Never Say Never Again (1983)

I love this movie so much

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

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 .

As a only a casual Bond fan I wasn't put off by the word "remake" because, after all, aren't all Bonds a form of remake? Certainly up to this point in time anyway! Connery has got himself down the gym for this one, but looks every one of his fifty plus years and then some. Thankfully the stuntmen do most of the work meaning a lot of the time he is wearing a helmet, headscarf, wet-suit or photographed from an obscure angle. Can always tell though - the stunt-man's hair moves while Connery's doesn't.(It is said that the original script included a scene where Bond puts the toupee on!) Listen you know the score or you are very young indeed. Man wants to take over the world, the sexy girl (or two) comes along before they face the ticking bomb. Kim Bassinger looks fabulous with a fantastic figure, but what shocking dancer! Gets her in to a leotard (and I am not complaining), but what a baby elephant.Can't even do a 360 turn! As per usual she looks vaguely disinterested in anything and everything - but there was an Oscar in it down the road so keep going darling! The logic of Bond is that he is sometimes very smart (knows how to operate secret equipment with no training!) and other times very stupid. Gets captured very easily, indeed doesn't seem to mind too much when he does. Usually there is a nice meal in it for him.Baddie No.1 Klaus Maria Brandauer isn't too shabby and plays the psychopathy quite well. Practicing for a better movie with a smaller paycheck maybe? Barbara Carrera is actually quite good, an assassin with bad taste in fashion, but a nice looking girl who looks like she can do mean. Even though Bond never cares who gets killed - as long as it is not him - so why is she bothering? Box office wise didn't do as well as the other "official" Bond of the day (Octopussy) and you can see why. Still, good enough for Sunday afternoon. As long as it is raining and there doesn't seem a break in sight...

Sean Connery returns as James Bond, in a movie remake of Thunderball. Here, mad man Maximilian Largo steals two American nuclear warheads and demands millions of dollars in ransom from the world leaders. As a result, MI6 reactivates their "00" agents and James Bond comes out of retirement to carry on the mission.Armed with secret weapons and an armor of one-liners, Connery still shines once again as the suave 007, though, he does look rather emotionless and mellow portraying his character at times. There is lesser action in this movie than in previous Bond films, but some of the the thrills are still a little entertaining, especially the part where Bond attempts to dispatch the femme fatale Fatima Blush (Barbara Carrera).Sorely missing is John Berry's iconic James Bond theme and score, and what we have instead is a very 80s-sounding soundtrack from Michel Legrand. The acting was just OK for the most part - Connery had some good chemistry with the Bond Girls, but much of the other cast members were forgettable. Max von Sydow gave a mediocre performance as Blofeld, Edward Fox gave a very overzealous and pompous portrayal of M and Rowan Atkinson gave a rather unfunny role as Small-Fawcett. Klaus Maria Brandauer gave a convincing villain in Maximilian Largo - slimy and sly, making you want to punch him in the face.The film its adventurous moments, but, it's not one of the best Bond movies out there - it's more like a stand alone action flick.Grade C+

Never Say Never Again (1983)Plot In A Paragraph: A SPECTRE agent has stolen two American nuclear warheads, and A long retired James Bond (Connery) is brought back and must find their targets before they are detonated.It was The Battle Of The Bond's in 1983 a returning Connery had this movie, whilst Roger Moore starred in Octopussy. My second favourite Bond movie of the 80's (Behind Licence To Kill) I think this is better than anything Roger Moore turned out that decade, and its superior to Thunderball which it is a loose remake of.It's not without its faults, it has some ropey effects, its theme song is OK, but not up to the usual high standard of songs. And It's a bit daft how Kim Basinger's Domino trust Bond straight away, he touched her up in health club, he introduced himself and they had a chat at the bar (within a 24 hour period) and that's it. She immediately cares about him, and believes everything he tells her over her long term partner.12 years after his last outing as Bond, it's a welcome return for Connery. As much as he'd hate to admit it, he is right at home in the role. It's the the first time he had been clean shaven since 1971, and it would mark the last time he would appear on screen clean shaven too. It has a good amount of tension and the perfect amount of humour too. Most of the supporting cast nails it too Klaus Maria Brandauer makes an a compelling villain (much better than the full guy with an eye patch in Thunderball) Max Von Sydow is in full pantomime villain mode as Blofeld, Kim Basinger looks great and is OK as Domino and Barbara Carrera is a lot of fun too. Bernie Casey is fine as Felix Leiter and Roman Atkinson has a small role too. Edward Fox is awful as M though. I don't know what was going on there.In the end Never Say Never Again lost The Battle Of The Bond's (Octopussy grossed $12 million more) but It gave Connery a much needed boost at the box office. grossing $9.72 million on its first weekend, which was reported to be the best opening record of any James Bond up to that point and surpassing Roger Moore's Octopussy's $8.9 million from June that year. It ended up grossing $55 million at the domestic box office (which was a solid return on a budget of $36 million) to end the year the 14th highest grossing movie of 1983. Connery would not star in another movie for three years. When he did return, it was mostly older, wiser mentor roles from then on. So as a goodbye to the leading man, sex symbol, action man Connery (excluding The Rock) this was a good way to bow out.