RW338 - James Bond Rewatch - For Your Eyes Only

In this episode of the James Bond 007 Rewatch, Cory and Nathan walk a treacherous road as they discuss "For Your Eyes Only."

Trailer:

The Music of For Your Eyes Only:

According to the CD soundtrack sleeve notes, composer John Barry could not compose the score for this movie as he allegedly could not return to the U.K. for taxation purposes

The title song, written by Conti and Michael Leeson, was sung by Sheena Easton, who holds the distinction of being the first title song artist to appear on screen in a Bond film, as designer Maurice Binder liked Easton's appearance and decided to add her to the opening credits. The producers of the film wanted Blondie to perform the title song: the band wrote a song titled "For Your Eyes Only", but decided to decline the offer when they discovered the producers wanted a recording of Conti's song instead. Blondie's song can be found on their 1982 album, The Hunter.

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After the science fiction-focused Moonraker, the producers wanted a return to the style of the early Bond films and the works of 007 creator Fleming. For Your Eyes Only followed a grittier, more realistic approach and a narrative theme of revenge and its consequences. Filming locations included Greece, Italy and England, while underwater footage was shot in The Bahamas.

For Your Eyes Only marked a change in the make up of the production crew: John Glen was promoted from his duties as a film editor to director, a position he would occupy for four subsequent films. The transition in directors resulted in a harder-edged directorial style, with less emphasis on gadgetry and large action sequences in huge arenas. Emphasis was placed on tension, plot and character in addition to a return to Bond's more serious roots.

This movie saved United Artists from financial ruin. At the time of this movie's release, the studio was still reeling from Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate (1980), a notorious forty million dollar bomb, that was about to force United Artists to file for bankruptcy. When this movie took in a worldwide gross of one hundred ninety-five million dollars, the studio was saved, and afterwards turned its focus toward blockbusters and less on personal movies. 

A line of dialogue had to be cut from the opening helicopter sequence for legal reasons. The bald man could not be called "Blofeld", as Kevin McClory had won a court case several years previous, and owned the rights to the use of "S.P.E.C.T.R.E.", and "Ernst Stavro Blofeld". Unofficially disposing of Blofeld so early in this movie was Albert R. Broccoli's way of telling McClory that the success of 007 did not depend on him, and he got rid of Blofeld (supposedly) once and for all.

Bernard Lee died of cancer on 16 January 1981, after filming began on For Your Eyes Only, but before he could film his scenes as M, the head of MI6, as he had done in the previous eleven films of the series. Out of respect, no new actor was hired to assume the role as Broccoli refused to have the character recast and, instead, the script was re-written so that the character is said to be on leave

Director John Glen stated that there had been some discussion of bringing back the Jaws character for a third time, but eventually, the idea was rejected, as they felt he did not fit the movie's more serious tone. 

Topol suggested to Producer Albert R. Broccoli that he invite former co-Producer Harry Saltzman to the premiere, and he did, marking the first reunion between the two men since their break up after The Man with the Golden Gun.

To enter the identigraph booth, Q enters a five digit code. Those five digits were the first five notes to the chorus of "Nobody Does It Better", the theme to The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). James Bond responds by entering the final two notes.

What's Up Next?

We inch ever closer to the end of Moore's run when we discuss "Octopussy."

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RW337 - James Bond Rewatch - Moonraker

In this episode of the James Bond 007 Rewatch, Cory and Nathan jump the sci-fi trend as they discuss "Moonraker."

Trailer:

The Music of Moonraker:

Moonraker was the third of three Bond films for which the theme song was performed by Shirley Bassey (following Goldfinger and Diamonds Are Forever). Frank Sinatra was originally considered for the vocals, and Kate Bush was asked, but she declined. Johnny Mathis was approached and offered the opportunity. However, Mathis—despite having started recording with Barry—was unable to complete the project, leaving producers to offer the song to Bassey just weeks before the premiere date in England. Bassey made the recordings with very short notice and as a result, she never regarded the song 'as her own' as she had never had the chance to perform it in full or promote it first

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Moonraker was noted for its high production cost of $34 million, more than twice as much as The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), and it received mixed reviews. However, the film's visuals were praised, with Derek Meddings being nominated for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, and it eventually became the highest-grossing film of the series at the time with $210,300,000 worldwide, a record that stood until 1995's GoldenEye. 

Producer Albert R. Broccoli complained that Maurice Binder's title sequence cost more than the entire budget of Dr. No (1962). 

The end credits for the previous Bond film, The Spy Who Loved Me, said, "James Bond will return in For Your Eyes Only"; however, the producers chose the novel Moonraker as the basis for the next film, following the box office success of the 1977 space-themed film Star Wars. For Your Eyes Only was subsequently delayed and ended up following Moonraker in 1981.

The screenplay of Moonraker differed so much from Ian Fleming's novel that Eon Productions authorised the film's screenwriter, Christopher Wood to write a novelisation, his second. It was named James Bond and Moonraker to avoid confusion with Fleming's original novel Moonraker. It was published in 1979, with the film's release.

Production began on 14 August 1978. The main shooting was switched from the usual 007 Stage at the Pinewood Studios to France, due to high taxation in England at the time. Only the cable car interiors and space battle exteriors were filmed at Pinewood. The massive sets designed by Ken Adam were the largest ever constructed in France and required more than 222,000 man-hours to construct.

Much of the film was shot in the cities of London, Paris, Venice, Palmdale, California, Port St. Lucie, Florida, and Rio de Janeiro. The production team decided on Rio de Janeiro relatively early on, a city that Cubby Broccoli had visited on holiday, and a team was sent there in early 1978 to capture initial footage from the Carnival, which featured in the film.

The Jaws character, played by Richard Kiel, makes a return, although in Moonraker the role is played more for comedic effect than in The Spy Who Loved Me. Jaws was intended to be a villain against Bond to the bitter end, but director Lewis Gilbert stated on the DVD documentary that he received so much fan mail from small children saying "Why can't Jaws be a goodie not a baddie", that as a result he was persuaded to gradually transform Jaws into Bond's ally by the end of the film.

Bernard Lee's final appearance as M. The actor died when For Your Eyes Only (1981) was in pre-production. 

What's Up Next?

It must be top secret because it's "For Your Eyes Only"

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RW336 - James Bond Rewatch - The Spy Who Loved Me

In this episode of the James Bond 007 Rewatch, Cory and Nathan find themselves in deep water as they discuss "The Spy Who Loved Me."

Trailer:

The Music of The Spy Who Loved Me:

Our Favourite Trivia:

The Spy Who Loved Me in many ways was a pivotal film for the Bond franchise, and was plagued since its conception by many problems. The first was the departure of Bond producer Harry Saltzman, who was forced to sell his half of the Bond film franchise in 1975 for £20 million. Saltzman had branched out into several other ventures of dubious promise and consequently was struggling through personal financial reversals unrelated to Bond. This was exacerbated by the twin personal tragedies of his wife's terminal cancer and many of the symptoms of clinical depression in himself

Another troubling aspect of the production was the difficulty in obtaining a director. The producers approached Steven Spielberg, who was in post-production for Jaws, but ultimately decided against him. The first director attached to the film was Guy Hamilton, who directed the previous three Bond films as well as Goldfinger, but he left after being offered the opportunity to direct the 1978 film Superman, although Richard Donner took over the project. Eon Productions later turned to Lewis Gilbert, who had directed the earlier Bond film You Only Live Twice.

The eyesight of Cinematographer Claude Renoir was failing at the time of this movie, and he could not see to the end of the massive supertanker set. As a result, he could not supervise the lighting. Ken Adam turned to his friend Stanley Kubrick, who, under the condition of complete secrecy, supervised the lighting. He suggested the use of floodlights. 

Kubrick's stepdaughter (Katharina Kubrick) designed the dentures that Richard Kiel (Jaws) wore in this movie and Moonraker (1979). The metal teeth are on display at the Spy Museum in Washington, D.C.. 

The crew was upset because of the horrible food in Egypt, so Producer Albert R. Broccoli had a refrigerated truck with food brought from England. However, someone forgot to turn on the freezer, so all the food was inedible upon arrival. Broccoli jumped into action, taking a Jeep and some crew into town to grab items like tomatoes and pots and pans. Pasta was flown in from Cairo. Well-known as an amateur chef at home, Broccoli cooked up a feast for the cast and crew, served by him and Sir Roger Moore.

The initial villain of the film was Ernst Stavro Blofeld; however Kevin McClory, who owned the film rights to Thunderball obtained an injunction barring Eon Productions from using the character of Blofeld, or his international criminal organisation, SPECTRE. The villain was later changed from Blofeld to Stromberg.

Tom Mankiewicz claims that Catherine Deneuve wanted to play the female lead and was willing to cut her normal rate from $400,000 per picture to $250,000, but Broccoli would not pay above $80,000.

The theme song "Nobody Does It Better" was composed by Marvin Hamlisch, written by Carole Bayer Sager, and performed by Carly Simon. It was the first theme song in the series to be titled differently from the name of the film, although the title is in the lyrics. It was nominated for the Best Song Oscar but lost to "You Light Up My Life".

The soundtrack to the film was composed by Marvin Hamlisch, who filled in for veteran John Barry, who was unavailable to work in the United Kingdom because of tax reasons. The soundtrack, in comparison to other Bond films of the time, is more disco-oriented and included a new disco rendition of the "James Bond Theme" titled "Bond 77"

The Lotus Esprit, also known as Wet Nellie, capable of transforming from car to submarine in the film, was purchased for £616,000 at a London auction in October 2013 by Elon Musk, who plans to rebuild the vehicle and attempt to make the fictional dual-purpose car be an actual dual-purpose car (underwater and on land).

The closing credits say, "James Bond will return in For Your Eyes Only (1981)" but, because of the successes of Star Wars (1977) and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Moonraker (1979) was chosen. 

What's Up Next?

Bond in space? That's right, next week we rewatch "Moonraker."

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RW335 - James Bond Rewatch - The Man with the Golden Gun

In this episode of the James Bond 007 Rewatch, Cory and Nathan go head to head as they discuss "The Man with the Golden Gun."

Trailer:

The Music of The Man with the Golden Gun:

Our Favourite Trivia:

Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman intended to follow You Only Live Twice with The Man with the Golden Gun, inviting Roger Moore to the Bond role. However, filming was planned in Cambodia, and the Samlaut Uprising made filming impractical, leading to the production being cancelled.

Broccoli and Saltzman then decided to start production on The Man with the Golden Gun after Live and Let Die. This was the final Bond film to be co-produced by Saltzman as his partnership with Broccoli was dissolved after the film's release. Saltzman sold his 50% stake in Eon Productions's parent company, Danjaq, LLC, to United Artists to alleviate his financial problems.

The novel is mostly set in Jamaica. After considering Beirut, where part of the film is set, Iran, where the location scouting was done but eventually discarded because of the Yom Kippur War, and the Hạ Long Bay in Vietnam, the production team chose Thailand as a primary location

While Live and Let Die had borrowed heavily from the blaxploitation genre, The Man with the Golden Gun borrowed from the martial arts genre that was popular in the 1970s through films such as Fist of Fury (1972) and Enter the Dragon (1973).

Originally, the role of Scaramanga was offered to Jack Palance, but he turned the opportunity down. Christopher Lee, who was eventually chosen to portray Scaramanga, was Ian Fleming's step-cousin and Fleming had suggested Lee for the role of Dr. No.

Two Swedish models were cast as the Bond girls, Britt Ekland and Maud Adams. Ekland had been interested in playing a Bond girl since she had seen Dr. No, and contacted the producers about the main role of Mary Goodnight.

Three Golden Gun props were made; a solid piece, one that could be fired with a cap and one that could be assembled and disassembled. On 10 October 2008, it was discovered that one of the golden guns used in the film, which is estimated to be worth around £80,000, was missing (suspected stolen) from Elstree Props.

The theme tune to The Man with the Golden Gun, released in 1974, was performed by Scottish singer Lulu and composed by John Barry. Tony Bramwell, who worked for Harry Saltzman's music publishing company Hilary Music, wanted Elton John or Cat Stevens to sing the title song. However, by this time the producers were taking turns producing the films; Albert Broccoli—whose turn it was to produce—rejected Bramwell's suggestions. The lyrics to the Lulu song were written by Don Black and have been described variously as "ludicrous", "inane" and "one long stream of smut", because of their sexual innuendo. Bramwell subsequently dismissed the Barry-Lulu tune as "mundane".

Alice Cooper wrote a song titled "Man with the Golden Gun" to be used by the producers of the film, but they opted for Lulu's song instead. Cooper released his song in his album Muscle of Love.

Barry had only three weeks to score The Man with the Golden Gun and the theme tune and score are generally considered by critics to be among the weakest of Barry's contributions to the series, an opinion shared by Barry himself.

What's Up Next?

We ask the burning question, who is "The Spy Who Loved Me"?

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Head over to our TeePublic store today and buy some merch! Every item sold sees a small return to us to cover our hosting costs and we appreciate every perchance.

RW334 - James Bond Rewatch - Live and Let Die

In this episode of the James Bond 007 Rewatch, Cory and Nathan see a long road in the cards as they discuss "Live and Let Die."

Trailer:

The Music of Live and Let Die:

Our Favourite Trivia:

While filming Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die was chosen as the next Ian Fleming novel to be adapted because screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz thought it would be daring to use black villains, as the Black Panthers and other racial movements were active at this time.

Guy Hamilton was again chosen to direct, and since he was a jazz fan, Mankiewicz suggested he film in New Orleans. Hamilton did not want to use Mardi Gras since Thunderball featured Junkanoo, a similar festivity, so after more discussions with the writer and location scouting with helicopters, he decided to use two well-known features of the city, the jazz funerals and the canals

Broccoli and Saltzman tried to convince Sean Connery to return as James Bond, but he declined. At the same time United Artists approached actors Adam West and Burt Reynolds. Reynolds told the studios that Bond should be played by a Briton and turned the offer down.

Among the actors to test for the part of Bond were Julian Glover, John Gavin, Jeremy Brett, Simon Oates, John Ronane, and William Gaunt. The main frontrunner for the role was Michael Billington. United Artists was still pushing to cast an American to play Bond, but producer Albert R. Broccoli insisted that the part should be played by a British actor and put forward Roger Moore

Roger Moore was 45 when he made his debut as 007, making him the oldest actor to portray the iconic character. The youngest was George Lazenby, who was 29 in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969).

The producers made a conscious decision to make Roger Moore's Bond significantly different from Sean Connery's. In this film, Bond never orders a vodka martini, but drinks bourbon whiskey, "neat" (no ice) instead. The mission briefing occurs in his flat, not the office. Bond does not wear a hat. He smokes cigars instead of cigarettes.

Mankiewicz had thought of turning Solitaire into a black woman, with Diana Ross as his primary choice. However, Broccoli and Saltzman decided to stick to Fleming's description of a white woman and, after thinking of Catherine Deneuve, Jane Seymour, who was in the TV series The Onedin Line, was cast for the role. 

Yaphet Kotto was cast while doing another movie for United Artists, Across 110th Street. Kotto reported one of the things he liked in the role was Kananga's interest in the occult. According to Roger Moore, Yaphet Kotto was difficult to work with, but Kotto denies this. Kotto maintains that though he may have been quiet, he was courteous to everyone in the movie.

John Barry, who had worked on the previous five themes and orchestrated the "James Bond Theme" was unavailable during production. Broccoli and Saltzman instead asked Paul McCartney to write the theme song. Saltzman, mindful of his decision not to produce "A Hard Day's Night" was especially eager to work with McCartney. Since McCartney's salary was high and another composer could not be hired with the remainder of the music budget, George Martin, who had been McCartney's producer while with The Beatles, was chosen to write the score for the film

 "Live and Let Die", written by McCartney along with his wife Linda and performed by their group Wings, was the first true rock and roll song used to open a Bond film, and became a major success in the United Kingdom (where it reached number nine in the charts) and the US (where it reached number 2, for three weeks). It was nominated for an Academy Award, but lost

Desmond Llewelyn didn't appear in this movie as Q, because Llewellyn was appearing on the television show Follyfoot (1971).

What's Up Next?

Bond finds himself fighting an assassin, know as "The Man with the Golden Gun."

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