For Your Eyes Only (film)

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For Your Eyes Only

For Your Eyes Only film poster
James Bond Roger Moore
Also starring Julian Glover
Carole Bouquet
Chaim Topol
Lynn-Holly Johnson
Directed by John Glen
Produced by Albert R. Broccoli
Novel/Story by Ian Fleming (stories)
Screenplay Michael G. Wilson
Richard Maibaum
Cinematography by Alan Hume
Music by Bill Conti
Main theme For Your Eyes Only
Composer Bill Conti
Michael Leeson
Performer Sheena Easton
Editing by John Grover
Distributed by United Artists
Released June 24, 1981 (UK)
June 26, 1981 (USA)
Running time 128 min.
Budget $28,000,000
Worldwide gross $195,300,000
Preceded by Moonraker (1979)
Followed by Octopussy (1983)
IMDb profile

For Your Eyes Only (1981) is the 12th spy film in the James Bond series, and the fifth to star Roger Moore as MI6 agent James Bond. It is based on two short stories from Ian Fleming's collection For Your Eyes Only: the title story "For Your Eyes Only" and "Risico". It also includes elements from the novel Live and Let Die. In the film, Bond and Melina Havelock become tangled in a web of deception spun by Greek businessman Aristotle Kristatos. Bond is after a missile command system known as the ATAC, whilst Melina is out to avenge the death of her parents.


Contents

[edit] Plot

In the prologue, Bond is picked up at his wife's graveside by a helicopter, he escapes after being trapped in the aircraft. It is remotely controlled by Blofeld — Bond turns the helicopter on his enemy, who is in a motorized wheelchair, picking him up, and dumping him down an Industrial chimney.

The film then turns its focus to the fishing trawler St Georges on the Ionian Sea, which was revealed to be a British spy ship equipped with Automatic Targeting Attack Communicator (ATAC), the system used by the Ministry of Defence to communicate and co-ordinate the Royal Navy's fleet of Polaris submarines. The ship dramatically sinks when a old naval mine becomes entangled in the fishing nets and pulled into the hull.

Sir Timothy Havelock, a marine archaeologist based in Greece, was contacted by the British government to secretly locate the St Georges. However, before he could give a report, he and his wife are murdered by a Cuban hitman, Hector Gonzales, Havelock's daughter Melina survives and vows revenge. The British Minister of Defence and his Chief of Staff summons James Bond and assigns him the task of recovering the ATAC and explain to him that if the transmitter were retrieved underwater by another superpower the Polaris submarines' ballistic missiles could be used against major western cities. Bond is sent after Gonzales to find out who hired him. Melina kills him before Bond can find out.

After identifying a hitman in Gonzales' estate (Locque) who appeared to be paying him, Bond is led to a well-connected Greek businessman and intelligence informant, Aris Kristatos in Cortina d'Ampezzo a resort in northern Italy's Dolomites. He tells Bond that the man he saw is employed by Milos Columbo, a Greek smuggler.

When Bond eventually confronts Columbo it emerges that Locque is actually in the employ of Kristatos who himself is in the employ of the KGB. Kristatos is attempting to recover the ATAC for the KGB, and had set up Columbo as the villain as the latter knew too much about Kristatos' KGB leanings. Columbo proves this connection to Bond by allowing Bond to take part in a raid on one of Kristatos' factories where they find Locque. After attempting to escape, Locque becomes trapped in his car on the edge of a Venetian fortress. Bond chases the man and kills him.

Bond and Melina recover the ATAC from the wreckage of the St Georges, but Kristatos is waiting for them when they surface, and he takes the ATAC from them.

Kristatos as seen surrendering to Bond and Melina.
Kristatos as seen surrendering to Bond and Melina.

Bond, Columbo's team and Melina break into a mountaintop monastery, St. Cyril's, being used by Kristatos to meet Gogol where he will turn over the ATAC. Bond climbs up the sheer face of the mountain and, upon reaching the top, gains control of the lift basket and brings the rest of the team up.

Bond eventually retrieves the ATAC system and talks Melina out of killing Kristatos after he surrenders. Kristatos tries to kill Bond with a hidden weapon, but Columbo throws a knife at him from behind and kills him. KGB chief General Gogol arrives by helicopter to collect the ATAC, but Bond throws it over the cliff (it is dashed to pieces on the rocks below), with the quip, "That's détente, comrade. You don't have it; I don't have it." General Gogol gives Bond an understanding smile and leaves. Bond and Melina later spend a romantic evening aboard her father's yacht.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Production

Roger Moore with the "all women" cast around the pool. Transsexual actress Caroline Cossey is on the left, in the white bikini.
Roger Moore with the "all women" cast around the pool. Transsexual actress Caroline Cossey is on the left, in the white bikini.

For Your Eyes Only is noted for its pre-title sequence which sees the final comeuppance of the supervillain Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Bond's enemy in five previous films. The sequence of the film was initially scripted to aid the introduction and establishment of a new actor to portray James Bond since Roger Moore, who had starred in four previous films as Bond, was reluctant to return. The sequence begins with Bond laying flowers at the grave of his wife, Tracy Bond, but ends with Blofeld attempting to get even with Bond for foiling his plans and for the downfall of his criminal organization SPECTRE. The industrial chimney in the opening scene was part of the North Thames gasworks in London.

For this film, Blofeld is deliberately not named due to copyright issues with Kevin McClory, who owned the film rights to Thunderball which supposedly includes the character Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the organization SPECTRE, and a number of other material associated with the development of Thunderball. The demise of Blofeld was added to show that the James Bond series did not need Blofeld and was also done after a number of attempts by Kevin McClory to produce a rival Bond film based on his ownership of the screen rights to Thunderball. This includes a failed attempt in the late 1970s of an original Bond film that resulted in a lawsuit brought about by EON Productions and United Artists. Nevertheless McClory was able to film a remake of Thunderball entitled Never Say Never Again in 1983.

Initially it seemed Roger Moore would not return as 007 for this outing, so interviews and screentests were held for a replacement. At the forefront were Lewis Collins, famous for his role as Bodie in The Professionals, Michael Billington, best known as Col. Paul Foster in Gerry Anderson's "UFO" and Ian Ogilvy, who like Moore had made his name playing Simon Templar in Return of the Saint. Eventually, however this came to nothing as Moore signed on to play the superspy once again.

For Your Eyes Only marked a creative change of direction for the Bond film series. John Glen was promoted from his duties as a film editor to director, a position he would occupy throughout the 1980s. A result of this was a harder-edged directorial style, with less emphasis on gadgetry and large action sequences in huge arenas (as was favoured by Lewis Gilbert). More emphasis on tension, plot, and character was also added in addition to a return to Bond's more serious roots.

In order to blend the plots of the two short stories, several changes were made for the film. Since the film is set in Greece, closer to the location of Risico than to that of For Your Eyes Only, the Havelocks were changed from being Jamaican, as in the short story, to an Anglo-Greek couple (Mr. Havelock being English and Mrs. Havelock being Greek). Havelock's daughter, "Judy," was also renamed "Melina" in the film to give her a more Greek sounding name. The film also contains elements from several Ian Fleming stories: The warring smuggler characters Kristatos and Columbo come from Risico. The keelhauling sequence comes from the novel Live and Let Die, a scene unused in the previous film adaptation. The Identograph comes from the novel Goldfinger, where it was originally called the "Identicast".

Overall, For Your Eyes Only accumulated a box office gross of $195,300,000, and became the second highest grossing Bond film after its predecessor, Moonraker. This was the last James Bond film to be solely released by United Artists. Following the MGM and United Artists merger, the films were released by "MGM/UA Distribution Co". Beginning with Tomorrow Never Dies, the films were released by "MGM Distribution Co.".

A controversial incident was not revealed until some time after the release. It was discovered that Caroline Cossey, who was used in a pool scene, turned out to be transsexual. Urban legends about the incident greatly exaggerated Cossey's role, from a non-speaking "girl at pool" to someone who had "heavy love scenes" with Moore.[3] In reality, Cossey appears only fleetingly and is only clearly visible in one or two shots.

[edit] Filming

The tombstone of James Bond´s wife, Teresa, which Bond visits. shown at a James Bond convention in 1992.
The tombstone of James Bond´s wife, Teresa, which Bond visits. shown at a James Bond convention in 1992.

Many of the underwater scenes, especially involving close-ups of Bond and Melina, were actually faked on a dry soundstage. A combination of lighting effects, slow-motion photography, wind, and bubbles added in post-production, gave the illusion of the actors being underwater. Apparently actress Carole Bouquet had a preexisting health condition that prevented her from actually attempting any underwater stuntwork.

The film was shot mainly in Greece on locations such as Meteora, Island of Corfu, and the Achilleion. Other locations included England (Pinewood Studios with 007 Stage), Italy, and The Bahamas.

During filming of the escape on the bobsleigh track in Cortina d'Ampezzo, one of the stuntman driving a bobsleigh was killed during the first day of production.

[edit] Music

Main article: For Your Eyes Only (soundtrack)

Sheena Easton appears on screen singing the title song, the only artist ever to do so in a Bond film. The producers of the film wanted Blondie to perform the title song written by Bill Conti and Michael Leeson. Blondie declined, and then a different song with the name "For Your Eyes Only" was recorded by Sheena Easton instead. Blondie's version of "For Your Eyes Only", which is not the same song recorded by Sheena Easton, can be found on their 1982 album, The Hunter.

[edit] Release and reception

The respected and noted Bond historian, the late John Brosnan (who wrote "James Bond in the Cinema") noted in his review for the magazine Starburst that the movie was similar to 1969's On Her Majesty's Secret Service with all the skiing action and 1973's Live and Let Die for essentially being one long chase. Brosnan also noted that the MacGuffin for the movie (the ATAC) had actually been added to the movie after the main plot had been written.

Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 79% "fresh" rating.[4] Steve Rhodes of IMDb Reviews said that the Greek islands, bikini-clad women, narrow streets and the Italian Alps were all filmed "beautifully" by Alan Hume.[5]

IGN ranked Melina as 5th in a Top 10 Bond Babes list[6]

The original movie poster for the film featured a woman holding a crossbow. She was photographed from behind, and her outfit left the bottom half of her buttocks exposed. The effect was achieved by having the model wear a pair of bikini bottoms backwards, so that the part you see on her backside is actually the front of the suit. While the image is considered tame by today's standards, in 1981 it caused outrage. The studio was forced to create several versions of the poster with superimposed garments covering the offending area.[7]

[edit] Comic book adaptation

Main article: James Bond comic books

Prior to the film being released Marvel Comics was given permission to publish a two-issue comic book adaptation. The first issue was released in October 1981 and was soon followed by the second issue in November of the same year. It was also reprinted the same year in magazine and paperback book form. Both issues of the adaptation were written by Larry Hama and edited by Dennis O'Neil.

For Your Eyes Only movie comic book adaptation by Marvel Comics.
For Your Eyes Only movie comic book adaptation by Marvel Comics.

Two major differences in the comic book include the addition of M, who was technically in the initial drafts of the screenplay until Bernard Lee's death in early 1981 and the villain's given name, which for unknown reasons was "Ari Kristatos" instead of the film version's "Aris Kristatos" (or "Aristotle Kristatos"), although he is referred to as "Uncle Ari" both by Bond and Bibi Dahl in the movie. The comic also includes additional suggestive dialogue by Bibi Dahl (aimed at Bond) that was never used in (or was perhaps edited from) the film.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Chancellor, Henry (2005). James Bond: The Man and His World. John Murray. ISBN 0-7195-6815-3. 
  2. ^ Black, Jeremy (2005-06-01). "The Brosnan films", The Politics of James Bond: From Fleming's Novels to the Big Screen. Bison Books, p. 167. 
  3. ^ Caroline Cossey in For Your Eyes Only. Snopes.com For Your Eyes Only. Retrieved on March 16, 2006.
  4. ^ For Your Eyes Only. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2008-02-11.
  5. ^ For Your Eyes Only (1981). IMDb Reviews. Retrieved on 2008-02-11.
  6. ^ IGN: Top 10 Bond Babes
  7. ^ A Common Bond. Posterwire.com.

[edit] External links

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