Ep. 50 - Bonds, all the Bonds! part 5

This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:01] Olaf: We are in the dog days of summer, but we're also back into our James Bond conversation.

[0:12] J.J.: Yes, we are back with Bond.

[0:15] Olaf: And we just, right before we jumped on, we sort of joked and laughed about being in the trenches of the franchise.

[0:22] J.J.: We sure are. Deep, deep in the trenches.

[0:25] Olaf: But I want people to know, and I think we've been very clear that we love this franchise.

[0:30] J.J.: Yeah, overall, we love this franchise, but when you're watching these in order, wow, it is rough.

[0:37] Olaf: A lot of the older movies are a prisoner of their time.

[0:41] J.J.: Oh, absolutely.

[0:42] Olaf: We got through Connery, and we are now making our way through the Roger Moore era.

[0:48] J.J.: Yes, which I would argue has way more misses than hits.

[0:52] Olaf: It's debatable. It's debatable. I think that's a great place to begin.

[0:56] J.J.: Yeah. So let's go back to the movie theater.

[1:00] Olaf: We are here, guys, talking Bond once again, the man with the golden gun and the spy who loved me.

[1:25] J.J.: You had just mentioned right before we jumped into the theater.

[1:28] Olaf: Arguable, debatable that three, maybe four of Roger Moore are good.

[1:33] J.J.: Yeah.

[1:34] Olaf: I think today we're going to talk about one of them that is one of his best.

[1:39] J.J.: And one of them that's not.

[1:41] Olaf: You hate and I think is fine.

[1:43] J.J.: I don't hate it. I just don't like it.

[1:46] Olaf: And I know you do. So there is definitely a difference of opinions when it comes to the man with the golden gun.

[1:53] J.J.: Yes. The man with the golden gun. I have always enjoyed this movie. I think it's fine. Do I think it's a masterpiece? Absolutely not. But it has enough quirkiness and a decent pace and enough interesting elements to keep me invested.

[2:08] Olaf: I don't find it all that boring. I know that I've ranked these movies already. I don't hate this movie. I mean, it's definitely right there at the top of the bottom 10.

[2:21] J.J.: It's funny. You don't hate it. But when you talk about it, there is this underlying vibe of I don't want to talk about this movie.

[2:30] Olaf: Well, and you might feel it because we're about to talk about it. And I remember texting you as we were doing the homework saying I struggled through the rewatch of this movie.

[2:42] J.J.: And I watched Man with a Golden Gun. That's fine.

[2:47] Olaf: This is that other side of the tracks.

[2:49] J.J.: I haven't seen this in a while. Oh, yeah.

[2:52] Olaf: Well, without further ado, let's jump into Man with a Golden Gun.

[2:58] J.J.: Came out in 1974. Like most of the Bond movies, it's around two hours. This one's just over two hours.

[3:04] Olaf: You might say that it felt longer. I felt like it was about two hours.

[3:09] J.J.: Rotten Tomatoes score is 40 percent.

[3:12] Olaf: Wow. Are you serious? That's low.

[3:15] J.J.: It is, which is surprising because I think at worst this movie's mediocre.

[3:20] Olaf: Yeah, maybe I ranked it too high. I don't know my list.

[3:23] J.J.: I don't think it's a bad movie. The audience score is only 55 percent.

[3:28] Olaf: So it's a step up, but still, that's not surprising.

[3:31] J.J.: So in that sense, I'm maybe I'm alone in liking this movie more than most.

[3:36] Olaf: We have the director's guy, Hamilton. He's back.

[3:39] J.J.: He had done Goldfinger, Diamonds are Forever, and Live and Let Die. This is his last one. He's out. This is it.

[3:45] Olaf: After this one, John Barry's still our composer. Barely, barely.

[3:50] J.J.: Even he goes on record as saying this is not. He just wasn't feeling it when he did the score of this movie.

[3:56] Olaf: Yeah, I will say the score isn't anything special.

[3:59] J.J.: It's not anything really to get all excited about. I mean, you just sort of replay and it's kind of mediocre. Right.

[4:07] Olaf: Yeah, we get Christopher Lee as Francisco Scaramanga.

[4:12] J.J.: The highlight. Yeah. And he's great in this. He's fantastic.

[4:16] Olaf: He's actually related to Ian Fleming's cousin.

[4:19] J.J.: Yeah. And I think he was supposed to be in the films earlier on.

[4:23] Olaf: He was supposed to be. He was. They wanted him to be Dr. No.

[4:27] J.J.: Yes, that's right. And then it didn't happen.

[4:30] Olaf: And then Jack Palance was supposed to be Scaramanga.

[4:33] J.J.: Oh, that would have been fun.

[4:34] Olaf: And then he couldn't do it. And they got Christopher Lee.

[4:37] J.J.: Yeah. And honestly, when I watch Christopher Lee in this movie, it looks like he's having a lot of fun and he's really enjoying being the villain, but also playing up this. I'm just as good, if not better than James Bond.

[4:51] Olaf: Right. We're cut from the same cloth, except I kill people for money and I'm smarter.

[4:56] J.J.: And yeah. Yeah. I only need one bullet.

[4:59] Olaf: We have Britt Eklund joining us as Mary Goodnight.

[5:06] J.J.: So she's probably not maybe not the worst, but she's probably in the bottom five.

[5:12] Olaf: Mod Adams joins the cast as Andrea Anders.

[5:17] J.J.: Yes, she was good. I'm glad they brought her back for another movie in a bigger role later.

[5:23] Olaf: Yes. In a movie that you hate.

[5:27] J.J.: I hate.

[5:31] Olaf: And I'm dreading watching it.

[5:35] J.J.: And I'm not. Guilty pleasure. I love that movie.

[5:39] Olaf: It's not good and it's so boring and it feels like it goes on forever.

[5:43] J.J.: It's a guilty pleasure. You just sit back and enjoy it.

[5:47] Olaf: I can't wait to rewatch and talk about that movie.

[5:51] J.J.: No, I'm not. I'm not very excited.

[5:56] Olaf: Then we have Hervé.

[6:01] J.J.: Oh, Hervé Villachez is the other bright moment.

[6:06] Olaf: And yeah, he's a lot of fun in this. There's so many interesting stories about him. There's a really good documentary about him played by Peter Dinklage.

[6:10] J.J.: This was like several years ago. Yeah. Yeah. I watched that. That was really interesting.

[6:15] Olaf: Yeah. And there's a lot of stories just about him on this shoot that are wild.

[6:18] J.J.: Wild. The stories you hear about Hervé with this one.

[6:24] Olaf: When you I always sort of compare him not in the same way, but like the wild stories you would hear about Andre the Giant and Princess Bride.

[6:30] J.J.: Yeah. Like passing out in the lobby of the hotel and things like that where Hervé had other exploits.

[6:35] Olaf: Yeah. Most of the film was shot in Thailand. So they were there for quite a while.

[6:40] J.J.: And Hervé had a run of the place. He did. Yeah.

[6:44] Olaf: Yeah. Roger Moore did not care for him. OK.

[6:48] J.J.: But he puts on he's very polite. You can see him and Hervé in interviews for the show and for the movie.

[6:52] Olaf: But he didn't really like him very much. But Christopher Lee seemed very delighted by him.

[6:57] J.J.: I'm telling you, Christopher Lee and Hervé in this as a duo. Oh, fantastic.

[7:02] Olaf: Were spot on. They were the highlight of the movie overall.

[7:06] J.J.: I just didn't get enough of them. And that it's a similar duo to like other cartoons and other TV and film where you have the villain and a sidekick and the sidekick's trying to not only help his guy, but also maybe try to kill him at the same time.

[7:22] Olaf: It's so fun. Well, that which goes to the opening of this opening scene of the movie.

[7:27] J.J.: Right. You watch the opening and you're like, is he trying to kill him or is he like, is this a game they play?

[7:33] Olaf: A little cat and mouse. It is. It clearly is a game. And I think deep down Hervé's character believes and his character name is Nicknack, by the way.

[7:44] J.J.: I love that. But so Nicknack believes that Scaramanga is going to win.

[7:49] Olaf: But right. He has so much fun toying with him in their little circus amusement park of death.

[7:59] J.J.: Right, right. And if he wins, he gets the run of the place. So right. And if he doesn't win, he's still there taking care of everything.

[8:06] Olaf: Yeah, I believe Guy Hamilton said that he wanted he saw Nicknack as like an alternate, shorter version of Oddjob.

[8:15] J.J.: You know, they wear the same hat, the sidekick to the villain.

[8:20] Olaf: Yeah. He's always wearing like a butler suit. Yeah. Which Roger Moore is on record saying he felt very bad for Hervé in the sense that they're in Thailand and he's wearing these like three-piece suits.

[8:32] J.J.: Yeah. And it's like a million degrees outside with the humidity.

[8:35] Olaf: And then we've got one more cast member. I know you love him. Clifton James, J.W. Pepper is back.

[8:43] J.J.: I hate this character. I don't hate a lot of things, everybody. This character is an unnecessary callback from Live and Let Die.

[8:53] Olaf: He did not need to be brought back. This is I blame Tom Mankiewicz. And I love Tom Mankiewicz.

[8:58] J.J.: Guy wrote Superman and he wrote a lot of these Roger Moore, early Roger Moore Bond films. But this character has no business being in this film.

[9:04] Olaf: No, not really. I mean, he didn't need to be in Live and Let Die as much as he was.

[9:14] J.J.: He could have been in it a little bit as the local sheriff, but he makes more sense.

[9:19] Olaf: Yes, it does. But you could say that you could probably have cut some of his scenes out of that movie and it would have been fine.

[9:28] J.J.: But to bring him back in this one, it doesn't make any sense other than he's on vacation and he just feels more cartoonish.

[9:36] Olaf: It's terrible. And not hey, no judgment. I don't see this character and his wife choosing to go to Thailand for vacation.

[9:46] J.J.: Well, I don't see them going there. Oh, yeah.

[9:51] Olaf: To see him and his wife go there, that seems pretty wild. Yeah.

[9:56] J.J.: I mean, unless his wife was completely read a brochure.

[10:02] Olaf: Yeah, she read a brochure and forced him to go.

[10:10] J.J.: The man with the golden gun was the 13th and final complete James Bond novel written by Ian Fleming. And it's the only James Bond novel to be published after he died.

[10:15] Olaf: Ah, OK. I don't think I knew that.

[10:19] J.J.: Yeah, it was published after his death. Fun fact, movie is nothing like the book. Neither is the next one we're going to talk about.

[10:25] Olaf: That's true. I mean, most of the time, the books aren't very true or the movies aren't very true to the books.

[10:32] J.J.: Right. You get a couple here and there that are fairly accurate, but it's sure.

[10:36] Olaf: Yeah. The majority of them, it's mostly just they're going to name only deviate big time in the next one.

[10:42] J.J.: So, yeah, this is where we get Albert Broccoli taking over as sole producer.

[10:47] Olaf: Harry Saltzman had sold. Was it this one? I believe so. Or was it the or was it the next one?

[10:52] J.J.: Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry. Harry was still a producer, but this is his final film with James Bond.

[10:59] Olaf: Having had to sell his 50 percent share to United Artists because of massive debt, which is probably a good thing because a lot of the crazy stuff that we've had in Bond was Harry.

[11:11] J.J.: You know, he had these wild ideas and Albert Broccoli wouldn't find out about them until much later.

[11:19] Olaf: And he's like, what? For example, in this movie, Harry Saltzman wanted an elephant stampede scene in the movie.

[11:27] J.J.: But to do that, they had to specially make an order, especially order and make these 200 elephant shoes for them to be able to run on the set or the street where it was going to happen.

[11:39] Olaf: And Broccoli had no idea. And then these things just show up one day.

[11:43] J.J.: All these shoes show up and they're like, no, we're not doing that.

[11:48] Olaf: I didn't hear about that one, but hearing something like that doesn't surprise me.

[11:53] J.J.: Coming from the guy who was chin deep in debt with he was spreading himself super thin.

[12:00] Olaf: So many bad all over the place. Yeah. So that story does not surprise me. Thank goodness that didn't happen.

[12:07] J.J.: Now, you might like this and it's kind of surprising to me, but one of this is one of the lowest grossing Bond movies.

[12:15] Olaf: Yes. In the franchise, especially when you compare it to what Live and Let Die made, like Live and Let Die was a commercial success.

[12:23] J.J.: That's, I guess, surprisingly, because it was Roger Moore's first Bond.

[12:26] Olaf: But from what I understand, this movie, people just weren't.

[12:31] J.J.: Yeah. In fact, this was almost the last James Bond movie.

[12:36] Olaf: Yeah, I did. I did read that.

[12:42] J.J.: Yeah, that's crazy. Yeah. That's how we end. Oh, thank goodness we didn't.

[12:46] Olaf: Let's let's get into it. So you like this movie.

[12:46] J.J.: Yeah, I do.

[12:53] Olaf: The man with the golden gun theme song. That is amazing.

[12:57] J.J.: Oh, you like that movie? I love the theme song.

[13:05] Olaf: I don't know why I thought you didn't really know. I like the theme song.

[13:07] J.J.: It's Christopher Lee, Hervé, and Lulu are the big three positives from this movie for me.

[13:13] Olaf: OK, not Roger Moore, huh? He was fine, but no, not even Mod because she was just super like do a lot.

[13:19] J.J.: She didn't do a lot. They gave a lot of the, quote, unquote, heavy lifting to Britt Eklund.

[13:27] Olaf: And she was a total snooze fest. Nothing was earned. It was just like she was the typical quintessential. She's here for the look. She's the Bond girl with she's an agent.

[13:30] J.J.: OK, yeah, normally this she's the one who would die.

[13:35] J.J.: Real quick, another fun fact about this movie that I forgot to mention. This is the first time Roger Moore fires the Walter PPK.

[13:43] Olaf: And I guess, is Christopher Lee the only person he kills in this movie?

[13:46] J.J.: Yeah, I think so. He doesn't shoot it at all in Live and Let Die, huh?

[13:50] Olaf: No, this is the first movie where he fires the Walter PPK.

[13:54] J.J.: Interesting.

[13:55] Olaf: Yeah. No, I love the song. That's a banger song.

[13:58] J.J.: Yeah. Also, another first for this movie. This is the only Bond film where Roger Moore actually runs on screen.

[14:06] Olaf: Which, apparently, he doesn't like to be filmed running because he doesn't think he's a good runner or something. Apparently, his run leaves a lot to be desired.

[14:16] J.J.: And he has gone on record saying he refuses to run on camera.

[14:21] Olaf: But this is, in this movie, he does it very briefly. And it's right after the big karate scene.

[14:26] J.J.: Karate scene.

[14:27] Olaf: And he runs away.

[14:28] J.J.: The school, yeah. After that, he makes it clear to the producers he does not want to be filmed running.

[14:33] Olaf: I'm going to get in that boat, and I'm going to do all my chasing stuff in the boat.

[14:36] J.J.: Yeah, exactly. Man, and yet another boat chase with Roger Moore.

[14:42] Olaf: He must be an amazing sailor.

[14:45] J.J.: Boat chases and train rides are the theme here for Roger.

[14:49] Olaf: He's all about it in the early stages of his Bond career.

[14:53] J.J.: So the movie opens up, the cold open. We get to see Nick Neck and Scaramunga and their funhouse on their private island in Thailand.

[15:02] Olaf: And this assassin has come in, or some sort of person has come in and been invited to the island.

[15:07] J.J.: Yeah, this Chicago gangster who actually had appeared in a previous Bond film.

[15:14] Olaf: Diamonds Are Forever.

[15:15] J.J.: I think he plays like a heavy or something in Diamonds Are Forever, a throwaway character in Diamonds Are Forever.

[15:20] Olaf: We're going to discover that Bond franchise, if you could get into one, you might get into four as different characters.

[15:26] J.J.: They had no problem with recycling actors.

[15:29] Olaf: Oh, yeah, yeah. And I guess the director just thought it was amusing to have old-timey Chicago gangster in Thailand.

[15:38] J.J.: I guess. They had him show up in his pinstripe suit and fedora.

[15:43] Olaf: And he's given money by Nick Neck to essentially assassinate Scaramunga.

[15:49] J.J.: This dude's terrible. He's shooting at everything. I mean, he goes in. He had no idea that he's going into this wild funhouse.

[15:56] Olaf: And you've got all these mannequins. Before he even does that, what I love is the gym equipment that Scaramunga has.

[16:03] J.J.: He's got a pommel horse, like he's a gymnast.

[16:06] Olaf: Hey, you've got to stay limber. I want to use that.

[16:09] J.J.: It was just like this random piece that he walks by before he goes into the—

[16:14] Olaf: The whole funhouse is just bizarre. You've got mirrors. You've got an old-timey Western saloon.

[16:21] J.J.: You've got a gangster set.

[16:23] Olaf: And all of the mannequins are real people just standing still.

[16:28] J.J.: There is a shot where they actually made a wax sculpture of Roger Moore.

[16:33] Olaf: But the majority of the time, it is Roger Moore.

[16:37] J.J.: Until Christopher Lee shoots the fingers off of his hand.

[16:39] Olaf: Yes.

[16:40] J.J.: So it's really funny. The other mannequins, it's not quite as obvious, other than the fact that you just look in their eyes, and you're like, that man is real.

[16:49] Olaf: But the Roger Moore one is hilarious because he's in this kind of weird pose of shooting, and he's got his hands up.

[16:56] J.J.: And there is this slightly long scene of Christopher Lee talking to Nicknack by the statue.

[17:03] Olaf: And Roger Moore is just trying so hard to not move.

[17:09] J.J.: And he's clearly shaking. I think I was just trying really hard to get through that.

[17:14] Olaf: I didn't even clock that. It's fun to watch because you're just like, hold your breath, buddy. Talk faster.

[17:20] J.J.: Yeah, he's moving around. It's really funny.

[17:23] Olaf: That's hilarious. I found that so amusing. The cheesiness of that time period and the effects.

[17:29] J.J.: The one thing I – there's a lot of issues, but when Nicknack is like, oh, I put the gun over there.

[17:46] Olaf: How are you going to get down with the stairs?

[17:48] J.J.: And then he turns the stairs into a ramp.

[17:51] Olaf: Why is he sliding down the ramp like he's skiing and giving this guy the biggest target in the world to shoot at?

[17:59] J.J.: That's true.

[18:00] Olaf: Which the guy clearly misses. Because, again, it's been so long since I watched this movie.

[18:05] J.J.: I honestly thought that he did like a slide barrel roll.

[18:08] Olaf: Right.

[18:09] J.J.: I thought he was going to do a head first or a barrel roll or something.

[18:11] Olaf: Yeah, and then he grabs the gun and kills the gangster.

[18:14] J.J.: Right.

[18:15] Olaf: I forgot that he literally just kind of like skis down the ramp.

[18:19] J.J.: Skis down the ramp.

[18:20] Olaf: Completely exposed.

[18:21] J.J.: And how the gangster missed him, I don't even know.

[18:25] Olaf: Terrible.

[18:26] J.J.: Other than movie.

[18:28] Olaf: Terrible.

[18:29] J.J.: Yeah. We don't know why he's got a Roger – a Bond caricature or cutout.

[18:35] Olaf: Then for me this movie just – I'm not even a fan of the cold open.

[18:39] J.J.: Oh, with the fun house.

[18:40] Olaf: No, I'm just – I mean I get you're setting up the bad guy. You're setting up Christopher Lee because after the cold open, you really don't see his character a lot until like the last hour of the movie.

[18:51] J.J.: Because now we get back to London. We get M. We get Moneypenny. We get Bond, and it's setting up that Bond's got a target on his back.

[18:58] Olaf: Right.

[18:59] J.J.: Because the golden bullet has the 007 on it.

[19:01] Olaf: And what I find humorous is still M clearly hates James Bond.

[19:06] J.J.: Yeah, in this – yeah, he's really like I wish there was a target put out on you or something like that, like a contract.

[19:12] Olaf: It's wild. When you go back, and we've talked about this in the previous ones, is when we first see M and Bond, they start off just like he's my boss and all of that.

[19:22] J.J.: And you kind of think, okay, I think that Bond is my best agent, so let's get him on these missions and stuff.

[19:28] Olaf: But then at some point near the end of Connery's run, especially into Roger Moore's run, every time M is with Bond, there's just this clear hatred for him.

[19:40] J.J.: Yeah, there's some disgust, some annoyance.

[19:43] Olaf: Which doesn't really make sense.

[19:45] J.J.: No, it doesn't.

[19:46] Olaf: But it makes me laugh because it's just so like, what did he do to you?

[19:51] J.J.: Did he sleep with your wife? I mean, I would believe that, but jeez.

[19:56] Olaf: Right.

[19:57] J.J.: And then, yeah, like you said in this one, he's like, I wish there was a target on your back.

[20:01] Olaf: Right, yeah. It's like, whoop, this, jeez.

[20:04] J.J.: So he's got to go to Thailand, and then we find out that maybe Bond isn't the target.

[20:10] Olaf: One of the cool things I liked is Bond gets taken by the police, and then they end up on this boat, which turns out to be like an MI6 office on the water.

[20:20] J.J.: The Thailand chapter.

[20:22] Olaf: Yeah, which from a set standpoint, I thought it was cool because they walk into M's office, and they got to kind of walk in sideways because of the design of the ship.

[20:32] J.J.: Yeah, the sunken headquarters set.

[20:34] Olaf: Yeah, which I thought was a cool set.

[20:35] J.J.: Yeah.

[20:36] Olaf: All the sets are cool. That's where we see Q is there.

[20:40] J.J.: I feel like Q has a little bit more to do than just gadgets in this movie.

[20:44] Olaf: He's got like, I'm part of the meetings.

[20:48] J.J.: Like I'm here with M, and I've got something to say about whatever it is that needs to be said.

[20:54] Olaf: Yeah, he really did.

[20:55] J.J.: I just assume that he's there because he's like the head of Q Labs.

[20:59] Olaf: Q Branch, right, Q Branch, yeah.

[21:00] J.J.: So, you know.

[21:01] Olaf: We don't get any sort of Q Branch gadget montage.

[21:04] J.J.: Come over here and look at my gadgets.

[21:06] Olaf: I mean, he would show Connery the car.

[21:08] J.J.: Yeah.

[21:09] Olaf: And he's like, you're joking.

[21:10] J.J.: I never joke about my work.

[21:11] Olaf: But we haven't had a look at all of the things I'm creating.

[21:15] J.J.: We get it in the next one.

[21:16] Olaf: Yeah.

[21:17] J.J.: Then he's going to impersonate Scaramanga as a part of the plan.

[21:21] Olaf: Yes, by not looking anything like him, he's just going to put on an artificial prosthetic nipple because—

[21:27] J.J.: On the wrong side of his chest.

[21:29] Olaf: Scaramanga has three nipples, and that is how people know it's him.

[21:34] J.J.: Which nobody knows what this guy looks like, so—

[21:37] Olaf: But what I enjoyed was how wrong Bond was because he thinks he's being clever by, I will do the third nipple.

[21:44] J.J.: And then he goes to see this crime boss in Thailand, and he shows him the third nipple casually.

[21:50] Olaf: So he's like, oh, Mr. Scaramanga, of course, yes. I'm so sorry. Please, right this way.

[21:56] J.J.: But the whole time, Scaramanga is there.

[21:58] Olaf: They knew Bond was coming.

[22:00] J.J.: With a lot of these Bond movies, a lot of these action movies, there are those pieces of the story that you just sort of check yourself out the door.

[22:07] Olaf: You're like, okay, sure, I guess they were one step ahead.

[22:10] J.J.: I guess Scaramanga did see Bond on the street before he shot the other guy.

[22:14] Olaf: So I guess he just assumed, maybe because they are very similar, that Bond was going to show up.

[22:19] J.J.: Some of that's hard to discern, but it seemed like Scaramanga just knew everything Bond was going to do.

[22:24] Olaf: Right.

[22:25] J.J.: He was a little one step ahead.

[22:27] Olaf: But we also get in the craze of the 70s martial arts fandom.

[22:32] J.J.: It's like, oh, let's create this whole sequence where instead of killing Bond, we're going to send him to school, as I think is what the crime boss says.

[22:40] Olaf: It's Roger Moore's blood sport.

[22:42] J.J.: Yeah.

[22:43] Olaf: And so Roger Moore takes out the first guy by just kicking him in the face, which I thought was hilarious.

[22:49] J.J.: And then he gets his butt kicked by the next guy.

[22:53] Olaf: And then the two girls come in and they take care of business.

[22:56] J.J.: But it was just sort of like, we're going to throw this martial arts scene in the movie.

[23:00] Olaf: Because it was popular.

[23:02] J.J.: Because it was popular.

[23:03] Olaf: We have a big stunt in this movie that is pretty incredible.

[23:07] J.J.: It is.

[23:08] Olaf: Because it's not altered in any way.

[23:10] J.J.: No.

[23:11] Olaf: Even though if you watch it, you're like, maybe they faked it somehow.

[23:14] J.J.: But they didn't.

[23:15] Olaf: There's a 360 degree car spiraling jump over a canal.

[23:21] J.J.: It was performed in just one take by an uncredited British stuntman named Bumps Willard.

[23:27] Olaf: They had eight cameras simultaneously capture the stunt.

[23:31] J.J.: It was so rapid that the film is shown in slow motion.

[23:35] Olaf: Willard was given a large bonus for completing the jump on his first take.

[23:41] J.J.: They actually wanted him to do it a second time.

[23:44] Olaf: And he refused.

[23:46] J.J.: It's a cool stunt, especially since they have that one camera shot of it just going right over.

[23:53] Olaf: And the other crazy thing is, he had never successfully done the stunt prior.

[23:58] J.J.: First time for everything, as Roger Moore says in that scene.

[24:00] Olaf: So they execute the stunt perfectly.

[24:02] J.J.: And then John Barry steps in and he ruins it.

[24:05] Olaf: Which he regrets.

[24:07] J.J.: He says later he regrets doing whatever it is, that sound effect.

[24:11] Olaf: He added a slide whistle to the car roll because he didn't think audiences would take such a stunt seriously.

[24:17] J.J.: He has since regretted this.

[24:19] Olaf: What they should do is give the film to George Lucas.

[24:21] J.J.: And George will take it out.

[24:23] Olaf: And he'll probably create other alligators and crocodiles jumping and snapping at the car.

[24:28] J.J.: And laser beams.

[24:29] Olaf: All CGI characters talking in the foreground or something.

[24:33] J.J.: Exactly.

[24:34] Olaf: But the stunt is very cool.

[24:37] J.J.: In my notes, I put jumping the shark.

[24:40] Olaf: As cool as the stunt is, I felt maybe it's because of the slide whistle.

[24:45] J.J.: Or I felt, what are we doing? What is this?

[24:48] Olaf: Because you're right. It is a cool stunt.

[24:50] J.J.: It's awesome.

[24:51] Olaf: The slide whistle really dumbed it down.

[24:54] J.J.: And took this cool moment and turned it into a silly moment.

[24:57] Olaf: That it's hard to take seriously.

[24:59] J.J.: But if you ignore the slide whistle and just look at it for what it was.

[25:03] Olaf: That was a really cool moment.

[25:05] J.J.: Honda is after Scaramonga.

[25:06] Olaf: He's trying to get him.

[25:07] J.J.: Mary Goodnight has goofishly locked herself in Scaramonga's trunk.

[25:14] Olaf: Useless.

[25:15] J.J.: Yeah. She's just another female agent that is completely inept and goofy.

[25:21] Olaf: Just like back in Live and Let Die.

[25:23] J.J.: And it's like, can't they also be smart and tough?

[25:28] Olaf: And we don't really get that for a while.

[25:30] J.J.: Well, we get it next, but it's not.

[25:33] Olaf: So we go from that really cool stunt to the car plane.

[25:37] J.J.: Which is based on a real thing.

[25:40] Olaf: I'm not mad at it.

[25:42] J.J.: Because you don't know what's happening.

[25:43] Olaf: Like when they go into the shed and he just starts pushing buttons.

[25:46] J.J.: You have no idea until you actually see what is happening.

[25:49] Olaf: You're like, okay, well, it's 1974. Everybody's like, well.

[25:52] J.J.: I'm down with it.

[25:54] Olaf: Yeah.

[25:55] J.J.: And he flies away to his lair.

[25:57] Olaf: His villain lair.

[25:59] J.J.: When we get back to the lair, we get to see a lot more of it.

[26:02] Olaf: It's not just the fun house.

[26:03] J.J.: He's got this big laser beam built in.

[26:06] Olaf: And he also has this giant factory-like area with bubbling waters and stuff.

[26:12] J.J.: And honestly, it looks almost identical to the Doctor No set.

[26:17] Olaf: Yes.

[26:18] J.J.: I feel like we've been here before.

[26:20] Olaf: They had a little bit more money.

[26:21] J.J.: So they were able to put a little more thought into it.

[26:24] Olaf: And it seems like, other than Scaramanga, other than Nick Neck, and now Merry Good Night, they have one employee running everything.

[26:30] J.J.: Yeah, the dude with the mustache.

[26:35] Olaf: That dude is creepy.

[26:37] J.J.: Yeah, he's super creepy.

[26:38] Olaf: He definitely gets his comeuppance.

[26:40] J.J.: He does.

[26:41] Olaf: But it's so random and goofy.

[26:43] J.J.: Yeah.

[26:44] Olaf: It is.

[26:45] J.J.: This is one of those things where because a lot of these movies, the credits weren't long.

[26:50] Olaf: So I'm looking at the timer. I'm like, we only have like 10 minutes left.

[26:53] J.J.: Yeah.

[26:54] Olaf: We just got here, right?

[26:56] J.J.: Yeah. What's going to happen?

[26:58] Olaf: They're going to tie this up pretty quick.

[27:00] J.J.: The dinner or the lunch scene, there's a lunch scene right after Roger Moore and Scaramanga kind of go through the throes.

[27:08] J.J.: So this came out in 1977.

[27:38] Olaf: Rotten Tomatoes has it at 82%.

[27:40] J.J.: Okay. Audience score, 77%.

[27:43] Olaf: Which is surprising.

[27:44] J.J.: It is surprising because I feel like this is probably his best outing as Bond.

[27:48] Olaf: Yeah, I would say this and then probably Live and Let Die. There's parts of Furious Only that you cut out and then it's a great movie. But I would say Spy Who Loved Me is his best outing.

[27:56] J.J.: So for it to be, what was it, 77%?

[27:58] Olaf: 77% for the audience score.

[28:00] J.J.: Hmm.

[28:01] Olaf: Yeah, it is kind of surprising. I think, yeah, that is.

[28:04] J.J.: Lewis Gilbert is back as the director.

[28:06] Olaf: He did You Only Live Twice with Sean Connery, which—

[28:09] J.J.: Which is basically this movie, only better.

[28:11] Olaf: I guess, yeah. It is, yeah.

[28:13] J.J.: But he comes back after this and he does Moonwalker.

[28:16] Olaf: Yeah, he should have just stopped with this movie.

[28:19] J.J.: Yeah, oh boy. This would have been a nice one to end off on.

[28:22] Olaf: We do not have John Barry on this movie.

[28:24] J.J.: We do not. We have Marvin Hamlisch, who I didn't, he didn't ring a bell for me, so I had to look him up.

[28:30] Olaf: The Sting.

[28:31] J.J.: Yeah, he's done The Sting, The Way We Were. And he's also the first American to score a Bond movie.

[28:36] Olaf: You can hear some Sting motifs in his music in this score a little bit.

[28:40] J.J.: Yeah, it's a good score. I love Hamlisch.

[28:43] Olaf: Yeah. I love it.

[28:45] J.J.: Barbara Bach joins the cast as Major Anya Amisova or Agent XXX.

[28:50] Olaf: Ringo Starr's wife, but not yet.

[28:52] J.J.: Yeah, she's gorgeous.

[28:54] Olaf: She is gorgeous and that makes up for some stiffness in her character, which I didn't really observe until I rewatched it, but we'll get to that in a minute.

[29:02] J.J.: I would probably, if you were making a Bond list, I would probably have her pretty high up.

[29:06] Olaf: Yeah.

[29:07] J.J.: Kurt Juergens.

[29:08] Olaf: Yeah, Kurt Juergens. Richard Stromberg and Richard Keel is Jaws, I said from Jaws, Richard Keel is Jaws, one of the most iconic villains.

[29:16] J.J.: Yes.

[29:17] Olaf: And for all of you Happy Gilmore fans, he was in Happy Gilmore as, can't miss him on the green.

[29:22] J.J.: He's got the nail in the head.

[29:24] Olaf: But he's there. But this was definitely his calling card for a long time.

[29:28] J.J.: Yeah.

[29:29] Olaf: And he was great.

[29:30] J.J.: Oh, fantastic. When I think of Bond villains, he always is like my number one guy, made the odd jobs probably right after that. I mean, just iconic.

[29:38] Olaf: And then Caroline Munro as Naomi.

[29:41] J.J.: Which they had to dub her voice.

[29:43] Olaf: They're not done dubbing people's voices in this franchise because they do it in this movie.

[29:47] J.J.: Some fun facts about this movie. Apparently this is the last movie that Elvis saw before he died.

[29:52] Olaf: Yes. I saw that.

[29:54] J.J.: That's wild.

[29:55] Olaf: It is, but I'm glad it was this and not Moonraker.

[29:58] J.J.: Not Man with a Golden Gun or Moonraker. You could argue that Moonraker killed him.

[30:03] Olaf: Well, it didn't.

[30:04] J.J.: Nope.

[30:05] Olaf: Nope. Despite the disappointing box office from the previous film, Albert Broccoli invested $13.5 million on the production of this movie.

[30:12] J.J.: It's the most expensive movie yet to be produced in the Bond franchise.

[30:16] Olaf: But it made $185 million, I believe.

[30:19] J.J.: It made a lot of money.

[30:21] Olaf: Yes, it was very successful.

[30:23] J.J.: They say that this is the first Bond movie to make significant references to Bond's past.

[30:27] Olaf: It's the first one in the movies.

[30:29] J.J.: Like we get a whole thing. I mean, I guess.

[30:31] Olaf: You get to Honor Majesty's Secret Service.

[30:34] J.J.: But in this movie, they actually reference the fact that he was recruited from the Navy and that he lost his wife and that.

[30:40] Olaf: So there were certain... that connect the thread.

[30:43] J.J.: Yeah. I guess.

[40:43] J.J.: Welcome back to the Theater! We're diving into the Roger Moore era of James Bond today, specifically discussing "The Man with the Golden Gun" and "The Spy Who Loved Me."

[41:13] Olaf: That's right! It's going to be a fun ride. Roger Moore brought a different vibe to the character, didn't he?

[41:43] J.J.: Absolutely! He had that charm and humor that really set him apart from Sean Connery's portrayal.

[42:13] Olaf: And let's not forget the gadgets! Q Branch really stepped up their game during this era.

[42:43] J.J.: For sure! The gadgets in "The Spy Who Loved Me" were particularly memorable. I mean, who could forget the Lotus Esprit that turns into a submarine?

[43:13] Olaf: Right? That was such a cool moment! And it really showcased the creativity of the filmmakers.

[43:23] J.J.: Speaking of creativity, "The Man with the Golden Gun" had some interesting elements too, like the duel in the funhouse.

[43:33] Olaf: Oh, definitely! The funhouse was a unique setting for a showdown. It added a layer of suspense and intrigue.

[43:43] J.J.: And let's talk about the villain, Francisco Scaramanga. Christopher Lee brought such a menacing presence to that role.

[43:53] Olaf: He really did! Scaramanga is one of those iconic Bond villains that stands out. His character had depth and a fascinating backstory.

[44:03] J.J.: Plus, the whole idea of him being an assassin with a golden gun is just so memorable.

[44:13] Olaf: It really is! And the film had some great one-liners too. Moore's delivery made them even better.

[44:23] J.J.: Absolutely! His wit and charm really shone through in those moments.

[44:33] Olaf: Now, moving on to "The Spy Who Loved Me," it had a more epic feel to it, didn't it?

[44:43] J.J.: Yes! The opening sequence with the ski chase is one of the best in Bond history.

[44:53] Olaf: And the theme song by Carly Simon is a classic! It perfectly captures the essence of the film.

[45:03] J.J.: It really does! The music in this era of Bond is just fantastic.

[45:13] Olaf: So, what do you think makes Roger Moore's Bond stand out compared to others?

[45:23] J.J.: I think it's his ability to balance action with humor. He made Bond more relatable and fun.

[45:33] Olaf: I agree! He brought a lightheartedness that was refreshing, especially after the darker tones of previous films.

[45:43] J.J.: Exactly! And that charm made him a favorite for many fans.

[45:53] Olaf: Speaking of favorites, do you have a favorite scene from either of these films?

[46:03] J.J.: That's a tough one! I think I’d have to go with the underwater battle in "The Spy Who Loved Me." It was so visually stunning.

[46:13] Olaf: Great choice! I think mine would be the duel in "The Man with the Golden Gun." It was so intense and well-crafted.

[46:23] J.J.: Both are excellent picks! It's amazing how these films have left such a lasting impact on the franchise.

[46:33] Olaf: For sure! And they continue to be celebrated by fans old and new.

[46:43] J.J.: Well, that wraps up our discussion for today. Be sure to join us next time as we continue our journey through the Bond franchise!

[46:53] Olaf: Don't forget to subscribe and follow us on social media for more cinematic adventures!

[47:03] J.J.: Thanks for listening, everyone! We'll see you at the movies!