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I agree with most of your views there, apart from NSNA over OP. Though I have come to appreciate the former more over the years, I still rate OP way above it, and in that infamous 'Battle of the Bonds' year, I was firmly in the OP camp! Still think it's one of Rogers best!
I’ve long been a defender of NSNA. I honestly believe it’s a pretty decent movie. Comfortably better than a few of the Eon entries imo.
The ‘63 Casino Royale is horrendous though, sorry :D
That's probably because such a film doesn't exist. ;-)
Seriously, though, I absolutely adore CR67, not as a Bond film, but as a '60s celebration of chaotic comedy.
NSNA, while not without its virtues, is a film that I struggle with:
1) It looks and sounds about as good as a television production from that time. For a 1983 big-budget cinematic film, the quality of the print is very questionable.
2) It is a work of hatred, produced to quench one man's thirst for vengeance.
3) The film is vastly inferior to TB, IMO, failing to create a sense of spectacle, exoticism, and Bondian 'cool'.
I'll give the film its one big triumph: Fatima Blush.
Joanna Pettet! I wish she could have been in a proper Bond film as, I don't know, Ruby Bartlett or Tiffany Case.
Or...wait for it...Lazenby's Moneypenny.
And the theme!
- Barbara Bouchet as Moneypenny
- Bernie Casey as Felix
Also, Jacqueline Bisset as Miss Goodthighs!
My controversial opinion of the day: I think Jacqueline Bisset could easily have played any of the main Bond girls from 1969 to 1983; She'd be great as Tracy (in fact I would have loved to see her in this role), she could have been a fantastic Tiffany Case, she was still young enough to play an innocent Solitaire, she could have played either of Miss Goodnight or Andrea Anders in TMWTGG, certainly a more believable Anya Amasova, likewise as Holly Goodhead. She could have been a great, although more mature Melina Havelock in FYEO, and certainly a good match for Roger as Octopussy in OP.
She's still acting, so give Jacqueline Bisset a cameo as a rich baroness at a card game or something in the next film!
And yes, the music in CR67 is almost too good for the film we got. It's simply fantastic.
Oops :) I’m gonna claim typo on my tiny phone keypad.
My overwhelming gripe with the film is that it’s a comedy that fails to be even remotely funny.
The only worthwhile moment in the entire thing is Peter Sellers delivering the “Bond… James Bond” line.
As I mentioned a while back, it certainly has it’s faults and I’d never claim it’s in the top tier of Bond movies, but I’d far sooner watch it that some of the Eon flicks.
I could see Jacqueline Bisset as Domino or Tatiana Romanova (she could've nailed the book version of Tatiana).
No one could replace Diana Rigg for me, she's maybe like Eva Green as Vesper, they've owned their respective roles.
No, sir, she was 'The Detainer'. :-D
Yes, I imagine she could have played both a young Tatiana Romanova or a Domino too!
Diana Rigg as Tracy was, certainly in terms of Bond girls and acting ability, one of the better – if not the best – performance of the early Bond films – and overall too, of course. Tracy and Diana Rigg just never left – and this might be my most controversial opinion now that I think about it – that much of an impression on me. I've certainly grown to appreciate both the character and the performance more as I've grown older, but I remember as a kid being very underwhelmed, and as an adult, it hasn't changed that much really.
It might also be the personas and imagery around other Bond girls that has left a more lasting impression. With Tatiana Romanova you have the bedroom scene, with Pussy Galore you have the legendary name and Bond waking up to a very striking looking character holding a gun towards him the first time you see her on screen, with Honey Ryder you have the memorable entrance coming out of the water, and so on.
Tracy should be the most memorable Bond girl for many reasons, but never has been to me.
I get it, I think the reason why Tracy elevated so much was because of Diana Rigg, she carried the role, she's charismatic, she even showed fight skills (because of Rigg's background as Emma Peel), she became the star of the film easily, but the Tracy character, I'll admit, is a bit lacking, as how Tracy was written and conceptualized by Ian Fleming himself, if talking about characters, Tracy without Diana Rigg, would be much a lesser character, in the book, as how she's originally written, she's not that great, she started out as a problematic character, then gone in the majority of pages, then returned almost in the third act where she's also going to be killed easily.
She doesn't leave that much of an impression to me while reading the book, one of Fleming's (Literary) weakest Bond Girls.
Diana Rigg carried the role.
Miscast? The book Tracy as how the character was written by Fleming is really not that great.
She's currently at the bottom of my Literary (Fleming) Bond Girls ranking (I know, I know, but let me explain why), after re-reading the books again (I have the unedited Fleming versions through E-Books as PDF Files in my phone).
She started out in the book as a self pitying messed up character who was very racy and weird towards Bond even though Bond was a stranger to her at that point (telling Bond to make love to her and to "treat her like the lowest whore in creation") then suddenly kicking Bond out of bed that she had called him a "lousy lover" are the implications that she's a poorly written character, sure, she had a heavy backstory, but the way she acted towards Bond was not believable or realistic, as Bond was still a stranger, even a depressed person in real life wouldn't act that way towards a person he or she just met in that same day.
Then she's gone on for far too many pages, and returned suddenly acting submissive and subservient towards Bond, as if by magic that she was cured in what? Just 24 hours?, And Bond suddenly decided to marry her after just driving him out of the dangerous situation he's in, then she's gone on for another numerous pages, before returning only to get killed.
Really, I thought Fleming could've done better than that, he had done great with Tiffany Case, Honeychile Ryder and even Judy Havelock despite of their traumatic backstories and their damaged nature, but Fleming failed in Tracy, Fleming tried to write a hybrid of Tiffany Case and Vesper Lynd in Tracy, but it fell short, because Tracy lacked the character development, complexity, banter, and chemistry with Bond that the former two have.
She's a disappointing character, her only advantage was that she's a reckless driver, but outside of the coincidence of her driving Bond away from the pursuit, there's nothing she did, if not for Bond marrying her, she wouldn't make that much of an impression, let alone one of the best, she wouldn't have been a memorable character.
I may say it, she's even lesser than literary Solitaire, Solitaire, sure she's been criticized for being quite a passive character, but at least, she was still crucial to the plot and was determined and strong willed, even Mary Goodnight tried to be likeable as a character, Tracy, on the other hand, had nothing to offer, she's as thin as a cardboard, even Pussy Galore's characterization was still decent compared to Tracy.
Diana Rigg carried the role, she gave the role strength, development, and complexity.
She's not sexy, and definitely being crazy is one of the reasons why she's not a great character, she was crazy for exaggerated reasons, she's not a realistic character, and the romance didn't worked because of it, she's annoying.
She's not even crazy, the likes of Xenia Onatopp and Fatima Blush are what I would call as crazy, Tracy was just, I don't know, she's useless as a character, just there as a pawn so Bond could get back into the spying game, she's one of or even probably the worst Bond Girl in Fleming Books (even Solitaire, Pussy Galore and Mary Goodnight are better compared to Tracy), the only thing that rises Tracy above them was the marriage aspect.
The Book/Literary Tracy was more like a self pitying brat who was exaggerating things, more like a primadonna drama queen, had their marriage last, the two would've parted ways quickly as I don't think Bond could've handled her, and she would probably going over her antics of self destructing, she's a brat, not a wife (I mean, they didn't even know each other that much, Bond met Tracy for what about only three times? Because Bond was so focused on his mission that Tracy was almost sidelined in the story, they didn't see each other often), they're even quite a creepy couple, Bond was in his late 40s (almost nearing his 50s) in the book while Tracy was at her late 20s (probably 28 or so, the age gap was quite uncomfortable).
And that's the right point, Diana Rigg was believable as a wife, that's the point of making the romance much believable, she's matured, realistic, and complex, you can't put someone there who couldn't be believable as a wife 😅, especially when the story was all about Bond getting married.
Rigg was definitely sexy, she's one of the sexiest women in 60s! She's a fire 🔥!
;)
John Steed would've hit you on your head "How could you say that to Emma Peel?", But again, she's a fabulous and great actress.
Well, it's subjective, after all, I don't find Eva Green attractive either, without a makeup at least (and a bit thin), but she's a good actress, the same for Maryam D'Abo (Kara), sexy is the least of the words I could think of when it comes to her 😅, she's got a cute face, but she's not a Bond Girl material type of looking.
Fleming's Tracy feels more like an angelic dream. At the start she is self-destructive, yes, but I don't think unbelievably so. She is going for a last run through all her chosen vices: fast driving, gambling, and sex. What stretches credibility is that Bond is so good that Tracy incurs doubt about her decision. However, we can chalk some of this up to the affection Bond shows.
Fleming's Tracy comes into her own when she saves Bond. After the ski chase is the weakest we've ever seen Bond in the series, and Tracy just swans up by chance and keeps him alive in what is a reversal of the beginning.
The novel does little to keep up their relationship. Bond goes two months without speaking to her; some scholars believe he was involved with Vivienne Michel at this time, and he was definitely involved with Ruby Bartlett (albeit for work purposes) during their relationship. The montage scene in the film, while cheesy and perhaps too blunt, at least establishes the relationship in a better way than the novel does (but of course Bond "cheats" on several more occasions and with several more women in the film, for non-work purposes).
I still don't get why she said those words to Bond, yes, I agree that if she enjoyed sex for her last hurrah, then, yes
1.) Why Tracy still doubted her decision and still going to commit suicide, it just didn't makes sense, sure she wrote a letter, but still, why commit suicide if she was smitten by Bond?
2.) And if she asked Bond to make love to her, then why she had suddenly kicked him out of the bed and called a 'lousy lover'?
Her words "treat her like the lowest whore in creation" sounded and felt more like a desperation than self indulgence (if she was really onto it), which was not a realistic thing to say to someone whom she just met at the time, I think Tracy's actions were just something out of Fleming's idea to make her too sympathetic, but it didn't worked, and instead, her actions became almost irrational and not realistic or plausible, it became an exaggeration.
It's not that Tracy is an angelic dream (Fleming had created better examples of that in the previous novels like Honeychile Ryder and Tatiana Romanova), in Tracy, Fleming was just trying to create another tragic character who would be the center of Bond's heart, but by this time, he was also attempting at combining Tiffany Case and Vesper Lynd in one.
Fleming made Tracy a pawn to have a reason for Bond to get back into the spy game as he was already giving up in his job, and what would be a better way to give him a woman to revitalize him?
But that's still not enough as a rationale for Bond proposing to Tracy, especially after what he had experienced with the previous women in the series (whom did so much than what Tracy have done so far in the story), Tracy saved him from the ice rink coincidentally (more like a plot device and convenience) then suddenly Bond asked her for marriage?
Bond showed vulnerability, but this is not a character development, especially that Bond had fallen in love so many times and been through with many women before Tracy who had done so much, but with Tracy, just a simple escape and he proposed to her? Just quick and sudden.
What Bond did to Tracy at the start was intentional, but what Tracy did to Bond was coincidental or by chance, Tracy just happened to found Bond in that skating rink and drove him out due to Bond's own warning, Bond saved Tracy on purpose.
Bond could've settled down with Vivienne Michel, with Domino, with Judy Havelock (if he wanted a damaged woman), Mary Ann Russell, Honeychile Ryder, Solitaire, or even Tatiana Romanova, the thing is, what makes Tracy that caught Bond so hard? Perhaps it's because he was threatened by Draco that if Bond didn't marry his daughter, the Union would hunt him down?
Tracy didn't even showed that much of her capabilities aside from that scene, we all know her as a reckless driver, but aside from it? There's none.
I wished Bond just settled down with Vivienne Michel instead 😅, I mean, he didn't know Tracy that much, she barely appeared in the book, and even at first, Bond was only smitten by her, but not totally head over heels to her like he showed suddenly at the airport.
I don't even think their relationship was genuine, I think Bond just looked at Tracy as a distraction to get himself diverted from the job, then when he was okay, he was back on the job again, like you've said, two months without speaking to her, and the same for Tracy, and after Tracy had died, Bond didn't even thought for a revenge, he was depressed, sure, but still cold that he had just tried to distract himself again in YOLT, and do the job as it is, just the way with Vesper, but at least, with Vesper, Bond still remembered her after the events of CR, with Bond being anxious at how he would introduce Tilly to Vesper herself when they've both reached heaven in GF, or visiting her grave annually, with Tracy, Bond just went like "I've been robbed at another chance of having a family, but nah, I could work on this myself to forget it all", it's not love, like in the film.
Bond, I think was felt obligated by Draco to marry Tracy, and Bond just found a better timing by declaring it at the airport.
That's a good point actually. While I certainly love the book, I can't really say that the character of Tracy makes a lasting impression. What happens to her of course, does – like in the film.
I wouldn't go that far, but maybe a bit bland looking at times? In some scenes I feel she looks very much a Bond girl, in others not so much.
The way I interpreted Tracy with Bond was that she was determined to commit suicide when he came into her bedroom. She has low self-worth at that point in time, and while she wants to experience sex, I expect she just wanted the feeling of the action (of a strong, handsome man as she says) rather than any actual pleasure. She doesn't care what the man thinks of her, or whether he cares for her, she's going to kill herself and it'd be simpler if no one actually cared for her.
Then after they made love, she cried, because she realised that she would never feel that love again. Bond was such a good lover that he elicited a reaction that she wasn't expecting (and the most unrealistic part of this mini-narrative). She asks him back in the morning in a moment of weakness.
In the morning, she realises that she's being ridiculous, and that when Bond starts talking about dinner, she's entered something considerably longer-term than she wanted. She just wanted one night with nice looking man, and now she's entered a relationship that she doesn't want to live through. What are the chances that it's just a repeat of her relationship with the Count? She believes her love for Bond is illogical and will only lead to more pain. So she tries to get him to go away by any means possible, by insulting him, and telling him to get out. There is no chance she actually though he was a "lousy lover."
I also don't think Tracy was the reason Bond returns to work. Bond works for excitement. With the Blofeld chase, his work had become boring. Draco gives him a clue that makes his work exciting again. Yes, Tracy is a plot convenience to find Draco, but she is simply another dimension.
The point is that it is a convenience. That's why I say she's an angel in Bond's eyes. He is completely lost and destroyed, and by chance she shows up. That's what angels are supposed to be, no? At one's lowest moment they appear (supposedly by divine intervention) and guide one back onto their spiritual/emotional path. While other allies have saved him physically, only Tracy has saved him emotionally, and that is really the only way she stands out.
And anyway, she wasn't there entirely by chance. Draco gave her Bond's whereabouts and told her to look for him if he needed anything.
As to why he proposed, I think his mental state is a good reason for why. Again, he is completely finished, both mentally and physically, and he needed someone that he could share the pain with. In addition, Bond feels bad for the way he deceived Ruby for sex, and wants a relationship built on more than that.
And so while I agree that Bond could have potentially settled down with other girls he met over the course of duty (even if I don't agree with your list entirely), his mental state wasn't conducive to having an emotional caretaker as it was at the ice rink.
Arguably he knew Vivienne even less! I agree that Tracy is underdeveloped (and too absent) for the standard of love interest that we are expected to buy, but she still is quite impactful on Bond in a way other Bond girls aren't.
I disagree. While Fleming was certainly trying to send a message by beginning his next novel with Bond flirting with the geisha, the death certainly had an impact on Bond. He tried to escape her memory in way that he never did with Vesper; in my eyes that's because he made peace quite quickly with Vesper's death because of her betrayal, but not with Tracy's because that was all his fault. He tries prostitutes, shrinks, hypnotists and the whole works to forget Tracy. And his chase to catch Blofeld is definitely motivated by revenge at the end, as he realises he cannot just forget.
Consider that YOLT opens 8-9 months post-Tracy as well, whereas LALD opens 6 months after Vesper, and compare his mental state in the pair.
We also don't have as many post-Tracy novels as we do post-Vesper novels. Vesper showed up 6 and 10 books after her death. Who knows how Tracy would have shown up?
Draco didn't force Bond to do anything either. Draco simply asked Bond to have dinner with Tracy and give her a chance. While he starts out by asking for marriage, Bond convinces him she needs a psychiatrist and not a husband, and then Draco reduces his demands
Yes, she's really not one of Fleming's best, unfortunately, I think Fleming attempted at another shot after Tiffany Case and Vesper Lynd, but it failed.
If not for marriage, she would not be that much high, and especially without Diana Rigg's portrayal (in the film, they've improved it by making Tracy a well rounded character, she's almost Bond's equal in many things, she can ride a horse, physically capable of fighting, witty, resourceful, fiery, reckless (counted), sophisticated and classy), but was also a complex character, she's vulnerable and still human, depressed.
I'm not much of a fan of the book myself, despite of loving the film so much, even Blofeld was such a let down after his threatening presence and introduction in Thunderball, here, he was suddenly desperate, supported by the Russians, and seeking a royal title.
The film heightened the stakes of making it more threatening and dangerous by Blofeld threatening UN to give him amnesty for his past crimes, much more Politically believable.
This is subjective, I love Diana Rigg in all scenes of her, she's classy and sophisticated throughout, with or without makeup, and sexy, of course, a far away from Emma Peel (has any of her later roles ever comes close to Emma Peel?)
Tiffany Case have done this before to Bond (I'm going to say Kissy Suzuki too, but she came after the events of OHMSS).
Fleming made Bond suffered an amnesia and by TMWTGG, Tracy was no more, he was even brainwashed then, he was even smitten by Mary Goodnight.
No one knows of course, the continuation novels have both acknowledged Vesper and Tracy, but we have no idea had Fleming lived, maybe that amnesiac and Brainwashing part was already a part of Fleming doing a reboot on Bond? Who knows.
But the amnesiac thing and him being brainwashed are the indication that Fleming simply wanted a new start on Bond.
I very much agree that the film did it's best to make up for the shortcomings of the character we met in the novel, and you couldn't have asked for a better performance than what Diana Rigg did for the character. The Tracy we see in the film does not however give me the "wow" factor or moments I've got from other characters. Maybe because she is supposed to be such a well rounded character, some characteristics might not stand out enough, I don't know. As far as looks goes, I do feel Rigg is a bit "toned down" in certain scenes and outfits, to the point of maybe being a bit bland. That's subjective of course, like you mention.
It's all subjective, but for me she's by far the most attractive of the 60s Bond girls. I think because she's beautiful but also there's something going on behind the eyes; Domino (for example) is extremely pretty but has no character or spirit to her at all I find, and that does little for me.