For Your Eyes Only (1981) - Glen debuts with wacky, action-packed Roger Moore Bond

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The action-surrounded pair of firm, tanned female legs wearing a bikini bottom backwards, with Roger Moore's 007 centered, make up this effective poster for John Glen's For Your Eyes Only

SPOILER Bond villain par excellence, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, is killed by getting dumped into a chimney in the title sequence. The story thereafter circles around the sinking of a British ship.

- Maybe, it could be added with some confused doubt, because the link between the ship, the wacky action and kitschy love scenes are never more than precarious. 
For Your Eyes Only is the 12th film in the Bond franchise, written by Richard Maibaum (Zarak (1956)) and Michael G. Wilson (The Living Daylights (1983)), based on two short stories from Ian Fleming's (Moonraker (1955)) For Your Eyes Only (1960) story collection, and directed by debuting John Glen (The Point Men (2001)), who had previously served as editor on 3 Bond pictures.
Roger Moore (Paper Orchid (1949)) does fine as the gold-lined spy, whom he portrays for his fifth time here, but the film nearly works as a Bond spoof in itself, - it is that silly. Charles Dance (Your Highness (2011)) is a minor villain, and the funny final scene has British prime minister Margaret Thatcher talking to a parrot.
For Your Eyes Only is funny and features lots of well-made action, (as well as down-played, dull sets, as regular Bond art director Ken Adams wasn't available and was replaced by Peter Lamont.) It is a lesser entry in the series.

Related posts:

John Glen: Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992) - The ill-fated but entertaining ensemble adventure 
Top 10: The best action movies and TV-series reviewed by Film Excess to date
A View to a Kill (1985) or, Once a Gentleman, Always a Gentleman! 

Watch the title sequence for the film here

Cost: 28 mil. $
Box office: 195.3 mil. $
= Huge hit (returned 6.97 times the cost)
[For Your Eyes Only premiered 24 June (London, UK) and runs 127 minutes. The creators attempted to get Bond back to basics and a more reality-based story after the wild fantasy of preceding film Moonraker (1979). Shooting took place in Greece, Italy, the UK, including London, and in the Bahamas from September 1980 - February 1981. A 23 year-old stunt man was killed during filming of the bobsleigh chase. The film opened #3 to a 6.8 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 54.8 mil. $ (28.1 % of the total gross). It set a new  opening day record in the UK and became the second-highest grossing Bond picture overall, following Moonraker's 210.3 mil. $. Bill Conti and Mick Leeson's title song was nominated for the Best Song Oscar, lost to Arthur's Theme from Arthur. It was nominated for the equivalent Golden Globe. Glen returned with the next Bond film, Octopussy (1983), also Moore's next film. For Your Eyes Only is fresh at 72 % with a 6.5/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of For Your Eyes Only?

Top 10: The best action movies and TV-series reviewed by Film Excess to date

1. Die Hard (1988) - John McTiernan

2. Batman Returns (1992) - Tim Burton

3. Avatar (2009) - James Cameron

4. Apocalypto (2006) - Mel Gibson

5. 24 - season 3 (2003-04) - Robert Cochran, Joel Surnow (creators)

6. Eraser (1996) - Chuck Russell

7. Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) - John Carpenter

8. Crank (2006) - Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor

9. Blade (1998) - Stephen Norrington

10. A View to a Kill (1985) - John Glen

Other great action movies and TV series reviewed by Film Excess

24 - season 1 (2001-02) 
24 - season 2 (2002-03) 
Live Free or Die Hard/Die Hard 4.0 (2007) 
Looper (2012) 

Good action movies reviewed by Film Excess

Aliens (1986)
The Avengers/Avengers Assemble (2012)  
Battle Royale (2000)
The Big Boss/唐山大兄 (1971) 
Charlie's Angels (2000) 
Collateral Damage (2002) 
The Crimson Rivers/Les Rivières Pourpres (2000)
Demolition Man (1993)
The Expendables 3 (2014)  
The Last Stand (2013) 
Sabotage (2014) 
White House Down (2013)

Mediocre or poor action movies also reviewed by Film Excess

16 Blocks (2006) 
A Good Day to Die Hard (2013) 
The Amazing Spiderman (2012)
Batman (1989) 
Battleship (2012) 
Bloodsport (1988) 
Cobra (1986) 
Conan the Destroyer (1984) 
Coogan's Bluff (1968) 
District 13/Banlieue 13/B13 (2004) 
Escape Plan (2013) - guest review
The Expendables 2 (2012) 
Gangster Squad (2013) 
The Incredibles (2004)
The Raid: Redemption/The Raid/Serbuan Maut (2011)
Skyfall (2012) 
X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

[43 in total]

Related posts:

The best adapted movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
The best adventure movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
The best B/W movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 

What do you think of the list?
Which action movies and/or TV-series would be on yours?

Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992) - The ill-fated but entertaining ensemble adventure

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Majestic German poster for John Glen's Christopher Columbus: The Discovery

QUICK REVIEW:

The film tells the story of Christopher Columbus' apparently troublesome process of raising support for his voyage of discovery to seek out China or India, but instead falling upon an entirely 'new' continent.

How much of the plot of Columbus is historically substantiated is hard to say, (at least for us who aren't experts on the history). But the idea to make the sailors horrified and everyone exceedingly God-fearing is basically sound and well thought up by screenwriters Mario Puzo (The Godfather (1972)), Cary Bates (RoboCop: Alpha Commando (1998-99)) and John Briley (Gandhi (1982)). Although the pervasive fear cannot be conveyed very detailed due to the quick-edited swashbuckler style chosen here.
Italian lead Georges Corraface (La Pasión Turca (1994)) does well, and so do Robert Davi (Showgirls (1995)) and Marlon Brando (On the Waterfront (1954)).
Christopher Columbus: The Discovery is directed by 5-times James Bond director John Glen (A View to a Kill (1985)). It's a historical romantic drama epic adventure. Not visually sumptuous, but exciting nonetheless.

Related review:

John Glen: A View to a Kill (1985) or, Once a Gentleman, Always a Gentleman!

Marlon Brando and George Corraface in John Glen's Christopher Columbus: The Discovery

Watch the American trailer for the film here

Cost: 45 mil. $
Box office: 8.2 mil. $ (US only)
= Huge flop
[The film was a financial mess for its producers, father-son producer-team Alexander and Ilya Salkind, who had previously made the successful Superman movies. They broke up over the film, and Alexander Salkind is quoted saying, "I know, after this, that I'll never make movies again." The UK-US-Spanish co-production was derided and laughed at by the showbusiness community at large, and it even won Tom Selleck a Golden Raspberry Award as Worst Supporting Actor. Brando reportedly got 5 mil. $ for appearing in the film in a supporting part, which he also was Raspberry nominated for. It was also nominated as Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Screenwriter and Worst New Star. - And yet, it isn't bad at all!]

What do you think of Christopher Columbus: The Discovery?
Any insight stories about the production are welcomed
Other films that received undeserved mocking response?

A View to a Kill (1985) or, Once a Gentleman, Always a Gentleman!

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Agent 007 stands assured by a glamorous blonde high up on San Francisco's Golden Gate bridge on this wonderfully drawn and painted poster for John Glen's A View to a Kill

A dope-using race horse court owner has himself been manipulated by some ugly Nazi doctors and really plans to flood California's Silicon Valley and monopolize the microchip market. Obviously this is a case for Great Britain's #1 spy, agent 007, James Bond! 

 

A View to a Kill is written by Richard Maibaum (Goldfinger (1964)) and Michael G. Wilson (For Your Eyes Only (1981)) and directed by great British filmmaker John Glen (For Your Eyes Only (1981)), whose 3rd Bond film it is. Overall it is the 14th in the Bond franchise, with a title drawn from Ian Fleming's (Thrilling Cities (1963)) short story From a View to a Kill (1960), but the script is entirely original.
Scores of critics - seemingly including the late Roger Moore (Ivanhoe (1958-59)) himself - think that the film is a tacky, awful Bond film with a dinosaur lead, but personally, I think it's a terrifically entertaining film, possibly one of the best Bond films ever, and certainly Moore's best. It is his 7th and last as the agent, which he has portrayed more times than any of the long-running franchise's other 5 starring actors.
Christopher Walken (Domino (2005)) and Grace Jones (Conan the Destroyer (1984)) are a villain couple from heaven; sexy and wild; and Duran Duran's title song is eminent and is used extensively in the film's beautiful score by Bond-regular John Barry (Chaplin (1992)).
The action scenes and locations are spectacular and fun, and the film is especially be a treat for anyone with a penchant for the 1980s on screen. Lois Maxwell (Age of Innocence (1977)) plays Miss Moneypenny for the last time in the film, and Dolph Lundgren (War Pigs (2015)), then boyfriend of Jones, has a tiny part, his first credit.
Forget the badmouthing this film has received and still does: A View to a Kill was a world smash and is still a colorful, fun, exciting and excellent action-adventure movie!

Related posts:

Bond franchise: Spectre (2015) - Mendes' second Bond delivers 
Skyfall (2012) - Mendes elevates a slickly produced modern Bond to thrilling heights 
Die Another Day (2002) - Tamahori makes a thrilling, grand piece of Bond escapism
For Your Eyes Only (1981) - Glen debuts with wacky, action-packed Roger Moore Bond
Diamonds Are Forever (1971) - Connery's last Bond adventure is a colorful romp 

Goldfinger (1964) - The 007 template gets perfected in fabulously entertaining third spectacle 
From Russia with Love (1963) - Several remarkable elements make Young's 2nd Bond an enduring classic  
Dr. No (1962) - Bond # 1 is one attractive package
Top 10: Best car chases in movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Diamonds Are Forever (1971) - Connery's last Bond adventure is a colorful romp  

John Glen: Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992) - The ill-fated but entertaining ensemble adventure 
Top 10: The best action movies and TV-series reviewed by Film Excess to date
A View to a Kill (1985) or, Once a Gentleman, Always a Gentleman!  

For Your Eyes Only (1981) - Glen debuts with wacky, action-packed Roger Moore Bond 

Watch a teaser for the film here

Cost: 30 mil. $
Box office: 152.4 mil. $
= Big hit (returned 5.08 times its cost)

[A View to a Kill premiered 22 May (San Francisco, USA) and runs 131 minutes. David Bowie and Sting were approached to play the Max Zorin part eventually played by Walken. Shooting took place from June 1984 - January 1985 in Switzerland, England, France, including Paris and in California, including San Francisco. A stuntman was fired in Paris, when he parachuted from the Eiffel Tower without authorization from city authorities, because he was disappointed another stuntman was used for the film's Eiffel Tower jump scene. Glen has said that the film went two weeks over schedule but was made 5 mil. $ under budget. Duran Duran were hired to write the theme song, after the group's bassist John Taylor had teased producer Albert Broccoli at a party; "When are you going to get someone decent to do one of your theme songs?" It was the first Bond theme song to reach #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart. The film opened #2, behind fellow new release Rambo: First Blood Part II, to a 10.6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for another 4 weeks (#2-#3-#4-#5) and grossed 50.3 mil. $ (33 % of the total gross) from 14.1 mil. admissions. The international gross numbers are regrettably not released. Many critics lashed out at Moore's age, 57 at the time, including the first Bond, Sean Connery, and eventually Moore agreed: In 2007 he remarked; "I was only about four hundred years too old for the part." The film was nominated for a Golden Globe. Glen returned with The Living Daylights (1987), the next Bond movie; he would end his Bond turn after one more; License to Kill (1989). Moore returned with a voice performance in The Magic Snowman (1987) and theatrically in Fire, Ice & Dynamite (1990). A View to a Kill is rotten at 38 % with a 4.96/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of A View to a Kill?