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Connery good--better than in DAF; script silly (well, Lorenzo Semple, duh!); big mistake putting song over a very good teaser; song bad, but the opening few notes sound good in the body of the score; replacing baccarat with a video game was supposed to update and/or make the film more current, but instead just hopelessly dates it. Thunderball, the film, even with its faults, is vastly superior; Thunderball's score top-notch Bond suspense, tension, action, and seduction. NSNA's score--not Legrand's best day.
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Posted: |
Mar 25, 2024 - 2:57 AM
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By: |
MusicMad
(Member)
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I love the film, except for the Rowan Atkinson bits, and can't understand the general negativity regarding this one.
It is a vast improvement on its original "Thunderball", which is the worst Connery film and a bad Bond-film in general.
The music is good, espcially since all the Craig era sewer fillings.
The tracks for the stealing of the cruise missiles and the under water scenes has a real threatening urgency to it and the score during the motor cycle chase is agile and speedy.
1983 was a very good year for Bond fans who could relax and take in the fun.
D.S.
Since, for me, Thunderball (1965) is the best (most entertaining) JB007 movie, you'll understand I don't agree with your view thereon  As for its remake Never Say Never Again (1983) this, for me, demonstrated many things about the franchise, e.g. the mere presence of Sean Connery as James Bond does not make it a James Bond film. The film's failings far outweigh any entertainment value it may offer. Michel Legrand's score is okay but this was a poison chalice ... for fans like me, where the score is an integral part of the franchise, the fact that the composer couldn't replicate the JB007 sound meant whoever took the job had a much greater challenge. There are parts of the score which do work well but it's not a JB007 score.
I've recently re-read the best Bond book ever (and I've read numerous publications): Robert Sellers' The Battle for Bond. The book describes the events in great detail how the film world of James Bond (significantly different from the literary world) came into being: e.g. the first film Dr. No (1962) owes much of its genes to the development of Thunderball, its script borrowing ideas not sourced from the 1958 novel. For those who thought the 1965 and 1983 films were isolated productions using the same source, there is much more to the story.
It's a surprise that NSNA was as good as it was (not good!) given the incompetence, mishaps, dreadful scripting, poor casting and the producer's near non-existent film experience; it's not surprising that Sean Connery considered the whole experience a nightmare and left the business for a couple of years.
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Well, hadn't heard this in a couple of decades, so I gave it another spin to see if my generally lukewarm impression would be changed.
It wasn't.
Legrand has composed many great scores and songs, but this is not one of them. It is not terrible, but it is bland and very uninspired. Not being able to--or not wanting to--use any of those magic chords that composers not named John Barry borrow from his Bond Canon, Legrand had the chance--and the talent--to create his own unique stamp in a memorable if not similar fashion. So, a shame that the score and song is not better than it is. The only moments that I like in the score are the sly first few notes of the theme dropped in here and there. And a short cue called "The Big Escape" had a gypsy madness about it that was fun.
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Me, I've always enjoyed the movie and the score, and believe me, I was second to none as a Bond fan from early on. Heck, Connery was the only other Sean I knew growing up in the 60s and 70s.
I've never been a big fan of Thunderball, so not only did I not mind the redo, I preferred it. And Klaus Maria Brandauer is one of my favorite Bond villains - he's effing crazy for real!
I was delighted that Legrand was not beholden to the Barry/Bond template, and frankly didn't miss it. (And you've gotta understand my very first instrumental soundtracks were Bond films!)
I've always gotten a kick out of the score album - spinning it now in my Apple Music cloud. Thanks for the reminder!
All that said, I'm not much of a Bond fan any more. And if I saw this movie for the first time, or anyway, any time after the mid-late 80's when I first saw it, I dunno if I would think that much of it.
But I tell you, I can't get Alec McCowen's voice out of my head whenever I think - "Lucky bloody you!"
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It's a very jokey film, which is OK, almost a Bond parody, but the score is unforgivable.
It sounds like something from a TV travelogue and is so bland and inert.
Up there with Conti's and Hamlisch's as the worst trio of Bond scores, IMO, of course.
Very hard to believe that a human being could say that...
Ita est!
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