Never Say Never Again is based on the 1961 James Bond novel Thunderball, which was previously adapted as the 1965 film Thunderball. It was the second James Bond film not to be produced by Eon Productions but instead by Jack Schwartzman’s Taliafilm, and was distributed by Warner Bros. Sean Connery played the role of Bond for the seventh and final time, marking his return to the character twelve years after Diamonds Are Forever (1971). The film’s title is a reference to Connery’s reported declaration in 1971 that he would “never again” play that role.
In the film, after Bond fails a routine training exercise, his superior M orders him to a health clinic outside London to get back into shape. While there, Bond witnesses nurse Fatima Blush, a SPECTRE assassin (Barbara Carrera) giving a sadomasochistic beating to a patient in a nearby room. The patientis heroin-addicted United States Air Force pilot Jack Petachi. Petachi has undergone an operation on his right eye so he can circumvent security at an American military base in England, where he replaces the dummy warheads of two cruise missiles with live nuclear warheads; SPECTRE then steals the warheads, intending to extort billions of dollars from NATO governments. Bond follows a lead to the Bahamas and finds Domino Petachi, Jack’s sister,(Kim Basinger) and her wealthy lover Maximillian Largo (Klaus Maria Brandauer), who is SPECTRE’s top agent. When Largo’s yacht heads for Nice, France, Bond goes there and joins forces with his French contact Nicole, and his CIA counterpart, Felix Leiter. At the charity event, Largo and Bond play a video game called Domination; the losing player of each turn receives electric shocks of increasing intensity. After losing a few games, Bond wins, and while dancing with Domino, he informs her that Jack had been killed on Largo’s orders. Returning to his villa, Bond finds Nicole killed by Blush. After a chase, Bond finds himself ambushed and captured by Blush. Bond distracts her with promises, then uses his Q-branch fountain pen gun to kill Blush with an explosive dart. After the first warhead is found and defused, they track Largo to a desert oasis on the Ethiopian coast. Bond and Leiter infiltrate the underground facility and a gun battle erupts. In the confusion, Largo makes a getaway with the second warhead. Bond catches and fights him underwater. Just as Largo tries to use a spear gun to shoot Bond, he is shot with a spear gun by Domino, taking revenge for Jack’s death. Bond then defuses the nuclear bomb underwater, saving the world.
Honestly, it’s Thunderball with better tech & acting.
OK, on to the ratings;
Bond; 81 out of 100 A bridge too far for Connery. He should have kept his “never again” promise.
Villain; 94 out of 100. Klaus Maria Brandauer has always had that dark, twisted vibe to everything he does, while not being overtly aggressive. His Maximillian Largo carries that off quite well, IMO.
Bond Girls; 89 out of 100. Kim Bassinger is sexy and can act, Barbara Carrera, not always great, really is in this piece. Add in Saskia Cohen-Tanugi as Nicole and several others and you’ve got a strong “Bond girl” presence.
Bond Theme; 27 out of 75. Boring. Composed by Michel Legrand and performed by Lani Hall. In response to your response of “Who’s Lani Hall?”, she was the lead singer of Brazil 66. I’m not going to explain Brazil 66. Ask your grandparents..
Henchman; 42 out of 50. Again, I really liked Barbara Carrera’s Fatima Blush. She was the right combo of sexy, malicious and downright crazy/delusional. Good stuff.
M, Q, Moneypenny & misc; 23 out of 25. On the plus side, a Blofeld cameo by Max von Sydow, Bernie Casey’s Felix Leighter and Rowan Atkinson as a bumbling operative. On the minus side, the replacement M, Q and Moneypenny? Meh….
Total; 356
Scoreboard;
- Diamonds are Forever- 428
- Goldfinger- 419
- The Spy Who Loved Me.- 410
- Goldeneye- 407
- Spectre-397
- Live and Let Die- 396
- Thunderball- 393
- Skyfall- 383
- Casino Royale / Die Another Day / Skyfall- 382
- For Your Eyes Only- 380
- Tomorrow Never Dies- 377
- The World is not Enough- 367
- A View to a Kill- 359
- Never Say Never Again- 356
- No Time to Die- 355
- Dr. No- 346
- The Man with the Golden Gun. 331
- License to Kill- 321
- Moonraker- 315
- Octopussy- 255
- The Living Daylights- 228
- On Her Majesty’s Secret Service- 201
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