Dalton sheds far less tears than in TLD
Carey Lowell outscores d'Abo in almost every aspect!
I find the second half (when Bond goes to Afghanistan and particularly the toy soldier battle) from LTK far better
I have a weak point for everything showing the Florida keys
President of the 'Misty Eyes Club'.
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
I have voiced my love for LTK a number of times on here and will do so again! I'm baffled as to how anyone can call Sanchez and Dario boring villains. IMO Sanchez stands out as one of the greatest Bond villains, up there with Zorin, Red Grant, Goldfinger etc. Here is a villains that doesn't need to be OTT and Blofeld-esque. It was very refreshing to have a villain who was believable for a change after the 'I want to take over the world' villains of the Moore era. The fact that he is loyal to his henchmen make the character of Sanchez multi-dimensional and I have admitted a couple of times that I have felt sympathy for him when Bond started taking his organisation down from the inside.
Away from the villains, the Bond has a great soundtrack (including the title song and 'If I Asked You To'), the action scenes are top notch and if you prefer the grittier Bond movies then this should be sitting right near the top of your all time Bond films list!
I have to disagree personally with one of your points there. I think the soundtrack in this film is extremely bad in places, mainly the gunbarrel sequence...can't stand the music there, I just love it when it is the original bond theme with a slight edge to it eg. TND. I actually rank the score in this film to be the worst of any bond film.
Just my opinion. Feel free to argue
) I guess I just prefer the 80's sound of this film. I know some people will argue it sounds and looks dated but when I watch LTK I sit down and watch it as a Bond of the 80's, just like when I watch LALD I like the whole 70's vibe.
Don't worry anyway buddy, as AJB members we aren't meant to agree on everything. I personally have DAD way down at number 22 on my list, but you obviously find more to enjoy in it than I do. It's what makes this forum so interesting. It would be pretty boring if everyone put GF at number 1 on their lists ) -{
It's hard for me to explain. I love everyone's performances in LALD and just think it feels very authentic and genuine, I think this is because there is very little in the way of terrible rear projection shots and it just gives the impression that Bond is actually in every location in the film. I feel it is Guy Hamiltons best film and one of the most well made Bond films of them all.
....and the best he ever managed was a sermon on the mount.
I'm afraid that's one of the lowest on my list but LALD is my #4
But why? TMWTGG is the superiour flick!? :v
While I agree that TMWTGG is superior to LALD, I don't rank either of them high. Not because they are bad, mind you, it's just I enjoy others more. DAD, IMO, is more enjoyable than both. Britt Ekland just kills TMWTGG for me, I HATE her Mary Goodnight! And while Jane Seymour is one of the most beautiful Bond Girls, I just can't get past the voodoo crap in LALD. Again, kills it for me.
Back on topic, watched LTK the other night and subsequently demoted it 14 spaces to #21. The brutality, the head pop, The grinder, was just too much, made me queasy. First time I've had to apologize to my kids for a Bond Movie. Remember liking it when I was younger, but now....ugh.
I was wathcing LTK yesterday again for the first time in years.
It is strange, I love the literature Bond, OHMSS is one of my favourites and I love the first 5 Connery's. That is more or less my top 6.
However, despite that Dalton did his research and is portraying the classic Bond that I love, I just can't seem to like him or the movies very much. I want to mind you, but I just can not.
I thought TLD started nicely, but the end drags on a long time. I never fancied the Afghanistan scenes and i thought Maryam D'Abo was a boring Bond girl.
LTK had a great villain and it had Lupe, who is gorgeous. But, despite that Miami Vice is my favourite TV show of all time, I just can't like LTK too much either.
It is a mystery to myself: why do I, who likes the Flemming novels so much, prefer to watch Moonraker or TSWLM mor than to watch Dalton's movies?
Perhaps because if I want to look at the classics, which is 80% of the time, I go to the connery's and OHMSS. If I want goofy Bond, I turn to Moore.
Either way, Dalton is not my Bond. It is not that I cannot stand him. I can. But I really miss something in him that makes me like him as Bond. That I can imagine that this guy can get any girl and beat any crook.
However, despite that Dalton did his research and is portraying the classic Bond that I love, I just can't seem to like him or the movies very much. I want to mind you, but I just can not.
[...]
Either way, Dalton is not my Bond. It is not that I cannot stand him. I can. But I really miss something in him that makes me like him as Bond. That I can imagine that this guy can get any girl and beat any crook.
I think I may have said this before but I think Dalton's key weakness - and why the general public didn't really warm to him as Bond - is that he just isn't a "star" in the same way that Connery, Moore, Brosnan and Craig are. I was going to say that he lacks charisma but that's not quite right... he just lacks that certain indefinable x-factor that differentiates actors from movie stars.
I can try to present the argument objectively by looking at the careers of all the other Bond actors (we'll leave out Lazenby for the time being). Connery, Moore, Brosnan and Craig have all made their careers playing leading men either before their tenure as Bond (Moore, Brosnan & Craig) and/or after their tenure as Bond (Connery and Brosnan.) All of them have played a variety of leading roles. Dalton, by contrast, has never typically been cast as a leading man. He's had one or two starring roles outside Bond (notably Wuthering Heights) but his usual casting is as a villain or supporting character. He's a typical British character actor in the same mould as people like Alan Rickman, Jeremy Irons and Gary Oldman.
(I happen to adore his performance as Bond, by the way)
You might have a good point there. The missing of the X-factor. Than again, why the adoration for OHMSS? George had even less starpower (I am sure he would disagree.)
Maybe it is not really Dalton alone, but also the look of the movies. It just seemed that budget was halved for his movies. You can see it in the actors and the production design. I dont know. it is confusing still.
Maybe it is not really Dalton alone, but also the look of the movies. It just seemed that budget was halved for his movies. You can see it in the actors and the production design. I dont know. it is confusing still.
Dalton's movies were scaled to be like Dr. No, smallish, concise movies with a Fleming feel.
Not what the public wanted by then.
To the OP, it's definitely easy to understand why it isn't to your liking. You obviously don't hate the film, it's just not one you like to watch regularly. It'll pain you to hear me say this, since you're a Brosnan fan, but honestly, his films are the ones I watch the least, save for Goldeneye. Again, it's not because I think any of them are Bad, they just don't hook me like the others.
The film does have some questionable productions values. One of the things that gets me every time is how fake the money looks that Dalton has when he gets to Ithsmus City. It's about a peg and a half above giving Bond Monopoly money. Some of the acting is weak too. Talisa Soto is lovely, but she ain't getting an Academy Award. Grand L. Bush also isn't the best of choices and even Everett McGill, who I think is great in Twin Peaks, TPUTS, and Under Siege 2 comes across as wooden.
Someone mentioned that Felix was too old. I agree, but I found Hedison to be far superior as Felix than John Terry in TLD. Plus, Leiter loses his leg in the novel version of LALD, so it was an interesting bit of trivia to me that After having played him in the film version, Hedison's Leiter finally met the same fate. However, most of the acting is stellar, particularly from Dalton, Lowell, Davi, and Anthony Zerbe.
I guess what hooks me most about LTK is that they believably came up with a way to get Bond out of MI-6. Really, seeing his own wedding day replayed with Leiter is the only convincing way Bond would go rogue. You can practically hear Tracy screaming in his ear when he's walking through the aftermath of Leiter's house, and she doesn't stop until Bond looks at the flaming wreckage of the tanker that blew up Sanchez and breathes a sad sigh of relief that it's over.
To the OP, it's definitely easy to understand why it isn't to your liking. You obviously don't hate the film, it's just not one you like to watch regularly. It'll pain you to hear me say this, since you're a Brosnan fan, but honestly, his films are the ones I watch the least, save for Goldeneye. Again, it's not because I think any of them are Bad, they just don't hook me like the others.
The film does have some questionable productions values. One of the things that gets me every time is how fake the money looks that Dalton has when he gets to Ithsmus City. It's about a peg and a half above giving Bond Monopoly money. Some of the acting is weak too. Talisa Soto is lovely, but she ain't getting an Academy Award. Grand L. Bush also isn't the best of choices and even Everett McGill, who I think is great in Twin Peaks, TPUTS, and Under Siege 2 comes across as wooden.
Someone mentioned that Felix was too old. I agree, but I found Hedison to be far superior as Felix than John Terry in TLD. Plus, Leiter loses his leg in the novel version of LALD, so it was an interesting bit of trivia to me that After having played him in the film version, Hedison's Leiter finally met the same fate. However, most of the acting is stellar, particularly from Dalton, Lowell, Davi, and Anthony Zerbe.
I guess what hooks me most about LTK is that they believably came up with a way to get Bond out of MI-6. Really, seeing his own wedding day replayed with Leiter is the only convincing way Bond would go rogue. You can practically hear Tracy screaming in his ear when he's walking through the aftermath of Leiter's house, and she doesn't stop until Bond looks at the flaming wreckage of the tanker that blew up Sanchez and breathes a sad sigh of relief that it's over.
Very well put. I do respect the film in quite a few number of ways and can easily understand why people stand by it faithfully. It's not a bad film at all (no bond film is IMO) but yeah, the best way to put it is that this film doesn't hook me as much as the others apart from QoS. Both these films just don't feel so much like bonds to me..for very separate reasons and LTK's is a lot harder to explain.
....and the best he ever managed was a sermon on the mount.
I love licence to kill now. But I remember the negative audience reaction. People applauding during the gunbarrel and then silence til the end. At that point Bond movies were supposed to be fun escapist flicks but after a guy getting his heart cut out, a woman beaten..a wedding night implied rape and murder and felix fed to the sharks people weren't happy.... and when all the good humor came later with Q it felt out of place. I remember people saying the movie looked cheap and depressing and they had seen the drug dealer thing done to death. When the awesome tanker chase came up people were groaning..because you had just set up a depressing realistic Bond film then went Roger Moore on the audience and the super serious Dalton clashed with any camp going on. Same thing with Living Daylights..Dalton was so intense that when the scene on the cello case came which would have gotten Roger Moore laughs and applause from the audience..instead got boos and yeah right!!!! comments. There has to be a balance with the humor and that mostly comes from the actor. Moore pulled it off, Connery mostly did, Dalton did not. Pierce did at the beginning then seemed to lose interest. Craig I can't remember if he even smiled..still have QOS in my head.
The costumes and wardrobe though do make it look a bit dated though (80s clothes for you)!!!
It wouldn't have been considered dated in 1989 though )
I'm sure a lot of people then probably thought the oversized clothes were hideous, just as people thought about the shrunken Skyfall suits. It's not difficult to tell when something is so much of its time that it isn't going to hold up.
Comments
Dalton sheds far less tears than in TLD
Carey Lowell outscores d'Abo in almost every aspect!
I find the second half (when Bond goes to Afghanistan and particularly the toy soldier battle) from LTK far better
I have a weak point for everything showing the Florida keys
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
+1
Don't worry anyway buddy, as AJB members we aren't meant to agree on everything. I personally have DAD way down at number 22 on my list, but you obviously find more to enjoy in it than I do. It's what makes this forum so interesting. It would be pretty boring if everyone put GF at number 1 on their lists
...isn't mine.
Heh, didn't see THAT comin' eh?
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
I'm afraid that's one of the lowest on my list but LALD is my #4
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
While I agree that TMWTGG is superior to LALD, I don't rank either of them high. Not because they are bad, mind you, it's just I enjoy others more. DAD, IMO, is more enjoyable than both. Britt Ekland just kills TMWTGG for me, I HATE her Mary Goodnight! And while Jane Seymour is one of the most beautiful Bond Girls, I just can't get past the voodoo crap in LALD. Again, kills it for me.
Back on topic, watched LTK the other night and subsequently demoted it 14 spaces to #21. The brutality, the head pop, The grinder, was just too much, made me queasy. First time I've had to apologize to my kids for a Bond Movie. Remember liking it when I was younger, but now....ugh.
Given all the teen crap They make me watch.
It is strange, I love the literature Bond, OHMSS is one of my favourites and I love the first 5 Connery's. That is more or less my top 6.
However, despite that Dalton did his research and is portraying the classic Bond that I love, I just can't seem to like him or the movies very much. I want to mind you, but I just can not.
I thought TLD started nicely, but the end drags on a long time. I never fancied the Afghanistan scenes and i thought Maryam D'Abo was a boring Bond girl.
LTK had a great villain and it had Lupe, who is gorgeous. But, despite that Miami Vice is my favourite TV show of all time, I just can't like LTK too much either.
It is a mystery to myself: why do I, who likes the Flemming novels so much, prefer to watch Moonraker or TSWLM mor than to watch Dalton's movies?
Perhaps because if I want to look at the classics, which is 80% of the time, I go to the connery's and OHMSS. If I want goofy Bond, I turn to Moore.
Either way, Dalton is not my Bond. It is not that I cannot stand him. I can. But I really miss something in him that makes me like him as Bond. That I can imagine that this guy can get any girl and beat any crook.
1. Connery 2. Craig 3. Brosnan 4. Dalton 5. Lazenby 6. Moore
I think I may have said this before but I think Dalton's key weakness - and why the general public didn't really warm to him as Bond - is that he just isn't a "star" in the same way that Connery, Moore, Brosnan and Craig are. I was going to say that he lacks charisma but that's not quite right... he just lacks that certain indefinable x-factor that differentiates actors from movie stars.
I can try to present the argument objectively by looking at the careers of all the other Bond actors (we'll leave out Lazenby for the time being). Connery, Moore, Brosnan and Craig have all made their careers playing leading men either before their tenure as Bond (Moore, Brosnan & Craig) and/or after their tenure as Bond (Connery and Brosnan.) All of them have played a variety of leading roles. Dalton, by contrast, has never typically been cast as a leading man. He's had one or two starring roles outside Bond (notably Wuthering Heights) but his usual casting is as a villain or supporting character. He's a typical British character actor in the same mould as people like Alan Rickman, Jeremy Irons and Gary Oldman.
(I happen to adore his performance as Bond, by the way)
11- TB. 12- OP. 13- LALD. 14- TMWTGG. 15- FYEO. 16- YOLT. 17- TND. 18- QoS.
19- TWINE. 20- AVTAK. 21- MR. 22- DAF. 23- DAD.
Maybe it is not really Dalton alone, but also the look of the movies. It just seemed that budget was halved for his movies. You can see it in the actors and the production design. I dont know. it is confusing still.
1. Connery 2. Craig 3. Brosnan 4. Dalton 5. Lazenby 6. Moore
Not what the public wanted by then.
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
The film does have some questionable productions values. One of the things that gets me every time is how fake the money looks that Dalton has when he gets to Ithsmus City. It's about a peg and a half above giving Bond Monopoly money. Some of the acting is weak too. Talisa Soto is lovely, but she ain't getting an Academy Award. Grand L. Bush also isn't the best of choices and even Everett McGill, who I think is great in Twin Peaks, TPUTS, and Under Siege 2 comes across as wooden.
Someone mentioned that Felix was too old. I agree, but I found Hedison to be far superior as Felix than John Terry in TLD. Plus, Leiter loses his leg in the novel version of LALD, so it was an interesting bit of trivia to me that After having played him in the film version, Hedison's Leiter finally met the same fate. However, most of the acting is stellar, particularly from Dalton, Lowell, Davi, and Anthony Zerbe.
I guess what hooks me most about LTK is that they believably came up with a way to get Bond out of MI-6. Really, seeing his own wedding day replayed with Leiter is the only convincing way Bond would go rogue. You can practically hear Tracy screaming in his ear when he's walking through the aftermath of Leiter's house, and she doesn't stop until Bond looks at the flaming wreckage of the tanker that blew up Sanchez and breathes a sad sigh of relief that it's over.
Very well put. I do respect the film in quite a few number of ways and can easily understand why people stand by it faithfully. It's not a bad film at all (no bond film is IMO) but yeah, the best way to put it is that this film doesn't hook me as much as the others apart from QoS. Both these films just don't feel so much like bonds to me..for very separate reasons and LTK's is a lot harder to explain.
yes they should have left it uncut B-)
The costumes and wardrobe though do make it look a bit dated though (80s clothes for you)!!!
It wouldn't have been considered dated in 1989 though
I think its just the baggy suits
of those.
I'm sure a lot of people then probably thought the oversized clothes were hideous, just as people thought about the shrunken Skyfall suits. It's not difficult to tell when something is so much of its time that it isn't going to hold up.
Quick TP flog it in the Clothing & Memorabilia section! That stuff goes for a fortune!