Never Say Never Again
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| Never Say Never Again | |
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| Caption: | Never Say Never Again movie poster |
| Bond: | Sean Connery |
| Writer: | Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham, Ian Fleming |
| Screenplay: | Lorenzo Semple Jr. |
| Director: | Irvin Kershner |
| Producer: | Jack Schwartzman |
| Music: | Michel Legrand |
| Composer: | Alan Bergman Marilyn Bergman |
| Performer: | Lani Hall |
| Distributor: | Warner Bros. |
| Released: | 1983 |
| Runtime: | 134 min. |
| Preceded by: | |
| Followed by: | |
| Budget: | $36,000,000 |
| Worldgross: | $160,000,000 |
| Admissions: | 50.8 million |
| Imdb id: | 0086006 |
Never Say Never Again is an unofficial James Bond film and remake of the 1965 film Thunderball. Released in 1983, it stars Sean Connery as British Secret Service agent James Bond. It was released theatrically by Warner Bros.
The film is considered "unofficial" because it is not part of the Bond film franchise from EON Productions and United Artists, despite its currently being handled by the official film series distributor, MGM. MGM acquired the distribution rights in 1997 after their acquisition of Orion Pictures. The film also marks the culmination of a long legal battle between United Artists and Kevin McClory.
Originally, the film was scheduled for release in direct competition against the official (i.e. EON Productions) 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 times in 1983, and both were box office successes.
Plot summary
Template:Spoiler Being a remake of Thunderball, Never Say Never Again follows a similar plotline to the earlier film and novel, 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" (though, confusingly, 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 organization 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.
Changes to the Bond universe
The film makes changes to the James Bond universe, and to the noticeably older character of 007 – having him drive his beloved Bentley from the novels, for example. There is a gritty realism to the entire environment and a recognition of the geopolitics of the early 1980s and the rising powers of the Middle East, driven by oil money.
MI6 is shown to be underfunded and understaffed, the new M (this is acknowledged) played by Edward Fox having little time for 007's methods and exploits, and taking an accountant's attitude (which would eventually be picked up in the official EON series with Judi Dench becoming another new M in GoldenEye). With regards to Q Branch, the character Q is referred to by the name "Algernon" and may also be a different individual than the Q in the official Bond series (where Q's first name is never revealed). His personality is also very different, 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. James Bond does not have a wonder-car, either - rather a sprightly and mildly armed motorcycle that Q promises to send him if he can "get it to work" (of course he does).
Maximilian Largo's Disco Volante has experienced changes, in many ways for the better. Still launching a wet-sub from a secret chamber, the Disco is now a civilianised frigate, and equipped with the amenities expected within a villain's lair, and particularly of a villain with superb taste and a definite European character - the EON films have in recent years made their villains intensely American in terms of megalomaniac scope.
Perhaps the most notable change is in the depiction of Felix Leiter, Bond's CIA friend and colleague, who is portrayed by an African-American actor for the first time (the 2006 version of Casino Royale will also feature a black Leiter). This film also appears to take place in an "alternate universe" in which none of the events of SPECTRE-involving films such as You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and Diamonds Are Forever (which followed the original Thunderball) have taken place, since Blofeld is active and apparently previously unknown to Bond and MI6 at this point, and of course the events chronicled in Thunderball proceed differently, and at a much later time than in the "official" universe. 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, for once). Actor Connery also breaks the fourth wall during this scene by winking at the camera (something George Lazenby previously did in On Her Majesty's Secret Service).
Cast & characters
- James Bond - Sean Connery
- M - Edward Fox
- Q (a.k.a. Algy) - Alec McCowen
- Miss Moneypenny - Pamela Salem
- Maximillian Largo - Klaus Maria Brandauer
- Fatima Blush - Barbara Carrera
- Ernst Stavro Blofeld - Max von Sydow
- Domino Petachi - Kim Basinger
- Felix Leiter - Bernie Casey
- Nigel Small-Fawcett - Rowan Atkinson
- Patricia - Prunella Gee
- Lady in Bahamas - Valerie Leon
- Jack Petachi - Gavan O'Herlihy
The Women of Never Say Never Again
| Picture | Name | Actress | |
| 100px | Domino Petachi | Kim Basinger | Being a remake of Thunderball, Never Say Never Again featured similar Bond women, most of whom were modified in one form or another. The lead Bond girl of Never Say Never Again, Domino Petachi, like her Thunderball counterpart is mistress to the villainous Largo. Unlike her literary and Thunderball incarnations, it seems Domino is her real name. Domino's brother Jack was in the US Air Force, making him a ripe and convenient accomplice for SPECTRE to steal two nuclear warheads for them in a "bodacious" blackmailing scheme. When she found out the truth about Largo and promptly betrays him, he tried to sell her off (literally). In the end, she exacted her revenge. |
| 100px | Fatima Blush | Barbara Carrera | Number 12 in the SPECTRE hierarchy, Fatima Blush is the equivalent of Fiona Volpe from Thunderball, and even more bloodthirsty and sadistic. Fatima enjoys killing and she is also obssessed with her sexual prowess, which ultimately lead to her undoing. When she had a chance to dispatch Bond, she first demanded that he put it down in writing that she was the best lover he's ever had, which brought Bond time and a reason to use his explosive pen. |
| 100px | Patricia Fearing | Prunella Gee | The only Bond girl from Thunderball that was carried over to Never Say Never Again pretty much intact in terms of character and name is Patricia Fearing. She is a physical therapist with whom Bond had a rendevous. However, she had a reduced role here as oppose to her counterpart in Thunderball. |
| 100px | Lady In Bahamas | Valerie Leon | Valerie Leon previously appeared in the official Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me as the Hotel Receptionist. Here, she portrayed an unamed woman in the Bahamas whom Bond met in passing. She later fished him out of the ocean after Fatima tried to feed him to the sharks. Later, she and Bond had their dalliance at her hotel room while Fatima unwittingly blew up Bond's. |
| 100px | Nicole | Saskia Cohen Tanugi | AKA Agent 327, Nicole is Paula Caplan's equivalent in Never Say Never Again. Like Paula, Nicole ran afoul of Fatima/Fiona. In this case, she wasn't captured, but was brutally strangled by Fatima and stuffed into a waterbed. |
Crew
- Directed by: Irvin Kershner
- Screenplay by: Lorenzo Semple Jr.
- Produced by: Jack Schwartzman, Kevin McClory (executive), Michael Dryhurst (associate)
- Cinematography by Douglas Slocombe
- Music composed by: Michel Legrand
Trivia
- The movie title comes from Sean Connery's statement when asked if he would ever play Bond again after Diamonds Are Forever, to which he replied "Never Again".
- 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 Disco Volante is a formidable vessel clearly based on a military cruiser hull, with a helipad and scale which dramatically dwarf the vessel present in the official film continuity. The Disco is still the base of underwater operations by Largo. In real life, the ship used in long shots was known as the "Nabila" and was built for Saudi billionaire, Adnan Khashoggi. The craft was later sold 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 videogame 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". Interestingly, the Battle of Waterloo would also play a part in the later official Bond film, The Living Daylights.
- 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.
- Klaus Maria Brandauer, who played Largo, was originally cast as Marko Ramius in The Hunt for Red October; the role eventually went to Connery.
- Rowan Atkinson, who later became world-famous for the Mr. Bean comedy series, played a British agent in this movie, the bungling 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.Template:Fact
- Barbara Carrera was nominated for a Golden Globes for her portrayal of Fatima Blush.
External links
| The James Bond films |
|---|
| Official films Dr. No | From Russia with Love | Goldfinger | Thunderball | You Only Live Twice | On Her Majesty's Secret Service | Diamonds Are Forever | Live and Let Die | The Man with the Golden Gun | The Spy Who Loved Me | Moonraker | For Your Eyes Only | Octopussy | A View to a Kill | The Living Daylights | Licence to Kill | GoldenEye | Tomorrow Never Dies | The World Is Not Enough | Die Another Day | Casino Royale | Quantum of Solace |
| Unofficial films Casino Royale (1954 TV) | Casino Royale (1967 spoof) | Never Say Never Again |