by practicallywell

Practically Well rates the Bond films #23. For Your Eyes Only

For Your Eyes Only is the fifth film to star Roger Moore. It also co-stars Carole Bouquet, Topol, Lynn-Holly Johnson and Julian Glover. The twelfth film in the James Bond franchise produced by Eon Productions, For Your Eyes Only was written by Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson. In this installment , the British information-gathering vessel St Georges, which holds the Automatic Targeting Attack Communicator (ATAC), the system used by the Ministry of Defence to co-ordinate the Royal Navy’s fleet of Polaris submarines, is sunk after accidentally trawling an old naval mine in the Ionian Sea. The head of the KGB, General Gogol, has learned of the fate of the St Georges and Bond is ordered to retrieve the ATAC before the Soviets do so, for the transmitter could order attacks by the submarines’ Polaris ballistic missiles. After an attempt on his life by assassin Locque, Bond goes to Greece chasing a lead to the transmitter, Bond meets his contact, Luigi Ferrara, and a well-connected Greek business magnate and intelligence informant, Aris Kristatos, who reveals that Locque is employed by Milos Columbo, known as “the Dove” in the Greek underworld. Bond then travels to Corfu in pursuit of the transmitter.

There, at the casino, Bond meets Kristatos and asks how to meet Columbo, not knowing that Columbo’s men are secretly recording their conversation. After Columbo and his mistress, Countess Lisl von Schlaf, argue, Bond offers to escort her home with Kristatos’s car and driver. The two spend the night together and the next morning, Lisl and Bond are ambushed on the beach and Lisl is killed by Locque. Bond is captured by Columbo’s men before Locque can kill him; Columbo then tells Bond that Locque was actually hired by Kristatos, who is working for the KGB to retrieve the ATAC. Afterwards, Bond meets Melina, whose parents were killed by Kristato’s henchmen, and they recover the ATAC from the wreckage of the St Georges, but Kristatos is waiting for them when they surface and takes the ATAC. The two escape an assassination attempt and discover Kristatos’s rendezvous point when Melina’s parrot repeats the phrase “ATAC to St Cyril’s”. Bond retrieves the ATAC system and stops Melina from killing Kristatos after he surrenders. Kristatos prepares to kill Bond with a hidden flick knife, but is killed by a knife thrown by Columbo; Gogol arrives by helicopter to collect the ATAC, but Bond throws it off the cliff, maintaining the relatively peaceful status quo. Bond and Melina later spend a romantic evening aboard her father’s yacht while Melina’s parrot fields a call from MI6 and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Now that’s how you end a Bond film, with Bond in bed and Maggie Thatcher talking to a parrot.

OK, on the the ratings;

Bond; 94 out of 100 Sort of a renaissance for Roger. He is more energetic and even, “harder”, if I may put it that way. It’s one of his last but one of his best.

Villain; 80 out of 100. Julian Glover as Aristotle Kristatos? Meh, just sort of there. He said his lines and played the bad guy, but nothing to write home about.

Bond Girls; 84 out of 100. Carole Bouquet as Melina Havelock is sexy AF, and LynnHolly Johnson is cute and sexy in an energizer bunny sort of way. Also, Cassandra Harris as Columbo’s mistress? Yes.

Bond theme; 69 out of 75. Sheena Easton’s theme song is a solid number, and a pop hit as well. And, well, Sheena Easton.

Henchman; 36 out of 50. Michael Gothard as Emile Locque, an assassin & Kristatos’s henchman was similar to Glover’s villain. There, but not impressive.

M, Q, Moneypenny & misc; 17 out of 25. Desmond Llewelyn as Q, check. Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny, check. Both solid and steady. Bonus points for Topol (of “Fiddler on the Roof” fame) in the role of Columbo and a cameo of Charles Dance as a bad guy.

Total; 380

Scoreboard;

  1. Diamonds are Forever- 428
  2. Goldfinger- 419
  3. The Spy Who Loved Me.- 410
  4. Goldeneye- 407
  5. Spectre-397
  6. Live and Let Die- 396
  7. Thunderball- 393
  8. Skyfall- 383
  9. Casino Royale / Die Another Day / Skyfall- 382
  10. For Your Eyes Only- 380
  11. Tomorrow Never Dies- 377
  12. The World is not Enough- 367
  13. A View to a Kill- 359
  14. No Time to Die- 355
  15. Dr. No- 346
  16. The Man with the Golden Gun. 331
  17. License to Kill- 321
  18. Moonraker- 315
  19. Octopussy- 255
  20. The Living Daylights- 228
  21. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service- 201

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