You Only Live Twice is the fifth film in the EON Productions James Bond series and the fifth to star Sean Connery as British Secret Service agent Commander James Bond 007. After its release in 1967, Connery stepped down from the role, leading to the hiring of George Lazenby for 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service; Connery later returned officially, one last time, in Diamonds Are Forever (1971). This is the first Bond film to be directed by Lewis Gilbert, who later directed 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me and 1979’s Moonraker, both starring Roger Moore.

Plot summary: An American spacecraft is hijacked from orbit by a carnivorous space craft; a similar fate befalls a Soviet spacecraft later on. With each country thinking that the other is the cause of its loss, the world is thrown to the brink of World War III. The United Kingdom’s government, however, believes the spacecraft landed in the Sea of Japan, thus suspecting Japanese involvement. The pre-title sequence depicted James Bond faking his murder in Hong Kong, allowing Bond more freedom to operate. He is sent to Japan to investigate the British suspicion, in conjunction with the Japanese secret service leader “Tiger” Tanaka.

At a Tokyo sumo wrestling match Bond contacts Tanaka’s assistant Aki, who takes him to meet with a local MI6 operative, Dikko Henderson. Henderson claims to have critical evidence for the rogue craft originating in Japan, but is murdered before he can reveal it. Bond kills the assailant and steals his identity. He is brought to their headquarters, which turns out to be Osato Chemicals. Once there, Bond breaks into an office safe of the Japanese corporate head, Mr Osato, and steals some documents after triggering the alarm.

As Bond flees, Aki picks him up in her car. However, Bond becomes suspicious when she avoids his questions and flees to a secluded subway station. When Bond chases her, he falls through a trapdoor and slides into Tanaka’s office. After identifying each other, they examine Bond’s documents. The main item of interest is a tourist photograph of a cargo ship called the Ning-Po and a microdot on it containing a message that operatives “liquidated” the tourist who took the photo as a security measure.

Interested in what was worth killing for in that photo, Bond investigates the company’s dock facilities and discovers that the ship was delivering liquid oxygen, an oxidiser for rocket fuel; the document used the term LOX, which Bond states is an American name for smoked salmon, providing a convenient cover. Together, Bond and Tanaka learn that the true mastermind behind this is Osato’s boss Ernst Stavro Blofeld and his organization SPECTRE.

After the spies learn from surveillance photos that the Ning-Po unloaded its cargo overnight at the island, Bond investigates the area in the air with Little Nellie, a heavily armed autogyro. While in midflight and having no luck finding the SPECTRE base, Bond is attacked by four armed helicopters, but he destroys them all. Preparing to conduct a closer investigation of the island, Bond trains with Tanaka and his ninja force. Tanaka suggests that the best disguise for Bond is as a Japanese fisherman. Pretending to live with Aki as her husband, Bond narrowly escapes being poisoned by an assassin, who kills Aki instead after she and Bond shared a passionate night together. Bond receives training in Japanese culture and stages marriage to Tanaka’s student, Kissy Suzuki.

James Bond with Kissy Suzuki.

To make matters worse, Bond and Tanaka learn that the US has moved up their next space mission, which means it may be hijacked by SPECTRE and a world war will likely be triggered before they can stop the plot. However, they gain a major clue when Kissy mentions that a local woman had just mysteriously died after rowing her boat into a cave in the area where Bond’s aerial battle took place.

Bond and Kissy set out on a reconnaissance mission into that cave and discover that SPECTRE has a secret rocket base hidden in a hollow volcano. Bond slips in through the crater door, while Kissy returns to alert Tanaka. Bond locates and frees the captured Soviet and American astronauts, and with their help, he steals a spacesuit in attempt to infiltrate the SPECTRE craft (code named “Bird One”). Before he can enter the craft, however, he mishandles the air conditioning unit of his suit and is caught. Kissy has her own difficulties when she is sighted and attacked by SPECTRE guards in a helicopter, but she uses her considerable experience as a pearl diver to hide underwater long enough to trick her pursuers into thinking that she drowned. Bond is taken to Blofeld for interrogation, while Bird One is launched with the backup astronaut aboard.

Soon after, Kissy leads Tanaka’s troops to the crater entrance, but are detected and attacked by the sentry guns. Bird One closes in on the American space capsule and US forces prepare to launch a nuclear attack on the USSR. Bond asks for a cigarette, which conceals a small rocket. Killing the guard next to the crater hatch controls, Bond manages to open the door and allow in Tanaka’s troops to storm the base. In the course of the fighting, the control room is evacuated, and Bond, who has in the meantime rejoined Tanaka and Kissy, proceeds to the control room, where there is a destruct switch for the spacecraft. After fighting Blofeld’s bodyguard, Hans, Bond manages to get the destruct key from him and detonates Bird One, seconds before it reaches the American craft.

The Americans stand down after learning their spacecraft is safe. Blofeld escapes along a secret passage, but before leaving he activates the base’s self-destruct system. Bond, Kissy, Tanaka, and the surviving ninjas escape through the tunnel which Bond and Kissy had previously investigated. Safe from the now erupting volcano, the survivors board air-dropped lifeboats, and Bond is personally picked up by M to hand in his report.

See also:

• You Only Live Twice: Film - Cast
• You Only Live Twice: Film - Crew
• You Only Live Twice: Film - Goofups
• You Only Live Twice: Film - Locations
• You Only Live Twice: Film - Soundtrack
• You Only Live Twice: Film - Trivia