Jake’s Take: One Image from For Your Eyes Only (John Glen, 1981)
An image of Roger Moore at what was perhaps his most vicious.
“He had no head for heights.”
This frame is from one of my favorite scenes in all of Roger Moore’s films. Bond has shot the henchman Locque (Michael Gothard), and Locque’s car is about to fall from a precipice with him in the driver’s seat. Bond tosses the henchman’s signature pin inside, which is—light as it is—just enough weight to force the car off the cliff. But Bond goes one step further and viciously kicks the sedan into the rocky sea below.
If we saw Timothy Dalton or Daniel Craig do this, we’d barely bat an eye. But this is Roger Moore, the elder comedic statesman of the Bonds. He may be looking long in the tooth by 1981, but he’s still suave, witty, and as it turns out, utterly cold blooded. It is a scene that gets at the heart of the Bond of the books—a killer who serves his country and the mission, but won’t hesitate to avenge his friends (in this case Ferrara, played with infectious affability by John Moreno).
It was supposedly quite the conversation between the filmmakers as to whether the pin or Bond’s kick should do the killing, and the final decision points to one of the elements that makes this film so good: its harder edge. In the wake of Moonraker’s blastoff from classic Bond fare, it was time to bring the world’s most famous secret agent back to earth. Much of the satisfaction I derive from For Your Eyes Only comes from its similarity to From Russia with Love. Once again Bond is on the hunt for a secret device, only this time to keep it out of the Russians’ hands instead of snatching it from them. The device itself is a transmitter for nuclear submarine missile commands, thus balancing the grounded approach with suitably high stakes. It’s hard espionage in both plot and character, with a tremendously executed shift in loyalties between the pistachio cracking Columbo (speaking of infectious affability, Topol, ladies and gentlemen!) and the shark-baiting Kristatos (Julian Glover, 8 years before he chose poorly). It may not be a surprising twist, but it is a completely rewarding one.
When he saw the film, famed French director Robert Bresson praised it as “le cinématographe.” On the other hand, famed avant-garde filmmaker Stan Brakhage claimed it an utterly depressing experience, describing spectators “passively sopping” the film’s “false violences.” With deference to both of them, I’ll go out on a limb and say the film falls somewhere in between these two perspectives. John Glen began a 5-film run here, the longest of any Bond director before or since. His is a workman-like style, so his films aren’t always the most visually interesting. He knew how to balance the comedy and the intrigue, however, and often erred on the side of the intrigue. There is much to love in this film, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t note that the excellence of the onscreen action is marred by one of the worst scores in the series.
While I would not necessarily argue the conventional wisdom that The Spy Who Loved Me is better, but because of its penchant for more realistic espionage, For Your Eyes Only remains my favorite of the Moore films.
Rankings
2. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
5. From Russia with Love
7. Thunderball
9. Goldfinger
10. Dr. No
11. For Your Eyes Only
12. The Spy Who Loved Me
17. You Only Live Twice
19. Moonraker
20. Live and Let Die
22. Diamonds Are Forever
23. The Man with the Golden Gun