Never Say Never Again -james Bond 007- Review
Released in 1983, Never Say Never Again remains the most famous "unofficial" James Bond film, born from a decades-long legal battle rather than the established franchise lineage. It famously brought Sean Connery
They set the trap in a derelict NATO listening post in Iceland—no permanent population, little noise, and a winter that keeps secrets. Bond went with a small team: Q with his amused concentration and a toolkit of improbable devices; and an MI6 tactical squad, quiet as thought. Never Say Never Again -James Bond 007-
Bond looked out at the horizon, at the place where sea met possibility. He stripped off his jacket and let the night wind chase the last of the day’s heat from his skin. Released in 1983, Never Say Never Again remains
3. Production Challenges
- Rushed Pre-Production: To beat EON’s official Octopussy to theaters (summer 1983), Never Say Never Again was fast-tracked. The script went through multiple uncredited revisions (including by novelist Lorenzo Semple Jr.).
- Budgetary Constraints: At $36 million, it was expensive for its time, but tight scheduling led to uneven production values compared to EON’s lavish Octopussy.
- Connery’s Involvement: Connery was given significant creative control and a then-record salary (reportedly $3 million plus a percentage of gross). He also brought in his own stunt double and influenced the film’s more athletic, hand-to-hand fight style.
- Licensing Issues: The film could use the character James Bond, SPECTRE, Blofeld, Felix Leiter, and Q (here named “Q’Alawi” to avoid copyright issues with EON’s “Major Boothroyd”). It could not use the John Barry theme (replaced by a Michel Legrand score) or the iconic gun-barrel opening.
- No Gunbarrel Intro: The iconic white-dot gunbarrel opening is missing due to copyright; instead, the film opens with a wider frame of Bond walking and shooting.
- No John Barry Theme: The famous Monty Norman "James Bond Theme" could not be used. The score was composed by Michel Legrand.
- The Shaken Martini: The film includes a famous meta-moment where Bond orders a martini "shaken, not stirred," and the bartender looks at him confused until Bond adds, "Vodka?"
- Vulnerability: Connery plays Bond as older, slower, and more human. He gets winded, he dances, and he shows a level of self-aware humor about his age.
Never Say Never Again — James Bond 007
The Atlantic hissed against the hull as Bond’s yacht cut a slow crescent through charcoal water. The moon, a witness to old deeds, hung thin and distant. James Bond sat on deck, suit jacket draped over his shoulders, eyes fixed on a horizon that never promised rest. Retirement had been a thin paper curtain—an idea he’d entertained, folded, and tucked away. Men like him learned early that some things would never stop knocking. Rushed Pre-Production: To beat EON’s official Octopussy to
A subsequent plagiarism suit granted McClory the film rights to Thunderball, leading to his co-producer credit on the 1965 official film. Crucially, the settlement allowed him to remake the story after a ten-year hiatus. By the early 1980s, McClory teamed with producer Jack Schwartzman to launch this independent rival Bond venture. The Return of the King
. Its existence was the result of a decades-long legal battle over the rights to the story Thunderball The Legal Origins: The Battle for Thunderball