You only live twice is one my top favorite guilty pleasure fun bond movie adventure in the series you only live twice entertaining enjoyable action pack spectacle fun James Bond movie adventure excitement fun
It's my favorite, too! First one I saw, too, with my Dad at the cinema in 1967. As a kid, I couldn't even believe they made movies this cool! Helicopter dogfights...ninja battles...sportscar chases...spaceships...what more could an 11 year old boy want? Now that I'm older, I can identify one more thing: hot babes!
Great analysis. It’s been a while since I did a Bond marathon. Just finished YOLT and it’s become my favorite Connery film for most of the reasons you described. YOLT basically has everything I want in a Bond film. I also think it’s augmented by current geopolitical tensions with Russia, which made the finale feel extremely tense and exciting.
Terrific analysis of one of my all time favorite Bonds! It’s funny how so many of our favorite Bond films are really associated with our memories of first seeing them. I first saw YOLT with my Mom and Dad at one of those double features ( with Thunderball) that they would run before VHS, DVDs and streaming - and I’ll never forget it. The Scope,the action, the atmosphere, the exotic locations -the music- all just magical to a kid seeing it on the big screen. In many ways it is a template not only for most Bond movies, but the entire Spy genre. This was also the last Bond film my Mom saw and it was always her favorite- so that also plays into how much I love it! And as you pointed out- even bored angry and tired, Sean Connery is still just absolutely electric as 007 and has more power on screen than most actors on their best day! And yes - hearing that title song over Don Draper in Mad Men added absolute magic atmosphere to that scene!
YOLT was my first Connery film. I also started playing the James Bond role playing game around the same time I first saw it so it has a special place in my childhood.🎉❤
This one is top 5 for me, even though I used to rank it at the bottom. Seeing it in high Def for the first time made the film come alive for me making me further commit to the fact that Lewis Gilbert is the best Bond director. Love this film for all the elements that excel from Ken Adams' set to Tiger Tanaka and Aki. I can overlook the Connery performance and stupid Japanese fisherman thing
It's such a visually stunning film. There's some great lines from Connery and great fight scenes. Sets and locations deliver. Definitely one of my favorite Bond films. It embraces its inherent comic booky nature.
They say that YOLT has such a lyrical quality to it because it was initially edited by a woman - before Peter Hunt did the final pass. One big editing mistake though: When a US Gemini/Titan rocket is supposed to be launched from Cape Kennedy, the footage she cut in resembled a soviet rocket launch from Baikinur (all desert looking) - But when a Soviet rocket is supposed to be launched, the footage is clearly an American Project Gemini rocket (where you can even see the Florida palm trees). Apparently, she didn't know her rockets very well, because she got it exactly backwards!
That's a very nice analysis, especially the question of it being dreamlike. It would be interesting to know if that was a conscious intention or an emergent property. Also the paradox of a dreamlike journey meeting the very solid world of corporate life. Its also interesting what you say about YOLT prefiguring 2001 ASO in terms of the cut-off astronaut. We don't usually credit Bond with achievements in space imagery, but there is at least one other: Moonraker was one of very few space movies to deal sensibly with the question of gravity, ahead of 2001 (moon gravity), Star Wars, Star Trek, Silent Running, Alien, and practically anything else until Gravity.
I admire a lot of what the movie has to offer (the Japanese setting, the production design, the gorgeous title song), but I love the Fleming novel so much that I can never fully get past the fact that it’s not a true adaptation of that story.
I think because it's not such a radical departure from the source material like, say, MOONRAKER, which is a case where I love the book and movie despite them being totally different. So with YOLT, I constantly see the echoes of the version of the story I like more. And I also think Broccoli, Gilbert, and company improved on this movie's formula with the two Moore films Gilbert directed.
Now you know EXACTLY how I feel about Thunderball! 😜 Almost all the reasons why you love this film is why I love Thunderball and many of your criticisms about Thunderball are my criticisms of this film. It's like we live in a mirror universe when concerning these two films. 😄 However there is a lot to love about YOLT and I love this analysis!
This is my second favorite Bond film after The Living Daylights. Going to Japan made me appreciate the film even more, as it really does help capture the culture and feeling of being there.
i came into this video thinking you was crazy. your favourite ?? but…you sold me. i understand now. i went to listen to the soundtrack, and i’m sure i’m going to rewatch it later on today. so super, and you are so right.
The volcano set is the most iconic Bond set. Hands down. They've tried and failed to top it, but I think this set is impossible to better. The Spy Who Loved Me, which apes so much of YOLT, tried to to top this set by giving us so many extravagant sets including MI6's base inside an ancient Egyptian tomb or pyramid and of course the Atlantis and Liparus sets.
You could also say so much about the extraordinary color palette used in this film. I noticed that Chris Nolan drew from this film in many ways for Inception, including the orange/brownish interiors which you see mirrored in Inception's castle set; a castle which is, by the way, built on a coastline like in the novel of YOLT. If you read the book, The Nolan Variations, which is based on numerous interviews with Nolan, the author likens the first act of Inception, with its warring Tokyo-based chemical companies, to YOLT. You certainly get some interesting overlaps with the target named Fisher (like Bond's cover name in YOLT) and the villain-turned-ally hiring Cobb called Saito (reminds me of Osato). Nolan himself says his films have, what he calls, an "embarrassing" number of Bond references
I appreciate how you interpret Connery's bored performance as part of the film's thematic exploration of death and dreams. I've always enjoyed You Only Live Twice for many of the reasons you mention, and it's probably my second favourite Connery film after From Russia with Love.
I did not expect such choice of the movie, and this one to be your favourite, so it is a big surprise. However, your views are always, interesting is maybe not the right word, different is maybe the best.
It's interesting how the "fairy tale" Bond film came together by happenstance, in many respects. I'm sure Dahl injected much of his own fanciful, fairy tale writing into the screenplay anyway, but the idea of the "gnome in the mountain" came rather late, and after a location reece in Japan to find a Japanese castle on the coastline that Fleming writes about in his novel. They discovered the Japanese never built castles on the coast, and instead discovered this national park filled with volcanoes. And I think it was Cubby who decided a volcano would a great lair for Blofeld, while Peter Hunt thought the location would be great for a helicopter dogfight. So Dahl, who was already well into writing the script, was told to replace a car chase with the helicopter chase and Blofeld's castle with a volcano lair.
YOLT is the first entry set outside of the Caribbean, Europe, or the US (OK, #2 partially takes place in Turkiye, situated in both Europe and Asia). YOLT in fact is the first film that made _less_ money (on its original run) than its immediate predecessor. On the other hand, the film has started the so-called Blofeld Trilogy. As well, it has served as a template - not only for the notorious Austin Powers parody/tribute films but also "Spy" (1977) and "TND" (1997), thus attaining an outsized influence over the whole film series.
I saw YOLT on the big screen in 1967 [at age 13] with the previous five Bond films firmly under my belt: My youthful perceptions found YOLT to be too slick and gimmicky by comparison, BUT after subsequent viewings over the years it's value kept increasing for much the same reasons that you delineate in your talk
Fun facts about YOLT; both Akiko Wakabayashi and Mie Hama had prominent roles in Godzilla films. The fight scene in Osato headquarters was with stuntman and professional wrestler Peter Maivia, grandfather of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. This film and book was the first depiction of Ninjas in western media, many of the Ninja movie tropes such throwing stars, straight katanas, etc. that we see so prominently in 80's action films was invented by both Ian Fleming's novel and this film. The historical ninja was called Shinobi and were just elite Samurai trained in spy craft.
“You Only Live Twice” is a spectacular, entertaining film. It is far more exciting than “Goldfinger,” and better paced than “Thunderball.” The film makes fabulous use of its locations (something that the makers of “Octopussy” could have learned from). How fortunate that Freddie Young was available for the cinematography! Bob Simmons displays his best fight choreography since “From Russia With Love,” and John Barry’s score is one of his most exquisite. Although they weren’t fluent in English and had to be dubbed, the Japanese cast lends excellent support. My regret was that Charles Gray didn’t have a bigger role. Pity this film suffers from one major flaw . . . Sean Connery! Critics from the earliest days said how bored and indifferent he looked. For all of his justifiable complaints about the press and crowds in Japan, Connery could have summoned enough energy for what he declared was his final Bond. He shows minimal rapport with his fellow players, including M, and poorly handles the scene of Aki’s death. Seeing “You Only Live Twice” in widescreen, in New York City, was a grand experience! But when George Lazenby came along, I didn’t miss Connery at all.
@@AnalyzeThisMisterBond Thanks, Ryan. I really enjoy the film. I understand how you do, too. The action is amazing, and the quips are good. (“For a European, you are exceptionally cultivated.” After flipping the henchman into the piranha pool, “Bon Appetit!”) My favourite among Lewis Gilbert’s films.
I do like this film. Even though Connery is not visibly enthusiastic within certain points of his performance, he's still iconic enough that you don't notice it, if that makes any sense, lol. And whenever I do a marathon of the films, Blofeld's reveal is always satisfying. It has hands down, the best Bond villain's lair out of all the films. The volcano base is so realistically detailed; even when I saw it the first time as a kid, I remembered the sections of the HQ. Ken Adam outdid himself, even though I like his later ones too. That wonderful illustrated book by Alastair Dougall, "The Secret World of 007," has a great rendering of Blofeld's lair. The lair leads to IMO the best army assault out of all Bond films. The ninja infiltration descent is so iconic. It's another element the films need to bring back; Bond has been doing the one-man army thing (with Bond girl in tow, of course), since, arguably, Licence To Kill. I agree with the dreamlike strangeness of the film, and Japan's travelogue setting adds to that. And Tiger is one of the most engaging allies in the series. He's like Bond's tour guide, introducing him to places and customs he's not totally aware of. And yes, even though it comes from the book, I don't care for the Japanese disguise, though. Floating around on TH-cam, there's a short music video of an astronaut stranded on an alien planet, who's hallucinating in order to stay sane. The video uses Sinatra's YOLT song. Can't remember the name of the video, but I'll post the name when I've found it. Makes the song even more haunting.
First time I watched YOLT I really didn't like it. I was fresh out of From Russia with Love, and the sudden increase in camp probably got me tonal whiplash. After a few rewatches (and being more familiar with the franchise overall), I love it with all my heart. Whenever the image of Connery pretending to be japanese pops in my head, I can't help but chuckle. R.I.P. Mr. Bond (1962 - 2006)
You having this as your #1 Bond film was not something I had expected. Always fun to see different viewpoints on the films! For me, this is near the bottom. A lot of the film just doesn't work for me, and it's one that sits near the bottom of my overall ranking, and is only lower than Diamonds Are Forever for the Connery film. I don't like Connery's performance, don't like Bond's Japanese cover, and just don't really vibe with the film. I do think it is shot very artfully, and like the Barry soundtrack. The Nancy Sinatra title track has just bounced off of me over the years. I skip it on every listen of my title track playlist. Ken Adams did excellent work for this film, and I think it's the most memorable chunk of the film (for me). I'm looking forward to the next analysis! I'm a little slow on the commenting these days, but I'm always watching as soon as I see the upload. Thanks for the great analysis Ryan!
it's what we once called a Big Picture Bond film, as opposed to a more personal mission like From Russia With Love and On Her Majesty's Secret Service. However, the historical peak was Goldfinger and Thunderball.
@@AnalyzeThisMisterBond Bond was most relevant in the 60s, he just defined the decade for me. They should have ended the films with OHMSS but money talks, I get it.
It’s always fascinating to me when someone talks about a film that they connect to so much that I don’t. YOLT was my final classic Bond that I saw prior to the release of DAD, way back when I plowed through them all on DVD. It used to be one of my least favorites, but if I tried to rank the films now it would be slightly higher. I think I respond to the more densely (if not more tightly) plotted thriller Bonds than to the grandiose epic ones. There is a lack of drive for me at this one’s core and I don’t hook into it. But that’s me. I do love the sets and the score. A personal favorite is the womb-like operating room where Bond becomes a Romulan. (Thinking of OHMSS, for me in marries a lot of the thriller and epic qualities).
OHMSS is my second-favorite Bond film! Kubrick described cinema as being closer to music than other art forms, and that's how I personally experience movies: less as stories, more as streams of image and sound structured in rhythm. YOLT is the Bond film that most purely encompasses that notion.
@@AnalyzeThisMisterBond I actually look at films that way as well, usually. I kind of have two modes. And with Bond I’m more into story. But images and sounds is how I generally think of film.
It's also my favorite Bond film. The music is exceptional, the sets are awesome and its sci. fi. concept was first rate. It's bonkers and brilliant. It's non-stop and exotic. It's over the top but that is what we want Bond to be. Yes, it remains the best. The one I want to rewatch more than any other. It was released at the height of the space race and as a space nut I loved it. The fate of the world hangs on Hans v. Bond in Blofeld's hollowed-out volcano. "This is the big one 007" as M says and he's right. However, Bond has a first-class degree in oriental languages but has never visited Japan? I guess he specialized in Chinese?
Ryan, I have more thoughts and I will write a longer response to you later. However, the idea of this film being fantastical is an interesting one. For example, Bond claims to Moneypenny that he took a first in Oriental Languages at Cambridge. The literary Bond never attended university, and it seems incredibly unlikely that of all firsts (majors in the US) he would have chosen Oriental Languages. Later on in Japan, a country with which he should have been very familiar having supposedly studied Japanese, he seems very much a foreigner despite appearing to understand at least some Japanese. It's all very odd.
I don't know that studying the Japanese language necessarily makes you an expert on Japanese custom. I studied German for a while, but there was still some culture shock when I visited Germany - and Germany isn't as different from my home country 1960s Britain was from 1960s Japan. Also, Bond's studies on the matter at Cambridge would presumably have been in the 1950s, which was when post-WWII Japan was still finding its footing.
The wrong is when Bond tells Henderson that he never came to Japan. But in ''From Russia with Love'' says that he was with M in Tokyo. 2.47 - 2.51th-cam.com/video/ojAaOAXGR2k/w-d-xo.html
@@ΜακηςΛ-ε5ρ I wonder if there was some kind of backstory they were imagining for Connery's Bond where he and M served together in the Navy before the SIS, because M is an Admiral, perhaps in the Pacific, and Japan could have been an assignment sometime after World War II. The literary Bond served in the war though Connery himself was too young.
I have always enjoyed this film and also never really saw the problem with the Japanese Secret service at least trying to make him look Japanese , as a westerner even now stands out a mile and he was a spy; However the results were just awful lol !! I used to rank this midway but its now well established in my top ten and my third favourite of the Connerys . Thanks for this content . Ps if any of you have the opportunity to watch this on the big screen , then do it .... the scale of the sets really hits home !!
This movie is just a movie very loosely based on the book. I think they got the story from the book cover. With that aside, I still love this movie and it is my favorite bond move right next to the equally excellent Goldfinger. Buy how can you forget the sultry and sexy Nancy Sinatra and her silky voice singing the title song. At that point I'm in love. Then there is Bond and his Japanese host driving in a beautiful Toyota GT. Sure, the story is hokey, but who cares. It's escape entertainment. It works well. I like the earlier Bond movies as the latter ones got too serious.
We don't have a lot in common but that's ok. Would love to debate you one day. YOLT really was over the top. Connery himself wished he would have had a film more like OHMSS
Everyone has a favorite. Sorry but I didn't even like You Only Live Twice as a child watching it for the first time in the theater in Japan. You Only Live Twice is the world of that mythical Orient which Westerners still clung on to back in the 60s. The whole film from start to finish looked hokey to me. I do, however, like the two Japanese Bond girls. Hama Mie perhaps didn't act so well in English, but she's quite an accomplished actress when she's speaking Japanese.
I've always responded to the existential nature of the title song's lyric and gauzy arrangement. It sets the movie up as something more dreamlike but, at the same time, threatening. As a result, I've always given some of the absurdities of the plot a big pass. The perspective provided by AnalyzeThis provides a more coherent description of my reaction to YOLT. Thanks!
The one major flaw with YOLT is the lack of a strong female lead. We had it with Aki only to have her replaced 2/3 of the way in with Kissy, who looked good but did little otherwise other than swim, awkwardly fired a gun and scampered about in her white bikini. Imagine in Thunderball Domino got replaced by 2/3 of the way in with another girl out of the blue or Tatiana in FRWL? I would much rather have Helga being converted to Bond's side and became the main Bond girl if they wanted to throw a curve ball and subvert our expectations. Narratively speaking Kissy was just the gratuitous girl Bond ends up with toward the film's finale because that was the way Bond films ended.
You only live twice is one my top favorite guilty pleasure fun bond movie adventure in the series you only live twice entertaining enjoyable action pack spectacle fun James Bond movie adventure excitement fun
Cheers, Lorenzo.
Once for yourself, and once for your dreams!!!!!
Exactly so!
@@AnalyzeThisMisterBond I love Barry's score and the different look to this film... It's so beautiful
Definitely disagree
The song lyric might be the key to the whole movie. Well-noted, Tyler!
It's my favorite, too! First one I saw, too, with my Dad at the cinema in 1967. As a kid, I couldn't even believe they made movies this cool! Helicopter dogfights...ninja battles...sportscar chases...spaceships...what more could an 11 year old boy want? Now that I'm older, I can identify one more thing: hot babes!
Colorful and zany enough for children, beautiful enough for adults!
Thank you for a good show
@@omega1omega1 I do my best
Great analysis. It’s been a while since I did a Bond marathon. Just finished YOLT and it’s become my favorite Connery film for most of the reasons you described. YOLT basically has everything I want in a Bond film. I also think it’s augmented by current geopolitical tensions with Russia, which made the finale feel extremely tense and exciting.
I'm so glad someone else loves this movie as much as I do.
Terrific analysis of one of my all time favorite Bonds!
It’s funny how so many of our favorite Bond films are really associated with our memories of first seeing them.
I first saw YOLT with my Mom and Dad at one of those double features ( with Thunderball) that they would run before VHS, DVDs and streaming - and I’ll never forget it.
The Scope,the action, the atmosphere, the exotic locations -the music- all just magical to a kid seeing it on the big screen.
In many ways it is a template not only for most Bond movies, but the entire Spy genre.
This was also the last Bond film my Mom saw and it was always her favorite- so that also plays into how much I love it!
And as you pointed out-
even bored angry and tired, Sean Connery is still just absolutely electric as 007 and has more power on screen than most actors on their best day!
And yes - hearing that title song over Don Draper in Mad Men added absolute magic atmosphere to that scene!
You never forget your first, and this is a particularly monumental movie.
My favorite Bond as well! Your summary and analysis perfectly describe why I love it so much.
I'm so glad!
YOLT was my first Connery film. I also started playing the James Bond role playing game around the same time I first saw it so it has a special place in my childhood.🎉❤
For me, it is the Greatest of the Connery era Bond movies. Thunderball comes second
Cheers!
It's always been my favorite. And the one that really influenced Austin Powers
Welcome to the YOLT-lovers club.
This one is top 5 for me, even though I used to rank it at the bottom. Seeing it in high Def for the first time made the film come alive for me making me further commit to the fact that Lewis Gilbert is the best Bond director. Love this film for all the elements that excel from Ken Adams' set to Tiger Tanaka and Aki. I can overlook the Connery performance and stupid Japanese fisherman thing
Gilbert directed the heck out of this.
It's such a visually stunning film. There's some great lines from Connery and great fight scenes. Sets and locations deliver. Definitely one of my favorite Bond films. It embraces its inherent comic booky nature.
Pure escapism (with a dose of haunting beauty).
Lol, I always thought of this rendition of a Bond villian as a mountain troll from European mythology.
100%! Very much feels that way.
They say that YOLT has such a lyrical quality to it because it was initially edited by a woman - before Peter Hunt did the final pass. One big editing mistake though: When a US Gemini/Titan rocket is supposed to be launched from Cape Kennedy, the footage she cut in resembled a soviet rocket launch from Baikinur (all desert looking) - But when a Soviet rocket is supposed to be launched, the footage is clearly an American Project Gemini rocket (where you can even see the Florida palm trees). Apparently, she didn't know her rockets very well, because she got it exactly backwards!
Yes, that gaffe always drives me nuts!
My favorite is Licence to Kill! It’s amazing to see your passion for YOLT!
Every Bond film is someone's favorite!
That's a very nice analysis, especially the question of it being dreamlike. It would be interesting to know if that was a conscious intention or an emergent property. Also the paradox of a dreamlike journey meeting the very solid world of corporate life. Its also interesting what you say about YOLT prefiguring 2001 ASO in terms of the cut-off astronaut. We don't usually credit Bond with achievements in space imagery, but there is at least one other: Moonraker was one of very few space movies to deal sensibly with the question of gravity, ahead of 2001 (moon gravity), Star Wars, Star Trek, Silent Running, Alien, and practically anything else until Gravity.
I would imagine that screenwriter Roald Dahl had some idea as to what he was doing with the tone, but Bond films are always group projects.
Definitely a top 5 Bond film for me! The most fun (and iconic? Probably!) Connery Bond film, with my favourite main Bond villain!
It's so iconic it almost hurts!
Heck, even if this isn't in my top 5, it's still the most iconic Bond film with the best Bond villain!
I admire a lot of what the movie has to offer (the Japanese setting, the production design, the gorgeous title song), but I love the Fleming novel so much that I can never fully get past the fact that it’s not a true adaptation of that story.
Why not both, I ask?
I think because it's not such a radical departure from the source material like, say, MOONRAKER, which is a case where I love the book and movie despite them being totally different. So with YOLT, I constantly see the echoes of the version of the story I like more. And I also think Broccoli, Gilbert, and company improved on this movie's formula with the two Moore films Gilbert directed.
Glad there are others that have this as their favourite, can’t argue that it’s the best Bond film but probably the one I like the most.
Welcome to the YOLT-lovers club.
Now you know EXACTLY how I feel about Thunderball! 😜 Almost all the reasons why you love this film is why I love Thunderball and many of your criticisms about Thunderball are my criticisms of this film. It's like we live in a mirror universe when concerning these two films. 😄 However there is a lot to love about YOLT and I love this analysis!
Oil and water!
This is my second favorite Bond film after The Living Daylights. Going to Japan made me appreciate the film even more, as it really does help capture the culture and feeling of being there.
i came into this video thinking you was crazy. your favourite ?? but…you sold me. i understand now. i went to listen to the soundtrack, and i’m sure i’m going to rewatch it later on today. so super, and you are so right.
I can't tell you how happy this makes me.
Definitely a great movie, and I love people owning their favorites!!! I do think if they made the books story, it would have been even better
I wish we'd gotten a faithful version of the novel at some point.
Great film, great villain, Good Review 👍
Thank you! 🙏
The volcano set is the most iconic Bond set. Hands down. They've tried and failed to top it, but I think this set is impossible to better. The Spy Who Loved Me, which apes so much of YOLT, tried to to top this set by giving us so many extravagant sets including MI6's base inside an ancient Egyptian tomb or pyramid and of course the Atlantis and Liparus sets.
th-cam.com/video/fCisJExSWs4/w-d-xo.html
My Top-10 is: 1965, 1967❤(You Only Live Twice), 1969, 1977, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1995.
Cheers, Rene.
So; Thunderball, YOLT, OHMSS, TSWLM, Moonraker, FYEO, Octopussy, AVTAK, The Living Daylights and GoldenEye. Pretty interesting list.
You could also say so much about the extraordinary color palette used in this film. I noticed that Chris Nolan drew from this film in many ways for Inception, including the orange/brownish interiors which you see mirrored in Inception's castle set; a castle which is, by the way, built on a coastline like in the novel of YOLT. If you read the book, The Nolan Variations, which is based on numerous interviews with Nolan, the author likens the first act of Inception, with its warring Tokyo-based chemical companies, to YOLT. You certainly get some interesting overlaps with the target named Fisher (like Bond's cover name in YOLT) and the villain-turned-ally hiring Cobb called Saito (reminds me of Osato). Nolan himself says his films have, what he calls, an "embarrassing" number of Bond references
Yes, The Nolan Variations is great!
My fav too. Not the best, but most watchable.
I agree!
I appreciate how you interpret Connery's bored performance as part of the film's thematic exploration of death and dreams.
I've always enjoyed You Only Live Twice for many of the reasons you mention, and it's probably my second favourite Connery film after From Russia with Love.
I'm pleased you enjoy it, too.
My favorite and favorite bond theme from Nancy Sinatra! Thanks
Cheers!
Always nice seeing you, especially so happy and stylish
Cheers!
I did not expect such choice of the movie, and this one to be your favourite, so it is a big surprise. However, your views are always, interesting is maybe not the right word, different is maybe the best.
It's interesting how the "fairy tale" Bond film came together by happenstance, in many respects. I'm sure Dahl injected much of his own fanciful, fairy tale writing into the screenplay anyway, but the idea of the "gnome in the mountain" came rather late, and after a location reece in Japan to find a Japanese castle on the coastline that Fleming writes about in his novel. They discovered the Japanese never built castles on the coast, and instead discovered this national park filled with volcanoes. And I think it was Cubby who decided a volcano would a great lair for Blofeld, while Peter Hunt thought the location would be great for a helicopter dogfight. So Dahl, who was already well into writing the script, was told to replace a car chase with the helicopter chase and Blofeld's castle with a volcano lair.
Sometimes the best ideas just come through happenstance.
YOLT is the first entry set outside of the Caribbean, Europe, or the US (OK, #2 partially takes place in Turkiye, situated in both Europe and Asia).
YOLT in fact is the first film that made _less_ money (on its original run) than its immediate predecessor. On the other hand, the film has started the so-called Blofeld Trilogy. As well, it has served as a template - not only for the notorious Austin Powers parody/tribute films but also "Spy" (1977) and "TND" (1997), thus attaining an outsized influence over the whole film series.
Yes, it was the beginning of the decline (until LALD kicked things back into high gear).
I saw YOLT on the big screen in 1967 [at age 13] with the previous five Bond films firmly under my belt: My youthful perceptions found YOLT to be too slick and gimmicky by comparison, BUT after subsequent viewings over the years it's value kept increasing for much the same reasons that you delineate in your talk
I'm so glad to hear that!
Fun facts about YOLT; both Akiko Wakabayashi and Mie Hama had prominent roles in Godzilla films. The fight scene in Osato headquarters was with stuntman and professional wrestler Peter Maivia, grandfather of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. This film and book was the first depiction of Ninjas in western media, many of the Ninja movie tropes such throwing stars, straight katanas, etc. that we see so prominently in 80's action films was invented by both Ian Fleming's novel and this film. The historical ninja was called Shinobi and were just elite Samurai trained in spy craft.
No, these are lesser known facts
“You Only Live Twice” is a spectacular, entertaining film. It is far more exciting than “Goldfinger,” and better paced than “Thunderball.” The film makes fabulous use of its locations (something that the makers of “Octopussy” could have learned from). How fortunate that Freddie Young was available for the cinematography! Bob Simmons displays his best fight choreography since “From Russia With Love,” and John Barry’s score is one of his most exquisite. Although they weren’t fluent in English and had to be dubbed, the Japanese cast lends excellent support. My regret was that Charles Gray didn’t have a bigger role.
Pity this film suffers from one major flaw . . . Sean Connery! Critics from the earliest days said how bored and indifferent he looked. For all of his justifiable complaints about the press and crowds in Japan, Connery could have summoned enough energy for what he declared was his final Bond. He shows minimal rapport with his fellow players, including M, and poorly handles the scene of Aki’s death.
Seeing “You Only Live Twice” in widescreen, in New York City, was a grand experience! But when George Lazenby came along, I didn’t miss Connery at all.
Fair remarks, all.
@@AnalyzeThisMisterBond Thanks, Ryan. I really enjoy the film. I understand how you do, too. The action is amazing, and the quips are good. (“For a European, you are exceptionally cultivated.” After flipping the henchman into the piranha pool, “Bon Appetit!”) My favourite among Lewis Gilbert’s films.
I do like this film. Even though Connery is not visibly enthusiastic within certain points of his performance, he's still iconic enough that you don't notice it, if that makes any sense, lol. And whenever I do a marathon of the films, Blofeld's reveal is always satisfying.
It has hands down, the best Bond villain's lair out of all the films. The volcano base is so realistically detailed; even when I saw it the first time as a kid, I remembered the sections of the HQ. Ken Adam outdid himself, even though I like his later ones too. That wonderful illustrated book by Alastair Dougall, "The Secret World of 007," has a great rendering of Blofeld's lair.
The lair leads to IMO the best army assault out of all Bond films. The ninja infiltration descent is so iconic. It's another element the films need to bring back; Bond has been doing the one-man army thing (with Bond girl in tow, of course), since, arguably, Licence To Kill.
I agree with the dreamlike strangeness of the film, and Japan's travelogue setting adds to that. And Tiger is one of the most engaging allies in the series. He's like Bond's tour guide, introducing him to places and customs he's not totally aware of. And yes, even though it comes from the book, I don't care for the Japanese disguise, though.
Floating around on TH-cam, there's a short music video of an astronaut stranded on an alien planet, who's hallucinating in order to stay sane. The video uses Sinatra's YOLT song. Can't remember the name of the video, but I'll post the name when I've found it. Makes the song even more haunting.
I wholly agree, my friend!
Your channel is awesome. Amazing in depth Analysis’s.
@@jackthomas6952 Thank you, Jack!
First time I watched YOLT I really didn't like it. I was fresh out of From Russia with Love, and the sudden increase in camp probably got me tonal whiplash. After a few rewatches (and being more familiar with the franchise overall), I love it with all my heart. Whenever the image of Connery pretending to be japanese pops in my head, I can't help but chuckle. R.I.P. Mr. Bond (1962 - 2006)
I'm glad you came around on it!
You having this as your #1 Bond film was not something I had expected. Always fun to see different viewpoints on the films!
For me, this is near the bottom. A lot of the film just doesn't work for me, and it's one that sits near the bottom of my overall ranking, and is only lower than Diamonds Are Forever for the Connery film.
I don't like Connery's performance, don't like Bond's Japanese cover, and just don't really vibe with the film. I do think it is shot very artfully, and like the Barry soundtrack. The Nancy Sinatra title track has just bounced off of me over the years. I skip it on every listen of my title track playlist.
Ken Adams did excellent work for this film, and I think it's the most memorable chunk of the film (for me).
I'm looking forward to the next analysis! I'm a little slow on the commenting these days, but I'm always watching as soon as I see the upload. Thanks for the great analysis Ryan!
Well, we can't all see the world the same way!
it's what we once called a Big Picture Bond film, as opposed to a more personal mission like From Russia With Love and On Her Majesty's Secret Service. However, the historical peak was Goldfinger and Thunderball.
The peak in box office and cultural excitement, to be sure.
@@AnalyzeThisMisterBond Bond was most relevant in the 60s, he just defined the decade for me. They should have ended the films with OHMSS but money talks, I get it.
It’s always fascinating to me when someone talks about a film that they connect to so much that I don’t.
YOLT was my final classic Bond that I saw prior to the release of DAD, way back when I plowed through them all on DVD. It used to be one of my least favorites, but if I tried to rank the films now it would be slightly higher. I think I respond to the more densely (if not more tightly) plotted thriller Bonds than to the grandiose epic ones. There is a lack of drive for me at this one’s core and I don’t hook into it. But that’s me.
I do love the sets and the score. A personal favorite is the womb-like operating room where Bond becomes a Romulan.
(Thinking of OHMSS, for me in marries a lot of the thriller and epic qualities).
OHMSS is my second-favorite Bond film!
Kubrick described cinema as being closer to music than other art forms, and that's how I personally experience movies: less as stories, more as streams of image and sound structured in rhythm. YOLT is the Bond film that most purely encompasses that notion.
@@AnalyzeThisMisterBond I actually look at films that way as well, usually. I kind of have two modes. And with Bond I’m more into story. But images and sounds is how I generally think of film.
And OHMSS also my second-favorite, after FRWL. And extremely tight second. And my favorite of all cinematically.
Welcome to Japan, Mr Bond
Hopefully, a feature film will return there for an extended stay.
It's also my favorite Bond film. The music is exceptional, the sets are awesome and its sci. fi. concept was first rate. It's bonkers and brilliant. It's non-stop and exotic. It's over the top but that is what we want Bond to be. Yes, it remains the best. The one I want to rewatch more than any other. It was released at the height of the space race and as a space nut I loved it. The fate of the world hangs on Hans v. Bond in Blofeld's hollowed-out volcano. "This is the big one 007" as M says and he's right. However, Bond has a first-class degree in oriental languages but has never visited Japan? I guess he specialized in Chinese?
He might've been stationed in Hong Kong.
2.47 -2.50 th-cam.com/video/ojAaOAXGR2k/w-d-xo.html
Ryan, I have more thoughts and I will write a longer response to you later. However, the idea of this film being fantastical is an interesting one. For example, Bond claims to Moneypenny that he took a first in Oriental Languages at Cambridge. The literary Bond never attended university, and it seems incredibly unlikely that of all firsts (majors in the US) he would have chosen Oriental Languages. Later on in Japan, a country with which he should have been very familiar having supposedly studied Japanese, he seems very much a foreigner despite appearing to understand at least some Japanese. It's all very odd.
I don't know that studying the Japanese language necessarily makes you an expert on Japanese custom.
I studied German for a while, but there was still some culture shock when I visited Germany - and Germany isn't as different from my home country 1960s Britain was from 1960s Japan.
Also, Bond's studies on the matter at Cambridge would presumably have been in the 1950s, which was when post-WWII Japan was still finding its footing.
The wrong is when Bond tells Henderson that he never came to Japan. But in ''From Russia with Love'' says that he was with M in Tokyo.
2.47 - 2.51th-cam.com/video/ojAaOAXGR2k/w-d-xo.html
Oh, right!
@@ΜακηςΛ-ε5ρ I wonder if there was some kind of backstory they were imagining for Connery's Bond where he and M served together in the Navy before the SIS, because M is an Admiral, perhaps in the Pacific, and Japan could have been an assignment sometime after World War II. The literary Bond served in the war though Connery himself was too young.
I have always enjoyed this film and also never really saw the problem with the Japanese Secret service at least trying to make him look Japanese , as a westerner even now stands out a mile and he was a spy; However the results were just awful lol !! I used to rank this midway but its now well established in my top ten and my third favourite of the Connerys . Thanks for this content . Ps if any of you have the opportunity to watch this on the big screen , then do it .... the scale of the sets really hits home !!
I would *love* to see this on the big screen.
This one is on my last 5
It's not for everyone!
This movie is just a movie very loosely based on the book. I think they got the story from the book cover. With that aside, I still love this movie and it is my favorite bond move right next to the equally excellent Goldfinger. Buy how can you forget the sultry and sexy Nancy Sinatra and her silky voice singing the title song. At that point I'm in love. Then there is Bond and his Japanese host driving in a beautiful Toyota GT. Sure, the story is hokey, but who cares. It's escape entertainment. It works well. I like the earlier Bond movies as the latter ones got too serious.
It's terrific spectacle.
It's not my favorite, but it's an important movie in the series. Comic Book Cinema kinda starts here.
That's not an incorrect observation.
We don't have a lot in common but that's ok. Would love to debate you one day. YOLT really was over the top. Connery himself wished he would have had a film more like OHMSS
It is obviously not a novel point at all to indicate that The Spy Who Loved Me is almost a beat for beat copy of You Only Live Twice.
And an inferior one, IMO!
Yes i like this movie a lot too but of course Sean Connery is the best bond period.....
He's certainly the most iconic. (My favorite Bond is Dalton, though.)
@@AnalyzeThisMisterBond yes sean connery and dalton maybe two number one bonds and dalton's living daylights just awesome
Everyone has a favorite. Sorry but I didn't even like You Only Live Twice as a child watching it for the first time in the theater in Japan. You Only Live Twice is the world of that mythical Orient which Westerners still clung on to back in the 60s. The whole film from start to finish looked hokey to me. I do, however, like the two Japanese Bond girls. Hama Mie perhaps didn't act so well in English, but she's quite an accomplished actress when she's speaking Japanese.
I've always responded to the existential nature of the title song's lyric and gauzy arrangement. It sets the movie up as something more dreamlike but, at the same time, threatening. As a result, I've always given some of the absurdities of the plot a big pass. The perspective provided by AnalyzeThis provides a more coherent description of my reaction to YOLT. Thanks!
Thanks, Dean!
This used to be my favorite, but have gone down many notches in favor of more serious fare like From Russia with Love and Casino Royale.
I like those too, of course!
The one major flaw with YOLT is the lack of a strong female lead. We had it with Aki only to have her replaced 2/3 of the way in with Kissy, who looked good but did little otherwise other than swim, awkwardly fired a gun and scampered about in her white bikini. Imagine in Thunderball Domino got replaced by 2/3 of the way in with another girl out of the blue or Tatiana in FRWL? I would much rather have Helga being converted to Bond's side and became the main Bond girl if they wanted to throw a curve ball and subvert our expectations. Narratively speaking Kissy was just the gratuitous girl Bond ends up with toward the film's finale because that was the way Bond films ended.
I agree. They didn't both Aki and Kissy as characters.
A flaw is that Kissy's name is not in the film.
Think this guy played Horace 'I.Q.' Boothroyd III.
😐
No way it's Connery's worse Bond film. Clearly he was bored by then. From Russia with Love was the best.
Agree to disagree!