Aristotle "Aris" Kristatos (Αριστοτέλης Κριστάτος) is a Greek smuggler and intelligence informant who appears in the Ian Fleming short story Risico and the 1981 film, For Your Eyes Only. The role was played by Julian Glover.
Film biography
Background
Aris Kristatos comes from the island of Kefalonia. Generally regarded as a hero for his bravery in World War II and the Greek Civil War, which the British government awarded him the King's Medal, Kristatos was actually a double agent during both conflicts. Though he appeared to be a respectable businessman in the years thereafter, he was in fact a heroin smuggler and a Soviet agent. He developed a bloody feud with Milos Columbo, a rival smuggler. He is in union with rogue Nazi supporters who have aided him in smuggling gold, drugs and other supplies out of Britain. In the film, he is hired by General Gogol to obtain the British device ATAC, which controls Polaris missiles.
The ATAC
While operating in the Ionian Sea, the British spy ship St. Georges is sunk by an old mine hauled up in its fishing nets. The ship was equipped with ATAC (Automatic Targeting Attack Communicator); a device which controls and co-ordinates Britain's nuclear submarine fleet. Marine archaeologist, Sir Timothy Havelock, is hired by the British Secret Service to locate the wreck of St. Georges. In a bid to steal the ATAC and deliver it to the Soviets, Kristatos has Havelock murdered by Cuban hitman Hector Gonzales; attracting the attention of James Bond and Havelock's vengeful daughter Melina.
Meeting Bond at Cortina
Sent to Cortina on his search for his henchman Locque, Bond meets with Italian MI6 agent Luigi Ferrara. The man tells him that he set up a meeting with Kristatos, who could possibly help them.
Bond meets Kristatos at the olympic ice rink, as well as his niece Bibi Dahl, a young iceskating champion who is tipped to be a future Olympic gold medalist. Kristatos introduces them to Bibi and her trainer. Bibi then asks Kristatos whether Bond can accompany her skiing later, and Kristatos persuades Bond, telling him that he would feel better knowing that someone was with her. After Bibi has left, Bond hands Kristatos a picture of Locque and asks whether Kristatos knows the man. Kristatos identifies him as Locque and tells Bond and Ferrara that he is the right hand man of Milos Columbo. Kristatos tells the both agents about his and Columbo's past, stating that they were once close as brothers. He also tells them that Columbo's alias is The Dove. When Bond and Ferrera take their leave, he fails to shake Ferrera's hand, deeming the man too unimportant.
While Bond is skiing with Bibi, he is watched by Locque and Kristatos' henchman Erich Kriegler, who are waiting for an oppurtunity to kill Bond. Though Bond eventually seperates from Bibi, his men are unable to kill the agent. Kristatos eventually has Ferrera killed by Locque, and, by leaving a dove pin on the body, makes it seem like it was Columbo's work.
Greece
Bond meets Kristatos again at a casino in Greece. There, he tells Bond that he has been thinking about why Bond wanted to know about Locque. Knowing that Locque works for Columbo, who is a heroin smuggler, Kristatos tells Bond that he has deduced that Bond is from the British Narcotics Board and Bond leaves him in this fallacy. Sensing the oppurtunity to get rid off his opponent, Kristatos tells Bond that he might have to kill Columbo to stop him. Pointing at a different table, he shows Bond Columbo, who is been sitting there with his mistress Lisl von Schlaf. Unbeknownst to both of them, their coversation is by Columbo.
When Columbo seemingly insults his mistress, causing her to make a scene and leave the club, Bond tells Kristatos that this might be an oppurtunity to get information. Kristatos responds that it might be a trap, secretly worried that Columbo might have staged it to make contact with Bond. When Bond insists to follow Lisl, Kristatos tells him to take his car. However, once Bond is gone he calls Locque and tells him to kill both.
Revealed as a vilain
- "You have shot your last bolt, Miss Havelock!
[to a henchman] Oh, leave the legs free. They'll make appetizing bait." - ― Kristatos oversees preparations for the keel-hauling.
While being attacked by Locque and Claus, Bond is saved by Columbo's men, who kill everyone except Locque, who escapes. Columbo's henchmen then bring Bond to Columbo, who reveals that Kristatos lied to him. All Kristatos said about Columbo was actually about himself - Locque works for him, he is working for the Russians and he is the one to smuggle heroin. To prove that he tells the truth, Columbo proposes that they break into Kristato's warehouse at Albania at night, the warehouse where he is storing his heroin. There, Columbo is proven right. During the ambush, the warehouse is blown up and Locque is killed by Bond.
When Bond, who with Melina's help has found the wreckage of the ship containing the ATAC, dives down there to get the ATAC, a silent alarm is triggered that tells Kristatos that there are intruders down at the ship. He sends a henchman in a special diving suit, which can be used even in high pressure, who attacks Bond while Bond defuses the mechanism that would lead to the ATAC's destruction. However, Bond is able to defeat him and blows him up with the explosive that was previously rigged to the ATAC. When Bond and Melina get back to the surface, they find that Kristatos and his henchman have taken over their ship. Kristatos thanks them for disarming the device. When Bond tells him that the MI6 will double whatever the Russians are paying him, Kristatos tells him that he never goes back on a deal, as this would hurt his reputation. Kriegler then tells Kristatos that he will deliver the ATAC to the KGB and return with the money, but Kristatos states that their deal was that he would turn the ATAC over at a location of his chosing. He tells Kriegler that he will deliver it to the KGB at St. Cyrils, a clifftop monastery. To get rid of Bond and Melina, he ties them together and binds them to the rear of his yacht, dragging them behind through the water, planning for them to get eaten by the sharks or impaled on the corals. However, Bond and Melinda dive down and bind tie the rope around a rock, eventually severing it. Realising that Bond got free, Kristatos tells the captain to turn the ship around to run them down. To evade death, Melina and Bond dive down to a site where Melina dived earlier and use the air canister she left there to stay underwater long enough to make Kristatos believe that they died.
Death
To find out where this St. Cyrils, of which Kristatos spoke earlier, is located, Bond meets with Columbo, which is a remote monastery on a high clifftop at Greece. Awaiting the arrival of General Gogol, Kristatos is furious when he realises that his niece, Bibi, seems to have grown to despise him. Thinking that her trainer Jacoba Brink turned her against him, he tells Jacoba that he will deal with her as he deals with everyone who betrays him, before storming out of the room. Planning a bigger future, Bibi and Jacoba plan their escape, but Kristatos finds out. While she tries to get out, Jacoba stumbles upon Bond, Columbo and his man, who have arrived at the monastery to get the ATAC back. Ultimatly betraying Kristatos for Bibi, she leads the intruders to the guard chambers, where they overpower Kristato's men, and tells them where Kristatos is.
Kristatos gets knifed by Columbo.
Meanwhile, Bibi demands from Kristatos to know where Jacoba is, believing that Kristatos has harmed or killed her. Fed up with the behaviour of his niece, he hits her. Hearing the arriving helicopter of General Gogol prevents him from harming her further. However, before the helicopter lands, Bond, who has been in a fistfight with one of Kristatos' men, falls through the window into the main room, causing Kristatos to realise that he did survive. While Bond engages in a fight with Kriegler, Kristatos takes the attack and flees outside, to hand it over to Gogol. Kristatos rushes towards the helicopter, but is attacked by Columbo. While on the ground, Kristatos drops the ATAC and tries to reach it, but Bond picks it up before him. Melina then arrives, aiming her crossbow at him but Bond talks her out of killing the defenseless man. While Bond talks to her, Kristatos draws a knife planning to kill Bond but Columbo lunges his own knife into Kristatos' back, killing him.
Henchmen & Associates
Behind the scenes
Julian Glover had been shortlisted as a possible Bond for Live and Let Die, eventually losing out to Moore.[1] Producer Michael G. Wilson stated that "when we first thought of him he was too young, and by the time of For Your Eyes Only he was too old.[2] Glover would go on to appear opposite previous Bond Sean Connery, A View to a Kill actress Alison Doody and The Living Daylights actor John Rhys-Davies in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, as Nazi sympathiser Walter Donovan.[3]
Gallery
References
- ↑ Barnes, Alan; Marcus Hearn (2001). Kiss Kiss Bang! Bang!: the Unofficial James Bond Film Companion. Batsford Books.
- ↑ Inside For Your Eyes Only. For Your Eyes Only – Ultimate Edition, Disk 2: MGM Home Entertainment.
- ↑ McFarlane, Brian. Glover, Julian (1935–). Screenonline. British Film Institute. Retrieved on 21 August 2011.
See also