001. The story
Bond is sent on a mission to recover the ATAC, a device of terrifying and unimaginable power, neatly encased in something that looks like the sort of till machine your local Aldi upgraded from years ago. As is appropriate for an espionage movie, it takes a while for everyone to work out who the villain really is.
002. The villains
Julian Glover makes a very natural – and therefore ultimately unmemorable – bad guy, whereas Topol is charming, funny and steely. When he’s still being touted as the bad guy, he’s genuinely menacing, all the while crunching on pistachio nuts (Topol’s own idea). He even manages to deliver overly melodramatic lines like ‘I would laugh if my heart was not breaking’ without a blush.
Best bad guy, however, is Loque, (Michael Gothard) who doesn’t have a single line of audible dialogue in the movie, but manages to exude icy menace throughout.
003. The girls
There’s an acknowledgement that Roger Moore’s Bond is getting a bit too old for this sort of thing – as demonstrated by his dismissal of figure skater Bibi (“I’ll buy you an ice-cream”) – and he gets on a lot better with the older women in the film. In fact, he initially seems more impressed by the much older Jocoba Brink, who, with her chilly expression, is clearly meant to mislead the audience into thinking she might be a Rosa Klebb style villain.
He has most chemistry with Cassandra Harris as the ill-fated Lisl, but as is often the case for poor Roger, his leading lady (the undeniably beautiful Carole Bouqet) doesn’t seem to light his fire.
004. Best moments
FYEO was released in the same year as Raiders of the Lost Ark, and perhaps there was something in the water, because this Bond applies the same principle of having the hero face up against a new challenge every ten minutes or so. This means that very often narrative structure is thrown out of the window, but it’s a small penance when the film doesn’t give us a chance to be bored. The ‘lovely ride in the country’ in Melina’s citron is particularly good value.
We change our mind every so often about the pre-title sequence, however. Sometimes it’s a sequence of silliness, not in keeping with the mood of the rest of the film, and at other times (like right now) we think that that’s exactly the point – getting all the Moonraker memories and puns out of the way before the titles start.
005. Trivia
» A film of firsts – it’s the first to be based on one of Fleming’s short stories (as opposed to one of the novels), it’s the first to have the singer of the theme song appear onscreen as part of the title sequence, and it’s the first Bond film made after the death of Bernard Lee. As a mark of respect, the character of M does not appear in the movie.
» The churchyard in which we first see Bond in the opening sequence is actually next to the golf course in which Sean Connery’s Bond faced up to Goldfinger.
» During FYEO’s production Cassandra Harris introduced producer Albert R. Broccoli to her husband; Pierce Brosnan.
» As you might have guessed, due to legal reasons, the cat-stroking bald nemesis in the opening sequence is absolutely definitely not Ernst Stravo Blofield, despite every indication to the contrary. (Kevin McClory had the rights to the character – and SPECTRE – and was busy planning his remake of Thunderball, which would become 1983’s Never Say Never Again.)
» Steven Spielberg had talks with Albert R. Broccoli about directing the film.
006. Best quotes
» Bond: “The Chinese have a saying; ‘Before setting off on revenge, you first dig two graves’.”
» Columbo: “I’m a good judge of man. You have what the Greeks call “thrausos” – guts!”
» Bond [in a confessional booth]: “Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.”
Q [removing disguise]: “That’s putting it mildly, 007!”
007. The verdict
Perhaps not the most fun of the Roger Moore Bonds (Live and Let Die, The Spy Who Loved Me, and – seriously – Octopussy can have that honour), but it’s certainly the one that brings out Moore’s strongest performance as Bond.
There’s a hard edge here that we don’t automatically associate with the era, but it feels like the sort of film that the lead actor has been waiting for, with even the one liners sounding like throwaway bon mots rather than viciously scripted puns.
What do you think of For Your Eyes Only? Let us know below…