Albert “Cubby’ Broccoli’s stamp is very much in evidence in testosterone fuelled action/thriller No Time To Die, a expensive dress rehearsal for the James Bond movies with many of the same preoccupations on display in embryonic form. Bond was, of course, Ian Fleming’s creation, but it was Broccoli and his family who would go on to create and nurture the cinematic incarnation of the brutish, British super-spy. Having optioned the rights to the Bond adventures, Broccoli was assembling reliable talents; this enterprise features Dr No director Terence Young, plus writer Richard Maibaum who worked on 13 of the franchise entries.
WWII was very much were the notions of a gentleman spy were tested; No Time To Die features an unusual lead character in David Thatcher (Victor Mature), who is something rather more than a conventional soldier; having taken part in the failed assassination of Joseph Goebbels, Thatcher has a sizable bounty on his head and knows that capture means certain death. So when the British tank crew Thatcher is riding with are captured, Thatcher immediately leads a POW escape for his own sake rather than anyone else’s; he’s a one-man army who plays by his own rules a la Bond. He’s joined by the more sedate Kendell (Leo Genn), a Brit keen to educate his American friend as to the ‘rules of war’. The war was barely a decade old when No Time to Die was filmed, and it’s something of a revelation to hear so much discussion about ‘what soldiering means to the King’s regulations’. Of course, the enemy feel free to break with tradition in violent style, and so does Thatcher, although Kendall is keen to keep him right as the action leads the men from a getaway via a stolen ambulance to a multi-tank battle near Benghazi, shot in Libya.
There’s a slew of links to Bond here, from acting talents female lead Lucianna Paluzzi (Thunderball) and Anthony Newley (who co-wrote the lyrics to Goldfinger), plus innumerable technical staff. The action scenes are up to 60’s Bond levels, with a few lively gunfights and bookends of set-piece desert tank action. But there’s also precursors of the laconic style of the Bond movies; a traitor is murdered by a baying crowd of the men off camera, and we pan slowly down to find his blood gushing out of down a drainpipe, a familiar short-hand often used in the Bond movies. It’s also notable that characters are firmly tied to real events; Thatcher has a tragic back-story, his wife has died in Belsen, and there’s a deliberate sourness about the way he navigates the war. It’s typical of Broccoli’s worldly output with his Warwick Films label, a specific taste for laconic action that Broccoli moved across to his new Eon Productions company, and the rest is history.
Once the titles of Ian Fleming’s stories were used up for movies, ephemera like the name of the author’s house (Goldeneye) came into play; presumably this aesthetic has been expanded to include Broccoli too. This feature no longer appears on his Wikipedia page, presumably to avoid any confusion with the new Bond movie No Time To Die, recently announced as heading to streaming on the new Paramount+ channel after a 2021 cinema release as part of the channels deal with MGM and Epix. Issued in the US as Tank Force!, the original No Time To Die is a watchable, well-crafted action film that’s of substantial interest to cineastes by dint of catching some major talents, and some resonant ideas, on their way to establishing cinema’s most venerable franchise. It might not be the No Time to Die we want right now, but it’s the No Time To Die we’ve got; James Bond fans will want to have a careful look before the latest instalment finally arrives this year.
Good way to wrap up this review hahaha Not the movie we want but definitely one we got and can visit while we wait for the new one to finally come out.
At least you can say to your friends; just watched No Time to Die last night, that should create a few questions…
An all-star connection if not quite an all-star cast but Mature is a very durable star and never really got the pictures his talent deserved. Check out Zarak – and not just form Anita Ekberg.
Zarak goes onto my list. mature just seemed a little lumpen for me as a kid, but wiser influences have prevailed since then and I’m seeing a whole new Victor; maybe I’ve matured.
he’s actually called Cauliflower in Italy for some reason we switched it to Broccolli over here. Peas are beans and beans are peas . . . also, good archeology here . . . I need to get on this, considering those Bond films are some great ham and eggs.
I did not know that! I’ve made a point of not reviewing Bond on my blog, but might pick out a few favourites. But I do like the ones around the edges like this, OK Connery, The Man from Hong Kong….No Time To Die is quite striking in that it has many ideas which go on to be classic Bond tropes, will worth exhuming!
Broccoli. I won’t accept Broccoli, not even with cheese on it!
Now that’s the kind of informed comment I’m hoping to cultivate on this blog. I love Broccoli, so what’s your problem, Bunty?
Do you have Broccoli haggis?
I have a very good friend called Broccoli Haggis, it’s a common name in Scotland. Would you like to meet him?
I am trying to think of some smart ass come back, but failing.
You win!
Ta-dah! I’ve won the internet!
Yep, today is your day. Celebrate it. I plan to be back in fighting form next month….
So much losing for you, so much winning for me….
Tell me about it….
But I’m magnanimous in triumph; I’m buying you a pizza, right?
At this point, anything to just slide into March with all my limbs intact 🙂
I shall crush only your skull.
Well, that’ll ruin it as a goblet. You need to think long term.
I’ll glue what’s left back together to drink from.
That’s just wrong. Glue is toxic!
So are the contents of your skull imho
Since when have you had any Humble opinions?
Is that the rejoiner I’ve been waiting for all day? The best your team of writers could come up with?
Pretty much. It takes energy to fight, even fake fight and this month hasn’t left me much energy…
In this context, my offering of a Victor Mature film about tanks feels inappropriate, surplus to your needs…
Interesting about the new Bond picking up the title. A tribute?
Exactly. As noted, if you can use the name of Fleming’s house, you can use an old Cubby film too.
Never could get away with Victor Mature but this sounds fun.
I know what you mean, but I’m gaining a soft spot for him; he’s great in After the Fox, and he’s got a certain swagger in this. No Time for Ears today?
No, I only work Mon,Tues and Wed. Mature was in one of those biblical epics they used to do, ( I did like them back in the day) and just didn’t do it for me.
I suffered a few boring Mature films back int he day, but he seems to have a good sense of humour about himself, and his talents, and seems a bit more post-modern that one might expect. What a childhood you had, Noel Coward and Victor Mature!
My Mum was an actress, (not a famous one) and was in plays and stuff, she liked movies a lot.
That explains your ‘grande dame’ qualities…
WTF are ‘grande dame’ qualities?? It sounds like an American Matriarch which I am not.
Never suggested that you are American or a Matriarch, which sounds like something from a horror film. A lady of world class and renown.
Nicely recovered.
Ay thang yaw….
But he was known as the “Beautiful Hunk of Man” that “no woman could resist.” Groucho Marx resisted, telling Cecil DeMille that ‘No picture can hold my interest where the leading man’s tits are bigger than the leading lady’s.’
First use of ‘tits’ on my comments page but I’ve checked the constitution and I’ll allow it and yield the rest of my time.
It’s allowed in a direct quote!
I’m just concerned it will open the floodgates.
A flood of tits, now there’s a movie!
I have to admit, I’d be drawn in.
I think the internet might break if that was announced as the next Bond movie.
🤣🤣🤣 I thought it might be a horror movie, but maybe not then!
Oh, I see, a Birdemic type horror, blue tits, gold tits, all the titls…
Exactly. Not sure why Alex went off piste, they probably don’t have birds in France.
Sigh. I’m not rising to this bait any more. Alex confirmed he’s not in France. The matter is closed.
Victor Mature burns up the screen in vintage classic A Flood of Tits. Could be the title of the next Bond movie…
Too late, he’s dead.
‘vintage’ ! oh, FFS, we’ll CGI him back to life like Peter Cushing, not much animation required for Mature’s acting style…
True.
🤣🤣🤣 I thought he was quite pidgeon chested rather than hunky.
Standards have changed. Stars have to spend more time in the gym I guess these days.
Not a lot a gym can do with a pigeon chest, that’s bone structure, but yes, the Hemsworths and Stathams have to work hard to be hunky.
We all do…maybe Alex and I should ‘work in’ and do gym classes online for our readers…
Alex and Ed’s YouTube workouts! Why not Joe Wotsisface has earned a fortune doing his during lockdown. Mind you he is definitely hunky.
Well, I can’t speak for Alex, but I’m quite a catch. Alex seems to be going in a seedier direction, not for the first time…
To a ridicolous extent. Don’t get me started on Brad Pitt in Fury, a WWII soldier stuck in his tank who has a body I couldn’t get if I lived in a gym, had 10 personal trainers and ate seaweed for a year. When you see a fit man man in the 40’s or 50’s, you could’t cut carrotts on his hip bones….
In fairness to Mr.Pitt he was hunky from the get-go, see Thelma and Louise.
No one is disputing his hunkiness, that was previously admitted as evidence. It’s whether you can live in a tank for two months and emerge with abs like that, that’s the question under discussion…
Alex or Victor Mature?
No pigeons around here. Just Mr. Universe proportions.
That’s not what I’ve heard, Mr Knobby-Knees competition….
Victor! I haven’t seen Alex’s chest.
I don’t think you’re missing much. Although hardly fair to compare with Victor Mature’s….
You just know I’d put you to shame in a wet t-shirt competition.
Don’t put that idea out there. I, for one, am trying to write a serious blog here. Did Roger Ebert take part in wet T short competitions?
I doubt it.
You’re subtly changing the subject to wet shorts. I’m not going to go there.
That’s a typo, it’s T-shirts, and I’m not going there. We’ll do a swimsuit section, evening wear, and three personal questions each, that OK?
What kind of swimsuits are we talking about? Board shorts or speedos? I’m not wearing a thong.
You’ll be at a disadvantage then, if you’ve got the goods, you are obliged to flaunt them.
I take it you’re defaulting then?
I just don’t believe in double standards. But if you want to go speedos my excellence will be even more in evidence.
Bring it on! Fraggle can judge! Get your walnuts ready!
Well you obviously have so I’ll take your word for it.
I don’t need to see the underneath of my car to know it’s filthy….