A View to a Kill (1985)

A View to a Kill (1985)

Taglines: Adventure Above And Beyond All Other Bonds.

A View to a Kill movie storyline. James Bond has one more mission. Bond returns from his travels in the USSR with a computer chip. This chip is capable of withstanding a nuclear electromagnetic pulse that would otherwise destroy a normal chip.

The chip was created by Zorin Industries, and Bond heads off to investigate its owner, Max Zorin. Zorin may only seem like a innocent guilty man, but is really planning to set off an earthquake in San Andreas which will wipe out all of Silicon Valley. As well as Zorin, Bond must also tackle May Day and equally menacing companion of Zorin, whilst dragging Stacy Sutton along for the ride.

A View to a Kill (1985) is the fourteenth spy film of the James Bond series, and the seventh and last to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Although the title is adapted from Ian Fleming’s short story “From a View to a Kill”, the film has an entirely original screenplay. In A View to a Kill, Bond is pitted against Max Zorin, who plans to destroy California’s Silicon Valley.

Despite receiving a mixed reception by critics, it was a commercial success, with the Duran Duran theme song “A View to a Kill” performing well in the charts and earning a Golden Globe nomination for Best Song. Christopher Walken was also praised for portraying a “classic Bond villain”.

A View to a Kill (1985)

About the Story

MI6 agent James Bond is sent to Siberia to locate the body of 003 and recover a microchip originating from the Soviet Union. Upon his return, Q analyses the microchip and establishes that it is a copy of one designed to withstand an electromagnetic pulse and made by government contractor Zorin Industries.

Bond visits Ascot Racecourse to observe the company’s owner, Max Zorin. Zorin’s horse wins a race but proves hard to control. Sir Godfrey Tibbett, a racehorse trainer and MI6 agent, believes that Zorin’s horse was drugged, although tests proved negative. Through Tibbett, Bond meets with French private detective Achille Aubergine who informs Bond that Zorin is holding a horse sale later in the month. During their dinner at the Eiffel Tower, Aubergine is assassinated by Zorin’s bodyguard May Day, who subsequently escapes after being chased by Bond.

Bond and Tibbett travel to Zorin’s estate for the horse sale. Bond is puzzled by a woman who rebuffs him and finds out that Zorin has written her a check for $5 million. At night, Bond and Tibbett break into Zorin’s laboratory and learn that he is implanting adrenaline-releasing devices in the horses. Zorin identifies Bond as an agent, has May Day assassinate Tibbett, and believes that his attempt to assassinate Bond has been successful.

A View to a Kill (1985)

General Gogol of the KGB confronts Zorin for killing Bond without permission and reveals that Zorin was initially trained and financed by the KGB but has now gone rogue. Later, Zorin unveils to a group of investors his plan to destroy Silicon Valley which will give him—and the potential investors—a monopoly over the microchip industry.

Bond goes to San Francisco where he learns from CIA agent Chuck Lee that Zorin could be the product of medical experimentation with steroids performed by a Nazi scientist who is now Zorin’s physician, Dr. Carl Mortner. Bond then investigates a nearby oil rig owned by Zorin and while there finds KGB agent Pola Ivanova recording Zorin’s conversation. Ivanova’s partner is caught and killed while trying to place explosives on the rig, but Ivanova and Bond escape. They go to her place where Bond is able to steal the recording. Bond tracks down the woman that Zorin attempted to pay off, State Geologist Stacey Sutton, and discovers that Zorin is trying to buy her family’s oil business.

The two travel to San Francisco City Hall to review Zorin’s submitted plan. However, Zorin is alerted to their presence and arrives, killing the Chief Geologist with Bond’s pistol and setting fire to the building to both frame Bond for the murder and kill him at the same time. Bond and Sutton escape from the fire, but when the police try to arrest Bond, he and Sutton escape in a fire engine.

A View to a Kill Movie Poster (1985)

A View to a Kill (1985)

Directed by: John Glen
Starring: Roger Moore, Christopher Walken, Tanya Roberts, Grace Jones, Patrick Macnee, Patrick Bauchau, Fiona Fullerton
Screenplay by: Richard Maibaum, Michael G. Wilson
Production Design by: Peter Lamont
Cinematography by: Alan Hume
Film Editing by: Peter Davies
Costume Design by: Emma Porteous
Set Decoration by: Crispian Sallis
Art Direction by: John Fenner
Music by: John Barry
Distributed by: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (US), United International Pictures (International)
Release Date: June 13, 1985

Visits: 97