| Never Say Never Again | |
|---|---|
 "If you haven't seen Sean Connery in 'Never Say Never Again' then you haven't seen James Bond 007!" | |
| Directed By | Irvin Kershner |
| Screenplay By | Lorenzo Semple Jr. |
| Cast | Sean Connery, Kim Basinger, Max von Sydow, Barbara Carrera, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Edward Fox |
| Produced By | Jack Schwartzman |
| Cinematography By | Douglas Slocombe |
| Film Editing By | Ian Crafford |
| Music By | Michel Legrand |
| Studio | Producers Sales Organization |
| Distributed By | Warner Bros. |
| Franchise | 007: James Bond Franchise |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Release Date | October 7, 1983 |
| Runtime | 134 Minutes |
| Rating | PG |
| Budget | $36,000,000 |
| Gross | $160,000,000 |
Overview[]
Never Say Never Again is 1983 American produced action-thriller espionage film starring Sean Connery, Kim Basinger, and Klaus Maria Brandauer. It was directed by Irvin Kershner and is loosely based on the Ian Fleming's novel "Thunderball". It is not considered officially canon as it is not part of the Eon Productions film series despite starring Sean Connery in the titular role. It featured Connery in his seventh and final outing as the famous 007.
Never Say Never Again is a remake of the 1965 Thunderball film (also starring Sean Connery) from the 007: James Bond Franchise due to severe legal wrangling from the original filming rights to the "Thunderball" novel.
Producer Kevin McClory had assisted Fleming in writing the majority of a James Bond script that was subsequently abandoned due to various scenes and effects being deemed too extravagantly expensive to shoot. Fleming however recycled much of the script as his "Thunderball" novel; hence the legal suit filed by McClory who was neither given credit or financial restitution and was judged as co-owner of the novel and was entitled to his own filming rights.
McClory was eventually able to convince sufficient financing for his independent film adaptation despite several challenges by Eon Productions and Fleming's heirs.
An aging James Bond finds himself being put out to pasture with the dismantling of the 00 Program. However, when SPECTRE begins an extortion plot with a pair of nuclear warheads, the reluctant head of MI-6 is forced to reactivate the 00 Program and bring Bond back for one final mission! To save the world before SPECTRE can unleash Nuclear Armageddon! But is he up to the test?
Plot[]
Cast[]
- Sean Connery as James Bond
- Kim Basinger as Domino Petachi
- Klaus Maria Brandauer as Maximillian Largo
- Barbara Carrera as Fatima Blush
- Bernie Casey as Felix Leiter
- Max von Sydow as Ernst Stavro Blofeld
- Edward Fox as M
- Rowan Atkinson as Nigel Small-Fawcett
- Gavan O'Herlihy as Jack Petachi
- Alec McCowen as Q
- Pamela Salem as Miss Moneypenny
- Saskia Cohen Tanugi as Nicole
- Prunella Gee as Patricia Fearing
- Pat Roach as Lippe
- Anthony Sharp as Lord Ambrose
Production[]
Reception[]
Trivia[]
- The title of this film came from Sean Connery's announcement in 1971 after completing Diamonds Are Forever that he would "never again" play the iconic 007. Connery's wife, Micheline remarked about it in passing and the producers decided to ironically acknowledge that vow with the title. This marks Never Say Never Again as the first James Bond movie that did not involve one of Ian Fleming's titles for the film.
- The legal dispute that had arisen about the novel "Thunderball" was due to the fact that Fleming had collaborated with Kevin McClory and Jack Whittingham on a potential James Bond script tentatively titled "Longitude 78 West". Although the film was abandoned due to the high costs involved, Fleming would subsequently adapt much of the script into "Thunderball" in which he did not credit McClory and Whittingham resulting in them suing him. McClory ultimately won due to the face that he originally possessed the filming rights. He was therefore able to bring Never Say Never Again to the silver screen despite numerous legal challenges by Ian Fleming's heirs and Eon Productions.