Reply With QuoteI often wondered why they ever used Timothy Dalton, Imo he just didn't do the character justice.
I often wondered why they ever used Timothy Dalton, Imo he just didn't do the character justice.
Originally Posted by Franky Four Fingers
He he was different, but I still think his two films are among the best of the Bond movies.
Always thought it a shame that George Lazenby only got the one opportunity. And Tim Dalton wasn't too shabby, either.
Lazenby quit himself after advice from his manager / agent!
Agreed there is some grit in his two, the Lazenby movie was very good though the car chase down the mountain should have used an Italian car rather than the silly American barge
I really like the latest films, but Sean is still top dog when it comes to Mr Bond
Totally agree. I saw one this week and was amazed how poor an actor he was!
I loved SC but I think PB run him a close second.
I can really only accept Connery as Bond.
The films were made in almost the contemporary period. He has the right amount of menace and looks like he could do you serious harm as opposed to the other nancy boys.
I think the new bloke comes closest but the modern films are just like extended adverts and so really tiresome.
Cheers,
Neil.
All of this.
F.T.F.A.
Yes, both of them did a decent job, and if Bond folklore is to be believed, neither lost the gig for poor-performance on screen, it was external factors.
I think Dalton played Bond with the same kind of grittiness that Craig is now pulling off successfully.
I think that in retrospect, Brosnon's films are the weakest - party due to the very weak storylines of that era. Roger Moore may have overplayed the jokiness, but there were some cracking stories/gadgets/locations/characters in that era, especially Live and Let Die, The Spy Who Loved Me, and Moonraker.
Quality
I was watching the second half of Licence to Kill over my weatypops this morning and came across the best bond gadget EVER.
Q is helping Bond in the field and is dressed as a road sweeper in a daft moustache, turns his broom upside down, pulls an antenna out of the bristles and then slides the binding apart to reveal a microphone for the broom-radio which he then talks into before chucking it into a hedge. Brilliantly awful!
Found a picture!
http://www.popularmechanics.com/cm/p...3-1012-lgn.jpg
Me too! I caught most of License to Kill this week. I was also amazed at how badly it had aged. At times it didn't feel like a Bond film - I just didn't feel that the playing happy families/attending Felix's wedding stuff was something the Bond character would do, even if it was the plot device to create the "now it's personal, going after the baddies" story.
For me, TD was never a good Bond.
I thought he was Bond as Bond was supposed to be... gritty and hard-worn - and always on the brink of something disastrous. I don't think the world was ready for it though - it was to much of a transition from the abomination that was Roger Moore.
Now we have Craig who - despite being a blonde midget - seems to have really nailed it.
Dalton possibly my favourite Bond I thought he was spot on. I also liked that it was a bit darker than previous Bonds.
Brilliant
Moonraker was a dreadful bond film.
Most of the later Moore films suffer because he is too old - and in particular the bond girl age disparity becomes almost cringeworthy.
It's not the worst Bond film though, that surely has to be Die Another Day.
Dalton suffered in The Living Daylights as it was really written for Moore. I actually like him in License to Kill and it felt a bit more like the early Connery in spirit rather than the quippy gadget-fest it had become with Moore. Which it became again with Brosnan.
Goldeneye excepted, for me also the worst Bond era was the Brosnan era, largely due to the increasingly absurd villains and stories.
I've never really like Bond movies seen them all over the years that is until Craig came along, in my mind he is far more realistic in terms of no attachment and a killer. Oddly my partner who is a psychiatrist favours Sean C for other reasons but believes Roger Moore is the best in terms of a workable Pyscopathic profile, which is most useful in that type of work. Not sure what she see's in me, guess I'm lucky.
Last edited by Naesuk; 22nd December 2014 at 16:19.
Connery will always be the iconic Bond and From Russia with Love is my favourite Bond film (probably because Robert Shaw is the best/hardest/coldest Bond villain IMHO - the only character who for me can actually rival Connery's stage presence).
However.....after buying and reading all the Fleming 007 novels about 10 years ago, I don't think that Connery is the closest to Fleming's character. Probably Lazenby/Dalton.
Going against the grain I think that Dalton was a very good Bond, and a pretty good actor too (more stage than cinema though). The image posted of all the Bonds....for me, Lazenby looks like how I'd imagine James Bond to be.
That's a misconception...Bond never liked to kill in cold blood (read 'The Man with the Golden Gun', last paragraph where it's just him and Scaramanga) and only did so when he had to. He was firstly a spy, not an assassin. As for no attachment, well, he did get emotionally attached to some of the females and even married one...
Btw - I liked 'Casino Royale' - best Bond film for a long time.
I watched Dalton in the Living Daylights last week, all set in the Soviet war in Afghanistan, Bond rescuing a commander of the Mujahideen!
Oh how times have changed....I quite like Dalton as Bond.
^ Coincidentally I watched that just last night. I went to Vienna last weekend so wanted to see how it looked in the film - where it served both as Vienna and Bratislava (with a few silly cyrillic signs to create the right impression, although Czech uses latin characters). I even went on the big wheel at the Prater park where Bond takes Kara. T'was built by a British engineer dontcha know.
Is it my imagination or is Brosnan wearing a Constellation in that pic?
the opening sceens are always amazing, i belive the best being Die another day.
One of my favourites too - I really liked Licence to Kill, especially.
I, too, can see lots of elements of Dalton's portrayal, especially in LtK, in the Craig Bond films, which I like (great opening car chase in QoS), but wonder if maybe they owe TOO much to Bourne...
M
Last edited by snowman; 22nd December 2014 at 18:16.
I always thought Sean Bean would make a good Bond.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
Double Oh Shixsh, you mean?
M
Problem is he would get killed as Bean always does, and that would never do for Bond
I believe that Lazenby was offered a 9 picture deal as Bond but refused, believing he would be typecast. His ego was greater than his talent. Dalton was quite good but the McClory lawsuit stopped further Bond production until 1992. Dalton was offered another shot for Goldeneye but felt he was too old at 49. Brosnan was offered the part after Roger Moore retired after a View to a Kill, but couldn't accept as he had Remington Steele contract obligations. He was quite bitter about it at the time.
A little known tidbit is that Jon Finch, the star of Hitchcock's Frenzy was offered the part of Bond in Live and Let Die in 1972, but turned it down as well. Maybe they thought the franchise had run its course. I'm a huge Bondophile, but even I wonder how long they can keep going.
The Bronson movies are unwatchable, closely followed by the Daltons. The Daniel Craig's get worse with each one; QoS was gibberish and Skyfall just awful
Not when you're about 10 years old! I remember the RM era very fondly and can overlook the cheesiness - probably because they were the first I went to see at the cinema.
BTW Much as I like DC, I think Clive Owen would've made a very good bond - he would've brought the right combination of grittiness and charisma - arguably more so than DC.
That may be true (although I do like The Great Escape), but this thread is about Bond movies ;-)
Lay off the crackers next year
Great pic.
I really liked Timothy Dalton as bond, I think he had the right balance of toff thug and the films were good. Pierce Brosnan looked perfect for the role and he was...but the films he was in were truly awful. They really put me off the franchise. Then Daniel Craig came along, although to me he certainly doesn't "look" Bond Casino Royalle is a fantastic film. And the others though not as good aren't bad
I grew up watching Connery and Moore so those two always spring to mind when I think of bond.
I grew up in Brosnan era and found it all too cheesy and contrived - but then most films around that time were!
I absolutely loved Casino Royale, the found QoS to be disappointing - trying far too hard and getting caught up in itself - and enjoyed Skyfall immensely (even with Judi Dench's M storyline hitting me rather hard because she reminds me of my mother).
I look forward to the next one - Sceptre is it?
I also find that movies I thought were wonderful as a child or teen do often age rather badly - it seems like they put in a lot more comedy into even quite dramatic films in the past than they do now. I saw Terminator 2 on the night screen lately and found it almost a little grating at times (still, fantastic film).
Last edited by Sara; 26th December 2014 at 13:40.
I watched Skyfall the other day. I was expecting to hate it after seeing the previous Bond film (Quantum of Solace was truly dire). However I really enjoyed it. He doesn't look like Bond but apart from that I thought it the best in a very long time.
I have to say though, every time I see Daniel Craig he reminds me of Callan not Bond !
Dave
He's a secret agent. Disguise is all in a days work.
Yep, I suppose the potato headed Vladimir Putin look is certainly a disguise !
The economist did a piece a few years back in comparing the different Bonds below...
and the link to the article: http://www.economist.com/news/books-...rent-you-think
I thought Casino Royale was well shot and one of the best Bond's. I also enjoyed Goldeneye - mainly because the Nintendo game tied in so well with the movie!
BROSNAN! His name's BROSNAN!!!!!!
Just watched Goldeneye where Bean was a 00 who turned villain.
Haha, doh! Edited.
Interesting thread. Surely one has to look no further than the author of the original tales to see the man that James Bond is?
How about Gerard Butler? He looks the part.
THIS IS SPAAAAARTAAA
If anyone is interested you can buy 22 Bond film boxset on blue ray at the moment from Play for £50. Very tempting .
I have that exact box set and it had a space for skyfall so that's in there now as well.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/James-Bond-F.../dp/B006PFCQR4
I will echo what's already been for me its
1) Moore
2) Connery
3) Brosnan
4) Craig
5) Dalton
6) Lazenby
Last edited by sonyman; 27th December 2014 at 01:46.
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