Best Bond- Timothy Dalton?

chrisisall

Was Timothy's take on Bond the best of all?
Emotional, intense, the earmarks of a man on the edge- the antithesis of an uncaring and cool-at-all-times soldier that expects to live forever.
To me, Tim's Bond was in the moment, all or nothing. Daniel's Bond follows the same pattern, in some ways IMO.

Thoughts?

Thunderpussy

Yes, -{

Dalton did a great job and IMHO got the closest yet to the Bond of the novels.
He even resembles Bond on the covers of some of the 50s paperbacks. )

Higgins

No, the worst 8-)

Golrush007

Timothy Dalton was arguably the closest Bond to the man in the novels, but that doesn't automatically make him my favourite Bond. I personally would place him after Connery and Craig in my list of favourite Bonds. I would say Dalton and Brosnan are tie for the third spot.

Although he does bring a greater sense of Fleming to the part, I find Connery and Craig more compelling cinematic characterisations. I celebrate what Dalton did with the character, but one problem is that in my opinion he only made one really good film (The Living Daylights), and even that falls short of classic Bond status. And Licence To Kill is one of the weakest Bond films in my opinion.

Higgins

Besides my beef with his misty eyes (I know that some fan (boy)s just don't see them 8-) ), I really don' understand statements that Dalton was the closest to Fleming.

I never see him as confident as Connery or Lazenby, Roger was very confident and cool in the role as well and so was the IF Bond.

Dalton seems to me always a bit uncomfortable, never really relaxed and confident - some may say that he puts the split character and all his inner conflicts on the screen - can't find too much from this in the Dalton performances.
He always appeared like a desperate schoolboy to me

Sir Miles

Bondtoys wrote:

I never see him as confident as Connery or Lazenby, Roger was very confident and cool in the role as well and so was the IF Bond.

Really ? I have read EVERY Bond novel and I wouldn't describe Fleming's Bond as being 'confident'...Fleming's Bond is riddled with self doubt....he projects confidence to others so that they trust him and trust IN him...but I wouldn't have described him as a confident person.

I suppose everyone has their own take.

For me...I thought Dalton was a fantastic Bond and would have loved him to do a few more -{

Moore Than

Not the best but a very worthy Bond. In terms of looks and physicality he was very good. The same applies generally to the serious aspects of the character, but there were odd occasions where he would overact or overreact. His weakness was in the lighter side of Bond, and it was not just the one-liners. Take the wedding scenes and aftermath in Licence To Kill, he never appeared truly happy and relaxed to me, it seemed forced.

zaphod

Dalton for me is the closest yet.He should be even more feted than he is as never has a great Bond been served so poorly by both direction and script. This is true of Brosnan and oft cited, but Brosnan even at his best was never going to be able to deliver anything like as good a Bond as Dalton on an off day. The biggest disappointment to date that he was unable to do more ( although Lazenby not doing more runs it a close second in the 'what might have been stakes')

DEFIANT 74205

As a Fleming purist, I think Dalton's Bond is the closest portrayal to Fleming's Bond out of all the actors who have played Bond so far - perhaps on par with Connery's first two films (before the Bond film "formula" started to take hold in Goldfinger). I definitely rate Dalton as one of the best Bonds, although whether he was one of the best actors to have played Bond might be a different story (to my mind, that honour belongs to Sir Sean Connery). But his interpretation of the Bond character is damn near spot on.

77007

Worst. Couldnt care less about the books, Fleming's Bond, or whatever else people see in him. Bad films and bad Bond.

zaphod

77007 wrote:

Worst. Couldnt care less about the books, Fleming's Bond, or whatever else people see in him. Bad films and bad Bond.

You seem to have a particular talent/propensity for being unnecessarily dismissive and borderline rude. I have no problem with disagreement and particularly when underpinned by reasoned arguement, after all if we all agreed this would be a very dull place, but your tone on occasion seems designed to inflame.

chrisisall

77007 wrote:

Worst. Couldnt care less about the books, Fleming's Bond, or whatever else people see in him. Bad films and bad Bond.

I am somewhat puzzled by this statement. When such a large percentage of fans of the same series of movies as yourself rate an actor and/or the movies he's appeared in as at least 'good,' while a significant percentage of those will also go on to rate the actor as 'excellent,' issuing such a blanket statement to the extreme opposite seems, on the surface, illogical. Perhaps it is an emotional reaction to a subconsciously perceived similarity between the actor an a person from your past you had a negative experience with, or maybe the actor's movie came out at a point in your life when you were going through some emotional turmoil, and you associate him & his movies with your feelings from those times. It is also possible that you simply do not appreciate his style of acting, mannerisms, voice, etc, but this would not explain your apparent overreaction to the topic at hand.
Can you expand on "bad Bond" please? It might shed some light on this for any of us who are interested. A discussion of opinions is always preferable to simplistic labeling.

Higgins

Ah, so- if someone ( like you) starts around 100 threads just to praise Dalton and his movies and finds some followers here, he's logical.

If someone disagrees he's aggressive and illogical?

You feel yourself to be in good company because 2 handful people here on the board agree with you but that's not the real world and not the entire Bond community.

chrisisall

Bondtoys wrote:

If someone disagrees he's aggressive and illogical?

No, YOU disagreed with me

No, the worst 8-)

and you were neither aggressive nor illogical. I detected no negative emotion in that response, merely opinion.
And I didn't ask you to elabourate because I remember you have no fondness for misty eyes. )

Hey, seriously, this is all in fun, okay? I've NEVER had such a good time discussing Bond movies before!

Polar Bear 0007

Bondtoys asked for the thread and got it ) )

Having said that, Roger Moore is my fav. although Dalton's Bond is closest to Fleming's in my opinion.

chrisisall

Polar Bear 0007 wrote:

Bondtoys asked for the thread and got it ) )

What next? Best Bond- Roger Moore?
)

BW, watching TSWLM right now... :007)

GordoLeiter

Best Bonds that were close to the novel version - Connery,Lazenby,Dalton,Craig
Best Bonds that were not close to the novel version - Moore and Brosnan
Worst Bond of all time - Barry Nelson,Woody Allen

zaphod wrote:

77007 wrote:

Worst. Couldnt care less about the books, Fleming's Bond, or whatever else people see in him. Bad films and bad Bond.

You seem to have a particular talent/propensity for being unnecessarily dismissive and borderline rude. I have no problem with disagreement and particularly when underpinned by reasoned arguement, after all if we all agreed this would be a very dull place, but your tone on occasion seems designed to inflame.

Dude he's intitled to his own opinions. Its not like he's attacking people personally on here.

Dalkowski110

GordoLeiter wrote:

Worst Bond of all time - [...]Woody Allen.

I agree with this, even within the context of CR '67, yet, I actually take it a step further. David Niven and Peter Sellers didn't write their own dialogue, at least. Woody Allen did, however, and therefore bears more responsibility for ruining any single character named "James Bond" played by said individual than anyone else. Considering I like most of Woody Allen's early stuff, that's also saying quite a bit...

chrisisall

GordoLeiter wrote:

Dude he's intitled to his own opinions. Its not like he's attacking people personally on here.

Yeah, I was just being goofy with my Spock-like response to that, trying to diffuse tension with levity, and, as usual, creating more tension by misadventure...
Some day I'll realize that I'm just not that funny.

I can't help but wonder what Brosnan would have been like in a movie like Licence To Kill... would he have had the same single minded intensity that Dalton summoned up? I think he would have, given the chance. He displayed a bit of that in TND when he dispatched Paris' killer. Eh, but then the dopey chuckle as he 'returned' the rental car. 8-) I gotta blink when I watch that.

GordoLeiter

Ive been wondering how it would have been like if Moore stayed as Bond for LTK and TLD, supposedly they were meant to be for him before he decided to retire from the role saying his "age was showing." Connery's age was showing in DAF but no one gave a rats ass

Moore Than

GordoLeiter wrote:

Ive been wondering how it would have been like if Moore stayed as Bond for LTK and TLD, supposedly they were meant to be for him before he decided to retire from the role saying his "age was showing." Connery's age was showing in DAF but no one gave a rats ass

Roger retired shortly after A View To A Kill. The script for The Living Daylights was written for a non-specific Bond actor as they did not know who it would be. Sam Neill and Pierce Brosnan both screen tested before Timothy Dalton was announced. No doubt, the script was then adapted wherever possible to suit Dalton.

Roger was just about the last in the era of the older leading man which stretched back to the 1950's. Age was not such a factor then compared to now, the physical stakes especially are so much higher these days. As a Roger fan I am obviously grateful he starred in those seven Bond films, but even he acknowledges it was probably one too many.

Thunderpussy

So long as Whatever Actor is Playing Bond. Cares about Fleming and goes back to the Novels
to find the character and give it their own slant, that has to be a good thing. -{
The rest of us can then discuss it to death for years to come. )

BIG TAM

Whoever came after Moore had to do his own thing. Dalton, an actor respectful of the written word wisely decided to go to the novels for inspiration. Dalton's the unsung hero of the franchise for me. True, his stage skills do sometimes cause him to be a bit theatrical, but on the whole I'd rather this than no effort made at all. He exudes a Byronesque quality about him in THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS & at times he's the Angel of Death incarnate in LICENCE TO KILL. Brosnan gets all the plaudits for supposedly saving a dwindling franchise. Piffle. It's Dalton who deserves the kudos.

Moore Than

BIG TAM wrote:

Whoever came after Moore had to do his own thing. Dalton, an actor respectful of the written word wisely decided to go to the novels for inspiration. Dalton's the unsung hero of the franchise for me. True, his stage skills do sometimes cause him to be a bit theatrical, but on the whole I'd rather this than no effort made at all. He exudes a Byronesque quality about him in THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS & at times he's the Angel of Death incarnate in LICENCE TO KILL. Brosnan gets all the plaudits for supposedly saving a dwindling franchise. Piffle. It's Dalton who deserves the kudos.

Well, it could be said Roger Moore deserves the plaudits/kudos because he proved you did not have to be a Sean Connery clone to be a success as James Bond. The series could survive and thrive without Connery. Roger's different and successful interpretation paved the way for those that followed him, including Timothy Dalton.

Regardless, I think all the Bond actors deserve the plaudits, even George Lazenby. Their varying interpretations are a major contribution to the series success.

Watchers Film Show

I love him... but we're biast - he's welsh and he's our Welsh Bond!!
Living daylights average at best - but he was awesome and Licence To Kill is one of my all time favorite bond films!!!

Thunderpussy

All the Best Bonds are either Scottish, Irish or Welsh. -{
( that should go down well ) )
and good luck on your Bond-a-thon Watchers Film Show.

FelixLeiter ♀

I do enjoy Dalton being more like the Fleming Bond. I think Dalton is excellent in TLD. I know many don't like his handling of humour and though I think there could have been a tad more in TLD, I personally like how it is approached. In LTK I enjoy Bond as the rogue agent and I think Dalton plays this aspect well, but a lot of the time I find it a weak performance. It isn't a great film and he's let down by the script some of the time too. It also lacks the already small amount of humour present in TLD.

I can't say Dalton was the best Bond but more than any of the others, I'd have really liked to see him do just one more film. I don't know what he'd have done with it as his performance in TLD and LTK are so different IMO, but I think that given a good script it would have been really interesting.

chrisisall

Watchers Film Show wrote:

Living daylights average at best

I can't make any reasonable argument that TLD is a masterpiece or anything, but it's one of my top 5 favourite Bonds, along with LTK! -{

Thunderpussy

After AVTAK, it felt like a Masterpiece at the time. )

FelixLeiter ♀

Thunderpussy wrote:

After AVTAK, it felt like a Masterpiece at the time. )

) In comparison it certainly is!

The only positive thing I can say about AVTAK is that TLD lacks a proper villain, whilst IMO Zorin was great, what with being an actual psychopath!

Thunderpussy

I thought Zorin was a Great villain although Many here seem to think he wasn't
that hot. Different folks and all that.
Much as I enjoyed Sir Roger as Bond after years of Back projection etc. To finally
see the actor playing Bond Hanging off the landrover, was so exciting. Although I do
agree TLD didn't have a Great villain, Just a Great Bond. :007)