Roger Moore's Bond is back and he's not going to Space this time. We promise!
This is For Your Eyes Only, the Sequel to Moonraker that dialed back the sci-fi elements to basically nothing.
The Story involves a missing MacGuffin, Bond joining forces with a lady on a mission and the usual Bond antics. Back to basics!
In a way, this one is quite different because it is based (very loosely) on a short story (actually 2) and not a Novel by Ian Fleming.
To fill in the gaps, we get Scenes taken from and/or inspired by other Stories, including Live and Let Die and Goldfinger.
There's a strong connection to a previous Bond Film WITHOUT Moore, but I'll get to that shortly.
Just know that this is the *serious* Bond Film and will only be like 30% over the top this time.
To see how that works, read on...
In the Cold Open, Bond is picked up by work via Helicopter.
However, the Pilot is killed and it is taken over by....Not Blofeld.
There was a dispute over ownership of the Character, so the Producers killed off his Shemp here.
A seemingly normal boat is actually hiding some advanced doohickey and gets blown up. Now the object is in play.
Elsewhere, a woman visits her Parents on their boat, but they are killed by the Pilot while she's inside!
Temps de récupération!
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| Because the Actress is French. |
Bond is called in to go looking for the thing.
Notably, this Film doesn't feature M as his Actor was really sick.
They didn't want to recast him, so he's 'on leave.'
You know, during this crisis.
Sadly, he died after this came out and was recast in the next Film.
As it turns out, the guy that Bond wants answers from is the same one that she wants to kill.
She gets her way, but they must then escape in a tiny, banged up car.
Supposedly, it was Moore's favorite one to drive.
Bond meets with the next guy in the line- played by Julian Glover.
He's a Greek Importer and he puts Bond on the trail of another guy who is a drug smuggler.
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| FYI Glover lost the role of Bond to Moore. |
Bond seduces a woman working for him, but she's then killed by the bad guys.
She was played by Pierce Brosnan's then-wife and he visited the set.
Future Bond got to see Present Bond be implied to have slept with his Wife.
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| She died in 1991 and never saw Pierce take up the role. |
The other smuggler is Topol, of Fiddler on the Roof or Flash Gordon fame.
It depends on whether you watch Musicals.
In any event, he's actually NOT the bad guy, but Glover is.
A bunch of shooting and other hijinks ensue. There's too much stuff in 2 hours for me to cover in-depth.
In any event, they stop the Russians from getting the MacGuffin and our Heroine doesn't kill Glover...because Topol does it for her.
Bond and the woman don't answer his watch phone (which works better than a real phone today) and go skinny dipping instead.
As such, they don't get to talk to this Margaret Thatcher impersonator.
The End.
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| She was the real villain all along! |
A fun, action packed Film with a pretty flimsy Plot.
As a composite Story, the basic idea- go and retrieve the thing- is the bulk of it.
This one fills the remainder with the usual Stunts, random gags and a B-Plot involving a fairly annoying Ice Skater.
She was the Lead in
The Watcher in the Woods though.
We also get the final appearance of the 'Man with Wine Glass' from the last 2 Films (always surprised by Bond appearing).
If you can accept that the Plot is a pretty loose series of events, you can still really enjoy this one for the spectacle it is trying to be.
There's an attempt at a full romance with his Female Lead that may or may not work for you.
Apparently, there was thought that Moore might not come back, so they planned an opening with him visiting the Wife's grave (from On Her Majesty's Secret Service) and that showing the new guy.
Moore- obviously- returned, so we get a connection to Lazenby instead.
Many parts of the Plot feel out of that same Film, which is neat (if intentional). This mention also gives us a trio of future Game of Thrones Actors represented (Glover, Rigg and Charles Dance as a Henchman!)...
Next up, let's jump to the '90s with a different kind of Spy Thriller. Can one Agent stop a nameless Assassin? Stay tuned...
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