James Bond’s Tastes: A View To A Kill

The 1985 film “A View to a Kill” took the title only from an Ian Fleming short story entitled “From a View to a Kill” in the collection For Your Eyes Only (1960), which was the basis for a never-filmed James Bond TV series (as well as another movie title). The short story’s plot contains no references to Bond’s food and drink, but the film, which used nothing from the short story plot, begins in Siberia (filmed in Iceland) with Bond on a ski mobile escaping assassins in a helicopter, which he destroys with a flare gun and is then picked up by a submarine breaking through the ice. Inside is gorgeous MI6 agent Kimberly Jones, whom Bond plies with a tin of sevruga caviar and a bottle of Stolichnaya.

Returning to London with a sought-after micro-chip, 007 goes the Ascot Race Track, dressed in appropriate garb with M, Moneypenny and Q, where he meets wealthy government contractor Max Zorin (Christopher Walken; originally David Bowie was cast)), who plans to destroy Silicon Valley with the microchip—something about knocking out all the world’s communications—and his panther-like henchwoman May Day (Grace Jones). M then sends Bond to Paris where he meets Detective Achille Aubergine over dinner at the Jules Verne restaurant within the Eiffel Tower, where the detective sips vichyssoise and Bond has foie gras en brioche . He shows off his connoisseurship by tasting and easily identifying the wines as Bollinger ‘75 and Château Lafite Rothschild ’59. By this time in the Bond film series Bollinger Champagne was paying the producers for product placement after the first few films when Bond drank either Moët or Taittinger (the latter was 007’s favorite in the Fleming novels).

The restaurant, located on the second floor of the Tower, was recreated for the scene because it was not usable to shoot in. The restaurant’s interior was by Aline Asmar d’Ammam. Under Chef Louis Grondard, was one of the most expensive in Paris. Alain Ducasse would later become chef in 2007.

Suddenly May Day appears, kills Aubergine and leads Bond on a chase all over the Eiffel Tower from which she escapes by parachute and lands on one of the Bateaux Mouches tourist boats on the Seine. Bond jumps off the Pont Alexandre III bridge to land on the boat.

Zorin, who is a very similar character to Auric Goldfinger, is holding a horse auction at his palatial estate at the Château Chantilly outside Paris, dating back to 1560 in Picardy, covering 10 hectares and containing masterpieces by Poussin, Tintoretto and Titian. There, Bond, along with his assistant Sir Godfrey Tibbettt (Patrick McNee) meets the beautiful geologist, Stacy Sutton (Tanya Roberts; originally to be played by Priscilla Presley), and they drink Bollinger Champagne together. Bond infiltrates Zorin’s laboratories. It turns out Zorin is an ex-KGB agent funded by the Russians and now gone rogue. Zonin kills Tibbett and attempts to kill Bond.

Bond follows Zorin to San Francisco and meets with CIA agent Chuck Lee, posing as a fishmonger at Fisherman’s Wharf, Pier 39, strolling past Fisherman’s Grotto and Castagnola’s restaurant. He also visits Stacey at her estate Dunsmuir-Hellman set on 50 acres in Oakland, built by Alexander Dunsmuir for his bride in 1899.

Bond then investigates a nearby oil rig owned by Zorin, and discovers KGB agent Pola Ivanova recording conversations while her partner, Klottoff, plants explosives on the rig. Klottoff is caught and killed by Zorin’s guards, but Ivanova and Bond escape. Bond had switched recorded tapes with one of Japanese music.

Bond finds out that Zorin is trying to buy Stacey’s family oil business. May Day kills Lee at Stacey’s home, and Zorin kills Stacey’s boss. They trap Bond and Stacey in an elevator between floors, and set fire to the building in an attempt to frame them for the murder and then kill them. Bond carries Stacey down a fire truck’s ladder and flee from the police in a fire truck to Zorin’s mine, where they find Zorin’s plan is to blow up the lakes long the Howard and San Andreas fault lines that would cause Silicon Valley to flood.

Bond fights May Day but after Zorin abandons her, she helps Bond remove a bomb that she rides on a minecar but it explodes and kills her. Zorin abducts Stacey on a blimp, which Bond manages to moor on the Golden Gate Bridge. Stacey joins Bond out on the bridge, where Zorin follows with an axe. Bond and Zorin fight and Zorin falls into the Bay.

Russian general Gogol awards Bond the Order of the Lamb for foiling Zorin’s plot.