Trivia for
For Your Eyes Only (1981) More at IMDbPro »

• This was the first Bond film to be based on one of Ian Fleming's short stories (instead of one of his novels). Interestingly, there are several scenes in this film lifted from other Fleming tales. Examples: The assault on the smugglers' boat and warehouse is lifted intact from a short story entitled "Risico", and the sequence featuring Bond and Melina being dragged through the coral is actually lifted from the climax from the book, "Live and Let Die". The Identigraph appeared in slightly different form in the book, "Goldfinger".
  
  
• The title song is the first in the Bond series in which we see the person who is singing, in this case Sheena Easton. The song was a Top 10 hit in both the UK charts (#8) and US charts (#4, 25 July 1981). It received an Academy Award nomination for Best Song, and was featured in a song and dance number at the Oscars on 29 March 1982. It featured dancers dressed as villains and henchman such as Dr. No and Ernst Stavro Blofeld as well as the real Harold Sakata and real Richard Kiel reprising their roles as Oddjob and Jaws respectively. A dancer played James Bond and at the end of the sequence he took off in a rocket with Sheena Easton who had been singing the title song live. This was just one of a medley of five song and dance numbers for each Best Song nominee on the night and it also acted as a preamble to the presentation by Roger Moore of the Irving Thalberg Honorary Award to 'Albert R Broccoli' in honour of the James Bond movie series. Starting with this film and the rise of the MTV Generation, all Bond films have had music video tie-ins.
  
  
• The voice of the Man in Wheelchair (unofficially Ernst Stavro Blofeld) in one of the movie's trailers is different to the voice of the character in the actual movie.
  
  
• Carole Bouquet had previously visited the set of Moonraker (1979) as the actress is French and interiors and some exteriors of that movie were filmed in Paris, France. She was remembered when it came to casting this movie. Two actors in the movie had previously appeared in the James Bond spoof Casino Royale (1967). John Hollis (Bald Man in wheelchair aka unofficially Ernst Stavro Blofeld) played a monk whilst John Wells (Dennis Thatcher) was Q's assistant Fordise.
  
  
• The name of the underwater apparatus that confronts James Bond with a man inside whilst they were in the Neptune submarine is called a JIM Suit, named after its creator Jim Jarratt.
  
  
• "For Your Eyes Only" was the first collection of Ian Fleming James Bond short stories and was first published on 11 April 1960. The collection was subtitled "Five Secret Occasions in the life of James Bond" and was the eighth James Bond book. It included the short stories "The Hildebrand Rarity", "Quantum of Solace", "From A View To A Kill", "Risico" and "For Your Eyes Only". These stories were originally conceived in the 1950s as scripts for a never-produced James Bond TV series. The last two of these provided material for the film along with some story elements from the novels "Goldfinger" and "Live And Let Die". Fleming's working title for the "For Your Eyes Only" story was "Man's Work" whilst its title when it was written as a TV episode for CBS was "Rough Justice" then as "Death Leaves an Echo".
  
  
• When shooting the still for the movie's main poster, photographer Morgan Kane allegedly asked his model to put the bathers on backwards as they hung too low over her legs. After the poster had been released, some newspaper editors felt that there was too much buttock shown in the poster. To show less skin, the bathers were extended or shorts were added to the hips in the posters. The original poster caused outrage amongst various groups, causing Saskatchewan, Canada, to rate the film "Special X" (NC-17), despite being rated PG or equivalent virtually everywhere else. That rating was later lowered. Apparently the model's identity was not known for some time. More than one model alleged they were the owners of the legs but it was finally revealed they belonged to then 22 year old New York model Joyce Bartle.
  
  
• It was during this production that Cassandra Harris introduced then husband Pierce Brosnan to producer Albert R. Broccoli.
  
  
• The literal translations of some of this film's foreign language titles include Only For Your Eyes (France, Italy, Spain); On A Deadly Mission (Germany); Agent 007: Strict Confidence (Denmark); From A Lethal Viewpoint (Sweden); Top Secret (Finland); 007 For Your Eyes Only (Brazil); Only [strictly] For Your Eyes (Norway) and 007 Only For Your Eyes (Portugal)
  
  
• Cameo: [Michael G. Wilson] a Greek priest at a village wedding in Corfu.
  
  
• The character of the father of Melina Havelock (Carole Bouquet), Sir Timothy Havelock played by Jack Hedley, was inspired by oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau. He was once personally acquainted with James Bond creator Ian Fleming.
  
  
• Last EON Productions James Bond movie soley released by United Artists. They would merge with MGM before the release of the next Bond film, Octopussy (1983).
  
  
• The company Autosafe provided the car alarms stickers for James Bond's Lotus Esprit which read "BURGLAR PROTECTED".
  
  
• Bernard Lee, who played M for the last eleven 007 films, died while preparing for the role. As a mark of respect, Albert R. Broccoli refused to recast the role, changing the script to say that M was on leave. As of 2009, this is the only cinematic James Bond film not to feature the M character. A number of scenes originally intended to include M were re-written with Q, eg the confessional scene. The telemovie "Climax!: Casino Royale (#1.3)" (1954) did not feature the M character.
  
  
• Wide public interest in the 1980 Lake Placid USA Winter Olympics was the inspiration for the production to use a Winter Olympics location and to include story action within its associated sports. The film used the Italian Alps location of Cortina D'Ampezzo which had hosted the 1956 Winter Olympics. As such, there are sequences set at Cortina D'Ampezzo's Winter Olympic venues. Winter sports featured in the film include the biathlon, ski jump, ice hockey, downhill skiing, ice skating, cross-country skiing and bobsled toboggan run. Cast member Lynn-Holly Johnson (now Givens) was a professional ice skater, noticed by Albert R. Broccoli for her turn at acting in Ice Castles (1978). Her character in the film was an aspiring Winter Olympic medalist funded by Aristotle Kristatos.
  
  
• Director John Glen had previously edited and was second-unit director on a number of previous Bond films.
  
  
• This was the first James Bond script to be written by regular James Bond writing duo team Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson. This writing partnership would continue until Licence to Kill (1989). It was also the first James Bond movie directed by John Glen whose first Bond movie he worked on was On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) as second unit director.
  
  
• Director John Glen estimated that every foot of film shot during the attempted drowning of Melina and Bond by Kristatos cost about £ 2,700 UK pounds.
  
  
• Melina Havelock's inspiration was the heroine Electra from Greek Mythology. Elektra was also the name of one of the leading Bond Girls in the later James Bond movie The World Is Not Enough (1999).
  
  
• Henchmen and henchwomen in the film included Eric Kriegler, Emile Leopold Locque, Apostis, Hector Gonzales, Claus and The Mantis Man.
  
  
• The third act ascent upon the mountain hide-out monastery lair in Greece and known as Meteora Rock in real life was inspired by the assault on the cliff-side rock bunker on the Greek island of Navarone in the movie The Guns of Navarone (1961). That movie and North by Northwest (1959) were the inspiration for writers for this Bond picture.
  
  
• The Miramonti Hotel, where James Bond stays in Cortina D'Ampezzo, also appeared in The Pink Panther (1963).
  
  
• The name of the Jamaican Bond girl Judy Havelock in the "For Your Eyes Only" short story was changed to Greek Bond girl Melina Havelock in the film. The Cuban Major Hector Gonzales also comes from this short story. The Lisl Baum character from the "Risico" short story also had a name change to Contessa (Countess) Lisl Von Schlaf for the movie. The Aristotle Kristatos and Columbo ("The Dove") character names also come from "Risico," but Henrico Colombo was an Italian in the book - the movie changed him to Milos Columbo, a Greek.
  
  
• A major problem occurred during production which threatened to stop the filmmakers filming. The monks who lived in the monastery on top of the Meteora Mountain placed sheets and plastic on top of the roofs and external infrastructure so as to halt filming. They allegedly did not like the violence associated with James Bond. Reportedly, Roger Moore told them that he had once been a Saint! [See: "The Saint" (1962)]. A special hearing of the Greek Supreme Court was convened where a panel of judges decreed that the monks only had rights over the interiors of the mountain-top monastery but the exteriors were the domain of the people and the local government. The film crew were eventually able to film at the location which included a gigantic fall by stuntman Rick Sylvester. They did not actually film inside the monastery (known as St. Cyril's in the film) but built a set on top of a neighboring rock for some of the hideout's exteriors. The interiors were filmed back at Pinewood Studios on a set designed by Peter Lamont.
  
  
• Product placements, brand integrations and promotional tie-ins for this movie include Olin Skis; Bogner Ski Suits; Seiko Time (U.K.) including the Seiko H357 Duo Display & Seiko 7549-7009 watches; Diner's Club; Philips Industries; Garmont Boots; Mitsui Yamaha UK Motorbikes; Tyrolia Ski Bindings; Visa Card; Lotus Cars, S.A.; Automobile Citroën; American Express; Kelloggs; Interflora Florists; Scubapro Diving Equipment; Jewel Water Buggies; Osel Mantis one-man submersibles; Perry Oceanographic submarines; and Normalair-Garrett (NGL) Deep Dive 55 sea diving helmets, wet-suits and breathing equipment including the Deep-Dive 500 lift support system.
  
  
• It was an early intention of the production to put James Bond in a scene with Greece's classic architectural building, The Parthenon. Old world architecture had previously been a backdrop for Bond in From Russia with Love (1963) (Istanbul and The Basilica Cistern) and The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) (Cairo and The Pyramids). But in this case permission was refused to film at The Parthenon.
  
  
• Topol asked producer Albert R. Broccoli to invite former co-producer Harry Saltzman to the Premiere and he did.
  
  
• Topol was injured when he was hit by flying debris during the dockside action sequence.
  
  
• Cameo: [Robbin Young] The Winner of the "Be a James Bond Girl" Competition as Girl in Flowershop. Playboy Magazine, which had had a long association with James Bond, ran a competition in their magazine for a reader to become a Bond Girl in 1980. The prize was a cameo in this movie and a photo-spread in the magazine. Young appeared in the flower shop scene when motorbikes crash into the florist's front window. Playboy published some of the James Bond short stories by Ian Fleming including "The Hildebrand Rarity" in 1960 whilst the James Bond character was seen reading a copy of the magazine in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) and Bond has a Playboy Club membership card in Diamonds Are Forever (1971).
  
  
• Regular James Bond film production designer Ken Adam did not work on the movie because he had gone to work in Hollywood on Herbert Ross's musical, Pennies from Heaven (1981).
  
  
• Roger Moore has said that he took a small amount of Valium and drank a glass of beer before some of the scary climbing sequences.
  
  
• A line of dialogue had to be cut from the opening helicopter sequence due to legal reasons involving Kevin McClory. The bald man could not be called Blofeld as Kevin McClory had won a court case some years previous and owned the rights to the use of SPECTRE and Blofeld. The line read something like "I thought we should celebrate the tenth anniversary of our last meeting", which ten years previous was 1971 and Diamonds Are Forever (1971). This was the last time the character of Blofeld had appeared in an EON Productions Bond movie. Disposing of Blofeld so early was producer Albert R. Broccoli's way of telling McClory that the success of 007 did not depend on him. McClory later released a rival Bond movie, Never Say Never Again (1983), featuring the Blofeld character. Blofeld has not appeared in EON productions since this movie.
  
  
• Stuntman Paolo Rigoni died during the filming of the bobsled chase.
  
  
• To enter the identigraph booth, Q enters a five digit code. Those five digits were the first five notes to the chorus of "Nobody Does It Better", the theme to a previous Bond film, The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). James Bond responds by entering the final two notes. See also Moonraker (1979).
  
  
• One of the Bond girls was played by Caroline Cossey, stage name Tula, who was later revealed to be a male to female transsexual. She appears as one of the poolside girls, in a white bikini.
  
  
• Director Trademark: [John Glen] [pigeon] Bond almost loses his footing during his climb to the monastery when a pigeon from a nest unexpectedly flies in his face.
  
  
• The character of Countess Lisl was played by Cassandra Harris who, at the time of filming, was married to future Bond actor Pierce Brosnan. Brosnan would be offered the part just five years later but be unable to appear as Bond in The Living Daylights (1987) due to "Remington Steele" (1982) commitments.
  
  
• The assassination of Melina Havelock's parents was first intended as part of the pre-credits sequence. The reaction shot of the murder was intended to cut to a close-up on her face whereby the look of anger and revenge in her eyes would then segue into the main titles.
  
  
• In earlier drafts of the script, the chase sequence in the snow had James Bond pursued by bad guys in snowmobiles rather than on motorcycles.
  
  
• For a time it was believed that Roger Moore would not be returning to the role of James Bond. A round of screen tests for a new James Bond were held and James Brolin, Lambert Wilson and Timothy Dalton were considered. Maryam d'Abo, who would become the Bond Girl Kara Milovy in the later film The Living Daylights (1987), played Tatiana Romanova in the screen tests.
  
  
• Director John Glen has indicated that for a time it was considered bringing back the Jaws character for a third time but eventually the idea was rejected as it was believed that he did not fit the tone of this film.
  
  
• The close-ups of Carole Bouquet and Roger Moore for the underwater scenes were actually filmed in a studio with a windfan to produce the effect of floating hair. The scenes were then played in slow motion with the bubbles added in.
  
  
• Julian Glover, who played Aristotle Kristatos, was a candidate to play James Bond in the sixties and was on the short-list as a possible replacement for Sean Connery and George Lazenby prior to the role going to Roger Moore.
  
  
• In the opening sequence, James Bond visits his deceased wife's grave at Stoke Poges Church, adjacent to Gert Fröbe's golf course from Goldfinger (1964). The gravestone reads "TERESA BOND 1943 - 1969. Beloved wife of JAMES BOND. We have all the time in the world," a direct reference to On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969). The scene was written when 'Roger Moore (I)' was considering retirement from the series, to provide story continuity between different Bond actors. Peter R. Hunt, who directed On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), was approached to direct this movie, but was occupied with making Death Hunt (1981), a film with a similar setting.
  
  
• The stunt double for Cassandra Harris (Lisl) was injured when hit by the dune buggy in the beach scene.
  
  
• Topol was cast after Albert R. Broccoli's wife Dana Broccoli met him at a party.
  
  
• Emile Locque (Michael Gothard) does not have a single line in this film, although we do see him talk on a phone inside his car at one point.
  
  
• At one point, it wasn't certain that Roger Moore would return. Actors considered for the role of Bond included: Lewis Collins, David Warbeck, 'Michael Billington (II)', David Robb, Michael Jayston, Nicholas Clay and Ian Ogilvy. Oglivy, like Moore, spent several years playing The Saint on TV (Moore in "The Saint" (1962), Ogilvy in "Return of the Saint" (1978)), and would years later play a Bond-like character in a TV commercial.
  
  
• Roger Moore has said he considers this his best Bond film.
  
  
• First credited appearance of MI6 Chief of Staff Bill Tanner, played here by James Villiers. The character had previously appeared (played by an uncredited Michael Goodliffe) in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974). The character would be resurrected as a regular in the Brosnan Bond films, played by Michael Kitchen in GoldenEye (1995) and The World Is Not Enough (1999).
  
  
• Steven Spielberg was very much interested in directing a James Bond film and did have talks with Albert R. Broccoli to direct this film, but at the same time George Lucas offered Spielberg the script for Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).
  
  
• Deborah Harry (Blondie) recorded a theme song for this film, which was rejected by the producers. It appears on their 1982 album "The Hunter".
  
  
• The reason the underwater close-ups of Carole Bouquet had to be faked was that the actress had sinus trouble that made it impossible for her to dive or remain underwater.
  
  
• Was originally planned for production and release in 1979 as the follow-up to The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). It was even announced as such in the closing credits of the earlier film. However, it was decided to make Moonraker (1979) instead, which delayed production of For Your Eyes Only for several years. Following the release of Moonraker (1979), some newspapers erroneously announced that the next James Bond film would be called "The Sea Wolves". Roger Moore did make a film entitled The Sea Wolves (1980) between making Moonraker (1979) and this movie... but it was not a Bond movie.
  
  
• Begging Bond to spare his life, Ernst Blofeld baffles viewers with the cryptic line "I'll buy you a delicatessen, in stainless steel!" It is reported that the phrase is attributable to Albert R. Broccoli, who recalled accounts of 1930s New York mafia gangsters offering full-service delis as a bribe to cohorts, complete with stainless steel countertops.
  
  
• The following actors are dubbed: John Hollis, John Moreno, and John Wyman.
  
  
• The film saved United Artists from financial ruin. At the time of the film's release, the studio was still reeling from Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate (1980), a notorious $40,000,000 bomb that was about to force UA to file bankruptcy. When this film took in a worldwide gross of $194,900,000, the studio was saved and afterwards turned its focus toward blockbusters and less on personal films.
  
  
• Snow had to be trucked into the ski resort of Cortina.
  
  
• Charles Dance's first screen movie role was as the thug Claus in this film.
  
  
• Hockey jerseys in the rink brawl scenes are exact replicas of the "Montreal Canadiens" and "Toronto Maple Leafs" NHL jerseys at the time, minus the logos.
  
  
• The helicopter sequence in the pre-credits sequence involves Beckton Gas Works, which Stanley Kubrick converted to Vietnam in 1987 for Full Metal Jacket (1987).
  
  
• The exploding Lotus at the start of the film was a tacit acknowledgment that Bond would not be relying on fancy gadgets in this film as he had done in the last few entries in the series.
  
  
• Roger Moore was not happy about the scene where he cold-bloodedly kills Locque by pushing his teetering car off a cliff. Although Moore acknowledged that this was a Bond thing to do, he didn't feel that it was a Roger Moore Bond thing to do.
  
  
• After viewing Flash Gordon (1980), the producers at one time wanted to cast not just Topol (Zarkov) in this film, but also Timothy Dalton (Prince Barin) as Bond and Ornella Muti (Princess Aura) as Melina, even writing the part specifically for her.
  
  
• Greece is the major setting for this movie but it wasn't for any of the "For Your Eyes Only" short stories. It was however the key setting in the Kingsley Amis James Bond novel "Colonel Sun".
  
  
• According to the movie's CD soundtrack sleeve notes, Composer John Barry could not compose the score for this movie as he allegedly could not return to the UK for taxation purposes.
  
  
• Cameo: [Victor Tourjansky] The Italian second-unit director as Man with Glass in the last of 3 appearances after The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Moonraker (1979).
  
  
• Cameo: [Bob Simmons] The stuntman as a henchman blown out by the Lotus car explosion.
  
  
• Cameo: [George Sweeney] As a Helicopter Pilot.
  
  
• A number of titles of movies and TV shows have spoofed or referenced this film's title. These include For Y'ur Height Only (1981); For Your Thighs Only (1984); For Your Heart Only [See: Wei ni zhong qing (1985)] and _"Ed, Edd, 'n' Eddy: For Your Eds Only (#3.4)" (2001)_ ;For Your Lips Only (1989) and _"Arrested Development" For British Eyes Only (2005)_.
  
  
• The story involving the sinking of the ship the St.Georges off the Albanian coast was inspired by an international incident on 11 April 1968 when a Soviet submarine was blown-up and sank in the Pacific Ocean. Seventy personnel died and the US Navy located the wreck using the nautical Glomar Explorer, a mission funded by Howard Hughes, whom the Willard Whyte character in Diamonds Are Forever (1971) was based on.
  
  
• Twelfth James Bond movie in the EON Productions James Bond film series. Fifth James Bond film to star Roger Moore as James Bond. It was the eleventh to feature Q, the tenth to feature Desmond Llewelyn as Q and it was the 14th James Bond movie overall.
  
  
• Vehicles featured included two Lotus Esprit Turbo 2.2 sportscars, one white and one copper metallic to contrast against the white snow after the other is blown up; a yellow Citroën 2CV fitted out with a Citroën GS 4-cylinder boxer engine for a drive in the country to escape two black Peugeot 504 sedans; black Yamaha XJ 500 and Yamaha 500 XT motorcycles; Hector Gonzales's black, yellow & white Cessna U206G Stationair Amphibian seaplane; a remote-control Universal Exports red & white Mi6 Augusta / Bell 206B Jet Ranger helicopter; Aris Kristatos' black Everflex top white Rolls Royce Silver Shadow / Silver Wraith II car; a white two-person Neptune lock-out submersible exploratory mini-submarine; a PZL-3A / PZL Mi-2 / Polish Mil Mi-2 standard Soviet light helicopter; Colombo's yacht SS Colombina; the archaeological research vessel Triana; a black and yellow one-person atmospheric submersible Osel Mantis mini-submarine; the fishing trawler electronic surveillance spy ship HMS St. Georges containing one ATAC device; Emile Locque's black Mercedes Benz 280SE; a black GP Beach Buggy; and Aris Kristatos' motor yacht the Santa Mavra.
  
  
• The Royal World Premiere of For Your Eyes Only (1981) was held on 24 June 1981 at London's Odeon Leicester Square Theatre in the presence of British Royals Prince Charles and the then Lady Diana Spencer [Princess Diana] of England. The Gala Charity Premiere Benefit was held in aid of the Royal Association for Disability and Rehabilitation. The launch was attended by then future James Bond Pierce Brosnan with then wife Cassandra Harris who had appeared in the film.
  
  
• Third consecutive James Bond movie which excerpts famous theme music from another movie. The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) excerpted the theme from Lawrence of Arabia (1962) while Moonraker (1979) excerpted the theme from The Magnificent Seven (1960) whilst this movie excerpted the theme from Jaws (1975).
  
  
• The first line of the Ian Fleming James Bond short-story "For Your Eyes Only" read: "The most beautiful bird in Jamaica, and some say the most beautiful bird in the world, is the streamer-tail or doctor humming-bird."
  
  
• The last line of the Ian Fleming James Bond short-story "For Your Eyes Only" read: "She fell in behind and followed him, and as she walked she pulled the tired bits of golden-rod out of her hair and undid a ribbon and let the pale gold hair fall down to her soldiers."
  
  
• This movie is the second time in two years that Roger Moore stormed a mountaintop monastery in Greece. The first was in Escape to Athena (1979), in which Moore played a Nazi commandant (who is coerced into raiding a mountaintop monastery) during World War II. Telly Savalas, who played Blofeld in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) was one of the co-stars, along with 'David Niven', who played Bond in the spoof Casino Royale (1967).
  
  

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