FAQ for
You Only Live Twice (1967) More at IMDbPro »

The following FAQ entries may contain spoilers. Only the biggest ones (if any) will be covered with spoiler tags. Spoiler tags have been used sparingly in order to make the page more readable.

For detailed information about the amounts and types of (a) sex and nudity, (b) violence and gore, (c) profanity, (d) alcohol, drugs, and smoking, and (e) frightening and intense scenes in this movie, consult the IMDb Parents Guide for this movie. The Parents Guide for You Only Live Twice can be found here.

All of the James Bond movies are based, in some part, upon novels by British author Ian Fleming [1908-1964]. You Only Live Twice is based on Fleming's 1964 novel of the same name. It was adapted for the screen by British novelist Roald Dahl.

You Only Live Twice is the fifth movie in the Bond franchise and the fifth to star Sean Connery as James Bond 007. It was preceded by Dr. No (1962), From Russia with Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964), and Thunderball (1965).

You Only Live Twice is sung by American singer Nancy Sinatra.

Unlike most Bond movies, James does not do a lot of moving around in You Only Live Twice. In the precredit opener, he is "murdered" while in Hong Kong, and his body is buried at sea. It's all a ruse, however, so that he can go undercover in order to learn who is hijacking both American and Soviet space capsules. Since they have radar evidence that the hijacking rocket landed in the Sea of Japan, Bond is sent to Tokyo to make contact with the local MI6 operative, Dikko Henderson (Charles Gray), and Japanese secret service leader "Tiger" Tanaka (Tetsurô Tanba). Tanaka sends Bond to the docks in Kobe to look over the Ning-po, where he learns that Osato Chemicals is about to ship a large supply of LOX (liquid oxygen) to Shanghai, China. After learning that SPECTRE is behind the hijackings and may be operating from the small island of Matsu, located somewhere between Kobe and Shanghai, Bond has his appearance altered to make him look Japanese, and he is sent to Matsu where he is "married" to Kissy Suzuki (Mie Hama), a local girl who is also a Japanese secret service operative. It becomes their job to more closely investigate the island.

SPECTRE stands for "The SPecial Executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion." SPECTRE is an international terrorist organization run by Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Donald Pleasence). Its members are recruited from the Gestapo, Smersh, the Mafia, and the Union Corse among others.

As usual, Blofeld's ultimate goal is to take over world power. He intends to do it this time by first hijacking an American space capsule, for which the Americans blame the Soviets. He then hijacks a Soviet space capsule, for which the Soviets blame the Americans. Finally, he intends to hijack another American space capsule. Only this time, he will blow up the capsule, along with his own rocket, leading the Americans to believe that the Soviets have retaliated. After the Americans and the Soviet annihilate each other in the war that will surely follow, SPECTRE will step forward as the new world power.

When Bond finally gets to meet Blofeld face-to-face, Blofeld says that he thought Bond had been assassinated in Hong Kong. Bond replies, "Yes. This is my second life," to which Blofeld replies, "You only live twice, Mr Bond."

Aki (Akiko Wakabayashi) was driving a white Toyota 2000GT convertible. A photo of the car can be viewed here.

This is a goof. James Bond prefers his vodka martinis shaken, not stirred. During the audio commentary, director Lewis Gilbert admits that it was a error by actor Charles Gray (Henderson). Since he didn't notice the slip up until later, they just went with the original shot, making it appear to knowledgeable Bond fans that Bond was just being hospitable when he accepted the vodka martini (stirred, not shaken) from Mr Henderson.

Adding -san to the end of a person's name is a sign of respect in Japanese. It is much like using "Mister" in English. If your name is Richard Harris, for example, you might be referred to as "Harris-san."

Not what, but who. Little Nellie's father is Q (Desmond Llewelyn), because he is the one who "created" her.

After Bond learns that the volcano has a false bottom, concealing SPECTRE's underground operation, he sends Kissy to fetch Tanaka, while he climbs down into the rocket base. There, he learns that SPECTRE intends to hijack an American spacecraft in two hours. He finds and releases the astronauts captured in the two previous hijackings. They knock out a few guards, don their uniforms, then help Bond steal a spacesuit. When the SPECTRE astronauts are summoned, Bond goes with them, but Blofeld notices him taking his air conditioning unit inside the capsule and has him stopped. As Bond watches, SPECTRE's rocket is launched. Shortly thereafter, Tanaka, Kissy, and dozens of ninjas descend into the crater. Blofeld's in-crater guns open fire on the ninjas. Using an exploding cigarettes, Bond shoots one of Blofeld's men, creating a diversion just long enough to open the crater, allowing the ninjas to invade by sliding down ropes. Blofeld attempts to close the crater, but a ninja places a bomb on the crater door and blows a permanent hole in it. More ninjas come streaming in. Blofeld seals off his control room, assuring Bond that nothing can stop the interception of the space capsule. When he finally realizes that he has been bested again, Blofeld first shoots Mr Osato (Teru Shimada) for failing him, then escapes on his personal monorail. With just six minutes left until interception, Bond fights his way back to the control room in order to push the abort button. Hans (Ronald Rich), Blofeld's bodyguard, tries to stop him, but Bond manages to feed Hans to the pirhanas and blow up the SPECTRE rocket with just five seconds to spare. In his escape, Blofeld also sets off charges, and the entire rocket base starts to explode, sending everyone running and swimming to get out. Air force planes drop life rafts, and Kissy and Bond climb into one. Thinking that they're all alone, they start kissing. In the final scene, their life raft is suddenly lifted out of the water when M (Bernard Lee)'s submarine surfaces under them.

The novel has an almost different story. Bond is so distraught over Tracy's death (in On Her Majesty's Secret Service) that he has botched several missions. In response, M transfers him to the diplomatic department and assigns him a new number, "7777." Bond is sent to Japan to ask the head of the Secret Service there, "Tiger" Tanaka, for some secret Russian documents. In compliance with handing them over, Tanaka asks Bond to kill a Swiss botanist named Dr. Guntram Shatterhand. Shatterhand has ownership of a castle on an island in Kyushu filled with various poisonous flora and animals, piranha pools, and fumorles. Various depressed Japanese people are traveling to the island to commit suicide. Aki, Mr.Osato, Hans, Helga Brandt, and Ling are not in the novel. Henderson is a brash, hard-drinking Australian. He does not die. Shatterhand turns out to be Blofeld. He and Irma Bunt have been living on the island for a few months. Bond meets "Kissy" Suzuki on a nearby island. The two do not marry. Bond, disguised as a deaf Japanese man, infiltrates the island. Once inside the castle, Bond gets close to Blofeld's room but trips an alarm. Blofeld suspects Bond and sits him on a chair over a fumarole. With its eruption imminent, Bond drops the act and Blofeld attacks him with a samurai sword. Bond knocks Irma out and strangles Blofeld to death. He then closes the geyser and escapes with a balloon. The castle explodes under him and a piece of debris hits him in the head where he had previously sustained an injury. Bond then falls into the ocean but Kissy rescues him. Bond now has amnesia and Kissy doesn't remind him of anything so she can keep him to herself. The outside world declares Bond dead and Bond and Kissy become lovers. Bond eventually finds a slip of paper with a clue to his real life on it reading "Vladivostok". As per her father's wishes, Kissy does not deter him. As Bond makes plans to travel to Russia, Kissy wonders when she should tell him that she is pregnant with his child.