Bond leaning on the 4th wall

We all know how Lazenby pulverized the 4th wall on OHMSS, and how Connery leaned on it winking to us after NSNA (which, I think, was a very fitting, albeit unnoficial, end for his Bond. Way better than Lois Maxwell weeping randomly on AVTAK). But I think there are other minor instances where some character at least leans on the 4th wall. And I will not speak about CR'67, of course.

The general idea of this post is to discuss about our personal "4th wall spottings".

IMHO, there are two moments where a character leans on the fourth wall:

1. The scary kendoka on YOLT: Come on, I think Lewis Gilbert was trolling people there. That kendoka practising and maybe exagerating his kiai (at least in kyokushinkai karate, which I practised, the kiai was very important, but that guy) and then running menacingly to the camera and looking directly to it while making his kata. Man, the guy got red like a tomato, and, really, I think this was made in purpose to scare kids in the audience: "Taste my daishō, you gaijin!"

2. The aside glance on TLD: I don't remember neither the exact moment, nor if Dalton was in a scene with Krabbe or the guy playing Sanders, but for a second he seems like giving a conspirational look to the camera. I've read lots of confronting opinions in this.

They say there is another one in Moonraker, when Holly ties Bond to the high-G training simulator and says that infamous line: "Come on, Mr. Bond. A 70-year-old can take 3 G's.". A reference to Moore being too old for the part? In this case, though, I think it's more a conincidence than an actual 4th wall joke.

Do you guys have more of these moments? What are your favorites?

Comments

  • HASEROTHASEROT has returned like the tedious inevitability of an unloved season---
    Posts: 4,399
    2. The aside glance on TLD: I don't remember neither the exact moment, nor if Dalton was in a scene with Krabbe or the guy playing Sanders, but for a second he seems like giving a conspirational look to the camera. I've read lots of confronting opinions in this.

    if the look you are talking about, is when Bond is leaving the dining room with M and the M.O.D after Koskov spewed a bunch of stuff about Pushkin and 'Smiert Spionam'.. that look was at Koskov, not the camera.. it was a very questionable look Bond was giving Koskov because of what he was saying - something didn't sound right to Bond, and his look was more or less telling him "I don't trust you."
    They say there is another one in Moonraker, when Holly ties Bond to the high-G training simulator and says that infamous line: "Come on, Mr. Bond. A 70-year-old can take 3 G's.". A reference to Moore being too old for the part? In this case, though, I think it's more a conincidence than an actual 4th wall joke.

    i think people read a little too much into that... the meaning of the line is simple - "look you big sissy, a 70 year old can handle 3 Gs.. surely someone younger like you can handle it."

    not sure how that gets interpreted any other way lol.
  • edited January 2015 Posts: 1,009
    HASEROT wrote: »
    2. The aside glance on TLD: I don't remember neither the exact moment, nor if Dalton was in a scene with Krabbe or the guy playing Sanders, but for a second he seems like giving a conspirational look to the camera. I've read lots of confronting opinions in this.

    if the look you are talking about, is when Bond is leaving the dining room with M and the M.O.D after Koskov spewed a bunch of stuff about Pushkin and 'Smiert Spionam'.. that look was at Koskov, not the camera.. it was a very questionable look Bond was giving Koskov because of what he was saying - something didn't sound right to Bond, and his look was more or less telling him "I don't trust you."
    They say there is another one in Moonraker, when Holly ties Bond to the high-G training simulator and says that infamous line: "Come on, Mr. Bond. A 70-year-old can take 3 G's.". A reference to Moore being too old for the part? In this case, though, I think it's more a conincidence than an actual 4th wall joke.

    i think people read a little too much into that... the meaning of the line is simple - "look you big sissy, a 70 year old can handle 3 Gs.. surely someone younger like you can handle it."

    not sure how that gets interpreted any other way lol.

    Wow, thanks, for the TLD one! This will come in handy next time I watch the film! I really thought that Bond trusted Koskov at the very beginning, and this gives me a new perspective on the scene and even on Dalton's performance.

    About MR, wholeheartadly agreed. About the 'Bond scholars' who look for intricate things in that scene, there's a proverb in my country that goes - literal translation - "So much heads, so much caps", that means that anybody will always stick to their own views, even if they're preposterous. :-B
  • HASEROTHASEROT has returned like the tedious inevitability of an unloved season---
    Posts: 4,399
    glad to be of service..

    yeah, Bond's very suspicious of Koskov after that meeting, not only because of everything Koskov just said, but also Kara posing as a sniper at the concert hall - Bond knew she wasn't a marksmen...... so needless to say, something didn't smell right about the whole situation to Bond, which is why he gave the look he did.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,687
    HASEROT wrote: »
    something didn't smell right about the whole situation to Bond, which is why he gave the look he did.
    Totally. And why I love Dalton's Bond.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,687
    Birdleson wrote: »
    To me the most glaringly obvious example (after the two mentioned at this threads opening from ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE and NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN) is Vijay playing the Bond theme on his flute in OCTOPUSSY, followed by Moore's quizzical expression. There's also the midget janitor whistling the GOLDFINGER theme in OHMSS.
    Did we *really* need any of this?
    :-?
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,687
    Birdleson wrote: »
    Unless of course you're referring to the scenes themselves not being needed in the films.
    This is what I was referring to, yes.
    :)>-
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    It all started with Bond waving to the camera at the end of FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,687
    It all started with Bond waving to the camera at the end of FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE.
    He waved at the 8mm film...

  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    chrisisall wrote: »
    It all started with Bond waving to the camera at the end of FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE.
    He waved at the 8mm film...

    Yes, he did not like being filmed, and then he waves at the camera.
    There is some meta joke in there.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    And of course the infamous mirror in Saida s dressing room. Very otherworldly stuff.
    People were nuts in the seventies.
  • Posts: 1,009
    And of course the infamous mirror in Saida s dressing room. Very otherworldly stuff.
    People were nuts in the seventies.

    =)) OMG, how can I have forgotten this? Charrrrrming scene!
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,687
    Meh. It's lost its charm. ;)
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    I don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but what about dear old Michael Wilson with his cameos? This is close to breaking the wall if you ask me. I heard he's sick - hope he gets better and does one in SP.
  • Agent007391Agent007391 Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start
    Posts: 7,854
    chrisisall wrote: »
    Meh. It's lost its charm. ;)

    Not from where...

    No. I can't finish that joke. It really has lost its charm.
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,328
    Not from where I'm standing. ;)
    The-Man-Who-Haunted-Himself.avi_snapshot_00.04.30_2012.06.03_19.01.18.jpg
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    edited January 2015 Posts: 7,518
    bondjames wrote: »
    I don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but what about dear old Michael Wilson with his cameos? This is close to breaking the wall if you ask me. I heard he's sick - hope he gets better and does one in SP.

    Very true. Stunt casting, similarly, can break the 4th wall; I read somewhere that there were considerations to try and cast Sean Connery as Kincade in Skyfall (not that he would have done it), but Mendez canned the idea for many reasons, one of which being it would have been incredibly distracting. It's interesting because a lot of Kincade's lines in the film would have had a ton more weight if he'd said them; "I was ready before you were born", etc.
  • Agent007391Agent007391 Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start
    Posts: 7,854
    That look on his face is just weird. So is the mustache.
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    edited January 2015 Posts: 23,883
    bondjames wrote: »
    I don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but what about dear old Michael Wilson with his cameos? This is close to breaking the wall if you ask me. I heard he's sick - hope he gets better and does one in SP.

    Very true. Stunt casting, similarly, can break the 4th wall; I read somewhere that there were considerations to try and cast Sean Connery as Kincade in Skyfall (not that he would have done it), but Mendez canned the idea for many reasons, one of which being it would have been incredibly distracting. It's interesting because a lot of Kincade's lines in the film would have had a ton more weight if he'd said them; "I was ready before you were born", etc.

    I didn't know that about Connery possibly taking the role of Kincade. While it would have been good to see him back in Bond, I'm glad it did not happen, as it would have definitely been distracting, and would have taken us out of the experience imo. Still.....that would have been one heck of a 4th wall moment
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,686
    What about Stromberg's lair appearing in a Bond movie 8 years before TSWLM? I'm talking about that shape in the ocean in the PTS of OHMSS. It looks like a boat and must be a boat (since it's in the water), but there is a hole in the middle of it that reminds me of Stromberg's sea-building.
  • Posts: 1,009
    What about Stromberg's lair appearing in a Bond movie 8 years before TSWLM? I'm talking about that shape in the ocean in the PTS of OHMSS. It looks like a boat and must be a boat (since it's in the water), but there is a hole in the middle of it that reminds me of Stromberg's sea-building.

    If you guys visit TV Tropes often, I think we can call this "Fridge Brilliance". I must check OHMSS's PTS...
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Posts: 7,518
    Just watched Goldeneye; when Xenia's henchman takes the Canadian Admiral's ID card while she's... at work... with him, he shows it to the camera before taking it away.
    Could easily be explained as him examining it before he takes it, but it's a definite lean on the 4th wall.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Some teasers really go all the way with it. I am thinking of TSWLM and GE in particular, but also one of the early Connery films where he is talking to the audience as a voice-over.
  • Posts: 1,009
    Some teasers really go all the way with it. I am thinking of TSWLM and GE in particular, but also one of the early Connery films where he is talking to the audience as a voice-over.

    This ringed a bell: I read in some books that one of the opening dialogues on DAF refers to Connery being absent OHMSS... U-huh, found it...

    Sir Donald: You've been on holiday, I understand. Relaxing, I hope.
    Bond: Hardly relaxing but... most satisfying.


    This may be a case similar to the MR one I refer in the OP, but it hits the spot nicely.
  • ThomasCrown76ThomasCrown76 Augusta, ks
    Posts: 757
    M also says we do function in your absence and then rolls his eyes;)
  • QBranchQBranch Always have an escape plan. Mine is watching James Bond films.
    Posts: 13,879
    When Brosnan says "They'll print anything these days", I swear he looks directly into the camera. Twice.
  • WalecsWalecs On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    Posts: 3,157
    bondjames wrote: »
    bondjames wrote: »
    I don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but what about dear old Michael Wilson with his cameos? This is close to breaking the wall if you ask me. I heard he's sick - hope he gets better and does one in SP.

    Very true. Stunt casting, similarly, can break the 4th wall; I read somewhere that there were considerations to try and cast Sean Connery as Kincade in Skyfall (not that he would have done it), but Mendez canned the idea for many reasons, one of which being it would have been incredibly distracting. It's interesting because a lot of Kincade's lines in the film would have had a ton more weight if he'd said them; "I was ready before you were born", etc.

    I didn't know that about Connery possibly taking the role of Kincade. While it would have been good to see him back in Bond, I'm glad it did not happen, as it would have definitely been distracting, and would have taken us out of the experience imo. Still.....that would have been one heck of a 4th wall moment

    And people would have brought back the bulls*t of codename theory saying that Kincade was actually the first Bond retired etc.
  • Posts: 1,009
    M also says we do function in your absence and then rolls his eyes;)

    Yep, didn't remember that line at the moment :)
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