I read David Walker's DVD review of Never Say Never Again at http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=36775 and...as a longtime Michel Legrand and especially Sergio Mendes fan, I have to take a little exception to your description of the music sucking. While Legrand's underscore cues are maybe not his finest work, the elegant theme song, with a great lyric by Alan & Marilyn Bergman, is fun and is notable for reuniting Sergio with his Brasil '66 lead singer Lani Hall. Lani's husband Herb Alpert contributes trumpet to the closing credits theme. It's one of the more strangely undervalued Bond themes, a very interesting composition that modulates in unexpected ways and is probably Lani's best post-'66 vocal.

I think some people do hate the movie because of the score, but I just don't like the film period. The whole idea of remaking "Thunderball" has nothing to do with making a good movie and everything to do with avoiding a lawsuit. This was a film written by lawyers.

Is this a parody post? Legrand's score, and especially that stupid disco theme song, are utterly horrid in every respect. They are indefensibly awful.

I know that Octopussy is one of the lesser Bonds, but I don't think it's anywhere near as bad as David makes it out to be. That dumb Tarzan yell notwithstanding, it has aged better than Never Say Never Again has. And it's certainly nowhere near the same league of awfulness as Moonraker or A View to a Kill.

I also find David's disdain for Licence to Kill perplexing. Licence to Kill is a far, far better movie than Never Say Never Again.

Some background history on the "Never Say Never Again" title tune. It seems *everyone* hated it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjkC_...eature=related

Nope, not parody, and as Lani and Herb show in that great YouTube clip, they have a sense of humor about it. First of all, I would never term the song disco in any sense. Perhaps you had to have been a fan of Brasil '66 to know what a big deal it was to see Sergio and Lani reunited (I won't get into the history, but it was a big deal for fans), and Lani's post-66 vocals had been spotty at best, so it was great to hear her teamed with the man who seemed to be able to coax the best out of her. I love the tune. So sue me.

P.S. For the guy on YouTube who doesn't know who Lani is/was, and for any readers, she provided Sergio Mendes with a slew of chart hits, notably Mas Que Nada and Fool on the Hill (The Look of Love was sung by Janis Hansen, Sergio's other vocalist in the first iteration of Brasil '66). Five platinum albums in a row means someone knew who Lani was, or at least liked her singing.

I really thought "Octopussy" was one of the best Moore Bond films. It had some of the best stunts, a great score and was one of the few Bond films where you actually believe Moore's Bond is in danger. I would give it credit for worst Bond title of all time, but it lost that honor recently. I also thought "License to Kill" was good.

Roger Moore was in danger of falling over and doing a knee injury or erectal disfunctional at his age - that was the ONLY danger he could in Octopussy - one of the WEAKEST Bond films - granted Moore only was good up to The Spy Who Loved Me, then limped his way in his final films.


As for NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN - who truely wants to watch a 'rugged-up' Connery in his senior years chatting up Bassinger ?? Why was there no extra on the 'hair design' ????

Sean Connery was "rugged up" as early as "Thunderball". I don't care if you wrote "WEAKEST" in all caps, I still think "Octopussy" was one of the best Moore Bond films, but I do wish that Moore had retired from Bond after that film.

Disco...Disco Bond.

OCTOPUSSY is an enjoyable Bond film, to be sure. I think it's one of Moore's strongest outings, and while it does have some flimsy elements it still works as a movie and as a Bond film. I'd rank it smack dab in the middle in terms of ranking Bonds. It's certainly better than "Never Say Never Again" (and outgrossed it as well).

And that NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN score is god-awful beyond words. The theme song is just forgettably meh.

As yet another Bond fan coming out of the woodworks in this thread, I just say that 1983 was a bad year for Bond and leave it at that.

Well said, dhmac. I would even go a step further, and say that "the 1980's were a bad decade for Bond".

For starters, Roger Moore's age began to become a noticeable factor beginning with For Your Eyes Only and became more of a distraction with each subsequent film. And Timothy Dalton just plain didn't have the charisma, charm, or screen presence that I expect to see in a cinematic 007. Maybe I could buy him as another agent, 009 perhaps. But as James Bond 007? Nope. He just doesn't fit the part for me.

Next, the villains during this period were completely forgettable. I'm a fan of the megalomaniac stereotype villain, with grandiose schemes of world domination/destruction. An interesting villain is necessary in a 007 film and serves to drive the story to a large degree, but during this period the villains were dull and ordinary and could have been lifted from any run-of-the-mill tv detective series. None seemed "worthy" of James Bond's attention.

Thirdly, the screenplays during this period were uninspired, ordinary, and many times just downright boring. The larger-than-life aspect of James Bond's adventures were missing. In an attempt to make the stories more down-to-earth and less over-the-top, the writers went too far IMO and drained the stories of excitement and imagination. For example: Moonraker was the last time we were treated to a grand battle between two forces set against an exotic backdrop (namely, outer space). Goldfinger had the Fortt Knox battle, Thunderball had the undersea battle, You Only Live Twice had the volcano battle (featuring modern-day ninjas!), On Her Majesty's Secret Service had the snow-covered mountain top battle, and The Spy Who Loved Me had the battle inside the monster submarine capturing boat. These grandiose, exotic, over-the-top battles had become more or less a staple of the series. Imaginative, exciting, and somewhat unique to the Bond series. But during the 1980s they disappeared completely. In this regard, Moonraker feels like the last of the "classic" Bond films to me.

Fourthly, the direction & cinematography during this period was also lacking. The films are lacking the sweeping cinematography and visual style of say, The Spy Who Loved Me or Moonraker. Or to a degree Thunderball and You Only Live Twice as well.