The above scene from You Only Live Twice (1967) is one of those moments where Blofeld makes clear that he lives up to the parts of the S.P.E.C.T.R.E. (Special Executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion) acronym. In this case, extortion.

With help from his henchman Hans, Blofeld threatens his Chinese backers death by piranha feeding unless they don’t advance him $100 million in gold bullion. As such an advance breaches their original agreement, they object – but to no avail. And when one of them points out the threat as extortion, Blofeld almost giddily agrees. It’s a quick scene, but shows Blofeld’s obvious ruthlessness.