|
|
|
|
You Only Live Twice (film)
|
| |
|
| |
You Only Live Twice (1967) is the fifth spy film in the James Bond series, and the fifth to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film's screenplay was written by Roald Dahl, and based on Ian Fleming's 1964 novel of the same name. It is the first James Bond film to discard most of Fleming's plot, using only a few characters and locations from the book in an entirely new plot.
In the film, Bond is dispatched to Japan after American and Russian spacecraft disappear mysteriously in orbit.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'You Only Live Twice (film)' Start a new discussion about 'You Only Live Twice (film)' Answer questions from other users |
Encyclopedia
You Only Live Twice (1967) is the fifth spy film in the James Bond series, and the fifth to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film's screenplay was written by Roald Dahl, and based on Ian Fleming's 1964 novel of the same name. It is the first James Bond film to discard most of Fleming's plot, using only a few characters and locations from the book in an entirely new plot.
In the film, Bond is dispatched to Japan after American and Russian spacecraft disappear mysteriously in orbit. With each nation blaming the other amidst the Cold War, Bond travels secretly to a remote Japanese island in order to find the perpetrators and comes face to face with Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the head of SPECTRE. The film reveals the appearance of Blofeld who was previously a partially unseen character. SPECTRE is working on behalf of a third-party, a foreign government represented by Asian officials. Although their country is not named it is possible that they come from the People's Republic of China whose relationship with both the United States and the Soviet Union was at a low point (see Sino-Soviet split).
After its release in 1967, Connery stepped down from the role, leading to the hiring of George Lazenby for 1969's On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Connery later returned officially, one last time, in Diamonds Are Forever (1971). You Only Live Twice is the first Bond film to be directed by Lewis Gilbert, who later directed 1977's The Spy Who Loved Me and 1979's Moonraker, both starring Roger Moore.
The first Bond film to be released in the summertime, the film was a great success, with positive reviews and over $111M in worldwide box office, and has been parodied most prominently by the Austin Powers series and its scar-faced, Nehru suit wearing Dr. Evil. The backing soundtrack to the film was used by British singer Robbie Williams in his hit "Millennium".
Plot
An American spacecraft is hijacked from orbit by a carnivorous space craft; a similar fate befalls a Soviet spacecraft later on. With each country thinking that the other is the cause of their loss, the world is thrown to the brink of World War III. The United Kingdom's government, however, believes the spacecraft landed in the Sea of Japan. The British government suspects Japanese involvement.
The pre-title sequence depicted James Bond faking his murder in Hong Kong, allowing Bond more freedom to operate. He is sent to Japan to investigate the British suspicion, in conjunction with the Japanese secret service leader "Tiger" Tanaka.
At a Tokyo sumo wrestling match Bond contacts Tanaka's assistant Aki, who takes him to meet with the local MI6 operative, Dikko Henderson. Henderson claims to have critical evidence for the rogue craft originating in Japan, but is murdered before he can reveal it. Bond kills the assailant and steals his identity. He is brought to their headquarters, which turns out to be Osato Chemicals. Once there, Bond breaks into an office safe of the Japanese corporate head, Mr. Osato, and steals some documents after triggering the alarm.
As Bond flees, Aki picks him up in her car. However, Bond becomes suspicious when she won't answer his questions and flees to a secluded area. When Bond chases her, he falls through a trapdoor and slides into Tanaka's office. After identifying each other, they examine Bond's documents. The main item of interest is a tourist photograph of a cargo ship called the Ning-Po and a microdot on it containing a message that operatives "liquidated" the tourist who took the photo as a security measure.
Interested in what was worth killing for in that photo, Bond investigates the company's dock facilities and discovers that the ship was delivering liquid oxygen, an oxidizer for rocket fuel; the document used the term LOX, which Bond states is an American name for smoked salmon, providing a convenient cover. Together, Bond and Tanaka learn that the true mastermind behind this is Osato's client Ernst Stavro Blofeld and his organization SPECTRE.
Preparing to investigate the island in the photo, Bond trains with Tanaka and his elite ninja force. Tanaka suggests that the best disguise for Bond is as a Japanese fisherman. Bond receives training in Japanese culture and stages marriage to Tanaka's student, Kissy Suzuki. After the spies learn from surveillance photos that the Ning-Po unloaded its cargo overnight at the island, Bond investigates the area in the air with Little Nellie, a heavily armed autogyro. While in mid-flight and having no luck finding the SPECTRE base, Bond is suddenly attacked by four mysterious armed helicopters, but he fights them off. While the helicopters obviously had to have been from SPECTRE and thus the base is in that general area, Bond and Tanaka still don't know the exact location.
To make matters worse, they learn that the United States has moved up their next space mission, which means it will likely be hijacked by SPECTRE and a world war will likely be triggered before they can stop the plot. However, they gain a major clue when Kissy mentions that a local woman had just mysteriously died after rowing her boat into a cave in the area where the aerial battle took place.
Bond and Kissy set out on a reconnaissance mission into that cave and discover that SPECTRE has a secret rocket base hidden in a hollow volcano. Bond slips in through the crater door, while Kissy returns to alert Tanaka. Bond locates and frees the captured Soviet and American astronauts. With their help, he steals a spacesuit in attempt to infiltrate the SPECTRE craft (code named "Bird One"). Before he can enter the craft however, he mis-handles the air conditioning unit of his suit, and is caught. Kissy has her own difficulties when she is sighted and attacked by SPECTRE guards in a helicopter, but she uses her considerable experience as a pearl diver to hide underwater long enough to trick her pursuers into thinking that she drowned. Bond is taken to Blofeld for interrogation, while Bird One is launched with the backup astronaut aboard.
Soon after, Kissy lead's Tanaka's troops to the crater entrance, but are detected and attacked by the crater's sentry guns. Meanwhile, the Bird One closes in on the American space capsule and US forces prepare to launch a nuclear attack on the USSR. In response, Bond asks for a cigarette, which conceals a small rocket. Killing the guard by the crater hatch controls, Bond manages to open the door allowing Tanaka's troops to storm the base. They soon overpower the henchman and the control room is evacuated. Bond notices the movement and advances to the control room, where there is a destruct switch for the spacecraft. After fighting Blofeld's bodyguard, Hans, Bond manages to get the destruct key from him and detonates Bird One, seconds before it reaches the American craft.
The US stands down after learning that their spacecraft is safe. Blofeld escapes along a secret passage. His last act before leaving is to activate the base's self-destruct system. Bond, Kissy, Tanaka, and the surviving ninjas swim out. Safe from the now erupting volcano, the survivors board air-dropped lifeboats.
Cast
Production
Thunderball's end credits listed On Her Majesty's Secret Service as the next film, but the producers decided to adapt You Only Live Twice instead because OHMSS would require searching for high and snowy locations. Lewis Gilbert originally declined the offer to direct, but accepted after producer Albert R. Broccoli called him saying: "You can't give up this job. It's the largest audience in the world." Roald Dahl, close friend of Ian Fleming, was chosen to write the adaptation despite having no prior experience writing a screenplay.
Gilbert, producers Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, production designer Ken Adam and director of photography Freddie Young then went to Japan, spending three weeks searching for locations. SPECTRE’s shore fortress headquarters was changed to an extinct volcano after the team learned that the Japanese don't build castles by the sea. The group was due to return to the UK on a BOAC Boeing 707 flight (BOAC Flight 911) on 5 March 1966, but canceled after being told they had a chance to watch a ninja demonstration. That flight crashed 25 minutes after takeoff, killing all on board.
Lewis Gilbert's regular editor, Thelma Connell, was originally hired to edit the film. However, after her initial, almost three-hour cut received a terrible response from test audiences, Peter R. Hunt was asked to re-edit the film. Hunt's cut proved a much greater success, and he was awarded the director's chair on the next film as a result.
Unlike most James Bond films featuring various locales around the world, almost the entire film is set in one country and several minutes are given over to an elaborate Japanese wedding. This is in keeping with Fleming's original novel, which also devoted a number of pages to the discussion of Japanese culture.
Casting
When the time came to begin You Only Live Twice, the producers were faced with the problem of a disenchanted star. Sean Connery had begun making noises that he was tired of playing James Bond and all of the associated commitment (time spent filming and publicising each movie), together with finding it difficult to do other work, which would potentially lead to typecasting. Saltzman and Broccoli were able to persuade Connery by increasing his fee for the film, but geared up to look for a replacement.
Jan Werich was originally cast by producer Harry Saltzman to play Blofeld. Upon arriving at the Pinewood set, both producer Albert R. Broccoli and director Lewis Gilbert felt that he was a poor choice, resembling a "poor, benevolent Santa Claus". Nonetheless, in an attempt to make the casting work, Gilbert continued filming. After several days, both Gilbert and Broccoli determined that Werich wasn't menacing enough, and recast Blofeld with Donald Pleasence in the role. Pleasence's ideas for Blofeld's appearance included a hump, a limp, a beard, and a lame hand, before he settled on the scar. He found it uncomfortable though because of the glue that attached it to his eye.
Many European models were tested for Helga Brandt, with German Karin Dor being cast. Dor performed the stunt of diving into a pool to depict Helga's demise herself, without the use of a double.
Gilbert had chosen Tetsuro Tamba after working with him in The 7th Dawn. A number of actual martial arts experts were hired as the ninjas, with Dr Masaaki Hatsumi serving as the technical advisor on ninjutsu. But the Japanese women were hard to cast, because most didn't know any English. Akiko Wakabayashi and Mie Hama were chosen because of their beauty and started taking English classes in the UK. Hama's problems with the language made her switch roles with Wakabayashi, who had no problems learning English. Wakabayashi only requested her role, "Suki", to be rebaptized "Aki".
Filming
You Only Live Twice was filmed in 1966. The film was shot primarily in Japan. Himeji Castle in Hyogo was depicted as Tanaka's ninja training camp. His private transportation hub was filmed at the Tokyo Metro's Nakano-shimbashi Station. The Hotel New Otani, Tokyo served as the outside for Osato Chemicals and the hotel's gardens were used for scenes of the ninja training. Bonotsu in Kagoshima served as the fishing village, the Kobe harbor was used for the dock fight and Mount Shinmoe-dake in Kyushu was used for the exteriors of SPECTRE's headquarters. Large crowds were present in Japan to see the shooting. A Japanese fan began following Sean Connery with a camera, and the police were called several times to prevent invasions during shooting.
The heavily armed autogyro "Little Nellie" was included after Ken Adam heard a radio interview with its inventor, RAF Wing Commander Ken Wallis. Wallis piloted his invention, which was equipped with various mock-up armaments by John Stears' special effects team, during production. "Nellie's" battle with helicopters proved to be difficult to film. The scenes were initially shot in Miyazaki, first with takes of the gyrocopter, with more than 85 take-offs, 5 hours of flight and Wallis nearly crashing onto the camera several times. A scene filming the helicopters from above created a major updraft and cameraman John Jordan had his foot severed by the craft's rotor. Filming was interrupted. The concluding shots involved explosions, which the Japanese government did not allow in a national park. So, the crew moved to Torremolinos, Spain, which was found to resemble the Japanese landscape.
The sets of SPECTRE's volcano base were constructed at a lot inside Pinewood Studios, with a cost of $1 million and including operative heliport and monorail. The 45 meter (120') tall set could be seen from 5 kilometers away, and attracted many people from the region. Other locations outside Japan included the ship HMS Tenby in Gibraltar for the sea burial, Hong Kong for the scene where Bond fakes his death, and Alaska for the Russian radar station.
Sean Connery's then wife Diane Cilento had to make the swimming scenes for at least five Japanese actresses, including Mie Hama.
Music
The soundtrack was the fourth of the series to be composed by John Barry. He tried to incorporate the "elegance of the Oriental sound" with Japanese music-inspired tracks. The theme song, "You Only Live Twice", was composed by Barry and lyricist Leslie Bricusse and sung by Nancy Sinatra. Sinatra reported to be very nervous while recording — first she wanted to leave the studio; then she declared to sometimes "sound like Minnie Mouse". Barry declared that the final song uses 25 different takes In 1998, Robbie Williams sampled the title song "You Only Live Twice" for the chart-topper "Millennium". A rock version of "You Only Live Twice" was covered by Coldplay when they toured in 2001, and was covered by Natacha Atlas for her 2005 compilation album The Best of Natacha Atlas. Icelandic singer Björk also recorded a cover version, as has Shirley Bassey, who has three original Bond themes to her credit.
The title song was originally recorded by Julie Rogers, but eventually discarded. Only two lines from that version were kept in the final lyrics, and the orchestral part was changed to fit Nancy Sinatra's vocal range. Rogers' version only appeared in a James Bond 30th Anniversary CD, with no singer credit. Interestingly, an alternative example of a possible theme song (also called "You Only Live Twice" and sung by Lorraine Chandler) was discovered in the vaults of RCA records in the '90s. Probably intended as a demo for consideration by the film's producers, it became a very popular track with followers of the Northern soul scene (Chandler was well known for her high-quality soul output on RCA) and can be found on several RCA soul compilations.
Release and reception
You Only Live Twice premiered at the Odeon Leicester Square in London. It was the first premiere of a James Bond film that Queen Elizabeth II had attended. The film grossed $43 million in the United States and over $111 million worldwide.
Critical response was mostly positive, with Rotten Tomatoes giving a 69% "fresh" rating. But most reviews pointed various flaws at the film. James Berardinelli said that the first half was good, but "during the second half, as the plot escalates beyond the bounds of preposterousness, that the film starts to fragment", criticizing "too extravagant rockets which swallow up spacecraft" and Blofeld's appearance. Roger Ebert criticized the focus on gadgets, declaring that the James Bond formula "fails to work its magic". Christopher Null considered the film one of James Bond's most memorable adventures, but the plot "protracting and quite confusing". Ali Barclay of BBC Films panned Dahl's script displaying "a whole new world of villainy and technology." Leo Goldsmith lauded the volcano base as "the most impressive of Ken Adam's sets for the franchise." Danny Peary wrote that You Only Live Twice "should have been about twenty minutes shorter” and described it as “not a bad Bond film, but it doesn’t compare to its predecessors – the formula had become a little stale.”
IGN ranked You Only Live Twice as the fourth best Bond movie, and Entertainment Weekly as the second best, considering that it "pushes the series to the outer edge of coolness". But Norman Wilner of MSN chose it as the fifth worse, criticizing the plot, action scenes and little screentime for Blofeld.
Literary allusions
Literary critic Paul Simpson called the film one of the most colourful of the series and credited the prefecture of Kagoshima for adding "a good flavour" of Japanese influence on the film. However he panned the depiction of Blofeld as a "let-down", "small, bald and a whooping scar." Scientist Barry Parker described the "Little Nellie" as a model WA-116 autogyro needing a runway only 72 feet long. Simon Winder said that the film is "perfect" for parodies of the series.
External links
|
| |
|
|
.gif)
