Never Say Never Again
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| Never Say Never Again | |
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 Never Say Never Again movie poster |
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| James Bond | Sean Connery |
| Also starring | Klaus Maria Brandauer Kim Basinger Barbara Carrera Max von Sydow Bernie Casey Alec McCowen Edward Fox Rowan Atkinson |
| Directed by | Irvin Kershner |
| Produced by | Jack Schwartzman |
| Novel/Story by | Kevin McClory Jack Whittingham Ian Fleming |
| Screenplay | Lorenzo Semple Jr. |
| Cinematography by | Douglas Slocombe |
| Music by | Michel Legrand |
| Main theme | Never Say Never Again |
| Composer | Alan Bergman Marilyn Bergman |
| Performer | Lani Hall |
| Editing by | {{{editing}}} |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Released | October 7, 1983 |
| Running time | 134 min. |
| Budget | $36,000,000 |
| Worldwide gross | $160,000,000 |
| IMDb profile | |
Never Say Never Again, released in 1983, is the second screen adaptation of Ian Fleming's novel Thunderball and a non-EON Productions remake of the 1965 James Bond film of that name. It starred Sean Connery as the famous British Secret Service agent (as did EON's Thunderball), and was released theatrically by Warner Bros.
Although the film was not part of EON's Bond film franchise produced by EON and United Artists, subsequent mergers and dealings mean that it is currently owned, like the series, by United Artists' parent, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer:[1] MGM acquired the distribution rights in 1997 after its acquisition of Orion Pictures. The film also marks the culmination of a long legal battle between United Artists and Kevin McClory that goes back to his working on the original story with Fleming and Jack Whittingham.
Originally, the film was scheduled for release in direct competition with the official, EON Bond film, Octopussy, starring Roger Moore, which led to the media dubbing the situation "The Battle of the Bonds". Ultimately, the two films were released at different points in 1983 and both were big box-office successes, though Octopussy was the 'winner', making $187 million compared to the $160 million made by Never Say Never Again.
The title is based on a conversation between Sean Connery and his wife. After Diamonds Are Forever (1971) he told her he'd 'never' play James Bond again. Her response was for him to "Never say never again". She is credited at the end of the film for her contribution. As a result, it was, at the time of release, the first Bond movie to use a non-Fleming originated title.
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[edit] Plot
Never Say Never Again follows a similar plotline to the film and novel Thunderball, but with some differences.
The film opens with a middle-aged, yet still athletic James Bond making his way through an armed camp in order to rescue a girl who has been kidnapped. After killing the kidnappers, Bond lets his guard down, forgetting that the girl might have been subject to the Stockholm syndrome (in which a kidnapped person comes to identify with his/her kidnappers) and is stabbed to death by her. Or so it seems.
In fact, the attack on the camp is nothing more than a field training exercise using blank ammunition and fake knives, and one Bond fails because he ends up "dead" (a previous "fake" mission saw his legs get blown off by a land mine). A new M is now in office, one who sees little use for the 00-section. In fact, Bond has spent most of his recent time teaching, rather than doing, a fact he points out with some resentment.
Feeling that Bond is slipping, M orders him to enroll in a health clinic in order to "eliminate all those free radicals" and get back into shape. While there, Bond discovers a mysterious nurse (Fatima Blush) and her patient, who is wrapped in bandages. His suspicions are aroused even further when a thug (Lippe) tries to kill him.
Blush and her charge, an American Air Force pilot named Jack Petachi, are in fact operatives of SPECTRE, a criminal organisation run by Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Petachi has undergone an operation to alter one of his retinas to match the retinal pattern of the American President. Using his position as a pilot and the president's eye pattern to circumvent security, Petachi infiltrates an American military base in England and orders the dummy warheads in two cruise missiles replaced with two live nuclear warheads, which SPECTRE captures and uses to extort billions of dollars from the governments of the world.
M reluctantly reactivates the 00 section, and Bond is assigned the task of tracking down the missing weapons, beginning with a rendezvous with Domino Petachi, the pilot's sister, who is kept a virtual prisoner by her lover, Maximillian Largo. Bond pursues Largo and his yacht to the Bahamas, where he engages Domino, Fatima Blush, and Largo in a game of wits and resources as he attempts to derail SPECTRE's scheme.
[edit] Cast
- Sean Connery as James Bond
- Edward Fox as M
- Alec McCowen as Q (a.k.a. Algy)
- Pamela Salem as Miss Moneypenny
- Klaus Maria Brandauer as Maximillian Largo
- Barbara Carrera as Fatima Blush
- Max von Sydow as Ernst Stavro Blofeld
- Kim Basinger as Domino Petachi
- Bernie Casey as Felix Leiter
- Rowan Atkinson as Nigel Small-Fawcett
- Prunella Gee as Patricia
- Valerie Leon as Lady in Bahamas
- Gavan O'Herlihy as Jack Petachi
[edit] Filming
The Flying Saucer, Largo's ship, is a translation of "the Disco Volante", the name of Largo's ship in Thunderball. In this film, the Flying Saucer dramatically dwarfs the vessel present in the official film continuity. Bond observes that Largo has the offices and computer power to "run a small government from here." Largo replies that he could actually "run a large government from here."
The Disco is still the base of underwater operations by Largo. In real life, the 282' yacht used in long shots was known as the "Nabila" and was built for Saudi billionaire, Adnan Khashoggi. The yacht was later sold to Donald Trump who renamed it Trump Princess. Later Trump sold it to Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz al Saud who christened it the Kingdom 5KR. The casino where Bond and Largo go head to head in a video game was called Casino Royale.
This scene also prevented author John Gardner from having a somewhat similar scene involving Bond playing a computer game over a LAN in Gardner's novel Role of Honour. Bond was supposed to be playing a simulation of "The Battle of Waterloo"; this was later changed to a different type of game involving "The Battle of Bunker Hill".
McClory originally planned for the film to open with some version of the famous "gunbarrel" opening as seen in the official Bond series, but ultimately the film opens with a screenful of "007" symbols instead. When the soundtrack for the film was released on CD, it included a piece of music composed for the proposed opening.
The film re-used submarine special-effect footage from Ice Station Zebra.
Klaus Maria Brandauer, who played Largo, was originally cast as Marko Ramius in The Hunt for Red October; the role eventually went to Connery.
[edit] Casting
Rowan Atkinson, who later became world-famous for the Blackadder and Mr. Bean comedy series, played a British agent in this movie, the bumbling Nigel Small-Fawcett. Later he would play a James Bond parody in Johnny English.
According to the Lee Pfeiffer/Philip Lisa book The Films of Sean Connery, Richard Donner was given the chance to direct but declined.
Barbara Carrera was nominated for a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Fatima Blush.
[edit] Changes to the Bond universe
As an unofficial remake, this film features several differences to the official films James Bond universe.
[edit] Production
In the openings of the official films, Bond is shown through a gunbarrel, turning swiftly and shooting the screen. In this film the camera zooms in on a long sequence of '007s', through which the set for the beginning of the movie appears. In official films, the credits are shown after the gunbarrel sequence, in this film the credits are shown during the 007 sequence. Actor Connery also breaks the fourth wall during the final scene by winking at the camera (something George Lazenby previously did in On Her Majesty's Secret Service).
[edit] Bond
007 James Bond is a noticeably older character in this film, being played by Sean Connery 12 years after Connery's last official appearance as Bond, in Diamonds Are Forever in 1971. The film also makes a major departure from official continuity by ending with Bond indicating his intention to retire from MI6 (and settle down with his leading lady).
[edit] SPECTRE timeline
As a standalone film, it takes place in an alternative timeline compared to previously released films. Specifically, while the portrayal of Connery as Bond is true to the fact Connery played Bond for 6 of the 7 first films, all involving SPECTRE, this film ignores the events of those films, as Blofeld is active and apparently previously unknown to Bond and MI6.
[edit] Friendly forces
MI6 is shown to be underfunded and understaffed. A new 'M', as confirmed in the film, has little time for the double 0 assets, consigning them to training duties. M is also portrayed as being overly officious in his running the department, rather than a pragmatist. It is only on learning of SPECTREs demands that M is requested to activate 007. The official franchise takes a similar approach when Judi Dench becomes another new M in GoldenEye. In Q Branch, the character 'Q' is referred to by the name "Algernon", whereas in the official Bond series Q's first name was really Major Boothroyd, from the character's first appearance in the series in Dr. No. Q's personality is also depicted differently, as is his impoverished background environment; Algernon makes no bones about expecting "gratuitous sex and violence" from Bond, which the 'Q' of the official series is very much against. Nigel Small-Fawcett, a local MI6 asset that assists Bond, is portrayed as a bumbling incompetent, rather than the more experienced bit-parts in the official films. Felix Leiter, Bond's CIA friend and colleague, is portrayed by a black actor for the first time. This was not done in the official universe until MGM/Columbia's reboot of the Bond film franchise, Casino Royale, in 2006.
[edit] Props
In this film, Bond does not have his usual specially modified car, in favor of a mildly armed motorcycle that Algernon promises to send him if he can "get it to work". He is also portrayed as driving his beloved old (vintage) Bentley from the novels, rather than contemporary models of car. The official films portrayed Bond's sidearm as Walther PPK colored as dark brown with light brown sides of the hand grip, in this film it is a Walther P5 that is completely black. Maximilian Largo's Disco Volante (known here by its English language name, The Flying Saucer) is portrayed differently. Still launching a wet-sub from a secret chamber, the Disco is now a civilian frigate, lavishly equipped as well as being a technically advanced control center.
[edit] Release and reception
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[edit] Domination within the film
At a casino, Bond and Largo play a holographic table-top video game called “Domination” designed by Largo himself. The losing player is subject to electric shock. Bond wins, but instead of taking cash for his victory he takes a dance with Domino.
Other cultural works have been inspired by this scene. The aspect of two men playing a three dimensional table top video game at a high end cultural venue drawing the rapt attention of beautiful women and sophisticates was used during a Super Bowl XLI commercial featuring Jay-Z and Don Shula. This portrayal of a game in the film is also often mentioned in discussions of the German art project/video game called PainStation that applies electric shocks to players as they lose at a table top 2-D variant of Pong.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ mi6.co.uk
- ^ PainStation (EN). Retrieved on Feb. 6, 2007
[edit] External links
- Never Say Never Again at the Internet Movie Database
- Never Say Never Again at Rotten Tomatoes
- Never Say Never Again at Box Office Mojo
- MGM's page on the film
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