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A View to a Kill

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Template:BondInfo 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. 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".

Film plot summary

Template:Spoiler The plot centers around billionaire industrialist Max Zorin, who intends to destroy Silicon Valley in California in order to gain complete control of the microchip market. Zorin is aided by his Amazonian henchwoman, the murderous May Day and his Head of Security, Scarpine. James Bond is aided in his adventure by Stacey Sutton and Sir Godfrey Tibbett.

Cast & characters

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 the 1965 Beach Boys song California Girls 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

Vehicles & gadgets

Main articles: List of James Bond vehicles and List of James Bond gadgets
  • Iceberg - 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.
  • Anti-Tinted Glass Sunglasses - Special pair of glasses which enable Bond to see through a tinted window.
  • 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.

Locations

Film locations

Shooting locations

Trivia

  • A View To A Kill is widely regarded as one of the poorest entries in the Bond series [1], the criticism centering on the now aged Roger Moore; in fact many 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.
    • 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.
  • Despite the lack of popularity of this film and the general feeling that Moore was too old for the role of Bond, the script for the next Bond film, The Living Daylights would be crafted under the assumption that Moore would play the role one more time.
  • 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 soundstage" 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 soundstage".
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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 hitting the water, but Jones was not told about them.

Video game

A View to a Kill was also made into a video game. It was published by Domark and produced by Softstone Ltd (Tony Knight, Daryl Bowers and Gary Burfield Wallis). It ws available on ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64.

Referrences

  • ^ "Collection of reviews at CommanderBond.net". Views on A View To A Kill. July 22. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help)
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