Were people writing Bond franchise producer Albert R. Broccoli asking about the ultimate fate of the longtime archnemesis to James Bond, Ernst Stavro Blofeld?  When Roger Moore assumed the 007 mantle, they went away from writing stories about military intelligence, section six’s (MI6) struggles against the Special Executive for Counter-Intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion (SPECTRE).  I could not tell you why, though I can speculate.  Perhaps they got tired of the rotating actors filling the role of the organization’s head?  Maybe they felt like having different enemies for the famous British secret agent with which to tangle?  Whatever the reason, they left Ernst’s story line unresolved definitively at the end of Diamonds are Forever (1971).  Yet, here he is at the beginning of For Your Eyes Only (1981), in a wheelchair, white cat in the lap, and trying to remotely bring down James Bond’s (Roger Moore) helicopter.  Yet, James is able to wrest back control of the aircraft, hook Ernst’s wheelchair unto a strut, and dumps him in a smokestack.  That is how today’s movie begins.

Or is Ernst in the opening scene of For Your Eyes Only?  Apparently, Broccoli did not have the rights to the character, but he intentionally made everything look like the old foe before promptly disposing of him in the cartoonish way that has become customary for this era in the series.  Moving on, we next see a weather-worn fishing vessel in the Mediterranean, following one of its apparent crew below decks.  This is when we find that it is disguised as a spy post of the British Navy.  Unfortunately, the real fishermen above accidentally net a sea mine, which rips a large hole in the side, sinking it.  The Royal seamen are unable to destroy the sensitive equipment before succumbing to their watery grave, and now the British government must mount a mission to retrieve the device.  The person they call upon to do so, of course, is 007.  The Soviet Union is also aware of the incident, and they have their own agent to do the same thing.  It is not, however, Melina Havelock (Carole Bouquet).  She is the daughter of the underwater archaeologist Sir Timothy Havelock (Jack Hedley) whom the British have hired to do the salvage mission.  We meet Melina as she is visiting her parents aboard their research liner, but they are gunned down by the pilot who transported her there shortly after he takes off to leave.  The assassin is who MI6 send James after at first, and he has been tracked to an exclusive resort in Spain.  Before James can question him, though, he is felled by an arrow fired from a crossbow wielded by Melina.  She is determined to get revenge for her father.  James locates her while on the run from the villains gathered at the hotel, including the person paying the money for the hit on Sir Havelock, Emile Leopold Locque (Michael Gothard).  His presence tells James that there is something bigger going on, and he relays this information to Melina once they are safe.  She makes him promise that he will continue her quest for vengeance, and he will send for her when the task is complete.  With some help from Q (Desmond Llewelyn), they are able to learn the killer’s identity and location.  Thus, James is next off to a ski resort in Northern Italy where he is put in touch with a former smuggler named Aristotle Kristatos (Julian Glover) who knows how to find Emile.  Yet, in the process, Melina shows up, still not willing to let the matter be handled by MI6.  Between her, and some other distractions, Emile is able to get away from James, despite the former doing his best to murder the latter.  James does get a name from Aristotle, that of Milos Columbo (Chaim Topol), a former associate of Aristotle’s still operating in Greece.  Because that is where Melina is currently carrying on her father’s work, that is where they next travel.  James meets Aristotle at a nearby casino, and Aristotle identifies Milos.  James ends up spending the night with Lisl, the Countess von Schlaf (Cassandra Harris), who James had seen with Milos.  The next morning, Emile shows up to once more attempt to off James, but James is saved by Milos’ men.  This is when James learns that it is Aristotle that is the real villain, not Milos, who becomes an ally.  Together, they raid one of Aristotle’s warehouses, which leads to Emile’s demise, finally.  Feeling that the time has come for them to go down to the wreck, James and Melina use her two-man submarine to get to the spy hardware.  When they re-emerge, they find Aristotle waiting for them.  In typical Bond villain fashion, Aristotle tries to kill James and Melina by dragging through the water behind his boat.  They get free and Aristotle assumes them dead.  Instead, James once more enlists Milos’ help, and after they learn the meeting place Aristotle has arranged in the Greek mountainside to rendezvous with the Soviets, that is where they converge.  There is a lengthy sequence that sees James scale the sheer cliff up to the monastery hideout (and you can guess what will be discussed in the next paragraph) to get to Aristotle and the stolen device.  With the mission accomplished and James triumphant once again, he returns to Melina’s vessel.  British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (Janet Brown) wants to congratulate James, but he is instead skinny dipping with Melina.

Is it worth mentioning that the location for the final action sequence in For Your Eyes Only is revealed by a parrot?  Well, I guess I just did.  That location is called St. Cyril’s, by the way, but that is only what it is called in the film.  Its real name is the Monastery of the Holy Trinity, and it is part of the Eastern Orthodox faith.  People tend to think that only Catholicism, among Christian sects, have female and male religious, but that is not the case.  Like with their Catholic counterparts, they are expected to be celibate, while also living a life of prayer and work.  It is important to get that order correct, by the way.  Another aspect of their lives that parallel each other is the remoteness of their monastery.  This is not always the case.  There are probably more monks and nuns living in urban areas than those you see on top of a tiny mountain.  The only way you can access the Monastery of Holy Trinity is by a basket that is brought to the top by pulley and ropes.  In any case, it is the enclosure that is the point.  They live outside of society so that they can focus on interceding for society.  It is seen a radical departure from modern culture, and there are not many people around these days that would choose such a life.  It also does not have much to do with the movie.  I could say that this is the most celibate I have seen James in one of his films, but that is only tenuous.  At any rate, I saw the building and thought I would give you a little context if you happen to see this one.

Another side story that I left out of my discussion of For Your Eyes Only is the insertion of Olympic ice-skating hopeful Bibi Dahl (Lynn-Holly Johnson).  She serves no purpose to the plot, but I was at least somewhat encouraged that James did not have sex with her despite her throwing herself at him.  Still, there is enough silliness in this one to make it another in the series to avoid.