On ne vit que deux fois

An American spacecraft in outer space has been swallowed up by an unidentified flying object. The Americans blame the Soviets. The Soviets deny the allegation. In the meantime, "James Bond" (Sean Connery) is set up by an attractive Chinese woman named "Ling" (Tsai Chin) and is murdered. Or at least that's what MI5 wants the world to think. From the information they have been able to gather the unidentified flying object has touched down somewhere near Japan and that is where James Bond is sent to investigate. But he only has a short time because the Americans are planning on launching another rocket and have warned the Soviets that they will declare war if anything happens to this one. At any rate, rather than go into great detail on what happens next and risk spoiling the film for those who haven't seen it, I will just say that this film probably doesn't receive as much attention as some of the others in the James Bond series. Personally, I enjoyed the location, the music and the way Mie Hama ("Kissy") looked in her white swimsuit. Be that as it may, while it may not be the best James Bond film ever produced, it manages to entertain fairly well and I have rated it accordingly.

Solid entry in the James Bond saga – Sean Connery's fifth appearance as the secret agent in a row (his last, in fact, until DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER [1971] and, eventually, the non-series entry NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN [1983]) – featuring a lovely title tune by John Barry and Leslie Bricusse sung by Nancy Sinatra.

The relocation to Japan for the main action (resulting in impeccable photography courtesy of the renowned Freddie Young, who also contributes an inspired aerial shot of our hero at the center of a rooftop chase/struggle) adds much-needed novelty in the exotic department – though characters tend to be less well developed as a consequence. Tetsuro Tamba is imposing enough as his 'sidekick', but the all-important Bond girls have no distinguishing features – save for Karin Dor, a typical femme-fatale-ish villainess who manages to trap Bond in an unpiloted plane. Similar expansiveness was shown in Ken Adam's elaborate design of Ernst Stavro Blofeld's headquarters, hidden within the crater of a Japanese volcano; other attention-grabbing devices include Bond being 'killed' in the prologue (thus explaining the title), while he's later given an Oriental 'countenance' and even made to 'marry' a Japanese girl (an irrelevant undercover attempt, as it happens – since there is very little interaction between Bond, his local allies and the enemy before the final confrontation in the volcano interior)!

Its plot involving the abduction of space shuttles belonging to the U.S. and Russia, in the hope of provoking a war between the major powers, again plays on the fears of nuclear annihilation palpable during the Cold War era. Incidentally, this is the first time Blofeld himself steps in as chief villain (played with appropriate menace by Donald Pleasence – with a handy piranha-filled stream underneath a sliding bridge to replace the pool-sharks from the previous installment, THUNDERBALL [1965]). By the way, Charles Gray (Blofeld in DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER) appears in a bit here as Bond's ill-fated contact in Japan! The most prominent gadget invented by Q (the ubiquitous Desmond Llewellyn) in this case is an artillery-equipped mini-chopper – employed in a sequence whose filming unfortunately cost an aerial photographer his leg!; there's also a memorably violent brawl which has Bond and his opponent lashing at each other with heavy living-room couches!

The show, then, is climaxed by one of the most spectacular action bouts in the entire saga – for which Bond recruits Tamba's ninjas to fight the minions of SPECTRE; Blofeld, of course, is allowed to go free this time around…since he'd be involved in at least three subsequent direct matches with 007. Given that director Gilbert lived up to the challenge of ably following in the footsteps of Terence Young and Guy Hamilton, it was only natural he'd be asked to helm further Bond adventures – though, by the time THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (1977) and MOONRAKER (1979) came along, Roger Moore had firmly established himself in the role.

YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE is, without a doubt, my favorite 007 film with Sean Connery in the lead role. I know that alone is enough for some to immediately disregard my views on the franchise, but I can't help it. Maybe it's because I was younger when I first saw it and the goofier elements appealed to me, but this movie is a guilty pleasure that I proudly embrace. The movie was produced at a time when Sean Connery was growing tired of the role and the world was still in the midst of a massive 007 frenzy. The four previous movies had become box office gold, and this gave the filmmakers and studio the confidence to throw even more insanity into the mix. There's a good deal of WTF in the fifth Bond movie but it's still a fun adventure with my favorite secret agent. In YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, the entire world is on edge when an American space capsule goes missing while in orbit. The Americans immediately assume the Russians were responsible. Soon, a Russian space capsule disappears and the Americans are blamed. The British, the only rational minded nation in the movie, decide to actually investigate the events and place their most effective man on the mission: James Bond. The search for answers begins in Japan where Bond finds a connection between the missing space capsules and a Japanese chemical corporation. After faking his death to get his enemies off his trail, Bond explodes onto a mission that will bring him face- to-face with the man behind the space capsule thefts and, in fact, the mastermind behind most of his previous missions.

The fifth 007 movie is where the series started to go off the rails. With each adventure, the James Bond franchise was put in a position of out-doing themselves with each successive film. Or, at least, that's what they appear to have believed. In YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, the action is amped up to all new levels when Bond joins forces with the Japanese secret service and, since this is a 007 adventure in Japan at a time when cultural stereotypes were still a fad, ninjas! YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE has Bond immersing himself in Japanese culture to fade into the background as he quietly moves from one clue to the next in locating the missing space capsules and their astronauts. This involves a bit of ninja training in a ninja school and an operation to help Bond appear more Japanese which involves shaving his chest hair, pinning his eyes back, and giving him a wig. In retrospect, I'm pretty sure the whole thing comes across as a tad racist but it's absurd in its execution. The ninjas join 007 in a massive final battle in the most iconic of super-villain lairs: a hollowed-out volcano. The production design on the villain lair here is some of the best. You can tell the Bond movies where raking in some nice box office totals because the producers went all out for the finale. The volcano lair looks great and serves as a perfect setting for dozens ninjas to repel down from the ceiling for battle while the villain's color-coded henchmen rain gunfire down on them. There's one thing you definitely can't deny about this movie: it's ambitious.

But THUNDERBALL had a jetpack! How do you beat a jetpack? With a militarized gyrocopter, of course. Little Nellie is probably the most memorable aspect of the movie for me. Looking back on YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, it's the first thing that comes to mind. The 007 theme kicking in as Bond engages in battle over a volcano with four full-sized helicopters from the tiny cockpit of Little Nellie, and schooling them with his over-zealous array of weapons, ranging from flamethrowers to heat-seeking missiles. Did I mention this movie was sort of over-the-top? It's just so much fun though, and that's what I love about it. Sure, the first two movies were bona fide spy films and GOLDFINGER was iconic…but this remains my favorite Connery/Bond film for just how out-there it gets. As an added bonus, this movie features what I believe to be the greatest on-screen depiction of 007's original nemesis: Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Blofeld, seen for the first time without obstruction, is portrayed by Donald Pleasence and it's the most recognizable version of the character in the series. Blofeld would go on to be played by other actors in later films (including Charles Gray, who plays MI6 operative/007 contact Henderson in this film) but it's Pleasence's calm demeanor, scarred visage, and pet cat that would be forever remembered and eventually parodied in the form of Mike Myers' Dr. Evil.

My love for YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE probably isn't the popular opinion, but for anyone who dares claim it was the worst of the Connery films, I have three words for you: DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER. Regardless, I love it. The Japanese culture (and the ninjas), the epic volcano battle, the humor, and Sean Connery pretending to fly a tiny gyrocopter against a projected screen… it all comes together for the most fun of all Connery's adventures as secret agent 007.

My Take: Another fun Bond entry. Great Bond, fun villains, neat gadgets, and enjoyable action.

"You Only Live Twice" is business as usual for Bond. Not much new, and Connery seemed bored playing his role (explaining his disappearance in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service"). There is a lot to like in this film. Connery in "You Only Live Twice" is easily comparable to FROM Russia WITH LOVE and GOLDFINGER, but as Bond, he already has established that he is the best in the business and YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE does give him much to do.

This film does carry the original tradition of Bond. This time around, Bond is sent to Japan to investigate the disappearances of American space shuttles. While the United States suspect it's Russian interference and threaten to retaliate, the Brits faked 007's assassination, in order to clear the way for Bond to investigate what really is going on.

Some areas of YOLT are pretty campy (some of the patterns for the AUSTIN POWERS parodies are pretty evident), but the camp is part of the fun. It's a throwback to the good ol' not-to-be-taken-seriously adventure espionage fun. This is formula Bond, but loaded with great action, neat gadgetry ("Little Nellie" is one of the most beloved Q gadgets) and the glorious sets by the one-and-only Bond veteran Ken Adam make it another high-flying, if not exactly groundbreaking, Bond adventure and one of he series' more fun entries.

Rating: **** out of 5.

I don't blame Sean Connery with growing weary of the James Bond series, by the time "You Only Live Twice" was released they had done five movies in five years! That being said this is the last original Bond with Connery (not counting his return in "Diamond are Forever" and "Never Say Never Again). These five movies will always be the iconic Bond movies, but by the end of this film one could predict the franchise was on its way down.

This film takes James Bond to the Far East to investigate the kidnapping of US and Soviet spacecrafts which could eventual lead to war between the two powers. Roald Dahl, yes the same Roald Dahl who wrote "James and the Giant Peach" did the screenplay for this film, and he does a commendable but not extraordinary job. Some of James Bond's best one-liners are in this film, like "Oh the things I do for England," and "you sound like a commercial," most likely in credit to Dahl's creative touch.

The strength of this movie is that the franchise moved away from Europe and sent Bond to Asia. The Japanese background is excellent as are the Japanese Bond Girls, Aki and Kissy and the Japanese agent Tanaka. The action sequences are just OK. There's one good fight scene at the Osaka Corporation, it's similar to the "From Russia With Love" train scene and the opening fight in 'Thunderball.'

However compared to its predecessors, this movie fails to deliver. The editing and pace seems to slow down significantly once Bond has to get married and become Japanese. The enemy's lair seems over-the-top and fantastical, even more so than Dr. No's lair. Even with Connery's flair and grace one can see how anything less than an 100% effort isn't going to make a movie great, even a James Bond film.

Despite its minor hiccups, I still think this is an enjoyable Bond. Not as great as the preceding four films, but still solid. Yet one can't ignore the ominous signs that the Bond franchise was on its way down. For the last 40 years, minus some good films thrown in that time, the Bond franchise has never duplicated the magic and bedazzlement that it had from 1962-1966.

A Good James Bond film but not great. 6 out of 10.