A View to a Kill

A View To A Kill, released in 1985, is the fourteenth spy film of the James Bond series, and the seventh and last to star Roger Moore as the fictional British Secret Service agent James Bond. Although the title is adapted from Ian Fleming's short story "From a View to a Kill", the film is the second Bond film after The Spy Who Loved Me to have an entirely original screenplay. In A View to a Kill, Bond is pitted against Max Zorin, who plans to destroy California's Silicon Valley.

The film was produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson who also wrote the screenplay with Richard Maibaum. It was the third James Bond film to be directed by John Glen.

Despite being a commercial success, A View To A Kill was received poorly by critics and also disliked by Roger Moore himself. However, Academy Award winning actor Christopher Walken was praised for portraying a "classic Bond villain."

Cast
Roger Moore as James Bond: The world renowned British Secret Service agent.
Christopher Walken as Max Zorin: A microchip industrialist planning to destroy the Silicon Valley in an earthquake and gain a monopoly in the market.
Tanya Roberts as Stacey Sutton: The granddaughter of an oil tycoon whose company is taken over by Zorin. She later becomes a geologist and assists Bond in preventing the earthquake.
Grace Jones as May Day: Zorin's bodyguard. When betrayed by him, she joins hands with Bond and sacrifices her life so as to save Silicon Valley.
Robert Brown as M: The strict head of the Secret Intelligence Service
Desmond Llewelyn as Q: An MI6 officer in charge of the research and development branch. He provides Bond with unique vehicle and gadgets for battling Zorin.
Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny: M's secretary.
Geoffrey Keen as Fredrick Gray: The British Minister of Defence.
Walter Gotell as General Gogol: The head of the KGB.
Patrick Macnee as Sir Godfrey Tibbett: Bond's ally who helps him enter Zorin's villa and stable.
Patrick Bauchau as Scarpine: Zorin's loyal associate.
David Yip as Chuck Lee A CIA agent who assists Bond and Sutton but is killed by May Day.
Fiona Fullerton as Pola Ivanova; a KGB agent sent by Gogol to spy on Zorin.
Willoughby Gray as Dr. Carl Mortner: A former Nazi scientist who designs Zorin's microchips for carrying narcotic drugs (in the German release version, he is a Polish communist).
Alison Doody as Jenny Flex: One of May Day's assistants
Papillon Soo Soo as Pan Ho: One of May Day's assistants
Maud Adams is often said to be visible as an extra in one of the Fisherman's Wharf scenes; in the DVD documentary Inside A View to a Kill, Adams explains that she was visiting her friend Roger Moore on location and ended up in the crowd, but admits she is unable to actually see herself in the film; In the same documentary, director John Glen confirms that Adams appears as an extra, but does not specify where she is visible. The appearance remained a mystery for years until she was identified as standing in the background during one of the Fisherman's Wharf scenes. As a result, Adams appears in three Bond films, previously in The Man with the Golden Gun in 1974 and in Octopussy in 1983.

Spoiler Plot Summary

In the pre-title sequence, James Bond is sent to Siberia to locate 003's corpse and recover a microchip. Upon doing so, he is ambushed by Soviet troops but flees in a submarine built to resemble an iceberg. After Bond has returned to England, Q has the microchip analysed and informs M, Bond and the Minister of Defence that its design is an exact match of a microchip made by Zorin Industries.

Bond and his superiors then visit the Ascot Racecourse to observe the company's owner, Max Zorin. While at the track, Zorin's horse miraculously wins the race; Sir Godfrey Tibbett, a horse trainer, believes Zorin's horse was consuming drugs, although when screened prior to the race, it did not show any signs of addiction. Through Tibbett, Bond meets a French private detective named Aubergine to discuss how the horse won. However, during their dinner at the Eiffel Tower, Aubergine is killed by May Day. Bond steals a Renault taxi to chase May Day and learns that Zorin is holding an annual horse sale later in the month.

Bond and Tibbett travel to Chantilly, France where Bond poses as James St. John (Syngen) Smythe, a rich dilettante, with Tibbett as his chauffeur. They locate and break into Zorin's secret laboratory and learn that he is using microchips in his horses to release a drug when prompted by a switch hidden in his cane. Tibbett is later killed by May Day, but an attempt to drown Bond in a lake while unconscious inside his car fails. Later, General Gogol from the Soviet Union shows up at Zorin's estate with several other KGB agents, but Zorin, an ex-KGB agent himself, gets upset with Gogol and forces him to leave.

In Zorin's airship, the billionaire industrialist unveils to a group of investors his plan to destroy Silicon Valley in an operation he dubs "Main Strike" in order to gain a monopoly in the microchip market. However, one of the investors wants nothing to do with the scheme and demands to leave; he is promptly dropped out of the airship by a secret chute and plunges to his death. Bond later learns that Zorin is a psychopath, the product of Nazi medical experimentation during World War II, and later trained by the KGB. To succeed, Zorin plans to detonate explosives beneath the lakes along the Hayward Fault and the San Andreas Fault causing them to flood. A larger bomb is also on site in the mine to destroy a "geological lock" that is in place to prevent the two faults from moving at the same time. Once destroyed, it would supposedly cause a massive double earthquake.

Bond soon discovers state geologist Stacey Sutton, whose oil company had been taken over by Zorin, and the two team up to steal documents about his plan from the San Francisco City Hall. Zorin arrives, holding them hostage, and then forces a city official to call the police. He kills the caller and sets the building on fire in order to frame Bond for the murder. Bond and Sutton are first rescued by the fire brigade and then chased by the police. They escape in a fire-engine and then cross the Lefty O'Doul Bridge leaving the police cars behind when the bridge opens.

Bond disguised as one of Zorin's miners.The next day, Bond and Sutton infiltrate Zorin's mine where he plots to start the earthquake. He floods the mine with the first set of explosives, the action almost killing Bond and May Day, while Sutton escapes. As a result of being betrayed, May Day helps Bond remove the larger bomb that would destroy the lock. They put the bomb on a handcar and push it out of the mine along a railroad line. However, the brakes on the car malfunction. May Day stays on the car and holds the brakes. This costs her her life but saves Silicon Valley.

Soon Sutton reunites with Bond but is abducted by Zorin. Bond manages to grab a rope attached to Zorin's airship while leaving the mine. During the flight, he ties the rope onto the Golden Gate Bridge. Zorin's ally, Dr. Carl Mortner, is knocked out by Sutton (who escapes to the bridge) and is helpless for most of the fight. Zorin and Bond then battle on the bridge ending with Zorin falling to his death in the San Francisco Bay. Mortner regains consciousness and tries to toss out a dynamite but fails when Bond cuts the rope of the airship, making it sway frantically and explode.

Track listing
"A View To A Kill - Main Title" - Duran Duran
"Snow Job"
"May Day Jumps"
"Bond Meets Stacey (A View To A Kill)"
"Pegasus' Stable"
"Tibbett Gets Washed Out"
"Airship To Silicon Valley"
"He's Dangerous"
"Bond Underwater"
"Wine With Stacey (A View To A Kill)"
"Bond Escapes Roller"
"Destroy Silicon Valley"
"May Day Bombs Out"
"Golden Gate Fight"
"A View To A Kill - End Title" - Duran Duran

The theme song "A View to a Kill", was written by John Barry and Duran Duran, and was recorded in London with a 60-piece orchestra. "A View to a Kill" is the most successful Bond theme to date. In 1986 Barry and Duran Duran were nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.

Action and Adventure -

Animation - Comedy - Crime - Documentary -
Family - Foreign Language - Historical - Horror - Musical - Political