Congratulations !
You have been awarded points.
Thank you for !
- Story Listed as: True Life For Adults
- Theme: Drama / Human Interest
- Subject: Art / Music / Theater / Dance
- Published: 08/17/2013
REINVENTING FLEMING
Born 1969, M, from Herten, NRW, GermanyREINVENTING FLEMING
A look at FOR YOUR EYES ONLY
By Charles E.J. Moulton
The vacation in Copenhagen with my father was the best we’d had. We were CLUB 31, a father and son-combo on trips together. Our meetings behind the Christmas tree and Sunday afternoon bike rides to the ice-cream-parlour was crowned that year of 1981 by an evening in Copenhagen that left us giggling. It was a fabulous introduction to a splendid evening of James Bond.
As we were sitting in our favorite Italian spaghetteria near the opera house, I happily found the announcement that FOR YOUR EYES ONLY was playing at a city cinema called the Colloseum. Imagine the local surprise when we asked the Italian waiter where the Colloseum was. He looked at us as if we had crawled from underneath his kitchen closet and auditioned Yankee Doodle for him, but sung it backwards in Greek.
His response was full of classic, Italian cynicism:
“The Colloseum is in Rome!”
When we told him that we were looking for the Copenhagen cinema called the Colloseum, he said: “You don’t want to go there!”
Indeed, we did.
I am happy we did. First we ended up in the wrong multiplex cinema room and began enjoying an old Terry Thomas flick dubbed into French. There is something rotten in the state of Denmark, my thespian Dad quoted and we merged into the biggest cinema hall ever seen and had the time of our lives.
The film is one I deeply cherish as a nice addition to some very cultural trips. We saw an uncut production performance of Hamlet, met famous painters, witnessed the royal changing of the guards, wallowed in hotel breakfasts and enjoyed ballet performances of The Nutcracker.
However, the most fun I, a goofy twelve year old, had was walking back to the hotel and laughing at my father imitate the Bond theme. He was doing it all wrong, I claimed. The Bond theme was not “Duh-da-Duh-da-Duh-da”, but “Duh-dada-Duh-dada-Duh-dada-Duh”.
Which brings us back to Bond.
Indeed, the score of For Your Eyes Only is, in my mind, the best of all possible Bond scores. It combines Spanish tonality and real Phrygian scales with brilliant trumpet solos by British session musician Derek Watkins. Bill Conti manages to coach an orchestration that sounds like “Foreigner” while reminding us of Brahms. Electronic keyboards and full orchestra to match, it is a classic mix. The music alone is worth the experience. Especially for a film music buff like me. It has the gourmet whiff of tonal Rioja. Rich musical wine. Donald Guarisco claimed that the score’s mix of classical music, dance and funk made it one of the best film scores of the decade.
Then, who was the best Bond? I say that all Bonds have their merit. Comparing Roger Moore to Sean Connery is like comparing Barcelona to London. Barcelona is a sophisticated Tapa Bar accompanied by a rugged Samba. London is an eloquent sonnet enjoyed whilst sipping sherry and eating scones. Moore is a witty drink of Sandeman’s.
Moore was at his peek in the movie. His blend of wit and combat coincides with John Glen’s intellectual direction. It subseqently produces a film that is oppulent in images and rich in texture.
Filmed on location in the Bahamas, in Greece, in London, in Italy and out on the open North Sea, we are reminded of not what the plot is but how it is told. The film set a record as the most successful Bond opening to date. The story is a very remodified Fleming and has little to do with any of Ian’s stories. However, that is not relevant.
The British naval communcations system ATAC sinks along with its ship somewhere in the North Sea. Bond is sent out to find the assassin of a marine archeologist engaged by Britain to locate the ship. Teaming up with the victim’s daughter, a modern Electra, the team becomes tossed and turned between possible culprits in a sort of “who-dunnit”-like chase of spy swings.
In real life, double or single agents lead a considerably more painful and less glitzy life. Seeing these distinguished actors, however, produce an entertaining movie like this is a joy that overshadows that illusion. The Isreali theatre-fox Topol started his own theatre company in 1961 and is still going strong 40 years later. Here in 1981 his athletic performaces is mixed with considerable humour. Julian Glover has been a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company for decades. His work in the Sci-Fi and Agent Franchise has given him world wide fame. The supposed light entertainment benefits from his thespian eloquence.
Roger Moore was born three months after my father. Both were performers and both ended up working in Germany at some point during their careers. Educated at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Royal Army Service Officer Moore has acted in 47 films to date including the Bond films. Less rugged but more suave than Connery, Moore brings an astute aristocracy to Bond that remains unsurpassed.
It is, of course, obvious that Bond-movies rarely follow the actual Bond novel stories. And the fact that Ian Fleming himself didn’t seem to like Sean Connery as a choice for the main character is something that has left journalists baffled as to what Ian Fleming would’ve thought about the later Bond-heroes.
All of them differ. Sean Connery’s harsh manhood is the opposite of Roger Moore’s elegant worldliness. Timothy Dalton’s Shakesperian concentration carries inside what Daniel Craig seems to sport in his athletic leaps onto the screen.
But those are just comments on the sidelines.
FOR YOUR EYES ONLY has the elegant wit, the music and the sensuality to make it a true classic, whether it followed the original novel or not.
My father’s great love of films concludes my recount. It gave him a great place in every film fan’s year book. I am reminded of sitting in that Italian restaurant in Copenhagen many years ago when I see Roger’s fifth Bond film. I remember that I am like my father in most respects. I enjoy spening time with my child. If I can be half as good a father to my daughter as my father was to me, I have done my job more than well.
“The Colloseum is in Rome!”
Indeed. Roma è il più meraviglioso dei luoghi.
My soul, however, happily remembers sitting with my great dad in the Colloseum in Copenhagen and eating pop-corn and hooraying at Bond’s great antics in what I believe to be the entire series’ best agent extravaganza.
REINVENTING FLEMING(Charles E.J. Moulton)
REINVENTING FLEMING
A look at FOR YOUR EYES ONLY
By Charles E.J. Moulton
The vacation in Copenhagen with my father was the best we’d had. We were CLUB 31, a father and son-combo on trips together. Our meetings behind the Christmas tree and Sunday afternoon bike rides to the ice-cream-parlour was crowned that year of 1981 by an evening in Copenhagen that left us giggling. It was a fabulous introduction to a splendid evening of James Bond.
As we were sitting in our favorite Italian spaghetteria near the opera house, I happily found the announcement that FOR YOUR EYES ONLY was playing at a city cinema called the Colloseum. Imagine the local surprise when we asked the Italian waiter where the Colloseum was. He looked at us as if we had crawled from underneath his kitchen closet and auditioned Yankee Doodle for him, but sung it backwards in Greek.
His response was full of classic, Italian cynicism:
“The Colloseum is in Rome!”
When we told him that we were looking for the Copenhagen cinema called the Colloseum, he said: “You don’t want to go there!”
Indeed, we did.
I am happy we did. First we ended up in the wrong multiplex cinema room and began enjoying an old Terry Thomas flick dubbed into French. There is something rotten in the state of Denmark, my thespian Dad quoted and we merged into the biggest cinema hall ever seen and had the time of our lives.
The film is one I deeply cherish as a nice addition to some very cultural trips. We saw an uncut production performance of Hamlet, met famous painters, witnessed the royal changing of the guards, wallowed in hotel breakfasts and enjoyed ballet performances of The Nutcracker.
However, the most fun I, a goofy twelve year old, had was walking back to the hotel and laughing at my father imitate the Bond theme. He was doing it all wrong, I claimed. The Bond theme was not “Duh-da-Duh-da-Duh-da”, but “Duh-dada-Duh-dada-Duh-dada-Duh”.
Which brings us back to Bond.
Indeed, the score of For Your Eyes Only is, in my mind, the best of all possible Bond scores. It combines Spanish tonality and real Phrygian scales with brilliant trumpet solos by British session musician Derek Watkins. Bill Conti manages to coach an orchestration that sounds like “Foreigner” while reminding us of Brahms. Electronic keyboards and full orchestra to match, it is a classic mix. The music alone is worth the experience. Especially for a film music buff like me. It has the gourmet whiff of tonal Rioja. Rich musical wine. Donald Guarisco claimed that the score’s mix of classical music, dance and funk made it one of the best film scores of the decade.
Then, who was the best Bond? I say that all Bonds have their merit. Comparing Roger Moore to Sean Connery is like comparing Barcelona to London. Barcelona is a sophisticated Tapa Bar accompanied by a rugged Samba. London is an eloquent sonnet enjoyed whilst sipping sherry and eating scones. Moore is a witty drink of Sandeman’s.
Moore was at his peek in the movie. His blend of wit and combat coincides with John Glen’s intellectual direction. It subseqently produces a film that is oppulent in images and rich in texture.
Filmed on location in the Bahamas, in Greece, in London, in Italy and out on the open North Sea, we are reminded of not what the plot is but how it is told. The film set a record as the most successful Bond opening to date. The story is a very remodified Fleming and has little to do with any of Ian’s stories. However, that is not relevant.
The British naval communcations system ATAC sinks along with its ship somewhere in the North Sea. Bond is sent out to find the assassin of a marine archeologist engaged by Britain to locate the ship. Teaming up with the victim’s daughter, a modern Electra, the team becomes tossed and turned between possible culprits in a sort of “who-dunnit”-like chase of spy swings.
In real life, double or single agents lead a considerably more painful and less glitzy life. Seeing these distinguished actors, however, produce an entertaining movie like this is a joy that overshadows that illusion. The Isreali theatre-fox Topol started his own theatre company in 1961 and is still going strong 40 years later. Here in 1981 his athletic performaces is mixed with considerable humour. Julian Glover has been a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company for decades. His work in the Sci-Fi and Agent Franchise has given him world wide fame. The supposed light entertainment benefits from his thespian eloquence.
Roger Moore was born three months after my father. Both were performers and both ended up working in Germany at some point during their careers. Educated at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Royal Army Service Officer Moore has acted in 47 films to date including the Bond films. Less rugged but more suave than Connery, Moore brings an astute aristocracy to Bond that remains unsurpassed.
It is, of course, obvious that Bond-movies rarely follow the actual Bond novel stories. And the fact that Ian Fleming himself didn’t seem to like Sean Connery as a choice for the main character is something that has left journalists baffled as to what Ian Fleming would’ve thought about the later Bond-heroes.
All of them differ. Sean Connery’s harsh manhood is the opposite of Roger Moore’s elegant worldliness. Timothy Dalton’s Shakesperian concentration carries inside what Daniel Craig seems to sport in his athletic leaps onto the screen.
But those are just comments on the sidelines.
FOR YOUR EYES ONLY has the elegant wit, the music and the sensuality to make it a true classic, whether it followed the original novel or not.
My father’s great love of films concludes my recount. It gave him a great place in every film fan’s year book. I am reminded of sitting in that Italian restaurant in Copenhagen many years ago when I see Roger’s fifth Bond film. I remember that I am like my father in most respects. I enjoy spening time with my child. If I can be half as good a father to my daughter as my father was to me, I have done my job more than well.
“The Colloseum is in Rome!”
Indeed. Roma è il più meraviglioso dei luoghi.
My soul, however, happily remembers sitting with my great dad in the Colloseum in Copenhagen and eating pop-corn and hooraying at Bond’s great antics in what I believe to be the entire series’ best agent extravaganza.
- Share this story on
- 9
COMMENTS (0)