1981: Albert R. Broccoli discusses the 007 films

Albert R. Broccoli

A 1981 Los Angeles radio interview of long-time 007 producer Albert R. Broccoli has surfaced on YouTube. It’s an interesting time capsule about the film series, which was about to come out with its 12th entry, For Your Eyes Only. What follows is a sampling.

The rising costs of making 007 movies: “I’ve learned not to worry because it doesn’t help matters. Costs have risen tremendously in the years. It’s not only Bond that costs money, other pictures have cost a lot of money….The inflation is tremendous….It’s not possible to make a Bond picture for less than 20-, 25-, 30-million dollars.”

Where the series drew its inspiration: “We were preceded by, I think, the master of all suspense and that was Mr. Alfred Hitchcock. He taught us all we know….He inspired us a lot in making a Bond film with his technology and his know-how of getting characters and putting them in these suspenseful situations.”

On his backgammon games with Roger Moore: “There was a stupid rumor that he and I had played…and I had lost $250,000 to Roger Moore. First, number one, I would not play for a lot of money in backgammon. Mere pennies, that’s all we play for. Number two, it offended me that to think Roger Moore could win $250,000 from me.” With the latter remark, Broccoli and the interviewer laugh.

It should be noted that IN 2011 that Moore said he and the producer play for more than “mere pennies.”

On Moore and Sean Connery: Moore “is a very amusing man, he’s a lovely guy. I’m very fond of Roger and I was very fond of Sean too. Sean was very amusing and a good guy to work with. Roger is as well. He keeps the crew all laughing and that helps….Roger keeps things going.”

On the shift in tone with For Your Eyes Only compared with Moonraker: “There isn’t terribly much gadgetry in this picture…We’ve gone back more or less to the more adventurous, more dramatic picture like (From) Russia With Love was….The reason is we felt it was time we reverted back to more of a story and more of an adventure picture. Not through criticism or anything but through intuition.”

On his work habits: “I guess I am a workaholic….I go to this cinema every time…I sit and listen to the reaction from the audience, and know where we might have goofed or where we have done a really good job by their reactions. I listen to what they say, good or bad. That’s my pleasure, to analyze my own operation, analyze the picture….Very gratifying thing, to me.”

His reaction to being described as “the man” behind the films: “No, there’s more than one man behind 007. I’m one of many. We started this picture with my partner Harry Saltzman, he was one of the men behind Bond. He’s doing other things now. It’s a team. It’s not just one man.”

Happy Mother’s Day from the HMSS Weblog

Judi Dench’s M, the most prominent mother in the 007 film series.