A View to a Kill

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A View To A Kill film poster
A View To A Kill
Bond: Roger Moore
Writer: Michael G. Wilson, Richard Maibaum
Screenplay: Michael G. Wilson, Richard Maibaum
Director: John Glen
Music: John Barry
Composer: John Barry, Duran Duran
Performer: Duran Duran
Distributor: MGM/UA Entertainment Co.
Released: May 24, 1985
Runtime: 126 min.
Preceded by: Octopussy
Followed by: The Living Daylights
Budget: $30,000,000
Worldgross: $152,400,000
Admissions: 42.9 million


A View To A Kill, released in 1985, is the fourteenth entry in the James Bond series of films made by EON Productions, and the last to star Roger Moore as British Secret Service Agent, Commander James Bond. It was produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson. Wilson also co-authored the screenplay along with veteran screenwriter Richard Maibaum.

The title itself is adapted from Ian Fleming's short story "From a View to a Kill", contained in the For Your Eyes Only collection of short stories released in 1960; however the title is where the similarity between short story and the film end, making this the second completely original Bond film after The Spy Who Loved Me. The film does however take an idea from the James Bond novel Diamonds Are Forever, in which horse races are being fixed. At the end of Octopussy during the famed "James Bond Will Return" sequence, it listed the next film as "From a View to a Kill", the name of the original short story; however, the title was later changed a few months before filming for unknown reasons. The original title "From a View to a Kill" was taken from a version of the words to a traditional hunting song "D'ye ken John Peel?": "From a find to a check, from a check to a view,/From a view to a kill in the morning".

Plot summary

In the pre-title sequence, James Bond is sent to Siberia to track down 003 and recover a microchip. Upon doing so 007 is ambushed by Soviet troops and is forced to flee. After returning to England and having the microchip analysed by Q-Branch, Q informs M, Bond, and the Minister of Defence that the microchip's design is an exact match of a microchip made by "Zorin Industries."

Along with Miss Moneypenny, the group then venture to the Ascot Racecourse to observe the company's owner, Max Zorin. While at the track, Zorin's horse miraculously wins the race; Sir Godfrey Tibbett, a horse trainer, believes Zorin's horse was using some sort of drug, although Zorin's horse when screened prior to the race came back negative. Through Tibbett, Bond meets with a French private detective named Aubergine to discuss how Zorin's horse won the race, however, during their dinner at the Eiffel Tower, Aubergine is killed by May Day, but not before Bond learns that Zorin is holding an annual horse sale later in the month.

Bond and Tibbett travel to Chantilly, France where Bond poses as St. John Smythe, a rich dilettante. Bond and Tibbett locate and break into Zorin's secret labs where Tibbett learns that Zorin is using microchips in his horses to release a drug in the horse when prompted by a switch hidden in Zorin's cane. Afterwards Bond and Tibbett are discovered and are forced to flee. Tibbett is later killed by May Day and an attempt to drown Bond in a lake while unconscious inside a car fails. Later, General Gogol from the Soviet Union shows up at Zorin's estate with several other KGB agents, but Zorin, an ex-KGB agent, gets upset with Gogol and forces him to leave.

In Zorin's airship, the billionaire industrialist unveils his plan to destroy Silicon Valley in an operation he dubs "Main Strike" in order to gain complete control of the microchip market. Bond later learns that Zorin is a psychopath, the product of Nazi medical experimentation during World War II , and he was later trained by the KGB. To succeed, Zorin plans to detonate explosives beneath the lakes along the Hayward Fault and the San Andreas Fault causing them to flood. A bigger bomb is also on site in the mine to destroy a "geological lock" that is in place to prevent the two faults from moving at the same time. Once the "geological lock" is destroyed, it would supposedly cause a massive double earthquake.

Bond soon discovers state geologist Stacey Sutton, and the two team up. Bond and Sutton then survive a fire started by Zorin in the San Francisco City Hall and escape in a stolen fire truck after Zorin killed one of his own henchmen and then framed Bond for the murder. Bond and Sutton then sneak into Zorin's mine where he plots to blow up the "geological lock" to start the massive earthquake. Zorin floods the mine with the first set of explosives, the action almost killing Bond and Zorin's henchwoman May Day, while Sutton escapes the mine. As a result May Day helps Bond remove the bigger bomb that would destroy the lock. Doing so eventually costs her her life, but saves Silicon Valley.

In the finale, Bond manages to grab a rope attached to Zorin's airship as he was leaving the mine. During the flight Bond gets the rope tangled in the Golden Gate Bridge. Zorin and Bond then fight upon the bridge resulting with Zorin falling to his death in San Francisco Bay.

Cast & characters

The Women of A View To A Kill

Picture Name Actress
100px Stacey Sutton Tanya Roberts The lead Bond girl of A View To A Kill is Stacey Sutton, an oil heiress forced to worked as a State Geologist because of Max Zorin, who tried to take over the family business of Sutton Oil. She is seen briefly near the beginning of the film, where Zorin tried to pay her off with a five million dollar check, and reappeared much later when Bond accidentally ran into her at the City Hall of San Francisco. A damsel in distress in every sense of the word, Stacey spends the latter part of the film dangling from various edges and her oft-repeated line is "James!".
100px May Day Grace Jones Max Zorin's bodyguard, partner-in-crime, and sometimes lover is the imposing May Day. Possessing superhuman strength and stealth, one of May Day's favorite method of assassination is to sneak into the backseat of her victims' car, and then strangle them from behind. She is assisted in turn by two henchwomen: Jenny Flex and Pan Ho. In the end, Zorin savagely betrays her, prompting her to switch allegiance and foiling his master plan to plunge half of California into the sea.
100px Pola Ivanova Fiona Fullerton Russian agent Pola Ivanova is yet another one of Bond's previous paramours (whom we never saw before, or since). Pola and a fellow agent was spying and recording Zorin's conversations at one of his oil rigs when Bond indirectly gave their presence away. Pola managed to escape with the audio tape. She ran into 007 and the two retired to a nearby spa where they reminisce about old times. Pola snuck out on Bond, and to her dismay, she took the wrong audio tape with her.
100px Kimberley Jones Mary Stavin Former Miss World Mary Stavin previously appeared in Octopussy as one of the title character's henchwomen. She made her second appearance as the pre-title sequence Bond girl Kimberley Jones, who spends "five days to Alaska" with Bond in a phoney iceberg.
100px Jenny Flex Alison Doody Jenny Flex is one of May Day's scrumptious all-female bodyguards. We first meet her at the chateau where she marches down the stairs to greet Bond with the line: "Welcome sir, I'm Jenny Flex" following with Roger's "Of course you are". Jenny is seen throughout the rest of the movie performing many tasks for May Day and Zorin, who she is fiercely loyal to. During the mine sequence, Jenny Flex is killed during the onslaught of the floodwaters. We see her body floating in the tunnels as May Day and Bond are escaping.
100px Pan Ho Papillon Soo Soo Pan Ho is the other part of May Day's scrumptious all-female bodyguard regiment. She makes her first appearance as Sir Godfrey drives the Rolls-Royce through the front gates of the chateau, demanding them to stop so she can inspect their invitation. She also performs tasks with Jenny Flex under the orders of Max Zorin and May Day who she also remains loyal to. However, in the mine sequence, as Jenny Flex and Pan Ho are searching for Bond and Stacey, she is killed by the onslaught of the floodwaters.

Crew

Soundtrack

File:007AVTAKsoundtrack.jpg
Original A View To A Kill soundtrack cover

The theme tune "A View To A Kill", performed by Duran Duran, was written by Duran Duran and John Barry and peaked at #1 and #2 in the US and UK charts respectively. Although the movie underperformed commercially, "A View to a Kill" is considered the most successful Bond theme to date. The song was the last track that the original five members of Duran Duran recorded together until 2001.

During the opening teaser, a cover version of the 1965 Beach Boys song California Girls, performed by Gidea Park (a tribute band), is used during a chase in which Bond snowboards.

Track listing

  1. Main Title - A View To A Kill — Duran Duran
  2. Snow Job
  3. May Day Jumps
  4. Bond Meets Stacey (A View To A Kill)
  5. Pegasus' Stable
  6. Tibbett Gets Washed Out
  7. Airship to Silicon Valley
  8. He's Dangerous
  9. Bond Underwater
  10. Wine With Stacey (A View To A Kill)
  11. Bond Escapes Roller
  12. Destroy Silicon Valley
  13. May Day Bombs Out
  14. Golden Gate Fight
  15. End Title - A View To A Kill — Duran Duran

In addition, the film features classical music in the form of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, which is performed during the reception that 007 attends undercover at Zorin's stud in France.

Vehicles & gadgets

  • Iceberg Submarine — Bond escapes from a mission in Siberia by getting into a boat built to look like an iceberg.
  • Camera Ring — Bond wears a ring given to him by Q-Branch that acts a camera.
  • Polarized glasses — A pair of glasses with a variable polarization filter which enables Bond to see though a window despite daylight glare.
  • Louis Vuitton Cheque-Book Imprint/Photocopier — Fortuitously shaped copying device which exactly fits over Zorin's cheque book allowing Bond to make a copy of the last cheque written.
  • 1984 Renault 11 TXE — Bond steals this from a Parisian taxi driver to chase May Day after she killed a French secret agent, the car ends up being decapitated, and then chopped in half after going through a typical James Bond chase sequence.
  • 1984 Chevrolet Corvette - Bond emerges from the waters of San Francisco bay and a KGB agent picks him up in the Corvette

Locations

Film locations

Shooting locations

Trivia

  • A View To A Kill is often mentioned as one of the poorest entries in the Bond series. However many disagree with that view. The contemporary criticism centred on the aging Roger Moore (56 when shooting, 57 at completion); in fact many reviews in tabloid newspapers joked that Bond's next gadget from "Q" should be a Zimmer Frame (walker). The plotline was also criticised for being almost identical to that of Goldfinger; similar elements include:
    • In Goldfinger, the villain's scheme is to irradiate the entire US gold reserve, making it worthless, causing financial meltdown in the West plus Auric Goldfinger's personal gold stocks will increase in value tenfold; correspondingly in A View To A Kill, Max Zorin intends to destroy Silicon Valley by triggering a massive earthquake, thus leaving his company with a monopoly on the microchip market (also similar to the plot of the 1978 film Superman: The Movie).
    • As in Goldfinger, one of the business partners in the scam gets cold feet and would rather take the money and run. While Mr. Solo was assassinated by Oddjob and his body disposed of in a car crusher, in A View To A Kill, the dissenter in the ranks is dropped from Zorin's airship and into San Francisco Bay.
    • Both Zorin and Goldfinger are being bankrolled by the Communists: in the former case, Zorin is an ex-KGB agent, while the atom bomb intended to destroy Fort Knox is supplied by the Chinese.
  • This film is not only Roger Moore's swansong, but Lois Maxwell's as well. Maud Adams also has a cameo, taking her total of Bond appearances to three.
  • Leftover canisters of gasoline used during filming of Ridley Scott's Legend caused Pinewood Studios' "007 Stage" to be burnt to the ground in 1984. Albert R. Broccoli, the producer of the James Bond films, had the studio rebuilt in 4 months time so that filming could commence on A View to a Kill. The soundstage was renamed "Albert R. Broccoli's 007 Stage". In July 2006 the stage burned down a second time.
  • Christopher Walken is the first Bond villain actor, and the only chief villain, to have won an Academy Award. (Benicio del Toro was a henchman to the chief villain in Licence to Kill.)
  • David Bowie was allegedly the producers' first choice to play Zorin.
  • When a company with a name similar to Zorin was discovered in the United States, a disclaimer was added to the start of the film affirming that the evil Zorin was not related to any real-life company. This is the only Bond film to have a disclaimer at the start of the film (Licence to Kill had a disclaimer in the end credits about the dangers of smoking).
  • Part of the film takes place on the Eiffel Tower. In an earlier Bond film, Moonraker, it was mentioned that the tower was purchased by the villain of that movie, Hugo Drax, but he was refused an export permit for the structure.
  • It has been suggested that the film's teaser sequence helped initiate interest in snowboarding.
  • The Rolls-Royce driven by Patrick Macnee in the film belonged to producer Albert R. Broccoli.
  • It was planned that two stuntmen, B.J. Worth and Don Caldvedt, would both parachute off the top of the Eiffel Tower so that two takes of the scene could be filmed. However, sufficient footage was obtained from Worth's jump, so Caldvedt was told he would not be performing his own jump. Caldvedt, unhappy at not being able to perform the jump, parachuted off the tower without authorisation from the City of Paris. He was sacked by the production team for jeopardising the continuation of filming in the city.
  • The parachute jump from the top of the Eiffel Tower was made from a platform which extended from the edge of the tower. The platform is clearly visible in the film.
  • Though Patrick Macnee plays only a small part in the film, he received his own "starring" credit; that is, his name is the only name to appear on screen at the time.
  • In the mine scene towards the end of the film, Grace Jones' screams when sparks fly around her are genuine. The sparks were created to mimic the effect of electrical cables in and near the water, but Jones was not told about them.
  • Nikolai Diavolo, a villain played by Willem Dafoe in the 2004 video game Everything or Nothing, claimed Max Zorin was his mentor. In the game, one of Diavolo's objectives is to kill Bond in revenge for Zorin's death.
  • At the conclusion of the end credits, it says the traditional "James Bond will return" but not the title of the next film as had been tradition since From Russia with Love, nor has the title of the next film been announced in the end credits of any Bond film since.
  • The theme song, recorded by Duran Duran, was the only Bond movie theme to reach #1 on the US pop music charts.
  • Christopher Walken had been a long-time fan of the James Bond series, and said that one of his inspirations as an actor was the character of Red Grant (played by Robert Shaw) in From Russia with Love (1963).
  • Roger Moore remarks in his solo commentary (2006 Ultimate DVD Edition) that he regards A View to A Kill as his least favourite Bond film he featured in, citing an increase in violence as a significant reason. Also reflecting on the issue of his age, “Looking back I realised I did look as old as I felt”.
  • A View to a Kill had a total worldwide box office take of $152.4 million. US box office was $50.3 million with US admissions of 14.1 million - over seven million down on Octopussy (1983)
  • Date of television premiere: 5th November 1987, on ABC
  • Date of first broadcast in UK: 31st January 1990 (7th most viewed programme in the UK in 1990)
  • Papillon Soo originally had many of Scarpine's lines and had a larger role as Pan Ho (such as almost the entire chateau sequence had her acting Scarpine's part), it was given to him for unknown reasons.

Video games

A View To A Kill was also made into two video games in 1985.

The first, titled A View To A Kill, was published by Domark. It is available on ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, and MSX.

The second, titled James Bond 007: A View To A Kill was a text-based video game for DOS and Apple II computers. It was developed by Angelsoft, Inc. and published by Mindscape Inc.

Related to the film, the character Mayday was a playable multiplayer character in the 1997 video games GoldenEye 007 and The World is Not Enough for the Nintendo 64. Later, Nikolai Diavolo, a character played by Willem Dafoe in the 2004 game James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing, claimed Max Zorin was his mentor and friend.


External links


The James Bond films
Official films
Dr. No | From Russia with Love | Goldfinger | Thunderball | You Only Live Twice | On Her Majesty's Secret Service | Diamonds Are Forever | Live and Let Die | The Man with the Golden Gun | The Spy Who Loved Me | Moonraker | For Your Eyes Only | Octopussy | A View to a Kill | The Living Daylights | Licence to Kill | GoldenEye | Tomorrow Never Dies | The World Is Not Enough | Die Another Day | Casino Royale | Quantum of Solace
Unofficial films
Casino Royale (1954 TV) | Casino Royale (1967 spoof) | Never Say Never Again
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