Although the fire engine chase in A View To A Kill (1985) is over-the-top and a bit eye-roll inducing, I did enjoy when the sleepy bridge operator attempts to stop James Bond (Roger Moore) and Stacy Sutton (Tanya Roberts) in their tracks.
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Disclaimer before A View to a Kill (1985)
The above disclaimer appears just before the start of A View to a Kill (1985).
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“Hell, I don’t even ride ’em.”
– Manning Redwood as Zorin henchman and oil tycoon Bob Conley in A View to a Kill (1985)
I’d buy a used car from Bob Conley.
James Bond (played by Roger Moore, or at least in this scene his stunt double) looks to be approaching the angle of repose during A View to a Kill‘s opening ski chase sequence.
Bond (Roger Moore) and Tibbett (Patrick Macnee) have a great rapport in A View To A Kill (1985), and it peaks in this scene. Just after arriving in their room at Zorin’s compound and setting up their recorded dialogue as cover for eavesdropping ears, the two make their way to the balcony where they focus on their mission of investigating Zorin more deeply. They playfully comment on the hilarious, charade relationship they’ve exhibited since they arrived, but then get down to business.
Bond trusts Tibbett’s play-by-play of the parties welcoming and arriving on the helicopter, and when an absolutely stunning Stacy Sutton (Tanya Roberts) arrives, focus quickly turns to her. Side note: the jazzy/mysterious 80’s music of this scene is great, and it’s some of my favorite from the movie. This is also by far the best look for Sutton in the movie, and she seems a bit star-struck herself when she meets Zorin (Christopher Walken) on the launchpad.
Bond cracks a joke to Tibbett that Sutton needs “closer inspection” after they silently acknowledge her good looks, and a more serious Tibbett can’t believe Bond would suggest such a thing: “We’re on a mission!” – to which Bond quips that any interaction between the two would be his own “sacrifice” for the mission – a win-win for Bond and her majesty’s secret service, no? I think their characters’ dynamic (although short-lived) is some of the best Moore’s Bond has with any other during his tenure as 007.
There are two times when Bond popped up in villains’ databases:
A View To A Kill (1985)
Die Another Day (2002)
Christopher Walken as Max Zorin in A View To A Kill (1985)
Mathieu Amalric as Dominic Greene in Quantum Of Solace (2008)
One of the, if not *the*, most out of place sounds/music in any James Bond movie has to go to the use of the song “California Girls” from the “snowboard” scene from the opening sequence of A View To A Kill (1985). Yes, I get that Bond eventually travels to California (and meets girls there I guess?) in the movie and he is technically snowboarding with the snowmobile blade (which is like “California surfing” I guess?), but I’m still going to give the song choice a thumbs down.
I may have approved if the song chosen was the original version by the Beach Boys, but a quick Google also shows this is a cover by Gidea Park, and it sounds like an average one at that. They should have scrapped the idea. How Bond maintains his feet on the blade and gains enough momentum to surprise the skiing bad guys was puzzling enough for the chase, let alone the song choice. It’s fun for sure, but not particularly great.
I was also unfortunately reminded of this scene after watching Pierce Brosnan’s Bond’s absurd snowboarding/gliding scene from Die Another Day (2002):
*shudders*
