Never Say Never Again (1983)

Before CrazyFilmGuy moves on to the Timothy Dalton era in the James Bond series, we need to step back to visit the one anomaly in the entire James Bond canon. NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN (1983) is a remake of the 1965 Bond film THUNDERBALL.  Why would the Bond filmmakers remake one of their own films?  The answer is that THUNDERBALL was the only Ian Fleming story that producers Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman did not outright own the rights to.  Kevin McClory, who co-wrote the THUNDERBALL screenplay with Jack Whittingham and Ian Fleming, won a legal dispute with Ian Fleming to make his own Bond movie. The settlement was that it would have to be a remake of THUNDERBALL. So NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN has no involvement from any of the regular Bond production team like Broccoli, Saltzman, or any of the technical talent.  But it did have the involvement of the last person anyone expected. 

The man who walked away from James Bond (at probably the right time in his career) after DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER (1973) was talked into reprising his most famous role, although slightly older now. That man was Sean Connery. Connery was 53 when he made NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN. The story goes (whether true or not) that Connery told his wife after DIAMONDS that he would never play James Bond again.  When he decided to put on the black tuxedo and pull out the Walther PBK one more time, his wife allegedly said, "Never say never again." I remember going to see NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN when the film was released in 1983.  OCTOPUSSY starring Roger Moore as James Bond and produced by Broccoli was released the same year, four months before NEVER.  I found OCTOPUSSY disappointing. Moore was becoming too old as Bond and they even brought back Maud Adams a second time as the Bond Woman. It was a joy to have Sean Connery back as 007. Even though NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN was a remake, it was a new take on the story with a new cast and production team. 

From the film's title supposedly based on Connery's wife's response to his return to a character he had sworn never to reprise again to Connery's final wink at the camera at the movie's end, NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN firmly has its tongue in cheek throughout the film.  The screenplay by veteran Hollywood screenwriter Lorenzo Semple, Jr (THE PARALLAX VIEW, THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR) follows THUNDERBALL'S plot fairly faithfully, focusing on some story points more than others, glossing over other pieces of plot.  A few new characters are added, and one crucial character is changed from a British RAF pilot to an American Air Force pilot. 

Directed by the capable Irvin Kerschner (fresh off the success of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK in 1980), NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN begins with James Bond (Sean Connery) coming out of retirement and immediately failing a training exercise at a Latin American jungle facility. When Bond reports back to London, an infuriated M (Edward Fox) sends him to a health retreat in the English country to shake the rust off and get back into spy shape. Meanwhile, we're introduced to Fatima Blush (Barbara Carrera), SPECTRE operative #12 who attends a high-level SPECTRE (the global crime syndicate) meeting run by Ernst Stavros Blofeld (Max Von Sydow). Blofeld reveals SPECTRE's next sinister plot involving Fatima, another SPECTRE agent Maximilian Largo (Klaus Marie Brandauer), and two American nuclear warheads. 

Bond accidentally uncovers Fatima working with an injured American Air Force pilot Jack Petachi (Gavin O'Herlihy) at the spa.  Fatima has hooked Petachi on heroin. Petachi has an electronic eye (never fully explained) with a copy of the U.S. President's retina on it (also not fully explained). Petachi travels to his air base in England and uses the president's retina scan to substitute two dummy nuclear warheads for two real warheads during a military exercise. The warheads go off course into the Atlantic where Largo and his crew pluck the warheads off the ocean floor and secure them in his giant yacht called the Flying Saucer. Blofeld proceeds to blackmail the world for billions of dollars, threatening to explode the two nuclear bombs in two undisclosed locations in seven days if SPECTRE's demands are not met. NATO demands the double O program be reinstated. Bond is back in business. Fatima rewards Petachi by killing him after the mission's success.

After picking up a few gadgets from Algy (Alec McCowen) in Q branch including a special exploding pen and a souped-up motorcycle, Bond travels to the Bahamas where he enlists British Embassy contact Nigel Small-Fawcett (a young Rowan Atkinson) to locate Largo's yacht which is in the area. Bond hooks up with Fatima who in between making love with 007, tries to kill Bond twice. Largo's yacht heads to the south of France. Bond follows along where he teams up with CIA agent Felix Leiter (Bernie Casey).  Bond discovers that the dead Jack Petachi's sister Domino (Kim Basinger) is Largo's love interest. Bond impersonates a masseuse to get close to Domino then crashes a charity ball Largo is hosting to introduce himself to both Domino and Largo. Largo invites Bond to join him for lunch the next day if he's still around. 

Largo orders Fatima to finish off Bond but 007 has the last laugh as he defeats Fatima in spectacular fashion after a tense motorcycle chase thru the streets of Nice, France. Bond makes it for lunch with Largo who shows him around the yacht. Bond manages to discover that one of the warheads is under the White House and alerts M.  The other warhead is headed for some destination called "the Tears of Allah." Largo takes Bond and Domino to his Moroccan castle Palmyra where he imprisons Bond and offers up Domino to a band of Arabs. Bond escapes (naturally) from his cell and rescues Domino via horseback. Bond along with Felix and his men track Largo to an underwater cave where an ancient Middle Eastern temple known as "the Tears of Allah" exists. Largo plans to detonate the nuclear bomb underneath Middle Eastern oil fields, disrupting the world's crude oil supply. Will Bond, Felix, and Domino be able to stop Largo and SPECTRE in time?

Although it follows the plot of THUNDERBALL more or less with a few updates and has a top-notch cast (including the return of Sean Connery as James Bond), NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN lacks some of the pizazz and grandeur that the official Bond series carries. From the very beginning when we realize we're not going to see Bond viewed through the barrel of a gun to the absence of Bond's theme music (NEVER uses the awful synthesizer soundtrack that was vogue in the early 80s) to no Maurice Binder opening credits with half naked women and a popular theme song, NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN is a Bond movie without the bells and whistles audiences are accustomed to. It's just a good old fashioned, more tongue in cheek than usual spy film although a well-made one. 

Comparing the two films, the remake moves faster in the first act than the first film and is slightly shorter in length although both films are still too long. The French NATO pilot in the THUNDERBALL is switched to an American pilot in NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN. We actually get to see SPECTRE mastermind Blofeld a few times in NEVER as opposed to just hearing his voice and seeing his hands stroke his white cat in THUNDERBALL.  The filmmakers change the locales to make it fresh.  Both films visit the Bahamas, but THUNDERBALL spent the second half of the film entirely there. NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN takes us to the French Rivera and Spain (standing in for a Moroccan fortress). Largo's character is changed from the larger, uglier Emile Largo in THUNDERBALL to the younger, boyish looking Maximilian Largo in NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN. 

THUNDERBALL had an Italian actor and a French beauty queen whose voices had to be dubbed. On Connery's request, the actors assembled for NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN like Klaus Marie Brandauer, Max Von Sydow, Kim Basinger, Barbara Carrera, Edward Fox, and Bernie Casey are all recognizable and established names.  The later Bond films with Daniel Craig would take this approach with big time actors like Javier Bardem, Judi Dench, and Ralph Fiennes appearing in the series. The action sequences are exciting with an exhilarating chase sequence involving cars and Bond on a motorcycle in the South of France and a knockout fight sequence between Bond and one of Fatima's heavies Lippe (Pat Roach from RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK) that would make Inspector Clouseau proud as they nearly destroy the entire health spa as they battle each other.

Sean Connery eases back into the role of James Bond in NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN as easily as he slips into a tuxedo or a beautiful woman's bed. Connery (like the film in general) plays Bond a little bit lighter than when he was younger. Connery was in his early 50's when he returned as Bond, twelve years after his last Bond film DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER.  He wore a toupee for NEVER and might be a bit too old to be chasing after Kim Basinger. So why would Connery return to a role he swore he had given up?  If you look at his filmography after DIAMONDS, he appeared in some good films like John Huston's THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING (1975) and was part of the ensemble cast in Sidney Lumet's MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (1976) based on the Agatha Christie novel. 

But there were some duds like Richard C. Sarafian's THE NEXT MAN (1976) and Ronald Neame's METEOR (1978) as well as cameos in films like Terry Gilliam's TIME BANDITS (1981).  Connery wasn't exactly on Hollywood's radar anymore. Playing Bond again in NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN with some good actors was a chance to remind Hollywood he still was a star.  And it paid off. Connery would win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor as Chicago cop Jim Malone in Brian DePalma's THE UNTOUCHABLES (1987) and go on to some of his biggest hits afterward in Steven Spielberg's INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE (1989), John McTiernan's THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER (1991), and Michael Bay's THE ROCK (1996).  Not a bad comeback for the second half of his career. 

At first glance, Kim Basinger's role as Domino Petachi seems like a piece of fluff, just eye candy for Bond to pursue. The first half of the film, Basinger's in leotards or a bathing suit. But we forget that Domino's brother is Jack, a pawn in Largo and SPECTRE'S plot. When Domino learns from Bond that her brother has become collateral damage and he's dead, Basinger's performance kicks in as a vengeful sister who will have a delicious opportunity to pay back Largo in the film's finale. Basinger and Connery have a nice dance scene (doing the fox trot) and Basinger shows off her athletic ability in the water and on horseback. Basinger was still fairly new to acting in 1983 but by the time she appeared in BATMAN (1989) she had become a full-fledged actress who would later win a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award in Curtis Hanson's L.A. CONFIDENTIAL (1997). 

The Nicaraguan born actress Barbara Carrera has the role of her career as the lethal SPECTRE handler and assassin Fatima Blush. The exotic beauty (and former model like Basinger) not only gets to sleep with and try to kill Bond numerous times, but Carrera also wears the most flamboyant costumes in NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN. Carrera's career began in interesting genre films like THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU (1977) starring Burt Lancaster, I, JURY (1982) with Armand Assante, and LONE WOLF MCQUADE (1983) with Chuck Norris. Carrera really sinks her teeth into the role Fatima, nearly stealing the movie from Connery.  Carrera's Fatima Blush is a worthy member to the Hall of Fame of beautiful but deadly Bond assassins which includes the red headed Luciana Paluzzi as Fiona Volpe from the original THUNDERBALL and more recently Famke Janssen as Xenia Onatopp in GOLDENEYE (1995). 

The character of Largo played by Sicilian actor Adolfo Celi in the original THUNDERBALL was a sadistic pirate.  Austrian born actor Klaus Marie Brandauer goes a different route in NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN with his performance as Maximilian Largo. Brandauer plays Largo as a spoiled, jealous boy with his expensive toys: a yacht, video games, nuclear warheads, and Domino. Brandauer bounced around between European and Hollywood films in the 80s and is best known as Meryl Streep's philandering husband in Sydney Pollack's OUT OF AFRICA (1985). 

Rounding out the solid supporting case are Bernie Casey (REVENGE OF THE NERDS) playing the first African American Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright would carry on the mantle beginning with CASINO ROYALE (2006). Edward Fox (DAY OF THE JACKAL) plays the role of M as a whining bureaucrat rather than Bernard Lee's stern, exasperated father like take on M in the originals.  Bond may age but in NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN Miss Moneypenny is much younger, played by Pamela Salem. The great Max Von Sydow (THE EXORCIST) assumes the role of SPECTRE mastermind Ernst Stavros Blofeld.  Blofeld comes off as a cat loving CEO of the world's largest criminal organization.  And comedic actor Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean in BEAN) appears in one of his first film roles as a bumbling English attaché in the Bahamas assigned to assist Bond. Atkinson would later spoof the Bond films playing the title character JOHNNY ENGLISH (2003) co-written by SKYFALL screenwriters Neil Purvis and Robert Wade. 

Some final tidbits on NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN. Our old friend Douglas Slocombe (who we just saw his beautiful camerawork in THE LAVENDER HILL MOB) was the cinematographer for NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN.  The tongue in cheek flavor of the film may be due to screenwriter Lorenzo Semple Jr's roots in the campy 1960s television show BATMAN for which he wrote many episodes. Even though director Irvin Kerschner had just done THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, some of the special effects in NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN highlight not every film in the early 80s had Industrial Light and Magic aka ILM to support a filmmaker's vision. 

Sean Connery would finally never play James Bond again after NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN.  But with the real Bond production team beginning to spin its wheels and show its age with OCTOPUSSY and later A VIEW TO A KILL (1985), Connery's jump back into the role that made him famous was a nice diversion for fans of 007.  Because of its past troubled legal disputes with THUNDERBALL, NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN was the once chance to have a James Bond film remade, providing audiences with a reboot of the THUNDERBALL story with new actors playing the familiar Bond characters fans were associated with and a new production team tasked with living up to the true Bond franchise. CrazyFilmGuy would say that NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN'S mission was accomplished.