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Applause at the Silicon Valley Destruction Plot in A View to A KIll (1985) in cinema theatres?
Dragonpol
https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
This thread means to do what it says opn the tin. I remember reading a review online (I think that it may have been on Nick Kincaid's now defunct 007 Forever website in a 2000 AVTAK 15 year Review of the movie and its critical notices from the time, although I first saw it online in 2002) that there was applause and indeed even perhaps a standing ovation in some parts of the United States when the plot of AVTAK was revealed to be the wholesale destruction of Silicon Valley using a man-made earthquake to flood the site and have it submerged forever to remove the competition and to allow Zorin Industries the chance to monopolise the computer chip market, much as Auric Goldfinger had tries to do in Goldfinger by irradiating the gold reserves of Fort Knox in the United States so that his own collection of gold would also increase in value.
My question here is simple and is perhaps more aimed at the MI6 Originals fans, especially our American cousins where the plot of AVTAK may have been derided and people may have backed Zorin's plan to see Silicon Valley and its millionaires submerged below flood water, killing millions, in the words of geologist Stacey Sutton:
Do any members here remember reading a review or article from 1985 that reported American audiences standing up and cheering and giving heavy applause at all? Or were you an Original who was in the cinema theatres to see AVTAK as it was released and witnessed any of these scenes that were said to have occurred at all?
If you are not an Original fan then do you remember reading of this applause in a review or book on Bond films anywhere? I myself am having trouble finding this source that I'm looking for.
I'm currently working on a piece concerning the plot flaws in AVTAK so all help would be much appreciated. I've trawled through the Internet to no avail, so all replies to this are very much appreciated. I was less than one when AVTAK came out so I have no memory of the time myself. However, I am fascinated in the idea of the audience cheering on the villain and his diabolical scheme out of a lack of sympathy with the millionaires in Silicon Valley. Gene Siskel made this very point in his review of the film in the TV show At the Movies in 1985 - he didn't care if Silicon Valley was submerged or the millionaires all killed! I think that in this thread I have identified a major plot flaw in AVTAK and I'd really love to hear some other views on this, especially if you were one of the lucky ones to see AVTAK in cinema theatres in 1985 in the United States or elsewhere.
@Dragonpol wants to hear from you, fellow MI6 agents. I hope this discussion is fun and revelatory too.
My question here is simple and is perhaps more aimed at the MI6 Originals fans, especially our American cousins where the plot of AVTAK may have been derided and people may have backed Zorin's plan to see Silicon Valley and its millionaires submerged below flood water, killing millions, in the words of geologist Stacey Sutton:
Do any members here remember reading a review or article from 1985 that reported American audiences standing up and cheering and giving heavy applause at all? Or were you an Original who was in the cinema theatres to see AVTAK as it was released and witnessed any of these scenes that were said to have occurred at all?
If you are not an Original fan then do you remember reading of this applause in a review or book on Bond films anywhere? I myself am having trouble finding this source that I'm looking for.
I'm currently working on a piece concerning the plot flaws in AVTAK so all help would be much appreciated. I've trawled through the Internet to no avail, so all replies to this are very much appreciated. I was less than one when AVTAK came out so I have no memory of the time myself. However, I am fascinated in the idea of the audience cheering on the villain and his diabolical scheme out of a lack of sympathy with the millionaires in Silicon Valley. Gene Siskel made this very point in his review of the film in the TV show At the Movies in 1985 - he didn't care if Silicon Valley was submerged or the millionaires all killed! I think that in this thread I have identified a major plot flaw in AVTAK and I'd really love to hear some other views on this, especially if you were one of the lucky ones to see AVTAK in cinema theatres in 1985 in the United States or elsewhere.
@Dragonpol wants to hear from you, fellow MI6 agents. I hope this discussion is fun and revelatory too.
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Comments
Was there a sense of disappointemt following the release of the film? Or has this general impression built up over time?
It was felt it was a very MODERN Bond film,quite hip with us youths at the time due to Duran Duran's involvement,which was marketed well with Top of the Pops and other chats shows at the time,with film clips,so it was promoted very very well.
There were queues for the film at the cinema,both times i went.
I'm all for that! I thought it was time I dropped this topic here to accompany the other recent AVTAK thread, although this one covers different ground.
Some great replies so far. I can't wait to hear what some of our other regular members think of this one!
Later came discussions of Roger being too old for it. But there was no negative reaction to Zorin's acts when I saw it ... meaning nobody seemed to be cheering him on. Just that so many enjoy see Walken as a villain. I haven't heard about that kind of reaction. I definitely remember Siskel and Ebert, but I don't recall that particular point.
It would be fun to actually read some of the old reviews; I bet I can do that online pretty easily, especially on Ebert's site. I'll try to rediscover Gene's.
Gene Siskel says the interesting part that supports this thread near the end of the clip.
My pleasure, @4EverBonded! Perhaps you saw this when first broadcast. I was only a nipper in 1985! I hope it brings back good memories, though sadly both are now departed this life as they did seem to be rather good. I've spent the evening carefully transcribiting parts of this review of AVTAK for use in an upcoming blog article, hence my familiarity with this clip. This sort of thing is a great resource for the Bond blogger such as I: I onbly wish that there was more of this stuff available, though there are a few other bits and pieces from 1985 on You Tube, too. There are other Siskel and Ebert reviews of Bond films available for your viewing pleasure on You Tube, too.
Oh, well that's a real pity, but I was still able to access all of the film reviews from the time content on AVTAK on MI6 HQ's Main Page, so it's not all bad news. I sound like Marjorie Dawes there, I do.
The only link I can find is here and that doesn't work:
http://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/articles/avtak_premiere.php3?t=mi6&s=avtak
http://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/articles/history_press_avtak_critics.php3
I simply put this in the Search bar: "A View to A KIll reviews" and this and other articles comes up.
Newsweek - June 1985
"With the exception of an ingenious plot idea and the unconventional beauty Grace Jones as the Amazonian May Day".
Exactly for who? The highly desperate? The legally blind? Or "The Grays" convention of 1985 held here on Planet Earth?
Shame they didn't take her home with them for advance studies on human genetics gone horribly wrong.
I'm going to show my age here by saying I vividly remember watching AVTAK as if it was yesterday, in a proper Olde Worlde traditional English converted staged theatre whilst on holiday with my family in Bournemouth. It was a truly massive place and it was completely packed out: we sat in the middle gallery tier up in the Gods. The family were on a camping holiday and with predictable British weather being a washout that day, everyone was looking forward to seeing it to escape the gloom!!
The film must've just been released by a matter of days and I remember I'd been dying to see it anyway after all the promo / interviews on the TV. Who could forget Grace Jones being interviewed! The Duran Duran title track had charted and it appeared to be doing well and of course there was a fascination with the spliced in clips of the film when it aired on Top of the Pops!! Ahh, the days before the internet and satellite TV...
As 4EverBonded says, it was viewed and reacted to very favorably and there was definitely a cheer from the audience but only at the end credits. The other thing that still sticks in the mind was the laughter at the Beach Boys and a gang of student lads sitting behind us who were mouthing off a bit with 'yeah right' and so on when RM wrapped the guide rope around the tower support on the Golden Gate bridge. I think they were given a stern word! The film gave my whole family a real buzz and my younger sis still mentions seeing the film and loved it too!
To this day I really have a lot of love for this film. I've even still got the 7" Duran Duran single I got the next day!! Always had to laugh at the centre spindle for the turntable that supports the single aligned almost too 'perfectly' on the image of Bond in the crotch area! Ha, I was an early teen so these things were a big deal then... ;))
A rather grim, cloudy summer apart from the day of Live Aid itself. And not many great films at the cinema back then, it was a twice a year visit to the local fleapit, or maybe a trip up to London from the suburbs.
There was a bit of tabloid negative press about Moore's age, in particular in the Daily Mail. IMO he looked younger and leaner than in OP, and a whole lot better than the creaky Connery in NSNA.
I saw it at Odeon L Square in the first week. Big applause and laughter at the Beach Boys song. Knocked out by the skiing in the pts, and Barry's pounding score. Duran Duran song not as good as some of their other stuff, and trumpets a bit naff, but not bad generally. Fantastic audience up for a good time, laughing in all the write places. A far cry from seeing NSNA in Croydon fleapit because every cinema nearer home had Jaws 3D in its premier screen. AVTAK had a touch of EON class about it.
Months later I saw it again at Ewell cinema in a mostly empty audience and it fell a bit flat, esp the Beach Boys song.
At the time I felt the movie got a lot more plaudits than any since TSWLM actually, though MR was a monster at the box office of course, and the days of cool model car spin offs was long gone by now.
Yes, thats my take on it. The Grace Jones/Duran Duran element gave it a very modern feel, well, - for 1985.
No for me, but it's still available on You Tube along with Moore giving an interesting intereview with MTV in 1985.
--Dragonpol.