MGM To Release Never Again Alongside Quantum

MGM and Fox Entertainment announced this week that a special Collectors Edition of Never Say Never Again, the 1983 unofficial Sean Connery Bond film, will be released on Blu-Ray Disc on 24 March, together with a new edition of the Never Again DVD. And in a bonanza for Bond fans, the same day will also see the release of Blu-Ray editions of Moonraker, Goldfinger, The World Is Not Enough, and Daniel Craig’s latest 007 adventure Quantum of Solace.

The special Collectors edition of Never Say Never Again will feature new commentaries by director Irvin Kershner and James Bond writer and historian Steven Jay Rubin, together with other documentary material, including a profile of the Never Again women, the original Never Again cinema trailer, and a photo gallery.

Never Say Never Again remains a curiosity to many Bond fans. Controversial but much anticipated in its day, Never Again was a loose remake of 1965’s Thunderball (on which Kevin McClory had been a co-producer with Broccoli and Saltzman), and was based on limited rights granted to the Irish producer after a court case against Bond author Ian Fleming in the early 1960s. Never Again also marked the return to James Bond of Sean Connery and, according to Sir Sean in interviews he gave at the time, the title was inspired by his wife Micheline. She had reminded Connery that, after Diamonds Are Forever in 1971, he had sworn he would ‘never’ play Bond again!

Kevin McClory waited for 10 years after the release of Thunderball to exercise his remake option, and in the mid-70s announced to a surprised world that he had persuaded none other than Sean Connery to collaborate on McClory’s new unofficial Bond adventure, which saw its working title change from James Bond of the Secret Service to Warhead. At one point, McClory claimed that Orson Welles would play Blofeld and Trevor Howard would play ‘M’, and the epic film would be ‘Star Wars underwater’.

What eventually became Never Say Never Again in 1982-83 was much more limited in scope. Finance difficulties and arguments on the set forced a reluctant Connery to take a much more ‘hands-on’ role in the production. At first, the producers of Never Again contemplated releasing the film in the summer of 1983, in direct competition with EON’s own official Bond movie Octopussy, starring Roger Moore. The idea was perhaps to cash in on what the media had been claiming for months was a ‘Battle of the Bonds’. However, this plan was dropped and Never Again opened on 9 October, 1983, to rather mixed reviews. Many people had expected a gritty and ‘back to Fleming’ type of thriller (similar in tone to Quantum more recently), but Never Again seemed unsure of itself and lacked tension.

Despite this, McClory remained determined to produce yet another remake and, in 1997, eventually persuaded SONY this was viable. This led to a court case with MGM, and McClory’s dreams were dashed when SONY conceded defeat. He died on 20 November, 2006, aged 80, and a promised autobiography announced on his personal ‘Spectre’ website never materialised.

Although Never Again itself was an independent production, later studio mergers and film business dealings saw Never Again come under the control of MGM (MGM acquired distribution rights in 1997). Ironically, after further studio buyouts, MGM is now under the control of SONY. Interestingly, the original script for Warhead, which Connery co-wrote with spy author Len Deighton and Kevin McClory in 1975-76, recently sold at Christies Auctioneers in London for $68, 400.