Filming of James Bond in the 1970s
This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points. (December 2019) |
Films made in the 1970s featuring the character of James Bond included Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die, The Man with the Golden Gun, The Spy Who Loved Me, and Moonraker.
Diamonds Are Forever
Filming began on 5 April 1971, with the South African scenes actually shot in the desert near Las Vegas, and finished on 13 August 1971.
Filming in Las Vegas took place mostly in hotels owned by Howard Hughes, since he was a friend of Cubby Broccoli.
The site used for the Willard Whyte Space Labs (where Bond gets away in the Moon Buggy) was actually, at that time, a
Since the car chase in Las Vegas would have many car crashes, the filmmakers had an arrangement with Ford to use their vehicles. Ford's only demand was that Sean Connery had to drive the 1971 Mustang Mach 1 which serves as Tiffany Case's car.[5] The Moon Buggy was inspired by the actual NASA vehicle, but with additions such as flaying arms since the producers didn't find the design "outrageous" enough. Built by custom car fabricator Dean Jeffries on a rear-engined Corvair chassis, it was capable of road speeds. The fibreglass tires had to be replaced during the chase sequence because the heat and irregular desert soil ruined them.[9]
Hamilton had the idea of making a fight scene inside a lift, which was choreographed and done by Sean Connery and stuntman
Live and Let Die
Principal photography began in October 1972, in Louisiana. For a while only the second unit was shot after Moore was diagnosed with
Ross Kananga suggested the jump on crocodiles, and was enlisted by the producers to do the stunt.[13] The scene took five takes to be completed, including one in which the last crocodile snapped at Kananga's heel, tearing his trousers.[13] The production also had trouble with snakes. The script supervisor was so afraid that she refused to be on set with them; an actor fainted while filming a scene where he is killed by a snake; Jane Seymour became terrified as a reptile got closer, and Geoffrey Holder only agreed to fall into the snake-filled casket because Princess Alexandra was visiting the set.[13]
The boat chase was filmed on the Louisiana
The chase involving the double-decker bus was filmed with a second-hand London bus adapted by having a top section removed, and then placed back in situ running on ball bearings to allow to slide off on impact. The stunts involving the bus were performed by Maurice Patchett, a London Transport bus driving instructor.[13]
The Man with the Golden Gun
On 6 November 1973 filming commenced at the part-submerged wreck of the RMS Queen Elizabeth, which acted as a top-secret MI6 base grounded in
As some scenes in Thailand had to be finished, and also production had to move to studio work in
One of the main stunts in the film consisted of stunt driver "Bumps" Williard (as James Bond) driving an
Hamilton adapted an idea of his involving Bond in
The Spy Who Loved Me
The film was shot at the
As no studio was big enough for the interior of Stromberg's supertanker, and set designer
The main unit began its work in August 1976 in Sardinia. Don McLaughlan, then head of public relations at Lotus Cars, heard that Eon were shopping for a new Bond car. He drove a prototype Lotus Esprit with all Lotus branding taped over, and parked it outside the Eon offices at Pinewood studios; on seeing the car Eon asked Lotus to borrow both of the prototypes for filming. Initial filming of the car chase sequence resulted in disappointing action sequences. While moving the car between shoots, Lotus employee Roger Becker impressed with his handling of the car and for the rest of filming on Sardinia, Becker became the stunt driver.[35][38]
In October, the second unit travelled to Nassau to film the underwater sequences. To perform the car becoming a submarine, seven different models were used, one for each step of the transformation. One of the models was a fully mobile submarine equipped with an engine built by Miami-based Perry Submarines. During the model sequences, the air bubbles seen appearing from the vehicle were created by Alka-Seltzer tablets. The car seen entering the sea was a mock-up shell, propelled off the jetty by a compressed air cannon.[35]
In September, production moved to
The production team returned briefly to the UK to shoot at the Faslane submarine base before setting off to Spain, Portugal and the Bay of Biscay where the supertanker exteriors were filmed. On 5 December 1976, with principal photography finished, the 007 Stage was formally opened by the former Prime Minister Harold Wilson.[40]
Moonraker
Production began on 14 August 1978. The main shooting was switched from the usual 007 Stage at the Pinewood Studios to France, due to high taxation in England at the time. Only the cable car interiors and space battle exteriors were filmed at Pinewood. The massive sets designed by Ken Adam were the largest ever constructed in France and required more than 222,000 man-hours to construct (roughly 1000 hours by each of the crew on average).[41] They were shot at three of France's largest film studios in Épinay and Boulogne-Billancourt.[42]
220 technicians used 100 tonnes of metal, two tonnes of nails and 10,000 feet of wood to build the three-story space station set at Eponay Studios.
Drax's mansion, set in California, was actually filmed at the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, about 55 kilometres (34 mi) southeast of Paris, for the exteriors and Grand Salon. The remaining interiors, including some of the scenes with Corinne Defour and the drawing room, were filmed at the Château de Guermantes.[41]
Much of the film was shot in the cities of London, Paris, Venice, Palmdale, California, Port St. Lucie, Florida, and Rio de Janeiro. The production team had considered India and Nepal as a location in the film but on arriving at those places to investigate, they found that it was inconceivable to write them into the script, particularly with time restrictions to do so.[41] They decided on Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, relatively early on, a city that Cubby Broccoli had visited on vacation, and a team was sent to that city in early 1978 to capture initial footage from the Carnaval festival, which featured in the film.[41]
At the Rio de Janeiro location, many months later, Roger Moore arrived several days later than scheduled for shooting due to recurrent health problems and an attack of
The early scene involving Bond and Jaws in which Bond is pushed out of the aircraft without a parachute took weeks of planning and preparation. The skydiving sequence was coordinated by Don Calvedt under the supervision of second unit director John Glen. As Calvedt and skydiving champion B.J. Worth developed the equipment for the scene, which included a 1-inch-thick (25 mm) parachute pack that could be concealed beneath the suit to give the impression of the missing parachute, and an equipment to prevent the freefalling cameraman from suffering whiplash while opening his parachute, they brought in stuntman Jake Lombard to test it all. Lombard eventually played Bond in the scene, with Worth as the pilot from which Bond takes a parachute, and Ron Luginbill as Jaws. Both Lombard and Worth would become regular member of the stunt team for aerial sequences in later Bond films.[41][44][45] When the stunt men opened their parachutes at the end of every shoot, custom-sewn velcro costume seams would separate to allow the hidden parachutes to open.[42] The skydiver cinematographer used a lightweight Panavision camera, bought from an old pawn shop in Paris, which he had adapted, and attached to his helmet to shoot the entire sequence. The scene took a total of 88 skydives by the stuntmen to be completed.[41] The only scenes shot in studio were close-ups of Roger Moore and Richard Kiel.[44]
Since
For the scene involving the opening of the musical electronic laboratory door lock in Venice, producer Albert R. Broccoli requested special permission from director Steven Spielberg to use the five-note melody from his film Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). In 1985, Broccoli would return the favour by fulfilling Spielberg's request to use the James Bond theme music for a scene in his film, The Goonies (1985).
Critical response
Film | Critical | |
---|---|---|
Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | |
Diamonds Are Forever | 64% (45 reviews)[47] | 59 (11 reviews)[48] |
Live and Let Die | 67% (45 reviews)[49] | 55 (9 reviews)[50] |
The Man with the Golden Gun | 44% (45 reviews)[51] | 43 (11 reviews)[52] |
The Spy Who Loved Me | 80% (50 reviews)[53] | 55 (12 reviews)[54] |
Moonraker | 63% (48 reviews)[55] | 66 (13 reviews)[56] |
References
- ^ a b c d e Inside Diamonds Are Forever: Diamonds Are Forever Ultimate Edition, Disc 2 (DVD). MGM/UA Home Video. 2000. ASIN B000LY2L1Q.
- ^ "Los Angeles". Postcard Destinations. Mumbai. 7 January 2008. 8 minutes in. Voyager Channel.
- ^ Exotic Locations: Diamonds Are Forever Ultimate Edition, Disc 2 (DVD). MGM Home Entertainment. ASIN B00004VUHC.
- ^ a b Exotic Locations: Diamonds Are Forever Ultimate Edition, Disc 2. ASIN B000LY2L1Q.
- ^ a b c d e Guy Hamilton. Commentary track: Diamonds Are Forever Ultimate Edition, Region 4 (DVD). MGM Home Entertainment.
- ^ Peter Lamont. Commentary track: Diamonds Are Forever Ultimate Edition, Region 4 (DVD). MGM Home Entertainment.
- MI6-HQ.com. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
- ^ Decorating: Diamonds are Forever Archived June 25, 2010, at the Wayback Machine – archive: HGTV
- ^ Ken Adam. Commentary track: Diamonds Are Forever Ultimate Edition, Region 4 (DVD). MGM Home Entertainment.
- ^ "Double-O Stuntmen". The Man with the Golden Gun Ultimate Edition. MGM Home Entertainment.
- ^ "Diamonds Are Forever". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 25 January 2011.
- ^ Lana Wood. Commentary track: Diamonds Are Forever Ultimate Edition, Region 4 (DVD). MGM Home Entertainment.
- ^ a b c d e f g Inside Live and Let Die: Live and Let Die Ultimate Edition, Disc 2 (DVD). MGM/UA Home Video. 2000. ASIN B000LY209E.
- ^ Exotic Locations. Live and Let Die, Ultimate Edition, disk 2
- ^ "Live and Let Die – Location Guide". Mi6-HQ.com. Retrieved 6 November 2008.
- ^ Roger Moore. Live and Let Die Audio commentary 1. Live and Let Die, Ultimate Edition, disk 1
- ^ Sorensen, Eric (25 January 2007). "Big, gaudy and Bond-like, Seattle Boat Show exhibit cuts to the chase". The Seattle Times.
- ^ Barnes & Hearn 2001, p. 114.
- ^ a b c d Inside The Man with the Golden Gun (DVD). MGM/UA Home Video. 2000. The Man with the Golden Gun Ultimate Edition, Disc 2
- ^ a b Pfeiffer & Worrall 1998, p. 102.
- ^ a b c Cork & Stutz 2007, p. 286.
- ^ Exotic Locations (DVD). MGM/UA Home Video. 2000. The Man with the Golden Gun Ultimate Edition, Disc 2
- ^ a b c d David Naylor. The Man with the Golden Gun audio commentary. MGM Home Entertainment. The Man with the Golden Gun Ultimate Edition, Disc 1
- ^ Smith 2002, p. 135.
- ^ Oswald Morris. The Man with the Golden Gun audio commentary. MGM Home Entertainment. The Man with the Golden Gun Ultimate Edition, Disc 1
- ^ a b Barnes & Hearn 2001, p. 119.
- ^ John Barry. The Man with the Golden Gun audio commentary. MGM Home Entertainment. The Man with the Golden Gun Ultimate Edition, Disc 1
- ^ Smith 2002, p. 136.
- ^ "The Astro-Spiral Jump". McHenry Software. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
- ^ "Top Gear – Season 11, Episode 2 – 29 June 2008". Final Gear.com. Archived from the original on 1 March 2009. Retrieved 21 June 2009.
- ^ Peter Murton. The Man with the Golden Gun audio commentary. MGM Home Entertainment. The Man with the Golden Gun Ultimate Edition, Disc 1
- ^ Derek Meddings. The Man with the Golden Gun audio commentary. MGM Home Entertainment. The Man with the Golden Gun Ultimate Edition, Disc 1
- ^ Exotic Locations. MGM Home Entertainment. The Spy Who Loved Me, Ultimate Edition: Disk 2
- ISBN 978-0-571-22057-1.
- ^ a b c d e Inside the Spy Who Loved Me. The Spy Who Loved Me Ultimate Edition DVD, Disk 2
- ^ Lewis Gilbert, Ken Adam, Michael G. Wilson, Christopher Wood. The Spy Who Loved Me audio commentary.
- ^ Ken Adam: Designing Bond. The Spy Who Loved Me: Ultimate Edition, Disk 2
- ^ Nicholls, Mark. "Former Lotus engineer recalls his time as a James Bond stunt driver". Eastern Daily Press. Archived from the original on 29 October 2012. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
- ^ "Episode No. 4". Main Hoon Bond. Season 1. Episode 4. Star Gold.
- ^ "Production of The Spy Who Loved Me". 8 July 2007. Archived from the original on December 16, 2005. Retrieved 29 August 2007.
- ^ MGM.
- ^ a b c d e f Moonraker Special Edition, Region 2 booklet. 2000.
- MGM.
- ^ MGM.
- MGM.
- MGM.
- ^ "Diamonds Are Forever (1971)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
- ^ "Diamonds Are Forever Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
- ^ "Live and Let Die (1973)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
- ^ "Live and Let Die Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
- ^ "The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
- ^ "The Man with the Golden Gun Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
- ^ "The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
- ^ "The Spy Who Loved Me Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
- ^ "Moonraker (1979)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
- ^ "Moonraker Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
Works cited
- Barnes, Alan; Hearn, Marcus (2001). Kiss Kiss Bang! Bang!: The Unofficial James Bond Film Companion. Batsford Books. ISBN 978-0-7134-8182-2.
- Cork, John; Stutz, Collin (2007). James Bond Encyclopedia. London: Dorling Kindersley. ISBN 978-1-4053-3427-3.
- Pfeiffer, Lee; Worrall, Dave (1998). The Essential Bond. London: Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7522-2477-0.
- Smith, Jim (2002). Bond Films. London: ISBN 978-0-7535-0709-4.