QIs "A View to a Kill" based on a book?
AAll of the James Bond movies are based, in some part, upon novels or stories by British author Ian Fleming [1908-1964]. The title, A View to a Kill, comes from the short story From a View to a Kill, included in Fleming's 1960 anthology, For Your Eyes Only. Fleming found the inspiration for this new title from John Woodcock Grave's 1820 Cumberland Hunting Song, "D'Ye Ken John Peel". It read in part: "From the drag to the chase. From the chase to the view. From the view to a death in the morning..." Fleming adapted the third stanza for his short story title. However, apart from the title, the Paris setting of both the film and the short story (which deals with the assassination of couriers by a secret nest of Soviet agents), there is nothing else in common between them. The film script is based on a screenplay co-written by American screenwriters Michael G. Wilson and Richard Maibaum. At the end of Octopussy the words "James Bond will return in From a View to A Kill" are included, however the title was obviously changed in the intervening years between the films.
QWhat is 'A View to a Kill' about?
AWhen a microchip that can resist destruction by a nuclear electromagnetic pulse, found on the body of a 003 agent killed in Siberia, is found to be identical to microchips produced by British-based Zorin Industries, 007 agent James Bond (Roger Moore) is dispatched to investigate owner Max Zorin (Christopher Walken), suspected of leaking details of the design to the Russians. What Bond finds, however, is even more chilling. Zorin is planning to set off an earthquake in California's San Andreas fault that will wipe out Silicon Valley and give Zorin a monopoly in the microchip market. Aided by geologist Stacey Sutton (Tanya Roberts), whose grandfather's oil company was taken over by Zorin, the pair attempt to infiltrate Zorin's mines in order to inestigate.
QHow does the title "A View to a Kill" fit into the movie?
AAs the airship of big baddie Max Zorin flies over the Golden Gate Bridge, his henchman May Day (Grace Jones) exclaims, "Wow, what a view!" Zorin, who is planning to blow up Silicon Valley so that he will have domination of the microchip market, adds: "...to a kill!"
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