"You have what the Greeks call thrasos": Let's discuss... For Your Eyes Only (1981)/ Poll

St_GeorgeSt_George Shuttling Drax's lovelies to the space doughnut - happy 40th, MR!
edited June 2011 in Bond Movies Posts: 1,699
<img src="http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh215/george-in-the-smoke/fyeo_banner.jpg">;



So, another day, another thread... and this one affords us the opportunity to discuss, in as great or as little detail as you like, the twelfth - and Sir Rog's fourth - Bond adventure, FYEO.

What do we all think of this, the first 007 flick of the '80s?

For me, well, there's much to like about FYEO; the action sequences (on skis, underwater, in a helicopter, on a rock-face etc) are all eminently entertaining and the plot, sort of combining those of Fleming's short stories For Your Eyes Only and Risico, is sound, intriguing and generally conceivable. However, while it's admirable on the filmmakers' part to return Bond to <i>terra firma</i> following the excesses of MR and concoct a Cold War thriller in the manner of some of the series' earliest successes and Fleming's writing, for me, the whole really just doesn't come off as taut, tight and compelling as, say, FRWL. There's something of a Sunday-afternoon-movie for me about FYEO. Entertaining, yes, but not outstanding.

So, your thoughts, folks...? :)
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Comments

  • Posts: 60
    I never have seen this film described as a "Sunday-afternoon-movie", but I think that pinpoints why I like it so much! It is a comfortable Bond film with a superb Roger Moore, interesting characters, and an intriguing plot. "FYEO" is like an old friend that you meet up with once or twice a year, and you always pick up where you left off. Perhaps most Bond films have this feel for some, but there is something about this film that just makes it feel "breezy". Maybe it's the wind coming off of that beautiful Mediterranean coast.
  • Ah, my relationship with FYEO has always been love-hate. Overall, I really like the film's premise and I think the plot is the most solid of the Moore era. I love the return to the Cold War story line and I really like Moore in this film. I think it's one of his better performances. The locales are great and there are some great scenes (Bond kicking the car off the cliff). But the fatal flaw for me is that FYEO just feels, well...boring! The action scenes just seem lackluster and the score is absolutely terrible which doesn't help the suspense. I absolutely hate the PTS, the worst one in the series by far because it doesn't fit at all, and frankly, it wasn't done very well. I don't like the title song either and as I mentioned the score is awful. But back to the good things...The rock climbing is great, and actually the last half hour is really good. The casting was very well done I thought and the tone is about right. So for me, FYEO is a really mixed bag that is enjoyable at times but in the end just leaves me feeling disappointed. My last ranking had it at 16 which is about right. Every time I watch it I want to really enjoy it but there are just too many things I don't like that keep it from climbing up the list. So, I'll give it 7/10, not great, not bad, and ultimately forgettable.
  • Posts: 24
    I'll go with what Moonraker said but I'll add I absolutely love the score. The film has some minor flaws like it's title song and the PTS, but if you don't take them too seriously it is an immensely enjoyable film.
  • NicNacNicNac Administrator, Moderator
    Posts: 7,567
    As a first time director John Glen was keen to emphasise the action, which he did. As such the sequences are occassionally over-long (eg two lengthy underwater set peices following each other) or unnecessary (the ice hockey fight).
    Maybe Glen could have trusted himself to deliver some longer dialogue scenes without fearing he may lose his audience. Colombo and Bond's first meeting is a case in point. This is the pay-off about who the villain acutally is, and it is an important moment. Topol and Moore look comfortable and play the scene beautifully. Why not crank the tension up and lengthen the scene a little?
    FYEO has so much to admire but it remains uneven and occassionally infuriating.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,686
    FYEO has probably the worst scene of the franchise : The underwater battle in the destroyed ship. This "fight" is the most boring I have ever seen. Bond and the villain move at 2 centimeters per hour.

    Otherwise, a very good outing.
  • saunderssaunders Living in a world of avarice and deceit
    edited April 2011 Posts: 987
    I love FYEO, it's in my top five greatest Bond films and without a doubt both Roger Moore's and John Glen's finest hours. Yes it's not a flawless film, the tone of the PTS sits awkwardly with the rest of the film and the over use of synthesizing brings what could of been a great Bond soundtrack down to the level of bad 80's porn music.
    But lets focus on what's great about this cinematic masterpiece, you have a great balance of beautiful locations...admittedly they are all very Mediterranean based, but even so you have lovely snowy northern Italy sandwiched between sunny Spain (well Corfu really!) and sunny Greece (Corfu to be really precise) and even a trip to darkest Albania (yep Corfu again!).
    The action sequences are fairly original takes on staple formulas and really enjoyable to watch with John Glen's trademarks of filling the screen with both interest and humour. I love the 2CV chase and consider it to be the BEST car chase in the entire series! But this film is packed with great action sequences, you have car chases, ski chases, big battles, small battles, underwater battles, battles on ice hockey fields and you can almost forgive them for forgetting to put the obligatory battle in at the end of the film.
    The mix of beautiful girls are great, you have lovely Bibi who is far too young even for Roger's Bond, sexy Melina who must be almost a year or so older than Bibi so just perfect for Roger's Bond, posh crumpet Countess Lisl for the more mature appreciating viewers and even Jacoba Brink for those with a penchant for the older ladies...
    The villains while not as fantastically eccentric as your standard Blofeld's, Drax's and No's, manage to bring and air of genuine menace and ambiguity to their performances and as for the legend that is Hector Gonzales, well Scaramanga may of been the worlds greatest assassin but it doesn't matter how long he soaks up the sun on his little Red China Island he'll still never manage to get that deep, oily, mahogany tan effect that adorns Hector like a shinning, greasy force-field.
    Roger gives his best ever performance as Bond and it's great to see him being pushed into attempting some drama rather than just smirking, though I do wish they had given him some suitable clothes rather than just popping into old peoples favorite 'The Edinburgh Wool Company' for his entire wardrobe, sorry but for me a body-warmer and a thick woolly jumper doesn't scream out sophisticated James Bond.

  • edited April 2011 Posts: 1,497
    Possibly the most over-rated Bond of the series. Bland acting, an excessive amount of pointless action scenes (and people complain about QOS :/ ), an anti-climactic ending, a Roger Moore played Bond lacking all the charm and wit he was known for, sterile direction by John Glen, an overall tacky early-80's look and feel--especially the synth-post disco 80's pseudo porn music in the car chase scene and the pool side scene. On top of that the film is doused with all kinds of akward and pretty much inappropriate goofiness: the PTS, Bibi Dahl, the hockey goons, the talking parrot--this all would have worked in say OP perhaps, but FYEO plays it serious, so for petes-sake keep the tone that way. Loque is not a menacing villian, Kriegler's silent aryan henchman character has been done before SEVERAL times, and Kristatos just doesn't really cut it.

    It sounds like I despise this film; I don't. There are some good things going for it: some of the action shots are nice, like the ski sequence in particular, the locations are superb, Melina is a convincing Bond girl, and Columbo is a worthwile adversary. But the whole did not equal the sum of its parts.
  • edited April 2011 Posts: 1,092
    My #4 Bond. Favorite Moore film. I love the stories it connects, they do it will great skill, IMO. Smuggling scheme added with a revenge thriller is a solid way to contruct a Bond film. I like the side characters, Columbo is fantastic and I really like the set up for many of the action scenes. The finale when he climbs the rock face always gets me squirming. It's tense and exciting. And the keel hauling scene is awesome!

    The warehouse raid is one of the best big battles in the series. And Moore kicking glasses boy off the cliff goes down as one of the best moments for both his run and the character in general. It is a well made film and one I look forward to watching when I do a marathon.
  • St_GeorgeSt_George Shuttling Drax's lovelies to the space doughnut - happy 40th, MR!
    edited April 2011 Posts: 1,699
    @NicNac You make a very good point there about the action sequences versus the dramatic moments. The former fill up a lot of the film; the latter do seem a little brisk. Hadn't really hit me quite so much before, but looking back, that doesn't sit enormously well with me either. It does feel rather imbalanced.

    @saunders I agree with you wholeheartedly about the locations (or, as you say, Corfu ;) ); it's pretty damn stunning. Mind you, Greece and its ancient culture really is something of a must with me.

    Plus, @saunders and @The_Reaper, the 2CV chase is rather wonderful, isn't it? Played for laughs at times, but containing quite brilliant stunt driving all the same. There really wasn't anything like the Julienne team back in the day. And, yes, the cliff-climbing sequence genuinely is tense stuff - easily one of the most effective sequences of its kind in the series. Kicking off the flick's finale, in my eyes, it really does elevate, er, Eyes.

    And @The_Reaper: 'glasses boy'? Love it... :-))
  • NicNacNicNac Administrator, Moderator
    Posts: 7,567
    The 'glasses boy' comment from @The_Reaper jumped out at me as well Georgio.
    Quoting The_Reaper: And Moore kicking glasses boy off the cliff
    I always forget character's names too and rather than look them up, I do what Reaper did, just add a reference point so everyone knows who I mean :-D
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,686
    Emile....Leopold....Locque.... (Yes, I watched FYEO recently) 8->
  • NicNacNicNac Administrator, Moderator
    Posts: 7,567
    Quoting DaltonCraig007: Emile....Leopold....Locque.... (Yes, I watched FYEO recently)
    Swat ;-)
  • Posts: 1,092
    Heh. Nice save. :O
  • Posts: 49
    This film should have been called RISICO
  • FYEO will always have strong meaning for me.

    FYEO was the first Fleming story I ever read, a week after which I was taken to a double feature screening of FYEO & MR (shown in that order, for some reason).

    The weeks wait seemed like a month- I remember that I made a little tear-off James Bond countdown calender and each morning before school I'd tear off another page....(I was only 8...)

    The movie didn't disappoint- and for me it still doesn't. (And thanks to my Uncle, I still have the double feature poster from that actual screening... can be seen on the Bond Collections thread...)

    Yes it's not got the tightest direction, the best pacing, or the most fitting score.

    But, it has got some cracking good scenes- all the scenes with Moore/Glover/Topol are great.... the assault on the warehouse.... Bond's pursuit and elimination of Locque is up there amongst Bond's finest kills (the reverse angle of Moore holding the Dove pin is one of my fav Moore scenes..)

    Also, if anyone ever wants to do a good bit of easy Bond location hunting, then FYEO is a good place to start. All the Corfu locations are easily accessable to the public and still look exactly as they did in the movie (well, when I did it back in 2000....)

  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    edited May 2011 Posts: 13,350
    It's very much a film of two halfs for me with many of the Cortina scenes feeling like padding to just get to the next location. Still, Moore gives perhaps his best performance in his fifth - and much needed tougher Bond film, also proving Moore can play Bond straight, something that continued in Octopussy. If only he left then, but I'm going off topic now. Sorry for the rambling!
  • Jazz007Jazz007 Minnesota
    Posts: 257
    As a first time director John Glen was keen to emphasise the action, which he did. .... Maybe Glen could have trusted himself to deliver some longer dialogue scenes without fearing he may lose his audience.
    That's an interesting point.

    I think Glen eventually gained confidence in the longer dialogue scenes - especially in the Dalton era, case in point TLD and Bond & Pushkin in the hotel room or LTK and Bond & Sanchez's plot-building converstations.
  • Jazz007Jazz007 Minnesota
    edited May 2011 Posts: 257
    FYEO has always been my favorite film of the Moore era - it is very atmospheric, an action-packed yet thoughtful Bond film. Moore handles everything that comes his way absolutely wonderfully, with a presence and confidence his former and future Bond performances could only rival; he absolutely reaches his 007 peak here in FYEO as far as I am concerned.

    As a fan of the more Flemingesque Bond films, I enjoy that the plot is more serious, that Bond is more pragmatic, and that the action is less over-the-top in FYEO. Some scenes of a more escapist and pointless nature do exist (hockey thugs, Bibbi Dahl) but Glen films everything with a fresh and enthusiastic style, FYEO is a visually brilliant film and not just because of the locations; and Richard Maibaum makes his welcomed return to the series a thrilling one and adds a dab of Cold War poignancy with an example of true detente.

    The quality of FYEO leaves an impression on me as one of the bests of the series and its entertainment value places it ahead of some of the fan-deemed classics FRWL & GF (sometimes).... Mark it down as a 9/10 from me.
  • edited May 2011 Posts: 11,189
    I enjoyed FYEO and it currently sits at #8 on my list. It's also Moore's best after TSWLM IMO. The "Moore" serious performance from Rog is very effective here, a lot more than it was in GG as he seemed much more relaxed. He wasn't shouting or trying to be tough like he was in GG. his toughest scene in FYEO (the car kick) showed a vengeful but CALM type of anger. This suited Rog much more than when he was trying to be a brutal woman beater.

    FYEO certainly showed Moore could play Bond straight but I don't think this style was his ideal niche. Moore himself would probably say he isn't a particularly ruthless person. I remember him commenting in an interview that the car kicking scene "wasn't very Roger Moore Bond". I don't think he was particularly happy about it looking back.
  • Posts: 4,762
    I love FYEO! It's one of the better "back-to-basics" Bond movies. Roger Moore performs probably his best acting as 007, the action sequences are very thrilling, Melina Havelock is a nice refreshment after the horrid Holly Goodhead, the villains are believable and to some extent very menacing, and I love the music, especially the ski chase theme. The movie itself moves along swiftly without overlooking any important details, and it never leaves you in a dull moment, except for the underwater scenes when Bond and Melina search for the ATAC. By the way, I really enjoyed the ATAC plot, consdiering it was very similiar to that of the Lektor in FRWL, but with a far more powerful threat. The top scenes that make the movie are the escape/car chase from Gonzaleas' estate, the ski chase in Cortina, the whole mystery surrounding Colombo and Kristatos, the warehouse raid and car kick following, Bond and Melina being dragged behind Kristatos' boat, and the rock-climbing scene. This movie has it all!
  • As I've said before, Moore is my least favourite Bond and even when I was 13 I couldn't make it all the way through a Moore film. I had seen bits and pieces on TV but nothing that held my interest. A few years back a friend convinced me to try watching the Moore films now and suggested FYEO so I rented the DVD.

    It wasn't the first Moore film that I saw - I saw OP in theatres when we couldn't get in to NSNA! So I had a bit of an idea of what to expect from a Moore film. So, my reaction? Umm...good, but not great.

    My first reaction was really? This film? THIS was the film that everyone was raving about? I then I realized that this had come out after MR. So at the time there would have been a huge "Oh thank GOD!" factor for the fans of less silly and over-the-top Bond. But the film wasn't as huge of a return to form as I had expected.

    Two things really hurt the film to me. The first was the silly humour. It felt like the studio got nervous at the last minute and thought that if FYEO was TOO serious that they'd lose some fans. So the Thatcher scene at the end and the "hockey goon" scenes made me cringe - they were that terrible. The opening with Blofeld was also atrocious. Terrible use of him, no sense of how important a figure he was and..."a delicatessan in stainless steel"? WTF?

    The other thing that really hurt it was Moore's age. I think he could just barely pull off being credible as an action hero and romantic lead, but not by much. I felt a little embarassed watching him and Melina, and as romantic and beautifully shot as the skinny dipping scene was at the end once you think about it it's fairly icky.

    But there were a lot of things to like. Stunning scenery, a lovely and capable Bond girl, and two nicely understated performances in Topol and Glover. The plot was good, and the ending of "That's detente" was a great touch. I also quite like the title song - a great addition of a 'modern sounding" song that doesn't seem dated or over-the-top. And if you're going to include a singer's face in the opening credits Easton is a good choice... ;-)

    One final thing - the terrible "underwater" shots during the film. I know from the commentary that the woman playing Melina was terrified of the water but...there must have been a better way (perhaps recasting?). Took me right out of the film and that was on a smaller TV - I can't imagine how bad it must have looked on the big screen with a much sharper and more clear image.
  • Posts: 4,762
    @thelordflasheart: I see what you mean about the underwater scenes. They were the one thing about FYEO that I was displeased with. There were far better underwater scenes in Thunderball and The Spy Who Loved Me. The ones in FYEO bored me to death, especially that stupid, out-of-place scene where Kristatos' goon attacks Bond and Melina in his mini-sub. That makes me cringe every time. Why was it felt necessary?
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    Posts: 13,350
    that stupid, out-of-place scene where Kristatos' goon attacks Bond and Melina in his mini-sub. That makes me cringe every time. Why was it felt necessary?
    I reckon, to keep the tension up or to keep the scene interesting and moving whilst underwater. I bet they thought "underwater = boring" and the audience wouldn't stand for that.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    edited June 2011 Posts: 15,686
    that stupid, out-of-place scene where Kristatos' goon attacks Bond and Melina in his mini-sub. That makes me cringe every time. Why was it felt necessary?
    I reckon, to keep the tension up or to keep the scene interesting and moving whilst underwater. I bet they thought "underwater = boring" and the audience wouldn't stand for that.
    You have to admit the underwater battle in the ship's wreck is one of the worst fight of all time !! The punches they throw move at 2 centimeters per hour !! Felt like watching a Romaro film with the zombies slowly walking towards the heroes...

  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    edited June 2011 Posts: 13,350
    that stupid, out-of-place scene where Kristatos' goon attacks Bond and Melina in his mini-sub. That makes me cringe every time. Why was it felt necessary?
    I reckon, to keep the tension up or to keep the scene interesting and moving whilst underwater. I bet they thought "underwater = boring" and the audience wouldn't stand for that.
    You have to admit the underwater battle in the ship's wreck is one of the worst fight of all time !! The punches they throw move at 2 centimeters per hour !! Felt like watching a Romaro film with the zombies slowly walking towards the heroes...
    Oh, yes. Completely awful. I think even what Tomorrow Never Dies had to offer was better and that's saying something! Those scenes really weren't needed for this film and should have been scrapped altogether.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    edited June 2011 Posts: 15,686
    True - FYEO is a great film, shame about that little rubbish fight... Glen's direction is a real bore. One of the most boring action director !!
  • Posts: 4,762
    I think they should have just put in a little scene where Bond and Melina retrieve the ATAC, go up to her boat, and then get captured by Kristatos. The two underwater fights should have been left out. With the expanded time, we could have seen a longer and more thrilling climax at St. Cyril's.
  • Posts: 1,492
    My favourite Bond film of all time.

    Alot of it has to do with the Greek flavour and the Cold War atmosphere. I We'd had since OHMSS one bloated SFX fantasy after another and suddenly the horns were pulled in and we had a character driven story. This was an interesting character piece where each of the characters had a little bit of backhistory to flesh them out. This hadnt happened in MR or Spy. In FYEO we had Greek archaeologists, Cuban hitmen, old wartime resistance adversaries, treacherous Olympic coaches, Belgian assassins. It seemed so mature compared with what had gone before.

    The character of Melina Havelock was a world away from the bikinied bimbos we had pressing big red buttons with their posteriors we had in the seventies. She was a career woman but had family ties. The revenge theme was tied in with Greek mythology - Electra avenging the death of Agamemnon. The imagery of the striking Carole Bouquet picking up a crossbow and going after her parents murderers is a strong one.

    I like the low key finale. The tension is there as we know what will happen if the Soviets get the ATAC. The Cold war had started up again in the early eighties and both sides were sabrerattling again.

    I wonder if those who have come to it via DVD or Sunday afternoon repeats really get the times and context of FYEO.
  • Posts: 1,497
    @actonsteve: Thanks for that insightful review. I'm of the camp however that doesn't care for this movie. I hadn't thought as much about the backstories and the Cold War context. So maybe I will have to go back to the film.

    My two main gripes are about the style and direction. For style I don't care for the look and feel of the film. The cinematography is pretty unattractive compared to what we've had before--it just lacks a unique quality the earlier films had. I really loathe the music in the first half of the film and I especially detest Sheena Easton's singing. The whole film has a dated early 80's feel to me, which I don't find attractive. However, style is a personal preference--I enjoy the early 70's mauve tones of LALD and TMWTGG. So to each his own.

    The other problem I have, is that while I appreciate the backstory and the whole revenge theme. I feel like it's a bit forced. The problem is too much of the middle part of the film is padded with the tired formula of the villains chasing Bond and Bond tries to get away for scene after scene. This was the exact same problem in Moonraker and I see it again in FYEO. More time could have been devoted to actually developing the character traits and the relationships further.
  • actonsteve - you raise an interesting point about context. For me, it both helps and hurts Bond films but in different ways.

    Those of us who lived through the early 80's - especially at a young, impressionable age - can never make real to a younger generation just how terrifyingly real the concept of global nuclear war was. We were literally laying awake at night in fear of the entire human race being wiped out - some vapourized, some living a hell of months of pain and suffering. Whereas the earlier Bond films played the cold war as a bit of a game, it was frightening to live through the time of The Day After.

    Another aspect of context is all the excitement that is built up around a film. Now, you can rent a Bond film anytime you want, although you probably own it. Back in the day you could only see it in a movie theatre during first run, or maybe a re-release a couple of years later. If you missed it on TV you'd have to wait for the next airing. Films in general were much more special in the past. And although Connery seems like an icon now, the films and actors were talked about on TV, in magazines, and on the playground constantly. There was a time when all the old Bond actors were constantly re-inforced in the minds of people as big stars in the same way that someone like Brad Pitt is today. Take any film released this summer - there was as much media coverage for every Bond film, or more. That really added to the aura of excitement when you saw the film on opening weekend. With a DVD of an older film - nothing.

    But the flip side of that is the charm of the older films being "retro" which can add to their appeal. When I first saw GF and DAF at age 11 I was already into "old" films. I now realize that part of it was being raised in a very conservative household where we were taught that the "present"(at the time, 1980) was a terrible time and that the world was going to hell in a handbasket. According to my family the past was this amazing paradise where everything worked and people were good - until the godless hippies wrecked everything in the early 70's and introduced drugs, violence (!), and pre-marital sex into the world (part of being young is not questioning what your parents tell you, otherwise I would have asked about all the violence and sex in a 1964 Bond film!). So I think that I subconciously was drawn to older films because the represented a time that I wished I could have lived in. But in addition to that, when a film is from before your time there's an exoticness and surreal aspect to it - you just can't imagine what it would be like to walk around in 1964 when you're a kid in 1980. So that added layer of "otherworldliness" helps to make the more fantastical elements (like the laser beam in GF or the satellite in DAF) go down easier.
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