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Never Say Never Again

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Template:Infobox Film Bond Never Say Never Again, released in 1983, is a non-EON Productions remake of the 1965 James Bond film, Thunderball. It stars Sean Connery, who gives his final performance as British Secret Service agent James Bond.

Although the film was not part of EON's Bond film franchise, 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.

The title is based on a conversation between Sean Connery and his wife. After Diamonds Are Forever 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 the first Bond movie to use a non-Fleming originated title.

Plot

The film opens with a middle-aged, yet still athletic James Bond making his way through an armed camp in the midst of a (presumably) Central American jungle. His mission is to rescue a girl who has been kidnapped. After infiltrating a house and 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 succeeds in charming the uniform off of Miss Fearing, a very flirtatious staff nurse. The seduction concluded and all passion having been spent, Bond witnesses a mysterious nurse (Fatima Blush) beating her patient in a room across the way. He is wrapped in bandages; and after Fatima is through with him, Bond sees him using a strange machine which scans his eye. Bond's suspicions are aroused further when he is evidently recognised and an attempt is made to kill Bond in the gym; however, the conflict ends in the attacker's death after an intense fight that ranges through the clinic's kitchen and ends in the laboratory.

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 on his right eye which matches 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.

File:Never Say Never Againdomination.jpg
Bond playing Largo in the game "Domination" as Domino Petachi looks on.

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.

Bond and his American counterpart from the CIA, Felix Leiter, attempt to board the "Flying Saucer," Largo's motor yacht, in search of the missing nuclear warheads. Bond becomes trapped on the boat and is taken, with Domino, to Palmyra, Largo's base of operations. Largo punishes Domino for betraying him by auctioning her off as a slave to some unsavory Arabs. After her rescue, Domino and Bond track Largo to a location known as "The Tears of Allah," located below a desert oasis. After Bond and Leiter infiltrate the underground facility, a gun battle erupts and Largo makes an underwater getaway with one of the nuclear warheads. Before it can be set off, Largo is killed by Domino, taking revenge for her brother's death.

Bond returns to the Bahamas, presumably retired; but is interrupted by Nigel Small-Fawcett, a nebbish from the English Consulate, pleading for Bond to return and safeguard the civilized world. Bond replies -- "never again."

Cast

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 EON Productions 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 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 "gun barrel" opening as seen in the EON Productions Bond series, but ultimately the film opens with a screen full 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.

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.

Changes to the Bond universe

As an unofficial remake, this film features several differences to the EON Productions films James Bond universe.

Production

In the openings of the EON Productions films, Bond is shown through a gun barrel, 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 the EON Productions films, the credits are shown after the gun barrel 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).

Bond

007 James Bond is a noticeably older character in this film, being played by Sean Connery 12 years after Connery's last appearance as Bond, in Diamonds Are Forever in 1971. The film also makes a major departure from the EON Productions films continuity by ending with Bond indicating his intention to retire from MI6 (and settle down with his leading lady).

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, most involving SPECTRE, this film ignores the events of those films, as Blofeld is active and apparently previously unknown to Bond and MI6.

MI6 and Allies

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 SPECTRE's demands that M is requested to activate 007. The EON Productions 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 EON Productions Bond series Q's 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 EON Productions 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 EON Productions 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 EON Productions universe until MGM/Columbia's reboot of the Bond film franchise, Casino Royale, in 2006.

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 EON Productions films portrayed Bond's sidearm as a 7.65mm Walther PPK, in this film it is a 9mm Walther P5. 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.


Release and reception

The film opened at #1 on October 9, 1983, and marked the biggest opening for a fall release at the time. The film grossed went on to gross $160 million at the box office. Roger Ebert gave the film 3 1/2 out of 4 stars, and wrote that Never Say Never Again, while consisting of a basic "Bond plot", was different from other Bond films due to Brandauer's "poignancy and charm" as Largo.[2]

Originally, the film was scheduled for release in direct competition with the 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 (after the release of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi) in 1983 and both were big box-office successes. Octopussy grossed slightly more than Never Say Never Again. This may have been caused by Octopussy being released in the summer while Never was relased in the fall.

References

  1. ^ mi6.co.uk
  2. ^ Ebert, Roger (1983-10-07). "Never Say Never Again". rogerebert.com. Retrieved 2008-10-18.
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