Never Say Never Again (1983)

Rating: N/A

Dir: Irvin Kershner
Star: Sean Connery, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Max von Sydow, Barbara Carrera

[22] Let’s look at some facts:

  • Written by the same guys who wrote Thunderball
  • Starring the original James Bond
  • Standard characters from all the James Bond films
  • Same evil villain, determined to take over the world (or destroy it)
  • Cool gadgetry and chase scenes
  • Gorgeous Evil Psycho Nympho women
  • Gorgeous Good Nympho women

This is a James Bond film. Why is it so hard to understand? Nobody argues over the Alien, Terminator or Hellraiser series, do they? No one cares who marketed, produced, directed, or wrote them. Nobody disagrees that they are what they are. The same applies here, if not more so, since the writing team is the same. On it’s own, I enjoyed this Bond film without comparison to Thunderball, on which it is based. Sean Connery is always cool as 007. Barbara Carrera was an excellent Psycho Nympho. I have always enjoyed Klaus Maria Brandauer and his penchant for needing facial close-ups in all his films (see Out of Africa for the best ones).

And was I the only one who noticed a very young Timothy Dalton in the casino? Kim Basinger, with her classic beauty and those lips (I’m not a lesbian, much to my one true love’s chagrin, but I appreciate quality and am filthy jealous of Kim’s mouth), was a bit downplayed as the Bond girl. My favorite scene is the game of Domination – a holographic, electrifying game of Risk, played for tons of money and a dance with Kim. I thought that was terribly romantic. Simply put, very James Bond-ish. Watching this and every other James Bond film, I know one thing; I enjoy them, I am entertained by them and in my mind, they are all one thing – James Bond films.