Never Say Never Again

In 1965 producer Kevin McLory -who owns a part of the Bond cinematic rights- associate with EON Productions (Harry Saltzman and Albert Broccoli) for making "Thunderball", the fourth film of the 007 franchise. The star is Sean Connery, of course.

In 1982 McLory wins a legal battle and can produce an "independent" Bond film. "Never say never again" (NSNA) is one of the two "unofficial" 007 films made outside EON (the other is the 1967 comedy spoof "Casino Royale"). NSNA is a remake of "Thunderball" and stars the original Bond, Sean Connery -who comes back to the role after many years of absence.

The film is released some months after "Octopussy" with Roger Moore, the 13th episode of the EON series. At the time press calls it "War of the Bonds"... Both films are a big success in 1983, even if "Octopussy" earns more money at the box office.

NSNA is a luxurious film made by excellent technicians -director Irvin Kershner who led "The Empire strikes back", Douglas Slocombe -cinematographer of "Raiders of the lost Ark"-, and screenwriter Lorenzo Semple Jr -who wrote "The three days of the Condor"- among others...

The cast is excellent with Connery, a then relatively unknown Kim Basinger, Barbara Carrera, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Max Von Sydow, Edward Fox...

Although all that the film remains inferior to the original "Thunderball". It lacks many fundamental ingredients for being a real Bond movie: there's not the traditional gun barrel sequence, there's not the "James Bond theme", M and Q are not played by the traditional actors... It's a copyright reason: EON only is allowed to use these elements. Briefly, NSNA lacks the classic cinematic 007 atmosphere.

On the other hand the film is exciting and enjoyable. Brandauer is a very good villain and the women (Basinger and Carrera) are sensual and gorgeous. But the main highlight is Sean Connery! He's once again wonderful in the role, he's older but looks fitter and nicer here than in "Diamonds are forever", his last performance in the role of the British super-spy before NSNA.

"Connery is back" was the advertising posters for this James Bond film. Being released the same year as Octopussy starring Roger Moore, this one titled Never Say Never Again was clearly made outside Pinewood Studios and was never an official 007 film but a remake of Thunderball. Connery delivers a usually convincing performance as Bond but was looking older at 53, the film isn't always good. It's almost all-cast with lots of womanizing in evidence that makes him extremely seedy and neither does he raise much suspicion. The reason why Connery made this one was to stick the guns on Albert R Broccoli. As a result, Connery felt that Broccoli diid a very poor job with Diamonds Are Forever and why Broccoli choosed to leave out some of the important editing work is beyond. There are some plus points about Never Say Never Again particularly the Pat Roach scene and the topical seaside settings but on the other hand it's alrightish.

The year 1983 saw a strange phenomenon; two rival Bond films. "Octopussy", starring Roger Moore, was part of the official Cubby Broccoli Bond franchise. "Never Say Never Again", made by a rival producer, is, apart from the awful "Casino Royale", the only Bond movie which does not form part of that franchise. Its big attraction was that it brought back the original Bond, Sean Connery; its title reputedly derived from Connery's remark after "Diamonds Are Forever" that he would never again play the role. Some have complained that Connery was, at 53, too old for the role, but he was in fact three years younger than his successor Moore, who not only made "Octopussy" in the same year but went on to make one further Bond film, "A View to a Kill", two years later.

The film owes its existence to the settlement of a lawsuit about the film rights to Ian Fleming's work. It is perhaps unfortunate that the terms of the settlement included a clause that the new film had to be a remake of "Thunderball", as that was perhaps not the greatest of the Connery Bonds. (A remake of "Dr No" or "Goldfinger" might have worked better). The plot is much the same as that of the earlier film; the terrorist organisation SPECTRE, acting together with a megalomaniac tycoon named Largo, have stolen two American nuclear warheads and are attempting to hold the world's governments to ransom by threatening to detonate them unless they receive a vast sum of money. It falls to Bond, of course, to save the world by tracking down the missing missiles.

The film is fortunate in that it has not just one but two of the most beautiful Bond girls of all, Barbara Carrera as the seductive but lethal Fatima Blush and Kim Basinger as Largo's girlfriend Domino who defects to Bond's side after learning of her lover's evil plans. A number of the Bond films have a plot that hangs upon the hero's ability to win over the villain's mistress or female accomplice- there are similar developments, for example, in "Goldfinger", "Live and Let Die" and "The Living Daylights". In the official series, Bond's ally is normally regarded as the female lead, but here Carrera, playing the villainess, is billed above Basinger, who was a relatively unknown actress at the time. Basinger, of course, has gone on to become one of Hollywood's biggest stars, whereas Carrera is one of a number of Bond girls who have somewhat faded from view.

Of the villains, Max von Sydow makes an effective Blofeld, the head of SPECTRE, but Klaus Maria Brandauer seemed too bland and nonthreatening as Largo, except perhaps during the "Domination" game, a more sophisticated variant on those violent computer games such as "Space Invaders" that were so popular in the early eighties. Brandauer can be an excellent actor in his native German, in films such as "Mephisto" and "Oberst Redl", but he does not comes across so expressively in English.

One of the film's features is that it both follows the normal Bond formula and, at times, departs from it. There is the standard world-in-peril plot, chase sequences, a series of exotic locations, glamorous women, sinister villains and a specially written theme song based on the film's title. There is, however, no extended pre-credits sequence, and we see some familiar characters in a new light. For example, Bond's boss M becomes a languid, supercilious aristocrat, his American colleague Felix Leiter is shown as black for the only time, and the scientist Q is portrayed by Alec McCowen as a disillusioned cynic with (despite his characteristically upper-class Christian name of Algernon) a distinctly working-class accent. There is also an amusing cameo from Rowan Atkinson as a bumbling British diplomat. Although Connery was perhaps not quite a good here as he was in some of his earlier films in the role, this ringing the changes on the familiar theme makes this one of the more memorable Bonds. 7/10

A goof. Rowan Atkinson's character states that he is from the British Embassy in Nassau. As, however, the Bahamas is a Commonwealth country, Britain would have a High Commission in its capital, not an Embassy.

Never Say Never Again got its title because Sean Connery had said in the 1970s (shortly after Diamonds Are Forever) that he would "never" do another Bond film. However, in 1983 he was persuaded to return to the role for a one-off special, a remake of his fourth entry Thunderball, and his wife rather humorously said to him that in the future he should make a point never to say never again. This film actually came out close to a Roger Moore entry in the series (Octopussy), and although Connery had more admirers as 007 than Moore, it was surprisingly Octopussy that scored a bigger box office hit.

Connery's Bond is older and more vulnerable than we remember him. His boss, M, doesn't hold him in very high regard and actually suggests that he take some time off in a plush health spa. During his time here, Bond uncovers a strange plot and the further he delves into the mystery the more he discovers. It seems that his old adversaries SPECTRE, fronted by the nefarious Blofeld (Max Von Sydow) have stolen two nuclear warheads which they will detonate if they are not paid an extortionate ransom. Chief overseer of this hideous plan is Emile Largo (Klaus Maria Brandeur), and Bond pursues Largo around the globe in an attempt to stop him, visiting such places as Monte Carlo and North Africa during the course of the mission.

The music by Michel Legrand is poor by series standards. It sounds rather similar to his music for the sleazy 1981 movie Your Ticket Is No Longer Valid, and is really ill-suited to this Bond production. However, in terms of villains, they've come with a couple of great ones for this film. Largo, as personified by Brandeur, is smooth but deadly, and hench-woman Fatima Blush (Barbara Carrera) is uncommonly disturbing. Rowan Atkinson also has a fairly good role as a dim-witted agent assigned to "help" Bond. The big action sequences are quite good, especially the horse chase around the North African sea-fortress and the motorbike chase, although some of the underwater moments are tough to understand because it's hard to figure out who is who behind the diving masks.

The final installment in Connery/Bond series finds 007 on a mission to thwart Spectre which has threatened to blow up cities if a ransom is not paid . James Bond (Sean Connery who shows his face clean-shaven and wearing a variety of grey and brown wigs) matches wits with a nasty , good-looking tycoon , Largo (Klaus Maria Brandauer) , who is holding the world nuclear hostage as part of a diabolical plan schemed by Espectre led by a sinister leader (Max Von Sydow) . As Emilio Largo , is a ruthless and flamboyant enforcer who has hatched a scheme against the North Atlantic Treaty powers . British send his "00" agent , James Bond , to recover the warheads before SPECTRE carries out its threat to detonate the devices on the UK and US mainlands . As the world is held hostage by the threat of a nuclear nightmare , Bond jumps into action , racing against the clock as the trail leads him to tropical Nassau . Later on , Bond facing off heavies and bedding a lot of pink and dust beauties (Barbara Carrera as Fatima Blush , Kim Basinger as Domino , Valerie Leon , among others) . Will 007 prevent the killing of millions of innocent victims?

Connery returns to the world of Bond after 12 years , it results to be smooth in this peculiar remake of ¨Thunderball¨(1965) by Terence Young with Claudine Auger , Adolfo Celi , Luciana Paluzzi . The noisy action is staged with all the mechanical efficiency of the classic Bond pictures with a bit more bite . After Diamonds are forever (1971) Sean told her he'd never play James Bond again, there he was, playing James Bond again , her response was for him to "never say never again" ; however , for a big salary he accepted this film . Although Connery is back to recover two nuclear warheads stolen , purists will have qualms deeming this part of the official Bond series since longtime producers Albert ¨Cubby¨ Broccoli , Harry Saltzman , had nothing to do with this endeavor . This Bond film was not part of the franchise produced by these producers , but here Kevin McClory who was producer and co-writer of Thunderball (1965), won a legal battle against Ian Fleming to make his own Bond movie , the settlement stipulated that it had to effectively be a remake of Thunderball . Here James Bond/Connery bedding a variety of wonderful women , the bond girls are the followings : Kim Basinger as the beautiful heroine , Barbara Carrera is excellently cast as the nasty villainess and the Hammer-girl Valerie Leon . Bond/Connery is given hot competition in the acting department by Klaus Maria Brandauer who makes ¨Largo¨ a stunning , memorable smiling psychotic baddie from Sprectra criminal organization , replacing prior Adolfo Celi . Being Final James Bond film to feature Spectre until recent film Spectre (2015) . Support cast is frankly magnificent as Bernie Casey , Alec McCowen , charming Pamela Salem as Miss Moneypenny , Rowan Atkinson as Embassy official , Edward Fox , Gavan O'Herlihy , Ronald Pickup and brief acting by the busty Bond girl Valerie Leon as Lady in Bahamas .

Colorful cinematography by Douglas Slocombe shot on several locations in Côte d'Azur, Antibes, Beaulieu-Sur-Mer, Alpes-Maritimes,France , Malta Nassau, New Providence Island, Bahamas , La Alcazaba , Almería, El Ejido, Almería, Andalucia, Spain . However , this ¨Never say never again¨ is hampered by an atrocious soundtrack by Michael Legrand . The motion picture was professionally directed by Irwin Kershener , but with no originality . The main theme that runs through many of his films is social alienation and human weaknesses - although his biggest commercial success was the science fiction blockbuster ¨Star Wars: Episodio V Empire strikes again¨ and made decent sequels as ¨Return a man called horse¨and ¨Robocop II¨. This is an acceptable and passable Bond movie but inferior to other entries . This monarch of mayhem and luxury strides easily back into his kingdom .