Never Say Never Again (1983)

Director:

Irvin Kershner

Writers:

Kevin McClory (story) &
Jack Whittingham (story) ...

Release Date:

7 October 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Thriller

Tagline:

If you haven't seen Sean Connery in 'Never Say Never Again' then you haven't seen James Bond 007!

Plot:

A SPECTRE agent has stolen two American nuclear warheads, and James Bond must find their targets before they are detonated.

Plot Keywords:

Bond | James Bond | British | Bahamas | Steal

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Sean Connery	...	James Bond
Klaus Maria Brandauer	...	Maximilian Largo
Max von Sydow	...	Ernst Stavro Blofeld (as Max Von Sydow)
Barbara Carrera	...	Fatima Blush
Kim Basinger	...	Domino Petachi
Bernie Casey	...	Felix Leiter
Alec McCowen	...	Q 'Algy' Algernon
Edward Fox	...	M
Pamela Salem	...	Miss Moneypenny
Rowan Atkinson	...	Nigel Small-Fawcett
Valerie Leon	...	Lady in Bahamas
Milos Kirek	...	Kovacs (as Milow Kirek)
Pat Roach	...	Lippe
Anthony Sharp	...	Lord Ambrose
Prunella Gee	...	Patricia Fearing

Also Known As:

James Bond 007 - Sag niemals nie (West Germany)
James Bond of the Secret Service (UK) (working title)
James Bond, Secret Agent (UK) (working title)
Warhead (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

134 min | Germany:121 min (cut version)

Country:

UK | USA | West Germany

Language:

English | French | German

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Iceland:12 | South Korea:15 | West Germany:12 (f) | Netherlands:12 | Brazil:12 | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Norway:15 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG | Australia:M | Singapore:PG | UK:PG (cut)

Filming Locations:

Alpes-Maritimes, France

Company:

PSO International

Trivia:

The Maximilian Largo character in this movie was called Emilio Largo in the earlier version Thunderball (1965). In early outlines / treatments for that movie, he was known as Henrico Largo.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): The story Largo tells Domino about the "Tears of Allah" is illogical. "The prophet wept for the barrenness of the desert, and his tears made a well." Islam's Prophet is Muhammad/Mohammed, not Allah. Furthermore, a Muslim fortress would never have been permitted to have the pagan statues we see.

Quotes:

Fatima Blush: You know that making love to Fatima was the greatest pleasure of your life.
James Bond: Well, to be perfectly honest, there was this girl in Philadelphia...
Fatima Blush: SHUT UP!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Inside 'Octopussy' (2000) (V)

Soundtrack:

Une Chanson D'amour

Not terrible, just tired, flat, and uninspired

"Never Say Never Again", as everyone knows by now, was the second Bond film to be released in 1983, and was nearly as big a hit as "Octopussy" was (that film was still playing in some theaters when "Never Say Never Again" was released). Lacking the distinctive gun-barrel opening and famous Bond theme among other distinctive features of the EON franchise films, this lacks not only the feel of the EON Bond series, but of Fleming's work, leaving a seriously bloated mess of an American action thriller which happens to feature Bond as the lead character.

Why? That's the first question anybody should be asking about this film. A cynic (which I probably qualify as) would say 'for the cash', others might say it was just to get Connery back as Bond and give him a proper goodbye. Some might say it was in retaliation to the direction the Moore films were headed in, although "For Your Eyes Only" is a far superior and far less bloated film than this, so that argument doesn't quite work.

Of course, there's a lot to dislike here. Connery has moments of inspiration where he slips right back into character, but for most of the film he just looks really old and slightly ridiculous, which fits the plot but doesn't make his performance any less tired. Still, I'd argue that this is a better send-off for him as Bond than "Diamonds are Forever". Kim Basinger is a terrible Bond girl, and as much as I like Rowan Atkinson he shouldn't be anywhere near a Bond film. In addition, the villains here fall flat as well.

That said, "Never Say Never Again" is not a film I can hate, even if I wanted to (and I never want to hate anything), simply because little of it comes off as especially bad yet all of it comes off as flat, bland, and uninspired, and far, far too American for a Bond film. It's just sort of... there being the bloated, over-long, but not terrible film it is. I don't count it as a 'Bond film', as it doesn't feel remotely like one, but even just as an action thriller it doesn't quite work.

5/10