On Her Majesty’s Secret Service has quite literally defined the phrase “aged like a fine wine.” Other films in the franchise have also seen this phenomenon, most notably Licence to Kill. I think Tomorrow Never Dies has even seen reflective reviews rate it much better for no longer having such an outlandish plot, but rather an ahead of its time one. I still feel that one day we’ll be talking about Quantum of Solace in this fashion too. Additionally, not only did OHMSS come out on top of this type of World Cup scheme, it’s villain similarly came out on top of the villain version. How little people realized what a masterpiece Peter Hunt made back in 1969.
2 Likes
About seventeen years ago when my husband and I began courting, we went to see OHMSS at the Walter Reade Theater, which was playing it as part of a series of 1960s films. At the time, it was my favorite Bond film (my reason for taking him) for its more serious plot; its minimal use of gadgets; Lazenby’s performance (which I never thought all that bad); and Diana Rigg as a Bond girl. If my enthusiasm has faded, it is because of my increasing interest in the formal elements of movies, and Hunt’s intensified continuity (he helped invent the style) is not my glass of tea.
DAF has grown in my estimation because of Hamilton’s mise en scene, and also because of the development of new prisms for looking at art–especially queer ones–which make DAF shine brighter. Beyond mere camp or parody, DAF is a James Bond film that does not know how to behave like one (which I do not think was an intentional strategy, and is often misperceived as campiness).
Rather, some talented film artists were a touch desperate, and that desperation led to a willingness to tinker with the template. DAF is not a wholesale revision, but an attempt to recapture the magic that was Bond in the 1960s through a mix of continuity and changes.
Hence, Connery is brought back, neither looking nor acting like the James Bond of his previous five films. We have American Bond girls and American locations in the hope of rekindling the affection of American audiences. The script of Bond veteran Maibaum is rewritten by newcomer Mankiewicz (which did not work when the roles were reversed).
Serendipity also plays a part: the oil rig scene’s explosions being set off too soon, and having to be filmed with available cameras. Lois Maxwell having to play Moneypenny in a hat since by the time she and the producers came to terms, her hair was cut for another film. David Picker seeing one of the few performances of the musical Georgy which was written by Mankiewicz.
I think DAF will remain an outlier (but hopefully a rising one as Dustin suggests). Dark chocolate is never as beloved as milk chocolate–sweet will win out over bitter.
Ever the optimist.
1 Like
Moonraker? Moonraker? Moonraker?!
Distinctly yes.
OK, so…
In terms of % share of votes cast in the round in which they were eliminated, the fallout is (where equal number, earlier date of release):
Round 1
Dr No - 0
A View to a Kill - 0
You Only Live Twice - 3
The Man with the Golden Gun - 3
Die Another Day - 3
Live and Let Die - 9
The World is not Enough - 9
Spectre - 9
Round 2 - with percentage point reduction from score in Round 1
Licence to Kill - 4 (-27)
Octopussy - 7 (-6)
Diamonds are Forever - 8 (-3)
For Your Eyes Only - 8 (-11)
GoldenEye - 8 (-41)
Quantum of Solace 8 (-4)
Tomorrow Never Dies 12 (-24)
The Living Daylights 15 (-23)
Out in the Semi-Finals, with % vote share in their respective Semi-Final
Skyfall - 10
From Russia with Love - 19
Goldfinger - 19
The Spy who Loved Me - 28
The Final - and a winner (percentages are approximate)
Thunderball - 12%
Moonraker - 15%
Casino Royale - 31%
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service - 42%
So, having claimed victory in the Villain Deathmatch too, OHMSS seems to be unstoppable.
(Pause for dramatic effect)
Or is it?
Obviously all of this depends upon the opposition drawn out in each round. The below is no more scientific (at all) but is the order based on average vote share in all the rounds in which one participated.
Obviously, the first 8 are basically the same, as they were only in one round. Y’know, durr. However, reordered to reflect the difference in % vote between their performance and the most popular of their group. If only to kick them once already down. As Dr No (votes) and A View to a Kill scored nothing, they remain bottom. The Man with the Golden Gun and Live and Let Die being so low may be down to how overwhelmingly The Spy who Loved Me crushed all before it in Round 1. As, indeed, it would; the balance of nature is restored.
Dr No
A View to a Kill
The Man with the Golden Gun
Live and Let Die
Spectre
Die Another Day
The World is not Enough
You Only Live Twice
Diamonds are Forever
Octopussy
Quantum of Solace
For Your Eyes Only
Licence to Kill
Goldfinger
Skyfall
Thunderball
Tomorrow Never Dies
From Russia with Love
Moonraker
The Living Daylights
GoldenEye
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
Casino Royale
The Spy who Loved Me
The only one of the above to secure its average vote share in any round was Thunderball (24%). Thunderball - the bang-average Bond film - take that as you will.
Only the top three there scored an average over 40%.
Major beneficiaries of this approach seem to be GoldenEye - a clear first round winner, but at that point only up against the other Brosnans, so… well, quite. Left to fend for itself against anything better than the other three Brosnans and it coughed, horribly. The Living Daylights also a clear winner in its first round, helps its average enormously. The Spy who Loved Me seems to have won the popular vote, if not the electoral college.
3 Likes
Accordingly, alternative reality / parallel universe / DNA replacement therapy Semi-Finals (am I drawing this out unnecessarily? Yes.) - taking the top eight on this “analysis”…
2 Likes
- The Spy who Loved Me
- On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
- The Living Daylights
- From Russia with Love
0 voters
- Casino Royale 2006
- GoldenEye
- Moonraker
- Tomorrow Never Dies
0 voters
Splendid idea to draw this out into the alternative realm. Unnecessary but definitely with greatly expanded entertainment value…
I was tempted to go with THE SPY now, simply for reasons of sentimentality. But then I stuck with the unstoppable Blofeld again.
My second choice should have been of course MOONRAKER again. Or failing that, CASINO ROYALE. Or surely GOLDENEYE for the hilarious fun I’ve had with it recently. But then I decided to back the underdog TOMORROW NEVER DIES. There is something like a deeper moral to this tale, aside from the obvious events, and it seems significantly more real today than it did in 1997…
2 Likes
Easy for me. TLD my favorite of the back to Fleming 1980s Bonds and MR my favorite of the wild and wacky 1970s Bonds.
2 Likes
The first grouping is a very solid group of Bond films, all of which reside in my top 10. The Living Daylights easily takes it out of those, though. The second group is considerably easier, with Casino Royale head and shoulders above the rest. GoldenEye is a strong contender, but I wonder these days how much of that is nostalgia talking and how much of it is actually down to the film itself.
2 Likes
Ah, so you’re the other one.
Voted: The Spy Who Loved Me en Moonraker.
2 Likes
An excellent double feature(even though I voted for TLD):
4 Likes
Indeed. Also noteworthy: both THE SPY WHO LOVED ME and MOONRAKER offer hardly anything about Bond’s background outside one line by Anya (and the fact that he’s wearing uniform at Faslane, but that’s neither new nor of much interest). No deeper internal character furniture, no attempt at teambuilding skills, no big drama about motivation or lack thereof.
By modern standards are these even Bond films?
4 Likes
And yet, you could describe TSWLM as the film that defined who Moore’s Bond was. It’s still amazing watching that, and seeing how much Roger is able to get out of every beat, like his dropping of the usual suave joker when the “married only once…” line comes up
“Alright, you’ve made your point”
The noticeable change makes his Bond oddly terrifying - you got a brief peak behind the mask.
That man was criminally under-rated as an actor.
4 Likes
Very good choices. The best two for pure entertainment, hands down…
…but alas the OHMSS train cannot be stopped, and will not be stopped.
“Open Jim’s Bond film poll thread. Look for the OHMSS option. Every night at midnight you must be alone. I will tell you what to do. I will tell you how. And once you obey my instructions you will forget them forever. Forever. Forever. Forever…”
4 Likes
Wonderful, isn’t it?
Alternate query: by traditional Bondian standards, are Bond films with deep internal character furniture, elaborate backstories, and nuanced character motivation actually Bond films, or movie mutations created by having the Bond genome gene-spliced with more recent strains of action hero DNA?
3 Likes
OHMSS was interesting for being the first Bond film to tell a complete story - the story of a secret agent who falls in love while on an assignment and how that affects him.
LTK was the next one to do that, telling the story of a secret agent whose friends are attacked and how he loses his objectivity, makes mistakes and has to recover from that in order to get his revenge.
There were attempts to inject character deconstruction into Brosnan’s films (“You think I’m impressed?”/ “Spare me the Freud” / “Did I get too close for comfort?” / “Have you ever lost a loved one?” / “I modeled the disgusting Gustav Graves on you”), but these snippets didn’t overwhelm the narrative - apparently they were almost enough to satisfy the thespian in the lead actor.
Casino Royale was on origin story. Okay. The next one should get back to business as usual, though. What, we’re not finished exploring Bond’s psyche yet? Well, okay, I guess. What, we’re still delving? Will we ever get back to a straightforward mission? Not this time either, eh? Now we’re waiting on we can only hope is the denoument of this story/character arc.
I’d dearly love for BB and MGW to cast an actor of Sir Roger’s calibre again - someone who will play the character without needing to make the story all about what’s happening to his soul. Hit the marks and say the lines, George.
3 Likes
Totally final Final now (am I a man of my word? No).
Although the alternate reality seemed to ultimately conclude in a similar share of votes for Moonraker, Casino Royale and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, so whichever way one cuts it, those seem popular, one can understand the observation that the groupings skew particular ways. This is the nature of competition, though.
But as one last toss of the loaded dice, and probably what I should have done in the first place, how do those 8 actually stack up against each other if they’re all there?
Ergo. Concordantly. Thus. Etc.
- From Russia with Love
- On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
- The Spy who Loved Me
- Moonraker
- The Living Daylights
- GoldenEye
- Tomorrow Never Dies
- Casino Royale
0 voters
1 Like