| “ | Oh, leave the legs free. They'll make appetizing bait. | „ |
| ~ Kristatos as he's about to feed Bond and Havelock to the sharks. |
Aristotle "Aris" Kristatos is the main antagonist of the 1981 James Bond film For Your Eyes Only. He is a Greek smuggler who was hired by the KGB to obtain the ATAC device.
He was portrayed by Julian Glover, who also played General Veers in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back, Walter Donovan in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Aragog in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Pycelle in Game of Thrones.
History[]
Background[]
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.
Meeting Bond at Cortina[]
Sent to Cortina on his search for 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 is introduced to Kristatos.
Bond meets Kristatos at the Olympic ice rink, as well as his niece Bibi Dahl, a young ice-skating 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 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 Ferrara take their leave, he fails to shake Ferrara'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 opportunity to kill Bond. Though Bond eventually separates from Bibi, his men are unable to kill the agent. Kristatos eventually has Ferrara killed by Locque, and by leaving a dove pin on the body, makes it seem like it was Columbo's work.
Greece[]
Kristatos shows Bond who Columbo is.
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 opportunity 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 conversation 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 opportunity 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 on following Lisl, Kristatos tells him to take his car. However, once Bond is gone, he calls Locque and tells him to kill them both.
Revealed as a villain[]
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 who's smuggling heroin. To prove that he tells the truth, Columbo proposes that they break into Kristatos' 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.
Kristatos eagerly awaits Bond's death.
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 choosing. 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 drowning However, Bond and Melina dive down and bind tie the rope around a rock, eventually severing it. Realizing 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.
Exchange at St. Cyrils[]
Columbo tries to wrestle the ATAC from Kristatos.
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 realizes 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. Ultimately 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 is killed after Columbo lunges his knife into his back.
Meanwhile, Bibi demands from Kristatos to know where Jacoba is, believing that Kristatos has harmed or killed her. Fed up with the behavior 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 realize that he did survive. While Bond engages in a fight with Kriegler, Kristatos takes the ATAC 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.
Gallery[]
