MovieChat Forums > On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) Discussion > Who attacked Bond...?

Who attacked Bond...?

posted 15 years ago by Emmanuel_Goldstein30
22 replies | jump to latest

Who attacked Bond at the beginning in the beach when he rescued Tracy from killing herself? To me it never made much sense... Wouldn't be Blofeld's people because he didn't even know Bond yet. Wouldn't be Tracy's fathers men because they never would have put a knife to her neck. So I guess it was just another typical group of henchmen following Bond to start the movie off with a physical fight to introduce the new hero and begin the storyline of Bond being Tracy's defender...? Anyone have a better idea? I doubt any Bond film should be too closely examined in any right as they're obviously not meant to be super high quality written films, but this still always bothered me.

[–] sverdrupjahn75 15 years ago

Maybe they were jealous husbands? Outraged chefs? Humiliated tailors? The list is endless! xD

[–] bellatrix79 8 years ago

lmao

[–] TexasJohnBapster 15 years ago

Verily I say unto thee...as long as there was a fight who cares?

[–] FinnurE 15 years ago

I understand the confusion because in the movie the order of events makes very little sense. In the novel the events take place in a completely different order and in all honesty make for a more logical narrative.

The order of events as they happen in the novel:
1) Bond while driving on his holiday in France is bypassed by Tracy and after chasing her for miles and through several villages he loses her.
2) He drives to his hotel only to discover her car parked there.
3) At a game of cards she loses without being able to pay. Bond pays and she sleeps with him in return.
4) Bond wakes up to find Tracy gone. He goes outside to look for her and finally finds her at the beach (she's not walking into the ocean but just stands there looking at the evening sun).
5) Bond is approached from behind by two men carrying guns. Bond does not try to fight them, but discreetly slips a knife up his sleave.
6) A rubber dingy picks them up and brings them to Draco.

The rest of the film follows a similar order of events as the novel, although it's fleshed out at certain points.

http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=5184666

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[–] zoolander27 15 years ago

but in the order of the film,it does make sense.Tracy didn't want to be saved and didn't know Bond,so why should she care about him or what happens to him? Bond was fascinated by her(She did pass him on the road and we know what he thinks about that). as for D) that would be a form of prostitution but granted she was supposed to be psychologically messed up.

"I shan't ask politely next time!"

[–] FinnurE 14 years ago

In the film, it is pretty much prostitution as well. Bond pays the 20.000 francs, after which she tells him to come to her room and later she tells him that she "always pays her debts" prior to having sex with him.

http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=5184666

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[–] pawtrax67 12 years ago

As one can easily see. When Bond meets Tracy she's pretty messed up.

Who are the guys? What was she doing in the ocean? Was she committing suicide? Was she on drugs and thought it was a great place for a swim?

It seemed to me, by the incident in the hotel, and from what her father was talking about. Tracy lost the will to live. Remember she says the line. "People who want to stay alive play it safe...".

I think she felt lost, and she was gambling and behaving not too differently than other media darlings today. I figure she had a string of gambling debts, and daughter of a mob boss or not, she wanted to drown herself in the ocean. Bond spots her...chases after her.

So the guys that attacked them are either: 1) People out to collect on her debts 2) Her bodyguards who wanted to protect her but had a funny way of showing it.

I prefer the debt collectors personally.

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[–] ncshvdavid-869-476101 9 years ago

So is she a Lannister?

www.7poundbag.com

[–] Etherdave 9 years ago

Draco's thugs are evidently sent to follow Tracy and protect her from trouble. The trouble with thugs is they aren't terribly good at independent thought. When Bond shows up and saves her himself, everything goes sideways. The thugs, who follow Draco's orders, aren't sure how to deal with Bond, so they decide to kill him (why take chances); since he seems genuinely concerned with Tracy's welfare, threatening to slit her throat seems like a good way to control him. An admittedly bad move, as it turns out; but then again, these are thugs, and not terribly good at independent thought.

[–] CountJohn 9 years ago

I've always just assumed it was Draco's men misinterpreting what Bond was doing. It's a little weird that they would pull a knife on her, but it makes sense that they would be willing to "play it rough" to keep her from killing herself.

[–] Satantangoandcash 9 years ago

I agree this made little sense in the context of the movie. Thanks to FinurE's reply I understand it and see that this was a big mistake probably made necessary by the Bond convention of starting out with an action sequence, which a chase alone without a fight would not satisfy.

Also, how did the two men who attacked Bond happen to be at that beach when she drove up? They weren't following her and Bond and they couldn't know for sure that she would stop there so there's no way the audience could assume they were trying to protect her. And since Bond saved her from killing herself what need did they have to attack him and hold her at knife-point?

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