A View to a Kill (1985)

Director:

John Glen

Writers:

Ian Fleming (story)
Richard Maibaum (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

24 May 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Thriller

Tagline:

Adventure Above And Beyond All Other Bonds

Plot:

An investigation of a horse-racing scam leads 007 to a mad industrialist who plans to create a worldwide microchip monopoly by destroying California's Silicon Valley.

Plot Keywords:

Silicon Valley | Microchip | Explosion | James Bond | Earthquake

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

Roger Moore	...	James Bond
Christopher Walken	...	Max Zorin
Tanya Roberts	...	Stacey Sutton
Grace Jones	...	May Day
Patrick Macnee	...	Sir Godfrey Tibbett
Patrick Bauchau	...	Scarpine
David Yip	...	Chuck Lee
Fiona Fullerton	...	Pola Ivanova
Manning Redwood	...	Bob Conley
Alison Doody	...	Jenny Flex
Willoughby Gray	...	Dr. Carl Mortner / Hans Glaub
Desmond Llewelyn	...	Q
Robert Brown	...	M
Lois Maxwell	...	Miss Moneypenny
Walter Gotell	...	General Anatol Gogol

Also Known As:

From a View to a Kill (UK) (working title)
Dangereusement vôtre (Canada: French title) (France) [fr]
Ölüme bir bakis (Turkey: Turkish title) (TV title) [tr]
007 - Alvo em Movimento (Portugal) [pt]
007 - Na Mira dos Assassinos (Brazil) [pt]
007 ja kuoleman katse (Finland) [fi]
Agente 007, bersaglio mobile (Italy) [it]
En la mira de los asesinos (Chile) [es]
James Bond 007 - Im Angesicht des Todes (West Germany) [de]
Levande måltavla (Sweden) [sv]
Med døden i sikte (Norway) [no]
Panorama para matar (Spain) [es]
Panorama per matar (Spain: Catalan title) [ca]
Perspectiva unei crime (Romania) [ro]
Pogled na ubistvo (Serbia) [sr]
Pogled na ubojstvo (Croatia) [hr]
The Beautiful Prey (Japan: English title) [en]
Zabójczy widok (Poland) [pl]

Runtime:

131 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Germany:12 (re-release) (uncut) | West Germany:12 (cut) (video premiere) | Iceland:10 (original rating) | Iceland:12 (video rating) | UK:PG (cut) | South Korea:15 | Brazil:12 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Norway:16 (1985) | Singapore:PG | Sweden:15 | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

2201 Broadway, Oakland, California, USA

Company:

Danjaq

Trivia:

The British Board of Film Classification asked that two kicks to the crotch and some blatant nudity in the opening titles be excised in order to secure a PG rating.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Bond enters the turbine, there is a crab on the grate, which appears to be dead and lifeless. On his way back out, the crab is gone.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Kimberley Jones: I thought you'd never get back.
James Bond: Well, there was a heck of a crowd on the piste!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Happy Anniversary 007: 25 Years of James Bond (1987) (TV)

Soundtrack:

California Girls

Under-rated Bond entry.

A View To A Kill seems to get more than its fair share of criticism. Often it is labelled the weakest of the Bond entries, but I don't think this is particularly true. Personally, I don't even rate it as the poorest of Roger Moore's Bond outings, with Moonraker and The Man With the Golden Gun standing out in my memeory as less memorable escapades than this one.

It's Moore's final appearance as 007, and he is trying to prevent a psychotic business magnate, Max Zorin (Walken) from destroying Silicon Valley and cornering the world electronic market all for himself. To make matters worse, Zorin is not your average adversary, since he was born as the result of a Nazi doctor's scientific tamperings resulting in him being hyper-intelligent but also uncontrollably murderous. The mission takes Bond from Zorin's French chateau, to San Francisco, and ultimately to an abandoned mine close to Silicon Valley, where Zorin plans to detonate a bomb which will trigger a cataclysmic earthquake.

The set pieces are memorable, including a parachute pursuit from the Eiffel Tower, a fire engine chase around the hilly streets of San Francisco, and an airship crash on the Golden Gate bridge. Moore looks a bit old for the part, and his sexual humour bears a greater emphasis than usual of the "dirty old man" baggage. However, he still has an easy-going charisma and good comic timing. Walken makes for a good, supremely confident villain, and is well backed by the fearsome Grace Jones. However, Tanya Roberts might be a gorgeous looker, but her Bond girl character is whining and screaming so much in this film that she eventually wears out her welcome. The theme song from Duran Duran is rather too '80s, but the instrumental music by John Barry is stirring and dramatic.

I'm not sure what all the disappointment is about. A View To A Kill is an above average Bond flick with plenty to keep you entertained.