Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Only now does it occur to me... NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN

Only now does it occur to me...  that Sean Connery's James Bond once played an Atari/TRON/Missile Command-style video game (instead of baccarat, dear God!)

  

 against Austrian arthouse star Klaus Maria "MEPHISTO" Brandauer

 as Kim Basinger became increasingly turned on by the hilariously awkward, bizarre, and dorky display of uncoordinated (but extremely stern-faced!) button-mashing.

   
Oh, James, indeed!  Truly this is a Bond for the 80s.  No word yet on his high score on Q*bert.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Yeah, this whole sequence certainly dates the film and NOT in a good way.

I mean, c'mon - they should've really been playing DEFENDER fer crissakes!

Connery was really showing his age in this one, but I still find parts of it enjoyable. Still, it's no THUNDERBALL.

Anonymous said...

A bizarre scene indeed! Years ago, a buddy and I spent a good month going through the Bonds up to the current one, which I think was "Tomorrow Never Dies," and being so disappointed when we got to this one (there may have even been some debate as to whether or not we should even include it!). Even with Connery, the movie just felt like a knock-off, cut-rate production, existing halfway between a Bond film and a Cannon film. At the time, I couldn't appreciate such things, and I thought it was awful. Now, however, it seems like it'd be awfully fun to revisit!

[Side note: Still tearing through "Tales from the Crypt." Just hit a particularly awesome 3-episode stretch featuring Gavan O'Herlihy, Miguel Ferrer (proving he's just as great at playing a pure asshole as he is playing more complicated assholes), and Ironside. Absolutely kicking myself that I haven't done this before!]

Sean Gill said...

J.D.,

Ohhh yeah, DEFENDER! Or maybe something totally random, like CENTIPEDE. Yeah, it's a good time and occupies a strange/fun place in the Bond canon, but yeah, it's certainly not one of the classics.


Mike,

It is definitely knock-off/Cannon-Filmy, though not so rife with unintentional hilarity. It's a fun time, but don't expect a Cannon Ninja movie or anything– heh.

Very glad you're continuing to dig TALES FROM THE CRYPT. Interesting that you mention O'Herlihy, as he has a bit part here in NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN. But CRYPT is just a treasure trove of amazing character actor performances, and Ferrer and Ironside each appear in multiple episodes. I'd say, Miguel Ferrer: TALES FROM THE CRYPT :: Burgess Meredith : THE TWILIGHT ZONE. Also, just saw the first spin-off movie, TALES FROM THE CRYPT- DEMON KNIGHT for the first time, and it's pretty great. A review will be forthcoming.

Anonymous said...

"Miguel Ferrer: TALES FROM THE CRYPT :: Burgess Meredith: THE TWILIGHT ZONE" is one heck of an analogy!