James Bond Collection

Sean Connery

Akiko Wakabayashi

Mie Hama

Tetsuro Tamba

Teru Shimada

Karin Dor

Donald Pleasence

Bernard Lee

Lois Maxwell

Desmond Llewelyn

Charles Gray

Tsai Chin

Burt Kwouk

Michael Chow

Ronald Rich

Jeanne Roland

Anthony Ainley

Frazer Hines

David Toguri

Paul Carson

Norman Jones

George Roubicek

Bill Mitchell

Laurence Herder

Richard Graydon

Ed Bishop

Robin Bailey

Shane Rimmer

George Murcell

Mai Ling

Peter Fanene Maivia

George Baker

Patrick Jordan

Alexander Knox

Burnell Tucker

Nikki Van der Zyl

Brian Wilde

David Healy

Harry Saltzman

Harry Pottle

Roald Dahl

John Barry

Lewis Gilbert

David Ffolkes

Ken Adam

Albert R. Broccoli

Ian Fleming

Freddie Young

Maurice Binder

Thelma Connell

Peter R. Hunt

Vic Armstrong

Ron Quelch

Eddie Powell

Kenneth J. Withers

Nancy Sinatra

Harold Jack Bloom

William P. Cartlidge

David Middlemas

Basil Newall

Paul Rabiger

Eileen Warwick

Bob Simmons

Action

Thriller

Adventure

You Only Live Twice

EON Productions

United Artists

United Kingdom

United States of America

_**James goes to Japan**_

"You Only Live Twice" (1967) takes agent 007 to Japan where he seeks the secret SPECTRE installation responsible for literally stealing space capsules and threatening war between the USA and USSR.

This 5th installment in the franchise upped the ante with the action & spy-stuff and is more dynamic than the previous ones. Speaking of the spy aspects, they're often over-the-top here to the point of being cartoonish. Another reviewer criticized the film in this regard -- pointing out that it was this film more than any other that gave the Austin Powers movies the most material to spoof -- and he was right. One scene, for instance, brought to memory that Gilligan's Island episode where Gilligan had a dream of being Agent 014 (remember the soup spoon?). No wonder the franchise got goofier in the 70s -- it was the next logical step.

Disregarding the "Yeah, right" spy shenanigans, "You Only Live Twice" has everything you'd want in a Bond picture -- the action, intrigue, gadgets, beautiful women, spectacular locations and larger-than-life villains. The story is interesting enough that it keeps you absorbed and even builds suspense as the film goes from one action scene to another, culminating in the explosive climax. It was understandably a huge hit in 1967.

The film runs 1 hour, 57 minutes, and was shot mostly in Japan, but also England, Spain and Gibraltar.

GRADE: A-

Yeah... forgotten isn't it?

Maybe it's forgotten because they try and turn Sean Connery into a Japanese man to hide him and he just ends up looking like a harry chested Leonard Nimoy.

Or maybe it's forgotten because little choppers are more Roger Moore than Sean Connery.

Whatever the case, it starts off pretty strong and then falls apart at the end. The first half of the movie is Connery Bond, and in places it's almost surreal in it's imagery.... but it ends up with 007 Leonard Nimoy, and that is just a shame.

I can't really hate on the movie, because parts of it are seriously good. I just can't get disguised as a Japanese man 007 Leonard Nimoy with a harry chest out of my head, and that is really the memory that stays with you decades after watching this film.

But, if you can get beyond that, it's still a pretty darn decent 007 film.

This is in the hay day of 007 films.
Made when 007 was exciting and entertaining.
That gets a lot of hate from people with Generation Xenophobe ideology.
But it's totally exciting.
Here, we get almost all the venues. We even get outer space. We get super beautiful scenery that pretty much make this one of the great Bond films, secure at number 5 in my opinion.
Most of this is set in Japan, and much of it is filmed there.
While Thunderball inspired the most in Austin Powers, this is probably second place in inspiration for Austin, and that's a good thing. Let us face the fact that the modern day 21st century Bond movies couldn't inspire Nolan Ryan to throw a baseball.
This was made in the era when piranha were considered dangerous, and that plays a big part in the film. "Blowhard" (my name for Number 1) likes to feed his piranha. And you can guess what he feeds them.
Lots of action, lots of scenery, lots of beautiful women, lots of wit, lots of gadgets. It has everything, which is probably why so many critics are so jealous of it.

CinemaSerf

This time, "007" (Sean Connery) has to investigate some mysterious goings on in outer space as first an American, then a Soviet rocket disappear. Naturally, they blame one another but "M" (Bernard Lee) has an inkling that Japan might be the source of the mischief and so our suave and debonair "Mr. Bond" is duly despatched. Allied with their spy chief "Tiger" (Tetsurô Tanba) who has his own underground train - he is soon hot on the trail of the "Ning Po" berthed by a small island that might well provide some answers. It's got loads of action scenes - "Little Nelly" and her heavily armed aerobatic battles being one of the better ones. The beautifully delicate Akiko Wakabayashi provides the glamour - though little of substance and Donald Pleasence - armed with some peckish piraña fish - turns up as the scheming arch enemy just before a series of disappointingly set-piece battle scenes at the end of what had, up until the last 15 minutes been a more sophisticated and intriguing film that relied more on subterfuge and mystery, as well as a decent soupçon of Japanese culture (including some interesting bathing/wedding traditions that our "James" joined in with, heartily). It's a good film, with a memorable Nancy Sinatra theme song (from Messrs. Barry and Bricusse), but not one of the best, I'd say.

An improvement over Thunderball but still not as good as the original 3 Connery films, it is still very iconic despite it only just having a reappraisal.