The HMSS Editor's Survey of the James Bond Film VillainsHer Majesty's Secret Servant
Special Section -- A Delectation of Evil -- HMSS Celebrates the Bond Film Villains

HMSS.com ROBERT COTTON
Kristatos is a special character. He's the first villain in the series to actually work WITH James Bond. I like this character quite a bit. By his actions he creates a completely believable situation for Bond toJulian Glover as Aristotle Kristatos -- click to enlarge work within. He also, and I cannot stress this accomplishment enough, he also manages to plant the seeds of mistrust in our infallible hero to the point that Bond's greatest ally since Draco and Kerim Bey has to prove himself to Bond. I've tried hard to avoid acting comments in this piece, but Julian Glover is one of the best Shakespearean actors there is, and he brings incredible ease to Kristatos, lulling us as he lulls Bond into believing his stories. Although the story doesn't hold up, Kristatos does.

Locque is a rewrite of Vargas from Thunderball, sans the bon vivant personality .


BILL KOENIG
This is my favorite Roger Moore movie but Julian Glover´s villain is middling at best. I give him a "B" (and I´m being generous).
TOM ZIELINSKI
Aristotle Kristatos - I'm not quite sure how to rank this villain…an improvement over the previous two films, but that is damning with faint praise.  Working for the KGB, Julian Glover's Kristatos is attempting to acquire the British submarine tracking system ATAC, a MacGuffin of the first kind.  Perhaps the more serious offense, Kristatos also seems to have his sights on the under-age Lynn-Holly Johnson.  Kristatos is bland, vanilla, and forgettable.  Interestingly "Blofeld" is killed in the PCS.  Perhaps Kristatos should have gone down the smokestack instead.

Emile Locque - I don't think the character says a word throughout, but Michael Gothard projects the appropriate menace.  His most memorable scene is being pushed over the cliff by Roger Moore's Bond, one of the absolute best sequences in the series.

JAMES McMAHON
Aristotle Kristatos - Nicely lifted from the Fleming short story, Risico.  Julain Glover's a good actor and well used here.  He's not at all exaggerated, as befits this more human scaled story, the best of the Moore era.
ED WERNER
For roughly the first half of this film, the audience is unaware of who the villain actually is. The plot line leads one to believe that it is Columbo. However, as events unfold, you find out that it's Aris Kristatos who is the baddie here. This really is not too much of a surprise, because Topol, who plays Columbo, is such a likable character even when he tries to be a bad ass. On the other hand, Julian Glover exudes the cocksure attitude of someone who knows exactly what he's doing and will stop at nothing to get what he wants. At this point in the series, Roger Moore is just beginning to look a little long in the tooth, so the fact that Kristatos looks to be in his 60's is really not something that one can gripe about. Glover plays the part of the Bond villain quite well and is probably the best of the Moore era heavies.
PAUL BAACK
Aristotle Kristatos is really the first "regular person" Bond villain, and is kind of a nice change from the previous parade of Nehru jackets. A weaselly little drug-running common criminal, he also operates in the outer orbits of the espionage racket, and lucks into acquiring a nice bit of British military technology, which he plans on selling to the KGB. Julian Glover gives Kristatos a ragged sense of dignity, which nicely ties into his attempting to buy into respectability by sponsoring an Olympic ice skater. He's a lesser, but still worthy addition to the rogue's gallery.

Michael Gothard as Locque -- click to enlargeEmile Locque is actually a pretty cool henchman. One gets the feeling that he's an even bigger fish than his boss, but is such a total professional that he carries out his coolie labors without complaint. "Without complaint" hell -- he doesn't speak one word in the entire movie! An incongruously boyish haircut and octagonal granny glasses give him a sufficiently creepy look.

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