For Your Eyes Only (film)

For Your Eyes Only
A graphic, taking up three-quarters of the image, on black background with the bottom quarter in red. Above the picture are the words "No one comes close to JAMES BOND 007". The graphic contains a stylised pair of women's legs and buttocks in the foreground: a pair of bikini bottoms cover some of the bottom. The woman wears high heels and is carrying a crossbow in her right hand. In the distance, viewed between her legs, a man in a dinner suit is seen side on, carrying a pistol. In the red, below the graphic, are the words: "Roger Moore as Ian Fleming's James Bond 007 in FOR YOUR EYES ONLY".
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJohn Glen
Written by
Based on"For Your Eyes Only"
"Risico"
by Ian Fleming
Produced byAlbert R. Broccoli
Starring
CinematographyAlan Hume
Edited byJohn Grover
Music byBill Conti
Production
company
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release dates
  • 24 June 1981 (1981-06-24) (United Kingdom)
  • 26 June 1981 (1981-06-26) (United States)
Running time
127 minutes
CountriesUnited Kingdom[1]
United States[2]
LanguageEnglish
Budget$28 million[3]
Box office$195.3 million

For Your Eyes Only is a 1981 spy film directed by John Glen (in his feature directorial debut) and produced by Albert R. Broccoli. The film stars Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond, and co-stars Carole Bouquet, Chaim Topol, Lynn-Holly Johnson and Julian Glover.

The twelfth film in the James Bond franchise produced by Eon Productions, For Your Eyes Only was written by Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson. Although the script is principally based on two Ian Fleming short stories, "For Your Eyes Only" and "Risico", some elements of the plot were also inspired by the novels Live and Let Die, Goldfinger and On Her Majesty's Secret Service. The film follows Bond as he attempts to locate a missile command system while becoming tangled in a web of deception spun by rival Greek businessmen along with Melina Havelock, a woman seeking to avenge the murder of her parents.

After the science-fiction-focused Moonraker, the producers wanted a return to the style of the early Bond films and the works of 007 creator Fleming. For Your Eyes Only followed a grittier, more realistic approach and a narrative theme of revenge and its consequences, rather than the fantasy narrative of Moonraker. Filming locations included Greece, Italy and the United Kingdom, while underwater footage was shot in the Bahamas. Sheena Easton performed the title theme song.

For Your Eyes Only was released in the UK on 24 June 1981 and in the US two days later; it received a mixed-to-positive critical reception. The film's reputation has improved over time, with reviewers praising the more serious tone in comparison to previous entries in the series. The film was a financial success, generating $195.3 million worldwide. This was the final Bond film to be distributed solely by United Artists; the company was absorbed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer soon after this film's release.

  1. ^ "For Your Eyes Only". Lumiere. European Audiovisual Observatory. Archived from the original on 26 September 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  2. ^ "For Your Eyes Only". AFI Catalog.
  3. ^ Moses, Antoinette. Sight and Sound; London Vol. 51, Iss. 4, (Fall 1982): 258.