I hear Max the Parrot’s stupid line in my sleep after watching For Your Eyes Only (1981). Why even have the bird in the movie? Was it *really* that important to have this kind of slapstick comic relief in a James Bond movie? Let alone animal slapstick comedy? It’s one of the questionable scenes in FYEO that puzzle me to this day alongside the “hockey” scene that holds its own in the eye-rolling department.
Sure – like all James Bond movies – FYEO has some good parts, but overall I’m not its biggest fan.
At the start of For Your Eyes Only (1981), we see James Bond (Roger Moore) visit the grave of his late wife, Teresa Bond:
The inscription reads:
TERESA BOND
1943 – 1969
Beloved wife of
JAMES BONDWe have all the
time in the World
Although I like the fact that they finally acknowledged the death of Bond’s wife, it’s puzzling that it took a full 12 years (an entire six Bond movies) since On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) when she was murdered, to do so. Surely such a traumatic death would have affected Bond greatly, and I’d say Diamonds Are Forever (1971) (the follow-up to OHMSS) is flawed at the outset for at least not referencing it while Bond traipse around Las Vegas.
Maybe they decided to put it on the backburner because it’s obviously a sad event, and nobody wants to be sad watching a James Bond movie (ahem, NTTD). Or maybe the death was such a big event in the series they decided to avoid acknowledging (or forgot?) it until a lot of time had passed…was this Bond’s first visit to the grave?
Kind of a missed opportunity in my eyes, regardless. They could’ve worked a graveside visit later into the movie (who wants to see Bond graveside visit in a movie’s opening sequence anyway? ahem, again, NTTD!) or weaved it into a joint revenge plot with Melina Havelock’s revenge of her parents’ death. All in all, I’m glad they made the reference to Tracy’s death but the method could’ve been better. And a pity it was rather forgotten after this scene until NTTD really.
