JAMES BOND - A VIEW TO A KILL - Tanya Roberts as Stacey Sutton - Personally Signed Limited Edition Autograph Card - Rittenhouse Archives 2012.

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.

The film was produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, who also wrote the screenplay with Richard Maibaum. It was the third James Bond film to be directed by John Glen, and the last to feature Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny.

Despite receiving mixed to negative reviews from 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".

Plot

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 cheque 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. Afterwards, 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 Klolktoff is captured and killed while trying to place limpet mines 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 purchase 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 together with May Day, who murders Chuck. When Bond and Sutton try to procure the plans, Zorin kills chief geologist W. G. Howe with Bond's gun and sets fire to the building to frame Bond for the murder and kill him and Sutton at the same time. Bond and Sutton survive the fire, but when the police prepare to arrest Bond for the murders of Howe and Chuck, he and Sutton escape in a fire truck.

Bond and Sutton infiltrate Zorin's mine and discover his plot to detonate explosives beneath the lakes along the Hayward and San Andreas faults, which would cause them to flood, causing the Silicon Valley area to be permanently submerged underwater. A larger bomb is also in the mine to destroy a "geological lock" that prevents the two faults from moving at the same time. Once the bombs are in place, Zorin and his security chief Scarpine flood the mines, killing the mine workers. Sutton escapes, while Bond and May Day are stranded in the mine. When May Day realizes that Zorin has abandoned her, she helps Bond remove the larger bomb by putting the device onto a handcar and pushing it out of the mine. When the handcar's brakes block their attempt, May Day stays on it to make it roll clear of the mine; once outside, the bomb explodes, killing her.

Zorin, who had escaped in his airship with Scarpine and Mortner, abducts Sutton, but Bond grabs hold of the airship's mooring rope. Zorin tries to knock Bond off the rope, but Bond manages to moor the airship to the framework of the Golden Gate Bridge. Sutton attacks Zorin, and in the fracas, Mortner and Scarpine are temporarily knocked out. Sutton flees and joins Bond out on the bridge, but Zorin pursues them with an axe. The ensuing fight between Zorin and Bond culminates with Zorin falling to his death in the waters of San Francisco Bay. An enraged Mortner attacks Bond using sticks of dynamite, but Bond cuts the airship cable free, which causes Mortner to drop the dynamite in the cabin. The dynamite explodes, killing Mortner and Scarpine and destroying the airship. General Gogol awards Bond the Order of Lenin for foiling Zorin's strategy. Afterwards, Bond and Sutton make love in the shower of the Sutton home.

Cast

• Roger Moore as James Bond, MI6 agent 007.

• Christopher Walken as Max Zorin: a psychopathic industrialist, the product of a Nazi genetic experiment, planning to destroy the Silicon Valley to gain a monopoly in the microchip market.

• Tanya Roberts as Stacey Sutton: The granddaughter of an oil tycoon whose company is taken over by Zorin.

• Grace Jones as May Day: Zorin's lover and chief henchwoman. She seemingly possesses superhuman strength.

• Patrick Macnee as Sir Godfrey Tibbett: Bond's ally, a horse trainer who helps him infiltrate Zorin's chateau and stables.

• Patrick Bauchau as Scarpine: Zorin's murderous loyal associate.

• David Yip as Chuck Lee: a CIA agent who assists Bond and Sutton in San Francisco.

• Willoughby Gray as Dr. Carl Mortner: formally Hans Glaub, a Nazi scientist and father figure to Zorin (in the German release version, he is a Polish communist).

• Fiona Fullerton as Pola Ivanova; a KGB agent known to Bond, sent by Gogol to spy on Zorin.

• Manning Redwood as Bob Conley: Zorin's chief mining engineer who handles his oil interests on the East Bay.

• Alison Doody as Jenny Flex: One of May Day's assistants who is often seen with Pan Ho.

• Robert Brown as M: The head of MI6

• Desmond Llewelyn as Q: An MI6 officer in charge of the research and development branch. He supplies 007 with his equipment for his mission.

• Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny: M's secretary (Maxwell's 14th and final appearance in the role).

• Geoffrey Keen as Fredrick Gray: The British Minister of Defence.

• Walter Gotell as General Gogol: The head of the KGB.

• Papillon Soo Soo as Pan Ho: One of May Day's assistants.

• Daniel Benzali as W. G. Howe: A city official working at San Francisco City Hall.

• Mary Stavin as Kimberley Jones: British agent who assists Bond in the pre-credit sequence.

• Bogdan Kominowski as Klotkoff: one of General Gogol's KGB agents who is killed while infiltrating Zorin's oil rig.

• Dolph Lundgren in an early, minor role as Venz, one of General Gogol's KGB agents.

• Jean Rougerie as French private detective Achille Aubergine.

Maud Adams appears as an extra in one of the Fisherman's Wharf scenes, making it her third Bond film appearance.

Production

A View to a Kill was produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson. Wilson also co-authored the screenplay along with Richard Maibaum. At the end of Octopussy during the "James Bond Will Return" sequence, it listed the next film as "From a View to a Kill", the name of the original short story; however, the title was later changed. When a company with a name similar to Zorin (the Zoran Corporation) was discovered in the United States, a disclaimer was added to the start of the film affirming that Zorin was not related to any real-life company. This is the first Bond film to have a disclaimer (The Living Daylights had a disclaimer about the use of the Red Cross).

Casting

Early publicity for the film in 1984 included an announcement that David Bowie would play Zorin. He later decided to turn down the role, saying, "I didn't want to spend five months watching my stunt double fall off cliffs." The role was offered to Sting and finally to Christopher Walken.

Dolph Lundgren has a brief appearance as one of General Gogol's KGB agents. Lundgren, who was dating Grace Jones at the time, was visiting her on set when one day an extra was missing so the director John Glen then asked him if he wanted to get a shot at it. Lundgren appears during the confrontation between Gogol and Zorin at the racetrack, standing several steps below Gogol.