You Only Live Twice: Amazon.ca: Sean Connery, Akiko Wakabayashi, Mie Hama, Tetsur� Tanba, Teru Shimada, Karin Dor, Donald Pleasence, Bernard Lee, Lois Maxwell, Desmond Llewelyn, Charles Gray, Tsai Chin, Freddie Young, Lewis Gilbert, Albert R. Broccoli, Harry Saltzman, Stanley Sopel, Harold Jack Bloom, Ian Fleming, Roald Dahl: DVD

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The film boasts the best of the Bond title songs (this one sung on a dreamy track by Nancy Sinatra), but the movie itself is one of the weaker ones of the Sean Connery phase of the 007 franchise. The story concerns an effort by the evil organization SPECTRE to start a world war, but the not-so-super villain behind the plot is the awfully civilized Donald Pleasence. The thin script is by Roald Dahl (shouldn't we have expected a better Bond nemesis from the creator of mad genius Willy Wonka?), and direction is by British veteran Lewis Gilbert (Alfie). But the movie can't hold a candle to Dr. No, From Russia with Love, or Goldfinger. --Tom Keogh

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Customer Reviews

88 Reviews

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(7)
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Average Customer Review

4.2 out of 5 stars (88 customer reviews)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Twice Is the ONLY Way to Live!, Jun 17 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: You Only Live Twice (DVD)

Forgive me if I am more of a Bond-Movie aficionado than one of Ian Flemming's original works. Perhaps it's because I am a Sir Sean fan more than anything. But I have come to conclude after watching "You Only Live Twice" twice, three and four times - and beyond! - that no one beats Sean Connery's 007. Donald Pleasance's sets the standard for the aristocratic, diabolically calm Blofeld. The action grabs you from the get-go. Considering this was Mr. Dahl's first movie script, I felt he stayed truer to his late friend's stories than the more recent, poorly contrived 007 plots (and since "Goldeneye" Pierce Bronsan's Bond deserves much better scriptwriting). The Special Edition DVDs feature a real treat for Avenger fans: the behind-the-scenes stories narrated by the seductive voice of Patrick Macnee, the original John Steed. Add to this the original trailers and audio commentary of the director and actors, and you have a fitting tribute to one of the 20th century's great movie legacies. But as a woman of color, my main appreciation is that, unlike "Dr. No," "You Only Live Twice" features authentic Asian actors and actresses, and is the first Bond film in which the Bond girls do more than sleep with 007: they actually are working agents who can steer a getaway car and shoot to kill! Granted, I'll always be a Cathy Gale/Emma Peel Avengerwoman fan, because, unlike Bond girls, they had superbadness AND relational integrity. But for my money You Only Live Twice rates as a film worthy of its place in the 007 legacy...and as the trailers aptly state, "Twice is the ONLY way to live!"

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5.0 out of 5 stars I personally look forward to exterminating you, Mr. Bond!, Mar 5 2004

By

Michael J. Chrush (Kent, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: You Only Live Twice (DVD)

The 5th James Bond movie. Following the success of THUNDERBALL, an entirely new stringe of talent would be exploited for this film. Producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman hire novelist and writer of children stories Roald Dahl to adapt a screenplay. Under Lewis Gilbert's direction, blessed with beautiful and exotic Japanese locales, and countless visuals through Freddie Young's photography, this proved a truly dazzling entry in the series.

THE ASSIGNMENT: SPECTRE is up their nasty tricks again. An invader rocket intercepts an American space walk in midflight, literally swallowing up the spacecraft. The Americans suspect the Russians responsible in an attempt to take control of space and are prepared to retaliate. Thinking differently, the British rocket to have originated from the Sea of Japan, and are determined to keep peace between the opposing forces. The next US launch is drawing near, and 007 is sent to Tokyo to investigate. He arrives at Osato Chemical Engineering, a front for the astral kidnappers. Then a Soviet craft is captured in space, and the Americans still accuse the Russians. For the mission of peace all depends on 007, and little does he suspect the villain of the peace - Ernst Stavro Blofeld himself!

THE VILLAINS: Donald Pleasence as Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Karin Dor as Helga Brandt, Teru Shimada as Mr. Osato, and Ronald Rich as bodyguard Hans.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! BUY IT!

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5.0 out of 5 stars Still a Bond Worth Watching, Jan 28 2004

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Stephen Kaczmarek "Educator, Writer, Consultant" (Columbus, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: You Only Live Twice (DVD)

Despite the fact that so many people think "You Only Live Twice" is a weakly-plotted Bond film--it's actually one of the more heavily plotted, as the short list of story elements includes, whew, 007's faked death, spaceship hijackings, Ninja training, Bond's "conversion" to being a Japanese man and subsequent "marriage," and an all-out assault on a volcanic hideout--the film remains one of the most imaginative and breezy of the entire series. As is reasonably well known, Bond goes to Japan to discover who or what is behind spacerace hijinks that are pushing the United States and the Soviet Union to the brink of war. He finally comes face-to-face with archnemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld (a disappointing Donald Pleasance, who looks but just doesn't quite sound or act the part), but not before sampling the "exotica" that is the Far East. Connery starts to show his age in this one, no longer the lean and mean figure that just two years before graced the screen in "Thunderball," but a paunchier fellow who nonetheless still looks good in a suit. The supporting cast of mostly Japanese actors is topnotch, despite being rather poorly dubbed--and the two female leads are just plain gorgeous--but it is the toys that start to outshine the human cast, predicting what would become the norm in the later Moore films (two of which, "The Spy Who Loved Me" and "Moonraker," share both this films' basic story elements and director, Lewis Gilbert). Nonetheless, everything from Nancy Sinatra's lovely theme song to Maurice Binder's striking opening credits sequence to a stunning aerial shot of Bond squaring off against thugs on the deck of a ship to John Barry's pleasant score give this film a supercool 60s feel, making it one of the more consistently stylish, if not more serious, Bond films. Other bits to watch out for: an anonymous, sword-wielding Ninja who gets his moment of glory, a Toyota roadster that appears to be the inspiration for the Mazda Miata, the almost fairy-tale-like villain's lair, and, of course, the helicopter version of Bond's Aston Martin.

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Most recent customer reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars th rot sets in
the true beginning of what bond has become; a two demensional popcorn cartoon fluf franchise.

Published on May 15 2004

2.0 out of 5 stars beginning of the plastic 'franchise' and the end of connery
this was the bond film in which it became soooo evident where the films were headed (into gadgets over plot, style over subtance, decortaive women and decorative locations) that... Read more

Published on May 3 2004