You Only Live Twice (1967)
The
fifth in the Bond series sees James Bond and the Japanese secret
service ninja force taking on arch-nemesis Blofeld, who has been
capturing US and Soviet spacecraft in an attempt to start World
War III leaving SPECTRE as the only superpower left to dominate
the world.
While in Japan, Bond joins forces with the beautiful Japanese
agent, Aki (Akiko Wakbayashi) who promptly leads him into a trap,
setting him up for a meeting with Tiger Tanaka (Testuro Tamba),
head of the Japanese Secret Service.
Bond then wastes no time in giving Aki one in his hotel room.
Sadly, in her post-orgasmic slumber, she is poisoned by a SPECTRE
assassin.
Although we eventually discover frequent Bond baddie Blofeld
(here played by Donald Pleasence) is at work, he's almost a
non-entity for most of the film.
The threats to 007 come from anaemic and unthreatening Mr.
Osato (Teru Shimada) and sexy but also lacklustre Helga Brandt
(Karin Dor) who comes across like a rip-off of Fiona Volpe from
Thunderball but without any of that character's menace and fire.
For Bond to fully blend in with Japanese society, he
"marries" Kissy Suzuki (Mie Hama), another agent of the
Japanese Secret Service. Kissy basically just follows Bond around
and does little more than look hot in a bathing suit as the pair
hike up Blofeld's extinct volcanic mount only to discover that
it's hollow and houses a secret rocket base (Isn't it always the
way?).
To cut a long story very short, Kissy helps Bond destroy
SPECTRE's secret base and safeguard world peace. Lots of sex (as
you would expect from a Bond film) and very beautiful locations.
You Only Live Twice officially marked the end of Sean Connery's
run as 007. Tired of the intrusive attention he received, Connery
decided to hang up the Walther and move on with his career,
although despite his complaints, Connery did get back in the
saddle a mere four years later for 1971's Diamonds Are Forever.
Twelve years after that, Connery renewed his license to kill with
the "unofficial" release of Never Say Never Again.
The script to You Only Live Twice was written by Roald
Dahl.
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