Bond Revisited

Never Say Never Again (1983)
Unoffical Bond

Using an astounding array of weapons, Agent 007 (Sean Connery)has singlehandedly wiped out an army of Her Majesty's enemies. But when a lovely captive slips a knife into 007's ribs, the superspy's boss decides it's time his top agent sharpen his lethal edge. So James Bond is off to a health spa. However his "vacation" is cut short by Largo, a power-mad mastermind set on carrying out his plan for worldwide nuclear blackmail. On Largo's side, the murderous femme fatale Fatima Blush and vile SPECTRE chief Blofeld. But Bond does have an ally though, Largo's girlfriend, the willowy Domino (Kim Basinger), who falls for Bond...hilarity ensues.

Trivia: This film is a remake of Thunderball (1965), with some differences. Claudine Auger played "Domino" in the original movie, while Kim Basinger plays the character, now remained "Domino Patachi". Adolfo Celi, played "Emilio Largo" in the original, while Klaus Maria Brandauer played the character in this film, now renamed "Maximillian Largo". The villain Largo's yacht "Flying Saucer" was actually the yacht "Trump Princess" known as "Nabila" during filming. In Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, "Flying Saucer" translates as "Disco Volante" which is the name of the yacht in the original version of the story, Thunderball (1965). Barbara Carrera (Fatima Blush) did her love scenes with Sean Connery herself, declining the offer to use a body double.

The Characters:

• James Bond - Sean Connery returns for one last mission.
• Maximillian Largo - Klaus Maria Brandauer. Largo is a well known millionaire and philanthropist, who secretly works for the evil organization SPECTRE. Largo is "No. 1" and head of its extortion operations, under the organization's leader, Ernst Stavro Blofeld. It is mentioned that he was born in Bucharest, Romania, in 1945, making him 38 when the events of the film take place.
• Domino Petachi - Kim Basinger. Being a remake of Thunderball, Never Say Never Again featured similar Bond women, most of whom were modified in one form or another. The lead Bond girl of Never Say Never Again, Domino Petachi, like her Thunderball counterpart is mistress to the villainous Largo. Unlike her literary and Thunderball incarnations, it seems Domino is her real name. Domino's brother Jack was in the US Air Force, making him a ripe and convenient accomplice for SPECTRE to steal two nuclear warheads for them in a "bodacious" blackmailing scheme. When she found out the truth about Largo and promptly betrays him, he tried to sell her off (literally). In the end, she exacted her revenge.
• Fatima Blush - Barbara Carrera. Number 12 in the SPECTRE hierarchy, Fatima Blush is the equivalent of Fiona Volpe from Thunderball, and even more bloodthirsty and sadistic. Fatima enjoys killing and she is also obssessed with her sexual prowess, which ultimately lead to her undoing. When she had a chance to dispatch Bond, she first demanded that he put it down in writing that she was the best lover he's ever had, which brought Bond time and a reason to use his explosive pen.
• Lady In The Bahamas - Valerie Leon. Valerie Leon previously appeared in the official Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me as the Hotel Receptionist. Here, she portrayed an unamed woman in the Bahamas whom Bond met in passing. She later fished him out of the ocean after Fatima tried to feed him to the sharks. Later, she and Bond had their dalliance at her hotel room while Fatima unwittingly blew up Bond's.
• Nicole - Saskia Cohen Tanugi. AKA Agent 327, Nicole is Paula Caplan's equivalent in Never Say Never Again. Like Paula, Nicole ran afoul of Fatima/Fiona. In this case, she wasn't captured, but was brutally strangled by Fatima and stuffed into a waterbed.

Changes To The Bond Universe:

The film makes changes to the James Bond universe, and to the noticeably older character of 007 – having him drive his beloved Bentley from the novels, for example. There is a gritty realism to the entire environment and a recognition of the geopolitics of the early 1980s and the rising powers of the Middle East, driven by oil money.

MI6 is shown to be underfunded and understaffed, the new M (this is acknowledged) played by Edward Fox having little time for 007's methods and exploits, and taking an accountant's attitude (which would eventually be picked up in the official EON series with Judi Dench becoming another new M in GoldenEye). With regards to Q Branch, the character Q is referred to by the name "Algernon" and may also be a different individual than the Q in the official Bond series (where Q's first name is never revealed). His personality is also very different, as is his impoverished background environment; Algernon makes no bones about expecting "gratuitous sex and violence" from Bond, which the Q of the official series is very much against. James Bond does not have a wonder-car, either - rather a sprightly and mildly armed motorcycle that Q promises to send him if he can "get it to work" (of course he does).

Perhaps the most notable change is in the depiction of Felix Leiter, Bond's CIA friend and colleague, who is portrayed by an African-American actor for the first time (the 2006 version of Casino Royale will also feature a black Leiter). This film also appears to take place in an "alternate universe" in which none of the events of SPECTRE-involving films such as You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and Diamonds Are Forever (which followed the original Thunderball) have taken place, since Blofeld is active and apparently previously unknown to Bond and MI6 at this point, and of course the events chronicled in Thunderball proceed differently, and at a much later time than in the "official" universe. The film also makes a major departure from "official" continuity by ending with Bond indicating his intention to retire from MI6 (and settle down with his leading lady, for once). Sean Connery also breaks the fourth wall during this scene by winking at the camera (something George Lazenby previously did in On Her Majesty's Secret Service).[Source]

The Pretitle Sequence:

While not really a pretitle sequence (the titles are ran during the action, not after) the film opens with a middle-aged, yet still athletic James Bond making his way through an armed camp in order to rescue a girl who has been kidnapped. After killing the kidnappers, Bond lets his guard down, forgetting that the girl might have been subject to the Stockholm syndrome (in which a kidnapped person comes to identify with his/her kidnappers) and is stabbed to death by her. Or so it seems. In fact, the attack on the camp is nothing more than a field training exercise using blank ammunition and fake knives, and one Bond fails because he ends up "dead" (though, confusingly, a previous 'fake' mission saw his legs get blown off by a land mine). A new M is now in office, one who sees little use for the 00-section. In fact, Bond has spent most of his recent time teaching, rather than doing, a fact he points out with some resentment.

Well, after watching the other Bonds it does give you a little shock when you don't see the famous gun barrel opening or the marvelous title sequences that have defined tha series since Dr. No. But then there is Sean Connery. The man who defined the on screen secret agent turned in a very good performance as an aging agent who is struggling to keep up physically, but as soon as he gets into his mission he finds a strength. It just affirmed for me that while Roger Moore may have had good Bond elements, Sean Connery is STILL Bond.

Next Up: Octopussy.