Oct. 25: Bond movie revelation (I’m so ashamed)

My first memory of James Bond is from seeing the commercial for For Your Eyes Only in 1981. I remember the guy with the weird glasses in the car on the side of the mountain, and Bond kicks the car and it falls down the cliff. Bad. Ass. Of course, the Sheena Easton theme song was huge at the time, too. I didn’t see the movie until I was in high school, but it quickly became one of my favorites. Roger Moore was my preferred Bond (this was before I had any sense at all), and I rented and watched it over and over.

I’ve always known that Topol was in For Your Eyes Only, but never paid much attention to who he played. Besides Lynn-Holly Johnson—still riding high from Ice Castles—this film wasn’t exactly star-studded. After we saw Fiddler on the Roof on stage in August, I’ve watched for For Your Eyes Only to air again, just to see Topol in another one of his well-known roles. I didn’t remember his character, but Vic said he played a good guy. Seems like every time it’s been on, I miss his scenes.

For Your Eyes Only was on Bravo this morning, and I watched as I v-e-r-y slowly drank my coffee. I kept waiting and waiting for a recognizable Topol. I was checking email on my phone when I heard a recognizable voice… and I looked up to see it was coming out of a very UNrecognizable Topol. And then I started yelling like a fool for Vic to GET IN HERE RIGHT NOW!

This is the Topol I’ve known all my life:	And this is how he looks in For Your Eyes Only:
Tevye, a poor Russian milkman	Milos, a rich Greek playboy with pinky rings

Vic just laughed at me. He couldn’t believe I’ve been watching this movie for 25+ years and never knew this character—this kind of major character, who happens to be in many scenes in the last two-thirds of the movie—was Topol.

But come ON! The pinky rings! You can see how they’ve thrown me off all these years, right?