Never Say Never Again (1983)

Director:

Irvin Kershner

Writers:

Kevin McClory (story) &
Jack Whittingham (story) ...

Release Date:

7 October 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Thriller

Tagline:

If you haven't seen Sean Connery in 'Never Say Never Again' then you haven't seen James Bond 007!

Plot:

A SPECTRE agent has stolen two American nuclear warheads, and James Bond must find their targets before they are detonated.

Plot Keywords:

Bond | James Bond | British | Steal | Bahamas

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Sean Connery	...	James Bond
Klaus Maria Brandauer	...	Maximilian Largo
Max von Sydow	...	Ernst Stavro Blofeld (as Max Von Sydow)
Barbara Carrera	...	Fatima Blush
Kim Basinger	...	Domino Petachi
Bernie Casey	...	Felix Leiter
Alec McCowen	...	Q 'Algy' Algernon
Edward Fox	...	M
Pamela Salem	...	Miss Moneypenny
Rowan Atkinson	...	Nigel Small-Fawcett
Valerie Leon	...	Lady in Bahamas
Milos Kirek	...	Kovacs (as Milow Kirek)
Pat Roach	...	Lippe
Anthony Sharp	...	Lord Ambrose
Prunella Gee	...	Patricia Fearing

Also Known As:

James Bond 007 - Sag niemals nie (West Germany)
James Bond of the Secret Service (UK) (working title)
James Bond, Secret Agent (UK) (working title)
Warhead (USA) (working title)
Älä kieltäydy kahdesti (Finland) [fi]
007 - Nunca Mais Outra Vez (Brazil) [pt]
Agente 007, mai dire mai (Italy) [it]
Asla asla deme (Turkey: Turkish title) (TV title) [tr]
Bond No. 1 (India: Hindi title) [hi]
Insan gibi yasa (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Jamais plus jamais (France) [fr]
James Bond, praktor 007: Pote min xanapeis pote (Greece) [el]
Mai dire mai (Italy) [it]
Neka aldrig två gånger (Finland: Swedish title) [sv]
Never Say Never Again (Denmark) [da]
Nigdy nie mów nigdy (Poland) [pl]
Nikad ne reci nikad (Croatia) [hr]
Nunca Digas Nunca (Portugal) [pt]
Nunca digas nunca jamás (Spain) [es]
Soha ne mondd, hogy soha (Hungary) [hu]

Runtime:

134 min | Germany:121 min (cut version)

Country:

UK | USA | West Germany

Language:

English | French | German

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Iceland:12 | South Korea:15 | West Germany:12 (f) | Netherlands:12 | Brazil:12 | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Norway:15 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG | Australia:M | Singapore:PG | UK:PG (cut)

Filming Locations:

Alpes-Maritimes, France

Company:

PSO International

Trivia:

Barbara Carrera (Fatima Blush) did her love scenes with Sean Connery herself, declining the offer to use a body double.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): The story Largo tells Domino about the "Tears of Allah" is illogical. "The prophet wept for the barrenness of the desert, and his tears made a well." Islam's Prophet is Muhammad/Mohammed, not Allah. Furthermore, a Muslim fortress would never have been permitted to have the pagan statues we see.

Quotes:

Fatima Blush: Jack must do as he's told to keep his FAST CARS and his PRETTY CLOTHES. And if he wants to keep his sister alive...
Jack Petachi: You leave Domino out of this or I'll...
[He attacks Fatima but she quickly beats him up]

Movie Connections:

References "Climax!: Casino Royale (#1.3)" (1954)

Soundtrack:

Une Chanson D'amour

Playing Tag With Mr. Shark

I've always liked Sean Connery, but as James Bond I've always favored Roger Moore. Still it was Connery who set the Bond standard and while he had by 1983 established himself as something other than James Bond, the money must have been irresistible for him to make one more appearance as 007 and save the world from the evil designs of Spectre.

And what designs they are in Never Say Never Again. SPECTRE with the help of a foolish young Air Force officer who happens to be Kim Bassinger's brother stole two nuclear missiles during a war games exercise and now SPECTRE headed by Blofeld, played here by Max Von Sydow is threatening blackmail of the world.

Von Sydow's operations guy is Klaus Maria Brandauer who is also courting Bassinger and is a bit on the crazy side. And he's got a female assassin working for him in Barbara Carrera who makes Angelina Jolie as Nora Croft look like Mrs. Butterworth.

But before Sean Connery can even get started he's got to deal with a new 'M' running things at British Intelligence. Edward Fox thinks Connery is old fashioned in his methods and costs the British taxpayers too much money with his violent ways. I really did enjoy Fox's performance, he's like the great grandson of Colonel Blimp.

I also enjoyed Carrera, she's something to look at and quite resourceful in her methods. When she's scuba diving with Connery in the Bahamas, note how she puts Mr. Shark on 007's case.

Will Connery do James Bond again? He was widely quoted as saying who would they cast him as at this point, Roger Moore's father? But I think Connery would still be formidable in a wheelchair.