Utter nonsense but great to see Connery at the height of his charisma (and sarcasm), Richard Maibaum and Paul Dehn's adaptation is littered with incongruities, though is fun; Miami and Switzerland locations enjoyable. Classic opening in which Bond appears from under a seagull, sets an explosive in a heroin factory, strips off his wetsuit to reveal a white tux, enters a bar (where he's severely overdressed), consults his Rolex Submariner as the explosion occurs, kisses a half naked girl and then has a fight ending in murder by electric fire in the bath. Then a helicopter shot comes around the side of the Fountainbleu just as a high diver does a perfect dive..
Some of the dialogue is outrageous: Bond in bed with girl declines Leiter's dinner invitation saying 'Something very big has come up'. Forgot to mention his gay powder blue robe..
Soon after, the total madness starts - consider the logistics of painting a girl (who we are told isn't dead at the time) totally gold, without getting any on the sheets. Why make a car with a passenger ejector seat? Why kill a man, then have his car crushed with him in it, then have to uncrush it to retrieve the gold? Why kill all the heads of the mob? How can you be sure your nerve gas will actually catch all 60,000 people?
Highlights are the golf game (filmed at Stoke Poges), where Connery's interest in the game began, Switzerland, Peter Hunt's rapid editing of action, Gert Froebe and smiley Harold Sakata (Tosh Togo), and that gorgeous Aston Martin DB5.
With Honor Blackman, Tania Mallet (who's awful), Burt Kwouk, Bernard Lee, Lois Maxwell, Richard Vernon. Photographed with great skill by Ted Moore.
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| Like - really? Pussy Galore's Flying Circus, or something! |
Connery died last October, Blackman in April (she was older), though pleased to report Eaton is still with us.
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