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Roger Moore returns for his fifth outing as James Bond. After the silliness of Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only makes an effort to dial down the franchise’s more comic-book qualities. After an unceremonious pre-title demise of long-time supervillain Blofeld, For Your Eyes Only achieves that goal, but it struggles to forge a unique identity for itself. With yet another villain seeking nuclear power and a rehash of skiing and underwater stunts from previous films, For Your Eyes Only feels like warmed-up leftovers. Julian Glover makes for a mediocre baddie, while Carole Bouquet plays another beautiful but dull Bond girl. Lynn-Holly Johnson is more interesting as a precocious young figure skater whose sexual appetite surprises even Bond.

One of the film’s highlights is when Bond and Bouquet’s character are dragged behind a boat through dangerous coral reefs by Glover. Bill Conti temporarily takes over the scoring duties from John Barry, and Sheena Easton sings the title song. It’s a dated little ditty, but I still dig it. The film marks the directorial debut of John Glen, who served as editor and 2nd unit director on previous films in the series. He would go on to direct the next four Bond films.

With Topol, Cassandra Harris, Jill Bennett, Lois Maxwell, and Desmond Llewelyn.

Oscar Nomination: Best Song (“For Your Eyes Only”)