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 Posted:   Jan 27, 2025 - 9:02 AM   
 By:   David Sones (Allardyce)   (Member)


I'm eagerly awaiting the main theme fanfare on brass as Bond descends the ladder from the burning building, one of the great moments in film scoring.


My thoughts exactly. That's the cue I've been thirsting for all these years....

 
 Posted:   Jan 27, 2025 - 9:04 AM   
 By:   David Sones (Allardyce)   (Member)

I really really hope so. It’s possibly my favorite in the series. It was the first one I saw on the big screen. I was walking past the theater that summer with my dad and saw that poster and asked him if we could see it. He took me to see it and I still vividly remember the audience laughing when the California Girls needle drop happened. Then the cut into those striking opening titles with one of the absolute best Bond songs - I was hypnotized. (I now have that poster on my wall)

I'm with you on this, Man. It was the first Bond I saw theatrically as well, with my grandpa. And I played that LP incessantly, especially "He's Dangerous"....

 
 
 Posted:   Jan 27, 2025 - 9:39 AM   
 By:   villagardens553   (Member)

Does anyone know who played the guitar that some of us love and others not so much?

It's not Vic Flick, who said in an interview he ran into Barry around that time and that Barry talked to him about possibly playing on the score, but it didn't happen.

 
 
 Posted:   Jan 27, 2025 - 9:45 AM   
 By:   panavision   (Member)

A View to a Kill starts off with a story about microchips in horses.
Then it's a story about destroying Silicon Valley to corner the market.
Which is it?


It's both! The technology used to enhance the horses by Dr. Mortner had also been used to enhance Zorin - hence his unhinged meglamania. The horse plot was a way for Bond to start digging into Zorin's shenanigans. Most Bond films consist of a series of smaller events that lead to the villain's master plan!

What do Faberge eggs have to do with blowing up an American airbase in Octopussy for example? What does a Russian defector have to do with shady drug deals in Afghanistan, etc?


It can't be both. It has to be one. The best films are about one idea.

The horse plot doesn't come into play later in the story. It spends a significant amount of time there and there is no pay-off. If those drugs were used to enhance Zorin's entourage, then I get that. What if Bond was injected with a microchip and Stacey has to get it out of him before he kills her? Interesting subplot before the final act. Always use what has been set up already in the story -- set-ups and pay-offs.

The Russian defector works better because Bond's discovery leads to the reason why he defected and his plan.

 
 
 Posted:   Jan 27, 2025 - 12:59 PM   
 By:   Spymaster   (Member)

The horse plot doesn't come into play later in the story. It spends a significant amount of time there and there is no pay-off. If those drugs were used to enhance Zorin's entourage, then I get that.

There's loads of spy-related information packed into those scenes. Firstly it introduces Bond to Zorin and mad scientist Dr Mortner (and introduces the suggestion that Zorin is his "creation") and numerous henchmen, its where he discovers the cheque from Zorin to "S Sutton" which leads him to Stacey and the Silicon Valley plot, and finally it's where he discovers the assembly line of chips hidden below Pegasus' stable, suggesting that Zorin is cornering the market. It also provides those traditional moments of Bond teasing the villain on his own territory, in a setting which hadn't previously been tapped.

What if Bond was injected with a microchip and Stacey has to get it out of him before he kills her? Interesting subplot before the final act.

That would have been completely out of place in a Roger-era Bond, or any Bond come to think of it!

 
 
 Posted:   Jan 27, 2025 - 1:08 PM   
 By:   Spymaster   (Member)

All I'm saying is that I think A View to a Kill would have been much better if Dalton had been able to start with it, and it would have made The Living Daylights better too. Yavar

The Living Daylights is pretty much perfect as it is!

 
 Posted:   Jan 27, 2025 - 1:13 PM   
 By:   Yavar Moradi   (Member)

I mean, it’s still my second favorite Bond movie since the Craig era didn’t really ever quite deliver on the promise of Casino Royale… so I won’t argue. smile

Yavar

 
 
 Posted:   Jan 27, 2025 - 1:32 PM   
 By:   bondsuits   (Member)

My appreciation of A View to a Kill has only increased over time. I love the film now! It has its issues, but Walken carries the film. The score is a brilliant blend of 1980s lush Barry mixed with hints of 1960s Bond Barry. It needs the LLL treatment, I think in the sound even more than missing tracks. The soundtrack just sounds dull, but the music itself is far from dull.

 
 
 Posted:   Jan 27, 2025 - 2:29 PM   
 By:   Hercule Platini   (Member)

I recently dug the Japanese CD of this score out and played it in the car; it's a terrific listen as it stands but I would be interested in an expansion if there's enough extra material. I would note that this thread has had 87 replies now and no-one has urged LLL to put twelve minutes of the plinky-plonk bathhouse koto solo in there, even in the additionals. smile

 
 
 Posted:   Feb 2, 2025 - 1:31 PM   
 By:   henry   (Member)

I just listened to the 2003 release, it sounds pretty good to me. Great album too.

 
 
 Posted:   Feb 3, 2025 - 4:53 AM   
 By:   panavision   (Member)

The horse plot doesn't come into play later in the story. It spends a significant amount of time there and there is no pay-off. If those drugs were used to enhance Zorin's entourage, then I get that.

There's loads of spy-related information packed into those scenes. Firstly it introduces Bond to Zorin and mad scientist Dr Mortner (and introduces the suggestion that Zorin is his "creation") and numerous henchmen, its where he discovers the cheque from Zorin to "S Sutton" which leads him to Stacey and the Silicon Valley plot, and finally it's where he discovers the assembly line of chips hidden below Pegasus' stable, suggesting that Zorin is cornering the market. It also provides those traditional moments of Bond teasing the villain on his own territory, in a setting which hadn't previously been tapped.

What if Bond was injected with a microchip and Stacey has to get it out of him before he kills her? Interesting subplot before the final act.

That would have been completely out of place in a Roger-era Bond, or any Bond come to think of it!


My point was about story structure. Zorin microchips injected into horses to win races is a big idea that's not fully utilised - it's half of the second act. What if those chips could be used in humans to control them? Build from the horses to the humans would have been a logical story development.

 
 
 Posted:   Feb 3, 2025 - 8:27 AM   
 By:   scrapsly   (Member)

I venture to say most people on this board would like to see (and hear) A View to a Kill get a 40th anniversary release with LLL’s usual impeccable high standards. A View to a Kill is one of my personal favorite Barry Bond outings. Count me in !

 
 
 Posted:   Feb 3, 2025 - 10:41 AM   
 By:   Willgoldnewtonbarrygrusin   (Member)

The horse plot doesn't come into play later in the story. It spends a significant amount of time there and there is no pay-off. If those drugs were used to enhance Zorin's entourage, then I get that.

There's loads of spy-related information packed into those scenes. Firstly it introduces Bond to Zorin and mad scientist Dr Mortner (and introduces the suggestion that Zorin is his "creation") and numerous henchmen, its where he discovers the cheque from Zorin to "S Sutton" which leads him to Stacey and the Silicon Valley plot, and finally it's where he discovers the assembly line of chips hidden below Pegasus' stable, suggesting that Zorin is cornering the market. It also provides those traditional moments of Bond teasing the villain on his own territory, in a setting which hadn't previously been tapped.

What if Bond was injected with a microchip and Stacey has to get it out of him before he kills her? Interesting subplot before the final act.

That would have been completely out of place in a Roger-era Bond, or any Bond come to think of it!


My point was about story structure. Zorin microchips injected into horses to win races is a big idea that's not fully utilised - it's half of the second act. What if those chips could be used in humans to control them? Build from the horses to the humans would have been a logical story development.


It would have been an interesting direction but a very sci-fi one.

The film uses it to illustrate Zorin‘s way to cheat the competition and to highlight his own manipulated state of being.

The actual caper is a logical consequence of Zorin attempting to flood Silicon Valley and createhis own computer monopol. So, storywise it is going for the biggest impact with no sci-fi component.

 
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