Event Reminder: L.A. Bond Marathon Begins Tonight!

The American Cinematheque's unprecedented marathon of every single Bond movie projected on the big screen in 35mm, co-sponsored by BAFTA-LA, begins tonight at the historic Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood with a double feature of Dr. No and From Russia With Love. The screening starts at 7:30, preceded by a booksigning with James Bond Unmasked author Bill Dessowitz. The Connery and Lazenby-fuelled fun continues throughout the weekend at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, and then throughout the month with Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig movies. Read the whole schedule here and order tickets on Fandango.

See Every Bond Movie on the Big Screen in Los Angeles This Summer!

I've seen a lot of James Bond retrospectives at a lot of different Los Angeles area revival theaters over the years, but I've never seen one on this scale before! The American Cinematheque, in conjunction with BAFTA-LA, will celebrate the cinematic 007's 50th Anniversary by screening every single official Bond film this June between their Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood and Aero Theatre in Santa Monica. That's right: all 22 movies, from Dr. No to Quantum of Solace, will be projected on 35mm film prints! (Not a dreaded DCP to be found according to the Cinematheque's listings, thank goodness.) The movies will be spread out over ten nights and two theaters, parsed out in double and triple features. Tickets, which can be purchased on Fandango, are $11 for the general public or $7 for members. (That means that if you're planning to attend every screening, the savings almost pay for the membership.) While most of the Connery films screen fairly regularly at revival houses, some of these titles, like A View To A Kill and The World Is Not Enough seem unlikely to ever play except during a complete retrospective! The full schedule is:

Friday, June 8 Dr. No and From Russia With Love at the Egyptian, 7:30*

Saturday, June 9 Goldfinger and Thunderball at the Aero, 7:30

Sunday, June 10 You Only Live Twice and On Her Majesty's Secret Service at the Aero, 5:00

Thursday, June 14 Diamonds Are Forever and Live and Let Die at the Aero, 7:30

Friday, June 15 The Man With the Golden Gun/The Spy Who Loved Me/Moonraker at the Egyptian, 7:30

Saturday, June 16 For Your Eyes Only/Octopussy/A View To A Kill at the Egyptian, 7:30

Sunday, June 17 The Living Daylights and Licence To Kill at the Aero, 7:30

Friday, June 22 GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies at the Aero, 7:30

Saturday, June 23 The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day at the Egyptian, 7:30

Sunday, June 24 Casino Royale (2006) and Quantum of Solace at the Aero, 7:30

*Author Bill Desowitz will be signing his book James Bond Unmasked preceding this event.

New James Bond Installation Coming to LACMA in June

This is a very cool surprise. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is celebrating the 50th anniversary of James Bond in the cinema with an installation exhibit called "...is James Bond" running from June 9 through September 9, 2012. The exhibit will present the opening credits sequences from all the 007 movies arranged thematically on six monitors while the full set of sequences is looped and projected with audio in large format on one of the gallery walls. That sounds awesome! I'm thrilled to see Bond credit sequences (pioneered by the great Maurice Binder) recognized and legitimized as the works of art they are at an actual art museum, and I love the idea of standing in a room with them playing all around me, so I can't wait to experience it this summer. Here's the official write-up:

Over the course of twenty-two films covering the life of 007, James Bond, one element has remained constant: the opening credit sequence. Beginning with Dr. No, the opening credits, created by Maurice Binder, have functioned as separate and unique works of art—a ground-breaking exercise of cinema as daring as the title character, calculated to immerse us in the sensibility of 007.

This exhibition was co-organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Loyola Marymount University's School of Film and Television. The organizers are grateful for the special collaboration of Danjaq LLC and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios.

I hope LACMA screens some of the Bond films in their fantastic theater to accompany the exhibit!

A big thanks to Phil for the alert!

Saintly Ian Ogilvy to Appear at L.A. Convention This Weekend

Return of the Saint star Ian Ogilvy will make a very rare U.S. convention appearance this Sunday, May 6, at the Los Angeles Comic Book and Science Fiction Convention at the Shrine Auditorium Expo Center. Ogilvy, who also starred in Witchfinder General, And Now the Screaming Starts and From Beyond the Grave and made memorable guest appearances on The Avengers and The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. (among many other shows), will be a featured guest at the show and sign from 12-2pm. (There will be a charge for autographs, for which he will either sign your memorabilia or provide a photo.) I was fortunate enough to meet Ogilvy a few years ago at a West Hollywood Book Fair where he was promoting his latest children's book, Measle and the Wrathmonk (he's written a whole series of Measle titles), and found him to be very friendly and humble. He graciously signed my Return of the Saint and Amicus DVDs and told some funny and self-deprecating stories about being mistaken for Roger Moore. For any Saint fans in the L.A. area, this chance to meet the Seventies Simon Templar in the flesh is an unmissable opportunity! Admission to the Con itself, which runs from 10am-5pm, is $8.

James Bond On the Big Screen in San Francisco This Weekend

San Francisco spy fans have the opportunity this weekend to see a plethora of James Bond movies on the big screen at the Castro Theater to celebrate 007's 50th anniversary! And, best of all, they're all screening in 35mm! (None of that DCP digital crap that's been ruining so many LA area revivals lately.) Unfortunately, I'm getting this post up too late for people to catch the very best Bond movie, On Her Majesty's Secret Service (mea culpa), but there are still plenty of wonderful and rarely-screened flicks to check out:

FRIDAY APRIL 20 DOUBLE FEATURE
• DR. NO 2:00, 7:00
• ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE 4:10, 9:05

SATURDAY APRIL 21 TRIPLE FEATURE
($11 General / $8 Kids & Seniors)
• FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE 2:30, 9:30
• DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER 4:45
• THE SPY WHO LOVED ME 7:05

SUNDAY APRIL 22 TRIPLE FEATURE
($11 General / $8 Kids & Seniors)
• THUNDERBALL 1:00, 8:15
• LIVE AND LET DIE 3:30
• FOR YOUR EYES ONLY 5:50

I highly recommend that last one. I had the chance to see For Your Eyes Only on the big screen in a gorgeous film print a few years ago, and it was nothing short of revelatory. I've always been a fan of FYEO, but that screening elevated it to the position of my favorite Roger Moore movie. Fantastic!

Thanks to Doug and Spy Vibe's Jason for the heads-up.

More Bond Blu-rays Coming This Year

Finally! At long last, the remaining nine James Bond movies will see release in high-definition on the Blu-ray format. Several waves came out in 2008 and 2009, but since then, we've seen nothing. Until now. Today at the Consumer Electronics Show, Fox and MGM announced that all 22 official 007 movies to date (that excludes rogue productions Never Say Never Again and Casino Royale '67, both of which are already available individually on Blu-ray from MGM) will be released on Blu-ray together in the massive "collectible box-set" Bond 50. It's the first time all the movies have been released together in the format, and marks the Blu-ray debut for You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Diamonds Are Forever, The Spy Who Loved Me, Octopussy, A View to a Kill, The Living Daylights, GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies. In addition to the films, Bond 50 will boast "more than 130 hours of bonus features including some new and exclusive content." I'm really curious to see what that new and exclusive content is! All of the Blu-rays released so far have included the exact same special features as the DVD Special Editions, so does this new content mean that the missing titles will get new, additional extras? Or will there be a bonus disc (or discs)? I'm betting on the latter. SRP for this huge set (which marks the first time in recent memory that all of the films have been packaged together in any format in the U.S.) is a whopping $299.99, but it can already be pre-ordered on Amazon for substantially less: just $199.99. And that's not bad at all, as it works out to less than $10 a disc.

Of course the bad news here is that most fans likely already own the existing Blu-ray titles, and since no individual releases have been announced, they may feel compelled to shell out all over again for this complete set just to own the ones they don't already have. That's clearly the strategy here. And, personally, I have to admit it doesn't really bother me. Historically I've always upgraded to the latest release of Bond movies anyway, going all the way back to the days of VHS, so I'd probably buy this set even if the only upgrade was a new bonus disc. (I'm a sucker for new editions of James Bond and Evil Dead.) And for those who aren't completists like me (though I suspect a lot of readers are), I have no doubt that the missing titles will be released on their own sometime down the road.

The press release ends with a quote from Michael G. Wilson, promising that "We have a whole program of exciting activities planned for our 50th anniversary year, beginning with today’s announcement." This is an exciting beginning to 007's Golden Anniversary in the cinema. I can't wait to see the rest of the program EON's got planned! In the meantime, here's a trailer for the Blu-ray collection:

25 Days of 007 on EPIX

I always used to love the "007 Days of Christmas" James Bond marathons on TBS. Back then, in the Nineties, Bond airings were still special. The movies didn't play all the time the way they do now (it seems like MGM pimps the Bond package out to every cable network from AMC to Bravo), and there was something about a holiday marathon that compelled me to tune in and watch panned and scanned, edited versions (Mrs. Bell's profanity in Live and Let Die was silenced, and occasional nipples flashed in Maurice Binder's title sequences blurred out) of my favorite movies even though I owned them all on VHS. Plus, TBS's promotions were always cool. The ads for the marathon itself that ran at every commercial break were worth watching for alone. So perhaps it's that nostalgia that makes the December Bond marathon "25 Days of Bond" on cable channel EPIX stand apart for me from all the other airings these movies get every month. That, and the fact that some of these films (like On Her Majesty's Secret Service and The Spy Who Loved Me) can be seen in high-def on EPIX HD even though Blu-rays for them have yet to materialize.

I'm afraid I'm a few days late in reporting this. The Advent celebration of the most extraordinary gentleman spy in all fiction kicked off on December 1 with the Barry Nelson Casino Royale (which I imagine pissed off a few viewers expecting to tune into Daniel Craig), and continues with a movie a night through Christmas Eve. Then, on Christmas Day, the network will show Bond movies all day long, with 007's only Christmas adventure, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, airing smack in the middle of the day at 1:15. Isn't that the best? It's so refreshing to quietly duck away from holiday crowds and festive family gatherings to absorb even just a few random minutes of James Bond on Christmas! I should note, however, that the 25 Days of Bond don't quite add up the way you might expect. All 22 official EON productions to date plus the two earlier Casino Royales and Never Say Never Again would indeed make for 25 glorious nights, but the '67 Casino doesn't seem to be part of the equation and EPIX doesn't have the rights to the newest films (from Die Another Day on), so they make up for that by showing Goldfinger and, weirdly, The World is Not Enough twice each and slotting in Maryam D'Abo's interesting documentary Bond Girls Are Forever on the 23rd. Still, that's what I call solid holiday programming!

Tradecraft: Page Eight to Close Toronto Film Festival; Trailer Revealed

Deadline reports that David Hare's all-star BBC spy drama Page Eight (which we first heard about last November and glimpsed some footage of in May) will have its international premiere on the big screen at the Toronto Film Festival, where it will screen as the closing night gala. The festival press release offers a more in-depth plot synopsis than I've seen elsewhere:

Johnny Worricker (Bill Nighy) is a long-serving M15 officer. His boss and best friend Benedict Baron (Michael Gambon) dies suddenly, leaving behind him an inexplicable file, threatening the stability of the organization. Meanwhile, a seemingly chance encounter with Johnny's striking next-door neighbour and political activist Nancy Pierpan (Rachel Weisz) seems too good to be true. Set in London and Cambridge, Page Eight is a contemporary spy film which addresses intelligence issues and moral dilemmas peculiar to the new century. Also stars Ralph Fiennes and Judy Davis.

The film premiered in the UK in June at the Edinburgh Film Festival, garnering a review from This Is London that compared it favorably to the Gold Standard of cerebral spy TV: "Page Eight takes all the best bits from Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, cuts away the slow bits and comes up with the best cinematic exposé of how the British establishment operates since Harold Pinter collaborated with Joseph Losey on The Servant. Hare's dialogue is easily a match for Pinter's. Funnier, too." Wow! If that's even half-true, I know I'll be enthralled. That review concludes that the fact that this movie is bound for TV this fall (BBC in the UK and PBS in the US) "is a shame, since the film easily fills the big screen." The Guardian was less ecstatic, but still echoed that sentiment: "No doubt it will suit the small screen well, but it holds its own in the cinema, with a classy, stately feel to its photography, and nicely judged performances from the leads."

Here's the full teaser:

You'd Never Know That Guy Was a Spy...

The Internet's gone crazy today about a fascinating exhibition of photos from the archives of the notorious East German spy agency, the Stasi. There's a good slideshow at Yahoo! News displaying a number of pictures demonstrating disguise techniques, used in Stasi training. Seen today in this perspective, they're honestly pretty hilarious. Somehow the guy in the pictures manages to look like a stereotypical spy in every single shot, whether he's posing as a tourist, a businessman or a proto-hipster. But Simon Menner, the artist who compiled these images, cautions against that reaction: "Many of these images might appear absurd or even funny," he writes in comments accompanying a wider assortment of the collection on the photo blog Conscientious Extended. "But it is very important to understand the intention behind them. It was a extremely repressive system that caused terror through its secret service. There is also something in these images that really frightens me." It's true. When you start putting yourself in Alec Leamas' shoes and imagining life in East Germany under constant surveillance, these silly photos suddenly take on new, harrowing dimensions. According to the MSNBC PhotoBlog, the photographs are currently on display at  the Morgen Contemporary in Berlin through August 20. If you can't get to Germany at the moment, however, you can check out the disguise pictures at Yahoo! and others, including some very interesting blurry surveillance photos of suspected Western agents taking their own photos (thus representing spies spying on spies who spy on spies, recalling the tagline of that Peter Fleming novel, The Sixth Column), at Conscientous Extended.

The Persuaders! Comes to Blu-ray in the UK

Network has announced a fall release for a 40th anniversary edition of The Persuaders!: The Complete Series in high definition. Of course, like all of Network's Blu-ray releases, we can expect this one to be for Region B, limiting it primarily to European and Australian viewers or North Americans with an all-region Blu-ray player. The picture looks stunning (a vast improvement over any DVD version I've seen), as evidenced even in the promotional video below. In addition to that, Network has lived up to our high expectations of the company and provided a wealth of bonus material. Some of it was included on their previous DVD collection (which already boasted some pretty impressive extras), and some (most tantalizingly a new 156-page book by Andrew Pixley!) is new to this set. Here's the rundown:

• Digitally restored, High Definition transfers
• 156 page fully-bound book of viewing notes by Andrew Pixley
• Recently found, extensive textless material (including some behind the scenes) (HD)
• Previously unseen alternate title sequence (HD)
• Extensive HD image galleries of rare and previously unseen stills
• 1972 Sun TV Awards footage with Tony Curtis
• Contemporary French interview on location from 1971
• Moore and Curtis reunion on the Alan Titchmarsh Show from 2008
• Merchandise image gallery (HD)
• The Morning After - Remembering The Persuaders! exclusive documentary
• Commentaries with Roger Moore, Tony Curtis and production staff
• AVROSkoop contemporary documentary from 1971
• Top of the Pops promotional video for John Barry's theme
• Promotional spots
• Trailers and archive newsreel footage
• Tony Curtis interviewed by Russell Harty
• French titles
• Commercial break bumpers
• Script PDFs
• International movie versions and trailers for London Conspiracy, Mission: Monte Carlo, Sporting Chance and The Switch
• and more

Those "international movie versions" were feature films created for the foreign market by editing together two episodes of the series. They were previously available on the company's DVD set, as were the documentary and commentaries. I'm glad that all of that stuff is presented again on this collection, making it truly a complete package. (Well... almost complete. I'm guessing Network probably haven't managed to license the different commentary tracks recorded for A&E's Region 1 DVD release.) All 24 episodes of the fantastic series (probably my favorite ITC show) have undergone an HD restoration this Blu-ray edition.

The 8-disc set will be out on September 19, with a suggested retail price of £79.99. However, it's already listed at a substantial discount on Network's website: just £53.10.

To promote the release, the company has organized a big 40th anniversary celebration event, "The Time and the Place." The guest of honor will be Sir Roger Moore himself, who will discuss his career and his role in the show. The actual time and place of "The Time and the Place" will be 6pm on September 10, 2011, at Kent House, Knightsbridge, beginning a food and drinks reception followed by an HD screening of two episodes selected by Moore, “Overture” and “A Death in the Family.” (Great selections, Sir Roger!) A Q&A and signing session with the star follow. Speaking of restorations, the original restored Aston Martin from the series will also be on display. Perhaps best of all, Network promises that "a special prize will be awarded to the person who attends in the best 70s attire!" A roomful of people dressed up in velvet jackets and cravats of the sort favored by Brett Sinclair and Danny Wilde would be well worth attending even without the presence of Roger Moore, in my opinion. As with the 50th Anniversary celebration of The Avengers that took place earlier this summer (another event like the London Kiss Kiss Kill Kill one that I meant to cover but never got around to until it was too late), I really, really wish I could be there. For those lucky fans who can, tickets can currently be ordered from Network's website. £40 gets you into the reception, screening and Q&A; £80 gets you “The Gold Napoleon” deal which includes all that plus an advance copy of the Blu-ray and an opportunity to have it signed by Sir Roger personally. Chances are if you're going to this event, you're already planning on buying it anyway, so why not spring for the Gold Napoleon? I don't mean to sound like a shill, but I know I would...

Now here's that promotional video showing off the HD restoration:

Catch the Hawk!
Upcoming Spy Screenings: Hudson Hawk in Los Angeles

I saw Bruce Willis's notorious bomb Hudson Hawk in the theater on opening night when I was in middle school. I liked it. I liked it then, and I still like it now, but given its reputation, I certainly never thought I'd ever see it in a theater again. But it turns out I can, and so can anyone else in the LA area on Thursday, July 14, when it will play at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica. At a 20th Anniversary screening, no less! (I can't believe it's been twenty years... but I guess it does seem a long time ago that I remember my friend Jim eloquently explaining the movie to our French teacher the following Monday with a summary so succinct they should use it in the TV guide: "It's the guy from Die Hard, but he's going bald.") Director Michael Lehman and writer Daniel Waters will be on hand for a discussion following the screening. Sadly, there's no mention of Willis in attendance, who co-concocted the story about a cat burglar caught between the mob and the CIA as he goes after incredible inventions of Leonardo DaVinci in a comically unhinged tale of espionage and alchemy. Derek Flint himself, the great James Coburn, out-grins and out-swaggers even Willis as the Panama hat-wearing leader of a team of CIA agents code-named after candy bars. There's even a very direct Flint reference more than half a decade before Austin Powers. Really, what's not to love?  Showtime is 7:30, and tickets are available through Fandango or at the theater box office. As usual with American Cinematheque events, I recommend the box office, because I can never make Fandango work for their movies; it's always saying shows are sold out when they're not.

New Eurospy Poster Book

Remember that awesome exhibition of Eurospy posters in Hatfield, England last year? (It also happened again last month in London, an event I was sadly remiss in reporting on. I hope some London readers were able to make it anyway.) Well, if you weren't local, and like me you longed to attend but couldn't, now you're in luck: you can now peruse the entire collection in your own home! The exhibition catalog from the Kiss Kiss Kill Kill event is now available to order directly from the Kiss Kiss Kill Kill Archive. According to the site (which is quite excellent, by the way, and definitely bears a visit if you still haven't checked it out), "the book is a large format A4 all colour art book on 100g paper stock with over 100 stunning newly restored posters. All artwork from the exhibition is featured as well as an introductory essay by the curator Richard Rhys Davies." Richard runs the website as well as the collection itself, and you'd be hard pressed to find anyone in the world with a broader knowledge of Cold War-era European spy movies. I have no doubt that his essay, however brief it might be, will be every bit as worthwhile as the beautiful art itself.

As for that art, I've often said that Eurospy posters are even better than the movies themselves. The filmmakers may have been bound by tight budgets and sometimes less than stellar performers and effects, but not the poster artists! On paper, every one of these 007 knock-offs is the Bond movie it desperately wants to be! Exciting action, beautiful women, stylish fashions, fast cars, big explosions, phallic weaponry... it's all there in vivid color, equal to any of the masterpieces Robert McGinnis or Frank McCarthy created to advertise James Bond.  Of course, I should note that not all of the movies represented in this book are the Bond knock-off variety that we typically picture when we think "Eurospy."  While many of them do aspire to Bondage, Richard has also tracked down posters for obscure masterpieces in their own right from both sides of the Iron Curtain, and the catalog will no doubt introduce even the most seasoned Eurospy afficionado to titles he or she has never heard of.  Personally, I can't wait to get my hands on a copy!

The Kiss Kiss Kill Kill Exhibition Catalog is available directly from the KKKK website for £24.99 (€29.99 / $39.99) with free postage via Paypal payment. It's also available at www.pinkcatshop.com, where you can pay with your credit card.

REMINDER: Bond Screenings Tonight and Sunday in Los Angeles
George Lazenby in Person!

As reported last month, George Lazenby will be appearing tonight at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood as part of a James Bond Weekend at the American Cinematheque. Four 007 movies all told will screen between the Cinematheque's two theaters. Tonight, Friday, June 17, they'll show On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Diamonds Are Forever at the Egyptian Theatre. Best of all, Mr. Bond himself, George Lazenby, will appear in person for a Q&A between the films moderated by Complete James Bond Movie Encyclopedia author Steven Jay Rubin! If you didn't catch Laz in person at the Aero last year, make every effort to do so this time! As totally candid as only an Australian can be, he was a wildly entertaining (and thoroughly uncensored) storyteller. The Q&A alone should make the night worthwhile, but on top of that you've also got the opportunity to see the best James Bond movie ever in one of the best theaters in the country. (Plus Diamonds Are Forever. Ahem.) Tickets are supposedly available through Fandango here, but I'm never able to make that work for Cinematheque screenings. It will probably say that they aren't available for that showtime, but as far as I know none of these shows are yet sold out. Be sure to arrive early, though, if you plan to get your tickets at the box office, as I wouldn't be surprised if tonight's show, with Lazenby, does sell out.

On Father's Day, Sunday, June 19, you can catch the first two Bond films back-to-back at the Aero in Santa Monica. Dr. No starts at 7:30 followed by From Russia With Love. Once again, tickets are supposedly available through Fandango, but once again it's unlikely to work. Hit up the theater box office sometime in advance, or arrive early the day of the show.

All of these showings are listed as being 35mm presentations, which I'll take any day over even a pristine digital presentation. If I'm going to a cinema, I want to see film!

Upcoming Los Angeles Spy Screenings

Including George Lazenby in Person!

Father's Day Weekend is a James Bond weekend in Los Angeles! The American Cinematheque will screen four Bond films between its two theaters. On Friday, June 17, they'll show On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Diamonds Are Forever (didn't they just show that one?) at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. Best of all, 007 himself George Lazenby will appear in person for a Q&A between the films moderated by Complete James Bond Movie Encyclopedia author Steven Jay Rubin! If you didn't catch Laz in person at the Aero last year, make every effort to do so this time! As totally candid as only an Australian can be, he was a wildly entertaining (and thoroughly uncensored) storyteller. The Q&A alone should make the night worthwhile, but on top of that you've also got the opportunity to see the best James Bond movie ever in one of the best theaters in the country. (The Egyptian is tied for me, personally, with the Music Box in Chicago. But of course there are plenty I've never been to.) Tickets are supposedly available through Fandango here, but I'm never able to make that work for Cinematheque screenings. It will probably say that they aren't available for that showtime, but as far as I know these shows are not yet sold out. So your best bet, if you live in the area, is swinging by the box office sometime to pick up your tickets in advance.

On Father's Day itself, Sunday, June 19, you can catch the first two Bond films back-to-back at the Aero in Santa Monica. Dr. No starts at 7:30 followed by From Russia With Love. Once again, tickets are supposedly available through Fandango, but once again it's unlikely to work. Hit up the theater box office sometime before the show date.

All of these showings are listed as being 35mm presentations, which, to me, is a great thing. Last time the Egyptian showed Bonds, a bunch of them were DCPs.  They were absolutely stunning digital prints, I'll admit, but personally, I'll take a scratchy film print over pristine digital any day.  That's just the feel I want if I'm seeing a movie in a theater.  That said, hopefully these prints won't be scratchy!  My favorite viewing experience ever of OHMSS was a dye-transfer Technicolor print they showed at the Egyptian some years ago. I've seen nice prints on the big screen since then, but never another as good as that. I always hope that's the one they'll get...

REMINDER: Octopussy and The Man With the Golden Gun Screening Tonight in L.A.

More Bond on the Big Screen Coming Up

As reported at the beginning of the month, The American Cinematheque's Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood and Aero Theatre in Santa Monica are currently hosting a month-long tribute to the late, great John Barry. Among the films being screened in the retrospective (entitled "Scorekeeper: A Tribute to Composer John Barry") are six Bond movies, the first of which run tonight. Spy fans in the Los Angeles area can celebrate St. Patrick's Day by watching The Man With the Golden Gun and Octopussy at the fantastic Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood (along with "rare John Barry interviews courtesy of EON Productions") at 7:30. From Russia With Love and Diamonds Are Forever follow tomorrow (Friday, March 18); Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice wrap up the Bond weekend on Sunday, March 20.

The Barry retrospective then continues with Midnight Cowboy and the quirky take on Sherlock Holmes They Might Be Giants on Friday, March 25 at the Aero in Santa Monica, Dances With Wolves on Saturday, March 26, a Michael Caine double feature of the Harry Palmer movie The Ipcress File and Deadfall on Sunday, March 27, and finally Nicholas Roeg's Walkabout on Wednesday, March 30.  All screenings begin at 7:30. 

Tickets can supposedly be ordered through Fandango, although I don't think I've ever actually had any luck getting Cinematheque tickets that way.  It always says sold out, even when the movie isn't sold out.  You're probably better off purchasing at the theater box office.  For more information on "Scorekeeper: A Tribute to Composer John Barry," visit the Egyptian's website or the Film Score Monthly boards, which for some reason seem to have more details.

Bondathon!
Plus: In Defense of Never Say Never Again

Here is a truly amazing video that all Bond fans simply must check out chronicling a recent 3-day, 25-film 007 marathon hosted by CommanderBond.net's Athena Stamos to celebrate her birthday. The time-lapse video is edited by her boyfriend and co-host, filmmaker Brad Hansen, and it's much more than just a chronicle of a rotating crew of Bond fans having fun.  It's a remarkable sociological experiment, and truly must-see footage.  Take a look:

I was fortunate enough to be there, but sadly for only two films, as I had an incredibly busy weekend.  But it seems to have been the right two films!  I watched the 1983 Battle of the Bonds duology, Octopussy and Never Say Never Again.  As you no doubt saw in the video, everyone present rated each movie at the end. Some of the results were surprising, to say the least.  Never Say Never Again (or Sag Niemals Nie as I tend to think of it, thanks to the awesome German poster that prominently decorates my living room) was one such surprise. Personally, I've always been a fan of this film. (There's just so much to love in it! That fight with Pat Roach! Douglas Slocombe's photography! Connery! And, most of all, Barbara Carrera as Fatima Blush!) But many Bond fans are not.  Indeed, in the audience at Athena's party, a good number of die-hards grumbled about the prospect of sitting through this one and even warned newbies in the crowd that it wasn't a good one. Yet as we watched, those fans kept "waiting for it to start sucking."  And it never did. Sure, it sags a little bit after the wonderful Fatima Blush's untimely death, but even then there's lots of great stuff going on.  By the time Connery winked at the audience and Lani Hall's title song reprised, it had won new fans of old haters.  In fact, its total score even beat Thunderball's. (No, I don't quite agree with that, but I do love the movie.) Why was this?

Brad has posted a very thoughtful analysis of the event and the ratings on CBn, a must-read to supplement the remarkable video.  Among other insights as one of the only two veterans of the whole marathon, he posits that Never Say Never Again held new appeal coming as an oasis of Connery after so much Moore.  (Nothing against Moore, mind you, whose movies went over well with the crowd; just a break in the monotony.) He points out that viewing all the films in order and with a talkative audience including a mixture of die-hard fans, casual fans and first-time viewers can radically alter the way one appreciates these films. All very true, but I think there's another factor at play here, too.  I think too often people tend to watch Never Say Never Again with other Connery movies. Amidst those Sixties films, it's bound to come up short.  Not necessarily because of a great disparity in quality, but simply because of the radically different styles associated with the two decades. Never Say Never Again is very thoroughly an Eighties Bond movie, and I think it greatly benefits from being watched in that context.* I always advise friends who don't like the movie to watch it with the Moores and Daltons of that era and see how it holds up.  The result is quite different.  If you're among those who loathe Never Say Never Again, give it another try in this context. You don't need to do a full 3-day Bondathon to see it in a different light. You might be pleasantly surprised!

Read Brad Hansen's full Bondathon analysis on CommanderBond.net here.

*By the way, I consider the Eighties to be 007's second Golden Age, after the Sixties. Not only did the decade offer the greatest variety of actors playing the part and the second most films; it also offered some of the best, like For Your Eyes Only and The Living Daylights. The former has actually surpassed The Spy Who Loved Me for me in recent years to become my favorite Moore Bond.

Upcoming Spy Screenings: John Barry and James Bond in L.A.
Celebrate St. Patrick's Day With Octopussy

The American Cinematheque's Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood and Aero Theatre in Santa Monica will host a nearly month-long tribute to the great John Barry later in March, including (unsurprisingly) many spy films. The retrospective, entitled "Scorekeeper: A Tribute to Composer John Barry," runs from March 3-30 and includes the Bryan Forbes duo Seance on a Wet Afternoon and The Whisperers at the Aero on Thursday, March 3, Out of Africa at the Aero on Friday, March 4, The Man With the Golden Gun and Octopussy at the Egyptian on Thursday, March 17 (along with "rare John Barry interviews courtesy of EON Productions"), From Russia With Love and Diamonds Are Forever on Friday, March 18 (also including rare Barry interviews), Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice on Sunday, March 20, Midnight Cowboy and the quirky take on Sherlock Holmes They Might Be Giants on Friday, March 25, Dances With Wolves on Saturday, March 26, a Michael Caine double feature of The Ipcress File and Deadfall on Sunday, March 27, and finally Nicholas Roeg's Walkabout on Wednesday, March 30.  All screenings begin at 7:30. Wow!  What a line-up! 

Personally, I'm most excited about Octopussy, because it's one of the only three Bonds I've never had the chance to see on the big screen (after this screening, it will only be A View To a Kill and Never Say Never Again), The Ipcress File (because it's the only Harry Palmer I haven't seen on the big screen) and They Might Be Giants.  I'll definitely be attending all of those screenings.  Frankly, I could do without Goldfinger since nobody ever does a Bond festival without it, but I can never pass up You Only Live Twice.  I do wish there were one more Bond night with A View To A Kill and The Living Daylights, since I think Barry's last two Bond scores were also two of his best, but you can't really complain about this line-up.  I'm glad that John Barry is getting proper recognition by the Cinematheque, since the stupid Academy chose to reduce his tribute in the Oscar memorial reel to a little tiny box only visible over Celine Dion's shoulder.  (It makes me so mad! The whole reel should have played out to the five-time Oscar winner's music, with nobody singing. At least the BAFTAs got it right.)

Tickets can supposedly be ordered through Fandango, although I don't think I've ever actually had any luck getting Cinematheque tickets that way.  It always says sold out, even when the movie isn't sold out.  You're probably better off purchasing at the theater box office.  For more information on "Scorekeeper: A Tribute to Composer John Barry," visit the Egyptian's website or the Film Score Monthly boards, which for some reason seem to have more details.

Another spy movie playing at the Egyptian this month, on Saturday, March 12, is 1973's Scorpio starring Burt Lancaster and Alain Delon (paired with The Mechanic—the original version). Director Michael Winner will be on hand in person for the double feature.

Los Angeles Spy Event: "Bond Appetit" This Saturday

Attention Los Angeles Bond fans!  The LA Weekly (via MI6) reports that the the Culinary Historians of Southern California will host the event "Bond Appetit: James Bond, Foodie" this Saturday, December 11th, at 10:30 AM at the Downtown Central Library (Mark Taper Auditorium).  The Weekly describes the event thusly:

With inspiration from the writings of Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond novels, as well as the movie series and period cookbooks, food historian Linda Civitello will guide you through what cuisine the spy could have paired with his famous "shaken, not stirred" martini.

Civitello tells us, "James Bond and his creator, Ian Fleming, were world travelers and enjoyed food. Bond always ate locally -- except that he was in exotic locales. Fleming kept notes on restaurants he ate in when he traveled, including when he came to Los Angeles."

As for what graced Fleming's (and Bond's) plate, she says: "I will do a taste profile of Bond food preferences using sweet, sour, bitter, salty, umami, and other flavors."

That sounds really cool!  I'll definitely be there as long as I can get myself up that early on a Saturday morning...  A reception with refreshments (presumably themed) follows the event.

Event Reminder: Stefanie Powers In Santa Monica Tonight

As previously reported, The Girl From U.N.C.L.E. herself, Stefanie Powers, will appear in person tonight (Thursday, December 2) at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica for a screening of her Hammer movie Die! Die! My Darling and Blake Edwards' Experiment in Terror (which also features The Wild Wild West star Ross Martin as a bad guy). Experiment in Terror starts at 7:30 followed by a discussion with Powers; the Hammer film screens after that.  Prior to the event, Powers will sign copies of her new memoir, One From the Heart, at Every Picture Tells A Story across the street from the theater.

Reminder: Pierce Brosnan In Person Tonight In Santa Monica
Also: Upcoming April Dancer Appearance!

Tonight (Saturday, November 20) is the previously reported screening of The Ghost Writer (review here) and The Matador with Pierce Brosnan in person at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica.  The films start at 7:30 and Brosnan speaks between the two movies.  The American Cinematheque, who runs the theater, bills the event as "an in person tribute that includes two of Brosnan's finest performances." This event is positioned to raise Brosnan's profile with Academy voters in hopes of well-deserved Best Supporting Actor consideration for his standout work in The Ghost Writer, but it also provides fans with a great opportunity to see the former James Bond in person. Tickets are sold out through Fandango, but a few were still available at the theater's box office as of yesterday.

The Aero continues its proud tradition of hosting spy stars in person next month when The Girl From U.N.C.L.E. herself, Stefanie Powers, stops by to attend a screening of her Hammer movie Die! Die! My Darling and Blake Edwards' Experiment in Terror on Thursday, December 2.