This was said to be the last outing for the actor who played the famous secret agent, created by Ian Fleming, since the beginning, he returned however when George Lazenby did not work out and again in Never Say Never Again, this can be ignored , this is one of the best of the early films, directed by Lewis Gilbert Alfie, The Spy Who Loved Me, Shirley Valentine . Basically an American NASA spacecraft is hijacked in orbit by an unidentified spacecraft, the U.S. suspect it to be the work of the Soviets, but the British suspect Japanese involvement, as the unknown craft landed somewhere in <more> Japan. James Bond 007 Sir Sean Connery fakes his own death in Hong Kong, China, "buried at sea" to give him cover from his enemies, following this he is sent to Tokyo, Japan. Bond is met by agent Aki Akiko Wakabayashi , assistant to the Japanese secret service leader Tiger Tanaka Tetsuro Tamba , who takes him to local MI6 operative Dikko Henderson Charles Gray , who has critical information about the rogue craft. Henderson is killed before going into detail, Bond kills his assailant and disguises himself to gain access to Osato Chemicals, after subduing the getaway car driver he breaks the office safe and steals documents, Aki helps him escape the security. Stopping at an abandoned subway station Bond chases Aki, but falls down a trap door into the office of Tanaka. Examining the documents they find a photograph of a cargo ship, and a microdot message about the tourist who took the photograph being killed as a security precaution, masquerading as a buyer Bond meets Mr. Osato Teru Shimada himself, for any information he can gather. Leaving the office Tanaka helps foil an attack on Bond and Aki from assassins sent by Osato's secretary Helga Brandt, aka agent "Number 11" Karin Dor , Bond and Aki investigate the dock facilities, finding the cargo ship, Ning-Po, was delivering elements for rocket fuel. After seducing and escaping an assassination attempt by Brandt, Bond investigates the area where the Ning-Po was unloaded, in heavily armed autogyro "Little Nellie", near a volcano Bond is attacked by four helicopters, but he defeats them. Meanwhile the Soviet spacecraft is captured in orbit by the unidentified spacecraft, heightening tensions between the U.S. and Russia, the spacecraft lands in an extensive base hidden inside a volcano, the mastermind behind the scheme is SPECTRE Special Executive for Counter- intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion , headed by "Number 1", Ernst Stavro Blofeld Donald Pleasence , Brandt is killed by piranhas for failing to kill Bond, Blofeld demands Osato to kill him. Bond is trained with Tanaka's ninjas and disguised to become Oriental, during the night Aki is poisoned in an assassination attempt on Bond, a fake marriage then goes ahead with Bond and Tanaka's student Kissy Suzuki Mie Hama her name is never said . With a lead Bond and Kissy investigate a cave and the volcano above it, the discover the disguised hatch leading to the secret rocket base, while Kissy goes to alert Tanaka, Bond slips in. Bond locates and frees the captured astronauts, and with a spacesuit attempts to infiltrate the spacecraft, "Bird One", but Blofeld spots him and he is taken to the leader, the reserve astronaut is sent to pilot. While Blofeld reveals himself to Bond, and Tanaka, Kissy and an army of ninjas surround the base, Bird One closes in on the American spacecraft in orbit, Bond manages to open the hatch and let in the ninjas. As battle ensues Bond escapes Blofeld and his henchmen, gaining access to the control room he activates the rocket's self- destruct before it reaches the American craft, American forces stand down, finally Blofeld activates the base's self- destruct system before escaping, the surviving ninjas, Tanaka, Kissy and Bond escape as the base and volcano explodes. Also starring Bernard Lee as M, Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny, Desmond Llewelyn as Q, Tsai Chin as Ling, Chinese Girl in Hong Kong, Alexander Knox as American President and Burt Kwouk as Spectre 3. Connery desired to quit the franchise, but he still delivers a good performance as the cool and suave super spy, the supporting cast are all good, especially Pleasence who stays hidden behind the white Persian cat until the final half and with his scarred eye is suitably sinister, the action sequences are all exciting, especially the Little Nellie sequence, and there are great things to see, a brilliant spy adventure. It was nominated the BAFTA for Best British Art Direction. James Bond was number 3 on 100 Years, 100 Heroes & Villains, he was number 21 on The 100 Greatest Sex Symbols, and he was number 21 on The 100 Greatest Pop Culture Icons, Sir Sean Connery was number 8 on The 100 Greatest Movie Stars, and he was number 3 on The 50 Greatest British Actors, the film was number 7 on James Bond's Greatest Hits for the title song by Nancy Sinatra Frank's daughter , and it was number 90 on The Ultimate Film. Outstanding! <less> |