You Only Live Twice (film)

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You Only Live Twice
You Only Live Twice film poster
James Bond	Sean Connery
Also starring	Mie Hama Donald Pleasence Akiko Wakabayashi
Directed by	Lewis Gilbert
Produced by	Albert R. Broccoli Harry Saltzman
Novel/Story by	Ian Fleming
Screenplay	Roald Dahl
Cinematography by	{{{cinematography}}}
Music by	John Barry
Main theme
Composer	John Barry Leslie Bricusse
Performer	Nancy Sinatra
Distributed by	United Artists (1967-1981) Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1982-present)
Released	June 12, 1967 (UK) June 13, 1967 (USA)
Running time	112 min.
Budget	$9,500,000
Worldwide gross	$111,600,000
Admissions (world)	81.7 million
Preceded by	Thunderball
Followed by	On Her Majesty's Secret Service
IMDb profile

You Only Live Twice is the fifth film in the EON Productions James Bond series, the fifth to star Sean Connery as British Secret Service agent Commander James Bond 007. After its release in 1967, Connery stepped down from the role, leading to the hiring of George Lazenby for 1969's On Her Majesty's Secret Service; Connery later returned officially, one last time, in Diamonds Are Forever (1971). You Only Live Twice is the first Bond film to be directed by Lewis Gilbert, who later directed 1977's The Spy Who Loved Me and 1979's Moonraker, both starring Roger Moore.

The film's screenplay was written by Roald Dahl, and lightly based on Ian Fleming's 1964 novel. This is the first Bond movie to greatly deviate from the source material. Other than the Japanese setting and several characters, the two stories are very different.

Unlike most Bond epics featuring England, Russia, or America as prime locations, almost the entire film is set in Japan, and several minutes are devoted towards an elaborate Japanese wedding in the middle of the movie. This is in keeping with Fleming's original novel, which also focused a number of pages (more than the usual for a Bond book) to the discussion of Japanese culture. The film is unusual in the degree that it illustrates a camaraderie between James Bond and his opposite number in Japan. Felix Leiter is frequently used as Bond's 'man in America' in other films, but their relationship is on a professional level only. In Japan, Bond meets 'Tiger' Tanaka. The two are seen cavorting about in several scenes during the movie, and seem to form a genuine friendship, and not simply a business association through the course of the movie. This is also in keeping with Fleming's novel.

Contents 1 Plot summary 2 Cast and characters 3 Crew 4 Soundtrack 5 Vehicles and gadgets 6 Locations 6.1 Film locations 6.2 Shooting locations 7 Continuity errors 8 Cultural references and referrals 9 Trivia 10 References 11 External links

[edit] Plot summary

In outer space, a mysterious spacecraft captures and steals manned space capsules, of both the United States and the Soviet Union, in mid-orbit. With each country thinking that the other is the cause of their loss, the Cold War world is thrown to the brink of World War III. The United Kingdom's government, however, believes the mystery spacecraft landed in the Sea of Japan. This indicates that a Japanese element may be involved.

James Bond had participated in a charade faking his murder in Hong Kong. According to his superior, M, this is to give James Bond "more elbow room". He is then sent to Japan to investigate the British suspicion, in conjunction with the Japanese secret service leader "Tiger" Tanaka, to stave off a possible nuclear war.

Bond makes contact with the local MI6 operative, but before he can give his findings on the case, he is murdered. Bond chases the assailant, kills him, takes his clothes as a disguise and feigns being wounded so his accomplice would take him back to his headquarters, which turns out to be Osato Chemicals. Once there, Bond breaks into an office safe of the corporate head, but only has a few seconds to take some documents after he triggers the safe's alarm system.

Fleeing the building, a comely young lady picks Bond up in her car to escape. However, Bond becomes suspicious when she won't answer his questions and flees to a secluded area. When Bond chases her, he falls through a trapdoor and slides into Tiger Tanaka's office. After properly identifying each other, the spies have Bond's documents examined. The main item of interest is a tourist photograph of a cargo ship called the Ning-Po and a microdot on it containing a message that operatives killed the tourists who took the photo as a security measure. Now interested in what was worth killing for in that photo, Bond investigates the companies dock facilities and discovers that the ship was delivering quantities of liquid oxygen, a component of rocket fuel. Together, they learn that the true mastermind behind this is Ernst Stavro Blofeld and his organization SPECTRE, with China financing him in their effort to have the superpowers destroy each other so they may rule supreme over what survives. SPECTRE was discovered to be Osato's client as well.

In order to investigate the suspicious Japanese island in the photo of the ship, Bond trains with Tanaka and his elite ninja force. Tanaka suggests that the best disguise for Bond is as a Japanese fisherman. Bond receives training in Japanese culture and is (fictitiously) married to a local Japanese woman, Kissy. Bond investigates the area in the air with Little Nelly, a heavily armed gyrocopter supplied by Q. While in mid-flight and having no luck finding the SPECTRE base, Bond is suddenly attacked by four mysterious armed helicopters, but he fights them off. While this obviously means the base is nearby, Bond and Tanaka are stumped for the exact location. To make matters worse, they learn that the United States has moved up their next space mission which means it will likely be hijacked by SPECTRE and a world war will likely be triggered before they can stop the plot. However, they gain a major clue when Kissy mentions that a local woman just died mysteriously after rowing her boat into a local cave. Bond and Kissy set out on a reconnaissance mission and discover that SPECTRE has a secret rocket base hidden in a hollow volcano.

Bond slips inside while Kissy returns to alert Tanaka. Bond steals an astronaut suit in an attempt to board the rocket set to steal the latest American rocket to be launched.

Bond makes a mistake and is caught by Blofeld ("No astronaut would carry his air conditioner onto the ship, Mr Bond"). Meanwhile, Tanaka and his elite ninjas attempt to enter the volcano's crater hatch. Unfortunately, they are spotted before entering, and Blofeld shoots at them with the crater's sentry guns. All is hopeless until Bond asks for a cigarette, which is secretly a tiny rocket given to him earlier by Tanaka. Killing the guard by the crater hatch controls, Bond manages to open the door, allowing Tanaka's troops to storm the rocket base. A massive battle erupts and although the mission control room is too well defended, the battle causes sufficient damage for the room's staff to evacuate by a rear exit. Bond and Tanaka's troops notice the movement and advance to the door. Leading the charge, Bond fights Blofield's thug, who is holding the control key to the mission controls, and eventually throws him into the piranha tank. However, despite the fighting, the SPECTRE rocket is still on target to capture the US rocket.

Bond manages to enter the rocket launch control room and hits the SPECTRE spacecraft's self-destruct button before it could capture the second U.S. space capsule and spark a war with the U.S.S.R.. Just before making his escape, Blofeld activates the base's self-destruct. As the base's charges begin to detonate, Bond, Kissy, Tanaka, and the surviving ninjas evacuate the base. They board airdropped lifeboats as the volcano-base erupts in a fiery inferno. Unfortunately, while Bond and Kissy begin to make love in the lifeboat, they are rescued by a British submarine which surfaces under them. The sub has M and Miss Moneypenny on board who want to hear Bond's report immediately.

Although this film is not the series' first wholly original James Bond film adventure (Bond's infiltration of the Japanese fishing village, and the characters of Blofeld, Tanaka, and Kissy are from the novel), the screenplay by Roald Dahl is the first James Bond screen story to substantially diverge from the original novel's story and plot, due, in part, to having been produced before On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

[edit] Cast and characters

• James Bond — Sean Connery
• Aki — Akiko Wakabayashi
• Kissy Suzuki — Mie Hama
• Ernst Stavro Blofeld — Donald Pleasence
• Helga Brandt — Karin Dor
• Tiger Tanaka — Tetsuro Tamba
• Mr. Osato — Teru Shimada
• M — Bernard Lee
• Miss Moneypenny — Lois Maxwell
• Q — Desmond Llewelyn
• Henderson — Charles Gray
• Ling — Tsai Chin
• Hans (Blofeld's bodyguard) — Ronald Rich

The cast included Charles Gray, as Dikko Henderson, MI6 liaison with Japanese SIS; Gray later portrayed Ernst Stavro Blofeld in Diamonds Are Forever.

The cast also included Alexander Knox in a small role as the unnamed President of the United States. Knox had been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1944 for his performance as another President, Woodrow Wilson, in Wilson.

[edit] Crew

• Directed by: Lewis Gilbert
• Produced by: Albert R. Broccoli, Harry Saltzman
• Based on the Novel by: Ian Fleming
• Screenplay by: Roald Dahl
• Cinematography by: Freddie Young
• Music composed by: John Barry
• Production design by Ken Adam
• Second unit director: Peter R. Hunt

[edit] Soundtrack

Main article: You Only Live Twice (soundtrack)

[edit] Vehicles and gadgets

Main articles: List of James Bond vehicles and List of James Bond gadgets

• Toyota 2000GT convertible — Owned by Aki. Two 2000GT coupes were turned into convertibles for the film. One is displayed at Toyota's headquarters today, while the whereabouts of the second remain a mystery. Sean Connery's height was the primary factor in making the car a convertible, as the 2000 GT was actually rather small with notoriously tight door openings for anyone much taller than 173cm (5' 8") in height. To eliminate any potential problems and to have more impact for the car in the film, Toyota made the two examples into roofless open cars with simulated top boots. After filming, one of the 2000 GTs built for You Only Live Twice was repainted red and served at Japan's Fuji Speedway as a course vehicle/safety car for a number of years.
• Little Nellie — A heavily armed autogyro that could be transported in several suitcases for quick field assembly. Based on the real-life Wallis Autogyro, Little Nellie was actually flown by Wing Commander Wallis in the film.^[1]
• Shooting Cigarette — Tiger gives Bond a rocket-shooting cigarette with an accurate range of 30 yards; he uses it against a guard in Blofeld's volcano to reach the control to open the crater hatch, allowing Tanaka's forces to storm the base.
• Safecracker — A small, pocket-sized device that attaches to a safe lock the secret agent wants opened. When properly positioned, the user needs only to turn the combination lock's dial, and the device lights as each correct combination digit is found until the safe is opened. However, Bond learns the hard way that the gadget does not defeat a safe's other security measures, such as alarms.
• Gyrojet rocket guns — prototype guns using a small rocket-propelled projectile rather than conventional ammunition. A limited number were made in real life for trials by the US and British militaries, but the design never caught on and the guns and ammunition are now highly collectible.

[edit] Locations

[edit] Film locations

• Hawaii, USA
• Cape Cod, USA
• Hong Kong, China
• Tokyo, Japan
• Kobe, Japan
• Himeji Castle, Himeji, Japan
• Mt. Kirishima, Miyazaki/Kagoshima, Japan
• Bonotsu, Kagoshima, Japan
• somewhere in Russia
• Outer Space

[edit] Shooting locations

• Pinewood Studios, Buckinghamshire, UK
• Tokyo, Japan
• New Otani Hotel, Tokyo, Japan
• Himeji Castle, Japan
• Kobe, Japan
• Kirishima-Yaku National Park, Japan
• HMS Tenby, near Gibraltar
• Hong Kong, China
• Mågerø, Norway^[2]

[edit] Continuity errors

• James Bond is married in this film, although controversy exists over whether it is a legitimate marriage because he chose a fake name to go undercover when the marriage occurred which is actually pointed out in dialogue: Bond: "We're supposed to be married." Kissy: "Think again. You gave false name to preist." Since his wife, Kissy, survives it leaves open whether he was still married under Japanese law when he wed Tracy in On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
• During the movie, James Bond tells expatriate Henderson he has never been in Japan. It contradicts the scene in the earlier From Russia with Love in which 007 tells Tatiana (Tania) Romanova that "once when I was with M in Tokyo, we had an interesting experience." However, Bond could simply be protecting the identity of that previous mission or there could be more than one city named Tokyo.
• The manned U.S. spacecraft named Jupiter in the film are actually Gemini vessels, flown between 1965 and 1966 with two astronauts to test various systems and procedures vital to the successor manned space project, Apollo. Meanwhile the Soviet manned spacecraft shown — ironically named Gemini — are based on early (incorrect) U.S. speculations about Soviet Vostok and Voskhod spacecraft — the designs of which were not revealed officially by the Soviet Union until 1967.

[edit] Cultural references and referrals

• Dr. Evil (from Austin Powers), a spoof of Ernst Stavro Blofeld, was inspired by, more than any other actor, Donald Pleasence's portrayal in You Only Live Twice. Both share the same grey suit, bald head, pet kitty, facial scar, and bulging eyes.
• The death of Helga occurs when Blofeld presses the footpedal and lets her fall into a piranha-infested tank. This death resembles the death of the archvillain's secretary in The Spy Who Loved Me who fell down a trap elevator into a shark tank. Both films were directed by Lewis Gilbert.
• This was the first film in which M's office is shown to be "portable", relocating to a submarine. This gimmick would be revived in The Man with the Golden Gun (in which M's office is hidden aboard the wreck of the RMS Queen Elizabeth in Hong Kong Harbor), The Spy Who Loved Me (hidden inside an Egyptian tomb), Moonraker (located in a monastery in Brazil), and The Living Daylights (on board a C-130).
• The violins in Nancy Sinatra's title song are sampled in Robbie Williams' 1998 single "Millennium".

[edit] Trivia

• Jan Werich was originally cast by producer Harry Saltzman to play Blofeld. Upon arriving at the Pinewood set, both producer Cubby Broccoli and director Lewis Gilbert felt that he was a poor choice, resembling a "poor, benevolent Santa Claus". Nonetheless, in an attempt to make the casting work, Gilbert continued filming. After several days, both Gilbert and Broccoli determined that Werich wasn't menacing enough, and recast Donald Plesence in the role ^[3].
• Kissy Suzuki's last name is never mentioned on screen. Even in the closing credits, she is identified only as "Kissy".
• While filming, Connery's then-wife, Diane Cilento, had to replace Mie Hama (as Kissy Suzuki) for a swimming scene.
• Connery was involved in a minor scandal while filming when he stated that he didn't find Japanese women sexy, although he argued that it was an accident and the question was not properly translated to him. This took place on a day when Connery had been exhausted and not really in the mood to do interviews. When the interview began, the reporter was aghast at Connery's casual wardrobe (an unbuttoned T-shirt and baggy trousers with sandals) and asked "Is this how James Bond dresses?" Connery is said to have replied "I'm not James Bond. I'm Sean Connery, a man who likes to dress comfortably."
• Cubby Broccoli, Harry Saltzman, Ken Adam, Lewis Gilbert and Freddie Young were due to return to the UK on a BOAC Boeing 707 flight on March 5, 1966 after scouting locations across Japan. The group cancelled their tickets when they were told they had a chance to watch a ninja demonstration. ^[4] That flight crashed 25 minutes after takeoff, killing all on board. ^[5]
• Lewis Gilbert's regular editor, Thelma Connell was originally hired to edit the film. However, after an initial cut (which was over three hours long) received a terrible response from test audiences, Peter R. Hunt was asked to recut the film. Hunt's edit turned out to be a much greater success, and he was awarded the director's chair on the next film as a result.
• In the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, the player can choose to buy a helicopter called the "Little Willie". It resembles the Little Nellie, except for it is blue, and it is also equipped with dual machine guns.

[edit] References

1. ^ A-Z of Norfolk Science - Y - Retrieved March 22, 2007
2. ^ IMDB's trivia page for You Only Live Twice. Retrieved Jan. 20th, 2007
3. ^ 'Inside You Only Live Twice: An Original Documentary' 2000, MGM Home Entertainment Inc. (television programme)
4. ^ 'Inside You Only Live Twice: An Original Documentary' 2000, MGM Home Entertainment Inc. (television programme)
5. ^ BBC News (1966) Passenger jet crashes into Mount Fuji Retrieved Dec. 11, 2005

[edit] External links

• You Only Live Twice (1967) at the Internet Movie Database
• MGM's site on the movie
• Graham Thomas's definitive list of locations including the journey that Ian Fleming took to research the book

Lewis Gilbert
James Bond	You Only Live Twice (1967) | The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) | Moonraker (1979)
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