Review of For Your Eyes Only (1981) by Matthew J — 15 Apr 2011

A British fishing trawler/surveillance ship, on duty in the Ionian Sea, is sunk by an old World War II mine caught in her fishing nets...

Lost in the wreck is a top secret missile launching device which soon becomes 'something of value' in a characteristic British-Russian confrontation...

007 is seen caught in a cold-blooded feud between two Greek ex-partisans... He has to recover a transmitter that could fall into the wrong hands... He is sent to climb up the cliffs below an abandoned monastery complex, and is aided by a vigorous and decided sharpshooter whose expertise with a crossbow proved vital...

Throughout the mission 007 is aided by the brave Melina Havelock, a perfect Bond heroine determined to avenge her parents at all costs... Melina Havelock is a combination of Tilly Masterson from 'Goldfinger' and Domino from 'Thunderball.' Melina comes upon a much bigger plot, involving 007 and a Russian-British race to regain the A.T.A.C.

As Bond, Roger Moore finally gets his hair messed up, and more... He is at the mercy of a bald figure in a wheelchair who controls his destiny; chased by ski-borne motorcycles; assailed by spear-carrying fishermen and unlucky hockey players; attacked by sharks and enemy divers; tied up and dragged behind a boat along the sharp corals...

The film succeeds in introducing many mysterious characters... Three of them are:

Milos Columbo (Topol) who becomes the incarnation of Bond's old friend Kerim Bey... Known as 'The Dove,' Columbo is a pistachio-chewing Greek smuggler, ex-resistance fighter, and casino owner on the Greek island in the Aegean Sea... Between him and Kristatos, there is blood feud dating back to World War II, when both fought the Nazis as resistance fighters on Crete...

Ari Kristatos (Julian Glover) who manages to hide his treacherous nature behind a veneer of sophistication... Kristatos comes across as the most believable Bond villain in years... He introduces himself as an enthusiastic Anglophile who was a resistance fighter during the Second World War, and apparently uses Bond to murder his smuggling rival while scheming to please the KGB...

Bibi Dahl (Lynn Holly Johnson) who would do anything for Bond! She is the American figure-skating prodigy who meets 007 in Cortina D'Ampezzo, where at one point was invitingly in 007's bed...

Hate and revenge play significant part in this twelfth James Bond film... "For Your Eyes Only" follows the adventure and exotic appeal of earlier Bond movies like 'From Russia with Love' and 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service'. The result is a delightful spy adventure with plenty of intriguing characters, plot twists, and romance.