For Your Eyes Only (1981) [edit]

The number of Italian and Greek locations involved in the film (the Italian Alps, for instance, and the Meteora Mountains are just breathtaking), the entirety of the car chase, ski chase, mountain ascent, and the boat sinking in the Albanian sea (containing the electronics involved in maintaining secret British spy operations, containing the ATAC device (which if acquired by rival countries could use England’s own bombs against them), of interest to Kristatos because of the ATAC device’s value to Russia, are all just dazzling. I think getting back to the basics was just the right idea. I mean how the little yellow Citroën 2CV takes a licking and keeps on ticking as Bond and Melina (Carole Bouquet) must push through narrow village roads and through treacherous wilderness brought me such bliss…that poor car was mangled and smashed by the end of the sequence. And when Columbo and Bond pursue Locque (Michael Gothard) on the docks with gunmen firing and subsequent explosion, ending with a car dangling over a cliff as Bond makes sure Locque doesn’t get away this time gives us the KABOOM and satisfying death of a real scumbag (who used a dune buggy to wallop a fake Contessa helping out Columbo on a beach). The mountain climbing sequence, of course, is quite the final setpiece, giving us a gulp in the throat, especially when one of Kristatos’ men tries to free the hooks and kicks Bond down from the top of the mountain with the monastery, himself eventually hurled off to his doom. Yeah, I could see why little Lynn-Holly Johnson all close and personal with the much older Bond might be more than a bit creepy, but it is directed in a way where Moore’s unease with this flirty young woman sets off a lighthearted tone that offsets what could have been a rather cringy sex scene…but, if we are honest, Moore was getting up there by the time he was Bond in the 80s, so the young Bond women associated with him often left us maybe a bit uncomfortable. Unless you aren’t critical of age gaps, that is.

Erich Kriegler, a champion shooter can't quit hit evasive Bond

Meteora Mountain, where Kristatos has the ATAC device. A monastery is the clever hiding place on a mountain Bond must ascend

Fighting it out for the ATAC device, Bond eventually attaches a bond to the diving bell

Charles Dance in an early role as a henchman, next to Locque

Cassandra Harris as a lover for Bond almost shows her breasts

Margaret Thatcher made an appearance. Haha.

Columbo, the "Dove", a dealer in many things, joining forces with Bond

Bobsled sequence, featuring Bond on skis evading gunmen on motorbikes

the ski sequence has always been a favorite of mine since childhood

God, I loved this car!

Bibi Dahl just crushes hard for Bond

Moscow always depending on him to give them key info about their rivals

The Citroen 2CV, the little yellow car that could, pursued by assassin Hector's henchman throughout narrow Madrid

Kristatos (Julian Glover), the villain of the film

the parrot, comedy relief, of Melina's murdered father

I can only imagine how jarring “For Your Eyes Only” (1981) must have been after “Moonraker”. This film isn’t a “gadget” Bond movie. It was far more a “stunt” movie in the Bond tradition, but Moore still gets to relay comic expressiveness (see when Bibi Dahl (Baby Doll, heh.) goes to bed Bond and lays quite a kiss on him) as in the past, with some quips still available so that we don’t forget that even if this particular 007 film tries to relinquish a lot of the silliness in favor of getting back to the bare essentials it is still his series at this point. “Octopussy” (1983) has definitely rose in the ranks of Bond films for many fans over the years and I can see why. My own reassessment of “Octopussy” has changed over the past two viewings, but Saturday night’s “For Your Eyes Only” watch just reaffirms my love for it because it gives us nice European locations which I always appreciate (these films are travelogues for many of us who will never get to visit them in our own lives, so there is certainly envy and visually arresting  scenic beauty in spades) and enough action sequences to exhilarate and thrill.

Topol as Columbo has to be mentioned as quite a fun addition to the cast. He’s the blustery, charismatic criminal dealer in goods who cleverly avoids prosecution and aligns with Bond because Kristatos frames him as the one responsible for the murder of Melina’s parents (her father using an underwater temple dive as a cover to help locate the British spy ship “grounded” by the Albanian water mines they encounter, eventually flooding their compartments). Kristatos sees Bibi Dahl as a Winter Olympics meal ticket (and he also lusts for her) with German instructor Jacoba Brink (Jill Bennett) assigned to keep her training at a high level. He also sees receiving quite a payment for the ATAC device. When Bond and Melina later retrieve the ATAC despite efforts from Kristatos (the diving bell with steel claws and the underwater manned mini-sub clawing at Melina and Bond’s “Neptune” provide obstacles) to leave them on the bottom of the ocean, and they are tied together and dragged (with Bond cut so that his blood will attract sharks; because a Bond film just has to have sharks) by a speeding boat is yet another impressive action setpiece. I am always a bit surprised when I read that there were plenty critical of “For Your Eyes Only”…perhaps they wanted the continuation of heavy emphasis on gadgets, extravagant heavies, and comedy. I certainly was never bored as many of the critics of the time seemed to be. To each their own, I guess. 4/5