself from what it felt were shady business practices that could potentially devalue the series; therefore a lawsuit was launched. And even after the new Bond film was given a start date to begin filming, it ended up having to be pushed back six months. The details of this tenuous, nearly seven year journey, would trace their roots back to studio unrest and lack of confidence extended towards License to Kill even before it had opened.
1988-1989
MGM/UA began to have serious concerns about bankrolling Bond films in which they had little creative input. Albert Broccoli had bought United Artists 50% stake in Danjaq in the early 80`s (UA bought the shares in 1975 from Harry Saltzman when he sold his interest in the series and got out of the business of making Bond films) and thus retained 100% total creative control over the direction the series would take. But with the studio facing internal financial problems, they needed more bang for their buck, and were becoming less enthralled with Broccoli`s decision making.
The tension began to manifest itself in the way in which MGM/UA marketed License To Kill, or should we say, didn`t market License To Kill. Bob Peak`s original artwork was scrapped in exchange for a low brow, lowest-common-denominator approach. His painted, “classic” style artwork was traded for a run-of-the-mill computer composite poster that featured Timothy Dalton, Robert Davi, Talisa Soto and Carey Lowell in a rather non-descript pose. The title was changed from the more poignant LICENSE REVOKED to the generic LICENSE TO KILL out of fear that the American audience was too stupid to differentiate a Bond film from a teenage driving flick. With the exception of a guest appearance on MTV by Talisa Soto, both she and Carey Lowell were conspicuously absent from print media, as well as television and radio talk shows to promote the film. It was enough to make Timothy Dalton, in 1989, declare to BONDAGE Magazine #16: “My feeling is this will be the last one. I don`t mean my last one. I mean the end of the whole lot. I don`t speak with any real authority, but it`s sort of a feeling I have. Sorry!”
Dalton probably knew more than he let on, but it was clear even to him that the series was already in danger and this was well before the messy legal action that would explode onto the scene one year later. Creative control issues were merely the beginning of Danjaq`s problems.
1989-1990
The North American box office receipts were abysmal: the film debuted in 4th place in its first weekend, dropped to 7th place in its second weekend and by the third weekend of release fell completely out of the Top 10. North American box office amounted to an underwhelming $34 million dollars (estimated). In August 1990 director John Glen and long time writer Richard Maibaum were unceremoniously dumped from the series. Variety Magazine quoted an anonymous, and apparently uninformed, EON insider as saying Maibaum was a “has-been” who had only contributed dialogue on the recent films.
The current script under development, which was to deal with robots run amok and take place in Scotland, Japan, and Hong Kong, was scrapped. At the same time, the August 8th issue of Variety reported that Cubby Broccoli put Danjaq, the company that holds the rights to the Fleming stories, up for sale and then handed over EON Productions to his daughter, Barbara Broccoli, and step-son Michael G. Wilson (to be fair, Michael and Barbara had been groomed for this responsibility for a long time and in conjunction with Cubby`s fragile health, this was as good a time as any to make a change). The asking price for Danjaq was a reported $200 million dollars, though conservative estimates placed the value nearer at $166 million. MGM/UA considered buying Danjaq, but balked at the steep price tag. Other big name players came and went on the financial scene, such as producer Joel Silver of “Lethal Weapon” fame. He was high on the idea of doing Bond and having his longtime friend and box office champ Mel Gibson play 007. But Silver, like others, found the exclusive distribution deal with MGM/UA too hard to swallow. No one wanted to be committed to a project that was tethered to a sinking studio.
The problems really began to pile up with the proposed merger of MGM/UA and Pathe Communications. Giancarlo Paretti, a corrupt Italian businessman with a long history of bank fraud and worthless checks, ran Pathe. Before Giancarlo even owned MGM/UA, he intended to sell off foreign television rights to the Bond series piecemeal in an effort to finance his takeover. He made outside deals with television networks in France, Spain, Italy, South Korea, and Japan without first consulting Danjaq. A deal with Ted Turner`s cable superstation TBS may have proven the most irksome. In his book “Bond and Beyond”, Tom Soter describes the prevailing attitude at the time towards the TBS deal for “James Bond Wednesdays”: “He (Cubby Broccoli) was angry about the way the previous movies had been sold to television–Ted Turner`s cable superstation TBS was running a Bond movie a week at one point-which Broccoli felt decreased the series value.” The TBS angle would become a side issue in a protracted two-year legal battle. Giancarlo Paretti bought MGM/Pathe on Oct. 22, 1990 for $1.3 billion and two days later signed a deal to sell 860 MGM/UA movie titles to Telecinco, a Spanish TV network. However, two weeks before that he signed a deal to sell 1,200 MGM/UA titles to Forta, another Spanish TV network.
Days before the merger though, Danjaq filed suit to block the deal. At the press junket for the movie GOLDENEYE, Goldeneye Magazine #4 (published by the Ian Fleming Foundation) recorded Michael Wilson`s comments in which he explained their strategic moves:”What happened was that Paretti took over MGM, and he wanted to have a leverage buyout, and we sued in federal court to enjoin him, and we failed, on the basis that if the leverage buyout went forward, that the company would be bankrupt, and four months later they were bankrupt.”
Kirk Kerkorian, who had sold MGM/UA to the Australian Company Qintex, sued over Paretti`s mismanagement. Kerkorian was in turn served with a shareholder lawsuit over his own sales of MGM/UA assets of back catalogue. In 1992, Crédit Lyonnais also brought a lawsuit against Kerkorian, claiming that Kerkorian had left MGM in financial disarray when he sold it to Paretti. Even Blake Edwards jumped in and sued MGM/Pathe over the rights to the Pink Panther series. Danjaq wasn`t the only company whose ties to MGM/Pathe seemed at times to be more of an albatross rather than a blessing.
1992-1993
After two years of litigation and negotiation Mr. Parretti lost control of MGM/Pathe to the French bank Crédit Lyonnais after defaulting on loan repayments in 1992. The French government in turn had to bail out Crédit Lyonnais to the tune of nearly $10 billion dollars. It had invested badly in the entertainment industry, and MGM/Pathe was just one of many bad judgement calls. Some Crédit Lyonnais bankers admitted they took bribes in exchange for overlooking Paretti`s questionable finances. Jean-Michel Raingeard, a spokesman for the Consortium de Realisation, the government company who liquidated Crédit Lyonnais assets, acknowledged: “This loss will be covered by the taxpayers at the end of the year”. Political heads rolled and a French Minister was sacked from his job. A consortium of buyers, led by Kirk Kerkorian, bought back MGM/UA. That deal left the French government, which took over MGM from the Crédit Lyonnais banking group, with roughly $1 billion dollars of losses.
Paretti had dropped out of sight for a while (thus prompting Crédit Lyonnais to declare him in default of his loan obligations) only to resurface in Italian court to answer to security fraud accusations. Paretti was wanted in both Europe and the United States.
In December of 1992 Pathe and Paretti were gone and MGM/Pathe went back to being MGM/UA. While the legal issues had dominated the Bond landscape for the better part of three years, it was now time to return to the issue of producing a new Bond film. By April of 1993 Michael France had been chose to write the new script.
1993-1995
Thinking the first draft would be turned in within twelve weeks, MGM/UA Chairman Alan Ladd proclaimed the project to be on the fast track. But that fast track had a few bumps along the way. France took longer to write the script than was originally expected. After rewrites by Bruce Feirstein, among others, it looked as if the project was all set. Filming was scheduled to begin August 1994 for a summer `95 release. Then, according to press reports at the time, TRUE LIES, Arnold Shwarzenegger`s 1994 film, came along and contained enough action sequence similarities to the current GOLDENEYE script that EON was forced to back off its August 1994 start date, rewrite the storyline and push production to January 1995. On January 16, 1995 principal photography began on GOLDENEYE in Leavesden, England. By the time GOLDENEYE was released in the United States on November 17th, 1995, nearly six and a half years had gone by.
Even if there had never been a single lawsuit filed and Paretti had never entered the picture, it is unlikely that another film would have been immediately made for release in 1991, nor would Dalton have returned to the role. The creative control issues became temporarily dwarfed by the litigation, but when the smoke and dust cleared from all of that, Dalton found himself right back where he started: on the hot seat. John Calley, CEO of MGM/UA in 1994 and 1995, was reportedly adamant that a new Bond be hired for the next film. Dalton was the “Bond of record”, but gracefully bowed out of the role, thus saving Albert Broccoli from having to make the hard call of firing Dalton.
British actor Roger Moore, playing the title role of secret service agent 007, James Bond, is shown on location in England in 1972. (AP Photo)
With the success of “Star Wars”, Broccoli instead decided to film the only remaining Fleming title that could use an outer-space concept. (FYI, in the late 1960s EON hired the men responsible for the special effects in the British television series “Thunderbirds” to work on special effects for “Moonraker”. It`s interesting to contemplate what might have been done with Fleming`s novel had it been filmed as the follow-up to “OHMSS”.)
Some people claim that the “Thunderball” end-credits listed “OHMSS” as the next Bond film. It seems that all surviving copies sheer the credits before it gets to this spot. It`s also not clear whether “Dr No” said that Bond would return in “From Russia With Love”. Some claim it does, others that it doesn`t. “Octopussy” lists “From A View To A Kill” as the next Bond film; the “From” was subsequently dropped. “Octopussy” was the last Bond film to include the next film`s title. Since then, the credit simply reads “James Bond will return”. “License to Kill” was originally promoted as “License Revoked” until a title change by the marketing department.
One of 007Forever`s visitors asked the question about the license plate so we put it out to our Newslektor subscribers to see if they could provide an answer. The general consensus from the Aston Martin experts that responded was that it was a legal reason that kept the producers from using the original license plate number.
Lydia said: “The car is supposed to be the same but they couldn`t use the plate number BMT 216A because of legal reasons.”
Rae Stewart concurs:”The explanation I remember being given for the change of number plate in Goldeneye was that the producers couldn`t use the original for legal reasons.”
DunphBoy007 and Tom Chappell seem to be on the right track, but are off slightly on the details.
DunphBoy007 writes: The “real” reason was that a private collector had bought the original Aston Martin used in Goldfinger, and it was in a private collection, so the producers decided to use a `similar` number plate.
Tom Chappell goes further: “Due to British laws a registration number may only be issued once, in the intervening years between Thunderball and Goldeneye the car may well have been lost or destroyed so the number could not be used, either that or someone made a pretty big goof up in production.”
I think Stuart Basinger gets is correct when he writes: “The licence plate BMT 216A was registered by the owner of the Aston Martin and could not be seen in the film since it is legally a registered licence plate. Even the owner was upset they could not use the plate. They chose to deviate the 6 into a 4.”
DunphBoy007 was right: it was part of a private collection. Tom Chappell was also right: British registration law was at the root of the problem. And Stuart Basinger correctly describes the producers remedy. So there you have it! Now you know what Bond switches license plates.
It`s unneccessary to assume that it was a mistake, and there`s no proof that the writers couldn`t keep track of who had which egg. It all started when 009 stole a fake from Octopussy`s traveling circus, at the time in East Germany. 009 managed to get the egg to the British embassy. MI6 then in turn sent Bond to investigate the matter by first going to Sotheby`s to view the impending auction of the real egg. Bond takes the real egg off the pillow, hides it under the table and replaces it with the fake recovered by 009. The eventual buyer, Kamal Kahn, is described by Jim Fanning as “usually a seller…(of) marginal quality from dubious sources”. In other words, because he usually sells, and does not know what to look for in a buy, the fake should “smoke” [force] him out.
Later, in New Delhi, Bond plays Backgammon with Kamal and shows him the egg as proof he can afford the high stakes game. Here is an interesting point that could be made: Kamal may have thought that Bond was the original thief. Perhaps the thief survived the fall into the river and was back to blackmail Kamal and his organization. This would explain his comments to Octopussy that Bond was `an adventurer with possible blackmail in mind`. In any event, it is quite clear that Kamal believed he had bought the real Faberge Egg at Sothebys and that 007 was in possession of a forgery. At no time did Kamal ever let on that he believed Bond`s egg was anything but the forgery. By the time Kamal had Magda steal the egg from Bond, Bond had Q place a homing transmitter into the minituare carriage of the egg. Even after Kamal saw the transmitter in the rubble of the egg Orlov smashed, Kamal never stated nor implied that he realized Orlov just crushed the real egg.
cialis cheap fast check that It also indirectly influences metabolism, sex drive, reproduction and sleep-wake cycles. The intake of excessive narcotic drugs, the cialis online purchase side effect of some drugs and use of narcotic drug, the process of aging etc. are the main reasons for erectile dysfunction. Apart from erectile dysfunction this kind of drug is also used for cardiovascular health. Individuals who are at high risk of developing visual problems are advised to consult a medical professional. Some people like to assert that because Kamal grimaced when Orlov smashed the egg that that was proof he realized the real egg had just been smashed. Not quite. More than likely, Kamal was ticked off that Orlov destroyed what took weeks, perhaps months to forge. Remember, at the beginning of the film, Orlov demands that Lenkin make another duplicate immediately because of the egg that was lost due to 009. Lenkin replied that there wasn`t enough time. A lot of the hard work, blood, sweat and tears involved in making the forgery was wiped out with one blow by Orlov.
So once again, there is nothing to back up the claim that the writers goofed. The storytelling, along with the facts as presented in the film, is consistent with the theory that Kamal, nor Orlov, ever realized the real egg was the one they destroyed.
Harold Jack Bloom was a busy television writer in the 60`s and 70`s. Noteworthy of his body of work was the 1972 television show EMERGENCY. Bloom is suspected of having been commissioned to turn in a draft of You Only Live Twice that the producers ultimately rejected. Roald Dahl speculates as much in a 1980 interview he did with Tom Soter. Soter`s book, BOND AND BEYOND, would eventually get published in 1993.
Dahl credits Bond`s “death” and “burial at sea” to Cubby Broccoli, who suggested that this element be included in Dahl`s draft. But ultimately, Dahl believes it was part of a larger piece of work, turned in by Bloom, that Saltzman and Broccoli were unsatisfied with.
Dahl: “My guess is that it was the idea of Mr. Bloom. They had probably – and hadn`t told me – commissioned a screenplay from him, and it hadn`t been any good, but they picked out that idea and possibly one or two others which they had asked me to put in. So, Bloom had a right to some kind of credit. I never worked with him. The first time I heard of Bloom wanting a share in the credits was after the film had been cut and I was told that there would be a share. I said `Well, there`s no way anyone`s going to share the full credit` There was a fight about that, and then, they gave him what you see.” What he got was “additional story material” credit.
Tom Soter`s full article on Roald Dahl was published in the August 1991 issue of Starlog Magazine.
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The story that brought Diamonds to the screen is clouded in numerous rewrites and a number of different plots.
