SMALL SPOILER FOR FIFTH ELEMENT**
I thought this was a particularly charming idea in Fifth Element, although I didn’t notice it until someone pointed it out. Bruce Willis’ character (Korben Dallas) and Gary Oldman’s character (Zorg) never actually see each other, and they don’t even communicate once. I don’t think Korben is even aware of Zorg.
I started trying to think of any other examples of this last night and couldn’t. So I turn to you guys. Other movies like this?
Well, Nobody saw Ernst Stavro Blofeld’s face in the first several James Bond movies (and Bond himself never physically came into his presence) until 1967’s You Only Live Twice, even though Blofeld was the Prime Mover behind the mayhem in every Bond movie up until that point (except for Goldfinger). Although it must be admitted that Bond did meet the other villains in each film.
So the Bond-doesn’t-meet-Blofeld movies are:
Doctor No
From Russia With Love
Thunderball
President Muffley and Premier Kissov in Dr. Strangelove?
“I’m calling about the bomb, Dmitri… the bomb… the hydrogen bomb…”
I think it would be hard for him to be completely unaware - the taxi company he works for is owned by Zorg.
The closest thing to a bad guy in that movie, though, is AF General Jack Ripper. The president never meets or sees him, either – but the closest thing to a good guy is RAF Group Captain Lionel Mandrake, who does.
Then in For Your Eyes Only, the camera never shows his face in the opening scene.
Yes, but he has no idea that Zorg is the one trying to hurt Lelu, does he? Or that he is trying to get the stones? Basically Zorg is a faceless entity to him. It would be like being laid off by IBM.
I’m sure this discussion has come up a couple of times, and Enemy at the Gate is always held up as an example or near-example as well.
Ed Tom and Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men, if you accept Ed Tom as the good guy rather than Llewellyn Moss.
In The Truman Show, director Ed Harris can see Truman anytime he wants, but Truman never sees the guy controlling his destiny, does he?
The Mexican crime boss in Man on Fire and Denzel Washington’s character never see or meet each other, I think.
True, but Bond not only meets him, he pats him on the head*. And he definitely sees his face.
*In On Her Majesty’s Secret Service Bond and Blofeld have a knock-down drag-out fight. That was an anomaly – Bond and Blofeld otherwise never got physical. In For Your Eyes Only they never touch. In Diamonds are Forever, Bond apparently fights Blofeld and apparently dshoots him, but those are revealed to be doubles. He later does bash the poor guy up, but Blofeld’s in his minisub and Bond’s in a crane, and they can’t even see eavh other.
Bond never meets Blofeld in the non-Eon film Never Say Never Again, too. Althopugh, again, he gets to beat up Largo in this remake of Thunderball.
Come to think of it, in the first three **Star Wars[/B[ movies made (#4-6 chronologically), only Luke, out of all the Good Guys, ever sees The Emperor.
IIRC, the only time that Luke Skywalker sees Darth Vader in the first (fourth) Star Wars movie is when Vader fights Obi-Wan Kenobi – but he never gets to interact with him at all.
Zev Steinhardt
All the President’s Men
True, unless you count Vader’s TIE fighter chasing Luke’s X-wing and firing at him during the trench battle.
In Star Trek’s The Space Seed, Kirk meets Khan. But in the movie, they only interact on screen and with phasers.
In Patton, Rommel puts a lot of effort into trying to understand Patton the general and the man, but of course they never meet.
Right. But Vader wasn’t chasing Luke’s X-Wing because he was the hero. He was chasing him because he was just another rebel. It’s not so much a hero vs. villian fight as it is a villian vs. some-guy fight.
Zev Steinhardt
Correct me if I’m wrong, but ISTR that no one ever caught up with or met the assassin in Day of the Jackal.
Run Silent, Run Deep
Tora, Tora, Tora