We are a fifth of the way through our marathon and only three weeks away from the release of No Time to Die, but even a bigger achievement was my daughter Emery, who is 14, has now seen her first Bond film from start to finish. All three of my children have seen some scenes throughout their lifetimes, but Joanna and I have not yet allowed any of them to watch one in its entirety.
Emery's first of the series was You Only Live Twice. I've always enjoyed certain aspects of this movie, but it has never been one of my favorites. Here is what makes it worth watching over and over again for me.
1. Nancy's Sinatra's theme song has grown on me considerably as I've gotten older. Every time I re-rank the songs it sneaks up the list. Those opening strings are a thing of beauty and immediately the listener can visualize exactly where we will be for the majority of this film.
2. Bond's military service hasn't really been touched upon much in the films, but seeing him in his naval uniform is always welcome.
3. The fight in Osato's office is intense. The antagonist is a hulk of a man and seems like he truly wants to murder Sean Connery. It also turns out that the actor fighting Connery, Peter Maivia, is Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's grandfather.
4. Tiger Tanaka is another great ally. He doesn't stick around from film to film like Felix Leiter and he isn't quite as delightful a sidekick as Kerim Bey, but Tanaka is certainly a fan favorite. So far he only has featured in one film, but his character has been seen in more than just Ian Fleming's novels. He made an appearance in a Raymond Benson continuation novel and has most recently been seen in a comic book spinoff featuring Felix Leiter.
5. I have always liked the way they filmed the Kobe Docks fight sequence. Instead of choreographing an elaborate fight between Bond and multiple henchmen that would include several cuts and special camera setups to allow for the punches to be staged well, they let the camera roll and pull back from the scene. It is a thing of beauty that combines well with John Barry's score.
6. Little Nellie is the highlight of the film for me and, as I already mentioned, Q in the field is one of my favorite things.
7. Production designer Ken Adams was given $1 million out of the $9.5 million budget to build his hollowed-out volcano set and what we get is worth every penny. It's become a Bond-ian trope to have the villain get some kind of elaborate secret lair and even Mike Meyers has made light of it with his Austin Powers films, but this is a thing of beauty.
8. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Ernst Stavro Blofeld."
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