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'Never Say Never Again' Celebrates 25 Years

CBn Forum members on seeing Sean Connery's renegade James Bond film for the first time

'Never Say Never Again' Celebrates 25 Years (Part II)

CBn Forum members on seeing Sean Connery's renegade James Bond film for the first time

With the 25th anniversary of Never Say Never Again this month in the US, I thought it would be interesting to ask CBn members about the first time they saw this rogue Sean Connery Bond film (something we did similarly last year for the anniversaries of

Everyone is encouraged to write a few paragraphs describing the event and your thoughts.

Never Say Never Again was my first Bond experience on the big screen, in December 1983.

It was my 9th birthday, and my parents had organised a day out including a screening of Never Say Never Again in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, where I lived. I had 9 friends with me.

We were all very excited waiting in the cinema foyer, looking at the poster. We had all enjoyed Goldfinger and Diamonds are Forever on TV earlier in the year, and we all loved Live and Let Die and were hoping for something the same.

It all went by in a blur, and we loved it. I can't remember if we knew it wasn't an official 007 movie, but I don't think we would have cared. We enjoyed the opening scene, thinking for a second that James Bond had been killed - surely not!? And the bike chase was the highlight of the movie, with Bond and Fatima Blush facing off in a warehouse. I remember that when she exploded and all that was left were her shoes, my friends and I were adamant that she had been a robot!!

After the movie, my parents took us to a restaurant for some food (mainly pizza and chicken nuggets, followed by cake and ice cream), and then back to my house to re-enact the movie, with me as Blofeld, and my friends as Bond, Q, and two pretended to be Oddjob and Jaws, who weren't even in the movie!!

All in all a memorable day, and my first taste of 007 on the big screen. Since then, I saw the Living Daylights, Goldeneye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World is not Enough, Die Another Day and Casino Royale at the theater. And it all comes around again with Quantum of Solace in a few weeks. But it all started back then, at Christmas 1983.

I rented a VHS copy of it when I was like 10 or 11. Having grown up with loud, explosive, Brosnan-style action films I found it, like other Connery films, incredibly boring and I don't think I got past the first scene.

In 2006, to promote Casino Royale, a local TV network ran all the previous Bond films including NSNA. I saw the last hour or so of it twice.

I've brought the DVD a few months ago but never got around to watching it yet.

So NSNA has the distiction of being the only Bond film I have not yet seen in full.

I saw it in the theater when it opened in October 1983. I probably went after high school ended for the day. I liked it, thought it wasn't better than Thunderball or Octopussy which had preceded it a few months earlier. Found it ironic that Sean was in better shape for this film than he was in DAF.

Saw it at the Chinese Theater opening night. We took a limo for fun. I liked Connery, but I was somewhat let down by the film. Especially after the superb Octopussy the summer before.

I saw it at my local cinema in '83. I'd been to the Octopussy premiere and had loved - and still love - it for being utterly bonkers and for featuring one of my favourite Roger Moore performances. I'd followed the so-called "Battle of the Bonds" like everyone else and was expecting great things of NSNA. How wrong I was; I couldn't believe what witless tripe I was watching, or how Sean Connery - admittedly trimmer than his last Bond outing - looked like a tribute to the embalmers' art. Everything in the movie fell flat for me - the score, the script, the woeful direction and the performances. By the end of the movie, I actually started to resent everyone involved in its production for squandering their opportunity. I still find it hard to watch even to this day.

Boy! This still ranks as one of the worst experiences I have ever had at a cinema. I was so excited by this coming out. Really pro Connery and I thought Octopussy was terrible. So, I saw it at a preview on a Sunday morning in Leicester Square about a month before it was due to be released. The full team who ran The James Bond British fan Club (as it was then called) were going to see it together. Every one of us so Pro-Connery, you can imagine our excitement. I remember talking to Irvin Kershner in the foyer. He signed my preview ticket, (Which I still have) and hoped I enjoyed the film. Pat Roach sat behind us. One of the team had just interviewed him for 007 magazine so he was quite chatty.
Well the film started. That music Oh dear, those credits, what was happening. That awful fight at Shrublands that went on forever. Those murky underwater scenes. That truly terrible video game. No suspense, lifeless action, no pace. It just sat there going through the motions of Thunderball, but with none of the style or class. I sat next to someone extremely well known in fandom (he knows who he is) and all I could hear was him routinely sighing very loudly.
I remember we all retired to a restaurant after. You have never seen such a depressed bunch of people. We were stunned into silence by the awfulness of it. It has been years since seeing it. It is the only Bond I just cannot watch.
Interesting side to the story. On the way out we saw Maurice Binder with Harry Saltzman (Yes, Harry Saltzman!) in the foyer. I wonder if they enjoyed it.

Can't say i've ever bouthed to actually watch this film.

Believe me give it a go. It's awfulness puts everything into perspective. I even appreciated Octopussy after I saw it

I saw Never Say Never Again at the local theater the week it came out. I took the girlfriend previous to my wife (actually how I met Mrs D07) and was excited to see the "Connery Bond movie" after seeing the very fun "Moore Bond movie" earlier in the year.

I don't know why it didn't occur to me that the EON formula would not be followed, probably figured that the music and titles were Bond elements, not a production company thing. It sure left me out of balance since there was no gun barrel scene, no Bond theme, no 007 theme, the wrong M's office, M, Moneypenny, and Q. Even my date asked "What the hell was that? It certainly wasn't a James Bond movie!"

Not my favorite film, but it gets watched occasionally, and has its good points: the bike chase is good fun, Largo is definitely crazy and creepy, and I think I might be in love with Fatima Blush - what an evil lady!

I have seen every Bond movie in the theater since The Man with the Golden Gun, this just wasn't the best one I saw in 1983!

I saw it in its first week, and I liked it! Despite its flaws, I still do. Many of the things frequently mentioned, the absence of the gunbarrel and the theme, didn't bother me at all. They're peripherals, not what makes a Bond movie. The score is another thing frequently mentioned by fans, but I can't say I paid much attention to it. It certainly didn't ruin the movie for me.

Connery looked in great shape, and he was excellent, quick with his fists when he needed to be, and equally fast with a quip. There was much to enjoy: Barbara Carrera's scene-stealing performance as Fatima Blush, the Shrublands scenes, Bond's line "Keep dancing!", the shark battle and the motorcycle chase (both highlights), and supporting performances by Pamela Salem, Bernie Casey, and Alec McGowan. I even liked the finale.

There was other stuff that puzzled or annoyed me. Edward Fox as M got old very fast, Klaus Maria Brandauer didn't seem menacing to me (just barmy), Kim Basinger was just ok, I didn't believe the ending of Bond's battle with Count Lippe, the video game sequence was dull, and the North African scenes were visually uninspiring. The torpedo-launched rocket platforms struck me as silly.

Perhaps strangest of all, given the improbabilities that I've accepted in Bond films over the years, I was bothered by the notion that Largo could so quickly sail a private yacht from the coast of North Africa, through the Suez Canal, and into the Gulf in the time that elapsed in the movie. This undoubtedly means I'm over-analyzing this movie, but there you go.

On balance, I enjoy NSNA. It was great to have Connery back, and the film moved along at rapid pace. If the story was a bit familiar, and there were several aspects of the production to criticize, I was nevertheless more than happy to go along for the ride.

7/10

I should add that I don't own it, and I haven't seen it in its entirety for years.

I don't own it, but I've seen it a few and adore it; it's far better than the other two sendoff vehicles EON prepared for him, and it's got a lot of class, to boot.