The relative box office success of
Diamonds Are Forever gave producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman a much needed respite after a very tense period: they had managed to survive the lack of Sean Connery once again, and this time, with an actor actually willing to sign up to several films. The prospect of another Lazenby situation and relieving the fierce and unsuccessful struggle to get him to commit to a sequel had been a source of serious concern, and one that had almost resulted in the return of the man everyone still saw as
the James Bond.
Because of this, American actor John Gavin had come perilously close to losing the role, even after being publically announced as the next James Bond in January 1971. Despite having the full support of Broccoli – and not suffering from Saltzman’s general indifference towards his hiring -, United Artists had come very close to vetoing Gavin in order to get Sean Connery back at all costs, only to find their hopes dashed once negotiations broke down and Connery outright refused to have any further contact whatsoever with the producers. The selection of Gavin, while not badly received by the press, had prompted intense speculation about the upcoming film: could an American really succeed in playing the quintessentially British spy? Many doubted it. Still, benefiting from a good budget, Guy Hamilton’s experienced direction, and a witty script by newcomer Tom Mankiewicz,
Diamonds Are Forever had proved to be reasonably successful in commercial terms, audiences hadn’t seemed to resent Gavin – although much was made of his somewhat dour demeanor -, and critics had been complimentary towards the lighter tone when compared to
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
With the American actor signed up for a three-picture deal, Saltzman and Broccoli started to work on Gavin’s second film right away in late 1971, with a planned release date of Summer 1973. Having previously taken turns leading the successive Bond projects, it was Harry Saltzman’s turn to try and give Gavin what the producers hoped would be his
From Russia with Love or his
Goldfinger, a film that would successfully establish Gavin in the mind of audiences as a worthy heir to Connery and, perhaps more decisively, turn a greater profit than
DAF. Although
Live and Let Die had been announced in the previous film’s credits as the next project, a decision by director Guy Hamilton to take a pause from the franchise had also led to Mankiewicz not returning, thus removing the two chief proponents of adapting the by now severely outdated novel. It is generally believed that Mankiewicz’s original pitch for
LALD, which was geared towards taking advantage of the “Blaxploitation” genre, was perceived to be too risky and potentially even inflammatory.
Although three other Fleming’s novels remained unfilmed, Saltzman intervened with his own pitch outlining a different road: the Bond continuation novels. In truth, the producer’s financial situation had been growing increasingly desperate, to the point in which it seemed difficult he could hold onto his half of the Bond film rights for very long. Conscious this might be his final shot at the lead of a Bond project, Saltzman decided to make good on a previous promise to have his friend, South African writer Geoffrey Jenkins, to write a Bond film. Jenkins had been previously recommended by Saltzman to Gildrose Publications to serve as the first of the literary Bond continuation authors, and had already published
Per Fine Ounce (1967) for Gildrose to good sales in spite of relatively uninspiring reviews. Bringing Jenkins in as the – initial - screenwriter and wanting something different to follow the American-centric
Diamonds are Forever, Per Fine Ounce replaced
LALD as the next Bond project, with Hamilton’s departure allowing Peter Hunt to return the director’s chair.
Wanting more exotic settings for the film, Broccoli and Saltzman went location scouting during the early half of 1972, ruling out a number of Far East locations to favor attractive settings in Iran and Lebanon. However, the fact that the bulk of the original novel was set in South Africa posed something of a challenge, as, while filming there would provide logistical advantages, it might come at the risk of some controversy due to rising backlash against Apartheid in isolated parts of the film industry. For their part, the Afrikaner government seemed enthusiastic about the prospect of allowing EON to film in the country, and even made very tempting offers of financial and logistical support. In the end, Saltzman chose to allow some parts of
Per Fine Ounce to be filmed in South Africa, a decision which would immediately invite criticism in more intellectual corners. In the process of adaptation, the original novel was increasingly altered as a number of elements were dropped or underwent revisions in the subsequent scrips, resulting in Jenkins’s eventual departure in frustration, and his replacement with Bond veteran Richard Maibaum.
Wanting an actor that could provide a more effective foil to Gavin as a menacing antagonist, the producers settled on Christopher Plummer to play the main villain, who was nonetheless rewritten from Jenkins’ original vision of the character into a more apolitical foe for Gavin to battle. Contrary to what a popular – and damaging – rumor would later allege about the production, no evidence has emerged that the Afrikaaner government actually requested that the villain be turned into an African warlord, nor that any such notion would have been entertained in any way by the producers. Although Bernard Lee and Lois Maxwell returned once again, a decision was made to drop Desmond Llewellyn (Q) for this particular movie – which, as it turned out, would turn
DAF into Llewellyn’s last appearance -, partly due to the desire to reduce Bond’s reliance in gadgetry. Complementing the cast were young actress Pamela Franklin as the main Bond girl, as well as Clive Revill and John Saxon in supporting roles.
Filming took place in late 1972, an unexpectedly grueling experience which rapidly exacerbated the mounting personal tension between Broccoli and Saltzman. On the creative front, differences regarding the tone of the film sparked a contentious internal debate, with director Hunt wanting a more serious spy thriller in the vein of
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, and the producers arguing in favor of more camp, which was felt to be the preferred choice of audiences given the ongoing jokes about Gavin’s “stiffness” as Bond. Filming in Iran proved problematic as well due to issues with the Shah’s security apparatus, which even led to the brief arrest of crew members and a tense incident in Teheran due to a misunderstanding with the SAVAK. But what proved most troublesome was the decision to film in South Africa, which drew criticism not only in parts of the film industry, but from some of the actors and crew as well. Despite assurances that the plot and setting were in no way related to or supportive of the South African government, Saltzman and Broccoli soon came to regret adapting
Per Fine Ounce at such an early stage
, particularly after rumors coming from the film industry started to paint an exaggerated image of the film.
Per Fine Ounce's pretitle sequence takes place at the French Riviera. After successfully completing a mission against a crime syndicate, James Bond (John Gavin) is targeted by a motorcycle assassin (George Eastman)
, narrowly surviving a dangerous chase and pushing the assassin off a cliff. Meanwhile, in the skies of Sierra Leone, a convoy of transport planes carrying several tons of gold (the “Gold Flight”) from South Africa to England is attacked and hijacked – through the use of poisonous gas - by sinister and ruthless assassins Koen (Horst Janson) and Rive (Sven-Bertil Taube). Back in England, Bond is summoned to meet with M (Bernard Lee) and Sir Benjamin Palmer (Clive Revill), a high ranking Treasury official. It is revealed to Bond that Britain’s economy would be crippled if the gold was not recovered, and that although evidence points to the Soviet Union (which could cause an enormous international incident) there are some suspicions of an inside job. Tasked with finding the missing gold, Bond is paired with old friend and CIA Agent Felix Leiter (John Saxon) and travels to South Africa, where he successfully uncovers a mole that had fed intelligence to the mysterious hijackers. Meeting the inside man in an isolated place in an attempt to cut a deal, they are ambushed by Koen and Rive, who assassinate the mole before he can talk to Bond.
Fleeing from the assassins, Bond hides inside a hollow baobab tree, eventually gaining the upper hand and killing Koen. Subsequent efforts allow Bond to track Rive into Lebanon, and foil a kidnapping attempt by the surviving assassin against wealthy heiress Nadine Raikes (Pamela Franklin). Nadine, as it turns out, has inherited several gold mines in Africa, in the – fictitious - Republic of Imbaya. This has gained her the enmity of the equally wealthy arms dealer and industrialist Manfred von Praeger (Christopher Plummer), who she suspects of being behind the hit, and whom Bond identifies as the power behind the throne in Imbaya. Suspecting a connection, Bond gains Nadine trust and enlists her help in finding von Praeger, who is currently visiting Iran. Bond meets von Praeger in a hotel in the desert, goading him into a game of baccarat and arousing his suspicions by intensely provoking him. As a tense game of cat and mouse takes place between the two men, von Prager successfully misleads Bond in storming what turns out to be an empty warehouse by von Praeger. Although Bond survives an ambush by Rive, he is unable to stop Nadine from being kidnapped.
Back in London, a furious M chastises Bond for wasting so much time on provoking von Praeger without sufficient evidence. Informed that evidence linking Soviet operatives to the poisonous gas employed in the hijacking has been uncovered, Bond is ordered to pursue that line of investigation. However, still convinced that the poison gas is a diversion and that von Praeger is behind the plot, Bond makes the dramatic decision to disobey orders and – assisted by Leiter - travel to Imbaya, with very little time to spare before the loss of the gold becomes public. Bond successfully tracks von Praeger to a mysterious lake, which – after a number of mysterious deaths – the locals have grown to consider cursed. Sailing and then diving into the lake and destroying its so-called “guardian snake” (a pocket submarine), Bond discovers a large set of underwater caverns, which hold von Praeger’s vast headquarters. Captured and brought to the enemy’s presence, he is reunited with Nadine, who has held hostage to force her to surrender her land rights to the arms dealer.
For his part, von Praeger reveals he is indeed behind the hijacking, planning to set the British and the Soviets against each other – thus mutually weakening their influence – while he uses the treasure to expand his hold over Imbaya, seize control over its neighbors, and become the dominant warlord. Leaving Bond and Nadine under guard, both manage to escape after creating a diversion, with Bond using the base’s systems to alert Leiter. After Nadine mistakenly activates the self-destruct mechanism for the base, Rive tracks them and attacks the couple alongside Dika, von Praeger’s pet hyena. A violent fight ensues, with Bond eventually managing to electrocute the assassin. Confronted by von Praeger, Bond successfully injures him and escapes with Nadine before the base self-destructs, the explosion killing the arms dealer. Later, as Leiter, Palmer and arriving reinforcements from MI6 start retrieving the gold and are interrogated by M as to the whereabouts of the secret agent, Bond and Nadine spend a romantic evening aboard 007’s boat.
After months of attempting to drown the negative press by marketing the film as an engaging spy thriller and by bringing Elton John on board to sing the main theme,
Per Fine Ounce opened up in June 1973 to a seemingly lackluster opening weekend, which only slowly started to climb into a more acceptable, if still highly disappointing outcome. Although the film would still make more money than
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service – and would certainly qualify as successful if it were not a Bond film -, it would not outpace its predecessor, offering a clear sign of trouble for the franchise.
While many speculated on what failed to motivate audiences – with criticism directed at the convoluted plot, Gavin’s alleged lack of charisma, and the uneven tone of the film -, critics were generally dismissive of the whole affair, arguing the series was clearly struggling to find a sense of relevance. However, some aspects were praised, including Plummer and Franklin’s respective performances, Hunt’s action sequences, and Elton John’s “Per Fine Ounce”, which would go on to become a major hit. In any case, the negative experience and the disappointing results of the film had a clear effect in the Saltzman-Broccoli relationship, and pushed both producers into attempting a major course correction for
The Spy Who Loved Me (1974), the rushed, unsuccessful and final collaborative effort between both men. Not coincidentally, TSWLM was also to be the final of Gavin’s three appearances as James Bond and, as it turned out, the starting point of an unexpectedly large hiatus in the series.
Retrospectively, the film has continued to receive a negative reaction, judged to be an uninspired, messy entry in a particularly difficult moment for the series. Although some elements have been re-evaluated in a more positive light, including Gavin’s serious performance and the attempt at a more realistic plot after
DAF, others have been increasingly evaluated in a more negative and even political sense even early on. Less than a decade after its release,
Per Fine Ounce would be banned in Iran during the Revolution for its depiction of Teheran under the Shah, and it would also become something of a symbol for those championing cultural and financial boycotts of the Apartheid regime. Although defenders of the film continue to argue that, in spite of its filming locations, the film lacks the offensive elements regularly attributed to it, others contend the film both makes a mockery of that period's African context via its unstable use of humor, and that the decision to film in South Africa makes the project irredeemable from the start. Highlights of
PFO include the tense baobab tree sequence, von Praeger’s initial confrontation with Bond in Iran, Nadine’s rapport with Bond, and Bond’s own conflicted decision to disobey orders from MI6.
Author's Notes: Apparently, the fact that Gildrose refused to publish PFO in the first place led Saltzman and Broccoli to refuse to ever adapt the non-Fleming novels (with Colonel Sun explicitly targeted over this, and the Gardner books presumably suffering from it as well). Here, its publication conspires with Saltzman wanting to fulfill a pledge to Geoffrey Jenkins, resulting in an early and unsuccessful adaptation. Rather than rely on the Vollner novel - as it is hard to know what was meant to be in the original -, I've created a pastiche based on what we know of the original
PFO, Bondian elements of the era, and certain names from a subsequent Jenkins novel (
A Cleft of Stars) which may have also been based on the unpublished
PFO. I got the idea for this reading
wwbgdiaslt's "
(This Never Happened To) The Other Fella", in which an early 70's
PFO is made as a clearly anti-Apartheid film. That, and the controversial association between the British film industry and South Africa (see: T
he Wild Geese) got me thinking. Clearly EON is never going to make a pro-Apartheid film, but what if - in such a scenario - they'd been less sensitive? Lastly, and as its well known, Gavin only narrowly lost the role at the last moment.