James Bond : The Film Review and Bond Link/Connection Thread *SPOILERS*

This is based on a theory that most, if not all, movies can be linked/connected in some way to the Bond films, novels, world.

Review a movie you've seen that isn't a Bond movie and make a link/connection (no matter how tenuous or convoluted) between it and Bond.

HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER (1973)

Clint Eastwood's allegorical western is a genre classic. At the time of its release it was unlike any other western that had come before it. And it remains one of the best films ever made in that genre to this very day.

The plot is simple and set in a gorgeously stark lakeside location. A stranger (Eastwood) passing through the mining town of Lago stops for refreshment and is almost immediately provoked into killing three hired guns. He is then accosted by the town bike and proceeds to rape her in a stable for her rudeness. Not your average travelling salesman then.

The townsfolk of Lago were previously complicit in the murder of the town sheriff. He was killed by a trio of mining company employed hoods. They whipped him to death in the street. These three killers were then framed for theft by the townspeople and conveniently imprisoned. Bad news is they have just been released from the pen and are heading back to town with payback on their minds.

The townsfolk, noting the stranger's prowess with a gun and his mercenary attitude to life in general, ask him to help defend them from the returning thugs. In return he can have anything he wants. And that's a big mistake. He agrees the deal and sets about teaching them a lesson they will never forget.

The set-up is simple, but within this straightforward framework resides a complex and multi-layered allegorical fable about morality, sin, cowardice, greed, hell, revenge and redemption. This is not your typical horse opera, no sir.

People who have seen the film are all, to some degree, hung up on the question of the stranger's identity. There are several possibilities and theories.

He's the Devil. This is based on his almost supernatural ability to avoid certain death and the scene in which he refuses to help the townsfolk until they offer him anything he wants. The suggestion being that this is the key moment when they have willingly sold him their souls, and he is then free to take them to hell. One character points out: "This couldn't be any worse if the devil himself had ridden into Lago."

He could be an avenging angel on a mission to teach the sinful populace of the town a lesson.

Or, he is the restless spirit of Jim Duncan, the murdered sheriff, returning in another guise to take revenge against the town and the men who killed him. The stranger has dreams of Duncan's death. Some critics point to the closing scenes when Eastwood is leaving town and the midget Mordecai, who is putting a name on the sheriff's grave marker states: "I never did know your name" to which the stranger replies: "Yes you do". As Eastwood rides away, the camera pans to the name of the sheriff on the grave marker.

Perhaps he is really just a footloose traveller passing through who, by a twist of fate, gets caught up in events and everything else is just smoke and mirrors. "I was just riding through looking for a drink and a hot bath."

The identity of the stranger doesn't really matter. It is never specified but the script provides plenty of clues and cues to generate speculation and it is therefore in the eye of the beholder. You pay your money, you take your choice. Deliberately left open to interpretation. Me, I like the Satan idea, and sometimes I think that's the most likely interpretation. Then I watch it again and I'm pretty much sold on the ghost of the dead sheriff idea. It varies.

Whoever or whatever the stranger is, his actions are more significant he rides into Lago, he clearly has an agenda whether that is ultimately pre-defined or off the cuff. His mission is to mess with them, show them the error of their ways and orchestrate punishment. That's what he does and then he's gone. Like a ghost, melting into the heat haze as he rides into the distance in the closing scenes.

How he rolls is, he makes the local midget the sheriff and the mayor. Takes serious advantage of the offer of anything he wants; has them paint the town red (Preacher: "You can't mean the church?" Stranger: "I mean especially the church."). He changes the name of the town from Lago to Hell. Then he deserts them to the mercies of the vengeful killers, later returning in a night of flame, whiplash, gunfire and reckoning to wipe out the bad guys; finally leaving Lago a chastened and ruined husk that either needs to be reconstructed or abandoned.

Reasons why you should watch it? It's provocative, stimulating, intriguing and a fabulous example of the creative invention going on in American mainstream cinema in the early seventies. The violent action still has the power to shock even now and it is directed by Eastwood with the skill and flair of a major creative talent. He extends the western mythology re-envisioned by the likes of Leone and Peckinpah and elevates it to another level. The screenplay by Ernest (Shaft) Tidyman is blackly humorous, laconic and smart, littered with some classic Eastwood one-liners, and there is not a single dud performance from the very accomplished cast. Great atmospheric score from Dee Barton and haunting cinematography by Bruce Surtees. Even if you don't like westerns, watch it for the sheer thrill of being reminded why cinema is an art form.

The creativity and quality on show is something you won't see replicated in Hollywood movies today. Amazing what could once be achieved back when no one had even imagined CGI could ever exist. And if they had and considered the implications, they wouldn't want it to.

LINK/CONNECTION: Ernest Tidyman scripted HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER and also created the character John Shaft. The advertising tagline for the first SHAFT movie was "Cooler than Bullitt, hotter than Bond." SHAFT probably represents the commercial zenith of early seventies blaxploitation craze. The 1973 Roger Moore debut Bond movie LIVE AND LET DIE was heavily influenced by the success of blaxploitation cinema.

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"What a helpful Chap."

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UNDER SIEGE 2: DARK TERRITORY (1995)

All right, guys. Let's admit it. DIE HARD ON A TRAIN is a classic. Say what you will about Seagal but he gave us UNDER SIEGE 1 and 2 and he got sucked out into the clouds in the Stuart Baird thrill-ride EXECUTIVE DECISION. And for these 3 films I'm eternally thankful. I still can't change the channel every time this one comes on. C'mon! Trains, terrorists, Katherine Heigl, Seagal at his most zen-like, and Everett McGill as Penn who uses pepper spray as a breath spray. What's not to like? And a techno-nerd bad guy who looks like a demented cross between Elliott Gould and Tim Curry! With classic lines like "Your safety IS our primary concern. However, if you try anything stupid, Federal Regulations require that I kill you" I'm surprised this thing didn't win the Oscar for best scriptlol.

But seriously, with so much testosterone flying around, helped by Basil Poledouris's rousing score, and so much cool train climbing action (over, under, all over) I sometimes wonder if this one isn't even better than the first one - helmed by Andrew Davis. I mean the Eric Bogosian/Everett McGill combo is just as good as the Tommy Lee Jones/Gary Busey combo! And the kill quip by Seagal (after he dispatches McGill) "Nobody beats me in the kitchen" is right up there with some of the best quips in the Bond pictures.

Anyway it's one of the top films of 1995. I have come to the conclusion that you just can't go wrong when using the DIE HARD formula. I have yet to see a bad DIE HARD clone. SPEED, CLIFFHANGER, UNDER SIEGE, SUDDEN DEATH, AIR FORCE ONE, CON AIR, etc. Die Hard on a Bus, Die Hard on a Mountain, Die Hard on a Ship/Train, Die Hard in a Hockey Arena, Die Hard on a Plane, etc.


So what is the Bond connection? Well, Ed Killifer himself of course. Everett McGill in the role of his life - playing the mercenary Penn like the biggest badass of all time. This hombre could almost make Chuck Norris run and hide under his bed. Also this film was released in 1995 - the year of Bond's rebirth with GE.

Also perennial tough guy Patrick Kilpatrick plays one of the mercs. Kilpatrick played the "Sandman" in DEATH WARRANT opposite JCVD, who in turn went toe to toe with Sly in EXPENDABLES 2. Sly of course did battle with Steven Berkoff in RAMBO II, who in turn did pout opposite Bond himself in OCTOPUSSY. So there you go. Loop closed.

Connery, Moore, and Brosnan! Accept NO substitutes!

Excellent work, ringfire. You've grasped the spirit of the thing there. Spot on.

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"What a helpful Chap."

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We aim to please.

Next..

Connery, Moore, and Brosnan! Accept NO substitutes!

I honestly don't see why we need the review at all. I've just seen Lincoln. So, here's the review: It was good.
Now, draw a deep breath

Early in his career, director Steven Spielberg expressed interest in directing a Bond film and was rumored to be in consideration for Moonraker, a film that's influenced by Star Wars from his friend George Lucas with whom Spielberg made the Indiana Jones films, a movie franchise that's influenced by Bond and has influenced some Bond films in return. The first three Indiana Jones films were shot by Douglas Slocombe who also was the director of photography on Never Say Never Again, a film that also includes Indy's Dad, Indy's enemy Pat Roach, and Indy's art director Leslie Dilley. Additionally, Star Wars beat both The Spy Who Loved Me and Spielberg's Close Encounters Of The Third Kind at the Oscars for Best Art Directon-Set Decoration and Best Original Score in 1977. Star Wars also won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects, an award for which the aforementioned Moonraker was nominated and which Thunderball won. Another Spielberg film, The Color Purple, also lost the Best Original Score Oscar in 1985 - to one John Barry for Out Of Africa. Not to mention that Spielberg has worked with countless actors from the Bond franchise: the train fight combatants, Ralph Fiennes, Alison Doody, John Rhys-Davies, Michael Lonsdale
Writer Tony Kushner also wrote Munich for Spielberg, a movie with Daniel Craig. Munich stars Eric Bana, an actor who was rumored to be in consideration for the Bond role in the year of Munich's release (2005). Hm, maybe the lunatics actually wanted to hire Bana, but accidentally mistook him for his rat-faced co-star. Whatever, Kushner is the author of the play Angels In America which he adapted for television with score by Skyfall composer Thomas Newman and with Felix Leiter Jeffrey Wright. Kushner is also a vocal supporter of gay rights and gay - or at least sexually ambiguous - characters are a basic trope of the Bond franchise even though they're mostly villains.
Actor Daniel Day-Lewis won an Oscar for There Will Be Blood, a film that also won the award for Best Cinematography and the awardee in that category was Robert Elswit who had shot Tomorrow Never Dies. Day-Lewis has also worked with three M actors. He was in Gandhi with Eward Fox, and Fox played M in Never Say Never Again. He was in both A Room With A View and Nine with Judi Dench, and Dench was M in seven films. He was in The Bounty with Anthony Hopkins, and Hopkins was M in Mission Impossible 2. Oops. Nevertheless, the composer of Mission Impossible 2's score was one Hans Zimmer whose compositions are an obvious influence on the Skyfall score.
Actress Sally Field worked with Blofeld in Beyond The Poseidon Adventure and with the doomed lovers from Tomorrow Never Dies in Mrs. Doubtfire and Soapdish rescpectively. She also dated her co-star Burt Reynolds who was offered the Bond role in the 1970s.
Actor Tommy Lee Jones worked with Bond villains Dario in The Hunted and with Alec in Stormy Monday which was also shot by Skyfall cinematographer Roger Deakins. Additionally, Jones acted under the direction of two-time Bond editor Stuart Baird in U.S. Marshals, a sequel to The Fugitive in which he played his role opposite Harrison Ford who'd played James Bond's son in Steven Spielberg's and George Lucas' Indiana Jones franchise which is influenced by
In the year of The World Is Not Enough's release, actor David Strathairn acted with Elektra King in A Midsummer Night's Dream and later with another femme fatale, Miranda Frost, in Fracture. Also with whoever that retarded nerd might be in The Tempest. Additionally, he was in the Bourne franchise with Bond's Alfred, and the Bourne films are a heavy influence on the current 007 films and on Quantum Of Solace in particular.
Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt worked under the direction of Bond fan Christopher Nolan whose filmmaking style was literally imitated in Skyfall. The movies Gordon-Levitt acted in, Inception and The Dark Knight Rises, both include several references to the Bo

I'm sorry, but that's just too vigorous for me. I did the best I could.

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I honestly don't see why we need the review at all.

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"We?" I'm unsure as to who "we" are but agree that in terms of human "need" reviews of anything might not be "needed" as such.

Howeverclearly this is a wholly self-indulgent thread and I (me, that is) am interested in what Bond fans posting here might make of other films and how they might review them. But there are no hard and fast rules and anyone who wants to contribute however they so wish are at liberty to do so. Or not.

Lists disguised as paragraphs are more than acceptable and I enjoyed reading through yours up to a point. Many of the connections you made were without rancour.

Although you stated your opinion that LINCOLN (the movie) was good, that doesn't tell me why you think it was good. That wasn't a review as such as it omits the rationale, which I think is the interesting meaty bit supporting the stated opinion. "We" may feel differently. But that's fine.

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"What a helpful Chap."

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DRACULA AD 1972 (1972)

By the 1970s, Hammer Studios were losing momentum in the marketplace. Their cheaply made fantasy horror flicks began to pale in relevance against a rising tide of more visceral and intellectually challenging movies from America. By the time of The Exorcist in 1973, they were just about done, their particular oeuvre looking somewhat outdated, un-dynamic and retrogressive by comparison.

That said, when it comes to entertainment value channelled through a filter of undiluted eccentricity, an absolute unselfconscious lack of internal self-awareness and an uncanny knack of creating hysterically unintentional hilarity, DRACULA AD 1972 and its ilk are going to trample all over any Exorcist or Texas Chainsaw Massacre any day of the week. In its own culturally clueless way, it is a pop art classic that in retrospect has improved in stature over the years, to the point where it almost transcends criticism by virtue of the fact that criticism can't really touch it. Reasoned critique has no place here because it would have no meaningful effect.

What makes it so great? Where do I start? Lee and Cushing - they act and behave on screen as though they are appearing in something by Shakespeare. The utter conviction and quality of these two performers bypasses the script, the dialogue, the direction, everything, and expresses nothing but consistent professionalism and commitment. Lesser performers might have let a degree of realisation and insight diminish the standard of their input down to the level of the material which clearly enshrines them. Not these two. They play it straight and true throughout. That's class that is. And it pays off.

Christopher Neame � ana 25 year-old pretending to be the teenage leader of a teenage gang (sorry "group. We're just a group of friends."). The hip young guns, it must be said, are also a bit long in the fang with teen years little more than a distant memory, one would imagine. Neame acts like he's in some sort of demented Gothic pantomime without a director, giving one of the most over-the-top and eye-poppingly histrionic performances ever seen in a movie of this type. Vincent Price would have been compelled to relinquish his crown of ham in an instant to this guy, knighting him Sir Hammy McHamster of Hambone in the parish of Hampshire on the spot. The sequence wherein Cushing offs him in the shower, and the process leading up to it, is a slice of pure cinematic genius and simply has to be experienced to be�well, experienced.

The Score � By ex-Manfred Mann member, Mike Vickers, is an absolute treat. Supplemented by tracks from stereotypical multi-racial hippie combo Stoneground and electronics pioneer David Vorhaus, it's a fascinating combination of cheesy jazzed-up early seventies TV serial music and Philip Martell influences. What's not to like?

Caroline Munro and Stephanie Beacham � I mean, if you want a heaving cleavage and Max-Factor fake blood combination, these chicks are up for it. There are no better. Trust one who knows. They don't need to show what they've got in order to show what they've got. Know what I mean.

The Dialogue � So many gold-plated howlers:

"Dig the music, kids!"

"Is this your place, Johnny?" "Come in for a bite."

"Don't look now, but Charley baby's gonna call the fuzz."

"Weird, man. Way out. I mean, spooks, hobgoblins, black magic. All that sort of stuff."

"But if we do get to summon up the big daddy with the horns and the tail, he gets to bring his own liquor, his own bird and his own pot."

And so many more. You couldn't make it up. But, astonishingly, someone did!

Okay, so if none of that makes you want to see it and fall on your knees in worship at the altar of its' very special merits, there are other plus points. The opening confrontation between Van Helsing and Dracula, ending with the latter impaled on a broken carriage-wheel and the former breathing his last, is an immediate blast from the off. The nostalgic early seventies London atmosphere the film manages to generate is eerily unique � it instills a sensation of having been there even if you hadn't been. The final confrontation, between the ageing modern day descendant of Van Helsing and the time-compromised Count, results in genuine feelings of both pathos and exhilaration. And, all in all, it's a pacey little number that slows only momentarily. There's always something to keep you engaged � even if it induces a shaking of the head or dropping of the jaw in sheer awestruck disbelief.

In the end, it's a feel-good movie that didn't intend to be from a time when the term "feel-good movie" didn't exist. Put on a SAW or Hostel DVD and think about how good you feel after it. Then put on Dracula AD 1972 and think about the same thing.

The ultimate unintentional feel-good horror movie. No lie.

LINK/CONNECTION:Pretty obvious from checking out the cast list. Christopher Lee played Scaramanga in THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN (and was Ian Fleming's cousin), Caroline Munro played Naomi in THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, Christopher Neame went on to play Fallon in LICENCE TO KILL and Michael Kitchen played Bill Tanner twice (GOLDENEYE and THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH).

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"What a helpful Chap."

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and was Ian Fleming's cousin

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Not by (Dracula's) blood. They were stepcousins.

Thank you bushtony for writing so well and entertaining about a film I have recommended many of my friends. Not more than to say that, I am collector of horrorfilms of all kinds since the VCRs were available for renting here in Sweden in 1981.

The critics have traditionally put down most of the later Hammerfilms of the 70s, but I find, that some of them are the opposite of tired. Wonderfully energic and bold and daring in their "new" expressions although a bit far from the Hammer of old of course. I really fancy Dracula AD 1972 and Scars of Dracula, and most of all Vampire Circus. Thanks for good and fun writing!

Hmm. Perhaps I'll give Malone a whirl someday. I suppose I unfairly dismissed it as uninteresting under a presumption that it looked more like Rent-a-Cop (which I saw and disliked) than Sharkey's Machine (which I really like.) Not sure how I did that because it was decades ago and it never resurfaced in my conscience. Quite a "hit-and-miss" phase of Burtdom, under perusal, here.

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Now, this is a signature gun, and that is an optical palm reader.

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It's funny that you liked SHARKEY'S MACHINE, pking. I thought it had a great opening (with the bus shootout) and I thought this was going to be some cool Dirty Harry-type flick. Alas it descended into some kind of schmaltzy love story between Burt and some chick he's protecting. Though the highrise fall at the end by Henry Silva was pretty impressive. A real stunt done by some great stuntman (was it Dar Robinson?) if I recall correctly.

Nope, give me MALONE over SHARKEY.

Connery, Moore, and Brosnan! Accept NO substitutes!

That's exactly what I feel about Sharkey. Strong opening, Dirty Harry vibe, nice sort of "team building" feelthen gets off track with a bit too much romance

But then returns to form with some badass torture and Henry Silva gunfighting and falling stuntwork.

So I ended up liking it, even given the soapy romance in the middle (good time to take a potty break) and it sounds like Malone might be even better.

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Now, this is a signature gun, and that is an optical palm reader.

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You did not really expect me to post anything but a list, did you?

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I (me, that is) am interested in what Bond fans posting here might make of other films and how they might review them.

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That's fine of course, but then we - and in this case, I mean you - could do the whole thread without the Bond connections just as well.

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Many of the connections you made were without rancour.

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And I'm not responsible for the rancour, but it's probably quite natural that a movie from 2012 shows connections to another film from 2012 (stars, filmmakers, and their projects in the more recent past).

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Although you stated your opinion that LINCOLN (the movie) was good, that doesn't tell me why you think it was good.

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Of course not. I'm a Bond boy first and a cinephile second, and as a result, not that much interested in talking about movies that don't feature the world's most famous secret agent. Additionally, Lincoln is nowhere as interesting as 007, is he?

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You did not really expect me to post anything but a list, did you?

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I didn't expect you to post anything.

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but then we - and in this case, I mean you - could do the whole thread without the Bond connections just as well.

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Could. Didn't. It's a Bond board, I reasoned. Hence the Bond connections. Sort of in keeping, I thought.

Ah, I see you're fond of using the royal "we." Healthcare managers are much the same.

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not that much interested in talking about movies that don't feature the world's most famous secret agent.

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Well, that's OK. Don't. No problem.

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Additionally, Lincoln is nowhere as interesting as 007, is he?

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I have little interest in LINCOLN the man or the movie. Although I did watch that film of his where he killed vampires. I haven't seen the zombie slaying one yet. Thus far none of the trailers or reviews for Spielberg's flick have done anything much to inspire any enthusiasm beyond my original indifference. A review by a Bond fan, though, might have swayed things. Or then again, might not.

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"What a helpful Chap."

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MIRAGE (1965)

Wow!! A real treat this one turned out to be! I was quite underwhelmed by Edward Dmytryk's (who's a Ukrainian by the way - like me!) THE CAINE MUTINY but Dmytryk really impressed me with this obscure gem. I already sang quite a bit of praise for Stanley Donen's mystery/spy/comedy films like CHARADE and ARABESQUE but I gotta say that Dmytryk's MIRAGE actually trumps them both! It's now one of my favorites from 1965 - only THUNDERBALL, DOCTOR ZHIVAGO, and FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE are better. Anyhoo, Gregory Peck does a great job playing an amnesiac while Walter Matthau delivers another superbly humorous performance (as he did in CHARADE) as a private investigator whose first case just happens to be Peck. Throw in a solid supporting cast consisting of Diane Baker, Kevin McCarthy, Leif Erickson, Jack Weston, and George Kennedy and a nice jazzy score by Quincy Jones and you've got one heck of a mystery thriller!!


Bond connection? Let's see. Diane Baker costarred with Connery in Hitch's MARNIE. Greg Peck costarred with Rog in SEA WOLVES. Jack Weston starred in Terence Young's WAIT UNTIL DARK. Cinematographer Joseph MacDonald shot VIVA ZAPATA! which costarred Joseph Wiseman. Director Dmytryk directed Sir Sean in SHALAKO. Oh, and 1965 was the year of 007.

Connery, Moore, and Brosnan! Accept NO substitutes!

Good stuff, ringfire.

SHALLOW GRAVE (1994)

Danny Boyle's directorial debut remains a satisfying, stylish and twisted little black comedy thriller. It features fledgling wannabes Kerry Fox, Christopher Eccleston and Ewan McGregor as yuppie flatmates taking in a new lodger to share the bills. It isn't long before Hugo the lodger is found dead in bed from an overdose and the three smug and selfish twenty-somethings find themselves in possession of a suitcase full of loot.

Naturally, they want the money, but what to do about Hugo? Then there's the little matter of the two gangland killers who are looking for Hugo and the dough.

The scene is set for a grisly and wicked ramble through the intricate highways and byways of body disposal, murder and duplicitous double-crossing.

Part thriller, part jet black satire on the corrosive dysfunction characterising Thatcher's self-centred and greed-obsessed 90s babies, Boyle has a keen eye for social comment and a scalpel sharp sense of morbid humour.

There is much to enjoy, notably Eccleston's mental devolution from straight-laced and OCD accountant to paranoid and murderous loft dweller, Fox's moral dissipation to ruthless femme-fatale using sexual promiscuity to get what she wants, and McGregor's persona downturn from confident, wired and irresponsible journo to nervy and fearful potential victim in line.

It's great nasty fun, with pleasingly reverent nods to Hitchcock, and the payoff (if you don't know it) is a wry little cracker.

A deliciously cruel gem of a movie.

LINK/CONNECTION: Robert Carlyle was originally offered the Chris Eccleston role. Carlyle went on to feature in Boyle's TRAINSPOTTING - a film in which Ewan McGregor and Jonny Lee Miller discuss the downward trajectory of Sean Connery's acting career after Bond as a metaphor for what happens as you grow old. They also do some Connery-as-Bond impressions whilst firing an air rifle in a public park. Additionally, the voice-over during the end of the TRAINSPOTTING end credits cites the seven movies in which Sean Connery played James Bond.

Robert Carlyle went on to play Renard in THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH. Boyle went on to direct the opening ceremony for the London 2012 Olympics in which Daniel Craig as Bond made an appearence jumping out of a helicopter with Her Majesty The Queen.

Would any of this have transpired without SHALLOW GRAVE connection? I think not.

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"What a helpful Chap."

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I've just realized that I'd written something like a review in another thread and decided to overwork it a bit for this one.

Becket (GB 1964)
Becket by director Peter Glenville, based on the much lauded and much maligned play by Jean Anouilh, is an oddity. Even though both the static screenplay and the somewhat uninspired direction at times literally seem to collapse under Anouilh's staginess, the overlong film remains extremely entertaining for the most part. Maybe that's because Becket is a beautiful picture with wonderful sets, an amusingly incoherent wide set of costumes that range from plain to outré, and gorgeous lighting work by Geoffrey Unsworth. And as a result, the Middle Ages in Becket look both naturalistic and attractive. However, the eye candy is not complemented by ear candy. The score is admittedly quite good, but also way too much in several scenes. It seems to reflect the double-edgedness of the entire opus whose main problem unfortunately happens to be lead actor Peter O'Toole in one of the campiest performances of all time. It's baffling how Mr. O'Toole managed to be so excruciatingly terrible as King Henry in Becket and so mind-blowing brilliant in the same role only four years later in The Lion In Winter. His co-star Richard Burton fares much better as Thomas Becket even though the role isn't exactly a natural fit for him. Nevertheless, cast against type, Mr. Self-Loathing convincingly portrays a character that comes to peace with himself and the world while simultaneously conveying both restraint and ambiguity towards his obsessive and obviously lovestruck King. And as a counterpoint, Burton's mentor John Gielgud amuses in a role that's quite another kind of king, but ultimately not much more than a cameo.
Grade: B-, with a shot at B.

Now, let's move on to the more interesting stuff.
Becket is a British production, just like the James Bond films, and 1964 was the year of Goldfinger.
In his next film, Hotel Paradiso, director Peter Glenville directed Gina Lollobridgida who had been Sean Connery's co-star in Woman Of Straw in the very same year that Becket was released. He also was gay, drowned Becket in gayness, and might or might not have enjoyed the sexual ambiguity of so many Bond characters.
Producer Hal B. Wallis also produced Rooster Cogburn with Krest, Follow Me! with Columbo, and 5 Card Stud with Kananga.
Writer Edward Anhalt has written The Sins Of Rachel Cade with Roger, The Young Savages with Telly Savalas, Escape To Athena with both Roger and Savalas (and Sir James Bond David Niven), The Salzburg Connection with Klaus Maria Brandauer, and The Holcroft Covenant with Antony Zerbe. Additionally, he adapted Robert Shaw's play The Man In The Glass Booth for the big screen.
Actor Richard Burton was in consideration for the Bond role in the early 60s, and he made movies with two actors that would eventually get the part: The Longest Day with Sean, and The Wild Geese with Roger. He also made many films with a significant number of Bond villains: The Longest Day with Gert Frobe and Curt Jurgens, Bitter Victory with Jurgens and Christopher Lee, The V.I.P.s with Louis Jourdan, and Look Back In Anger with Donald Pleasence. He also made The Spy Who Came In From The Cold with Bernard Lee and Walter Gotell. Additionally, he acted with Mary Ure before (Look Back In Anger) and while (Where Eagles Dare) she was married to Robert Shaw.
Actor Peter O'Toole has worked with countless actors from the Bond franchise. With Curt Jurgens in Lord Jim, Ursula Andress in What's New Pussycat, Julian Glover in King Ralph, Timothy Dalton in The Lion In Winter, Robert Carlyle in the TV movie Hitler: The Rise Of Evil, Sean Bean in Troy He also made a blink and you'll miss him cameo appearance in Casino Royale 1967 where he must have been killed by Andress, if memory serves correctly. Additionally, he was in the Best Picture Oscar winner for 1987, The Last Emporer, and this was also the year when Connery won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for The Untouchables.
Actor John Gielgud has worked with nearly all of the Bond actors: with Sean Connery (Murder On The Orient Express and First Knight), Roger Moore (Gold), Timothy Dalton (the TV movie The Master Of Ballantrae and the TV mini-series Scarlett), and Daniel Craig (The Power Of One and Elizabeth). I'm not keen on counting voice acting, but if we do so, then he also had voice roles with Sean Connery in Dragonheart and with Pierce Brosnan in Quest For Camelot. Gielgud also made films with three M actors: Lion Of The Desert with Robert Brown, Gandhi with Edward Fox, and Hamlet (1996) with Judi Dench. Additionally, he played a character by the name of Chang in the 1973 version of Lost Horizon, and Chang is a name that several supporting characters in the Bond franchise bear.
Genius Geoffrey Unsworth, one of my favorite cinematographers, shot Cromwell with Timothy Dalton and Charles Gray, The Return Of The Pink Panther with Burt Kwouk and Eric Pohlmann, and the Columbo episode with Honor Blackman. He also photographed no less than four movies with Sean Connery: Zardoz, The First Great Train Robbery, A Bridge Too Far, and Murder On The Orient Express. The latter once again sees Connery on a murderous train ride, like in From Russia With Love, and is also 128 minutes long, just like For Your Eyes Only and The World Is Not Enough.
Composer Laurence Rosenthal wrote the score for Rooster Cogburn and Who'll Stop The Rain, two films that feature the aforementioned Anthony Zerbe. Additionally, he composed The Island Of Dr. Moreau with Barbara Carrera, Clash Of The Titans with Ursula Andress and Pat Roach, and a TV movie called License To Kill that's not related to the Bond world. Additionally, he wrote the theme music for the TV series Fantasy Island, a show that's somewhat inspired by The Man With The Golden Gun and even stars

Well, I think that's enough for a day.

Now that's more like it. Well done.

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"What a helpful Chap."

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Thank you, but I must say that the challenges of this thread - a review plus connections - could be viewed as time-consuming and exhausting. Not by me of course.

I guess the review could be as long or short and the links/connections as many or few as you choose. But I commend you for depth on the connections front.

This is fairly brief.

THE NIGHT OF THE GENERALS (1967)

Donald Pleasance and Charles Gray, feature as two of a trio of Nazi generals suspected by Wehrmacht major Omar Sharif of the murder of a prostitute in occupied Warsaw. The third suspect, and clearly the most batshyt homicidal, is genocidal Peter O'Toole as a twitchy obsessive compulsive madman. Guess who did it?

Yup, genocidal Pete's the boy. Jack the Rippering his way through Europe on his days off from shelling, flame-throwering and shooting hoardes of moderately resistive locals.

Sounds exciting, but it isn't. Moves at a snail's pace, is very long and suffers from a leaden script. Pleasance, Gray, Sharif and others acquit themselves well, but O'Toole overacts so virulently that it gives one pause to wonder if he was not really taking it seriously and was just in it for beer money.

I had seen bits of it over the years, but never the entire movie. Picked the DVD up for pennies and thought I'd sit through the whole thing.

It's a big budget affair, visually glowing and opulent with superb cinematography by Henri (LES ENFANTS TERRIBLES) Deca�. It generates a great sense of time and place, but simply fails to excite or thrill and gets sidetracked with other plot threads, meandering carelessly from one thing to the next. If it had been leaner and more focused it would have been a real winner

LINKS/CONNECTIONS: Pleasance and Gray played Bond nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld in YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE and DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER respectively. Gray additionally played Henderson in YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE. Also in the cast list is Michael Goodliffe who played Bill Tanner in THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN - although the role was uncredited. Joanna Pettet appeared as Mata Bond in the sprawling overblown 1967 spoof version of CASINO ROYALE.

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"What a helpful Chap."

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Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)

Mel "Sugartits" Gibson burst onto the scene (at least, the American scene) with this definitive entry into the post-apocalyptic action genre. A game-changer, really, as prior musings in this sort of distopian, alternate-reality sort of setting tended to feel, well burdened by obligation to try to say something, you know, meaningful and typically, rather verbose (see Soylent Green, A Boy and His Dog, even Planet of the Apes). Whereas, MM2:TRW instead embraced the liberation of the construct for a more base purpose: action.

Not any old action, either, but a rare and highly treasured subtype: the kinetic car chase.

So, George Miller treats us to a future where the big dogs have blown themselves to smithereens for god-knows-why, and what's left over are haggard, scrappy survivalists down under who either embrace tenuous grasp of "civilization" (the good folk) or a far more entertaining reversion to barbarism (the bad folk). And, one more: Max, our anti-anti-antihero who doesn't really seem all there anymore and spends his lonesome time burdened with a dingo, a limp, and memories of his family that were annihilated in the predecessor story Mad Max. (Oops spoiler alert.) Pretty sucky, except:

He also has the black-on-black. Last of the V8 Interceptors. A supercharged Pursuit Special Falcon XB GT that is essentially production designed to be the most badass vehicle ever to grace the screen. James DB5 may be classier and more ingenious, but Max's Pursuit Special exudes survivalist grit and cunning and is really the "Bond Girl" (and, spoiler alertsacrificial lamb) of this story.

At any rate, Max bombs around in black leather in his Ford, scavenging gas and dog food and squinting and being a loner. He's made some enemies with the natives, who are essentially hybrid all-terrain-vehiclists, former professional wrestlers, a bit starved for female attention, and definitely dangerous with crossbows.

But, Max (and an annoying but ultimately very useful pilot buddy) happen upon an outpost of homesteaders almost-straight-out-of-Shane but a century removed and Max notices that they have a refinery. Max needs gas! Problem is, so do the mohawked, football-padded barbarians literally causing them to circle the wagons and wearing down the settlers in a sort of war-of-attrition.

Well, Max brings an injured settler back to camp in trade for "all the gas I can carry" but the best laid plans often go astray and soon Max is marooned there, surrounded by non-loners and a feral child who, honestly, rub Max the wrong way on the surface, but underneath seem to stir echoes of the principled man he used to be (you know, last movie).

Will Max think of himself and abandon them to their fate, or step up to the plate and defend civilization and those in white vs. barbarism and those in black, even though Max himself still wears the black leather of his prior police officer job, in disrepair though it is?

Or is there a third path that will unfold that spells even far far greater motor vehicle mayhem?

Hint: This movie vaunts motor vehicle mayhem above all, so there's your clue.

George Miller is at his peak here and you may never see a more spare, efficient, dialogue-free visceral motor adventure onscreen again, given that the closest we produce today are CGI fakefests that are perhaps a tad too fast and furious, or faux arthouse chasers like Drive. But, MM2:TRW is sublime and seminal, here.

And, incredibly influential; the number of knockoffs, videogames, and so forth heavily influenced by this important work of art is likely too high to count.

BOND CONNECTION: Virginia Hey, the graceful and intimidating warrior woman who gamely defends the homestead and gasoline at Max's side, later graced Bond screens as Lubavitch in The Living Daylights.

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Now, this is a signature gun, and that is an optical palm reader.

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I was thinking of doing a Mad Max link but I like yours better, pking-2.

Here's another connection to be recognized. Her name is "Nellie".

http://www.computerweekly.com/blogs/editors-blog/rex_424659a.jpg

http://calitreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/roadwar3.jpg

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I'm motivated by my Duty.

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Cool! I knew, obviously, that the gyrocoptor and Little Nellie were similar in purpose. But did not know they overlapped in vehicle.

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Now, this is a signature gun, and that is an optical palm reader.

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There's also the film climax for Mad Mad 2 and Bond. No surprise, Bond is more explosive.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZeEzlDmJ4TQ/TqFFTkeIlAI/AAAAAAAAMMM/pCCvNXqo s0I/s640/RoadWarrior_121Pyxurz.jpg

http://media.cinemasquid.com/blu-ray/titles/mad-max-2-the-road-warrior /584/screenshot-med-35.jpg

http://www.mi6-hq.com/images/stills/ltk_s_01_500.jpg

http://www.filmnav.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/licence-to-kill-bond-light s-sanchez-on-fire-680x341.png

http://videoclipsimage.agaclip.com/GJBbsVPt7f_-james-bond-licence-to -kill-best-parts.jpg

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I'm motivated by my Duty.

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Great review of a great movie, pking-2. Much enjoyed.

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"What a helpful Chap."

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Joanna Pettet appeared as Mata Bond in the sprawling overblown 1967 spoof version of CASINO ROYALE.

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That Joanna sure was a looker! She first caught my eye in a 1984 episode of KNIGHT RIDER. Of course she was a bit older by then. For the longest time I thought she was American. She didn't have a British accent in that episode - she played an American.

I just caught her last week in a 70s episode of BANACEK (a detective show about a Polish insurance investigator/detective played by George Peppard) - very sexy there!! And again playing an American.

Connery, Moore, and Brosnan! Accept NO substitutes!

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That Joanna sure was a looker!

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Damn right. She also appeared three times as three different characters in the series "Fantasy Island" which featured famed Bond midget actor Hervé Villechaize (THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN) in another small part as a midget. He was a bit typecast was Hervé. That's the long and the short of it.

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"What a helpful Chap."

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MACHINE GUN PREACHER (2011)

Not the over-the-top action send-up I half expected.

Presents the simple story of real life Machine-Gun Preacher Sam Childers, served up in a straightforward way. It doesn't preach, events play out quickly without unnecessary explanations that hit you on the head. His faith is shown, and you can take that or leave it, too. When he spends some time in Africa using his construction skills, he experiences enough to become hooked on helping the children there.

Reasons why you should watch it? It highlights some real world activity that is still playing out on the Dark Continent. That's "dark" as in unknown, our lack of knowledge and awareness. And it's a stirring account of a guy who cleaned himself up and put himself in a place to do some good.

LINK/CONNECTION: the path leads to Uganda (later to Sudan), and involves havoc wrought by Joseph Kony's horrific LRA/Lord's Resistance Army, both of which appear toward the beginning Casino Royale.

It's a timeless real life story of one man being singled out by events to be compelled to work for a greater good sometimes beyond his own understanding. Not so different from cinema's Bond, Max, or even The Man With No Name. Hero With a Thousand Faces territory.

Oh, and then there is director Marc Forster, he did a fine job. Some might wonder about the editinglet me reassure. At the end of this film, you realize you can see everything.

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If it were your child, and I could get her back� does it matter how I do it?

D

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the path leads to Uganda (later to Sudan), and involves havoc wrought by Joseph Kony's horrific LRA/Lord's Resistance Army, both of which appear toward the beginning of Quantum of Solace

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Quantum Of Solace? You mean Casino Royale.

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you realize you can see everything

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Obviously.

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It's a timeless real life story of one man being singled out by events to be compelled to work for a greater good sometimes beyond his own understanding. Not so different from cinema's Bond

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Yeah, except that cinema's Bond does not tell a real life story, is not singled out by events, and what he works for is not beyond his own understanding. Well, beyond Craig Bond's perhaps.

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Hero With a Thousand Faces territory.

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And this particular hero has - or at least had - a unique and distinctive face. Too bad that people like you want to destroy it so that he loses his identity and becomes your customary "hero with a thousand faces".

Yes, of course I meant CR, I'll make that simple correction.

Beyond that, you should drop your trolling alltrollba. Feigning that you can't absorb simple statements wastes about as much time as reposting your trollpse lists.

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I'm motivated by my Duty.

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Well, since you opened the battle, you should be happy that I'm willing to continue it, RichardTheBully.

MADHOUSE (1974)

This was one of the very last of a kind - the tail end of an era of a conventional type of horror film that had dominated since the 1950s.

Hammer Studios were shutting up shop, heading for a last ditch life-preserver in the form of the TV market before slipping off the radar. AIP and Amicus similarly sliding into a terminal decline. Explicit and pioneering movies such as The Exorcist, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween, were leading the new wave. Directors such as Friedkin, Hooper, Carpenter, Cronenberg were soon to see their star in the ascendant. The days of plastic fangs, Max Factor blood, Gothic castles, garish Technicolour and a flash or two of heaving bosom, were gone forever.

MADHOUSE added a few melancholy notes to the swansong.

As the title suggests, it is indeed mad. And there's a house in it. It succeeds in being painfully camp, eccentric, hackneyed, desperate, confused and befuddled. The narrative has no internal logic and the characters who populate it are cardboard ciphers reciting awful dialogue and carving the ham as thick as you like. Yet

Vincent Price and Peter Cushing always do their best to entertain and elevate the material they're given way beyond it's lowbrow standard of quality. Cushing, especially, always acts as if he's been given something of Shakespearean standards to deliver. Price, ever insightful, knows all about dross and attacks it as a matter of course with a sustained barrage of enthused overacting as he's fully aware that's his only way to slap some meaningful dynamic into it. It doesn't really salvage the film, granted, but both these men do what they can to give it some spark of life.

When I was a kid I loved this sort of stuff. Back then it seemed to add up better. Now, the nostalgia factor is the main draw. MADHOUSE is indeed one deranged film in that nothing works or makes any sense, so much so that the more absurd it gets the more surreal and curiously engaging it becomes. The idea is relatively sound: horror movie actor Paul Toombes (Price) is implicated in a grisly murder, has a mental breakdown and quits the screen. Years later, writer friend and colleague Herbert Flay (Cushing) entices him to England to revive his Dr Death character in a TV show. Then people start dying around him in gruesome ways and he becomes the main focus of suspicion.

The supporting cast are mostly cannon-fodder, window dressing waiting around to get bumped off. They might as well be china ducks in a fairground shooting gallery for all anyone cares about them. There's a crazy woman in the cellar looking after a menagerie of spiders, chat show host Michael Parkinson pops up to interview Toombes and there are lots of clips from earlier (much higher calibre) AIP horror flicks featuring Price. It meanders along in a haphazard fashion until it grinds to a halt with what was probably intended to be a creepy grand guignol conclusion that in fact leaves the viewer thinking "What?" Finally, if evidence was needed of the end of an era for a particular type of movie genre, MADHOUSE is a suitable citation for winding down. Despite everything, though, it still manages to be mildly diverting fun. But that's about as good as it gets.

LINK/CONNECTION: Director, Jim Clark, is an accomplished editor who has worked on CHARADE, THE KILLING FIELDS, THE JACKAL, MARATHON MAN (among others). And THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH.

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"What a helpful Chap."

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STARCASH (1978)

A silly, fun science fiction adventure from the 70s.

Never got to see this until recently, though I was aware of it back then and through the years. From the start its characters are shown smiling and enjoying themselves as the bad guys pursue them through space. Special effects are all over the place, from passable to poor to pathetic but that's also something to enjoy looking back on it.

Marjoe Gortner I find irritating, but here I have to admire his courage and enthusiasm on screen in his role. There's no stopping him. Christopher Plummer and David Hasselhoff can't quite keep up.

Best of all is the lead character Stella Star. As far as sound and vision goes, she's got it all and the wardrobe to go with it. Too bad she wasn't tagged to do more high quality stuff.

LINK/CONNECTION: Of course there is Caroline Munro in the lead role and her connection to The Spy Who Loved Me, probably the main reason it's still talked about today.

But I forgot John Barry composed the musical scorehis style for the action and suspense was instantly recognizable. It was kind of smaller scale, almost bargain-basement quality, I guess consciously so to match the film. Starting out I wondered if the music was outright stolen from another score as can happen. Once I accepted it as Barry, it became VERY derivative of the Bond soundtracks though still short of self-theft. Not a bad thing, for this kind of film it became another item to enjoy.




Also viewed:

TROLLHUNTER (2010)

Presented documentary-style, this is a modern day Nordic tale of a camera crew following around one of those timeless individuals compelled to pursue a task that serves the public good. In this case, a man goes after the trolls that work their mischief in the shroud of darkness.

Thank heaven for selfless souls like him that confront mischief-makers. Tricking the trolls into the sunlight, they perish.

LINK/CONNECTION: No direct link to Bond films I noticed, other than a distant Hero-with-a-Thousand-Faces connection. Released in a year we should have had a Bond film but didn't.

Even so, pretty relevant to this Bond Board from time to time. Very analogous.

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Nigel: It really puts perspective on things, though, doesn't it?
David: Too much, there's too much *beep*ing perspective now.

D

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PSYCHO (1960)

My appreciation for this film has really gone through the roof! From the first time I saw it (maybe 8 years back) I knew it was my favorite Hitchcock. But after rewatching and totally being thrilled by NORTH BY NORTHWEST a few months ago I started to wonder if NBNW isn't almost as good as PSYCHO. Well, it's not. This most recent rewatch confirmed it. As great as NBNW is (oh believe me - it's great!!) PSYCHO is that much better. Far and away the best Hitch!! And almost everything that disturbed me about HALLOWEEN and made me look away from it I was drawn into and totally mesmerized by in PSYCHO. Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates is one of the most brilliant creations in film history! His conversation with Janet Leigh in the parlor is sooooo engaging that you're literally sitting there with your mouth agape. And need anyone say anything about the infamous shower scene?? Plus the B&W cinematography combined with Bernard Herrmann's amazing score really sets the creepy/paranoid mood of the film - sends shivers down your spine. Brilliant stuff!!

The Bond connections are plentiful. Hitch and Herrmann both worked with Connery in MARNIE. Tony Perkins played a villain opposite Rog in FFOLKES. Vera Miles costarred with little Lana Wood in THE SEARCHERS. John Gavin was considered (and hired) for the role of 007 in DAF. Gavin also costarred with Anthony Dawson in MIDNIGHT LACE. Simon Oakland made a number of guest appearances on "HAWAII FIVE-0" opposite Jack Lord. Frank Albertson was opposite Curt Jurgens in THE ENEMY BELOW. Lurene Tuttle was Joe Don Baker's ma in WALKING TALL. I'm sure there's more there.

Connery, Moore, and Brosnan! Accept NO substitutes!

Janet leigh was once married to Tony Curtis who co-starred with Roger Moore in the ITC series "The Persuaders." Contractual obligations to this show prevented Rog taking the role of Bond in DAF after Lazenby jumped ship. The theme music for "The Persuaders" was composed by John Barry.

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"What a helpful Chap."

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One episode of The Persuaders was directed by Peter Hunt. This episode had a scene where a number of Bond novels are shown, most prominently On Her Majesty's Secret Service whose film adaptation was the sole Bond film Peter Hunt directed. Hunt would also go on to direct Roger Moore in two feature films: Gold and Shout At The Devil. Not to mention that our beloved little Roger also directed two episodes of The Persuaders.
Additionally, Peter Hunt's The Persuaders episode features George Baker and Bob Simmons who both sort of have played James Bond himself. Simmons walked in the Gunbarrel of the first three films and also was the stunt arranger on many Bond films, but not on Hunt's. Baker dubbed George Lazenby for a large part of On Her Majesty's Secret Service, because he was the real Hilly in that film. Baker also was in The Spy Who Loved Me. Furthermore in North Sea Hijack with Roger again.
Two more actors from Hunt's Bond film, Bernard Horsfall and Catherine Schell, also were in the same episode of The Persuaders, but this time not under the direction of Hunt.
The Persuaders regular Laurence Naismith was in Diamonds Are Forever. Other actors who were in The Persuaders include: Geoffrey Keen who went on to play Bond's Minister Of Defence as many as six times, Shane Rimmer who was in I think three Bond films, John Stone who was in You Only Live Twice, Roger's daughter Deborah Moore who was in Die Another Day, Sean Connery's first wife Diane Cilento, and - drumroll - Lois Maxwell.
Two separate episodes of The Persuaders show similarities to The Man With The Golden Gun, one to the book and one to the film. The first one showed Roger brainwashed for an assassination, just as Bond was in the Golden Gun novel to kill M. And Roger's predestined victim in The Persuaders was played by none other than Bernard Lee! We didn't get brainwashed Bond attacking M in the Bond film, but we sure got it in The Persuaders. The second episode with a Golden Gun similarity - but to the movie, this time - showed Roger playing several roles, just as he would do in the 1974 Bond film where he played James Bond, Scaramanga's Bond dummy, and Scaramanga's cowboy dummy.
Also in The Persuaders episode with Diane Cilento was Denholm Elliott who co-starred with Sean Connery a total of four times: Robin And Marian, A Bridge Too Far, Cuba, and Indiana Jones And The Last
I need to stop myself now. But I must say that it's much more fun when we simply leave out the review.

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But I must say that it's much more fun when we simply leave out the review.

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By "we" you mean "you" right?

Just to be clear.

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"What a helpful Chap."

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Unfortunately, yes. But I never give up hope that other posters might jump up to back me.

I'll steel myself in preparation for the sudden onslaught.

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"What a helpful Chap."

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You better should. As you've seen on this board, I make friends very easily.

Raiders Of The Lost Ark (USA 1981)
More than thirty years after its release, I can't help but thinking that this monster hit from 81 isn't always the equal of its legendary reputation. First of all, director Steven Spielberg assembled an interesting, but - apart from lead actor Harrison Ford and maybe Ronald Lacey - ultimately unremarkable cast. Paul Freeman remains somewhat bland in a comparatively complex role as the main villain Belloq, even an actor of Denholm Elliott's caliber is strangely underused, and I better do not start at all with the prickly leading lady Karen Allen. Not to mention that the film's plot moves along mostly free of things like logic and credibility. There's also - as both fans and foes of Indy have pointed out - the probelm that the Indiana Jones franchise is always at its weakest when it's going clearly and without a doubt for the fantastical. And that's unfortunately what the miracle of the ark turns out to be, no matter how impressive and still convincing the visual effects might be. Additionally, I'm not exactly an Indy boy, but I definitely do not want to see a climax without the famous hat. That's as if James Bond would lose his style. Not to mention that I want my heroes to actually have an influence on the outcome of the story instead of being simply bound to a pole.
There's also the Oscar win for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration which has always bugged me. Apart from the acting categories, Best Production Design - as the category is more accurately called these days - is my favorite aspect of Oscar recognition, but in the case of Raiders, the Academy unfortunately chose the worst of the five films nominated for 1981. Sure, you gotta love the South American temple and maybe the Well of Souls, but the rest is ultimately forgettable, because Raiders Of The Lost Ark is and remains essentially a B-movie. But certainly one of the best B-movies of all time, and there's still much to love here.
The film is pure entertainment, mostly due to its effective pacing and Michael Kahn's tight editing. There's also Harrison Ford in his career-defining role, moody images by Douglas Slocombe, the super-scary ark stuff, unforgettable scenes like the South American opening and the map room and the truck chase (which might be a contender for the title Best Action Sequence In Motion Picture History), as well as a great great great John Williams score. When all is said and done, you better not live your life without watching this film. Or at least listening to its soundtrack album.
Grade: B+

Now to the more interesting stuff.
1981 was the year of For Your Eyes Only, and Raiders is 115 minutes long, just like From Russia With Love.
Every once in a while, James Bond certainly took a cue from Indiana Jones. It's not a far cry from the Well of Souls to the Tears of Allah in Never Say Never Again, a movie that also features Indy's father Sean Connery, Indy's foe Pat Roach, and director of photography Douglas Slocombe. There's also the hero jumping from horse to moving vehicle in both Octopussy and A View To A Kill, an old flame greeting the hero with a slap in the face in Tomorrow Never Dies, and an exploding villain's head in Licence To Kill. And there are definitely echoes of the iconic truck chase in Licence, Casino Royale, and Quantum Of Solace.
However, Raiders Of The Lost Ark also took a lot from Bond. Spielberg always wanted to make a Bond film, and here he got his wish with a period James Bond. Even though Dr. Jones himself is probably more inspired by Zorro than by 007, the movie itself clearly follows its own Bond formula. It lives on its mixture of big setpieces with calmer dialogue scenes and presents a cool, ironic, masculine, and refreshingly unconflicted hero who gets a girl, an M-like father figure, an ally, a (fake) sacrificial lamb, a mission, villains, henchmen, animassassins, globe-trotting, and - most importantly - action in the opening scene, a death trap, a rough and tumble play, a brawl, a chase, a showdown, and explosions. Quite the Bond film, isn't it?
We already had Steven Spielberg and - indirectly - George Lucas, so let's take a look at Harrison Ford this time round. Throughout his unique film career, Ford did so much more than simply bonding with Bond in Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade and Cowboys & Aliens. For instance, he regularly had to set himself the same tasks as 007. He had to battle and kill main villain Sean Bean in Patriot Games even before Bond did it in Goldeneye. Patriot Games also stars James Fox, the brother of Edward Fox, who's played M in Never Say Never Again, and ends with a nightly raid on the hero's house, just like Skyfall does. By the way, Ford's adversary in Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Paul Freeman, also had the honor of being killed by the royal hands of 007, in his case by Pierce Brosnan in The Long Good Friday. But back on topic. Harrison Ford also battled treacherous Jeroen Krabbé in The Fugitive, just like Bond did in The Living Daylights, a movie where 007 got Indy's pal John Rhys-Davies as an ally. Ford also fought with a tall blond Aryan in Blade Runner, just like Bond did several times. He also had Julian Glover as an ally turned enemy in Last Crusade, just like Bond had in For Your Eyes Only. Speaking of which, Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade is quite the James Bond reunion with Bond himself, Alison Doody, Pat Roach, Vernon Dobtcheff from The Spy Who Loved Me, and - again - John Rhys-Davies. Ford also worked as an intelligence official in the Jack Ryan franchise which also had Sean Connery in a movie without Ford. Harrison made Hanover Street with Shane Rimmer and Alec McCowen, the Q from Never Say Never Again, and under the direction of Peter Hyams who has directed Sean Connery twice, in Outland and Presidio. Hanover Street also has music by John Barry. And to top it all, Ford was in what might qualify as the most impressive Bond reunion of them all: Force 10 From Navarone, a movie that's directed by Guy Hamilton and edited by Raymond Poulton who also edited the first two Moore Bond films. The costumes are designed by Emma Porteus who also made the costumes for Octopussy, A View To A Kill, and The Living Daylights. It stars Robert Shaw, Edward Fox, Barbara Bach, Richard Kiel, Nick Ellsworth (who was in The Spy Who Loved Me), Michael Osborne (who was in The Man With The Golden Gun), and Franco Nero. Nero is the husband of Vanessa Redgrave who has lived with Timothy Dalton for almost 15 years. Additionally, Harrison Ford bears a striking resemblance to the man who - beginning with Raiders Of The Lost Ark - was his personal stunt double for more than a decade: Vic Armstrong, frequently called "the world's most prolific stunt man". Armstrong has also doubled George Lazenby in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Roger Moore in Live And Let Die, and Sean Connery in Never Say Never Again. Beyond that, he was the stunt coordinator on Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, Die Another Day, and - of course - Never Say Never Again.

Guess that's enough for a day.

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Paul Freeman remains somewhat bland in a comparatively complex role as the main villain Belloq

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Yeah, I never really understood the fascination with "Bellosh". Hehe.

Paul Freeman does a serviceable job but almost every Bond villain is superior and more memorable than Renee Belloq. In my opinion he's no more memorable than Julian Glover was that same year as Kristatos. And we all know that Kristatos is one of the least memorable of all Bond villains. The only thing that made Belloq slightly more badass than Kristatos is that Belloq ate a fly. Burp! But that's about it.

As for Ronald Lacey, not there's a guy who definitely should have been in a Bond movie. Missed opportunity.

Connery, Moore, and Brosnan! Accept NO substitutes!

Forgot all about this thread.

Still

WESTWORLD (1973)

The following year, writer/director Michael Crichton had another of his works adapted for the big screen. Mike Hodges� THE TERMINAL MAN, however, was criminally ignored and just about sank without a trace. WESTWORLD, on the other hand, was popular enough to spawn a sequel (FUTUREWORLD) � but the less said about that the better.

It may not look like much now � in fact it resembles an early seventies Universal Studios made-for-TV flick � but WESTWORLD was almost a cutting-edge piece of sci-fi cinema back in the day. The plot revolves around a sort of Disneyland for adults�, Delos, a holiday resort of the future. Delos allows for punters to realise their fantasies and act them out in a choice of Roman World, Medieval World or the Westworld of the title. Each world is populated by humanoid robots capable of emulating human behaviour in response to the whims of the customers. They can be fought, �killed� or sexually abused like good and willing slaves. Fail-safes are in place to protect the paying tourists from harm � like six guns that won�t fire at anything with a heat signature. And for the first three-quarters of the movie, all is mostly well. But gradual cracks and anomalies start to show and eventually it all ends in chaos and death as the robots run amok and start to slaughter the holidaymakers. But, you knew that was on the cards, right?

So why does it stand out? Well, seventies stalwarts Richard Benjamin and James Brolin feature as friends kicking back in Westworld. Benjamin is a pussy-whipped divorcee and Brolin is his more bachelor-orientated buddy who has been to Westworld before and thinks he knows the ropes. They are two sides of a deadly relationship triangle. The other side is Yul Brynner�s robot gunslinger. The three represent an exercise in near perfect casting, but really it�s Brynner�s film all the way. His character is an inhuman version of his Chris persona from THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN. He even � probably deliberately � dresses the same. But there the similarities end. He functions purely to provoke gunfights and be killed. But when the technological order breaks down he continues to follow his programming and provoke gunfights but doesn�t allow himself to be killed. With the brakes off he becomes an implacable nemesis with only one mission � to do the killing.

Subtle satire taking clever swipes at Hollywood, consumerism and technology are on the menu. Promos for Delos promise an authentic experience, but the three worlds are in fact shallow Hollywood versions of reality bearing no resemblance to their real-life counterparts. It is fakery based on fakery, yet one character describes his experience as �the most real thing I�ve ever done.� Which, when you think about it, is a sad indictment of modern life.

Crichton�s message seems to be one of mistrust. You can�t trust what you�re being told, you can�t trust technology and you certainly can�t trust in what looks like the hero from a classic western movie. This is further reinforced by Brolin�s anger and dismay when his illusions start to be dented as a result of an attack by a robot rattlesnake which leaves him with a wounded arm. �This isn�t supposed to happen!� he rages. However, he�s just too complacent to perceive it as anything other than an isolated glitch and his guard remains down. Which is his undoing.

The narrative slowly builds a sense of growing unease as the techno-guys running the show become gradually more perplexed by an increasing number inexplicable malfunctions. Politically, they are like a government who know that things are going wrong, but don�t really know why or what to do about it. When all systems fail, they are left to suffocate in their underground basement control centre whilst the robots disobey programming and turn on the humans.

The shenanigans � barroom brawls, jailbreaks, gunfights, human-on-robot sex � are good fun and served up with good humour, but the film really kicks into a higher and more malevolent gear when the gunslinger blows Brolin away and chases lone survivor Benjamin across the resort, locked into his objective of killing him.

Brynner�s steel-eyed assassin is always functioning one step ahead as the human protagonist flees aimlessly from Westworld, through Roman World to a climax in Medieval World. Brynner manages to convince on two levels � as a robotic pre-terminator terminator and as another entity with a sly suggestion of self-awareness and sentient thought going on. He skilfully transforms what must have originally seemed a largely thankless role into one that embodies a rare combination of near human traits and pure mechanical menace.

This is a key seventies sci-fi film that conceals some significant level of intelligence beneath a deceptive surface of TV movie veneer. It may not look like much, but it�s more than what it looks like.

LINK/CONNECTION: James Brolin went on to screen test for the role of James Bond 007 when Rog and Cubby were negotiating a pay-deal for OCTOPUSSY. Like, with a Connery Bond movie due out at much the same time EoN were really going to go with Brolin? Do me a favour. Would possibly have been commercial suicide. And he�d have been a crap 007 I reckon.

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"What a helpful Chap."

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Would possibly have been commercial suicide.

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You at least should be above such nonsense.

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And hed have been a crap 007 I reckon.

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Yes, because for bushtony, James Bond has to be an ugly blond dwarf.
Not to mention that a much more noteworthy connection than James Brolin of all people would have been that in The First Great Train Robbery, Michael Crichton directed the master himself who also played the lead role in the Crichton adaptation Rising Sun.

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You at least should be above such nonsense.

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Well I'm not talking in global absolutes or universal definites. Just speculating on what can never be known for certain because things didn't play out for Brolin. Don't you imagine the same thoughts were going through Cubby's head? Or maybe he didn't know he was going up against a Connery Bond movie and additionally felt there were no potential commercial/financial implications if Rog declined. For whatever reason, they didn't go with Brolin. Wonder why? I've seen clips of the screentest and they looked pretty dire to me. However, we'll never know.

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Yes, because for bushtony, James Bond has to be an ugly blond dwarf.

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That was random and out of context. Why do you feel the need to resort to the crass, childish and utterly exaggerated fantasy construct? Do you deliberately strive to make yourself look a foot-stamping fool? Unnecessary really. But if you feel the need then you do I guess. Doubt you'll stop now, and at least the predictability alone always affords me a self-satisfied chuckle.

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Not to mention that a much more noteworthy..

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I like to leave ample inclusive breathing space for others to make their own additions. Thanks for obliging. If anyone's got any more, keep 'em coming.

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"What a helpful Chap."

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I've seen clips of the screentest and they looked pretty dire to me.

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To me as well, but this seems to be the nature of most screentests. And when I take a look at Roger in Octopussy

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That was random and out of context.

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Unfortunately, it wasn't. Whether you admit it or not, I'm convinced that the increasingly antagonistic tone of your postings - starting with your rather long contribution to the so-called theories regarding Altenba - have at least something to do with the guy who's currently wearing the tux.

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I like to leave ample inclusive breathing space for others to make their own additions.

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Okay, but shouldn't we start with the obvious? Strikes me as much more encouraging. Just like it did with The Persuaders.

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Unfortunately, it wasn't.

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Actually, it was. Has nothing to do with what was being discussed or observed or the opinions given. Has everything to do with the imposition of your own personal agenda which seems to infect your thinking. Why not step outside of that for a refreshing change? May open up a whole new world.

Consider - what on earth does Jim Brolin being screentested and not getting the role of Bond back in 1983 have to do with Daniel Craig in the here and now? I don't think as an actor Brolin was any more suitable for the role than John Gavin was and I remain more than happy that Rog returned for OCTOPUSSY. Which in my opinion was a far better movie and Bond movie than NSNA. Despite my sheer enjoyment at seeing Connery back for one more outing.

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Whether you admit it or not, I'm convinced that the increasingly antagonistic tone of your postings - starting with your rather long contribution to the so-called theories regarding Altenba - have at least something to do with the guy who's currently wearing the tux.

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I'm convinced it had little to do with that and more to do with you, your behaviour and your agenda. And, of course, responding to the OP. Me, I don't have an agenda or a personal worldview to impose - merely one to state. Just shooting the breeze. Take or leave.

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Okay, but shouldn't we start with the obvious?

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I'm confused. Is "we" you in this context? Or is it everybody? If the question is 'shouldn't "I" start with the obvious?' (meaning you) then you can answer that for yourself and do what you like. If it refers to everybody, they can also do as they choose. Me, I prefer things a little more off the beaten track for a starter. But that's just me, as I'm often encouraged more by the faintly obscure. Like I said, no agenda, no worldview to impose. Shooting the breeze. Not making any meaningless rules here.

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"What a helpful Chap."

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I do think that I've already made several contributions to this thread that are not at all infected by what you brazenly call "my agenda". Not to mention that both John Gavin and Josh Brolin at least had the looks that were basically compatible with the legacy of the franchise. And as far as their acting skills go, I at least don't think that they are any more or less limited than our beloved little eyebrow raiser. Not to mention that primarily physical roles are mostly about the looks and not about the acting which would automatically bring us back to grandpa eyebrow. The one thing I'd give you is that I couldn't ever see a movie like Octopussy with anyone but Roger.

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I'm convinced it had little to do with that and more to do with you, your behaviour and your agenda.

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Agenda again. Guess that says it all.

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I prefer things a little more off the beaten track for a starter.

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Okay. We, the majesty, accept that.

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I do think that I've already made several contributions to this thread that are not at all infected by what you brazenly call "my agenda".

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I agree, but your recent outburst, the one that has led to this point, wasn't one of them. Yes? And I can hardly call it "our agenda" can I?

Brolin and Gavin were never going to happen. They are Americans. They were used as pawns by the producers in a game of negotiation and counter negotiation with certain other actors. And whilst I myself don't automatically rule out an American actor in the role, I think the producers might to some extent due to the successful decades without one. I also think that most American fans - at least on this board - are not enamoured of the idea either. However, I stand to be proven wrong.

The question begging opinion breaks down not as "could" Gavin and Brolin have been Bond to more a case of "should" Gavin and Brolin have been Bond. Me, I don't think they should and I'm glad they weren't because I'm happy with what I got. That includes the much maligned AVTAK.

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Guess that says it all.

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Guess you do at that.

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Okay. We, the majesty, accept that.

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Just as well. It is as it is irrespective.

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"What a helpful Chap."

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Lol. Outburst. Now when that was an outburst, then I'd really like to know how you'd describe the ususal posting behavior of people like Chimpy or RichardTheBully.
Whatever, Gavin had already signed on and would have been Bond if Sean would be as incorruptible as he was in The Untouchables. And I must admit that I can see a movie like Diamonds Are Forever with an actor like Gavin.

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I think the producers might to some extent due to the successful decades without one

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If "the producers" refers to the current lunatics, then you're probably right. But Cubby and Harry seemed to be basically open for the idea, also offering the part to Burt Reynolds.

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That includes the much maligned AVTAK.

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Much maligned or not, wouldn't you say that A View To A Kill is principally the kind of movie one could see with another actor just as well, cause the Moore silliness seems to be "somewhat" toned down in it, at least when compared to Moonraker and Octopussy, the truly excessive Moore films?