Sometimes I wake up in a cold sweat wondering about the logistics of the infamous hockey “action” sequence in For Your Eyes Only. Was disguising the assassins as hockey players really necessary, or did someone genuinely decide that attacking Bond on skates was tactically superior to simply bringing guns? Then there’s the question of the scoreboard operator – who is this sick man that thinks he’s god? Would the same scorekeeper have awarded the opposing team a goal if Bond had been tossed into the net instead, and what exactly happens if everyone ends up unconscious and there’s a tie?
And just when the scene seems to have reached peak absurdity, a Zamboni enters the equation and Bond somehow casually slams into the final hockey player and hits him into the net as well. A most reasonable conclusion imaginable for the scene, right? I can accept plenty of outrageous moments in a Bond movie, but the For Your Eyes Only hockey sequence firmly belongs in the fringe category for me.

