"Welcome to Japan, Mr. Bond."
There is something wonderfully daft about the fifth James Bond film, You Only Live Twice, from the general plot to the hidden Volcano villain lair that I just can't help but kind of love. It's all just so perfectly and charmingly over the top.
This time out, James Bond (played once again by Sean Connery), is apparently killed in an assassination attempt. It's quickly revealed that it was all an elaborate ruse to throw Bond's enemy's off his trail as he was becoming entirely too well known for a secret agent. They even go so far as to give him a mock burial at sea, where he is intercepted by a submarine that turns out to be a mobile base for M (played by Bernard Lee) and Miss Moneypenny (played by Lois Maxwell). I can't help but laugh at this part because their offices are perfectly replicated on board, in submarine proportions. Anyway, Bond is given his next assignment which is to look into a possible connection to a hijacking of a US space shuttle (while it's in orbit, no less) that traces to Japan. Once he arrives in Tokyo, he meets up with Tiger Tanaka (played by Tetsuro Tanba), an agent for the Japanese Secret Service and the two start to investigate.
Meanwhile, the US government is convinced the Russian government hijacked their shuttle and announce their intentions to launch another one. They state they will retaliate if their next shuttle is hijacked as well while also inferring an alarmingly blase attitude towards the astronauts that were on the first shuttle. Bond and Tanaka, along with his assistant Aki (played by Akiko Wakabayashi) and fellow Japanese Secret Service agent Kissy (played by Mie Hama) discover the hijackings are the work of SPECTRE, and their leader Ernst Stavro Blofeld (played by Donald Pleasence). Blofeld is working on behalf of leaders of an unnamed Government (although it's hinted to be China) to instigate a war between America and Russia with the expectation that the unnamed third Government would rise as the global power from the ruins of America and Russia. Bond and Tanaka team up to stop SPECTRE from carrying out their plans, with the help of Tanaka's very convenient Ninja Training Academy.
Now, like I said, this movie is ridiculous. But at least it is very entertainingly ridiculous. It really is a very fun film filled with great action sequences, with the helicopter chase between Bond in a Gyrocopter nicknamed "Little Nellie" against four SPECTRE helicopters being a standout as is the climactic showdown at SPECTRE's secret volcano lair. Despite this being a difficult shoot for Connery due to his disputes with series producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, none of it shows in his performance. This is also the first time we get to see the face of SPECTRE leader Blofeld and Donald Pleasence handles the role quite well in his singular outing in the role. In fact, this is the iconic depiction of Blofeld that has been seeing countless times in popular culture, most recently in the form of Dr. Evil in the Austin Powers films. Likewise, the move to the culturally rich Japan helps freshen up the proceedings as well. Lewis Gilbert makes his first appearance as director in this series
There is one very odd plot point that never really has any sort of pay off though. Bond is told by Tanaka that he needs to pose as a humble Japanese man and even go through a mock wedding to Kissy to sell the lie. The problem is Sean Connery is a 6' 2" Scotsman who could never in a million years pass as a Japanese man. It's such a bizarre idea that was carried over from Ian Fleming's original novel but what might work in print just doesn't work on film at all. The fact that it never reaches the Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's level of racism is a minor miracle.
Still, I have to rank You Only Live Twice as one of my favorites of Connery's era. It's such goofy fun, with a good pace and some fantastic action sequences. It's a big step up from Thunderball and manages to be a consistently entertaining film from beginning to end.
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