Patriotism was always there (for example, Bond’s portrait of the Queen in OHMSS), but the parachute gag brought it to another level. It worked for Moore. It presented Bond both as an individual and a loyal servant.
Well, and let’s face it, if the object was to keep a low profile, he wouldn’t have climbed into that bright yellow ski suit.
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Absolutely… the whole bit about Zambora, being captured and turning into a gorilla at Circus Circus in Diamonds Are Forever… Even back then in 1971 this should have been considered too controversial and never should have been put in the script. I find it much more offensive and cringeworty than the bit in Dr. No where Bond asks Quarrel to fetch his shoes…
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I saw the Zambora show at an Exhibition sideshow once, some time in the late 70s. The girl they presented while the barker drew the crowd was white (he didn’t say anything about her being captured near Nairobi, South Africa, though).
Inside the tent (no lab set), the hippie in charge opened the caged box enough for you to see the rippling 2D slide of a similar-looking girl inside, then he started lip syncing to an over-loud recording of a deep voice bringing Zambora out her transcendental state (“ZANBORA bora bora…! HEAR ME ear me ear me…!”)
When the guy in the gorilla suit burst out of the cage, another hippie urged everyone to flee while the dude with the dummy mike tried valiantly to hold the ape off with his bare hands.
That performance was offensive, to anyone with an IQ higher than that of a very stable genius. I wished I’d had a starter pistol with me, so I could have fired a few blanks at the guy in the gorilla suit - it would have been amusing to see him jump into the arms of his ‘handler’.
At least the version in DAF was well-staged.
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Isn’t this scene supposed to be cringeworthy? I always thought it underlined the garish and tasteless which a town like Las Vegas is known for.
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This raises a point (one that I think is very relevant for Live and Let Die) about whether a film is being racist if what they are intentionally depicting racism. Live and Let Die, for example, has Kananga using stereotypes so as to cover up his drug empire; he is able to farm, ship and sell by using the racist assumptions of others as a distraction.
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True.
Of course, the depiction of racism in any film is walking a fine line between representation and enforcement. But as for LALD, I never got the impression that the movie indulges in racism.
Does it use stereotypes? Absolutely. But those apply to every character in the film. Even Bond.
I also do not look at characters in movies as stand-ins for a whole group. They are just representing their own particular personality.
Of course, if a movie regularly depicts people in the same way the filmmakers´s perspectives reveal themselves.
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I agree. I don’t see anything particularly racist about LALD, certainly not worse than other films. It more or less plays out like any other Bond film, the villains just happen to be black. The book on the other hand…
In terms of awful CGI action nonsense, the skydive in QOS is worse than the DAD parasurfing. At least DAD has a sort of dumb innocence, like it was directed by a dog.
More than happy to criticise FRWL here! Young was the shakiest director technically, so lots of scenes don’t work, or the seams show (the explosion in Kerim’s office, stealing the Lektor). Too many of the sets tend to look like what you’d see in Elvis movies from around that time. The bad acting from the extra who opens Blofeld’s office door for Kronsteen usually gets me to turn the movie off and put something else on. DN and FRWL are the two Bonds that still feel like creaky 40s movies. Hamilton REALLY brought the series into the zeitgeist and can’t be thanked enough. Part of me wonders if Young had handled Goldfinger, the movies would have fizzled out by the end of the decade.
And I still have no idea what’s supposed to be happening when Connery opens the window blind, is cut off mid sentence but a CRRRRASH sound effect, and raises a hand to his face like he’s been hit. Someone help me!
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Okay, that made me almost spray coffee on my laptop screen and keyboard! Nicely played…
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It’s a fair point.
Rather like a 50‘s movie-which is only logical since they both were made at the beginning of the 60‘s. Happens every decade, perfectly normal way of evolving - which only in retrospect might appear weird.
Back then both Young directed Bonds were received as a fresh breath of air, and if you turn off FRWL because of one extra‘s acting you seem to be a very tough customer. Without those two films and their success there would not have been more Bond films either.
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That’s what it looks like - but it seems like a REALLY weird thing to put in a movie. What’s the point? Is it an in-joke for Orient Express passengers? Baffling decision to me.
The same goes with the IMMENSE significance Young puts on a female passenger in a headscarf that slips between Bond and Kerim in the passage. I wondered for years if it was meant to be a KGB agent, or even Grant, disguising themselves in drag to sneak past them. Such is the IMPORTANCE given to it. I’ve decided it’s just a weird directorial decision, but Young makes a few too many of those.
The song sucks too and Barry wouldn’t hit his stride til the next one.
Otherwise a pretty good movie! But there was much better to come.
And i do appreciate that each Bond looks exactly like its production year - and agree that’s what gives the series its sense of history. I wouldn’t really want any of them to look timeless.
No sucking involved. Magnificent melody.
You must mean “Another way to die”.
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Y’see, I like Another Way To Die, possibly more as a song in of itself than as a theme, but then I really like Jack White’s solo stuff. I do wonder just how much enjoyment of the theme is down to general feelings on the artist, for example I think the themes have gone from “incredible!” to “meh” in a gentle slope during Craig era, but then I loved Cornell’s music and find Sam Smith bland and inoffensive (wouldn’t seek it out, but would be okay with it playing) Jack White and Adele would sit between those, White nearer Cornell, Adele nearer Smith.
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AWTD for my taste just feels unfinished, like White and Keyes jamming in the studio, searching for a better and more coherent song to craft from the bits they have.
In a way, that song is like the unfinished CGI for the tidal wave.
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I find Another Way To Die ok but not great, but it’s closer to the bottom than the top. The intro and hook is good, but the rest of it is missing something. I think it would work better if Alicia Keys sang it alone. Jack White’s voice (certainly mixed with Keys) doesn’t work for me. The song seems to be a modern version of Live And Let Die in that it is two styles of songs wrapped in one, but it just isn’t as successful as Paul McCartney and Wings’ classic.
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At times the lyrics of AWTD (including the title) sound like a critique on Bond movies and the action genre being essentially just excersises for writers to come up with ways to kill characters, inferring their diminishing returns.
I think I like the song even more for this imagined interpretation.
All three of White’s solo albums have that kind of a sound to them, like he’s more interested in experimentation than anything else.
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Or the unfinished movie script the song was written for?
Maybe White left it that way on purpose so it wouldn’t seem out of place 