A precise caper, an editor’s eye for story coverage, a distant tannoy, a travelogue sense of adventure long gone, a jump scare bird, a blunt kick off a rock and an icy debut turn to camera on another, winning the battle of the ’83 Bonds, cutting the best Bond film of them all, and helming a movie decade that steered Bond from his late 1970s excess to a late 1980s precursor to Daniel Craig’s internalism of the role.

Happy 90th birthday to one of Bond’s most loyal and prolific captains, Mr. John Glen!

‘To direct five successive and high-end franchise films in a row is a major achievement in any era. To have edited three more key classics and been a second-unit stunt coordinator from the same franchise is unique.’

– Mark O’Connell

 

“He reinvented Roger’s Bond in a much grittier style in For Your Eyes Only after The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker. And then introduced the world to a brand-new Bond with The Living Daylights — creating a film that is one of the highlights of the series. He is the person who has directed more Bond films than anybody else which is quite an achievement.”

– David Walliams

 

“Together with director Peter Hunt he made a very modern-looking movie with unexpected slam cuts, zoom, pans and furiously energetic action cutting. George Lazenby’s only Bond movie OHMSS felt like it ushered in a new era, and sat George Lazenby atop the whole thing like he had been there forever. And all helped enormously by that leviathan of a score by John Barry.”

– David Arnold

 

“No one was more surprised than me to be asked to direct For Your Eyes Only.”
– John Glen
As For Your Eyes Only hit its 40th anniversary in 2021, I talked exclusively to director John Glen and its cast about the production, the sense of family on-set, Roger Moore’s warmth and filthy jokes, Glen’s editorial skills and approach, Lady Diana and a total Bond movie treat that launched 007’s 1980s in slick, novella style / Yahoo Movies UK

Photo © Mark O’Connell

Monarch of the Glen – (from left) Martine Beswick, Mark O’Connell, Carole Ashby, John Glen and Janine Glen / Photo © Ajay Chowdhury