Movies about the likely alcoholic British spy James Bond often feature all sorts of improbable and exciting driving and car stunts, including the first computer-modeled car jump, and that was using an AMC. As far as I know, though, there’s only been one example in a Bond movie – or, I think, pretty much any movie – where a human being actually has a fight with a van.
Of course, it’s not just any human who has a fight with a van: it’s the famous evil villain henchman named Jaws, known for his steel dental work and strangely superhuman-like strength. He seems sort of, slow, though, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard Jaws actually speak? He’s also the only Bond henchperson to survive one movie (1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me) and show up in another (Moonraker, in 1979).
Actually, it looks like he actually did have one line, in Moonraker, soon after he found a girlfriend and was enjoying champagne a mostly-destroyed space station of some kind:
Anyway, Jaws is a beast, and certainly well-suited for his career in henchpersoning. It’s not clear just why he’s so strangely strong or what orthodontic nightmare led to his peculiar dental appliance, but I do wonder about some of his choices. Which brings us to the famous scene I want to talk about today: Jaws’ fight with a 1970s British Leyland Sherpa 240 van.
The scene is from The Spy Who Loved Me, and involves Roger Moore as James Bond being kind of an unhelpful prick to KGB agent Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach, no known relation to composer Johann Sebastian Bach or seagull fan-fiction writer Richard Bach) as they both try to escape from an Egyptian construction site in a Telephone Service van, a British Leyland Sherpa 240.
Jaws, of course, doesn’t want them to escape, so he, um, beats up the van:
Jaws’ choices here are definitely peculiar: You’d think he’d try smashing a window or pulling a door open, but instead he seems to just want to hurt the van. Bending back the roof panel could have helped him gain access to the two intelligence workers, sure, but then he’s just peeling off fenders and punching holes in the side panels, seemingly to hurt the van.
The van gets some good licks in, though, backing into Jaws and squishing him up against a wall, but Jaws is quite undeterred and while the van finally escapes, he gets a parting shot in by tearing off one of the rear doors:
The scene both shows the toughness of the Sherpa, in the sense that it does manage to drive off, but also makes it seem sort of flimsy, as the body gets ripped to shreds by a big dude in a dress shirt, suspenders, and slacks.
The Sherpa itself was a good little van, generally, British Leyland’s attempt to compete with Ford’s hugely popular Transit. The problem was BL’s usual problem, that they were broke. So they needed to be clever, and really raid their parts bins to find a way to put together a competitive van on the cheap. According to the best British Leyland online resource, AROnline, the Sherpa included these parts-bin bits:
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JU underframe and axles
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J4 side panels and roof
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Marina 1.8-litre B-Series petrol engine plus an uprated 1.8-litre version of the old 1.5-litre B-series diesel
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Austin 3-Litre version of the C-Series gearbox, with an overdrive option
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Marina heater unit
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Mini exterior door handles
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Austin 2200 steering wheel
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Instrument nacelle from Marina van… and so on…
As the list suggests, there were even more parts-bin components used, which all saved a lot of time and money compared to having to develop new parts and subsystems. The design of the van was very practical, with minimal consideration given to aesthetics, but it ended up working more likely because of rather than in spite of the lack of styling attempts. It was a bit narrower than the Transit, which helped for navigating narrow streets, but it still had impressive load capacity.
Look at that red gas cap in that picture above, too. I kind of like it!
The Sherpa stuck its engine in front of the front axle, so it’s not really a cabover design, which, while a bit less space-efficient, helped make servicing easier and gave a bit more cabin room.
While it was never as successful as the Transit, the Sherpa remains one of the few vans to get worked over by a Bond villain, and that’s something, at least.
What a POSH accent in that one line!
Huh…Van.. Diesel I presume.
I just remembered that Alex Karas once fought a horse in a movie. Not a van, but still impressive.
The new Street Fighter movie trailer features the viscous destruction of a Lexus LS400. Seems to be a good popcorn action movie too. They had the entire cast on stage at The Game Awards to present an award.
You forgot the other part of the BL curse – building things for far longer than they should have been built. The last one (known by then as the LDV Pilot) rolled off the production line in 2005, and you could definitely tell it was a 30 year old design on a 50 year old chassis by that point.
The Spy Who Loved Me was my first Bond movie, and is directly responsible for my lifetime (unrequited) love affair with the Lotus Esprit.
What was awesome about the Jaws character was at the end of Moonraker, he helps Bond and at there’s a moment of mutual respect there. It’s implied that he and his new girl survive, and I always thought it would have been fun if Bond had crossed paths with him again in a later movie. Maybe not as a henchman again, but like bumping into him at an airport or on the street randomly, and there’d be a knowing nod from each before they go about their way.
I loved finding out (sadly, upon his death) that Richard Kiel was good friends with Roger Moore. Although if they picked each other up at the airport it would probably cause a few double takes.
He was great in the 80s comedy So Fine as well, where he really got to flex his considerable comedic chops.
As for Bond movies, the first one I saw was Goldfinger, and the first one in a theatre was For Your Eyes Only. Those movies sunk the hook in deep and I have been a fan ever since.
He had one of the funniest lines in Happy Gilmore.
“You can count. On me. Waiting for you in the parking lot.”
Vince Vaughn beats up a car in Brawl in Cell Block 99: https://youtu.be/HJ5fgyOmgms?si=KZtaQ9PcafRUvUOo. Not a Bond film, but the only other example I can think of.
No mention of Jaws can be made w/o mentioning the actor who portrayed him, Richard Kiel. While best known as Jaws his career was quite varied, from being on the classic “To Serve Men” episode of the Twilight Zone, to things like Gilligan’s Island, I Dream of Jeanie and My Mother the Car. Other movie credits include Cannonball Run II, Happy Gilmore and voice work in Tangled.
He was a car guy and did the work himself. His last fun car was a Scout II which brought him to the IH forum where we helped him work through making a number of fixes.
Sounds like he’s have liked The Autopian.
I agree.
And now I like Richard Kiel even more. Sounds like a really good guy.
For my money, Francisco Scaramanga was the most badass Bond villain, because he only needed one henchman, and that one henchman was a tiny dwarf who’s good at spotting planes.
Some of the most interesting Bond villains are the Bond doppelgangers – the shadowy versions of him who aren’t just masterminds in lairs, but guys out there doing the work themselves. Alec Trevelyan is another great one, though he had better help for sure.
He wasn’t fighting the van. He was making a salad.
Nathan Fillion, as Captain Hammer (“corporate TOOL!”), sort of fought a van in Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. In that he jumped on its roof, punched the radio control device the titular character was using to remotely pilot it, and stopped it to save Felicia Day.
Does that count as cinema though?
Peak cinema, in my book.
Necessity is the mother of inVantion
RIP Richard Kiel who also had a small part in Happy Gilmore.
“Well, here’s to us.”
If you want more car action, you need to go deeper into the Bond Catalog — you could try On Her Majesty’s Secret Service Department, Volkwagen Quantum of Solace, No Time to Daihatsu, Diamantes Are Forever, and the epic love letter to TVR, Tamora Never Dies.
This is so bad it humped the shark.
*golf clap*
I’m partial to The Man with the Holden Gun, myself.
I suppose they could use Nissans if they remade Live and Let Die, or Toyotas if they remade Tomorrow Never Dies.
Don’t forget From Marussia With Love and Nevera Say Nevera Again.
The Alfa Spider Who Loved Me
Die Another Daewoo
The Alfa Spider Who Loved Me
ah, a convertible enthusiast! What are your opinions on the epic duology of A Quantiac of Solstice followed by Saturn Skyfall?
Also the only vehicle to be named after a Tibetan/ Nepalese/Bhutanese semi nomadic tribal group. Who speak one of the worlds very few stand alome languages.The Sherpa Language is part of the southern branch of the Tibeto-Burman language mixed with eastern (Khams) and central Tibetan dialects. This language is separate from Lhasa Tibetan, and is unintelligible to Lhasa speakers. And anyone else who is not a Sherpa!
Ahem
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawasaki_Super_Sherpa
Good thing the Japanese didn’t get that far in the war or they’d have had their own code talkers.
I grew up with Rogee Moore as Bond, and Jaws was the most terrifying villain from the series.
Of course, now I look at it and think “Why not just, y’know, shoot him?”
Yeah, he was like John McClain, just kept on coming.
You’re thinking of John McClane. John McClain is my nephew. And yes his name wasn’t an accident.
I suppose next you’ll tell me it’s a Christmas movie.
Because he’d just catch the bullets with his teeth.
In the spirit of this: we need more “parts bin” vehicles.
There’s no reason that we need unique, model specific, HVAC controls for each model of vehicle (or, perhaps in modern terms, centre displays)
Isn’t badge engineering the ultimate expression of parts binning a vehicle?
I cannot disagree with that statement, the new Mitsubish Outlander PHEV with a Nissan badge slapped on it does fit that.
Though number of unique door handles, door latches, brake calipers, sway bar end links, shift levers and so on across single brands could be better- despite some of them being legitimate bolt-in replacements of each other.
Well infotainment displays, and their software are already brand wide in a number of vehicles. That is why you can change the splash screen on your Ford to pretty much any model they made in that year and occasionally a model that didn’t debut until the next model year.
Are we to believe the soles of Jaws’ dress shoes offered more traction on that dusty soil than the rear tires of the van? Nutso.
That’s the thing that spoils your suspension of disbelief in this scenario?