The Man With the Golden Gun
In the finale of Spectre, Blofeld has decorated the abandoned Mi6 building with pictures of people from Bond's past, such as Vesper, M and the villains Le Chiffre, Silva and Mr White. Blofeld lures Bond through the corridors of Mi6 and tricks him to shoot at flipping targets, similar to how Nick-Nack and Scaramanga lures Bond through Scaramanga's fun house in The Man With the Golden Gun.
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| The Man With the Golden Gun, 1974 |
Even the pattern of the dynamite wires that are covering the ceiling of the entire Mi6 building is slightly reminiscent of the interior design in Scaramanga's fun house. This of course might be a coincidence.
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| The dynamite wires stretched across Mi6 before the demolition |
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| Scaramanga's fun house in 1974 |
However, the helicopter stunt from the pre-title sequence in Spectre resembles the famous car stunt from The Man With the Golden Gun, although this roll stunt has never been done with a helicopter in a Bond film before.
The Spy Who Loved Me
Spectre references The Spy Who Loved Me during the plane/car chase in the Austrian alps. During the chase, Bond flies his plane alongside the car convoy and waves at Hinx travelling in the Range Rover with Madeleine Swan.
A similar scene occurs during the car chase in The Spy Who Loved me when Bond and Major Amasova are driving around in Sardinia. As Naomi chases Bond and agent triple X with a helicopter, she flies up alongside Bond's Lotus and at one point waves at him. Contrary to this film however, in Spectre, Bond is the one flying the aircraft and waves back at the henchman.
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| The Spy Who Loved Me, 1977 |
The big fight between Bond and Hinx aboard the Moroccan train could very well be a reference to the train fight between Bond and Donald Grant in From Russia With Love or the fight between Bond and TeeHee in Live and Let Die. But it might also be a reference to the fight between Bond and Jaws in The Spy Who Loved Me. Some has suggested that the big barrels, which Bond kicks off the train and ultimately uses to throw Hinx off, might be a reference to the 1975 movie Jaws where big barrels are used to force the big shark up to the surface. Very far-fetched, but still funny.
The fight ends with Bond throwing Hinx off the train, by attaching him to some heavy barrels and kicking them overboard. In The Spy Who Loved Me, Jaws pretty much goes the same way, when Bond kicks him through the window.
Moonraker
The Dia de Muertos parade in Mexico city in the pre-title sequence of Spectre can be considered as an homage to the carnival in Rio, visited by Bond in Moonraker. It is of course also reminiscent of the Jankanoo parade in Thunderball and the Jazz funerals in Live and Let Die.
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| Mexico City |
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| Rio de Janeiro 1979 |
Blofeld's lair in the Moroccan desert is reminiscent of Drax's secret control room in Moonraker.
During the car chase in Rome, Bond uses a new feature in his Aston Martin in order to escape from Hinx and not ending up in the river Tiber, namely an ejector seat with a parachute. Unlike the ejector seats installed in Bond's previous Aston Martins, this one is located in the driver seat. Bond ejects himself moments before the car crashes into the river and afterwords he lands on the adjacent street. Similarly during the boat chase in Moonraker Bond manages to escape from both Jaws and the largest waterfall in Brasil with a built-in para glider in Q's boat, before landing/crashing in the Brazilian jungle.
For Your Eyes Only
In addition, Blofeld's helicopters in both Spectre and For Your Eyes Only fly past Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament in a similar view.
Furthermore, another For Your Eyes Only reference is the name 'Hildebrand' that appears on the door to the Mi6 safe house in Spectre. Hildebrand is the cover name on a shop in London, selling "prints and rarities", but in reality functioning as a safe house. The title 'The Hildebrand Rarity' is a short story written by Ian Fleming that is included in the book 'For Your Eyes Only' which was published in 1960.
Octopussy
As far as I have made out, there are no obvious visual references to Octopussy (apart from the giant Octopus symbolising the organisation SPECTRE) but a few things from the plot can be considered as similar. For instance, the fathers of both Octopussy and Madeleine Swan kill themselves after a visit from 007.
Furthermore, Kamal Khan, just as several other villains before him, travels around in a Rolls Royce, which might be referenced through the fact that Blofeld also owns a Rolls, that picks up Bond from the desert.
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| Bond watches Kamal arrive in Octopussy |
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| Bond and Swan arriving to Blofeld's lair in Spectre |
A View to a Kill
A View is one of the few films that has no obvious references. If anyone has found anything, please leave a comment below.
The Living Daylights
The fact that Bond visits Tangier in Spectre is a reference to The Living Daylights which also used Tangier as a location.
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| Tangier in 2015 |
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| Tangier in 1987 |
The reuse of locations from earlier films was also apparent in the pre-title sequence of Spectre when Bond and Estrella takes the elevator up to her hotel room, from where Bond later jumps out the window. This elevator was seen in Licence to Kill when it was located in Bond's hotel, 'Hotel El Presidente'.
In Licence to Kill Bond and Pam takes the elevator up to Bond's suite where Q is waiting.
In the same film, Q is on vacation and turns up to assist Bond in the field. The same thing happens in Spectre when Q turns up at the Hoffler clinic in Austria.
James Bond Locations will return with the final references in Spectre.
I didn't notice many of the references and probably some are just coincidences but these blogs were fun to read!
ReplyDeleteThe helicopter barrel roll didn't remind me of the TMWTGG AMC Hornet stunt - they should have added a slide whistle sound ;-) - but more of A View to a Kill (you wanted a reference!). Both films have the same type of helicopter in the pre-title sequence, the MBB Bo 105. It immediately reminded me of AVTAK although this probably is just a coincidence as this helicopter is one of just a few types capable of such manoeuvres. I also think that the barrel roll was included just because the Bo 105 could perform it - not because of the AMC Hornet stunt. But who knows what they were really thinking?
Regards,
Peter
PS: The film is spelled Licence to Kill ... ;-)