20 Things You Didn’t Know About For Your Eyes Only (1981)
Right agents - these facts about the 12th James Bond film are strictly For Your Eyes Only!
After the extravagant excess of Moonraker (1979), producer Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli knew that James Bond needed to come back down to earth for his next adventure, which was intended as a spiritual reference to the more realistic entries in the franchise, such as From Russia With Love (1963) and On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969).
Also directly inspired by the works of Ian Fleming, For Your Eyes Only (1981) sees Double-0 Seven (Sir Roger Moore) on the trail of a lost Automatic Targeting Attack Communicator (ATAC), which is used to co-ordinate the Royal Navy’s Polaris submarines; the device must be found before it falls into the wrong hands.
Joining forces with half-British, half-Greek archaeologist, Melina Havelock (Carole Bouquet) who seeks to avenge her parents’ murder, James Bond encounters Greek businessman, Aris Kristatos (Julian Glover), who tries to convince him that smuggler, Milos Columbo (Chaim Topol) is planning to recover the ATAC and sell it to the Soviet authorities. However, with the help of both Melina and Columbo, Bond discovers that his new ally may well be his enemy in the race to prevent the safety of the British Isles and perhaps the world from being imperilled.
Here are 20 things about the 12th Bond film that are presented for your eyes only.
20. “Oh, Do You Want To Get Off?”
Roger Moore’s contract to play James Bond had initially run for three films and expired with The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). Given his fondness for that film, he accepted Cubby Broccoli’s offer to return for a fourth film, which was originally meant to be For Your Eyes Only, but became Moonraker following the success of George Lucas’s Star Wars (1977).
Moore hesitated when he was offered the chance to star as Bond for a fifth time and, during contractual negotiations, it seemed likely that he might not return (something that became a hallmark of the pre-production process on his remaining Bond films).
The casting net was therefore thrown open for a potential new Double-0 Seven, alongside which director, John Glen worked with screenwriters, Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson to devise an appropriate way to introduce a new face as Ian Fleming’s gentleman spy.
The reference to Tracy Bond’s murder in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was a natural way to achieve the appropriate continuity within the franchise, whilst Glen got the idea for a remote-controlled helicopter when he saw a boy playing with a toy car on the backlot at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire.
Ironically, despite all this effort, Moore ultimately decided to return as James Bond. Nevertheless, the film’s striking opening sequence brought Double-0 Seven firmly back down to earth and into the 1980s.