Well, I did a little research, as best I could. The Bond films debuted on ABC TV, in 1972, with Goldfinger being shown first. I suspect that is when I first saw it, already in progress (ans announcers used to say). From Russia With Love and Thunderball appeared next, in fall of 1974, with Dr No playing in November. I must have missed the broadcast, as I recall watching FRWL and TB around that time frame. Diamonds Are Forever and You Only Live Twice (in that order) premiered in 1975. OHMSS premiered in 1976, but was split into two parts, heavily edited, with scenes put in different sequences. I don't exactly remember that but I do remember something about a 2 night showing. Live and Let Die premiered also in 1976 and Man with the Golden Gun in 1977. Spy Who Loved me didn't hit until 1980 and Moonraker in 1981 (I saw Moonraker in the theater, my first Bond in a theater). The rest of Moore's appear annually, from 1985-87. Living Daylights was the last shown on ABC, in 1990. then, Turner got the rights and they ran on WTBS.

I recall several repeats of the Connery films ad a few of LALD an MWTGG, up to the 80s, when I was in high school. I don't recall Goldfinger being shown after the 1972 showing, until the 80s; might have missed it, though, like I did the first showing of Dr No. I do recall seeing it being shown again in the dawn of the 80s; because I had read about the film in a Starlog article, about For Your Eyes Only, which had synopses for all of the previous films. I never saw Casino Royale until I was out of college and found it in a video store (augh............) and I had read about the Climax adaptation in Raymond benson's James Bond Bedside Companion (wish I still had that), before finding a vhs copy, at a Saturday Matinee retail video store.

My parents didn't really censor our tv viewing too much. They trusted the networks not to run anything too objectionable and we had enforced bedtimes (which got later, as we got older). beyond that, my dad would watch them with us, if he didn't have papers to grade or something else to do. He took us to see Moonraker. My brother was old enough to drive when we went to FYEO and I was driving by the time Octopussy came along (and never Say Never Again). I saw every one in theaters, from then on, until Die Another Day, which looked horrible and I skipped it (watched it when the Bond dvd boxed sets came out and hated it with a passion). Casino Royale was the only Craig one I saw in theaters, as I haven't been to a theater in years, thanks to my wife's physical issues and my dislike for modern theaters and the way that films scream at you, with the volume turned up too high, and movie and effects sound tracks mixed at higher levels. I hate watching modern movies on tv, as I have to turn down the sound on long music cues and special effects and up to hear dialogue. it gets annoying.

You Only Live Twice



Confession time: this is my favorite Bond film. Why? I can sum it up in one sentence: ninja commandos attack a volcano fortress, where rockets are launched into space to kidnap Soviet and American spacecraft, to start WW3!

You just can't top this!

Starring Sean Connery, Donald Pleasence, Tetsuro Tamba, Teru Shimada, Akiko Wakabayashi, Mie Hama, Karin Dor, Charles Grey and Peter Maivia.

Released in June 1967

Bond appears to be murdered, in bed, in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, a mysterious spacecraft hijacks a Gemini spacecraft, in orbit, killing an astronaut who was conducting an EVA. The US and Russia are at the brink, though the UK sources say the mysterious rocket came down somewhere in the Sea of Japan. A funeral at sea is held for Bond (he's a naval commander, reserves) and the body is picked up by scuba divers and brought on board a submarine. The shroud is opened and bond appears, alive, inside. He is briefed by M and dropped off (shot out of a torpedo tube) in Japan. He makes contact with Aki, an agent there, working for Dikko Henderson, a Brit who is the station chief. He is in the process of briefing Bond about his suspicions, when he is murdered. Bond takes out the killer and puts on his overcoat (despite being about 6 inches taller) and hat and face mask, then acts wounded. he is taken to the headquarters of Osato chemicals, where he is dumped on a sofa. he is revealed and fights a brutal hand-to-hand battle with the driver and kills him. he uncovers a safe and photographs documents inside. he is nearly gunned down and is saved by Aki, who drives the getaway car. they stop and he wants answers. She runs and he chases, then gets dumped down a tube, where he meets Tiger Tanaka, the head of the Japanese Intelligence Service. The film is developed and they find a picture of a cargo vessel, near an island coast. The photographer was a tourist who was murdered and the film taken. aTanaka works on identifying the coast where the photo was taken, while Bond returns to osato, masquerading as a rep froma British chemical company, wanting to do business with Osato. Bond meets Osato and his aid/pilot Helga Brandt. Osato has bond x-rayed and can see his pistol, under his jacket. He knows who Bond is and orders Brandt to kill him, after their meeting has ended and Bond has left. Osato works for SPECTRE. A hit is tried on the street and Aki gets Bond out of there and Tanaka's helicopter disposes of the pursuing car. They go to Kobe docks to investigate the cargo ship and are attacked by dock workers. Aki escapes and Bond is caught and roughed up. Brandt has him for interrogation; but, lets him free. The escape in her plane, then she sabotages it and leaves Bond to die. he gets free from a trap and is able to make a belly landing. He meets up with Tiger and gets a present from Q: a gyrocopter, which he uses to investigate the island, where the ship was sighted. He is attacked by helicopters while flying over the volcanic region, and defends himself with the autogyro's weapons. he meets up with Tiger at his training facility, where he is trained to be a modern ninja. An attempt is made on his life and Aki is poisoned. A sham wedding takes place, so Bond can go to a nearby island, where Ama pearl divers and fishermen live. Bond and Tiger's agent (an Ama girl) then investigate a spot where a diver was poisoned. they find an underground passage inland, with phosgene gas. they investigate topside and discover a flase lake, covering the entrance to a volcano, where SPECTRE's base is hidden. Bond sends the girl to alert Tanaka and infiltrates the place. he frees the astronauts and goes to sabotage a launch to attack another US mission, when he is spotted and captured. He is brought before the head of SPECTRE, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, who had previously executed Brandt, for failure. Tanak and his ninja commandos arrive and blast their way into the fortress and a running battle takes place. bond gets the destruct key for the SPECTRE rocket and destroys it. Blofeld escapes and sets off a self-destruct device. Bond and the ninjas escape out a side tunnel, into the sea. Bond and Kissy end up in a life raft and are picked up by a submarine.

Filming was done with Japanese actors, who were brought to England for English classes. Tamba spoke excellent English, but was dubbed for the film. Akikio Wakabayashi was originally cast in the smaller role of Kissy; but, her English was better than Mie hama and the roles were swapped, wile Hama was dubbed. Karin Dor was a German actress, who would also appear in The Invisible Dr Mabuse, the german film series that had also featured Gert Frobe. Tamba had appeared in the anthology film Kwaidan. Wakabayashi worked for Toho and was seen in King Kong vs Godzilla and Ghidorah. Mie Hama also worked for Toho and also appeared in KK vs Godzilla, as well as Key of Keys, the Japanese spy film that was redubbed by Woody Allen, as What's Up Tiger Lilly?. Tamba also worked for Toho, who lent production facilities to Eon. Peter Maivia was a Samoan pro wrestler who worked for the WWWF and other promotions, as well as eventually running his own promotion in Hawaii and Samoa. he is the grandfather of Duane "The Rock" Johnson (Maivia's daughter Atta is married to pro wrestler Rocky Johnson). He is noticeably not Japanese, in the film. he helped choreograph the fight with Connery (and his stunt doubles) which includes Bond hitting him with a sofa!

Production was done in Japan and at Pinewood Studios, where Ken Adam created his masterpiece, the volcano headquarters of SPECTRE. The set had a working monorail, a landing platform and rocket gantry, movable hatch to close off the volcano, and a massive staging area. the ninja attack features a mass speed rappel down lines from the roof. the stunt was performed by using pieces of fire hose to grip the rope and act as a break, a technique later used by the military for speed roping from helicopters (used in the assault that touched off the street fight in Mogadishu, chronicled in the book Blackhawk Down. Tons of extras were used in the battle, which gives it the biggest scope of the Bond films.

The gyrocopter, Little Nellie, was something seen by the producers and brought into the film. The pilot flew it for shooting, while the weaponry was created by special effects. Tragedy occured in the filming, as cameraman John Jordan was strapped to a filming helo, which veered to close to a stunt helo and the rotors severed his foot. He would return to do helicopter filming for OHMSS. Also seen in the film, with the ninjas, were rocket guns. these were actual weapons: the Gyrojet Rocket Pistol.



The weapon was developed for potential use by the Navy, underwater. The cartridges had small gets that would release propellent that would give the munitions high velocity. the weapon was not adapted when a flaw was discovered: the projectile had to reach a high velocity to have penetrating power. If sheets of cardboard were placed against the muzzle, the projectile could not pierce them and remain trapped in the weapon! They also had poor accuracy, as the barrels had no riffling and the projectiles did not spin, for a truer course.

Karin Dor performer her own stunt, when she is dropped off a bridge, into a pool of piranha. She was also dubbed by another actress, for the German language release of the film, instead of re-recording her dialogue.

Blofeld was originally cast with Jan Werich, a Czech actor; but, producers felt he looked like Santa Claus and replaced him with Pleasence. Pleasence wanted to have physical deformities, including a hump, a limp and a beard before they settled on the scar. However, the makeup placed great tension on his facial muscles and caused him discomfort.

Charles Grey would return to play Blofeld, in Diamonds Are Forever. Also, Canadian actor Shane Rimmer can be seen as a NASA tech, who mispronounces "Houston." (Hooston). Rimmer would return for The Spy Who Loves me, as the skipper of an American submarine. he is also uncredited in Diamonds Are Forever and dubbed a voice in Live and Let Die. he is famous as the coach of the Houston team, in Rollerball (again pronouncing it Hooston) and voiced Scott Tracy in the Gerry Anderson Supermarionation tv series, Thunderbirds. he passed away in March of this year.

Controversy arose when the production crew arrived in Japan. They had flown several hours and were tired and Connery came off the plane to find a massive public and press presence. he was wearing comfortable travelling clothes and did not have the hairpiece he wore in the films. Japanese journalists and fans were shocked at his less than sophisticated appearance. An impromptu press conference found Connery in a surly disposition. Broccoli appealed to the press to back off so they could eat and rest. A question was asked about how Connery found the Japanese women and his response was either dismissive or noncommittal, which offended many Japanese, as they felt their women were the most beautiful in the world. Much fence mending was done by the production company. They were plagued by large crowds, during filming and were happy to get back to Pinewood for shooting.

The script was written by children's author Roald Dahl, of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory fame. Dahl dumped most of the original novel, which followed OHMSS and had Bond in Japan, on the trail of Blofeld. He learns of a garden, run bey a German, that is used for suicides, by death cults. it runs out the German is Blofeld and Bond sets out to kill him for the murder of his new wife. bond is badly injured and suffers amnesia. The novel is rather slow and devoid of action and filled with false information about Japanese culture (sumos retract their testicles into their bodies, the Japanese language has no profanity, the history of ninjas, etc...) Dahl dumped it, citing it was more a travelogue than a thriller (all of the Bond novels have sweeping passages describing the locale; but, this goes into great depth about Japan and its culture).

The title song was done by nancy Sinatra, after Frank turned it down.  Nancy was extremely nervous and recorded 25 different takes.  An alternative was prepared, but the Sinatra version was used.

Some consider this the point where the Bond films went into pure fantasy (though you could argue the same, with Thunderball); but, it was massively popular and is one of the most exciting and fast moving of the films. the Ken Adams set is awe-inspiring and the plot was good enough to be recycled, for The Spy Who Loved Me. This one was ripped off by every spy spoof and action film and heavily by Steranko and Moench & Gulacy, not to mention for the Ra's al Ghul stories of Batman. It is probably the most gonzo, yet thrilling of the series. To this day, my ultimate lottery fantasy is my own volcano fortress, with modern design interiors

Praise be to Ken Adam, the man who gave us this, the SPECTRE boardroom, the war room in Dr Strangelove. He won the Oscar for Barry Lyndon and the Madness of King George. he was also one of three German-born pilots to fly for the RAF, in WW2, flying the Hawker Typhoon, in bomber escort duty and ground attack. He received a knighthood in 2003. he died in 2016, at the age of 95. I credit my fascination with and love of modern architechture and design to his work in the Bond films and Dr Strangelove.

Little Nellie ... The coolest James Bond Gadget in the Sean Connery Era.


Used in this movie You Only Live Twice

Diamonds Are Forever



Starring Sean Connery, Jill St John, Charles Grey, Bruce Glover, Putter Smith, Jimmy Dean, Norman Burton, Joseph Furst, Bruce Cabot, and Lana Wood.

Released in Dec 1971.

With the disappointing box office of OHMSS, Eon looked for scapegoats and blamed George Lazenby, who abruptly quit the role. They decided they had to have Connery, loaded up a drumptruck full of money and backed it up to his porch and signed him to return. unfortunately, they gave him a script fit for Roger Moore, with way too much broad comedy and absurd stunts.

The film opens with Bond hunting Blofeld, brutally beating and killing people with info. he tracks him down to a private lab, undergoing plastic surgery and kills him. We then see a diamond smuggling operation, starting in South African mines, where a dentist smuggles out the diamond, to two odd men, who kill him. they deliver it to a missionary teacher, who takes them to Amsterdam, where they murder her. They are then passed on to a woman, for smuggling into the US. Bond intercepts the courier and replaces him, smuggling the diamonds inside the corpse of the escaped courier, who he kills in a brutal fight in an elevator. Bond is nearly burnt alive in a crematorium, until it is discovered that the diamonds are fakes and he has hidden the real ones. The woman from Amsterdam, Tiffany Case, shows up to try to worm out where the diamonds are. Bond makes a deal and she double-crosses Bond, only to find a woman, mistaken for her, murdered in her home. She then works with Bond to trace the next link, which leads to Willard Whyte's aerospace facility. there, Bond pokes aorund, seeing the diamonds being mounter on a satellite. he is discovered and flees in a prototype moonbuggy. Back in Vegas, he tries to infiltrate Willard Whyte's penthouse and finds himself before an alive Blofeld, with a new face. he is gassed an dumped in a pipeline, in the desert; but, escapes. he then tracks down where the real Whyte is being held prisoner and helps free imd. They figure out that Blofeld is operating from an oil platform, off Baja California, which Whyte never knew existed. Tiffany is grabbed by Blofeld. Bond turns up, openly and allows himself to be captured, to switch control tapes for the laser satellite death weapon. Blofeld catches it and is going to have Bond killed, when Whyte turns up with the Army, which attacks the platform from the air. Bond is able to destroy the control mechanism for the satellite and capture Blofeld. he and Tiffany go off on a cruise, whee the two killers, Wint and Kidd, try to murder them, though Bond sets one on fire and blows up the other.

Jill St John makes a sexy female lead; and has moments; but, it is a big step down from Diane Rigg. She plays her part, such as it is. This film perpetuates the conceit that Bond is a famous secret agent, which defies all logic. The smuggling operation is needlessly complex, but allows for some fun with Wint and Kidd. The Vegas stuff is played way too much for comedy and most comes across as pretty bad. The car chase stunt is fine, until they screw up the angles for an alley scene, where the car is on two wheels. They top it with a whistle sound effect that destroys any tension. Grey is charming as a villain; but not particularly menacing, especially after Pleasence and Savalas. Connery is going through the motions and is noticeably out of shape (his body is heavy and his hairpiece is obvious).

There some good scenes and some good stunts; but there s a lot of stuff that makes no sense and it feels strung together. Richard Maibaum originally wrote a script about Bond hunting Blofeld and Bundt that was a revenge story, which Broccoli didn't like. He had a dream about Howard Hughes being replaced by an imposter and wanted that for a plot. Tom Mankiewicz was hired to do a rewrite and added most of the silliness.

Jimmy Dean is playing a stand-in for Howard Hughes, who was very reclusive at this point, holed up in his Vegas penthouse, endlessly rewatching Ice Station Zebra for hidden messages. His mental state was a subject of much gossip and concern. The film uses the reclusive nature to be a way for Blofeld to hide out and launch his next blackmail scheme. Dean isn't bad, though he comes across as comical, as does just about everyone. Bruce Glover is the only menacing one, as he often played psychos and knew how to do it. he was also legit weird and nuts, traits he passed on to his son, Crispin (of Back to the Future fame). Putter Smith was a jazz musician, not an actor and why he was in this is still a mystery. He is horribly wooden, in his dialogue, though he looked suitably weird, especially with Glover. Paul Williams had been cast to play alongside him; but couldn't come to an agreement with the producers and Glover was cast.

As a kid, I though much more of the film; but, it is by far Connery's weakest and worst. It pretty much indicates where the series was going. These were now stunt spectaculars with broad comedy and action; but little logic and not much intrigue. As an adult, I can barely sit through and often fast forward through the really bad stuff. The elevator fight was a nice nod to what had been; but, little else was. Even the helicopter assault seems a bit tired, as other than firing rockets and machine guns, little else happens, other than explosions. Quite a come down from the commando assaults before. The script had actually called for frogmen to assault the platform, with limpet mines.

The original novel is about diamond smuggling; but, involves the Spangled Mob, Las Vegas gangsters. It's pretty much a pulp crime story and not one of the better books, for my tastes. Quite frankly, much of the film looked like the average tv show of the era. Hollywood had caught up with the Bond films and even tv was doing big car chases. Much of it seemed a step down. Quite frankly, the revenge story sounded like a better film and would have made better use of Connery (and probably have motivated him more).

Shirley Bassey is back for the theme song, which is pretty good. It's a softer sound than Goldfinger, which shows off her talents without being as over the top.

Connery said this was one time and walked, again and the hunt was on for a new Bond, again.

Live and Let Die



Starring Roger Moore, Yaphet Kotto, Jane Seymour, David Hedison, Gloria Hendry, Geoffrey Holder, Julius Harries, Clifton James

Released in June 1973.

Agents are killed in New Orleans and a Caribbean island nation. Bond is briefed by M and sent to new York to investigate. The agents were involved in investigating the dictator of the island nation of San Monique (sister island of San Unique). Someone tries to kill Bond. He investigates an occult shop and traces a car to a Fillet of Soul restaurant, in Harlem. He suddenly finds himself whipped around in a booth, to a hidden internal room. There, he meets Solitaire, a fortune teller, who uses taro cards. A gangster, named Mr Big, comes out and orders him to be killed. Bond is rescued by one of Felix leiter's men, Strutter. Bond travels to San Monique and meets CIA liason, Rosie Carver, while someone puts a venomous snake in his room. Bond kills the snake and welcomes Rosy. Rosy takes Bond up in the mountains, to where the British agent was killed and Bond smells a rat. Rosy is killed by Kananga's people. Bond infiltrates the house where Solitaire is, beds her and they escape together in the morning, with a high speed chase, in a double-decker bus. They go to New Orleans to trace the connection there and Bond deals with Mr Big's goons and he and Solitaire are split. he and Leiter go to a Fillet of Soul restaurant and Bond is pulled down an elevator, while Felix is distracted, and meets mr Big, who is actually Kananga, in disguise. He uses Bond's watch to test Solitaire and she fails. Bond is dumped on an alligator farm, where there is a hidden drug lab. He escapes being eaten and destroys the lab and heads back to San Monique, to destroy Kananga's poppy fields and rescue Solitaire. She is being sacrificed in a voodo ritual and Bond shoots the priest and rescues her, after killing Baron Samedi. They find Kananga's underground operation for smuggling the raw opium to New Orleans, to be refined into heroin, for distribution in the US. Bond and Solitaire are being dunked into shark-infested waters, when Bond uses his gadget watch to escape and a gas pellet to cause Kananga to blow up like a balloon and explode. Bond and Solitaire go on a train trip and are attacked by Tee-Hee, Kananga's chief goon. He gets dumped out a window and Bond and Solitaire do the horizontal mambo.

Here begins Roger Moore's tenure as Bond. I have always said Roger Moore is playing the Saint, who is pulling a con, making everyone believe he is James Bond. This is not Fleming's Bond and it ain't Connery's. Bond is tweaked to better fit Roger Moore's personality and skills, which means light comedy. So, his films end up being like the Saint tv series, with a much bigger budget (and guns, as Simon Templar rarely used one). As long as you approach it that way, his films are (mostly) fine. He is never deadly; but, he handles comedy well and has charisma to keep you interested.

Jane Seymour was rather young, having worked mostly in tv (including the children's series Here Come the Double-Deckers, from the UK; but shown on NBC Saturday morning tv), but is great here. Yaphet Kotto is fine as the villain; but, the whole Mr Big routine makes no sense. Mr Big was the actual villain from the novel, who was an agent of SHMERSH. Kotto is charming and menacing and was a tremendous actor.

The film basically jumps on the Blaxploitation fad, in a fairly insulting manner; but, what ya gonna do? There were worse attempts to tread that territory. Roger Moore in Harlem and New Orleans was pretty funny.

Theme song is from Paul & Linda McCartney, marking the first time rock music was used for a Bond theme. This trend will continue. The song is awesome and really livens up the title sequence and is used to great effect in action sequences.

The film is noted for the speed boat chase, through the Louisiana bayous, which ended up in Guinness for longest boat jump. The sequence is fantastic and doesn't seem as out of place as some of the stunts in subsequent Bond films. The sequence also features character actor Clifton James, as redneck sheriff JW Pepper, who gets the best line of the whole film...



I quote that line regularly!

The film did very well at the box office and Roger Moore, for good and bad, became Bond for the next decade and the longest serving in the role. David hedison would prove to be one of the more popular Felix Leiter's and would return for License to kill, where he suffers the fate that the character did in the original Live and Let Die novel (the second Bond novel).

The alligator stunts were shot at a farm owned by one crazy m@#$!%^*^%$#@, named Ross kananga. Kananga's father had been killed by an alligator, yet he raised them and crocodiles and doubles Roger Moore for a stunt where he leaps across the backs of gators, to get to shore. The gators were secured in place; but, it took 5 attempts to get it on film and the last gator anticipated Kananga a couple of times and came close to biting his leg. One attempt, he missed halfway across and landed on a gator's back. I've said it before and I will say it again, "You do not f@#$ with a species that has barely evolved in over a million years!"

We actually get to see Bond's home, as M comes to see him there, rather than Bond coming to his office. At the time, as a kid, I wondered what the deal was with his coffee machine gimmick. I later figured out it is an espresso machine. That was not as widely seen then and it is never identified, as such. It also didn't look like the old espresso machines you would see in films and tv, in coffee houses (with beatniks).

Bond gets a gadget watch, which can manipulate a magnetic field and then has a variation on the gyrojet rocket gun, for the assault on Kananga's operation. He carries a S&W Model 29 .44 Magnum, for his attack on Kananga (Dirty Harry's weapon) marking the only time Bond is seen with a high caliber pistol, in these things. In the novel Dr No, there is a chapter where he receives the Walther PPK, after Fleming had him carrying a .25 cal Beretta. A firearms expert, Geoffrey Boothroyd, contacted Fleming about the weapons and made suggestions to him, which fFleming used in the novel (naming the Service armorer Maj. Boothroyd). In the novel, it is recommended that Bond have a S&W Centennial Airweight .38 cal revolver for long range work. That was a mistake, as that is a short range weapon, used for bodyguards and police and was the weapon Boothroyd recommended for Bond to carry; but Fleming liked the Walther name better. Boothroyd had suggested a .45 cal revolver for long range. This was the first time the films had addressed the need for a more powerful handgun (leaving aside the AR-7 rifle, in FRWL, which was actually a smaller caliber than Bond's Walther PPK).

Gadgets don't get too far out of hand here, other than the gas cartridge, in the finale. That will change.

The Man With The Golden Gun



Starring Roger Moore, Christopher Lee, Maud Adams, Herve Villechaize, Britt Ekland, Soon Tek Oh.

Released Dec 1974.

The opening teaser introduces us to Francisco Scaramanga, who lives on a private island, with his lover Andrea and manservant Nick Nack. A stereotypical hitman arrives and is paid by Nick Nack to try to kill Scaramanga. While they go through Scaramanga's private funhouse shooting gallery, Nick Nack watches and cackles, manipulating lighting, mirrors and elements. It turns out it is a workout for Scaramanga and he kills the hood, then reveals a statue of Bond.

In London, Bond comes in for a briefing and is shown a gold bullet, with his number on it. he has been searching for a missing solar energy researcher and is relieved of duties. He counters with a mission to track down Scaramanga. he tracks down a belly dancer who was the last person with another 00, when they were killed by Scaramanga. She has the bullet that killed him, which she wears as a charm, in her navel. He is attacked by goons and fights his way out and swallows the bullet. he gets away and returns the bullet (with the help of a pharmacist) to Q and a ballistics expert, who identify the manufacturer as a man named Lazar, in Macau. Bond heads to Hong Kong and finds Lazar and extorts the method he uses to deliver the munitions. Bond follows the woman who collected the bullets to a hotel and gets info from her. She describes Scaramanga and his suit and that he will be meeting someone at a night club. Bond goes there and misses Scaramanga; but, finds the missing solar researcher, who is killed by Scaramanga. Nick Nack steals the solex agitator device, while bond is arrested by a po;lice officer. He takes him to a boat and to the New Territories, then Bond escapes the boat, jumping onto the wreck of the half sunk Queen Elizabeth ship. It turns out to be the MI-6 Hong Kong HQ and Lt. Yip is one of theirs.

Bond goes to Thailand to try to con Hai Fat, Scaramanga's patron, to get the solex agitator. Bond is caught out and gets beat up and dumped in a martial arts school. he kicks a Bruce wannabe's butt and gets away, with Yip and his two niece's help. There is a high speed river chase and he gets away. Scaramanga kills Hai Fat and takes the agitator. Anders meets Bond and reveals she sent the bullet to Bond to alert him. they are to meet the next day, to get the agitator. Bond meets her at a muy thai arena and she is dead. he finds the agitator and gets it to Yip, who gives it to Goodnight, the local rep (and former Bond lover). She hides in Scaramanga's car and he leaves with her inside. Bond chases, stealing a car, with JW Pepper in it. they do a corkscrew jump over a river and still miss Scaramanga. Bond flies out to Scaramanga's island and meets up with him. he is shown the solex agitator and Scaramanga's solar laser. then, they have a duel through the funhouse and Bond kills Scaramanga. He and Goodnight get the agitator and sabotage the energy facility and the place blows up. Bond and Goodnight leave on Scaramanga's junk and are attacked by Nick nack, who gets dumped in a suitcase and hoisted up a mast.

Christopher Lee is awesome and was actually suggested for Bond, by Fleming, when they were casting for Dr No. He had served in military intelligence, in WW2, with some rumors of having done behind the lines work and/of killing. He is legit scary, without his Dracula fangs. Villechaize makes for an interesting twist on the Oddjob routine and is very entertaining and psychotic. The women are there to look pretty and aren't much in the acting department, but get their lines out and are watchable. The Pepper things was dumb; but racist. The car jump is spectacular; but, telegraphed as soon as you see the twisting destroyed bridge/ramp.

The plot is a bit weak; but, the challenge of facing a real killer elevates the weak story. it is too hokey, in spots; but still entertaining. Moore is totally unconvincing in the martial arts scene (as Bond jumps on the kung fu fad). The preceding muy thai sword fight looks suitably deadly and the muy thai match at the arena is fast and hard hitting, in one of the early depictions of it, in western film (along with Tarzan's Three Challenges).

The title song features Lulu (of To Sir, With Love and Ab-Fab fame) and she belts out a great pop song.

This is not one of the more popular Moore Bond's; but, I have always enjoyed it. As covered in my Games of Death and Deceit thread, it is a major inspiration for the Mordillo Saga, in MOKF.