Bond finds out he is in contact with genealogist Sir Hilary Bray (played by George Baker) at the London College of Arms. 007 works with the college to meet with Blofeld (played by Telly Savalas) by pretending to be Sir Hilary Bray. Later after being outed as James Bond, Blofeld reveals he has the scientific info to control and destroy the world economy. He is training his patients (who are there to be cured of allergies) to become his Angels of Death. Bond is put in the cable car engine room, he escapes and is chased down the ski slopes to the Christmas market in the village. Tracy helps him to escape by car where they end up at a barn as the weather gets too nasty to drive in. Early the next morning they end up in another skiing scene being pursued by Blofeld’s goons and trying to avoid getting killed in an avalanche, where Tracy is captured. Back in M’s office, 007 is informed that the UN will pay Blofeld off. Bond decides to take matters into his own hands, along with Draco they pose as Red Cross helicopters (which apparently would be a war crime). They land and start to shoot up the clinic, Tracy is rescued, and the institute is blown up. The final part is the wedding between Tracy and Bond, them driving off, and Blofeld doing a drive-by shooting where Tracy is killed. The romantic comedy sections of this film feel off for a Bond movie (although I do enjoy romcoms), the pacing of the film is slow and it doesn’t get going till about midway through. Plus, there’s no real Q-scene to speak of which is always bad in my book and the execution of the story is a bit meh. All of these contribute to dragging down my rating of OHMSS, although George Lazenby is good in the role, and it’s a shame he only did one film.

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The fight scene in a small moving elevator between 007 and Peter Franks (played by Joe Robinson). Plenty O’Toole (played by Lana Wood) is thrown from a hotel room window and lands in the pool. The car chase with the Las Vegas Police where Bond takes out half a dozen squad cars in the process of driving around a parking lot, even if the swapping of the side of the car the wheels are on when going through the tight alleyway is kinda silly. A couple of things that let this film down for me are the very small amount of Q (played by Desmond Llewelyn) in it. The fact that toward the end of the movie Bond only knows that the satellite is being controlled from an oil rig because it’s on a map of Willard Whyte’s company locations and he doesn’t recognise it. This means Blofeld has gone to the trouble of creating a model oil rig and has put it on the map for some reason, which I find hard to believe. Tiffany Case (played by Jill St. John) seems to be just along for the ride, she’s not given much to do bar sitting, laying down, being passed from Bond to Blofeld and “helping” with the satellite control tape towards the end, I feel like the character deserved to more integral to the plot seems kind of a waste. Finally, Bond driving the Moon Buggy out of the Moon Landing studio (which I don’t understand why there’s even there) and across the desert is also very silly. All things considered, this Bond film is one I’d be happy to sit down and watch on a Sunday afternoon, it’s a funny, interesting, and well-put-together film with an iconic title song by Shirley Bassey.

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He is a racist hick certainly, but he has some of the best lines in this movie and gets his just deserts when his patrol car and the police car he commanders are destroyed during one of the most epic boat chases in the Bond franchise. Now for the problems, the fact Solitaire (played by Jane Seymour) believes her powers for reading tarot cards only exist as long as she’s a virgin, with both Dr. Kananga/Mr. Big and Bond (especially when he stacks the deck with ‘Lovers’ cards to sleep with her) using that against her is abhorrent. We also have Rosie Carver (played by Gloria Hendry), a junior CIA agent and Bond’s first black co-star, and the fact she is evil and secretly working for Kananga is not a good look for the film. If we look at the good points, the movie Is well written, acted, edited, and paced, if we weigh them against the bad – which I’ve only very briefly outlined, there’s much more to say. Please listen to the From Rewatch With Love episode on it for a more in-depth analysis. This movie is still up there for me. I love Roger Moore as Bond, he’s kind of a jerk but more empathetic than Connery‘s Bond. This film is one of Moore’s best in my opinion, with a top-tier title song by Paul and Linda McCartney.

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Back in Ms office, Q is talking about a flying car they are working on as news of Goodnight’s whereabouts comes through, we see her open the boot of the car as they are still flying and gets the shock of her life. Bond flies to the Chinese protected islands and is given dinner by Scaramanga, and a tour of the facility, where they also have pistols at dawn fight which turns into a similar scene that we saw in the per-titles, but this time Bond (disguised as the 007 statue) gets his man. With the “help” of Goodnight, the facility starts to explode to the dismay of Nick Nack who has a very silly but entertaining knife fight with Bond aboard the Junk boat, where he is unceremoniously put in the Crow’s nest.

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Later on, while being chased by Jaws and several henchmen in cars and on motorcycles. We get a classic gadget scene, with mud sprays, smoke screens, and the Bond car turning into a submarine as a helicopter fires at them. Bond and Anya eventually find Strongberg’s secret hideout, along with the two submarines; they turn up on a US submarine and get captured. Once they have disembarked, XXX is captured and taken with Strongberg to Atlantis. Bond fights off his guards, and the Navy turn up with grenades, explosions, flame throwers and tones of gunfire – the Captain seals the operations room. Bond manages to remove the detonator from the nuclear missile on a third submarine and then gets on top of the security camera ball on a track as it moves close to the Operations Room. He cuts the CCTV cable and sets off a 20-second explosion timer. Trying to get away, the pully jams, and he manages to drop down just as the wall blows up. They work out where the two submarines are and tell them to change their firing position to each other’s location. Bond goes back to Strongberg’s big spider hideout (Atlantis) to get XXX (he only has an hour before the Navy blow it up). He arrives on a build-it-yourself Jet Ski that Q (played by Desmond Llewelyn) sent him. Once on board, he meets with Strongberg who has a gun under the table pointed at him, Bond fires through the barrel twice, shoots Strongberg, and then fights with Jaws in the tank room. 007 uses a large magnet to pick Jaws up and dump him in the shark tank – Jaws eats the shark with his metal teeth. Bond finds Anya (as Atlantis starts to explode) and they get into Strongberg’s escape pod. XXX picks up a gun to shoot Bond but shoots the top of the Dom Perignon instead, they are congratulated by their governments and embrace in the escape pod.

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The titles are a Classic Bond opening by Maurice Binder and silhouettes all over the world. The theme song performed by Shirley Bassey is good, but it’s nothing to write home about. For some reason, there’s an annoying beeping throughout the opening titles. The film follows 007 as he tries to find out what happened to the stolen shuttle, which we find out during a meeting between M (played by Bernard Lee), Q (played by Desmond Llewelyn), MOD (played by Geoffrey Keen) and Bond that it was on loan from the USA. Bond heads off to the DRAX Corporation in California, who made the shuttle. 007 is immediately suspicious of Hugo Drax (played by Michael Lonsdale) as they have tea together, after which Drax asks for Bond to be killed. Dr Holly Goodhead (played by Lois Chiles) show 007 around the Astronauts training area as a Drax henchman tries to take Bond out on many accessions, including trapping him in a Centrifuge and subjecting him to debilitating G forces. Bond follows the clues to Venice and then Rio where he runs into Dr Goodhead (who we found out earlier is CIA) looking at DRAX planes. During the film, 007 comes across a lab making nerve gases that do not affect animals or plants, but is lethal to humans – Drax wants to destroy the human race and start again. Towards the end of the film, Bond and Dr Goodhead are put under a rocket engine to die; 007 uses his watch to blow the air vent, and they escape. After stealing a DRAX car and uniform, they manage to replace the real astronauts and end up on Moonraker 6 heading into space. They arrive at the new civilisation in space, along with Moonraker’s 1-5. Once there, Drax delivers a speech about creating the perfect super race and returning it to Earth to shape its new beginning. After working out that Drax is just using him, Jews and his new girlfriend Dolly (played by Blanche Ravalec) help Bond and Dr Goodhead to break free from the space station and take Drax’s Moonraker 5 (fitted with lasers) to go after the satellites which have been launched into space to spray the Nerve Gas onto Earth, they manage to destroy all three of them. This film is very silly. Bond going to space, all the strange fight scenes in space between US and DRAX forces – everyone just floating around.

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Bond is sent to Madrid to follow Hector and find out who hired him; Hector is met by a man at a pool party and given cash as payment for the hit. He is then shot in the back with an arrow by Melina. She and 007 escape as the henchman attempts to break into his Lotus, and it explodes. They run through the forest, get into her Citroen 2CV and start an amusing car chase scene with many jumps, spins, rolls, push starts, blockages and gunfire. Bond meets up with Q (played by Desmond Llewelyn) back at MI6 to use the identi-graph to find out who paid off Hector. Bond describes the man and the computer creating an e-fit using magnetic tape cartridges and cross-referencing it with international databases and comes up with Emile Leopold Locque (played by Michael Gothard), an enforcer in the Brussels Underworld who is currently working for Geek Smuggler. Bond heads to Northern Italy and meets his contact, Luigi Ferrara (played by John Moreno), who sets up a meeting with a Greek contact, Aristotle Kristatos (played by Julian Glover). As they chat, he tells James that Locque is an associate of Columbo (head of a crime syndicate). He also asks if Bond would escort his ice-skating prodigy, Bibi Dahi (played by Lynn-Holly Johnson), to a Biathlon later that afternoon. In this scene, we also meet Bibi’s skating coach, Jacoba Brink (played by Jill Bennett), as she is an older Russian woman and if you look back at other Bond films, you would be forgiven for thinking she is involved, she isn’t, but its a nice curve ball. Melina received a telegram to meet Bond in Italy (he didn’t send it). She arrives, goes off to buy another crossbow, and is set upon by motorcyclists. Bond uses roadwork barriers to take them out, forcing one into the window of a florist, where he had just ordered some Lilies, and sends Melina to Corfu. When returning to his hotel room, Bond finds Bibi coming out of his shower and tells her to “get dressed, and I’ll buy you an ice cream”. I like how uncomfortable he is in this scene; he is so not into it, probably because of the massive age gap. They go to the Biathlon and ski around. We meet Bibi’s other love interest, Erich Krieger (played by John Wyman). Bond goes to leave and is shot at by Erich. He is surrounded and forced to do a Ski Jump where henchmen are waiting for him at the bottom with a crossbow. Bond manages to hit Erich, and motorcycles (with guns mounted) chase him through the snow and into a Bobsleigh track, the team looking very uneasy with the situation. Bond goes over a roof, barrel rolls, and escapes. James meets with Bibi to get information on Erich, an East German Olympic class biathlete – he is later revealed as Kristatos’s second in command. As she and Jacoba leave, the lights go off, and the Hockey players attack Bond. I love how the scoreboard keeps track of 007’s points (one with an Ice Polishing truck). Once he escapes, James finds Ferrara dead and a pin of a Dove in his hand (the sign of Columbo). Meeting up with Melina in Corfu, Kristatos tells Bond that Locque refines heroin destined for Britain. Columbo listens to the conversation via a recorder in the candle holder on their table. Columbo’s mistress, Lisl (played by Cassandra Harris), suspiciously makes a scene and leaves. She confirms at her house that it was for show, and Columbo wants her to get information from him. The morning after they have a walk by the beach, Locque and Claus (played by Charles Dance) turn up on dune buggies, and they hold 007 at gunpoint as Claus is shot in the back with a harpoon as Locque drives off. The Dove team comes out of the sea and knocks Bond out, he’s taken to meet Columbo on his big sailboat. He insists that Kristatos is the one playing Bond, they share a drink, and he invites Bond to Albania to see Kristato’s operation. Once there, they fight with the crew on the dock and find salvage equipment, drugs, and the same kind of Bomb that blew up the St George. Bond shoots at Locque’s car, pursuing him on foot, and manages to shoot him in the arm. The car hangs over a cliff, Bond throws in the Dove pin Locque left with Ferrara’s body, kicks the car, and it goes over the edge. 007 meets Melina on her parent’s boat and asks if she can help find the St George. They look in her father’s daily log and go down in Neptune (a mini-submarine) to look for it. Once they find the St George and the A.T.A.C., they try to remove it. Melina has her air supply cut by someone in an atmospheric diving suit, in the confusion, James sets an explosive timer, and a fight starts between him and this person. They manage to escape as the explosion goes off, a mini-submarine turns up and starts cutting the CO2 lines of Neptune. Bond and Melina push the mini-submarine into the hole in the side of the St George and leave. Once back on the boat, they are met by Apostis, Kristatos and Erich and taken to a speed boat, tied up and dropped into the water. Being towed at high speed back and forth, with Kristatos trying to rake them over the Coral to entice the sharks. James tries to get the rope snagged on a rock so he can break it – after a few attempts they are free. Once back on board, the parrot (Max) says “A.T.A.C to St Cyril’s”. Bond visits a church and goes into the confessional. Q tells him that there are 439 St Cyril’s in Greece. Luckily, Columbo knows which one they are at, as they used to hide from the Germans there. Once there, Bond starts to scale the cliff to the Monastery. Along the way, he gets caught and is kicked off the cliff, held in mid-air by his rope. James makes a makeshift winch out of his shoelaces as Apostis (played by Jack Klaff) breaks two more of 007’s anchor points, but James manages to throw a knife in his chest as he tries to break the third. Once at the top, Bond lets down a motorised basket so Columbo, his men and Melina can get up to him. Santos tries to stop Bond and aims at the basket, but Melina shoots him with her crossbow. Now everyone is in the Monastery, and with help from Jacoba, they find where the A.T.A.C is. We get into an epic final fight scene between the two groups. While all this has been going on, General Gogol (played by Walter Gotell), head of the KGB, has been flying in by helicopter to pick up the A.C.T.A. When he arrives, Kristatos tries to escape with it, Columbo puts a knife in his back, Bond throws the A.C.T.A off the mountain, destroying it, and General Gogol quickly leaves. In the final scene, Bond and Melina are making out as Q sets up a satellite to reach Bond via his watch to be put through to then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher (played by Janet Brown), Melina says “Give us a kiss”, and Max throws the watch into the sea.

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At a meeting with M (played by Robert Brown), MOD (played by Geoffrey Keen), and an Antiquities Expert, we find out the egg was an Easter present for the Russian royal family. The one that 009 recovered is a fake, with the real one being auctioned at Sotheby’s in the afternoon, the fourth egg auctioned this year. Bond and the Antiquities Expert, Jim Fanning (played by Douglas Wilmer), go to watch the auction. The program provides no name and simply calls it ‘Property of a Lady’. The funds from the sale will be paid to an anonymous Swiss bank account. We observe a Soviet meeting about mutual disarmament with NATO. General Gogol (played by Walter Gotell) and General Orlov (played by Steven Berkoff) disagree about whether this would compromise the Russian defensive position. Orlov does a presentation on how he can take over Europe in just ten days, and NATO wouldn’t attack with nuclear weapons. We follow Orlov as he goes inside the Kremlin Art Repository, he finds out the counterfeit egg was stolen and says they have no choice but to buy the real egg at auction. Back at Sotheby’s, a lady enters, Magda (played by Kristina Wayborn), along with Kamal Khan (played by Louis Jourdan) – he and Bond get into a bidding war for the egg. While the bidding is going on 007 has a look at the real egg and swaps it with the fake one. After many bids, Khan is forced to pay £500,000 for the counterfeit. Once outside, Bond puts a tail on their Taxi, which takes them to Heathrow and onto a plane to Delhi. M tells 007 to get on a flight to India (which he already has a ticket for) and sign a chit for the egg – It’s government property now. Getting off a boat in Delhi, Bond passes a snake charmer playing the 007 theme on a flute (bit fourth wall breaking). Vijay (played by Vijay Amritra) is his MI6 contact (the actor was very afraid of snakes) who takes him to see Sadruddin (played by Albert Moses), head of the MI6 station in India. Vijay tells Bond that Khan is an exiled Afghan Prince who lives at the heavily guarded Monsoon Palace but plays Backgammon at the hotel-casino most days. Khan beats the major at Backgammon with a weighted dice. Bond takes over and stakes the real egg while utilising players’ privilege to use Khan’s dice, 007 collects 200,000 rupees and keeps the egg. Khan says “Spend the money quickly, Mr. Bond”, as James is passing some of it off to others. As they leave the hotel, Bond and Vijay end up in a Tuk Tuk chase with Ninjas in black driving a Jeep, we get a great fight scene with knives, hot coals, swords, and Vijay hitting them with a tennis racket. Bond asks for the money he gave to Vijays and throws it into the crowd to slow the chasers down. They drive through a movie poster (which is replaced by a new one) and enter the MI6 station, Q (played by Desmond Llewelyn) gives 007 the egg back with a homing device and microphone in it. Additionally, he gets a fountain pen that can listen and dissolve metals and a watch that can find the egg and show a video stream. Back at the hotel, Bond enters the dining room and is taken to a table he never reserved, where he finds Magda, they chat and head up to his room. The next morning, she steals the real egg (Bond knows) and exits via the balcony, using her sarry to lower herself to the ground. Kamal’s bodyguard, Gobinda (played by Kabir Bedi), knocks Bond out and takes him to Monsoon Palace. Khan meets with Octopussy (played by Maud Adams), she’s glad the egg is back but is not happy it was stolen in the first place. She also wants to meet with Bond after Khan has got the information he needs. Back at the Palace, the watch on James’ wrist pings with eggs location as Khan arrives back, he’s told that dinner with Magda and Khan is at 8 pm. During dinner, we find out that Bond is not a fan of steamed Sheep’s head, especially when Khan is talking about all the different chemicals he can use to torture him if he doesn’t talk. Bond goes back to his room and uses his acid pen to melt the bars on his window. He goes out onto the side of the building as a helicopter lands with Kamal, Gobinda, and General Orlov. James sneaks through Magda’s room and into the palace, gets close to the room they all went into and uses his listening device in the egg. He finds out that Kamal makes fake eggs for Orlov, who swaps them at the Kremlin Art Repository, selling the real egg for loads of money. Orlov breaks the egg (assuming it’s a fake) just after we hear, “One week from today in Karl-Marx-Stadt”. Kamal notices the bug inside but doesn’t say anything. When they are all leaving, Bond hides in a room where Kamal hangs the bodies of those he has killed. Gobinda walks past, notices the door is open, looks inside and locks the door. Henchman comes to take the bodies as Bond hides in one of the bags. They drive the bodies outside. Just before they can throw 007 into a hole, he kicks one of them, breaks free from the bag and runs into the forest. Kamal and his thugs are on top of Elephants doing a bit of hunting – Bond has now become their target. The chase through the forests has everything: tigers, spiders, snakes, fights, Tarzan swing, burning off a leach, James undoing one of the harnesses – leading to the guy falling off his Elephant. Once he gives them all the slip, Bond flags down a tourist boat and gets away. Inside a fake Crocodile, 007 approaches the Floating Palace where Octopussy lives, along with her all-female population. She sees him on CCTV, arriving, skulking around and entering her room. We find out that she is the daughter of Major Dexter Smythe – he was sent by the British Secret Service to locate a cache of Chinese gold in North Korea. His guide was found 20 years later with a bullet from Smythe’s Service Revolver. He nobly committed suicide rather than face a Court Marshal. When her father’s gold ran out, the people in Hong Kong who disposed of it for him offered her commission to smuggle some diamonds. As well as smuggling, she set up this island for underprivileged girls and diversified into hotels, circuses, shipping and carnivals – Bond finds a leaflet for a circus at Karl-Marx-Stadt. While this is all happening, Kamal and Gobinda pay some thugs to take 007 out at Octopussy Island, including a man with a circular saw yoyo, which is a silly and impractical weapon but very entertaining. Vijay relieves Q of his lookout (waiting for Bond to come back) and says he will be back at midnight. Later that night, Vijay is surrounded by Gobinda and his thugs, and is killed with the yoyo saw. The thugs enter the island unnoticed, as they get ready to drop the saw onto Bond, he feels water drip off it and onto his face. He and Octopussy barely avoid being hit by it, and this turns into a fight between the two groups. Bond and a thug end up going through a window and into the water. Octopussy can’t get a clear shot of the assailant, they both disappear, and she thinks Bond is dead. However, James escaped in his fake crocodile and returned to Q, finding out that Vijay was dead. Bond asks M (via Q) to meet him in Berlin, West Germany, as the circus is heading for Karl-Marx-Stadt. James is given his papers and drives into East Germany. This is where the film and its timeline become very difficult to follow. Magda, Gobinda, General Orlov, and Ocotopussy are all at the Big Top, Bond dressed as staff, overhears a meeting about jewellery snuggling and the Star of Russia, which Octopussy has the original hidden in the base of a cannon and wants to sell it in Switzerland. After the show, they’re going back to West Germany. 007 is under the train, braised, as it goes into a tunnel and stops alongside a nearly identical train. He gets off and onto the other train, which has a bomb loaded into its canon base. The bomb is designed to mimic a US bomb and will go off at the next performance in a US Air Force Base in West Germany. Bond catches Mischka (played by David Meyer) removing the jewels on the other train; he tries to use a blow torch on Bond, and they fight, but ultimately 007 hits him with the canon and steals his uniform. A villain monologue wouldn’t have gone a miss here to explain the plan, which is basically, the bomb will go off and seem like an accident by the US and lead to disarmament, leaving every border open to the Russians. Orlov comes over to collect his Jewels as Bond pulls a gun on him. Orlov manages to get away, and Bond ends up in a shoot-out with his henchmen. James steals Orlov’s car, as the tyres shred on stop strips, 007 takes to the rails after the train. The signalman changes Bond’s track, and he ends up alongside the train as another train is coming and pushes the car into a river. General Gogol gets the car out of the river and finds the Jewels. Orlov tries to run through a checkpoint and is gunned down by US soldiers. Bond is now on the train, hiding in a Gorilla outfit as Gobinda sets the bomb for 3:45 pm (four hours from now). Gobinda gets suspicious and goes to chop the head of the Gorilla as James escapes on top of the train, then down the side. Kamal shoots at the window upon seeing Bond. James and Gobinda end up fighting on the roof (love a good 007 train fight). Grishka (played by Anthony Meyer), who is Mischka’s brother, gets involved as he and Bond fall off the train roof, run into a forest, and towards a shack. Grishka throws knives at James and impales him on the wooden door, Grishka lunges at him and says “This is for my brother”. Bond opens the door and Grishka falls through, James looks at him and says “This is for 009” while throwing a knife at him. The circus parade gets into full swing at the Air Force base. Bond flags down a lift into town to find a phone to call into MI6, a lady beats him to a phone box, so he steals her car and ends up in a chase with the Police. 007 bursts through a US security checkpoint and has everyone on his tail. The cannon (with the bomb in it) is wheeled into the Big Top – it shows just five minutes left. James gives everyone the slip, steals a clown costume from an RV, and goes to find the American base commander (played by Bruce Boa). Octopussy (who is scared James is about to ruin her smuggling operation) and the commander are not being very helpful, so Bond tries to get the lock off with an axe. He gets held back by the Police, and Octopussy shoots the lock off. After seeing the bomb inside, the commander asks for silence and to let 007 go. Bond manages to take the detonator out with just a second to spear – the pin fires just outside the bomb. Back in India, Octopussy and her team seduce Kamal’s men and break in to comfort him for trying to kill her and stealing her smuggled jewellery. Octopussy and Kamal’s teams end up in a massive fight, as Bond and Q arrive by Union Jack Hot Air Ballon, which is a very odd entrance but rather assuming. Bond enters the palace by crashing through a window and shooting the guards. He sees on his watch (which is being broadcast from the cameras on the Hot Air Ballon) that Ocotopussy is being led away on horseback. James goes after them as she’s loaded into a plane by Kamal and Gobinda. Bond jumps from a horse onto the plane, once in the air, Kamal tries to shake him off, going up and down, and side to side. Bond pulls wires in one of the engines. Gobinda and Bond fight on top of the plane with knives. Gobinda falls off, and Bond manages to get inside as Kamal is losing control. He and Octopussy jump out as Kamal crashes the plane along a mountain. Back in London, General Gogol meets with M, and they agree that none of this happened as long as they get the Star of Russia back. Bond is apparently “too injured” to travel home but that doesn’t stop him from having relations with Octopussy as the movie ends.

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Max Zorin (played by Christopher Walken) is a billionaire industrialist trying to increase his power, similar to Auric Goldfinger in Goldfinger and Hugo Drax in Moonraker. The races are underway as M and Bond discuss Zorin, who is in the owner’s box watching the race with his henchwoman, May Day (played by Grace Jone). Bond ally, Sir Godfrey Tibbett (played by Patrick Macnee), is concerned about how the horse won the race in the last furlong. The horse, who seems spoked and acts in the winner’s circle, shouldn’t be notable based on its breed. James asks Moneypenny, who has been watching the race with Q, to cash his slip in (he bet on Zorin’s horse, Pegasus). Bond meets Achille Aubergine (played by Jean Rougerie) for dinner in the Eiffel Tower. Achille has been investigating Zorin for cheating and tells 007 that Zorin will soon be holding an annual sale at his Château in Paris and that his security is formidable. Music starts, and the Butterfly Act gets underway. The compère is attacked by May Day, and she uses a butterfly to kill Achille. Bond goes after her on the frame of the tower, with both of them running up the staircase, shots are fired up the staircase, and 007 is lifted up by a fishing rod. May Day parashoots off the building, as Bond jumps on top of an elevator on the way to the ground. James highjacks a Taxi to follow, going backwards down a staircase, lands, spins, goes forwards down a second staircase, up a boat ramp on top of a Bus and down on the ground. The car roof comes off, as does the back, with the car just with its front end, jumping from the bridge onto a barge and into a wedding cake. May Day escapes on a speedboat piloted by Zorin. Bond arrives at Zorin’s stud sale as John Smythe, who has just come into some stables and has decided to start dabbling in horse breeding. Scarpine (played by Patrick Bauchau), Head of Security, takes John to the stables to see the previews, hands him a program, and lets him know that a full brother of Pegasus is estimated to reach a price of $3 million. Sir Godfrey Tibbett, disguised as Mr Smythe’s driver, is waxing the car and goes looking for information. He notices Pegasus being taken to the stables and waits for the trainer to leave. Once clear, he finds the horses nowhere to be seen. Mr Smythe is shown to his room by Jenny Flex (played by Alison Doody) as May Day sneaks around. Tibbett joins Bond in his room as they check for listening devices, we find out that they can listen into any room at any time. The bug is discovered in a lamp, and they play a pre-recorded tape of Mr Smythe dressing down Tibbet for incompetence and go onto the balcony to talk. Once outside, they see Stacy Sutton (played by Tanya Roberts) arrive by helicopter, and Zorin go to meet her. At Reception, Bond sees Zorin handing over a cheque to Stacy, as he tries to enter, he’s stopped and shown the way to the party by May Day. Eventually, after wandering around the party in his polarising sunglasses, he gains entry to the office and takes an imprint of the last cheque in the book, which shows Five Million Dollars to Stacy Sutton. James meets Dr Carl Mortner (played by Willoughby Gray), formerly Hans Glaub, a Nazi scientist, father figure to Zorin, and his breeding consultant. Dr Carl catches Bond coming out of the back area and shows him to the bar – he tells him how Pegasus can be so good even with this breeding being so average. While mingling at the party, Bond uses his ring to take pictures of the guests and meets Bob Conley (played by Manning Redwood), who handles Zorin’s Oil business on the East Bay. Zorin comes over and talks to Mr Smythe about horse riding. James asks about fly casting, giving his cover away to Zorin. Next, Bond talks to Stacy and finds out she is not interested in horses, they get interrupted by May Day, and Stacy goes to her helicopter. Later that night, Tibbett is snooping in the stables and runs into Bond, who shows him the secret lab area underneath. They find Pegasus, who has had surgery to put a microchip in his leg, which is programmed to control an injection of natural horse steroids, this is released when it gets a transmission from the Jokeys cane. Bond uses a stethoscope to discover the combination to the drug cabinet, as two Guards notice the stable door is not locked upstairs. The doors start to close as the guards try to come down. Tibbett and James put the drugs back, turn all the lights off, and hide in the warehouse. They find a surplus of Microchips being stored, at the same time as there is a world shortage of silicon. Guards come into the room and fight with Tibbett and Bond. Both guards end up on the conveyor belt and wrapped up in a box. As this is happening, May Day and Zorin are practising martial arts as they make out, the phone rings and they’re informed of what has been going on. Security is put on full alert, meaning 007 comes across a locked gate and has to jump onto a rising walkway to get back to his room. May Day and Zorin find his room empty as May Day remembers he was the man at the Eiffel Tower. James comes around the corner and decides to go into May Day’s room and get into her bed as cover, as she did say she would – to take care of him personally. She enters her room, gets undressed and takes control. Back in the lab, Dr. Carl tells Zorin that one of the vials is in the wrong place and must have been discovered. The next morning, Zorin asks Mr Smythe to meet him in his study to discuss the Progeny Index (a compilation of thoroughbred bloodlines) to help him with his purchase. Zorin uses a camera behind a painting and a computer to find out who he is. He now knows that Mr Smythe is James Bond, British intelligence, likely armed, extremely dangerous, licensed to kill. Zorin continues to play along and thinks he has the perfect horse for 007. Bond asks Tibbett to go to town and phone M to put a trace on the cheque he copied at the reception. Tibbett goes out on the pretence of getting the car washed and is followed by May Day. Dr Carl and Zorin load a vial into a jockey cane just before James joins Zorin for a horse ride on Inferno. In town, as the car is being washed, May Day strangles Tibbett from the back seat. Back at the Château, Bond is surrounded by Zorin’s men as they line up for the steeplechase. Scarpine moves the fences up when Bond comes up to jump, to their anger, James gets over the hurdles fine, and the others fall. They re-group and attack. Zorin uses his cane to inject Bond’s horse, it goes wild, and they head into the woods. Knowing that his cover is blown, James sees Tibbett’s car approaching, he tries to get in, finding May Day is driving and Tibbett is dead. 007 is searched, Zorin tells him he knows he’s James Bond, and they have a heated chat. Everyone gets into the car, and Bond is knocked out. They drive to a wasteland and point the car at a river, May Day pushes the car into the water, and it sinks to the bottom as James wakes up. He manages to open the door but has to use the air from the tyres to keep himself alive until Zorin and May Day have gone. General Gogol (played by Walter Gotell) meets with Conrade Zorin to give him a dressing down about not answering his control or getting approval to eliminate 007. He tells Zorin that his racing activities and unauthorised commercial ventures are bringing unwanted attention. Zorin tells Gogol that he no longer sees himself as an agent, and Gogol tells him that no one leaves the KGB. Zorin meets with his investors in a blimp. He wants them all to create a cartel to control the production and distribution of microchips, showing them the obstacle – Silicon Valley. Project Main Strike, costing one million dollars each plus half their net income, will remove the dominance of Silicon Valley and put Zorin in control. One of his investors, a Taiwanese Tycoon, wants nothing to do with it and is asked to wait outside. He descends the stairs, it turns into a slide, the floor opens up, and he falls to his death. The Blimp goes over the Golden Gate Bridge, and we get the most on-the-nose comment from May Day “What a view”, with Zorin responding “to a kill”. Bond meets with CIA contact Chuck Lee (played by David Yip) at Fisherman’s Wharf in the USA, he is told that Dr Carl was a Nazi scientist who used steroids on pregnant women to enhance intelligence, and a handful were born (including Zorin) with phenomenal IQs but where also psychotics. James gets information about a Zorin oil pumping station that has ruined one of the best crab patches in the Bay. Bond Scuba dives to the heavily guarded pumping station as they are testing the new equipment. He notices other scuba divers with a microphone trying to get information. 007 goes into one of the outflow pipes as they turn on the intake pump, he drops his air tank, and it jams the propeller. Henchmen check the blockage, one of the Russian spies is caught, told to defuse a bomb they placed, and is thrown into the turbine. The gauge readouts leave the grim death to the viewer’s imagination. Pola Ivanova (played by Fiona Fullerton), a KGB Agent known to Bond, comes out of the water, and they drive off together while being followed. According to From Rewatch with Love, this was meant to be agent XXX from The Spy Who Loved Me, unfortunately, Barbara Bach didn’t want to do it. They go to a Hot Tub place, she thinks that James has stolen the tape they recorded, so as he showers, she switches them and leaves in a car with General Gogol. They find out the tape is of Swan Lake by London Symphony Orchestra. Bond still has the real tape of Zorin giving details of the Silicon Valley, Operation Mainstrike, three days, and its essential remaining pipelines are opened on time. Posing as a reporter from the London Financial Times, 007 goes to see W.G. Howe (played by Daniel Benzali) at the Division of Oil and Mines in California. He asks about Zorin, and as he leaves, he sees Stacy Sutton showing him some test results. Bond trails her to a house near the San Andreas Lake Reservoir – her car shows she works for the Department of Conservation (Mines and Geology). James breaks in via a window and finds the house mainly empty inside. Stacy is running the shower, and as he enters the bathroom, she comes out of a closet behind him, pointing a gun. She goes to call the police (the line has been cut) when a man with a gun is seen at the window. Bond pulls the gun from her and shoots at him – more men are inside the property, shoot are being fired in all directions – James finds out her gun is loaded with rock salt. The fight intensifies as an urn is knocked off and saved multiple times before Stacy hits one of them over the head with it, “Sorry, Grandpa” she says. The henchmen flee in a car as Bond continues to shoot at them. She still thinks 007 is a reporter, and they have dinner. Stacy tells James that her grandfather left Sutton Oil to her dad, who expected her to take it over. Zorin used a rigged proxy to take over Sutton Oil. Money, furniture, everything has gone into fighting him in court. Stacy took a job as a State Geologist and has managed to keep house and her shares. The $5,000,000 cheque Zorin gave her was for her shares, but she rips it up. Bond fixes the telephone line and joins her in her room for the night. She falls asleep, he tucks her in and sleeps in the armchair with a gun, like 007 will in multiple films. The pets are startled by a tremor as Stacy checks the Earthquake Center, which shows a 2.5 on the Richter scale. The epicentre is near a Zorin Oil field. Bond asks if pumping seawater into the wells is causing it, she tells him it’s incredibly dangerous. She tries to tell Howe what Zorin is doing and gets fired. Chuck Lee meets them back at the house, telling them that flooding a fault could cause a major earthquake. Bond asks if Silicon Valley could be affected. The only way they would know is to find out how many wells are involved. Stacy tells them that the information will be at City Hall and grabs her security pass. Chuck Lee leaves to contact the CIA for backup and gets attacked by May Day in his vehicle. His car drives off as James and Stacy exit the house, not knowing what just happened. They arrive at City Hall and go up to the file room, they find a document listing Main Strike as an abandoned silver mine near the San Andreas fault. While they are looking May Day and Zorin enter the room, guns drawn. They take them to Mr Howe’s office, Zorin asks him to call the police about a break-in, he tells Mr Howe that “after you fired her, she came here with her accomplice, to kill you, then set fire to the office to conceal the crime, but they were trapped in the elevator and perished in the flames”. Howe responds, “That means I would have to be”. “Dead” Zorin replies and shoots him with Bond’s gun. Their team start to fill the office with gasoline. Zorin and May Day put Stacy and James in the elevator and pull the fuse once their between floors. They set a fire in the elevator shaft and the corridors of the building. The elevator cart starts to collapse under the heat, and as the cables break, Bond and Stacy narrowly escape the cart. 007 opens the doors, grabs a fire hose, and lowers it down to Stacy. The fire service arrives. James carries her up the staircase, to the roof, and down the fire ladder. The Police Captain wants to talk to Bond, Chuck Lee’s body was found in Chinatown, and Howl was killed with his gun. Stacy says he’s James Stock of the London Financial Times, he then has to confess he’s James Bond of the British Secret Service, but the Captain doesn’t believe him. Bond sprays him with a fire hose nearby and steals the hook and ladder fire engine. Stacy puts on the siren as many police cars join the chase. She takes over driving as 007 gets on the ladder and finds out the ladder is unlocked, he swings about as signs fall, cars crash, and the top is ripped from a campervan. This scene is a fun car chase, with bits of rear projection, but not unexpected in 1985. They go towards a bridge as the Police Captain calls ahead to raise it. James and Stacy go through the closed barrier and manage to get over the bridge in the fire truck. Police cars end up stuck on the edge and roll back smashing all the police cars up. The next morning, James and Stacy drive their fire truck towards the silver mine near the San Andreas fault – Which has a lot of activity considering it’s abandoned. Many trucks of explosives arrive as they pull up to one of them and the driver asks “Where’s the fire?”. Bond replies, “In your rear end!”. He goes to check and 007 knocks him out, steals his truck, and enters the facility. The truck is stopped by security and they are given a hard hat to wear. The Mine Foreman tells them to go get a coffee over at the hut while the truck is unloaded, be about 20 minutes. They steal Zorin-branded uniforms and get on the bucket train going into the mine, sitting on the explosives. They hide in an office, locking the door, as Zorin sets a bomb for an hour and lowers it into the pit of explosives. Stacy and Bond find a table with his plan mapped out, if he can blast through the bottom of the lake, he can flood the fault using his flooded Oil wells, causing a double earthquake and wiping out Silicon Valley. Zorin and May Day come back to the office and try to get in, James breaks the rear window so he and Stacy can escape into the mines. May Day and her assistants chase them as Zorin goes to flood the fault. The Mine Foreman protests, his men and May Day are down there. He gets knocked out. The dynamite placed by Scarpine earlier explodes, and water starts to flood the tunnels, the main bomb has just 10 minutes left. Zorin (laughing) and Scarpine open fire on the fleeing workers. May Day and 007 get washed away as Stacy climbs up. Zorin kicks a worker in the face as he tries to get up. May Day confides in Bond that she thought that creep loved her. Zorin and Scarpine Leave the mine as Stacy escapes. Dr Carl, Scarpine and Zorin take off in their Blimp (which inflates out of a prefab office building). May Day tells Bond that the timer on the bomb is booby-trapped; they must bring the whole bomb up and out of the explosives. May Day lowers Bond down, he attaches the clamp to it – the bomb has just two minutes left. She struggles to pull James and the bomb up, once she does, they put it on a cart with less than a minute left, and push it out of the mine. The handbrake slips and May Day gets on, holding the brake to stop it from slipping, she shouts to Bond “Get Zorin for me”. She stares at Zorin with no emotion as the bomb explodes, killing her. James walks out of mine and runs towards Stacy as the blimp is behind her. Zorin sets the blimp down, grabs her and pulls her in. Bond clings to the mooring rope, flying 007 over the city, then the water and into the Golden Gate Bridge. Bond ties the rope around the bridge and starts to climb up, nearly falling off. The blimp crashes into the bridge, and Zorin tells Scarpine to go get him before Stacy hits Scarpine over the head with a fire extinguisher. Zorin’s not happy and grabs an axe as Stacy jumps towards Bond and nearly falls off, she gets a foothold as Zorin and James fight. Dr Carl comes around as Zorin falls off the bridge to his death. Dr Carl starts firing at Bond and Stacy but runs out of bullets. Dr Carl grabs dynamite, lights it, and falls backwards when Bond cuts the rope with Zorin’s axe. Scarpine and Dr Carl try to throw it out, but can’t, and the blimp explodes – with bits falling into the water. Back at MI6, General Gogle meets with M to issue Bond with The Order of Lenin on behalf of the KGB. After all, where would Russian research be without Silicon Valley? James is missing and presumed dead. However, Q is in an RV near Stacy’s house and sends in his surveillance robot. He finds clothing along the floor leading to the bathroom with the shower running. Bond throws a towel over the robot, and Q reports that 007 is alive and “cleaning up a few details”.

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I love the use of Gibraltar in this pre-title, and there are some brilliant stunts. Moving into the song – it’s not the best, it’s okay, but nothing special. However, getting the name of the song into the lyrics is always good. The opening titles have a nice use of gunshots, video combined with silhouettes, reflections, and projection onto bodies – standard 007 openings which we have come to expect. The film begins in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, at a concert hall where an Orchestra is playing. Bond meets with Saunders (Played by Thomas Wheatley, Head of Section V) in a viewing box. The KGB are in a box opposite, including General Koskov (played by Jeroen Krabbé), a defector to the West. They go to a seemingly abandoned shop across the road and go up to the living quarters. Saunders has masterminded the Koskov defection, and he asked for Bond to be his protection as he’s under intense KGB surveillance. General Koskov escapes the concert hall out of a toilet window, giving his minders the slip. The girl with the Cello from the orchestra has a gun at a window nearby, she looks nervous and out of her depth. Bond shoots at her and misses deliberately, knocking the gun out of her hand. They let Koskov into the building as his minders come looking for him. James and Koskov get into a car and leave Saunders with the gun, saying they will pick him up from the border at 2300 hours. The Police arrive as they drive off to the TransSiberian Pipeline, they meet with Rosika Miklos (played by Julie T. Wallace). She helps them get Koskov into a pipeline pig, which has been designed to carry a man but has never been tested. She distracts her supervisor with her cleavage as Bond completes the firing. Saunders is at the border and hears the pig go by in the pipeline, it comes to rest in Austria and is collected by Q (played by Desmond Llewelyn). Bond picks Saunders up as their vehicle is searched by border control. Koskov is loaded into a fighter jet, that flys away as they cross the border. Saunders threatens to report Bond for not killing the sniper, 007 replies that he only kills professionals and she didn’t know one end of a rifle from the other, and must have scared “the living daylights out of her”. Back in London at the Universal Exports Ltd building, Bond meets with Q, who reales off all known female KGB assassins. They can’t find out who she is and determine that she might be a freelancer. M (played by Robert Brown) wants James to meet him at the Blayden Safe House, asking him to pick up a parcel from Harrods on the way, he asked Miss Moneypenny (played by Caroline Bliss) to monitor Czech publications and news services for mention of the women cellist. Necros, Koskov’s henchman (played by Andreas Wisniewski), is hanging around near the safe house, where he strangles a milkman with headphones and steals his uniform. 007 drives into the grounds and has his gun taken by security, he is then shown to the Drawing room by the Buttler. He is met by M, the MOD (played by Geoffrey Keen), a secretary and General Koskov who is pleased to see him. The Harrods hamper that James brought with him is full of food including Foie gras, Caviar, and a Bollinger RD – M doesn’t look happy with the invoice. Necros drives into the grounds in a milk float and is searched as he’s not the usual milkman, he is shown to the kitchen. Koskov explains that he defected because of General Pushkin, who replaced General Gogol, and claims that they used to be like brothers but the power has gone to Pushkin’s head and he is hungry for war. Koskov gives M a directive from Pushkin, a list of British and American spy targets for the assassination program – Including 007. If the killings go ahead, it will be murder for murder and could lead to a nuclear war. Unless Pushkin can be put away, in three days he leaves for the Tangier North African Trade Convention. Bond, M and MOD leave for London to consult with a higher authority. Necros enters the kitchen and strangles a chef. He’s seen hiding the body by a member of the wait staff who radios security but only manages to say his call sign, they fight with kitchen objects, boiling water, an electric knife, and a grill stove – The staff member is knocked out with a cast iron pan. Necros uses the radio to inform security of a gas leak in the main building, and that they should evacuate. He throws an exploding milk bottle and says it’s a gas explosion – Koskov notices him as KGB. Necros takes Koskov hostage and destroys the notes made during the meeting. As more explosions go off an emergency helicopter lands on the grounds. Necros puts on a Doctor’s stethoscope as Koskov is taken away on a stretcher and loaded into the helicopter, which then flies away. Back in M’s office, it comes through that two are dead, there are two in the hospital, and Koskov is back in Moscow – if not dead. The MOD says they are the laughingstock of the intelligence community. Bond thinks it’s an unusual story. Bond is sent to Tangiers to terminate Pushkin in two days, James wants to do checks on the snippet first. M proclaims “Ahh yes, you jeopardise the mission to avoid shooting a beautiful girl” and tells him 008 can do it as he follows orders, he offers 007 two weeks’ leave. “No Sir, If it has to be done, I’d rather do it” James responds. Preparing for his trip to Tangiers, Bond reports to Q branch where he’s given a Philips-branded keyring finder. The keys open 90% of the world’s locks, and the keyring sets off a stun gas when you whistle the first bars of Rule Britannia. It can also explode any safe when you wolf whistle – that should be easy for James to remember. Moonpenny tells Bond that she has found the sniper, a lady by the name of Kara Milovy (played by Maryam d’Abo), a scholarship cellist. She will be back at the academy in Bratislava tomorrow. He asks her to prepare travel documents for Tangier via Bratislava and to keep this between themselves. Once he reaches Bratislava, James watches her play and follows her onto a tram. The train comes to a sudden stop, as a KGB minder drags her off to meet with General Pushkin. Bond gets off with her Cello at the end of the line, enters a public bathroom with it and finds a rile inside loaded with blanks. 007 also finds a note with her name, address and phone number. She returns home later that day and finds her apartment trashed by the KGB. James walks in with the Cello case after throwing the rifle in the river using his cover as a friend of General Koskov. She tells him that she is Koskov’s girlfriend and that the defection was fake, hence the blanks. Bond tells her that they only let her go so they could follow her to find out where Koskov is. He tells her Koskov is safe and well, they are keeping him moving as it’s safer, and will meet up in Vienna. Knowing the KGB is watching, Bond goes outside to the Aston as Kara goes outside to the phone box. They use a passing tram to give the KGB minder the slip and drive off. Someway into the journey they argue about her missing cello, James reluctantly lets her go back to the Conservatories for it. As this is happening, the KGB minder goes into the phone box where he thinks Kara is making a call, only to find a Cello case dressed up in her clothing. 007 uses the radio in the Aston to pick up the Police band and find out that they are looking for them. They drive past a Police car, which starts to go after them, Bond uses the tyre lasers to cut the bottom off the car, leaving the Police in the middle of the road. They drive towards a roadblock, where James launches a missile to clear the way, as they pass, the Police shoot at the built-proof glass of the Aston as the car goes off-road. They are heading through the snow towards a frozen lake, picking up an ice fishing shed on the way, as a Snow groomer and tank join the pursuing vehicles and start shelling around them. The Aston loses a tyre, allowing Bond to use the rims to cut a circle around the Police Car on the ice and watch it sink. 007 deploys the car skis and snow spikes and loads the rocket motors which fly over a wall, all the vehicles and into the forest – Bond crashes the car. He sets the self-destruct as more agents take to the slopes after them. The Aston blows up as they ride the Cello case down the slopes while being shot at. They reach the Austrian border, using the stand as a rudder. Kara and James duck under the barrier, waving their Passports and shouting, “We have nothing to declare… just a cello,” which is the scene I remember most when thinking about this film. Over in Tangier, General Pushkin (played by John Rhys-Davies) arrives with a KGB minder as he’s spied on from the roof opposite and a boat in the harbour. Pushkin enters a building full of what the Chief, Brad Whitaker (played by Joe Don Baker) believes to be the great leaders of the world in wax form. He shows Pushkin his models showing the strategies and tactics of the world’s historic battles, strategy, models, and sound effects. The Chief shows Pushkin an equivalent of a modern Maxim, an infantry mini-missile which can penetrate all existing armour. Pushkin tells Whitaker the order’s cancelled, and he is to return the deposit of $50 million in the next 48 hours. They know he has had their money in a Swiss account for eight weeks and has ordered nothing, he knows Whitaker was expelled from West Point for cheating, was a Mercenary in the Belgian Congo, and worked with various criminals to finance his first arms deal. Whitaker says it’s lies. Pushkin thinks that Koskov and Whitaker are up to something (arms deals) and wants his money back in two days, or Whitaker will be out of business permanently. Now in Vienna, Bond and Kara share a romantic horse-drawn carriage ride to the hotel. The concierge asks if James wants his usual suite, but 007 asks for two bedrooms, he then phones Universal Exports to get two tickets for the Opera. Back in Tangier, Koskov is surrounded by girls at the pool as Sargent Stagg says the Chief wants him. He and Necros go and find out that Pushkin wants his money back. Koskov informs him that the British will send James Bond as they have convenience them that Pushkin is a danger. Bond hasn’t laid a finger on him yet, maybe it’s time for an inducement – like eliminating another agent. That night in Vienna, Kara and Bond watch the Opera as Saunders watches on. She goes to powder her nose, but Saunders seems to be oblivious to what’s happening. James explains that he is posing as Koskov’s friend to get leads from her, he asks Saunders to find out where Koskov got the money from to buy the Stradivarius, Lady Rose Cello and the travel documents for tonight. They will meet at the Prater Cafe near the Ferris Wheel at Midnight, Bond and Kara go on some rides at the fun fair, bumper cars, shooting games, and he wins her a big elephant. Saunders arrives and is approached by a seemingly innocent balloon seller, who turns out to be Necros in disguise, trailing him. He goes into the Prater Cafe to wait for Bond. The Ferris Wheel stops, the lights go off, and they make out. The car returns to the station while they are still making out, he makes his excuses and goes to the Cafe, being watched by Necros. Bond enters the room and learns that the cello was purchased at auction for $150,000, with Whitaker revealed as the buyer. Saunders hands over the travel documents to Tangier, and as he leaves, Necros sets off a Bomb in the sliding door, which takes Saunders out. Bond goes to Saunders, where a balloon bounces towards him with the words “Smiert Spionam” on it (the same words found on the tag near 004’s body in Gibraltar), which is Russian for “Death to Spies”. James is angry, pops the balloon, and goes after who he believes is the balloon seller on the other side of the fence, which turns out to be a mother and child. He informs Kara abruptly that Koskov is with Whitaker in Tangier. They arrive, and Bond tails Pushkin to a hotel where he meets with Rubavitch (played by Virginia Hey). Entering her room, Pushkin is confronted by 007 with a gun drawn on him. Bond pushes him onto the bed and asks about “Smiert Spionom”. Pushkin asserts that the Beria operation was carried out during the Stalin era, stressing that it was disbanded two decades ago, and has nothing to do with him. Pushkin states he was going to have Koskov arrested for misusing State funds before he disappeared two weeks ago. He presses the button on his watch, alerting his minder outside that he’s in trouble. James soccer punches him out and grabs Rubavitch, strips her half-naked, and knocks the minder out when he comes through the door. 007 says, “Get down on your knees, put your hands behind your back,” Pushkin asks Bond who he trusts more, him or Koskov – Pushkin concludes that he must die. That night at a trade conference, a toastmaster introduces the Russian delegation. Necros takes out the spotlight operator and goes to shoot Pushkin, but he is beaten to it by Bond. Necros moves the spotlight to focus on James, prompting a frantic pursuit as Bond is chased by the police. Escaping via the rooftops, being chased and shot at, James runs over the buildings as the body is taken away. Pushkin wakes up to the shock of Rubavitch, but on seeing the vest of blood packets she realises it was all for show. Pushkin is grateful that James Bond is a good shot! In the street, 007 is asked by two women if he’s “looking for a party” and gets into their car. Ava points a gun at Bond from the backseat as he tries to get dropped off early, he’s taken to the boat outside Witcher’s place. “Are you trying to start World War Three?” questions Felix Leiter (played by John Terry) of the CIA. Having unknowingly been on the same case from opposite ends, they begin exchanging insights over a drink. Whitaker and Koskov believe that Bond killed Pushkin, Whitaker goes to signal Amsterdam to move the diamonds, but there’s a call for Koskov and he looks nervous. James returns to Kara at the hotel and tells her there’s still no word from Koskov. Bond confesses he’s a secret agent, and that Koskov has betrayed the Russians, the British and her. “He told us a sniper might try to kill him, that sniper with you, he wants you dead,” James tells her. She tells him she phoned and that Koskov has told her the truth, that Bond is a KGB agent sent to kill him. She has poisoned his drink with Chloral hydrate. He shows her the wound on her arm where the rifle was shot out of her hand, proving he was the one who did it. Necros walks in and Bond tries to aim his gun with his blurred vision but falls unconscious, they take Bond away by ambulance to the airport, and load the vehicle into a plane, which is also carrying a heart for transplant. Necros goes to the toilet on the plane as James wakes up, Kara admits she’s been such a fool. They’re carrying an animal heart with $50 million worth of Diamonds hidden in the ice. Koskov tells Bond that he is taking him to the proper Soviet Authorities for killing General Pushkin – he admits he’s been on a mission to disinform British Intelligence. Upon landing in Afghanistan, everyone is taken off the plane. 007 is handed over to Colonel Feyador (played by John Bowe), while Kara is treated as a defector and taken into custody. Koskov asks Colonel Feyador for men and trucks for his mission. The jailer tells Kara to strip, and as she protests, she drops Bond’s keychain. James leans over to get it, he is hit with a baton as he arms the device, gives it to the jailer and starts to whistle. The stun gas goes off, and Bond attacks all the guards. He fights with the Jailer, pushing the handcuffs into his face. Kara hits a guard down, a fellow inmate takes the baton from the Jailer as Bond pushes him into a cell and locks him inside. James throws the keys to the inmate, as he and Kara dress in Russian uniforms. Outside they see the diamonds being loaded into a truck, they drive off with a plane staircase towards the perimeter fence as the alarm is raised. They go up the stairs and jump over the fence, running into the inmate’s men on the other side, holding James and Kara at knifepoint. The inmate tells them to stop and “they’re not Russians”. Kara and Bond accompany them into the town, where they go to see Kamran Shah (played by Art Malik), Deputy Commander of the Afghan Mujaheddin’s Eastern District. From Rewatch with Love points out, he’s a Cambridge-educated fluent English speaker which seems unlikely and appears like an attempt to make Kamran more palatable to a Western audience. 007 wants to go back to the airbase, and Kamran wants to take him to his Commander. He won’t spare men or horses. They must rest and leave at sunrise for a mission, then he will see what he can do for James. Kara will go to Khyber Pass in Pakistan, and Bond will go after Koskov. Not wanting to leave him, she calls James a dumb, stubborn, stupid ‘back end of horse’ and hits him with a pillow – they cuddle. The next morning, everyone heads off on horseback for the unknown mission. The medical bags strapped to the horses are filled with raw opium, intended to be exchanged for diamonds with Koskov. These drugs are worth half a billion dollars on the streets of New York, all for 50 million dollars worth of diamonds. Koskov thinks he can make a huge profit in a few days, and can still supply the Russians with their arms. Bond for plastic explosives and a timer. James helps load the Opium into the Russian truck and checks the explosives and timer before he gets trapped inside. Kara grabs Kamran’s gun to help James, and his men follow her. The truck enters a Russian military base, the back is opened, and 007 manages to blend in by handing down the sacks from the truck. Kara distracts a soldier, as Kamran knocks him out. The militants move towards the Russian military base – Bond arms the Bomb for ten minutes. While leaving the plane, he is spotted by Koskov and attacks a soldier, takes his gun and kicks them all down the stairs. He fires the gun at the Russians and uses the plane as cover. Kamran breaks down the perimeter fence with a bull dosser, his men enter shooting at the Russians, setting off explosives, and destroying structures. James takes charge of the plane and taxis to the runway. Colonel Feyador attempts to start a fuel tanker to pursue the plane, but Kamran swiftly throws a grenade under it, causing an explosion. Kara falls off her horse and takes a vehicle, followed by Koskov and Necros firing at her. Bond lowers the back door for her to drive inside the plane, while Necros also manages to jump into an open door at the side of the plane. Another plane is landing on the runway right in front of them, James manages to fly over the top, but it hits Koskov’s vehicle and explodes – although he’s not dead. Kara holds the plane level while Bond goes to turn off the timer he set earlier. James is attacked from behind before he can do it. As knives emerge, Necros attempts to strangle Bond. Amidst the chaos, Kara opens the cargo door as 007 and Necros grapple for control. The netting gets cut, and the opium is now hanging out the back of the plane, along with James and Necros. Kara pushes the plane up, dumping them all out the back, then forward as they try to climb back up. Bond punches and kicks Necros with just 1 minute and 40 seconds left on the timer. 007 cuts the ropes allowing the Opium bags to fly away – 50 seconds left. Necros grabs Bond’s boot. James cuts the laces as Necros loses grip and plummets to his demise. 007 is flung into the cargo bay just before the rope snaps. He closes the door and then hears ticking, realising the explosives are still onboard. Bond franticly looks through the bags, manages to locate it, and turns the timer off with just three seconds left. Kara turns round and asks what happens, as James notices they are heading straight for a mountain. He grabs the controls and the plane barely misses it. There are explosions on the ground and gunfire as Kanran’s men flee the Russians. James re-engages the explosives and drops the bag onto a Russian tank, exploding the bridge too. Cheers go up for Bond from Kamran’s men. Back in the cockpit, the fuel warning light illuminates, looking out the window, they see built holes in the fuel tank – the engines sputter to a halt. There is nowhere to land the aircraft, so James instructs Kara to get into the Jeep. Bond pulls the cargo bay parachute, and the Jeep gets pulled out onto the ground as the plane glides and eventually hits the floor. They are driving along and see a sign for Karachi – Bond knows a good restaurant there. Sometime later in Tangier, Felix is on the radio to 007, informing him that Whitaker is on the ground floor and Koskov is upstairs. Whitaker is playing with his military toys as Bond takes out a guard and enters the room, telling Whitaker he wants Koskov. “You can have him as soon as I get my Opium, where is it?” Whitaker demands. “Up in smoke,” Bond quips. Whitaker presses a button which opens two drawers, one into 007’s leg and the other full of guns and a bulletproof face shield – he starts shooting at James. Whitaker uses a remote control animatronic man set off a small cannon as Bond sets his keyring on a pilar and does the wolf whistle to set it off, crushing Whitaker. The sergeant comes through the door, gun drawn and is shot in the back by General Pushkin. Koskov enters the room, spinning some nonsense about Whitaker keeping him hostage. Pushkin plays along and tells 007 to “Put [Koskov] on the next plane to Moscow… in a diplomatic bag”. Kara, also a defector, is sent to a concert hall in Vienna to be part of the orchestra. In Vienna, M introduces Kara to General Gogol (played by Walter Gotell), who is now with the Foreign Service, who has arranged an immigration visa so she can come and go as she pleases. Kamran Shah and his men arrive late after having some issues at the airport. M informs the guests that Bond is on assignment abroad. Kara goes to her room and sees two drinks on the table. She whistles, hears the keychain, and realises it’s Bond. The camera pans away as they make out on the bed, as the end credits play.

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