Bond films that have not aged well/are dated

MilleniumForce

Which Bond films haven't aged well? This could be down to anything in the film. Here are some:

Thunderball The effects used - such as back projection and sped up footage - makes most of the early films look dated, but it hits this one the hardest.

The Spy Who Loved Me/For Your Eyes Only Both for the same reason - soundtrack.

Die Another Day If a movie like Moonraker was made in 2002, this is it. Bad CGI, bad title song, and Bond is doing things like surfing that were shoehorned into the film.

Jarvio

TND when Dr Kaufman is holding a VHS tape

Absolutely_Cart

Moonraker. Zero gravity special effects are no longer jawdroppingly impressive and it has no other real legs to stand on either.

Thunderpussy

I'm a Bond fan ( fanatic) so far from seeing the negative " Dated", I prefer to
See them as Products of their time. {[] a classic remains a classic, it will
Always be rediscovery by following generations.
I love the Sherlock Holmes films and don't find them dated, sadly forever looking
For faults in something ( or someone) you love, can't be healthy. Like old friends
I look forward to watching them again every chance I get. -{ I can't wait for the
Rank the most Dated moments in Bond thread.

chrisisall

To ME, the main thing that dates any film is the soundtrack. Fashions of clothing change, cars get redesigned, skirts get short & long, but a timeless score guides us through. Saturday Night Fever is a movie ABOUT disco, so it makes sense that it has a disco score. But FYEO? Parts of TSWLM? Sorry- that's just unacceptable IMO. Barry gave us timeless, lush orchestrated scores. Compare his score for MR to the two films surrounding it. 8-)
Serra's score for GE, as bizarre as some may find it, doesn't immediately date it at least.

Barbel

Thunderpussy wrote:

I'm a Bond fan ( fanatic) so far from seeing the negative " Dated", I prefer to
See them as Products of their time. {[] a classic remains a classic, it will
Always be rediscovery by following generations.
I love the Sherlock Holmes films and don't find them dated, sadly forever looking
For faults in something ( or someone) you love, can't be healthy. Like old friends
I look forward to watching them again every chance I get. -{ I can't wait for the
Rank the most Dated moments in Bond thread.

Totally agree with you, TP, except that there wouldn't be just one "Rank The Most Dated Moments In Bond" thread- there's be one for the 60s, one for the 70s, one for the 80s.....

Thunderpussy

Anyway Connery will still be as cool in 2365 as he was in 1965 -{
Style never goes out of date ! {[]

Blackleiter

chrisisall wrote:

To ME, the main thing that dates any film is the soundtrack. Fashions of clothing change, cars get redesigned, skirts get short & long, but a timeless score guides us through. Saturday Night Fever is a movie ABOUT disco, so it makes sense that it has a disco score. But FYEO? Parts of TSWLM? Sorry- that's just unacceptable IMO. Barry gave us timeless, lush orchestrated scores. Compare his score for MR to the two films surrounding it. 8-)
Serra's score for GE, as bizarre as some may find it, doesn't immediately date it at least.

Agree 100% about the scores. Barry's scores never grow old, but the others seem to date rather quickly (LALD and FYEO are good examples).

chrisisall

Blackleiter wrote:

Agree 100% about the scores. Barry's scores never grow old, but the others seem to date rather quickly (LALD and FYEO are good examples).

I dunno, LALD's score was fairly well orchestrated & devoid of musical tropes of the day IMO.

Moore Than

chrisisall wrote:

Saturday Night Fever is a movie ABOUT disco, so it makes sense that it has a disco score. But FYEO? Parts of TSWLM? Sorry- that's just unacceptable IMO. Barry gave us timeless, lush orchestrated scores. Compare his score for MR to the two films surrounding it. 8-)

Well, Bond 77 is perfectly acceptable to me. In fact, it is brilliant, IMO. Even after all these years and countless viewings it still gets the old pulse going while watching the epic PTS of The Spy Who Loved Me. Marvin Hamlisch's score is worthy of all but the very best of John Barry's. Moonraker being one of them along with You Only Live Twice and On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

chrisisall

Moore Than wrote:

Well, Bond 77 is perfectly acceptable to me. In fact, it is brilliant, IMO.

Y'know, for the tone of the film I suppose it was a perfect fit now that I think on it a bit.
Still, most of Conti's work was incredibly lightweight for such a serious film IMO.

Manxman

Oddly, the most dated film for me is Goldeneye — very unwise to make (then-cutting edge) dial-up internet technology a central feature of the plot.

walther p99

Manxman wrote:

Oddly, the most dated film for me is Goldeneye — very unwise to make (then-cutting edge) dial-up internet technology a central feature of the plot.

I think it would look dated even for 1995, sometimes it looks like a TV movie.

Moore Than

chrisisall wrote:

Moore Than wrote:

Well, Bond 77 is perfectly acceptable to me. In fact, it is brilliant, IMO.

Y'know, for the tone of the film I suppose it was a perfect fit now that I think on it a bit.
Still, most of Conti's work was incredibly lightweight for such a serious film IMO.

Bill Conti's score is one of the weakest of the series. An example being Runaway that detracts somewhat from the ski chase sequence, in contrast to Bond 77. Having said that, the title song is very good, also the gunbarrel theme, and tracks such as Run Them Down/The Climb.

broadshoulder

Moore Than wrote:

Bill Conti's score is one of the weakest of the series. An example being Runaway that detracts somewhat from the ski chase sequence, in contrast to Bond 77. .

You are entitled to your opinion.

But Runaway is an excellent tune as the fleugal horn solo and the entrance to the Greek monastery.

chrisisall

FYEO is such a great movie that even Conti can't make me not watch it.

Matt S

I love FYEO, and I love Bill Conti's score. But I hate them together. The score dates the film a little, but I think Marvin Hamlisch's score dates TSWLM even more. The music is also great, but I find that it really dates the film. The LALD score, like Moore's other non-Barry scores, sounds dated, but it sounds dated in a different way that makes it seem okay.

MilleniumForce

Matt S wrote:

I love FYEO, and I love Bill Conti's score. But I hate them together. The score dates the film a little, but I think Marvin Hamlisch's score dates TSWLM even more. The music is also great, but I find that it really dates the film. The LALD score, like Moore's other non-Barry scores, sounds dated, but it sounds dated in a different way that makes it seem okay.

+1 {[] My thoughts exactly.

Firemass

Moore Than wrote:

Well, Bond 77 is perfectly acceptable to me. In fact, it is brilliant, IMO. Even after all these years and countless viewings it still gets the old pulse going while watching the epic PTS of The Spy Who Loved Me. Marvin Hamlisch's score is worthy of all but the very best of John Barry's. Moonraker being one of them along with You Only Live Twice and On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

I'm not a disco fan, but I love Hamlisch's score for TSWLM. I actually used to feel bad for John Barry, because Hamlisch outdid him at his own game.

Although, now I view Moonraker as potentially superior to TSWLM for having a classic John Barry score and stronger main villain.

As for the score of FYEO….well, it's just one of many serious problems with that film.

---

The most dated Bond film might be Casino Royale for all the close-ups of his old-school cell phone. That was un-wise to draw that much attention to his clunky dumb-phone as if it was a timeless gadget that we would all have for years to come.

Thunderball would be another contender for its sexism, lengthy underwater battles, and "frantic" fight on the Disco Volante.

For the most part, I find Bond films to hold up pretty well, with only minor miscues here and there. I mean, did you hear how close they were to making a Lazenby a long-haired hippie Bond to try and stay current? )

M 'n' M

Personally, I think the thing that tends to date "all" films is dodgy effects - such as the speeding up the film (the awful scene on the Disco Volante), standard back screen effects when driving and things like the appalling CGI in DAD (remember, it looked terrible at the time). Beyond that, films just become from another time - but not necessarily "dated" - eg I wouldn't describe Casablanca, North by Northwest, The Ipcress File, Jaws etc as dated, just made in a different time

All of which brings me back to one of the major thumbs up for the Bond films - using REAL stunts. The boat leap in LALD, the car twist in TMWTGG, the ski jump in TSWLM, all the free falls, etc etc. They don't date because they're genuine.

Firemass

M n M wrote:

All of which brings me back to one of the major thumbs up for the Bond films - using REAL stunts. The boat leap in LALD, the car twist in TMWTGG, the ski jump in TSWLM, all the free falls, etc etc. They don't date because they're genuine.

Three cheers for the stuntmen. Pure quality. -{

Barbel

I don't mind CGI if it's used sparingly, to augment a scene rather than create it. Eg, to hide safety harnesses/ropes/etc during a scene set high up a mountain or whatever.

AlphaOmegaSin

M n M wrote:

Personally, I think the thing that tends to date "all" films is dodgy effects - such as the speeding up the film (the awful scene on the Disco Volante), standard back screen effects when driving and things like the appalling CGI in DAD (remember, it looked terrible at the time). Beyond that, films just become from another time - but not necessarily "dated" - eg I wouldn't describe Casablanca, North by Northwest, The Ipcress File, Jaws etc as dated, just made in a different time

All of which brings me back to one of the major thumbs up for the Bond films - using REAL stunts. The boat leap in LALD, the car twist in TMWTGG, the ski jump in TSWLM, all the free falls, etc etc. They don't date because they're genuine.

Nothing will ever top the Stunts of the older Bond Outings -{ Real Stuntmen risking there Lives for there Art.

MilleniumForce

AlphaOmegaSin wrote:

M n M wrote:

Personally, I think the thing that tends to date "all" films is dodgy effects - such as the speeding up the film (the awful scene on the Disco Volante), standard back screen effects when driving and things like the appalling CGI in DAD (remember, it looked terrible at the time). Beyond that, films just become from another time - but not necessarily "dated" - eg I wouldn't describe Casablanca, North by Northwest, The Ipcress File, Jaws etc as dated, just made in a different time

All of which brings me back to one of the major thumbs up for the Bond films - using REAL stunts. The boat leap in LALD, the car twist in TMWTGG, the ski jump in TSWLM, all the free falls, etc etc. They don't date because they're genuine.

Nothing will ever top the Stunts of the older Bond Outings -{ Real Stuntmen risking there Lives for there Art.

Definitely - real stunts would always look good, and make scenes like the surfing in DAD look terrible.

I still think Bond 77 and the soundtrack for FYEO are quite dated. That type of music isn't used in films anymore, and ages the film. However, I do like it, especially the version of the Bond theme when Bond gets caught on the beach before he's taken to Columbo.

broadshoulder

MilleniumForce wrote:

[

I still think Bond 77 and the soundtrack for FYEO are quite dated.

He's entitled to his point of view; but don't kick off when someone moans about Goldeneye

Blackleiter

chrisisall wrote:

Blackleiter wrote:

Agree 100% about the scores. Barry's scores never grow old, but the others seem to date rather quickly (LALD and FYEO are good examples).

I dunno, LALD's score was fairly well orchestrated & devoid of musical tropes of the day IMO.

Call me an old curmudgeon (that's what most of you guys think anyway! )), but the score to LALD sounds like 70s TV show music to me. Like T.J. Hooker or Mannix!

Thunderpussy

I'd just like to point out that TJ Hooker was an 80s TV show.

Blackleiter

Thunderpussy wrote:

I'd just like to point out that TJ Hooker was an 80s TV show.

You expect me to remember things like that?!!! I'm old, dammit! )

Thunderpussy

) , I always remember that Shatner had some great " Hair" as TJ.

Blackleiter

Thunderpussy wrote:

) , I always remember that Shatner had some great " Hair" as TJ.

True - almost as good as Connery's!

Barbel

It even has its own website: http://shatnerstoupee.blogspot.co.uk/