Never Say Never Again is a
1983 spy film based on the James Bond novel Thunderball, which was
previously adapted in 1965 under that name. Unlike the majority of
Bond films, Never Say Never Again was not produced by Eon
Productions, but by an independent production company, one of whose
members was Kevin McClory, one of the original writers of the
Thunderball storyline with Ian Fleming and Jack Whittingham. McClory
retained the filming rights of the novel following a long legal
battle dating from the 1960s.
The
film was directed by Irvin Kershner and, like Thunderball, stars
Sean Connery as British Secret Service agent James Bond, 007, marking
his return to the role 12 years after Diamonds Are Forever. The
film's title references how Connery said to the press in 1971 that he
would "never again" play James Bond. As Connery was 52 at
the time of filming, the storyline features an ageing Bond, who is
brought back into action to investigate the theft of two nuclear
weapons by SPECTRE. Filming locations included France, Spain, the
Bahamas and Elstree Studios in England.
Never Say Never Again was
released by Warner Bros. in the autumn of 1983. It opened to positive
critic reviews and was a commercial success, grossing $160 million at
the box office, although this was less overall than the Eon-produced
Bond film released in June of the same year, Octopussy. In 1997 the
distribution rights of Never Say Never Again were purchased by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer,
which distributes Eon's Bond films, and the company has handled
subsequent home video releases of the film.
Never Say Never Again had
its origins in the early 1960s following the controversy over the
1961 Thunderball novel. Fleming, along with independent producer
Kevin McClory and scriptwriter Jack Whittingham had worked together
on a script for a potential Bond film, to be called Longitude 78
West, which was subsequently abandoned because of the costs involved.
Fleming, "always reluctant to let a good idea lie idle",
turned this into the novel Thunderball which did not credit either
McClory or Whittingham; McClory then took Fleming to the High Court
in London for breach of copyright and the matter was settled in 1963.
After Eon Productions started producing the Bond films, they
subsequently made a deal with McClory (pictured at right at the
Dublin premiere
of Thunderball), who would produce Thunderball, and then not make
any further version of the novel for a period of ten years following
the release of the Eon-produced version in 1965.
In the mid-1970s McClory
again started working on a project to bring a Thunderball adaptation
to production and, with the working title Warhead, he brought writer
Len Deighton together with Sean Connery to work on a script. The
script ran into difficulties after accusations from Eon Productions
that the project had gone beyond copyright restrictions, which
confined McClory to a film based on the Thunderball novel only, and
once again the project was deferred.
Towards the end of the
1970s developments were reported on the project under the name James
Bond of the Secret Service, but when producer Jack Schwartzman became
involved and cleared a number of the legal issues that still
surrounded the project he brought on board scriptwriter Lorenzo
Semple Jr to work on the screenplay. Connery was unhappy with some
aspects of the work and asked Tom Mankiewicz who had rewritten
Diamonds are Forever to work on the script; however Mankiewicz
declined as he felt he was under a moral obligation to Cubby
Broccoli. Connery then hired British television writers Dick Clement
and Ian La Frenais to undertake re-writes, although they went
uncredited for their efforts because of a restriction by the Writers
Guild of America.
The film underwent one
final change in title: after Connery had finished filming Diamonds
Are Forever he had pledged that he would "never" play Bond
again. Connery's wife, Micheline, suggested the title Never Say Never
Again, referring to her husband's vow and the producers acknowledged
her contribution by listing on the end credits "Title "Never
Say Never Again" by: Micheline Connery". A final attempt
by Fleming's trustees to block the film was made in the High Courts
in London in the spring of 1983, but these were thrown out by the
court and Never Say Never Again was permitted to proceed.
When McClory had first
planned the film in 1964 he held initial talks with Richard Burton
for the part of Bond, although the project came to nothing because of
the legal issues involved. When the Warhead project was launched in
the late 1970s, a number of actors were mentioned in the trade press,
including Orson Welles for the part of Blofeld, Trevor Howard to play
M and Richard Attenborough as director.
In 1978 the working title
James Bond of the Secret Service was being used and Connery was in
the frame once again, potentially going head-to-head with the next
Eon Bond film, Moonraker. By 1980, with legal issues again causing
the project to flounder, Connery thought himself unlikely to play the
role, as he stated in an interview in the Sunday Express "when I
first worked on the script with Len I had no thought of actually
being in the film". When producer Jack Schwartzman became
involved, he asked Connery to play Bond: Connery agreed, asking (and
getting) a fee of $3 million, a percentage of the profits, as well as
casting and script approval. Subsequent to Connery reprising the
role, the script has several references
to Bond's advancing years – playing on Connery being 52 at the
time of filming – and academic Jeremy Black has pointed out that
there are other aspects of age and disillusionment in the film, such
as the Shrubland's porter referring to Bond's car ("they don't
make them like that any more"), the new M having no use for the
00 section and Q with his reduced budgets.
For the main villain in the
film, Maximillian Largo, Connery suggested Klaus Maria Brandauer, the
lead of the 1981 Academy Award-winning Hungarian film Mephisto.
Through the same route came Max von Sydow (right) as Ernst Stavro
Blofeld, although he still retained his Eon-originated white cat in
the film. For the femme fatale, Director Irvin Kershner selected
former model and Playboy cover girl Barbara Carrera to play Fatima
Blush – the name coming from one of the early scripts of
Thunderball. Carrera's performance as Fatima Blush earned her a
Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, which she
lost to Cher for her role in Silkwood.
Micheline Connery, Sean's
wife, had met up-and-coming actress Kim Basinger at a hotel in London
and suggested her to Connery, which he agreed upon. For the role of
Felix Leiter, Connery spoke with Bernie Casey, saying that as the
Leiter role was never remembered by audiences, using a black Leiter
may make him more memorable. Others cast included comedian Rowan
Atkinson (pictured below with Connery), who would later parody Bond
in his role of Johnny English.
Former Eon Productions'
editor and director of On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Peter R.
Hunt, was approached to direct the film but declined due to his
previous work with Eon. Irvin Kershner, who had achieved success in
1980 with The Empire Strikes Back was then hired. A number of the
crew from the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark were also appointed,
including first assistant director David Tomblin; director of
photography Douglas Slocombe and production designers Philip Harrison
and Stephen Grimes.
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AV
CLUB FEATURETTE DEPARTMENT
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This film is famous for
Sean Connery returning to the role he made famous, secret agent James
Bond 007. After making Diamonds Are Forever, he stated "never
again" when asked if he'd ever play the role again. It's a fun
remake of Thunderball, though not nearly as great as that film, and a
staple of 80's cinema. Directed by the late Irvin Kirschner, famous
for The Empire Strikes Back. Add
Never Say Never Again to your DVD collection.
Filming
for Never Say Never Again began on September 27th 1982 on the French
Riviera for two months before moving to Nassau, the Bahamas in
mid-November where filming took place at Clifton Pier, which was also
one of the locations used in Thunderball. The Spanish city of
Almería was also used as a location. Largo's Palmyran fortress
was actually historic Fort Carré in Antibes. For Largo's ship,
the Flying Saucer, the yacht Nabila, owned by Saudi billionaire,
Adnan Khashoggi, was used. The boat, now owned by Prince Al-Waleed
bin Talal, has subsequently been renamed the Kingdom 5KR. Principal
photography finished at Elstree Studios where interior shots were
filmed. Elstree also housed the Tears of Allah underwater cavern,
which took three months to construct. Most of the filming was
completed in the spring of 1983, although there was some additional
shooting during the summer of 1983.
Production on the film was
troubled with Connery taking on many of the production duties with
assistant director David Tomblin. Director Irvin Kershner was
critical of producer Jack Schwartzman, saying that whilst he was a
good businessman "he didn't have the experience of a film
producer". After the production ran out of money, Schwartzman
had to fund further production out of his own pocket and later
admitted he had underestimated the amount the film would cost to make.
Many of the elements of the
Eon-produced Bond films were not present in Never Say Never Again for
legal reasons and the film makes a few changes to the James Bond
universe. MI6 is shown to be underfunded and understaffed,
particularly with regards to Q-Branch, and the character Q is
referred to by the name "Algernon", and is presumably a
different individual than the Q in the official Bond films (whose
name is Major Boothroyd). The film also appears to take place in an
"alternate universe" in which none of the events of You
Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Diamonds Are
Forever and the opening sequence of For Your Eyes Only have occurred,
since Blofeld is alive and apparently previously unknown to Bond and
MI6. Despite sharing many basic similarities with Thunderball, the
course of events throughout the film are different enough for it to
be more than a direct remake, and the action clearly takes place at a
much later date than Thunderball. The film is notable for depicting
Felix Leiter, Bond's CIA colleague, as an African-American, something
which would not occur in the "official" series until Casino
Royale in 2006. The film also makes a major departure from official
continuity by ending with Bond indicating his intention to retire
from MI6 - while Bond had considered retirement in On Her Majesty's
Secret Service, he is shown to be unsure of the decision and later
chooses to stay with the service. In the scene where Bond states his
intention to quit, Connery breaks the fourth wall by winking at the
camera; while this is incorrectly considered by many as being unique
to this film, George Lazenby was in fact the first Bond to break the
fourth wall almost 15 years earlier when he told the audience,
"This never happened to the other fellow" (referring to
Connery, the man he had replaced as Bond).
Also
not included in Never Say Never Again was the famous Bond gun barrel
sequence. A screen full of 007 symbols appeared instead, and
similarly there was no "James Bond Theme" to use, although
no effort was made to supplement another tune. Never Say Never Again
did not use a pre-credits sequence, which was filmed but not used;
instead the film opens with the credits run over the top of the
opening sequence of Bond on a training mission.
The music for Never Say
Never Again was written by Michel Legrand, who composed a score
similar to his work as a jazz pianist. The score has been criticised
as "anachronistic and misjudged", "bizzarely
intermittent" and "the most disappointing feature of the
film". Legrand also wrote the main theme "Never Say Never
Again", which featured lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman, who
had also worked with Legrand in the Academy Award winning song
"The Windmills of Your Mind", and was performed by Lani
Hall after Bonnie Tyler, who disliked the song, had reluctantly
declined. Phyllis Hyman also recorded a potential theme song, written
by Stephen Forsyth and Jim Ryan, but the song, an unsolicited
submission, was passed over given Legrand's contractual obligations
with the music.
Never
Say Never Again premiered in New York on October 7th 1983, grossing
$9.72 million on its first weekend, which was reported to be "the
best opening record of any James Bond film" up to that point
and surpassing Octopussy's $8.9 million from June that year.
Worldwide, Never Say Never Again grossed $160 million in box office
returns, which was a solid return on the budget of $36 million.
Warner Bros. released Never
Say Never Again on VHS and Betamax in 1984, and on laserdisc in 1995.
After Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer purchased the distribution rights in 1997,
the company has released the film on both VHS, DVD and on Blu-ray.
Never Say Never Again was
broadly welcomed and praised by the critics at the time: Ian
Christie, writing in the Daily Express, said that Never Say Never
Again was "one of the better Bonds", finding the film
"superbly witty and entertaining, the dialogue is crisp and the
fight scenes imaginative." Christie also thought that
"Connery has lost none of his charm and, if anything, is more
appealing than ever as the stylish resolute hero." David
Robinson, writing in The Times also concentrated on Connery, saying
that: "Connery is back, looking hardly a day older or thicker,
and still outclassing every other exponent of the role, in the
goodnatured throwaway with which he parries all the sex and violence
on the way". For Robinson, the presence of Connery and Klaus
Maria Brandauer as Maximillian Largo "very nearly make it all
worthwhile." The reviewer for Time Out summed up Never Say Never
Again saying "The action's good, the photography excellent, the
sets decent; but the real clincher is the fact that Bond is once more
played by a man with the right stuff."
Derek Malcolm in The
Guardian showed himself to be a fan of Connery's Bond, saying the
film contains "the best Bond in the business", but
nevertheless did not find Never Say Never Again any more enjoyable
than the recently released Octopussy (starring Roger Moore), or
"that either of them came very near to matching Dr. No or From
Russia with Love."
Janet
Maslin, writing in The New York Times, was broadly praising of the
film, saying she thought that Never Say Never Again "has
noticeably more humor and character than the Bond films usually
provide. It has a marvelous villain in Largo." Maslin also
thought highly of Connery in the role, observing that "in Never
Say Never Again, the formula is broadened to accommodate an older,
seasoned man of much greater stature, and Mr. Connery expertly fills
the bill." Writing in The Washington Post, Gary Arnold was
fulsome in his praise, saying that Never Say Never Again is "one
of the best James Bond adventure thrillers ever made".
The critic for The Globe
and Mail, Jay Scott, also praised the film, saying that Never Say
Never Again "may be the only instalment of the long-running
series that has been helmed by a first-rate director". According
to Scott, the director, with high quality support cast, resulted in
the "classiest of all the Bonds". Roger Ebert gave the film
3½ out of 4 stars.
Because Never Say Never
Again is not an Eon-produced film, it has not been included in a
number of subsequent reviews. Norman Wilner of MSN said that 1967's
Casino Royale and Never Say Never Again "exist outside the
'official' continuity, [and] are excluded from this list, just as
they're absent from MGM's megabox. But take my word for it; they're
both pretty awful". Of the more recent reviews, opinion on Never
Say Never Again is mixed. IGN gave Never Say Never Again a score of 5
out of ten, claiming that the film "is more miss than hit".
The review also thought that the film was "marred with too many
clunky exposition scenes and not enough moments of Bond being
Bond". James Berardinelli, in his review of Never Say Never
Again, thinks the re-writing of the Thunderball story has led to a
film which has "a hokey, jokey feel, [it] is possibly the
worst-written Bond script of all". Berardinelli concludes that
"it's a major disappointment that, having lured back the
original 007, the film makers couldn't offer him something better
than this drawn-out, hackneyed story."
In the 1990s, McClory
announced plans to make another adaptation of the Thunderball story,
Warhead 2000 AD, with Timothy Dalton in the lead role, but this was
eventually scrapped. In 1997 the Sony Corporation acquired all or
some of McClory's rights in an undisclosed deal, and subsequently
announced that it intended to make a series of Bond films, as the
company also held the rights to Casino Royale. This move prompted a
round of litigation from MGM, which was settled in an out-of-court
settlement in which Sony gave up all claims on Bond, although McClory
still claimed he would proceed with another Bond film, and continued
his case against MGM; on August 27th 2001 the court rejected
McClory's suit. Though EON Productions worried about a "rival
series" of Bond films it's doubtful remaking Thunderball every
few years would sit well with the movie going public. McClory died in 2006.
AV
CLUB SLIDESHOW DEPARTMENT
My Neat Stuff Slideshow - Jssor Slider, Slideshow with Javascript Source Code
premiere
of Thunderball), who would produce Thunderball, and then not make
any further version of the novel for a period of ten years following
the release of the Eon-produced version in 1965.
references
to Bond's advancing years – playing on Connery being 52 at the
time of filming – and academic Jeremy Black has pointed out that
there are other aspects of age and disillusionment in the film, such
as the Shrubland's porter referring to Bond's car ("they don't
make them like that any more"), the new M having no use for the
00 section and Q with his reduced budgets.
Filming
for Never Say Never Again began on September 27th 1982 on the French
Riviera for two months before moving to Nassau, the Bahamas in
mid-November where filming took place at Clifton Pier, which was also
one of the locations used in Thunderball. The Spanish city of
Almería was also used as a location. Largo's Palmyran fortress
was actually historic Fort Carré in Antibes. For Largo's ship,
the Flying Saucer, the yacht Nabila, owned by Saudi billionaire,
Adnan Khashoggi, was used. The boat, now owned by Prince Al-Waleed
bin Talal, has subsequently been renamed the Kingdom 5KR. Principal
photography finished at Elstree Studios where interior shots were
filmed. Elstree also housed the Tears of Allah underwater cavern,
which took three months to construct. Most of the filming was
completed in the spring of 1983, although there was some additional
shooting during the summer of 1983.
Also
not included in Never Say Never Again was the famous Bond gun barrel
sequence. A screen full of 007 symbols appeared instead, and
similarly there was no "James Bond Theme" to use, although
no effort was made to supplement another tune. Never Say Never Again
did not use a pre-credits sequence, which was filmed but not used;
instead the film opens with the credits run over the top of the
opening sequence of Bond on a training mission.
Never
Say Never Again premiered in New York on October 7th 1983, grossing
$9.72 million on its first weekend, which was reported to be "the
best opening record of any James Bond film" up to that point
and surpassing Octopussy's $8.9 million from June that year.
Worldwide, Never Say Never Again grossed $160 million in box office
returns, which was a solid return on the budget of $36 million.
Janet
Maslin, writing in The New York Times, was broadly praising of the
film, saying she thought that Never Say Never Again "has
noticeably more humor and character than the Bond films usually
provide. It has a marvelous villain in Largo." Maslin also
thought highly of Connery in the role, observing that "in Never
Say Never Again, the formula is broadened to accommodate an older,
seasoned man of much greater stature, and Mr. Connery expertly fills
the bill." Writing in The Washington Post, Gary Arnold was
fulsome in his praise, saying that Never Say Never Again is "one
of the best James Bond adventure thrillers ever made".
