"FOR YOUR EYES ONLY" - Guns, Gadgets and Girls

For Your Eyes Only  -  Guns, Gadgets and Girls

 

Ian Fleming was the creator of universal spy James Bond 007.  Bond films have a reputation of being wholesome entertainers. 

I'm Bond.....
James Bond..!!  The ubiquitous introduction by himself is a  two liner which is a craze among James Bond fans.

James Bond guzzling his Vodka Martini is an eye treat.  The Bond girls are always an eye candy.  The Bond’s unfailing gun shots often hits the bull's-eye.  All these happenings are for your eyes only.

The quick reflexes of the lover boy spy James and the bevy of beauties chasing him all over the globe was quite interesting, entertaining and amusing with electrifying chills, thrills, adventure and blazing bullets.  James Bond not only un-lock the treasure safe vault but also the key to the heart of his lady love.  We can witness that the electronic gadgets of James Bond getting more and more spine chilling and innovative film after film.  The clever handsome playboy-hero is there for you to rave about with his admirable histrionics.  

Needless to say that the Bond villains with their gangster molls give a chase for the money effecting chilling adrenaline gushes through their magnanimous presence often chewing the guns and electric wire  with their metallic teeth.

 






                                         

 The spy on an espionage mission often ends up under the spread bed linen with the gorgeous women and enjoying stimulating steamy sex.  Bond machismo is glorified with the continental beauties he bed with as a part of his mission.  The Bond’s Secretary in the Secret Agents’ office always teases the handsome spy James about his penchant for girls and guns.   The Boss of Secret Agents, CIA often sees off James on a mission with most advanced weapons and microchip gadgets. 


The great gambler James Bond racing with the fast cars and speed motor boats sporting sophisticated weapons are good enough to thrill you with sure adrenaline shots.  The spy often raiding the aerial routes in parachutes and wind planes are often visible in a Bond movie.  The cockpit stunts too are amazing to watch and enjoy.

The mushrooming internet sites and James Bond fan clubs gives testimony for his immense popularity with the masses. 

The patriotic spy ends up with eliminating the bad elements of the society involved in terrorizing the world and wanting to destroy the very own peaceful fabric of the nations.  The fuming pistol barrel of James Bond smells angst and gun powder to thwart the evil designs of the anti national elements. He often steps on the crocodiles while chasing the villains and sends them reeling out of the blues.  The non stop action in Bond movies includes automobile chases and  thrilling underwater battles.

Over the last 50 years a number of Hollywood actors essayed the role of James Bond 007.    Sean Connery, Barry Nelson, David Niven, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig all of them played the charismatic and irresistible spy James Bond 007.

The Bond girls were most alluring and bewitching beauties.  Ursula Andres played Bond’s lady love in Dr. No wearing a white bikini for the first time in a Bond movie.  The Bond’s irresistible charm is that of a lady killer and the beauties often fall for him and end up in his arms and then to her boudoir.

All in all there are 24 Bond films so far.  I would like to present here the movie titles of James Bond for your eyes only –

IAN  FLEMING   -

 

Ian Fleming, in full Ian Lancaster Fleming    (born May 28, 1908, London, England—died August 12, 1964, Canterbury, Kent), suspense-fiction novelist whose character James Bond, the stylish, high-living British secret service agent 007, became one of the most successful and widely imitated heroes of 20th-century popular fiction.

The son of a Conservative MP and the grandson of a Scottish banker, Fleming was born into a family of wealth and privilege and was educated in England, Germany, and Switzerland. Before settling down as a full-time writer, Fleming was a journalist in Moscow (1929–33), a banker and stockbroker (1935–39), a high-ranking officer in British naval intelligence during World War II, and foreign manager of the London Sunday Times (1945–49).

Casino Royale (1953) was the first of his 12 James Bond novels. Packed with violent action, hairbreadth escapes, international espionage, clever spy gadgets, intrigue, and gorgeous women, the books became international best sellers. The Bond books gained wide popularity in the United States after the newly elected president, John F. Kennedy, named a Bond novel on his list of favorite books in 1961.

Bond, with his propensity for gambling and fast cars, became the prototype of the handsome, clever playboy-hero of the late 1950s and ’60s. He was the symbol in the West of the burgeoning consumer age, indulging in only the best brand-name products and enjoying access to the foremost electronic gadgets of his day. To some readers, Bond’s incessant name-dropping of commercial products was off-putting, but the tactic enabled Fleming to create realism unusual in the popular fiction of his day. Bond’s mannerisms and quirks, from the way he liked his martinis (“shaken, not stirred”) to the way he introduced himself (“Bond, James Bond”), soon became famous around the world. All the Bond novels, notably From Russia, with Love (1957), Dr. No (1958), Goldfinger (1959), and Thunderball (1961), were made into popular motion pictures, although many deviated from Fleming’s original plots.

Fleming’s books were roundly criticized by many highbrow critics and novelists. Paul Johnson lambasted the Bond phenomenon in a famous essay titled “Sex, Snobbery, and Sadism,” and the spy novelist David Cornwall (John le Carré) criticized Bond’s immorality (“He’s a sort of licensed criminal who, in the name of false patriotism, approves of nasty crimes”). Feminists have long objected to Bond’s chauvinistic ways, and the Soviet Union, as the enemy in so many of Bond’s Cold War capers, attacked Fleming for creating “a world where laws are written with a pistol barrel.” Fleming countered that “Bond is not a hero, nor is he depicted as being very likeable or admirable. He’s not a bad man, but he is ruthless and self-indulgent. He enjoys the fight—but he also enjoys the prizes.”

Despite (or because of) such criticism, the Bond stories grew in popularity. The 007 trademark became one of the most successful in merchandising history, giving birth in the 1960s to a spate of Bond-related products, from toys and games to clothes and toiletries. James Bond films continued into the 21st century, and they have reportedly grossed more than $1 billion. The book series was also continued after Fleming’s death, by such writers as Kingsley Amis (Colonel Sun [1968], under the pen name Robert Markham) and Sebastian Faulks (Devil May Care [2008]). Charlie Higson wrote a series of Young Bond novels for younger readers, one of which (SilverFin [2005]) was adapted into a graphic novel. The Moneypenny Diaries, which debuted in 2005, was a series written by Samantha Weinberg as the fictional editor Kate Westbrook. The books chronicle the adventures of Miss Moneypenny, a well-known side character in the original novels. There are numerous Bond-related Internet sites and fan clubs around the world.

Fleming also published two collections of short stories featuring Bond. In addition, he wrote a children’s book, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1964), which was made into a feature film and whose main character, Commander Pott, perhaps summarized best the Fleming/Bond philosophy of life: “Never say ‘no’ to adventures. Always say ‘yes,’ otherwise you’ll lead a very dull life.” Fleming’s life and personality—from his wartime service and his caving and shark hunting to his and his family’s hobnobbing with the rich and famous (when Fleming’s father died, Winston Churchill wrote the obituary)—made him, in the opinion of many, a more compelling figure than even Bond, and as such he has been the subject of several biographies, including Andrew Lycett’s Ian Fleming (1995).

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY  -

SYNOPSIS  -

While visiting the grave of his deceased wife, Tracy (whom was killed in the film On Her Majesty's Secret Service), James Bond (Roger Moore) is called back to MI6 headquarters. A helicopter arrives to transport him. During the flight the pilot is killed by electricity that surges through his headset and a familiar voice begins to taunt Bond over the chopper's loudspeaker; it is that of Blofeld, Bond's deadliest villain. As Bond struggles to gain control of the chopper, he notices a man in a motorized wheelchair nearby. Bond manages to reach the pilot's seat but cannot operate the 'copter. Blofeld, controlling the 'copter with a small console, flies the chopper into a giant foundry building, with the intention of letting it crash. Bond sees that a set of cables have been wired to the chopper and he rips them out, regaining control of it. He flies after Blofeld and hooks his wheelchair on the end of the chopper's landing skid. Though Blofeld pleads for his life, Bond vengefully drops him down a nearby smokestack.

In the Adriatic Sea, a fishing ship, the St. Georges, trawls off the coast of Albania. Inside is a hidden control room for British defense. The spy ship is equipped with ATAC (Automatic Targeting and Attack Communicator), a valuable defensive and offensive device that the Soviet Union would like to obtain. When the ship's decoy fishing crew hauls in a net, it brings with it an old anti-warship mine which explodes, sinking the St. Georges. At MI6, M's temporary replacement, Bill Tanner (James Villiers), is informed of the incident. When he asks how deep the water is off the coast of Albania, he is told it isn't "deep enough." Hoping to find the St. Georges and the ATAC discreetly, Tanner orders a British underwater archeologist, Timothy Havelock (Jack Hedley), to find the St. Georges. Meanwhile, Tanner's KGB counterpart, General Anatole Gogol (Walter Gotell), is told that the ATAC is in play, and instructs an unknown contact to procure it for him.

Havelock's daughter, beautiful Melina (Carole Bouquet), arrives by plane at her father's yacht near the site of the St. Georges' sinking after taking a vacation in France. While she reunites with her parents, the plane she was brought in suddenly strafes the yacht with a burst of machine-gun fire. Both Havelock and his wife are killed, however, Melina is unharmed. She looks on with a look of despair and rage on her face.

In London, James Bond is called into M's office to meet with Tanner and Minister of Defense, Frederick Gray (Geoffrey Keen). He is ordered to find the ATAC, his first lead being the man, Hector Gonzales (Stefan Kalipha), a pilot and Cuban national who killed the Havelocks. Tanner orders Bond to find Gonzales near Madrid and interrogate him for information.

Bond goes to Gonzales' home where he's throwing a party. Bond observes that Gonzales is meeting with a mysterious man (Michael Gothard) in an elegant suit and octagonal wire-framed glasses, and deduces that he is paying Gonzales for the assassination he performed. Bond is captured by a security guard and brought to Gonzales who identifies him immediately as British Secret Service and orders him taken away. As he dives into his pool, Gonzales is struck and killed by a crossbow arrow fired by an unseen assassin. The distraction allows Bond to escape. The man with the glasses does not intervene and instead leaves with the money that he intended to pay Gonzales with. As Bond makes his escape, one of the security guards chasing him is killed also by a crossbow bolt. The shooter is revealed to be Melina Havelock, who has been seeking revenge for the deaths of her parents. Before they can escape in Bond's Lotus Esprit, it explodes when a guard tries to break one of its windows. Bond and Melina use her car, a small, clunky Citroen, in a furious chase where they evade Gonzales' men in a wild chase through a small town and through an olive orchard.

Back in London, Bond reports back to MI6, where the upset Tanner reprimands him for failing to obtain any information from Gonzales. However, Bond, with Q's assistance, uses a highly sophisticated database called an Identigraph, to identify and locate the mysterious payoff man. The man is revealed to be Emile Leopold Locque, a Belgian assassin who has worked as an enforcer for numerous crime syndicates. The most recent intel suggests he is operating in Cortina d'Ampezzo in Northern Italy.

Bond travels to Cortina and meets Luigi Ferrara (John Moreno), an Italian Secret Service agent who tells him that Locque may be associated with an organization called the White Dove (indicated by the pin Locque and it's members wear). He directs Bond to his most reliable contact in the Greek Underworld, Aris Kristatos (Julian Glover). Kristatos identifies the White Dove's leader as Milos Columbo (Chaim Topol), the kingpin of Greece's heroin trade. Kristatos asks Bond to be an escort for his young skating protege, Bibi Dahl (Lynn-Holly Johnson), while she watches the biathlon. Bibi tries to seduce Bond in his hotel room, but Bond refuses her advances due to her young age.

At the biathlon, Bibi points out a friend of her's, Eric Kriegler (John Wyman), a competitor in the event. Bond bids Bibi farewell and leaves the event; as he skis away, he is attacked by a small group of thugs on winterized motorcycles. One of them is Kriegler himself, who tries to kill Bond with his sniper's rifle, another is Locque. Bond is able to escape his attackers, killing several of them in the process.

Bond meets Bibi later at the Olympic skating rink where Bibi is practicing. He asks her about Eric and finds out that he is an East German defector. After Bibi leaves, he is again attacked, this time by three hulking hockey players. Bond beats them all and returns to his car. There he finds that Ferrara has been killed. In Ferrara's dead hand is a White Dove pin.

Bond goes to the business section of Cortina the next day and spots Melina buying a crossbow. As he approaches her, they are both attacked by men on motorcycles, much like Bond the previous day. Bond kills both attackers and orders Melina to leave Cortina. He also tells her that her need for revenge may get her killed too. She agrees to return to her father's yacht and wait for word from Bond.

Bond travels to Greece to continue his investigation of Columbo. At a nightclub, he meets with Kristatos and asks how to meet Columbo, not knowing that Columbo's men are secretly recording their conversation. Columbo is at the same club and is sitting with a woman, Lisl von Schlaf (Cassandra Harris), a countess. She becomes openly insulted by one of Columbo's comments and proceeds to leave. Seeing an opportunity to learn more about Columbo, Bond approaches Lisl and offers to have Kristatos' valet, Apostis (Jack Klaff), drive her back to her hotel. After Apostis leaves, Bond and Lisl spend the night together. Lisl confesses that Columbo knows that Bond is a secret agent, and has asked her to learn more about him. Unbeknownst to either of them, Apostis is secretly listening in on their conversation.

In the morning, the two walk on the beach and are attacked by Locque and another White Dove member, Claus (Charles Dance). Locque kills Lisl by running her down in his dune buggy, and he and Claus capture Bond. Claus is suddenly shot by a harpoon and several men wearing the White Dove emblem appear out of the surf and capture Bond.

Bond is taken to Columbo himself on a yacht, who tries to convince the spy that Kristatos is actually the real villian and the one behind the search for the ATAC. As a means to prove this, he invites Bond to accompany his men to Albania, where Kristatos is using a shipping warehouse to process heroin. Bond reluctantly agrees, and they find Locque overseeing a shipment of raw opium smuggled in enormous rolls of newsprint. They also discover some old naval mines, implying that the sinking of the St. Georges was no accident. As his men provide cover, Locque wires explosives to one of the mines, taking the detonator with him to a nearby escape car. Locque detonates the explosives to cover his escape, but Columbo's raiding party are able to flee the warehouse before it explodes. Using an underground tunnel, Bond is able to get to the shipyard's entrance before Locque does. He opens fire on Locque's car, hitting the assassin in the shoulder and causing him to lose control of the vehicle, which careens of the road. As Locque's car precariously teeters on the precipice of a cliff, Bond shows him the dove pin he'd gotten from Ferrara, throws it to Locque; the tiny shift in weight causes the car to slide off the cliff. Bond gives the car a hard kick and it plummets, killing Locque.

Bond travels to the Havelock's yacht and finds Melina. Bond asks Melina if her father possibly left behind any information about his work for the British government. Melina shows Bond her father's journal and they discover that her father had been diving in an unusual underwater location.

The two go there in her father's mini-submarine and find the St. Georges. The enter the wreck and find the ATAC attached to an explosive charge which had failed to be activated. Bond disarms the bomb and takes the ATAC when the two are attacked by a diver in a JIM suit. Bond manages to escape the killer and attaches the ATAC bomb to the JIM suit, destroying it. Nearly out of breathable air, he and Melina return to the mini-sub but are again attacked by another mini-sub. They are able to escape this man as well.

They return to the surface to find that Kristatos, accompanied by Kriegler and Apostis, has seized the Havelock yacht and killed the crew. Kristatos takes the ATAC with the intention of selling it to the Soviet government; Kriegler is revealed to be his KGB contact. Using Melina and Bond as "bait" they tow them behind Kristatos' yacht hoping that sharks will eat them. Bond is able to snap the line binding them and they retreat to a SCUBA tank Melina left on the ocean floor. Kristatos, assuming Bond and Melina are both dead, leaves.

The two make it back to their yacht and hear her father's parrot reveal the destination of the ATAC, a location only called "St. Cyril's." Q informs Bond that there are over 300 locations with the same name in all of Greece, however, Bond knows that Columbo will know where Kristatos has retreated to.

The St. Cyril's that Columbo knows of is a monastery in the northern mountains of Greece and sits atop a series of sheer cliffs. It is only accessible on the ground by a cabled basket; Bond must scale the cliff to reach the machinery controlling the basket. As he climbs, he is found by Apostis, who tries to loosen the spikes and climbing rope Bond is using as a safety line. Bond is able to make it up the cliff far enough to throw a spike at Apostis and send him off the cliff. He makes it the basket house and lowers it for the rest of the crew to come up.

General Gogol is on his way to the monastery to collect the ATAC. Kristatos attempts to flee with the ATAC, with Columbo and Melina in hot pursuit. Kriegler attacks Bond, nearly overpowering him due to his size, before Bond takes him out with a spiked candelabra and races after Columbo and Melina. Kristatos and Columbo fight. Kristatos knocks Columbo out, only to be cornered by Melina, who seeks to kill him to avenge her parents' death. While Bond and Melina argue over whether to execute Kristatos or simply arrest him, Kristatos pulls a switchblade out of his jacket. Before Kristatos can attack Melina or Bond, Columbo regains consciousness and kills him with a throwing knife. Gogol arrives and genially asks for the ATAC; Bond suddenly throws it over the side of the mountain where it shatters hundreds of feet below. Gogol is visibly shocked at first but Bond replies "Detente, Comrade! You don't have it, I don't have it." Gogol suddenly smiles and leaves, obviously humored.

Melina and Bond share a romantic evening on board the Havelock yacht when a call arrives from MI6 on Bond's wristwatch. The British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher wishes to speak to Bond personally. Bond gives the watch to Melina's parrot and the PM is tricked into thinking she's still speaking to Bond, who has joined Melina for a nude moonlight swim.

The king of all espionage dramas “For Your Eyes Only” was a roller coaster movie experience which gives goosebumps.  The beautiful girls have a crush on the prince charming James Bond 007.  The super intelligent spy with his wonderful micro gadgets, guns and girls elevates you to take a ride in the aerial route with blood-curdling fights and electrifying blitzkrieg chases always lingering in your mind’s frame. 

I thought it is befitting to write a BLOG about the super spy’s world with his spectacular action, adventure, thrills and chills with sci-fi glorified fiction.