For Your Eyes Only

Plot hole: Bond makes a huge tactical error after diving to the St. Georges. He knows the Russians and their operatives are after the ATAC. The ATAC itself is expendable to Britain, since it has a self-destruct mechanism that, under proper procedure, would have been set off when the ship sank. So why is Bond trying to retrieve it? Because he disarms the self-destruct, he actually allows Kristatos to get his hands on it, forcing Bond to track it down again and, to stop the Russians from getting it, HE DESTROYS IT! So why doesn't Bond, instead of disarming the self-destruct, set a timed charge or toss a grenade in the room to destroy the ATAC while it's at the bottom of the sea? The answer is, of course, that if Bond destroys the ATAC before the bad guys can get at it, the movie's over. Even so, at the end, when Bond finally does destroy the ATAC, he tells Gogol it's "detente. You don't have it. I don't have it." Clever line, but it reinforces the fact that the British don't need it. They can build another one.

Vader47000

Revealing mistake: When Bond throws the dead pilot out of the helicopter, you can tell it's a dummy as its arms and legs bend at impossible angles.

Revealing mistake: Just after Loque runs over the countess in his dune buggy, Bond runs over to her, kneels beside her, and takes her pulse. She blinks.

Continuity mistake: Because Ms. Moneypenny knows that Bond is having a meeting with M, she opens a drawer to use the mirror. She just wants to start putting on makeup, and Bond is entering her office. In the next shot, her lips are fully red.

Vince van Riet

Factual error: In the pre-credit sequence with Bond and Blofeld, the helicopter makes a steep dive. However, the sound it makes is for a fixed-wing airplane, similar to dive bombers in WW2. Helicopters make no such sound.

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Locque is kicked off the cliff by Bond in his car, it is a Mercedes-Benz S-Class, model W116. But in the shot before, when Locque drives away from Kristatos' warehouse, it is the predecessor of that model.

Continuity mistake: The ski jump in Cortina d'Ampezzo is in the bottom of the valley, which can also be seen in the overhead shot from the top of the ski jump. But nevertheless, Bond has a long ski ride down from the bottom of the jump. And in several shots during the chase, it is clear that he is much higher in the mountains than below the city.

Jacob La Cour

Deliberate mistake: When Eric Kriegler shoots in the biathlon, the camera looks from behind the target, through the holes of the targets he has already hit. But in the next clip it can be seen that little flaps fall down and cover the holes when they are hit.

Jacob La Cour

Revealing mistake: When Bond jumps off a wall with an umbrella at Gonzales' place, you can see that it is not Roger Moore but his stunt double.

Revealing mistake: When Bond and Melina are pursued by Gonzales' henchmen in Madrid, we see a close-up of one of the cars and the man in the back seat begins shooting at them. If you look carefully, you can see there is no-one in the front seat.

Factual error: It is impossible to fly a helicopter with both hands on the stick.

Continuity mistake: During the car chase in Spain, when one of the two black cars bumps into Melina's 2CV, we see a close-up of the driver and there are no vehicles visible on the road behind him. In the next shot, when the 2CV is pushed off the road, the second black car is almost directly behind him.

Revealing mistake: When Bond and Melina are being chased in Melina's car, they are rolling upside down in a street of a small village. With help of some other people they tilt back the car on his wheels. At that moment you can see specially added roll bars mounted in the car to prevent the roof from crushing.

Vince van Riet

Continuity mistake: When Bond and Melina are being chased in Melina's car, after they roll down the hill and hit the road, the tires actually bend under the car. Then when they drive again, they are straight.

Visible crew/equipment: In the first seconds of the car chase, when Melina's car drives off, a reflection of crew and equipment can be seen in the car's windows.

Jacob La Cour

Visible crew/equipment: At the end when Max the parrot drops Bond's watch into the water you can see a piece of wire lowering it in.

Continuity mistake: In the last scene with the watch and the parrot on the perch, the watch strap is fully open, however, when the parrot throws the watch in the water, the strap is closed.

Plot hole: As we first see the St Georges, a marine officer in uniform is seen smoking on deck. On the other hand, we have camouflaged doors, fishing going on, everything consistent with a completely secretive operation. It is not very consistent, nor does it make much sense to put that much effort into hiding the true nature of the ship and then go gallivanting across deck in a navy uniform.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: He is not in uniform.

Revealing mistake: At the end, where Bond receives the "Come in 007" message on his watch, one can see that the watch has been filmed separately to the wrist: the wrist moves slightly , but the watch itself remains perfectly still. (02:03:55)

James Bond: Forgive me father, for I have sinned.
Q: That's putting it mildly, 007.

More quotes from For Your Eyes Only

Trivia: Michael G. Wilson, producer of many of the Bond films and stepson of Cubby Broccoli, appears in a number of films in a cameo role. In "For Your Eyes Only", he plays a Greek priest in the scene when Bond meets with "Q" in a church.

More trivia for For Your Eyes Only

Question: What exactly happens in the opening? I'm assuming Blofeld is the one Bond kills, but what was the point of it? Was it just to answer the question about what happened to him? And why was his face not shown?

Answer: The producers of the film had a falling out with Kevin McClory, who had the rights to the character of Blofeld. They decided to kill off Blofeld to show McClory that the films could manage fine without the character. Obviously, without McClory's permission they couldn't go so far as to say that the guy in the wheelchair is actually Blofeld, otherwise they'd get into legal bother, so they just left it to fans to assume that's who it is.

Madstunts

More questions & answers from For Your Eyes Only

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