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"The man we want is Emile Leopold Locque, an enforcer in the Brussels underworld. He's been convicted of several particularly brutal murders. He escaped from Namur Prison by strangling his psychiatrist. He has worked for drug syndicates in Marseilles and Hong Kong. Now reported working for Greek smugglers."
James Bond describing Locque[src]

Emile Leopold Locque was a Belgian henchman in the employ of Greek heroin smuggler Aristotle Kristatos. The secondary antagonist in the 1981 James Bond film, For Your Eyes Only, the character was portrayed by the late British actor, Michael Gothard, and also appeared in the comic adaptation by Marvel Comics.

Biography[]

Background[]

Emile Locque was an enforcer in the Brussels underworld. On January 31, 1975, after being convicted of several particularly brutal murders, he was sentenced to life imprisonment in Namur Prison, Belgium. During his incarceration, he escaped by strangling his psychiatrist and subsequently worked for drug syndicates in Hong Kong and France. It was at one of the syndicates he came to the attention of a Greek drug smuggler named Aris Kristatos, who soon recruited Locque into working for him.

Hunted[]

In 1981, Locque is first encountered by James Bond at a private estate in Madrid, Spain. The enforcer is delivering payment to Cuban hitman Hector Gonzales for the murder of marine archaeologist, Sir Timothy Havelock and his wife. Suddenly, Havelock's vengeful daughter, Melina, hiding in nearby bushes, shoots Gonzales in the back with a crossbow. As Bond escapes and chaos ensues, Locque keeps his calm, simply sighing to himself that Gonzales did not have much time to enjoy his ill-gotten gains, taking back the case of money and taking advantage of the bedlam to make a quiet getaway. Returning to London, Bond attempts to discover the identity of the man paying off Gonzales using Q Branch's Idenigraph system; a computer-like device which assembles a phantom photo of a person by selecting characteristics from a variety of lists including hair color, hair style, nose form, style of eyeglasses etc. Q behaves like a composite artist, assembling the profile on a computer (though he has trouble at first, giving the suspect an extra long nose like Pinocchio, causing Bond to remark "a nose, not a banana,Q!". Finishing with Locque's distinctive steel rimmed, octagonal glasses, Bond confidently states "That's him. That's our man." The Identigraph then connects with police computers, and prints out a headshot of Locque. Q also notes that he was recently sighted in Italy.

Assassination Attempts on Bond[]

For Your Eyes Only - Locque and his men hunt Bond in Corsica

Locque and his men hunt James Bond in Cortina.

Arriving in the Italian ski resort of Cortina, Bond attends a biathlon event with Aris Kristatos' protégée, Bibi Dahl. Observing Bond leave the biathlon course, and sensing an opportunity to kill him, Locque signals for enforcer Claus and his accomplice to cut him off. Meanwhile, his fellow henchman, Erich Kriegler, attempts to snipe Bond from the slope above. Bond manages to evade the mercenaries and escape to the relative safety of the Olympic ski jump.

Following him, Locque and Claus enter a lift with Bond. It is here that Bond notices the dove pin attached to Locque's lapel. At the top, the pair split up - Locque preventing Bond from retreating back and Claus preparing to kill him on the way down the 90-meter Olympic ski jump. At the same time, Kriegler arrives at the base of the jump and prepares to snipe Bond. With no other option available, the spy is forced to use the slope, brawling with Claus and subsequently escaping.

Locque returns later and kills Luigi Ferrara, Bond's Italian contact. As Ferrara waits for Bond to return from his discussion with Bibi, Locque slits his throat. Attempting to further frame Kristatos' rival, Milos "The Dove" Columbo, he leaves a white dove lapel pin in the dead man's hand. Having discovered the body, 007 travels to Corfu to find out more about The Dove.

For Your Eyes Only - Locque kills Lisl

Locque murders Lisl von Schlaf

After Bond spends the night with Columbo's mistress Lisl von Schlaf, Locque and his men attack Bond and Lisl as they stroll along the beach. Using dune buggies, Claus and an unnamed driver force Lisl into the path of Locque's vehicle. She is killed instantly much to Bond's agony. Seconds later Claus clips Bond with his buggy and holds him at gunpoint. He orders him into Locque's vehicle, but is struck in the back by a harpoon shot by one of Columbo's men emerging from the sea. In the confusion, Locque quickly accelerates away.

Downfall and Death[]

For Your Eyes Only - Bond kills Locque

James Bond kicks Locque's car over the edge of a cliff.

"You left this with Ferrara, I believe."
James Bond to Locque[src]

Under the cover of darkness, Bond accompanies Columbo and his crew on a raid at one of Kristatos' opium-processing warehouses in Albania. Locque is overseeing a shipment of raw opium smuggled in enormous rolls of newsprint. Columbo's men begin to open fire and Bond cautiously pursues the fleeing Locque into the warehouse, uncovering naval mines similar to the one that sank the St. Georges, suggesting it was not an accident. As his men provide cover, Locque wires explosives to one of the mines, taking the detonator with him to a nearby escape car. Bond notices the explosives and they narrowly escape the building before it violently explodes.

Recovering from the explosion, 007 sees Locque's car pulling away and gives chase on foot. After intercepting Locque at the summit of the hill, he shoots the enforcer in the shoulder, causing him to lose control of the vehicle. Though not killed by the gunshot, his car is left hanging precariously over the edge of the cliff.

Approaching the tottering car, Bond holds up the dove pin which the Locque left on the body of Ferrara. He returns it to its rightful owner, tossing it through the passenger window at him, and as the ground begins to give way, 007 coldly kicks the car over the edge, sending Locque to his death on the jagged rocks at the bottom of the cliff.

Alternate Continuities[]

For Your Eyes Only (Marvel)[]

To be added

Personality[]

Locque is a sly and vicious assassin who is tasked with the more convenient work of Kristatos' intricate business. He delights in his work, showing no remorse for the people his killed. However, when he realizes his own life is endangered, he does show fear and screamed when James Bond kicked his car over the edge to his death.

Behind the Scenes[]

British actor Michael Gothard, who plays the character, was actually the one who suggested Locque's signature octagonal glasses in an effort to make the character more menacing, yet keep a sense of refinement. This worked well, giving an air of intelligence to the cold-blooded persona of Locque.[1]

Locque does not say a single word throughout the entire film, except a cry of pain when Bond shoots him and a scream when his car goes over the cliff. In the ski resort he can be seen speaking to his radio transmitter, but the conversation is drowned out — the only telltale sign of speech is that his lips are moving.

Roger Moore was reluctant to film the scene of Bond kicking Locque's car over the edge of a cliff, saying that it "was Bond-like, but not Roger Moore Bond-like."[2] Producer Michael G. Wilson later agreed that such a scene was akin to the ham-handed bravado of action heroes of American films such as Chuck Norris or John Rambo, as opposed to the British Bond films, where enemies are often dealt with in a "cleaner" manner, and persuaded Moore to have Bond be more ruthless than Moore normally felt was appropriate.[3] Wilson also added that he and writer Richard Maibaum, along with director John Glen, toyed with other ideas surrounding the scene, but ultimately everyone, even Moore, agreed to do the scene as originally written.[2] Consequently, Locque is the only person Moore's Bond did not kill in an active fight or self-defence (but as a payback for the murders of Ferrara and Lisl).

Seven years later, a similar scene would be shot in the film License to Kill. A turncoat villain, Ed Killifer, would find himself in a similar life-or-death situation after a fight with Bond, being suspended over a shark tank. Like Locque, Ed Killifer had caused harm to an ally of Bond. A main difference is that the villain and his underlings, rather than Killifer himself, were the ones to hurt Bond's friend, and Killifer felt unease at what transpired, whereas Locque seemed to control his emotions until the literal last minute of his life. Another main difference was that the underlings of Franz Sanchez were often hotheaded and did their hurting out of anger or thrillseeking, whereas Locque expressed his sadism in an aloof and detached style. Killifer, however, was more loquacious than Locque, offering Bond $2 million if he let him live.

Another similarity was that both men shouted at their pending dooms, but Locque's was from defenestration, whereas Killifer fell into a marine tank and screamed as he was now a meal for the shark. Yet another comparison was that Bond threw objects at both men which were related to hurting others, but in this case the object thrown was a briefcase full of the bribe money. Unlike the car kicking (as the dove pin was too light to make much impact), the suitcase in and of itself was thrown with sufficient force to cause Killifer to lose his balance. Killifer's death as opposed to Locque's could be surmised as more "Bond like", with Bond dryly remarking "You earned it, you keep it, old buddy."

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. Glen, John (2000). For My Eyes Only. Potomac Books, 113. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 Inside For Your Eyes Only. For Your Eyes Only – Ultimate Edition, Disk 2: MGM Home Entertainment.
  3. (2001) Kiss Kiss Bang! Bang!: the Unofficial James Bond Film Companion. Batsford Books, p.137. ISBN 978-0-7134-8182-2. 

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