For Your Eyes Only (1981)

FYEO is by far my favorite Bond film. From the beautiful theme song, to the gorgeous scenery, the wonderful musical score, and the fabulous story line, this movie is absolute perfection. I can watch it over and over and never get tired of it. I just absolutely love this film ! The cast is phenomenal. Carole Bouquet is wonderful as Melina Havelock. Topol is marvelous as Milos, Julian Glover is wickedly good as Kristatos, and Cassandra Harris (Pierce Brosnan's late wife), is charming as Countess Lisl. All of the actors in the film are top notch, and the beautiful scenery of Italy and Greece, is just breathtaking. Roger is of course, fabulous as usual in his role as 007. Handsome, charming, and witty. He is and always will be, my favorite Bond. FYEO is just spectacular. It is the Bond film that I watch the most often. It is one of my favorite movies of all time.

After Moonraker was released in 1979, the series knew it had to be brought back down to earth. When a British spy ship sunk with an important device on board, 007 is sent to retrieve it before the Russians can. This in my opinion is the most underrated James Bond film. I completely forgot about this movie and I think the general public did too. Many people say Timothy Dalton was the first dark Bond, to them I now say no. It actually was right here with Roger Moore. They express James as a killer, he still is funny but he is a killer. Some of the humour works, but some is just out of place. The score gives the score by Bill Conti adds a fast pace to the action sequences. I think this film is forgotten about because the Daniel Craig films have perfectly succeeded in the dark Bond.

Was recently catching up on some James Bond movies available on Amazon Prime before they got yanked off. One of the ones I caught that I hadn't seen in a while was For Your Eyes Only. I fell asleep during one of the ski scenes. While watching it I had a thought. Roger Moore played the role of James Bond the Longest--well I guess he's technically tied with Connery because Connery did the unofficial one in 1983, but still the guy did a lot of Bond movies. A couple of questions came to mind--how was Moore able to make so many and how did James Bond survive the 1970's and early to mid 1980's? From Connery's last awful "Diamonds Are Forever" to Moonraker finishing Moore's career in the mid '80's with A View To a Kill. For Your Eyes Only probably represents the best of Moore's 1980's films. Dang though he was old by this time. It's one thing to have an old Indiana Jones or Han Solo, but James Bond was never meant to be an old timer and even if Moore was in pretty good shape he was still old. They should have changed him out at that time with Timothy Dalton. Moore's Bond movies were two cheesy and again his age got in the way. The best of his films were probably The Spy Who Loved Me and Live and Let Die was okay. Also, too many of his movies had ski chase scenes on the snow and For Your Eyes Only probably represented the longest ski chase scene and it was pretty boring. Moore should have never been selected anyway based on age. He was in his mid 40's by the time he did his first Bond movie. All other actors who have played Bond were younger. Well, despite the Moore years, James Bond survived. Looks like someone may be taking over for Daniel Craig now.

Definitely the best James Bond movie of J.B Mk. III - The Roger Moore Era - I think. Many Bond-fans I think applies with me, not every other one, of course.. I've read biographies from crew and cast - and other logs from the crossover between the 70's and the 80's - that the hubris and anticlimax that followed a movie called Moonraker caused some hang-over in the production team. There was, at the time, no plans of topping that expensive "space-flick". Get back to earth, bring back some of the good old-fashioned spy story.John Glen's debut in the director's seat (had been assistant/2nd unit for several times) was a terrific start to the 80's. The whole movie throughout is impregnated by a sense of re-start, and a "think things over"-feeling. Discussions of inviting Steven Spielberg to direct had been around, so was a thought of giving Timothy Dalton his debut as 007. Many rumors circulated at the time of giving this movie its blueprints.....OK, Roger Moore already showed some signs of ageing here, 53 years old. (Some age for a supposed to be fit and athletic MI6 agent.....) But, the character was already well worked in, the audience had learned to love the charming gentleman, who jumped in and out of hard trials. (With some hindsight, maybe this movie should have been an honorable farewell for Roger, a good-bye in flying colors, handing over the baton to, let's say Dalton.) But they played it safe for another while...The movie itself has aged well. Feels quite modern some 35 years later. Great stunts as the thrilling opening chopper scene, and the famous Citroën 2CV car chase. To complete the fresh and innovative theme song during the pre-credits, Maurice Binder cuts in performer for the first time, shown in figure. Female artist Sheena Easton completes her lovely voice with an appearance on screen, to the delight of the male audience. An airy, atmospheric tune with just the right touch for kicking off the 80's. The ATAC head story, and the "avenge the Havelock's"-story, matches each other well. Carole Bouquet's plays a strong, independent and sensitive woman. Not just being James Bond's amusement, as many of them in 007 past. I also think that the audience welcomed a more human villain, rather than a psychotic billionaire who's planning to destroy the world. Julian Glover performs well, and professionally cushioned.In my opinion, it's one of the very best compounded and successfully collected James Bond Movies. 9 out of 10.