| On
the 28th April 1976 Kevin McClory announced his
intention to make 'James Bond of the Secret
Service', later 'Warhead', based on the original
'Thunderball' storylines. This had followed a 10
year term the High Court in London had set before
any new production could commence on the original
Fleming-Whittingham-McClory material. McClory
had attracted Sean Connery - the two being
involved in scripting, with Len Deighton. Filming
was to start in February 1977, planned for New
York, Japan and the Bahamas. But the project fell
through after Cubby Broccoli took out an
injunction to stop the production. McClory had
also taken out an injunction to stop filming of
'The Spy Who Loved Me' after it was discovered it
was to feature SPECTRE (which McClory was
claiming he had co-created). Over six years
later, 'Never Say Never Again', the second
unofficial Bond picture, was produced.
It
opens promisingly with a top theme song sung by
Lani Hall and an original title sequence with
Bond on a training exercise. It is without the
planned pre-title sequence which was to have been
set at a medieval pageant with knights on
horseback and Bond steeplechasing an assassin
through a car park. But it doesn't continue as
strongly as it starts and the quality of the film
can be summed up by Petachi's Ford Cortina and
the presence of the M.F.I. Furniture Group in its
credits.
It
does feature excellent performances from a
not-so-serious Sean Connery, a superb Rowan
Atkinson as the British agent abroad
(maaaaarvellous), Alec "lucky bloody
you" McCowen as an alternative 'Q' and Klaus
Maria Brandauer as 'Maximillian Largo'. The film
does have its highlights including the Monte
Carlo chase sequence - "don't touch him,
he's mine". Ricou Browning returned to
undersee underwater filming (after sterling work
on 'Thunderball').
Forgettable
elements? The fight at Shrublands, the 'human
torpedo capsules' and Kim Basinger. The script
had also caused problems, with writers continuing
to work on it during production. There was also
continual delays with filming - a monsoon in the
Bahamas put filming back by a week, Irvin
Kershner (the director) "was not the fastest
guy in the world" according to Jack
Schwartzman (the producer) and re-shoots were
necessary by the end of the planned production
date. Sean Connery was surely wondering if he
should have said 'never'.
Distribution
rights for 'Never Say Never Again' were acquired
from Taliafilm by MGM in December 1997.
Nurse:
Mr. Bond, I need a urine sample. If you could
fill this beaker for me?
James Bond: From here?
(A
homage to the TV series Porridge, written by Ian
Le Frenais and Dick Clement, uncredited
scriptwriters on 'Never Say Never Again')
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