Interesting. Yes, the film opens with several different spies all being killed to get them out of the way, and Helm was one of the targets. In his case, the woman assassin got caught in the trap, but he escaped.
One thing I'm sure of, the "faked death" bit at the beginning was reused as the "faked death" bit at the beginning of the following year's YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE. In there, it was a put-on set up by MI-5. That same film also swiped the "secret underground base" plot where the villains were planning to start a war between the US and USSR from THE SILENCERS.
People usually think of Roger Moore's films when they think of the Bond films following other movies' leads, but it's clear it started at least as far back as 1967. There's so much in YOLT that was swiped from a whole variety of earlier movies, the only parts that come straight from the novel don't really fit in with the rest of the story! (Bond being disguised as a Japanese, trained to be a ninja, and married to a local pearl-diving girl as a "cover"). They even swiped the bit about the lethal projectile cigarette! ("Smoking may be hazardous to your health")
Of course, the bit where Helm uses an electro-magnet to pick up the steel-skulled baddie was reused in THE SPY WHO LOVED ME with Jaws' teeth.
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Ambak
11 years ago
The electro magnet was used in You Only Live Twice to pick up the villains car and drop it in the sea! However, principal photography on YOLT ended in December 1966, the same time that Murderers Row premiered, so it is unlikely that anything was copied from the Helm movie.
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s007davis
11 years ago
'One thing I'm sure of, the "faked death" bit at the beginning was reused as the "faked death" bit at the beginning of the following year's YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE. In there, it was a put-on set up by MI-5. That same film also swiped the "secret underground base" plot where the villains were planning to start a war between the US and USSR from THE SILENCERS.
People usually think of Roger Moore's films when they think of the Bond films following other movies' leads, but it's clear it started at least as far back as 1967. There's so much in YOLT that was swiped from a whole variety of earlier movies, the only parts that come straight from the novel don't really fit in with the rest of the story! (Bond being disguised as a Japanese, trained to be a ninja, and married to a local pearl-diving girl as a "cover"). They even swiped the bit about the lethal projectile cigarette! ("Smoking may be hazardous to your health")'
I would add that YOLT features the evil organization SPECTRE operating it's nefarious plans inside an extinct volcano, very similar to 1965's OUR MAN FLINT where the evil organization GALAXY operates it's nefarious plans inside an extinct volcano. Hmmmmm.
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