Never Say Never Again

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Beyond the normal canon of Saltzman and/or Broccoli-produced Bond films, there have been three anomalies. The first was an early, 1954, black-and-white television production of "Casino Royale" with Barry Nelson as Bond and Peter Lorre as the villain. The second was the silly comic parody of "Casino Royale" made in 1967 with David Niven, Peter Sellers, and Woody Allen taking turns as Bond. And the third is the subject of our review, "Never Say Never Again," the 1983 reworking of "Thunderball," starring that most capable Bond of all, Sean Connery. Apparently, Connery had secured rights to the story years before and decided after a twelve-year absence to return to the role and have the film produced himself.

The result was not quite the world-shaking event it was supposed to be, but it is a commendable Bond entry, with much of the familiar gimmicky of the regular series replaced by mystery and intrigue and much of the customary double entendres replaced by witty and sophisticated dialogue.

I've always thought Sean Connery got better as an actor as he grew older. It might appear that at age fifty-three he was a bit over-the-hill for the part, yet while he certainly appears more mature, he is as dashing and capable as ever as the world's greatest super spy. Indeed, he looks more trim and fit here than he did in "Diamonds Are Forever" a dozen years before. Viewers also forget that Roger Moore is two years older than Connery, and Moore made "Octopussy" at the same time as "Never Say Never" and made "A View To A Kill" a couple of years later! For my money, Connery could come back as Bond any time, especially after seeing him in "Entrapment," perhaps playing a Bond pulled out of retirement for one last case as Sherlock Holmes was persuaded to return in "His Last Bow."

Anyway, as "Never Say Never Again" begins, the double-0 agents have been decommissioned and Bond shipped off to a health farm. "Too many free radicals," says "M." "They're toxins that destroy the body and the brain, caused by eating too much red meat and white bread and too many dry martinis." "Then," says Bond after a moment's reflection, "I shall cut out the white bread, sir."

He shows up at the health farm in his old supercharged Bentley. "They don't make them like that anymore," says the doorman. Nor do they make Bonds like Connery any more. When a nurse asks him from across the room for a urine sample, "Will you fill this beaker for me?" Bond answers, "From here?" Later that afternoon there is one of the best fight scenes in the series, between Bond and a muscular henchman from SPECTRE. Yes, it seems no matter where 007 goes, trouble follows. In this secluded resort Bond stumbles onto yet another of SPECTRE's nefarious schemes to exact enormous sums of money from the world, this time by stealing thermonuclear devices and threatening to blow up key cities. SPECTRE doesn't stand for "Special Executive for Counter-Intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion" for nothing. The double-0's are back in business.

No Bond film is worth its salt without strong villains, reliable heroines, and a solid supporting cast; and here "Never Say Never Again" comes through, especially since the plot, as I've said, is merely a rewriting of "Thunderball." Klaus Maria Brandauer makes an effective heavy as Maximillan Largo, head of SPECTRE's operations, a quietly sinister madman. He is one of the few actors on a par with the likes of Joseph Wiseman (Dr. No) and Gert Frobe (Goldfinger) as worthy and credible opponents for Bond. As the chief of SPECTRE, the redoubtable Max von Sydow makes an equally formidable Ernest Stavro Blofeld. Then there are the two female leads: the lovely Kim Basinger as Domino, Largo's girlfriend and Bond's chief love interest when she finds out Largo had her brother murdered; and the sultry Barbara Carrera as Fatima Blush, a man-hating femme fatale who vamps her way around the screen like a silent-movie siren. Supporting roles are played by Bernie Casey as CIA-agent Felix Leiter; Edward Fox as "M"; Alec McCowen as "Q"; Pamela Salem as Miss Moneypenny; and for comedy relief Rowan Atkinson as a British civil servant, Nigel Small-Fawcett.

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