Film Babble Blog has been AWOL since my DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE review as things have been hectically busy lately, but I’m back to make a self-indulgent post on my Birthday. I’ve been meaning to do something to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of this blog (first post was March 12, 2004) all year, and I finally came up with compiling a list of my Top 10 favorite posts.

Among the movie reviews have been assorted articles, lists, and interviews and this what I consider the cream of the crop. By the way, the pic at the top is from Baz Luhrmann’s 2013 adaptation of THE GREAT GATSBY (I just wanted to have a lavish big screen party scene image, the movie isn’t even mentioned in any of these posts).

So let’s get right to ‘em (click on the highlighted titles to read the posts):

1. In Memorium: My Dearly Departed Cat Squiggy (September 14, 2014)

Of course, #1 would be honoring my first adoptive cat, Squiggy, who passed away 10 years ago (Sept. 12, 2014). This remembrance might be too icky for some who are not cat or pet people, but I think most folks will appreciate the sentiment. Squiggy lives!

2. William H. Macy Chats With Film Babble Blog About His New Film KRYSTAL (April 12, 2018)

Over the course of Film Babble Blog’s first two decades, I didn’t do many interviews, but I couldn’t pass up the chance to talk to the great William H. Macy. He was promoting his second film as director, the odd Rosario Dawson vehicle KRYSTAL, and it was an insightful, fun phone chat with the acclaimed actor. 

3. Ingmar Bergman: The Woody Allen Angle (July 31, 2007)

When the iconic Swedish filmmaker Igmar Bergman passed on 2007, instead of doing a standard obit, I decided to do a deep dive on his influence on the films of Woody Allen. Now Allen is a controversial figure these days, but this film geek’s noting the many elements whether they be thematic, technical, personal, or personnel that Woody Allen has borrowed from the movie master still holds up to me.

4. Apocalypse Then (September 11, 2021)

My 20th Anniversary recollections of the week of the tragic events of 9/11, which started off with a Birthday viewing of the then new APOCALYPSE NOW REDUX is one of my favorite pieces as it captures my what my world felt like during that sad, shocking time when it felt like the world stopped.

5. That Time Orson Welles Ended His Career (And Life) On An Episode of Moonlighting (December 30, 2023)

I was reminded of the legendary filmmaker’s final moments in front of a camera when Hulu started streaming the hit ABC series, Moonlighting, late last year and I exercise-bike binged it. It’s an interesting tale of how fortunately the late, great CITIZEN KANE actor/writer/director had one last gasp meaning that his ridiculous voice turn in the 1985 animated TRANSFORMERS wasn’t his last credit. The Film Babble Blog favorite Welles was also featured in the posts, A Birthday Tribute To Orson Welles With 10 Welles Wannabes (May 5, 2008), and Classic Cinematic Cameo: Orson Welles in THE MUPPET MOVIE (MAY 6, 2022). 

6. That Time THE BODYGUARD Soundtrack Saved Nick Lowe’s Ass (August 12, 2021)

An amusing look back at a happy happening involving the great British singer/songwriter benefiting greatly by the use of one of his classics (albeit a cover) on the best-selling soundtrack of the Whitney Houston/Kevin Costner hit, THE BODYGUARD. 

7. The Legacy Of Mrs. James Bond 007 (September 10, 2020)

Much like the Bergman post, I was wanting to pay tribute to a legendary figure who had passed (in this case Diana Rigg), but through an specific angle that most obits mentioned but didn’t fully investigate. Another post in this same vein is: How James Bond Was Indiana Jones’ Father Long Before Sean Connery Played Indiana Jones’ Father (October 31, 2020)

The final posts are lists, which I’ve done a lot of over the years. A few of these were featured on the Internet Movie Database when they used to update a “Hit List” on their main webpage. That got my page a lot of action back in the day, which I miss now.

8. 20 Great Modern Movie Cameos (6/5/07)

9. 10 Definitive Films-Within-Films (7/4/07)

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While watching the new movie, BEAVIS AND BUTTHEAD DO THE UNIVERSE on Paramount Plus, I found myself triggered into a series of film scene flashbacks. All because of an early sequence concerning the Mike Judge-created characters undergoing training for a space mission at NASA. Now, we’ve gone through these motions in the movies many times so the sight of seeing Beavis and Butthead going through G-force training, meaning being placed in a centrifuge which simulates the 9G forces pilots would encounter while flying is beyond commonplace in these scenerios.

So this process, which is to prevent G-induced loss of consciousness, and extend G-tolerance in astronauts and pilots, has been often used as a delivery device for face-stretching sight gags like we see once more with our dumbass heroes.

Centrifuge G-force training widely became a popular training procedure in the ‘70s, in which it scored some big screen action in Lewis Gilbert’s MOONRAKER (1979). This was the James Bond entry in the great STAR WARS sweepstakes of the era, so there’s a scene early in the film where Roger Moore’s 007 takes a centrifuge ride in a chamber at the villain’s space industries compound. Being Bond, his spin is sabotaged by one a henchman, and the speed dangerously increases so he has to use a gadget (a watch with a dart gun) to escape. 

This scene is played for suspense, and drama – it’s actually one of the few times in the series where Moore’s Bond appears vulnerable, actually shaken and stirred – but it introduces the comic premise that’s been previously identified as “centrifugal farce.”

John Landis’ SPIES LIKE US (1985) contains a definitive example of centrifugal farce involving facial foolishness from the likes of Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase:

 

The scene’s zany capper:

Sight Gag City, huh?

In 1995, the ginormous event of Homer Simpson flying to the stars in the season five Simpsons episode, “Deep Space Homer,” was also accompanied by some centrifugal farce. Unfortunately it makes for a rather poor sight gag in which Homer’s face becomes like Popeye’s – a gag that the DVD commentary revealed was not a favorite of Simpsons creator, Matt Groening’s.

Watch the scene:

Then there’s this wacky scene from Stuart Gillard’s ROCKETMAN (1997), starring forgotten funnyman, Harland Williams:

 

And this one from Clint Eastwood’s SPACE COWBOYS:

 

Okay, so that’s centrifugal farce. You can now go about your day.

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Now playing at a multiplex near everybody:

NO TIME TO DIE (Dir. Cary Joji Fukunaga, 2021)

In the last year and a half, the patience of James Bond fans has been majorly tested.

The 25th entry, NO TIME TO DIE, was originally slated to open on late 2019, then it was pushed back to February, followed by April 2020 (star Daniel Craig even hosted SNL to promote the film on this last date). But the pandemic reared its ugly head and the movie was rescheduled for November 2020. The global health crisis kept raging, and an April 2021 release was set. Of course, that was predictably scraped, and October 8th is now the official domestic debut, and for once, they’ve stuck to it.

This is a colossal relief for fans, the filmmakers, and Craig himself, as it must have been frustrating to have his fifth and final film as 007 constantly being shelved. Well, he can rest assured because the film just dropped, and it’s being greatly received with many critics calling it the best Bond ever.

I wouldn’t regard it as such, but it’s pretty damn great, and it might be the best Craig installment, though SKYFALL comes pretty damn close. It starts off like a horror movie, with a young girl, Madeleine Swann (Coline Defaud) being pursued across a frozen lake by a creepy disfigured masked assailant. We cut to modern day to see that the girl has grown into Léa Seydoux, returning from the previous adventure, SPECTRE, and she’s vacationing with Bond in Italy. Madeleine encourages Bond to visit his long gone love, Vesper Lynd, who’s haunted him since CASINO ROYALE. Her damn tomb explodes, and we’re suddenly thrusted into a high speed chase by Spectre agents with Craig’s Bob doing what he does best – running, and jumping, sometimes motorcycling across sidewalks and rooftops. 

After Billy Ellish’s effectively spooky title song, it’s five years later, and while Bond has retired, his crew including Q (Ben Whishaw, Moneypenny (Naomi Harris), M (Ralph Fiennes), and Lashana Lynch, as the woman who has inherited the 007 codename much to Bond’ chagrin. This faction of MI6 is working to combat a wave of wide-reaching genetic warfare that is set to be launched by Spectre adversary Lyutsifer Safin (Rami Malek).

Other returning roles include Jeffrey Wright as Bond’s long-time CIA confident Felix Leiter, and a cameo by Christoph Waltz as unhinged yet still confident (confidently cuckoo?) Spectre mastermind Ernest Stavro Blofeld. In Norway, Bond reunites with Madelienne, learning that she has a five-year old daughter Mathilde  (Lisa-Dorah Sonnet) that, of course, Bond suspects is his offspring. Bond, Madelienne, and Mathilde find themselves at, guess what, a ginormous fortress (a long abandoned WWII sea fort actually), where Bond tries to stop the killing of millions, because that’s just what he does.

Despite its lavish action scenes, some of the most entertaining moments of this entry involve the back and forths in the dialogue between Bond and his Secret Service buddies who convincingly portray friends and co-workers as they are hard at work in a different type of procedural. The locations, captured by cinematographer Linus Sandgren are stunning with very shot suitable for framing.

NO TIME TO DIE, which earns its length, is a wonderful finale to Craig’s five film chunk of one of the most lucrative and popular movie franchises in history. And historic it is as it does something no other Bond film has done, but I’m not telling you what. It’ll probably be leaked so you cheap bastards will find out anyway, but I hope most folks will go in cold. 

As for Craig, he’s made three great Bonds out of this five, and this certainly lets him go out in spectacular style. I wasn’t into him at first as he seemed more like the blonde thugs that were trying to kill Bond in such entries as FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE and YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, but his intensity, and precision won me over. It was SKYFALL to me, that cemented Craig as a new kind of 007, as he balanced the bombast and humor in a manner that elegantly matched his predecessors.

Even in this never-ending era of covid, Craig’s swan song is a must see on the big screen. It’s Bond at his most heartfelt, but still with the big action spectacle you want and expect. I was blown away by the ending, which will surprise a lot of fans, and so want to share what happened with somebody, but like I said before, I’m not going to give it away. 

So farewell, Mr. Craig and your strong run of 007 instalments. He brought a gritty killer persona to a franchise that had come too close to being a fluffy spoof of spy cinema, and needed an injection of new blood. But I think the filmmakers should really take a break and work hard on a new direction as they’ll really need to do a hard reboot after this.

More later…

These places being so close meant that customers could walk back and forth to compare prices on records. Sometimes Record Bar’s prices were just a bit lower than Schoolkids to compete. I can’t remember which store I bought the Bond soundtrack at, I think it was Schoolkids, but I do recall my bus ride home where I devoured the album art and anxiously waited to get home and listen to it. The record was one of the few 007 records to have a gatefold, and it was definitely a beaut.

LIVE AND LET DIE was Roger Moore’s first film as Bond, and while many think he never lived up to Sean Connery’s iconic interpretation of the part, Moore did have something his predecessor didn’t have: a big ass rock theme song delivered by a former Beatle, no less. Paul McCartney, along with his longtime Beatles producer, George Martin, and his band, Wings, were recruited to contribute the song while McCartney was working on the Red Rose Speedway album.

Although I had heard the song before, it was exciting to put the vinyl on the turn table, putting the needle in the groove, and listening to the tune come alive. It begins as a somber piano ballad with McCartney telling us that he “used to say ‘live and let live’,” and anyone can tell what’s next as he declares the title sentiment and the tune goes into orchestral overdrive with Wings inserting their bombastic beats into the thrilling chaos. 

While the song had much chart success, and received a Oscar nomination (it lost to Barbara Streisand’s “The Way We Were,” there was one element that was largely criticized. That was the fact that the lyrics contained a grammatical error. The line “But in this ever-changing world in which we live in,” has been considered ungrammatical and redundant, because of that extra “in,” and maybe the whole “in which we live in” phrase.

But many including the song’s composer maintain that the lyric is “in which we’re living,” as McCartney told the Washington Post in 2009: “I think it’s ‘in which we’re living’ - ‘In this ever changing world….’ It’s funny. There’s too many ‘ins.’ I’m not sure. I’d have to have actually look. I don’t think about the lyric when I sing it. I think it’s ‘in which we’re living.’” That’s fine, but it doesn’t sound that to me.

As for the rest of the LIVE AND LET DIE soundtrack, the flavor of the film’s New Orleans settings are established by Harold A. “Duke” Dejan & The Olympia Brass Band’s rendition of the funeral dirge that abruptly becomes the rejoiceful rave-up, “New Second Line.”

Then we’re into the first of five tracks on Side One written and composed by Martin, “Bond Meets Solitaire.” These selections are mildly enjoyable as incidental suspense music, but are a bit samey sounding as they provide the customary instrumental variations on the title song, mixed with Bond theme progressions. The most interesting of these tracks may be “Baron Samedi’s Dance of Death,” with its Herb Albert style horns, and fast tempo arrangements. Following that is a similar yet lazier “San Monique.” Seems like Martin was really cinematically spreading his wings here.

Side Two kicks off with one of two versions of Martin composition, “Fillet of Soul.” The first is labeled “New Orleans,” and it morphs into an alternate version of “Live and Let Die,” a silky yet spooky rendition by actress/singer BJ Arnau (Arnau put out a single of her take).

In the ‘60s, the wildly successful James Bond series starring Sean Connery as the super spy became one of the most copied and parodied franchises in film history. There were the FLYNT films, the Matt Helm films, something called SUPER AGENT SUPER DRAGON, LICENSED TO KILL (decades before the Bond series used the same title), THE IPCRESS FILE (produced by Bond co-producer Harry Saltzman), DEADLIER THAN THE MALE, and the TV series The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and Get Smart, for starters (much too many to keep listing).

But the most curious of these knock-offs is Alberto De Martino’s 1967 action comedy entitled OPERATION KID BROTHER, or its original title, O.K. CONNERY, or its later video release titles OPERATION DOUBLE 007, or SECRET AGENT 00 (none of these are good titles). This Italian flick’s big gimmick is that it stars Sean Connery’s younger brother, Neil. 

So they couldn’t use the name, James Bond, and when someone mentions his code number “00…” someone interrupts then, so they apparently can’t use that either.

Then there’s the rest of the cast, which is brimming with cast members from the Bond series including Bernard Lee who played Bond’s superior M, Lois Maxwell who played secretary Moneypenny (she’s named Miss Maxwell, which is really unimaginative, but I guess is keeping with the theme), Adolfi Celi from THUNDERBALL, Yee-Wah-Yang from YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, Daniela Bianchi from FROM RUSSIA FROM LOVE, and Anthony Dawson from DR. NO.

The effect here is that the filmmakers wanted to trick moviegoers into thinking that this film is part of the official Bond canon. The soundtrack, written by Ennio Morricone (!) and Bruno Nicolai, buttresses this conceit with its convincing variations on the Bond theme, and comparable incidental music.

A strange element here is that Neil’s voice is dubbed by an American actor and it doesn’t seem to fit. One of the reasons that he was cast was because along with his looks, his voice sounded like his brother’s. From what I’ve read, this was for some sort of medical reasons, but, man, was it bad timing for him to not have his voice for his film debut. There was also the matter that he refused to shave off his goatee, which is even mentioned in the movie (“I’m attached to it”).

OPERATION KID BROTHER (that’s the title I’m going with) is billed as a comedy, but it’s not very funny, nor does it try to be for most of its running time. When a character says “You read too much Fleming,” it’s obviously an attempt to be an inside joke but it’s more a groaner. The plot is a typical one about thwarting world domination (of course), which ends in a big battle at the villain’s castle base in Munich. The gray metal interiors look like half finished sets from YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE – consider it Bond on a budget.

It’s hard to fault Neil for this not-so-craft cash grab. Who can blame him for attempting to step into the shoes of his international super star brother. Trouble is, he didn’t get to walk in them very far as he was only in two other movies: the 1969 schlocky sci-fi thriller THE BODY STEALERS (also known as THIN AIR, or INVASION OF THE BODY STEALERS - jeez, can’t these film stick with one title?), and the 1984 action comedy ACES GO PLACES 3, in which he had a cameo as Mr. Bond. After that it has been reported that his career as a plasterer ended in the mid ‘80s, and he went on to run a company in Glasgow, but besides that nothing much is known about Neil’s life in the decades since.

OPERATION KID BROTHER got something of a second life as an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 in 1993, though I don’t think it’s one of their better ones. The original film, under the OKB title is currently available streaming on Amazon Prime, which is where I watched it. Can’t say I’d recommend it, but those who are curious about this curio may get a kick by checking it out.

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When the great Yaphet Kotto passed away a few days ago, quite a few obituaries singled out his two most famous roles: the villain in the 1973 James Bond adventure LIVE AND LET DIE, and a spaceship engineer in the 1979 sci-fi classic ALIEN. Of course, the accomplished actor played a variety of roles over multiple decades in such notable films as HARD COLLAR, MIDNIGHT RUN, ACROSS 110TH STREET, THE RUNNING MAN, BRUBAKER, and many others, but in a 1985 interview in the sci-fi/fantasy magazine Starlog, it was Bond that he wanted to talk about most.

As a kid, I used to subscribe to Starlog, so shortly after Kotto’s death I dug up the interview. After discussing turning down the iconic parts of Lando Calrissian in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (“I decided I didn’t want to be king of the science-fiction movies”), and Winston Zeddemore in GHOSTBUSTERS (“the first time that producers actually sought after me to play a comic role”), Kotto explained to Starlog’s Brian Lowry that “When I did LIVE AND LET DIE, the only thing I regretted about it was that I was playing the wrong role. I was the arch-villain that James Bond was after, and all. Through the film, I said, ‘You know, I should be playing James Bond.’ Ever since I was a kid, I've wanted to play James Bond!”

But it’s one thing to simply want to play James Bond - so many people have had the same dream - but Kotto tried to make it happen.

Kotto: “I wrote a script that was a James Bond-type film - the only difference in this high-action/chase/adventure picture being that it would be a black man. And, I’m prejudiced so I cast myself in the lead role.”

As film geeks like me well know, TOMORROW IS THE SAME DAY (love that title!) never came to be, but Kotto kept working, including co-starring on all seven seasons of Homicide: Life on the Streets in the ‘90s and a handful of film roles until retiring in 2008.

I can’t find any mention of Kotto’s supposed Bond-like dream project anywhere else. The Starlog interview is the only source for this information I can locate so I am tempted to think he was just toying with the sci-fi monthly. That makes some kind of sense as it was a publication aimed at teenage nerds, and maybe he thought making up a movie about his playing a master spy would be fun.

I really can’t say, but I like the idea anyway. In conclusion, here’s the cover of the Starlog issue that Kotto’s interview appears in, which really takes me back.

Such a busy roster that this mag features: STAR TREK! Space! E.T.! BABY! LADYHAWKE! V! CLAN OF THE CAVE BEAR! A VIEW TO A KILL! And then, at the very bottom of the cover “Yaphet Kotto of ALIEN.” They really buried the lede. They should’ve risen it up on the cover and changed it to something like “Yaphet Kotto reveals that he’s the next Bond.”

Yeah, that would’ve sold more copies for sure.

R.I.P. Yaphet Kotto

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This morning, word got around online that the great actress Diana Rigg had passed away at age 82. Most obituraries highlighted that she was Emma Peel in The Avengers series in the ‘60s, and Olenna Tyrell in Game of Thrones, but for many fans her defining role was as the one woman in entire 25 film run of the James Band series who married the super spy.

After five films in which Sean Connery portrayed 007, the actor wanted out and opted not to reprise the role in the sixth entry in the franchise. The unknown model, George Lazenby, took over the iconic Bond part for ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE, and was paired with leading lady Diana Rigg as Contessa Teresa di Vicenzo (nickname: Tracy).

Despite Lazenby’s inexperience, he had good chemisty with Rigg, and it felt plausible that Bond had found his true love, after he had yet again saved the world – this time from a deadly worldwide virus (hmm) that his arch enemy, Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Telly Savalas) was attempting to inflict.

Moments after 007 and Tracy have a lovely wedding ceremony in Portugal, Bond pulls over his car (an Aston Martin, of course) on the winding mountain road to remove flowers from the car’s hood. Suddenly a vehicle containing Blofeld and his henchmen rapidly appears, and perform a deadly drive-by. Rigg’s Tracy dies instantly from a headshot, while Bond cries and tells a passing motorcycle cop: “It’s all right. It’s quite all right, really. She’s having a rest. We’ll be going on soon. There’s no hurry, you see. We have all the time in the world.” (This was also the title of the Louis Armstrong-sung romantic theme song for the film)

Now, her name was never mentioned but audiences just knew that’s what the deal was. After Bond supposedly takes down his greatest adversary – “Welcome to Hell, Blofeld” – Tracy is again, not referenced in the rest of the movie, but that’s not surprising as DIAMONDS was intended to be an cheeky old school exercise in GOLDFINGER-style colorfulness (Shirley Bassey was even back to sing the theme!).

Roger Moore took over for 1973’s LIVE AND LET DIE, but neither it nor its follow-up, THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN had any mention of Mrs. James Bond. Since Moore signified a re-booting of the series (of course, nobody said reboot back then – the concept didn’t exist), so maybe they had left behind the idea that Bond had a wife who died tragically.

But then there was 1977’s THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, arguably Moore’s finest film as 007. In one scene, Bond’s latest lady, Barbara Bach as Russian agent Major Anya Amasova statically states his resume to his dismay.

Major Anya Amasova: “Commander James Bond, recruited to the British Secret Service from the Royal Navy. Licensed to kill and has done so on numerous occasions. Many lady friends but married only once. Wife killed…”

James Bond: [interrupts her] “Alright, you've made your point.”

Major Anya Amasova: “You’re sensitive, Mr. Bond?”

James Bond: “About certain things, yes.”

There we get that Moore’s Bond is indeed the same Bond from ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE, and that he’s still profoundly hurt by the experience of her murder.

Four years later, the point is driven home by the opening of FOR YOUR EYES ONLY (1981). Moore’s 007 visits the grave of Teresa Bond, as she’s identified on her tombstone along with the inscription “1943-1969, Beloved Wife of James Bond,” and “We Have All the Time in the World.”

The next and last time there was a mention of Bond’s long slain wife was in LICENSE TO KILL (1989), which was Timothy Dalton’s second and final film as Bond.

When Bond’s best friend CIA agent Felix Leiter (David Hedison, reprising the role from LIVE AND LET DIE) gets married, his new bride Della (Priscilla Barnes from Three’s Company!) offers to throw her garter at 007 saying, “You know the tradition? The next one who catches this is the next one who...”

But Bond deflects, “No. No. Thanks, Della. It's time I left.” After he exits, Della asks Felix, “Did I say something wrong?” Felix: “He was married once, but it was a long time ago.”

20 years to be exact. Technically this is the last reference in the franchise to Bond’s long lost flame, but in Pierce Brosnan’s 007 debut, GOLDENEYE (1995), there is a notable line from 006, Alex Trevelyan (Sean Bean), that seems to have some resonance about Bond’s past:

Alex Trevelyan: “I might as well ask you if all those vodka martinis drown out the screams of the men you've killed, or if you find forgiveness in the arms of all those willing women for the dead ones you failed to protect.”

Daniel Craig, whose fifth and final Bond adventure, NO TIME TO DIE, is slated for later this year, never had to deal with the issue of having his wife die, but did have in CASINO ROYALE, a true love in the form of Vesper Lynd (Eve Green) whose death affects him greatly.

That is indeed sad, but c’mon, her impact will never come anything close to that of Rigg’s Teresa/Tracy. The tributes I’ve seen today from folks about the how the character got to them at an early age can’t be denied.

Of course, we don’t have all the time in the world, but the short time we had with Mrs. James Bond will just have to do.

R.I.P. Diana Rigg

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