You Only Live Twice
1967, PG, 116 min.
Directed by Lewis Gilbert, Starring Sean Connery, Akiko Wakabayashi, Donald Pleasence.

Connery didn’t want to play Bond anymore, and it shows in this forgettable picture. From a stirred, not shaken, martini to the ninja training school to the “surgery” to make Bond Japanese (by shaving his chest hair), there’s nary a moment of this film that doesn’t make any viewer cringe. The effects are there, Donald Pleasence’s Blofeld is as demonic as they come, but the pace is plodding and Bond’s legendary wit is only half here.

This article appears in February 11 • 2000.

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