The James Bond Bedside Companion (82 page)

Holy's partner in crime is Tamil Rahani, the new leader of SPECTRE and the major antagonist of NOBODY LIVES FOREVER. Rahani is part American, part Lebanese, and is the principal shareholder/chairman of Rahani Electronics, based in New York. He is sleek, well-dressed, needle-sharp, and confident Bond notes that Rahani has perfect teeth—white and regular, below a neatly trimmed mustache. How Rahani inherited the SPECTRE throne from the Blofelds a few years before is never really explained. Unfortunately, Rahani's roles in both novels are brief, and we are unable to fully grasp the character.

NO DEALS, MR. BOND presents General Konstantin Nikolaevich Chernov, Chief Investigating Officer of Department 8 of Directorate S, K.G.B. Code name: Blackfriar. The new leader of what was once called SMERSH is a stereotypical Russian fanatic whose primary function is to keep the Cold War alive. Chernov is over six feet tall, slim, and has tanned, good-looking features. His hair is thick, graying at the temples, and unusually long for a member of the Russian Service. But the man keeps it well groomed and distinguished by the wings that almost cover his ears.

The title character of SCORPIUS is one Vladimir Scorpius, long-wanted international supplier of illegal arms and explosives to radical groups. Scorpius has been masquerading for two years as Father Valentine, the leader of a bizarre religious cult formed in England. He is short and has Italianate good looks with a patrician nose. He is supposedly a Svengali-like, charis
matic man who is able to exert his willpower onto less intelligent, weaker, and therefore more susceptible people. But instead, the man seems to be just another Doctor No. Although results of his hypnotic abilities are demonstrated by monstrously horrible and violent events scattered throughout the novel, the reader never witnesses a scene in which Scorpius actually does his thing on a cult member. Vladimir Scorpius might have been more timely, topical, and ultimately more successful as a hellfire American TV evangelist, a type of personality that in reality is becoming more and more powerful and ultimately more frightening.

One does miss the occasional appearance of Felix Leiter, for there is no character who fulfills Bond's need for male friendship—an element of the agent's makeup which was strongly felt in Fleming's books. But many other regulars are still around. M, who hasn't changed a bit and is still as crotchety as ever, has little impact on any of the Gardner novels until SCORPIUS. Here, M is one of the better characters in the book, as the size of his role in the story is quite large. There is a wonderful, dramatic bit as Bond and his chief watch Lord Mills' assassination on television. M, usually one who contains his emotions, finally turns to Bond and says, "Get them, James!" He speaks through "clenched teeth." "Just get them. Kill them, wipe them off the face of the earth if you have to, though I'll deny ever saying that to you if it happens. Go out and find the devils."

HIGHLIGHTS AND OTHER INGREDIENTS

T
he John Gardner Bond novels read like movie treatments. The plots are fast-paced and contain plenty of action and there is minimal attention paid to character or thematic development ROLE OF HONOR features an especially explosive sequence at a terrorist training camp called "Erewhon," where SPECTRE recruits its assassins. Bond has the opportunity to show his prowess against four hit men during an "exercise" in which the four men stalk the agent inside a gutted building.

A hair-raising highway gun battle in the first half of NOBODY LIVES FOREVER is quite exciting. Bond, Sukie Tempesta, and Nannie Nonich are attacked by hoods in a Renault while driving through Austria. Using Glaser Slugs, prefragmented bullets containing No. 12 shot suspended in Teflon, 007 manages to make a "growing crimson ball" out of the Renault before it crashes into the beloved Bentley.

The best scene in NO DEALS, MR. BOND is yet another shoot-out, this time in an ancient castle in Ireland from where Bond, Ebbie Heritage, Heather Dare, and Maxim Smolin make an escape. Agent 007 must grapple with ferocious Doberman Pinschers while covering Smotin—and Bond damn near loses his life.

SCORPIUS is gripping and suspenseful for the entire first two-thirds of the book, thanks to a cleverly structured chain of events involving Bond's investigation of a situation which rapidly escalates into chaos around him. Agent 007 is shuttled all over London and its environs in what is unusual for a Bond novel—police
investigation work, which happens to be surprisingly involving. There are several violent, exciting, and un
expected action sequences throughout this bulk of the book, and not until 007 arrives at Scorpius' Doctor No-like headquarters in South Carolina does the novel begin to falter.

Gardner is always finding interesting gadgets for his hero. Besides the new ASP and the aforementioned baton, Bond makes use of a
Q
Branch toolkit containing small explosive charges and their electronic connectors, the latest advance in what at one time were known as "harmonica bugs"—tiny surveillance devices which can be hidden in normal telephones; an oilskin pouch containing various sundries such as a flare and a grenade; a belt which can conceal a number of devices; and an ingenious overnight briefcase with a secret compartment for hiding a gun, explosives, a knifelike tool, and a first-aid kit.

As mentioned earlier in this book, the John Gardner Bond novels make no pretensions to being any more than escapist reading. And even though Ian Fleming's books are now considered classic spy
literature
,
Fleming always said that they were meant for "warm-blooded heterosexuals in railway trains, airplanes or beds." John Gardner is certainly capable of writing novels of higher literary content—his recent THE SECRET GENERATIONS is one such example. Critics of the author's Bond novels fail to grasp that they, like their predecessors, only aim at providing a few hours of entertainment. And that they do.

PRODUCTION

R
oger Moore's swan song as James Bond opened in
May of 1985 and was an immediate hit.
A View to a
Kill
is a fun-filled, action-oriented Bond film, more like
Octopussy
than, say,
For Your Eyes Only
, which took itself a little more seriously.
A View to a Kill
has a good story, but once again comic sequences infringe upon any attempt to create genuine suspense. The film's utmost problem is the miscasting of Roger Moore as Bond. To be frank, the dapper actor's age finally gets in the way of what had been a successful cinematic deceit—creating a credible character able to execute the various action sequences we see performed by stuntmen on the screen. But if the audience can get past this liability,
A View to a Kill
manages to be entertaining, thanks to an intriguing plot, exciting stunts, and a good supporting cast.

The film cost approximately $30 million to make, and to date it has grossed $65,636,000 in worldwide rentals (according to
Variety
). It was shot in various locations, including Iceland, Paris, San Francisco, and, of course, Pinewood Studios.

SCREENPLAY

Y
ou will recall that
A View to a Kill
is from an Ian Fleming short story called "From a View to a Kill," which appeared in the FOR YOUR EYES ONLY collection. Why the title was shortened is a mystery; the original certainly makes more sense. But that is hardly an issue, since none of the film remotely resembles the contents of the short story.

For the film, Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson (now also serving as coproducer with Albert R. Broccoli) created an unusual and clever plot for Bond. In the pre-credits sequence, James Bond is in Siberia, frantically searching for the dead body of 003 in the frozen tundra. Bond finally finds the body and retrieves a microchip which was smuggled out of a Russian factory. Bond brings the chip back to England and it is revealed to be an exact duplicate of one that is currently under development at a British microchip production center. The problem is that the microchip is impervious to the effects of a radioactive blast. Normally, in the case of a nuclear explosion, most electromagnetic equipment, including computers, would break down due to the magnetic pulse generated by the blast.

It is quickly determined that the microchip copy is the product of Zorin Industries, the brainchild of one Max Zorin (Christopher Walken), an East German defector who is now based in France. Zorin is a wealthy, brilliant, stylish, shrewd, but ultimately insane young businessman who not only made a fortune in oil, gas, and electronics, but also by breeding and selling prize horses. The man is a staunch anti-Communist and is well-respected by the French government. Agent 007's assignment is to discreetly investigate Zorin and find out what he's up to.

Of course, Zorin's microchip production is only the tip of the iceberg. The madman's master plan, Project Main Strike, is to wipe out his main competition in the microchip industry, thereby providing him with a complete monopoly. He means to do this by setting off a bomb strategically placed in an abandoned mine shaft beneath Silicon Valley, in California. The explosion would cause earthquakes along the San Andreas and Hayward faults, flooding and washing away the entire area.

It's a good plot, although one wonders why the British would become so heavily involved in a situation which has little to do with England.

The script contains several set-piece action sequences around which the plot was built. And although the stunts and second-unit material are immaculately well-done, much of it is superfluous to the story. There is certainly one too many car chase (the fire engine/ police squad sequence in San Francisco, which is more akin to a Keystone Cops comedy than a Bond film), and once again, much of the action is played for laughs.

An interesting subplot involves Zorin and his horses. In a scene at the Ascot racetrack in England (suspiciously similar to a sequence in John Gardner's first Bond novel, LICENSE RENEWED), Max Zorin's horse Pegasus, an underdog, wins the race. It turns out that the horse has a surgical implant in its leg—a hypodermic which releases steroids when triggered by a microchip. Zorin activates the microchip by waiting until the precise moment during the race and pushing a button in his walking cane. An electronic transmitter contained in the cane signals the microchip to do its work. This is a scheme worthy of Ian Fleming.

DIRECTION

J
ohn Glen is at the helm for the third time and does his usual slick job. But, as in
Octopussy
, the balance between humor and suspense is uneven. Whether it's the director's decision or not, the inclusion of a gag at a crucial point in the story of a Bond picture is not always in the best interest of the film.

The most blatant example of this unfortunate tendency occurs in the pre-credits sequence. James Bond
has just found 003 and the microchip, and is suddenly spotted by the Russian search team. Death-defying stunts ensue as Bond skis away from his pursuers, and we are treated to a wonderful snow scene (they're becoming obligatory). John Barry's music is exciting and rigorous, initiating edge-of-the-seat tension as Bond zigzags through gunfire and executes breathtaking jumps and leaps. The action builds until the scene promises to be one of the best pre-credits sequences in the series. But then the filmmakers blow it with a horrendously out-of-place musical joke. Bond has been knocked off a snow sled by an explosion. All that is left of the sled is a runner the size of a small surfboard. Agent 007 leaps onto the board, skis down a slope, and "surfs" across a small lake. The Russian pursuers attempt to do the same thing on skis, but naturally, they sink right into the water. It's a terrific topper of a stunt. Unfortunately, the musical soundtrack, which was so good up to this point, abruptly begins a rendition of the Beach Boys' "California Girls." Frankly, this alleged "joke" ruins the entire pre-credits scene. All of the excitement and tension created up to that moment is completely lost to burlesque, and the film almost never recovers.

Other action sequences do manage to refrain from jokey juvenility. The Eiffel Tower sequence, in which Bond chases Zorin's assistant and bodyguard/assassin, May Day (Grace Jones), is quite good. May Day has just killed 007's contact in Paris, then escapes to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Then she dives spectacularly into mid-air. A parachute sprouts and carries her to safety. (The jump was actually made by stuntman B. J. Worth.) The photography, the editing, the pacing, the music, and the general feeling of the chase is all in keeping with a Bondian atmosphere.

Another good scene, and possibly the most exciting portion of the film, is the climactic battle on the Golden Gate Bridge at the end of the movie. Bond has managed to tie a mooring line attached to Zorin's magnificent airship to the bridge, halting its escape. Zorin, wielding a hatchet, bravely climbs out of the airship onto the bridge to confront the British agent. The pair slug it out while precariously perched on a narrow ledge. Editor Peter Davies deserves special mention here in successfully blending the shots of stuntmen with those of Roger Moore and Christopher Walken.

ACTORS AND CHARACTERS

R
oger Moore, in his last Bond film, is unfortunately
miscast. He
is
simply too old to play the British agent
with any credibility. This isn't the actor's fault; reportedly he had threatened to leave the series after each film since
Moonraker,
but the producers managed to woo him back. As mentioned earlier, it is impossible to believe that the man we see in close-ups is the same person performing the dangerous feats in the story. Even the actor's make-up is poorly executed—his eyeliner is so overdone that it serves only to accentuate the wrinkles.