FORCE 10 FROM NAVARONE: You Didn’t Give a Motherhunch About Me, Did You?

Force 10 from Navarone (1978) – Directed by Guy Hamilton – Starring Harrison Ford, Robert Shaw, Edward Fox, Franco Nero, Carl Weathers, Barbara Bach, and Richard Kiel.

FORCE 10 FROM NAVARONE is one of the weirder sequels in cinematic history.

Ostensibly, it’s a sequel to THE GUNS OF NAVARONE, but while the story picks up shortly after the events of that movie and reunites the characters of Keith Mallory and John Miller, FORCE 10 was produced 17 years later and Gregory Peck and David Niven have been replaced with Robert Shaw and Edward Fox, actors with very different approaches to the characters than their predecessors. So while FORCE 10 is technically a sequel, functionally it’s entirely its own film.

That’s not wholly a good thing, but it’s not a disastrous thing, either.

FORCE 10 FROM NAVARONE is a perfectly enjoyable action/war movie. All of the actors are good, the story is good, the action is good, and the final scene is fantastic. Ironically, while it’s the least of the four Alistair MacLean-based movies, it’s also the only one where I was immediately ready for a sequel. This is due not just to the ending – which sees our four heroes flush with the success of completely their mission but suddenly confronted with being trapped behind enemy lines – but to the chemistry exhibited between our four main leads: Shaw, Fox, Harrison Ford, and Carl Weathers.

Colonel Barnsby (Ford) and his Force 10 team are due to head into Yugoslavia to blow up a bridge, and he’s none-too-happy to have old times Mallory and Miller forced onto him. Right from the start, FORCE 10 overcomes one of the problems I had with (the otherwise superior) WHERE EAGLES DARE, which is to create some tension between our protagonists. Barnsby and Mallory clash repeatedly, the younger soldier’s fire clashing nicely with the older soldier’s calm. When the Force 10 unit is in the middle of stealing a plane (they steal one of their own planes in order to keep the mission a secret), a Jeep of MPs rolls up and a brawl ensues. Instead of getting involved, Mallory and Miller lean back against their transport truck and don’t get involved until they can be of the most use.

It’s during this brawl that Sergeant Weaver (Weathers) joins up with them, forcing his way out of MP custody and onto the stolen plane. Before they reach their destination the plane is attacked and almost everyone dies. The unit then has to hoof it through Yugoslavia, where they get embroiled with Richard Kiel and blah blah blah war stuff mistaken identity subterfuge penicillin Franco Nero prison break. I’m skipping through this huge middle section because while it’s pretty entertaining, it’s the film’s ending that I want to talk about.

Force 10 was sent into Yugoslavia to blow up a massive bridge but they lack the explosives to do it, so they devise a plan to blow up a nearby dam, believing the escaped water will wash the bridge away and keep the Germans on the other side of the river. Miller is the bombs expert, but it’s Mallory and Barnsby that sneak into the dam and travel all the way to the corridor at the base of the dam to plant the explosives. When they’re deciding on how long to set the fuse, Mallory recognizes they’ve run out of time and the Germans must, at that very minute, already be crossing the bridge.

Barnsby decides to set the fuse for 20 seconds, which is obviously not enough time for them to get out. He asks Mallory if 20 seconds is the right time and in a nice switch from GUNS where Miller forced Mallory to make the hard call, Mallory now tells Barnsby that the call is his. Barnsby balks even though he knows he’s right, wanting the older officer to give him confirmation. Mallory finally does, the fuse is set, and the two men shake hands and walk away. The bomb goes off and …

Poof.

Up on a nearby hill, Miller and Weaver are watching and waiting. When there is no massive explosion, Weaver freaks out, yelling that nothing happened and that after all they’d been through to get to that moment … NOTHING! Behind him, Miller puffs on his pipe, clearly unconcerned.

Back in the tunnel, Mallory and Barnsby dust themselves off. There was an explosion in the tunnel, but no real damage appears to have been caused. They’re furious but while hiding out from three Germans, a crack appears in the corridor’s ceiling and water starts to shoot down. Mallory and Miller pop out of hiding and run past the surprised Germans. Slowly, incrementally, Weaver sees the dam begin to crack and water begin to shoot through and his anger turns to such joy that he nearly dances with Miller on the hill and kisses the Brit twice on the cheek. (My admiration for Weathers continues to grow, and I love how Sergeant Weaver continually forces himself into the narrative.) The dam eventually breaks, Mallory and Barnsby escape, and the bridge is washed out, stopping the German advance.

It’s a wonderfully executed sequence by Guy Hamilton and his crew. There are moments here where a bit of Hamilton’s past comes in to add a bit of cheek to the proceedings (like when Barnsby and Mallory are escaping the dam and they both push the same German solider out of the way to climb up some stairs ahead of him) but for the most part they help, rather than hurt the movie. This last sequence, however, is mostly pure action goodness and it unfolds beautifully. Every shot is the right one and every shot last exactly the right amount of time.

The day is won but as the four men reunite on the hill, it’s the ever-practical Mallory who reminds them that they’re now on the wrong side of the river in an area that’s soon to be swarming with angry Germans. With no hope of reuniting with allies, he tells them it’s going to be a long walk to freedom as the camera is pulling away from them and the credits start rolling. It’s a really great ending, calling in mind films like the original Italian Job and The Thin Red Line in that even though the movie is over, the story (and the war) clearly is not.

FORCE 10 FROM NAVARONE does not have the literary quality of the other MacLean films, as its intentions are clearly designed to be an enjoyable World War II romp, but while it may not reach the heights of GUNS OF NAVARONE, ICE STATION ZEBRA, and WHERE EAGLES DARE, this is still a darn good movie, thanks to the four leads and some fine directing from Guy Hamilton.

DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER: But a Big Wet Turd Only Lasts 115 Minutes

Diamonds Are Forever (1971) – Directed by Guy Hamilton – The 7th James Bond Film; the 6th (of 6) Sean Connery Films – Starring Sean Connery, Jill St. John, Charles Gray, Lana Wood, Jimmy Dean, Bruce Glover, Putter Smith, Bernard Lee, Lois Maxwell, and Desmond Llewelyn.

DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER makes me like ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE even more. It’s not because DIAMONDS is a dull movie (which it is), but because it walks all over SERVICE in a manner far too disrespectful for a movie franchise that, at this point in its history, is actively telling an ongoing story.

When DIAMONDS opens, we see James Bond working his way up the SPECTRE ladder on his quest to get revenge on Blofeld for killing his wife, Tracy, at the end of SERVICE. (Technically, Blofeld just drove the car.) It’s all well and good at the start – Bond is cold and ruthless, knocking henchmen around and choking a woman with her own bikini top. It’s good stuff – hard and serious, just how revenge should be undertaken.

Things start to go wrong when he finally gets to Blofeld. Here’s Bond’s nemesis – the head of the biggest criminal organization in the world and the man responsible for killing the woman he loved – and the confrontation we’ve been waiting to see. Bond should be beside himself with rage and yet he and Blofeld end up having a chat and trading barbs like this is all some big game between poker buddies.

It’s a ridiculous confrontation, and it cheapens everything that happened in SERVICE. Throughout DIAMONDS, it’s like Connery and the filmmakers are determined to diminish everything about the Lazenby flick. The attitude that comes through is that Contessa Teresa “Tracy” di Vincenzo (Diana Rigg) was just some woman Bond fell for on his mission, and not his once-in-a-lifetime love. I don’t know if this is born from Connery being a dick or from the filmmakers desire to distance themselves from Lazenby, but it’s extremely disrespectful to everyone who worked on SERVICE and it ruins the franchise’s continuity. In later years, when EON was bascially just making stand-alone films, this wouldn’t be as much of a problem, but here it’s jarring. (If you’re watching the films in order; if not, it likely wouldn’t strike you as hard as it did me.)

Compare Bond’s obvious pain at losing Tracy in future films – Roger Moore visits her grave in FOR YOUR EYES ONLY, Timothy Dalton is clearly pained when Felix Leiter’s wife tosses him the bridal garter in LICENSE TO KILL, and Pierce Brosnan turns downcast in THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH when Elektra King asks if he’s ever lost anyone he loved. My favorite Tracy Bond reference comes in Moore’s THE SPY WHO LOVE ME, when the Russian female agent Anya recites some details from Bond’s biography. When she gets to the marriage reference, Bond is pained and changes the subject, causing Anya to remark that she’s surprised at his sensitivity on the matter.

But not Connery’s Bond – he treats Tracy’s death as if it were just some unfortunate thing that happened to some unfortunate woman.

Which, you know, I’ll say again – people who worship at the Connery Bond altar and I do not see eye-to-eye.

It’s not just Connery, either. The plot of DIAMONDS sees Bond getting involved in a diamond smuggling operation and when he replaces his mark, Moneypenny is there to hand him his new identification materials. Bond asks her if there’s anything he can bring back from Switzerland for her and she replies something like, “A diamond. On a ring.”

What?

What?

Moneypenny, you insensitive b*tch.

Bond just laughs it off and something silly and stupid like this is any other banter fest with Moneypenny. At the wedding between Bond and Tracy in SERVICE, Moneypenny was clearly affected by seeing Bond marry someone else and here she is back to trading quips about her unrequited love. It would all be acceptable if she was doing this in order to try and return Bond to a sense of normalcy, to stop him from going off half-cocked where he could get himself in trouble, but it’s not. It’s just Moneypenny being back to her joking, Miss Lonely Hearts self.

Blah.

Bond goes off on his mission like he’s perfectly well-adjusted and back to the game, which is what the film wants. Forget that lingering pain bit. This is the first Bond film that really starts filling the one-and-done mold, where each film begins to exist wholly in its own universe. Up to now we’ve been getting a longer story, and DIAMONDS should be the end of this story but instead of feeling like this is the real end of the Blofeld and SPECTRE story, it just feels like this year’s cookie cutter Bond movie.

The film itself is painstakingly dull, which is mirrored by Connery’s almost complete disinterest in bringing anything to this role that isn’t on the scripted page.

Everyone always gets on Moore for being too old at the end of his run (which he was) but the same could be said for Connery here, too. (Let alone NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN.) He moves like an older, stiffer man and everything he does is tainted with a sense that he’s done all of this before and done it better and just doesn’t care that’s a step slower.

There’s a pair of gay assassins in DIAMONDS who catch a lot of flack from the fans, but I think Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd are actually the best part of the film. They’re something new, they’re funny, and they’re good at their job. What’s not to like? I love the idea of these two pasty middle-aged guys – one a frumpy, disheveled mess and the other a fashion-obsessed metrosexual with a wardrobe bought off the rack at Woolworth’s – killing everyone after they’ve handled the smuggled diamonds.

Jill St. John is terrible as the love interest, the stunts are all pretty blah, and setting the story in Vegas is a mistake. Probably the only thing that keeps Ms. St. John from taking her place alongside Denise Richards, Carey Lowell, and Talisa Soto among the worst Bond women is that she’s so completely forgettable in such a completely forgettable movie. Forgotten though her performance may be, she’s terrible here.

Charles Gray isn’t horrible as Blofeld, but it’s a step down from Telly Savalas. In Savalas’ hands, Blofeld was an aggressive force to be reckoned with, but with Gray, Blofeld is this “I’m so clever” master planner type who calls to mind Burgess Meredith’s Penguin more than the ruthless, visionary leader of the world’s biggest criminal empire.

It’s all one big, wet turd of a movie. It does have the decency to stay away from silly gadgets, but it also gives us a horribly goofy chase scene that sees Bond driving a moon rover off a moon landing set. The best DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER can manage is that it occasionally doesn’t suck.

Bring on Roger Moore.

_________

Maurice Binder’s usually phenomenal opening titles are a bit weak here, but the Shirley Bassey title song is pretty darn great:

GOLDFINGER: That’s as Bad as Listening to the Beatles Without Earmuffs

Goldfinger (1964) – The 3rd James Bond Film; The 3rd (of 6) Sean Connery Films – Directed by Guy Hamilton – Starring Sean Connery, Shirley Eaton, Gert Fröbe, Honor Blackman, Harold Sakata, Lois Maxwell, Desmond Llewelyn, and Bernard Lee.

GOLDFINGER is one of the best movies ever to grace the big screen.

We have a fantastic story, fantastic villains, fantastic action sequences, fantastic dialogue, a fantastic mix of danger and dry humor, and a fantastic actor at the height of his powers starring in a franchise movie that finally realizes what it wants to be and knows how to make it happen. It’s smart, clever, a bit cheeky, extraordinarily paced, and beautifully filmed. It has scenes you’ll know even if you’ve never seen a James Bond movie because they’re just that iconic. We get the birth of Bond’s gadgets, and the birth of Bond’s Aston Martin.

GOLDFINGER is the quintessential James Bond movie, the one that has absolutely every element anyone could ever want from a Bond film and all of them delivered at the highest level possible. It is the Bond film that casts the longest shadow and it is the ghost that every subsequent film until Martin Campbell’s CASINO ROYALE has to take into account.

What’s so rewarding about this most recent re-watch is seeing it in the context of what came before. This is the third Bond movie and instead of feeling tired or like yesterday’s lunch chucked back up and recooked, GOLDFINGER feels unabashedly confident about moving things forward. In my review of DR. NO, I mentioned that while it’s a decent enough film, it doesn’t exactly feel like the launch of a franchise. GOLDFINGER does. You watch this movie and you know there’s going to be more Bond films coming. As a viewer, it’s an absolute pleasure to watch a franchise grow over the course of these first three movies. The writers, actors, and producers got better at their craft instead of simply giving us more of whatever worked in the previous film.

I’m not suggesting that GOLDFINGER is a radical departure from DR. NO and FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, but it’s not overburdened by them, either, and manages to be both familiar and fresh; it has the confidence to do new things but also do old things and make them their own, too. Given some of the clunkers that follow (including clunkers from Connery), I wish they’d had the same confidence to be their own movie instead of simply trying to mimic and regurgitate this film.

GOLDFINGER is the movie where Sean Connery stops and James Bond really begins. It’s a riveting performance by Connery. He’s so good here that he fully becomes this character; as a result, he really isn’t Connery anymore, at all. He’s Bond, a charming, intelligent, fallible spy able to both charm the ladies and throwdown with the men. There’s plenty of action scenes but it’s Bond’s intellect that gets him out of his biggest jam; when Goldfinger has Bond strapped to a golden table and a laser slowly advancing on him, ready to cut him in half, Bond doesn’t break out of the trap, but talks his way out, convincing Goldfinger that he needs to keep him alive as insurance.

It’s a wonderful scene, highlighting the best part of GOLDFINGER – the relationship between Goldfinger and Bond.

While the above scene contains their most famous exchange – “Do you expect me to talk, Goldfinger?” “No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die.” – what grounds this scene is the way the film builds up to this moment. Auric Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe) and Bond are both supremely confident men willing to pay the high price need to score their goals. That they are so completely different physically works to the film’s advantage, because as frumpy as Goldfinger might look, he’s the most confident man in the world, making him a worthy foe for Bond.

They meet early in the film in Miami. Bond has been told to watch Goldfinger and he sees him playing cards with a rube at a hotel. Bond can see Auric is cheating and makes his way to the man’s hotel room, where he seduces Goldfinger’s beautiful accomplice, Jill Masterson (Shirley Eaton), is feeding her boss information. Bond gets on the microphone and orders Goldfinger to start losing or he’ll rat him out to the Miami Police Department. It’s a magnificent scene as Bond seduces Masterson at the same time he’s playing fly in Goldfinger’s ointment. Bond suggest dinner with Masterson and tells her, “I know the best place in town.”

Cut to Bond’s bedroom.

Getting out of bed, Bond is attacked and taken out by Oddjob (Harold Sakata). When he awakens Jill has been killed, and her body painted from top to bottom in gold paint. It’s a great bit of revenge from Goldfinger, and a great visual that serves to knock Bond back down to business. A golf match follows in which Bond gets the best of Goldfinger by cheating, and then later Goldfinger’s men capture Bond, leading to the laser beam scene. Back and forth, back and forth … there is a real struggle here between these two men that make each of their confrontations arrive with deeper expectations than the previous encounters.

There’s so many great moments in GOLDFINGER that it would take all night to go through them, but here’s a few that really stand out for me:

1. The dinner scene with Bond, M (Bernard Lee), and the dude from the Bank of England is a masterpiece of conversation and one-upmanship between Bond and M. Until Judi Dench comes along, this is probably the best scene featuring M in the franchise as he’s completely flummoxed by Bond’s superior knowledge of brandy and ability to pick up the gold trade. It’s a perfect example of how to make an infodump conversation interesting through sub-text and a secondary conversation that occurs in the midst of the primary conversation that delivers us plot information.

2. The opening sequence. Not only does it give us the classic moment where Bond peels off a wetsuit to reveal a tuxedo, but it shows Bond’s resourcefulness when he kills an attacker by knocking a fan into the bathtub, electrocuting him. “Shocking,” he says dryly, then looks to the woman who’d set him up and adds, “Simply shocking.”

3. The look on Tilly’s (Jill’s sister) face during the car chase away from Goldfinger’s factory. She’s speeding away in Bond’s Aston Martin and it’s a big crapstorm of danger and when Bond lets loose the car’s smokescreen, her face radiates this amazing smile that says she can’t believe it but loves it, anyway.

4. The one liners in the film manage to be both funny and natural. When Goldfinger has Bond on that gold table, he tells him, “Choose your next witticism carefully, Mr. Bond. It might be your last.” How awesome is that? And back in Bond’s apartment in Miami, when he gets out of bed to get more ice, he tells the protesting Jill, “Some things just aren’t done. Like drinking Dom Perignon ’53 above 38 degrees Farenheit. That’s as bad as listening to the Beatles without earmuffs.”

5. Bond awaking on Goldfinger’s jet with the beautiful Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman) looking down on him, smiling boyishly that, “I must be dreaming.” Between Pussy Galore and Jill and Tilly Masterson, GOLDFINGER has beautiful women walking through nearly every scene.

GOLDFINGER is one of the finest paced movies you’ll find, even with the final action sequence going on a bit too long. There was a moment early in the film when I looked at the time counter to see how deep we were into the film and I was shocked to find out that we were barely twenty minutes in and already the film had delivered a movie’s worth of charm and action. Toss in one of the best theme songs in the franchise (sung by Shirley Bassey), and GOLDFINGER is an unquestioned masterpiece.