For Your Eyes Only (1981) United Artists/Action-Adventure RT: 127 minutes Rated PG (violence, sexual innuendo, brief partial nudity, mild language) Director: John Glen Screenplay: Michael G. Wilson and Richard Maibaum Music: Bill Conti Cinematography: Alan Hume Release date: June 24, 1981 (US) Cast: Roger Moore, Carole Bouquet, Topol, Lynn-Holly Johnson, Julian Glover, Cassandra Harris, Jill Bennett, Michael Gothard, John Wyman, Jack Hedley, Lois Maxwell, Desmond Llewelyn, Geoffrey Keen, Walter Gotell, James Villers, John Moreno, Charles Dance, Paul Angelis, Toby Robins. Box Office: $54.8M (US) Theme Song: “For Your Eyes Only” by Sheena Easton
Rating: ****
For Your Eyes Only, the 12th film in the James Bond series, marks a personal milestone for me. It was the first one I saw in a theater. This monumental event occurred in July ’81 right after a forced two-week hiatus (aka summer camp) from my favorite year-round activity. I guess that’s part of why it’s my favorite entry in the series next to Live and Let Die. Who says Movie Guy 24/7 isn’t sentimental? Most people say I’m just mental, but that’s another story.
For Your Eyes Only opens with Bond visiting the grave of his late wife followed by a surprise encounter with longtime nemesis Blofeld who tries to kill him by taking control of the helicopter supposedly taking him to headquarters for an emergency meeting. It’s the last time we see the wheelchair-bound, cat-loving villain until Christoph Waltz revived the character in 2015’s Spectre. As far as pre-credits sequences go, it’s pretty cool.
The plot centers on a MacGuffin, a device called ATAC (Automatic Targeting Attack Communicator). It’s basically a computerized defense system capable of launching ballistic missiles from the Royal Navy’s submarines. In the wrong hands (i.e. the Soviets), it’s extremely dangerous. At the present time, it’s in a sunken spy ship at the bottom of the Ionian Sea. A lot of people would love to get their hands on it. Bond is sent to locate and retrieve the device before it falls into the wrong hands.
As if he doesn’t have enough on his plate, 007 has to deal with Melina (Bouquet, That Obscure Object of Desire), a vindictive young Greek woman out to avenge the murder of her parents. The British government hired her archeologist father to locate the ship’s ruins, but he’s killed by a hitman working for the main bad guy before he can relay any information to the Brits. Melina kills the hitman with her trusty crossbow before Bond can question him about his employer. Fortunately, he’s able to identify a man at the scene as Belgian assassin Locque (Gothard, Scream and Scream Again) and trace him to Cortina.
Once in Italy, Bond is introduced to wealthy businessman/intelligence informant Kristatos (Glover, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) who points him towards Greek smuggler Colombo (Topol, Flash Gordon) as the man behind the double killing. Naturally, Colombo tells a different story when he meets 007. With both men pointing fingers at each other, it’s going to be a challenge identifying the real villain. I’ll say this much, whoever it is plans to sell ATAC to the Soviets. As such, this person wants Bond out of the way…. permanently.
As much as I enjoy For Your Eyes Only, it’s missing a couple of things. First M isn’t in it. The actor Bernard Lee died before he could film any of his scenes. The producers, out of respect for Lee, decided to write M out of this installment rather than recast the character. It’s explained that he’s on leave and Bond will report to couple of British government officials in his absence. Second, Bill Conti (Rocky) replaces John Barry as score composer. He retained a few elements of Barry’s score, but added elements of dance and funk as a means of contemporizing it. It’s pretty good, but one can’t help but miss the familiarity of Barry’s jazzy score.
There’s plenty of action in For Your Eyes Only, the obvious centerpiece being a chase on the ski slopes of Northern Italy where an East German biathlete/KGB operative (Wyman, Arabian Adventure) pursues Bond downhill on a motorcycle equipped with machine guns. At one point, they find themselves on a bobsled track. There’s also a really cool car chase through the streets of Madrid involving Melina’s small but resilient car and the dead hitman’s henchmen in bigger and faster cars. Let’s not forget the climax in a Greek monastery on top of a mountain. It also boasts some great underwater cinematography, especially the scenes of Bond and Melina swimming among the sunken ruins of an ancient Greek temple.
Speaking of Melina, she’s an interesting character. The best Bond girls take a more active role in the story. Melina does exactly that. Her primary motivation is revenge, something that Bond tries to warn her about. I just wish the writers had done more with showing how her obsession with avenging her parents prevents Bond from performing his usual magic when it comes to the ladies. Bouquet is easy on the eyes, no question about it. Is she a good actress? Yes, I would say so. Although not among the most memorable Bond girls, she’s better than some. The other Bond girl in For Your Eyes Only is more of a junior Bond girl. She’s a 15YO figure skater named Bibi (Johnson, Ice Castles) who’s being sponsored by Kristatos. Like all young girls in a James Bond movie, she ends up in 007’s bed, but before you go calling Interpol, the fully-clothed agent rejects her advances and offers to buy her an ice cream instead.
SPOILER ALERT! As far as Bond villains go, Kristatos is okay. After taking the series into outer space in Moonraker which was far-fetched even for a Bond movie, the producers wanted a more down-to-earth story and villain (pun ABSOLUTELY intended!). They put Bond back in the middle of the Cold War with a plot that isn’t all that complicated and a villain that doesn’t come from a comic book. If it’s memorable you want, I refer you back to the East German biathlete, a fellow that perfectly illustrates all the traits of a member of Hitler’s master race. Who else do you that can pick up a motorcycle and throw it at somebody?
To sum up, For Your Eyes Only is a lot of silly, stunt-filled fun that also includes our hero and heroine being used as shark bait by the bad guy and his goons. Moore is still pretty good as Bond even if he’s starting to look a little too long in the tooth to play a convincing action hero. It’s not only exciting, it’s funny too. I love Moore’s quips and one-liners after escaping potential deathtraps. A lot of fans aren’t crazy for this one, but I LOVE it. I have so many good memories associated with it. I’ll close with my favorite. I was chatting with the girl at the candy counter before going in and she told me about 85% of the people in the movie get killed. I was already sold on seeing For Your Eyes Only, but this clinched it. MG 24/7 always knew what he liked, even at 13.
