Pros: Brandauer as Largo, Carrera as Fatima Blush, scrumptious Kim Basinger, actual character development, antiquarian theme
Cons: Tired looking Sean Connery, impostors in recurrent roles, weak score
The Bottom Line: Connery's last effort as Bond mixes exceptional strengths with some highly evident weaknesses, but the performances by Brandauer, Carrera, Bassinger, and von Sydow are reason enough to enjoy this film.
Plot Details: This opinion reveals everything about the movie's plot.
I've always found it amusing that both Sean Connery and Roger Moore ended up making seven Bond films apiece – as in "007." I suspect that Pierce Brosnan was aware of that irony when he indicated that he too hoped to make seven Bond films. It appears that Brosnan may not have that opportunity, although, if Daniel Craig bombs in the role next year, Brosnan could be brought back, just as Connery was after George Lazenby flopped. I have a taste for such symmetries and therefore I'm glad that the original Bond came back for one last go at it, in 1983, to bring his total up to seven. I'm not as hard on this film as are some other critics. Certainly Connery was too old for the part, but the scriptwriters did a nice job playing with that fact rather than trying to mask it. Nevertheless, this is not a film that I enjoy mainly for the presence of Connery. What I love about this film are two especially memorable performances: Klaus Maria Brandauer as Largo and Barbara Carrera as Fatima Blush. Kim Basinger isn't half bad either. The supporting roles include a mix of some strong and weak casting decisions. I have no difficulty putting this particular Bond film in the player, despite its lack of the familiar theme songs and recurrent actors, simply for the pleasure of watching the performances of Carrera and Brandauer and ogling Kim Basinger.
Historical Background: Kevin McClory won a legal battle to make his own film based on Fleming's James Bond character, but the former producer and co-writer of Thunderball was restricted to making a film based on the same characters and situations as Thunderball. Thunderball had not been one of the more successful Bond films, but its script was half decent and could benefit from an up-dated remake. For the rewrite, McClory brought in screenwirter Lorenzo Semple Jr. (whose other work includes the screenplay for Three Days of the Condor). Then McClory scored a major coop by wooing Sean Connery, at a reputed cost of $5 million, out of his self-imposed renunciation of further appearances as Bond. The result was the "non-series" Bond movie, Never Say Never Again. At the same time, MGM was making its sixth Roger Moore film, Octopussy. Thus, in 1983, moviegoers were confronted with the unique situation of two competing Bond films, one featuring the original Bond actor and the other his first successful replacement. Despite Connery's continuing popularity, it was Octopussy which had the greater success at the box office. Neither film is well regarded today by critics, but both are nevertheless entertaining enough for those who love Bond films.
The director for the film was Irvin Kershner. Kershner, born August 29th, 1923, in Philadelphia, PA, began making feature films in 1958 with Stakeout on Dope Street, after first gaining experience with documentaries throughout the fifties. Kershner's early films were known for semi-documentary grittiness with a refined sensitivity for social alienation and human frailties. Three of his early films earned critical admiration: The Hoodlum Priest (1961), The Luck of Ginger Coffey (1964), and Loving (1970). After the last of those films, Kershner succumbed to the lure of big-budget commercial opportunities. The Return of the Man Called Horse (1976) and The Eyes of Laura Mars (1978) were followed by Kershner's most famous film, The Empire Strikes Back (1980). The present film came next, in 1983, and was later followed by Robocop 2 (1990).
The Story: The film's pre-credit sequence consists of Bond (Sean Connery) penetrating some kind of terrorist hideout where a hostage is being held. In a twist, viewers discover that the entire sequence was a training exercise and Bond has failed it, as M (Edward Fox) is at no small pains to point out. This is a new era and the new M does not hold the double-0's in high regard. Bond is sent off to Shrublands clinic, where he's to change his bad habits and rid himself of toxins and free radicals accumulated from too much red meat, white bread, and dry martinis. Bond agrees only to give up the white bread. At Shrublands, Bond suffers the humiliation of physical examinations, urine samples, colonics, and spinal adjustments, but enjoys his own preferred mode of therapy for the lower back with the lovely physical therapist, Patricia (Prunella Gee). Bond's sleep is disturbed one night, however, by the sound of a woman beating a man in a nearby room. Bond goes to investigate and draws the attention of the woman, Fatima Blush (Barbara Carrera), who recognizes Bond as 007.
The next morning, an assassin, Lippe (Pat Roach), is sent to kill Bond. He's a massive tough guy and, at fifty-three, Bond is seemingly not much of a match for Lippe. After protracted fisticuffs, extending through the weight room, corridor, kitchen, and into the clinic, Bond finally stops his assailant by tossing a beaker of caustic fluid into his eyes. Bond is a little disconcerted to discover that the beaker contained his own urine sample. M chews out Bond for destroying the clinic.
Meanwhile, SPECTRE is busy plotting its biggest extortion plot to date. As Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Max von Sydow) explains to the assembled agents, the audacious operation is codenamed "The Tears of Allah" and will be spearheaded by agent #1, Largo (Klaus Maria Brandauer). The endeaver entails the theft of two nuclear warheads during a NATO training exercise. The threat of exploding them will be used to extort payments from all of the developed nations. The key to the plan is the ability to bypass the security system for the nuclear warheads, which entails an eye scan. SPECTRE has addicted a low level NATO officer, Jack Petachi (Gavan O'Herlihy), to heroin and sex with Fatima. Petachi has undergone a corneal implant so that one of his eyes will match that of the President of the United States. Petachi was the man that Fatima was abusing at Shrublands, where he was undergoing convalescence.
The hijacking of the warheads goes down as planned. Fatima murders Jack Petachi as soon as he becomes expendable. The NATO high command is called into emergency session and the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Ambrose (Anthony Sharp), demands that M reactivate the double-0's. Once more into the breach! With Petachi gone missing, Bond heads off to Jamaica to follow that lead. Petachi's sister, Domino (Kim Bassinger), is the mistress of Largo. Q-branch, now overseen by Algeron (Alec McCowen), is so badly underfunded that the best Q can provide for Bond is a lethal pen that shoots a phosphorus pellet, and even that is not yet perfected.
In Jamaica, Bond links up with a bumbling foreign-service officer, Nigel Small-Fawcett (Rowan Atkinson). Bond also encounters a lovely bikini clad lady (Valerie Leon) who hopes to "catch him later." Fatima Blush makes contact with Bond by water skiing into his arms, soaking him, but at least his martini remains dry. She offers to help Bond find what he's looking for. The two cruise out to a coral reef aboard her yacht, enjoying acrobatic sex on the way. Once they go underwater, Blush attaches an explosive device to Bond's air tank. That plus a shark attack busies Bond for a bit, but he is finally able to emerge near the small fishing boat occupied by the same bikini clad woman he had earlier eyed. "Well," says Bond, you did say you'd catch me later."
Bond finds opportunities to ingratiate himself with Domino Petachi. Meanwhile, Fatima tries earnestly to kill Bond, first with a bomb in his hotel room, which misses only because Bond had instead gone with his bikini-clad lady to her room. "Proof that we made the right decision," says Bond, as he squeezes his lover. "About what," she inquires. "Your place or mine," he adds. Later, in southern France, Fatima murders a Bond assistant, Nicole (Saskia Cohen Tanugi). The incensed Bond chases after Fatima on a Q-furnished, rocket-equipped motorcycle, only to be ensnared by a group of Fatima's thugs. In an extended chase scene, Bond evades his pursuers, causing a series of pile-ups. Finally, however, Fatima herself corners Bond in an alleyway among some cement casings. Fatima, determined to immortalize herself as the woman who killed 007, demands that he pen an endorsement of her sexual prowess as well. "Write," she demands, "'the greatest rapture in my life was afforded me on a boat in Nassau by Fatima Blush' and sign it '007.'" James pulls out his Q-supplied phosphorus pellet pen and pierces her in the shoulder. Unfortunately, the thing is still experimental and fizzles for a bit as Fatima laughs sinisterly and cocks her handgun. As she is about to squeeze the trigger and blast away Bond's groin the phosphorus pellet finally explodes, incinerating the greatest henchwoman ever to grace a Bond film.
There's still Largo to be dealt with and nuclear bombs to be recovered. Bond's pursuit of Largo takes him to Palmyra, to a castle where he is manacled in a dungeon while Domino, who has betrayed Largo, is auctioned off to some understandably excited Arab tribesmen. Bond escapes and, mounted on horseback, rescues Domino, though the two and the horse have to leap spectacularly from the top of the castle wall into the ocean far below. There, a British submarine comes to the rescue, blasting the pursuing tribesmen to smithereens and picking up the fugitives. More underwater scenes follow, in which Bond penetrates the secret caves of Largo, supposedly formed long ago by the tears of Allah. This is where Largo has chosen to place one of the two nuclear warheads. Bonds job, as usual, is to save the world as we know it.
Production Values: The script, written by Lorenzo Semple Jr., is quite distinction among the Bond films and therefore will not be to the liking of some fans of the series. I find it to be one of the more creative scripts, with its emphasis on the decaying world of espionage services, greater than typical character development, better than usual one-liners and situational humor, a dramatic video game sequence, and a glamorous ballroom dancing scene. None of those strengths are what the average Bond fan wants, however, so the film has not enjoyed a lot of popularity. It doesn't concern me that the plot is a rehashing of the one from Thunderball. I have always enjoyed seeing how different films handle the same story, such as the several versions of Pride and Prejudice, to cite one example. Most Bond films rehash particular action sequences or plot elements anyway. There's real drama and menace in this film and less of the slapstick and self-parody that dominated the Roger Moore era. The role of the gadgetry has been reduced and even made subject of a nice bit of humor, with the phosphorus pellet pen that is "not yet perfected." Largo and Fatima Blush are two of the best-drawn villains in any of the Bond films. The humor about the aging Bond is clever and enjoyable but the womanizing loses a good deal of its luster, since Connery is twice the age of several of the gals that he beds. There's a very fine line (consisting of about ten years aging) between a suave ladies man and a dirty old lecher.
The cinematography is a mixed bag in this film. I give high marks for the underwater camerawork and the scenes at the old castle at Palmyra. On the other hand, this film makes less successful use of the vistas in Jamaica than did Dr. No. A major deficit for this Bond film is the soundtrack. The filmmakers were precluded from using the standard Bond music and Michel Legrand's score is just no match for the ones provided by John Barry.
Though Sean Connery is the best Bond ever, his age shows badly in this film. He was 53 at the time. Roger Moore was actually older than Connery, but managed to look younger. Besides, Moore was a less action oriented Bond than Connery, so the slowing down with age is less evident in Moore's final films, although it's visible.
My main reasons for enjoying this particular film have much more to do with other cast members, notably Klaus Maria Brandauer, Barbara Carrera, and Kim Basinger in the major roles, and Max von Sydow, Edward Fox, Rowan Atkinson, and Valerie Leon in lesser ones. Brandauer is one of my favorite villains from the entire series. He shows us more evidence of mental derangement than most of the other actors cast as villains. His variety of gestures and exquisite timing and emphasis in delivering lines sets him a notch above many of the others. Brandauer is a great actor, in my opinion. Brandauer's other work includes Mephisto (1981), Colonel Redl (1984), Out of Africa (1985), The Lightship (1986), and The Russia House (1990).
Barbara Carrera is hands down the best henchwoman ever in the Bond series. I suppose that some will argue that her performance is over-the-top, but I found her deliciously malevolent. She's every man's worst nightmare of the ultimate liberated woman. Despite her fine work here, she got few additional film opportunities. By contrast, Kim Basinger, who was relatively unknown when this film was shot, went on to become a major star, albeit one whose acting skills were often derided. I think she's not given enough credit for her acting. I like her range of facial expressions and eye movements in this film. In any case, she has better lips than Mick Jagger, which is really saying a lot!
Edward Fox, who plays M, was the only one of the actors cast in the recurrent roles (M, Q, Miss Moneypenny), who was satisfactory, but Fox is better than just satisfactory. Fox is an accomplished actor who appeared in such films as The Go-Between (1971), The Duelists (1977), Soldier of Orange (1977), A Bridge Too Far (1977), Gandhi (1982), The Dresser (1983), Lost in Space (1998), and Nicholas Nickleby (2002). Viewers of this film may or may not enjoy Rowan Atkinson's comedy turn in the role of the bumbling Nigel Small-Fawcett. I found it a bit too much. Pat Roach was pretty good as the thug at Shrublands. Prunella Gee, Valerie Leon, Lucy Hornak, and Jill Meager added additional eye candy. Max von Sydow, one of the greatest actors of his generation, makes a brief appearance as Ernst Stavro Blofeld and ranks second only to Donald Pleasence in realizing that character.
Bottom-Line: I don't mean to over-hype this film. It's in the lower half of Bond films, but not as bad as it is often made out to be. There are two or three performances that are outstanding and worth visiting. Here then, is my Overall Certified Gold Bond Rating for this film, using my system that facilitates comparisons across the series:
Bond: Sean Connery, looking too old Rating: 3/5
Villain: Largo (Klaus Maria Brandauer) Rating: 5/5
Storyline: Stealing nuclear warheads for ransom 3/5; tears of Allah underwater caves 4/5; Bond as aging agent and M's disregard for double-0's 5/5 Overall Rating: 4/5
Action: Pre-credit training exercise 3/5; Bond vs. Lippe at health clinic 4/5; motorcycle chase 3/5; Palmyra fortress sequence 5/5 Overall Rating: 4/5
Toys: Lethal pen, not perfected 5/5, motorcycle 1/5, XT-7B sub to surface rockets 3/5 Overall Rating: 2/5
Character Development: Largo far better developed than most Bond villains; Fatima Blush best developed henchwoman ever; Bond coping with aging and decline of the double-0's Rating: 5/5
Music: Michel Legrand's feeble score is no substitute for the real Bond music; poor theme song Rating: 0/5
Locales: Shrublands clinic, Bahamas, underwater scenes, south of France, Palmyra Rating: 3/5
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Overall Certified Gold Bond Rating: 40/60
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