• The most financially successful and expensive bond film from what I’ve read (with inflation)- in fact, crazily enough it’s more expensive than the previous 3 combined (this is the 4th installment)—it’s also, the worst of the 4 though not a bad film
  • Oscar winner for visual effects but be weary of technology-drive state of the art set pieces—they can be dazzling in a contemporary setting but don’t always age—the endless underwater sequences here hurt the film largely even if you can marvel at them—the climactic battle here is even underwater
  • Could be urban legend but I guess Tom Jones fainted performing the title sequence song—this is similar to the legend that Shirley Bassey had to undo her outfit a little to hit the peaks of her legendary “Goldfinger” song—anyways—Tom Jones is excellent here and I love the entire underwater themed title sequence
  • Some of the action seems far more gratuitous than the previous three films
  • Love the Bahamas location shooting, great helicopter shots of the water—parachutes—lots of extras and stuntmen—this is a big film
  • Plenty of bad lines “you have the spectre of defeat on you” and the narrative asks you to buy another “if we kill him his government will know” suspension of disbelief in the plot device—this happened in Goldfinger, too
  • The use of a rope device that is picked up by a plane would be used again by Nolan in the dark knight films
  • The shapely redhead Luciana Paluzzi is very good here as one of the villains
  • Recommend but not near the top 10 of 1965—closer to the “worth a look” fringe