Respected or loved ...... which is better ?

Thunderpussy

Oddly, I separate the actor from the character. I love Sir Sean as Bond, and
Don't care about the various statements he has supposedly made over the
years. For me he encapsulates all the attributes of the screen Bond.
Infact he has surpassed being a simple actor to become a screen icon. -{
Although, from his crusty personality. I'd be almost afraid to approach him,
As I'd expect to get a bollocking, from him for the annoyance. )
Sir Roger, I'm sure has bad days, and times when He's not in the mood for
Fans etc, but he always seems to hide it. Always appearing approachable,
Affable and Happy to meet people.
I also like Moore's Bond, I think he appeals to the kid in all of us, looking for
a fun adventure. {[]

Barbel

Thunderpussy wrote:

Oddly, I separate the actor from the character.

Me, too.

Thunderpussy

I used to be very happy with Pierce Brosnan as Bond, until Daniel Craig
came along and then WOW ! Bond was Dangerous again -{ more human
and vulnerable at times. Goes to show that sometimes you don't know what you
Want, until you get it.
Dalton also brought these qualities to the role, so I regard these two and Connery
as the best on screen Bonds, as they brought aspects of the literary Bond to the screen.
I find it very hard to chose between these three, for top spot.
Lazenby, did a good job but with only one film it's very hard to say how he could have
worked out.
Moore, is a legend, but moulded Bond into his own interpretation of the character.
Which is some feat and one no other actor has achieved. He has had some memorable
Scenes and sequences but rarely vulnerable, he was the " Superhero " Bond, although
He perfectly suited the 70s.
Pierce Brosnan looked great and also brought a vulnerable side to the character, but
Now I look on his films as " treading water" movies, basically the character didn't move
On. The scripts were funny in places, cringeworthy in places with their puns. ( something
I'm guilty of too) but the action sequences although well staged, left you with no feeling
of involvement in them.
Once again like the Moore films,only in a few scenes did Brosnan get the chance to let
his inner " Darker" Bond out. I do like his films and still regularly watch them, but feel that
He was never allowed to be the Bond he wanted. Not his fault, that was just the direction
The films were taking.

Ornithologist

It seems as if Pierce Brosnan gets both love and respect, just not very much of either. Also noteworthy is how the evaluation of the actors changes over time. I think Lazenby gets a lot more respect (at least by fans) now than during his tenure?

Thunderpussy

I agree, that at times poor old Pierce seems to take a lot of stick from
some fans. Almost as if he was solely to blame for the problems with
the films he was in.
Lazenby is basically the Bond wild card, as all we can do is guess at
what his tenure could have been. OHMSS is my favourite Bond film and
Book. So I'm pleased with his performance but I do think a lot of that was
Down to Peter Hunt's direction and editing skills. As in the other films and
TV stuff, I've seen Lazenby in, sorry to say ( only my opinion) he's not very
Good.
Lazenby under Guy Hamilton's direction, the much lighter, tongue in cheek
Attitude, as shown in his films. Lazenby could have floundered, been lost. Which
May have killed off the series all together.
As a person I respect Lazenby, the guy has b*lls of Steele, to bluff his way through
An audition and be so confident as to get the job. That's an amazing piece of bravado. -{
and easily something Bond himself would have tried.

GoldHilding

If I got to be James Bond I couldn't care less one way or the other

Thunderpussy

Bit of a Donald Pleasence, " Take the money and run"

James Suzuki

I really like Dalton, and his portayal of Bond.
Out of all the Bond actors, I feel like Dalton was the one who deserved another film (More than George).
Yes, his films may have appeared jarring and cosmically different after Moore's tongue firmly in cheek, but it was also refreshing and breathed air into the franchise.
I'm not a T-Boy that, I'm just a plain Bond Boy. If that makes sense ) )
But IMHO, Dalton and Moore are both respected and loved by me.
I'd place both actors above Connery's Portayal.
1. Moore
2.Craig & Dalton

Loeffelholz

It's an interesting question, and I would add to those who praised/seconded Barbel's post from '05 -{

Love and respect, when talking about your favorite Bond actors, IMO go hand in hand with one another...and it isn't until the actor being discussed is more distant from your idealized portrayal of the character that love and respect part ways, and one or the other is dominant. For me, Craig and Connery are the best Bonds, and so they obviously will have both---Connery for originating the role, defining it and setting the bar appreciably high, and Craig for retooling and rebooting 007 for the post 9-11 modern era. Both astonishing actors, each from a different era and surely with different approaches to their craft.

Sir Roger...well, he's my least favorite Bond---by a good-Godly margin---but I can respect him for making the role his own, defining the character for the era in which he played it...and making it okay for Bond to not have black hair, ) which I'm sure Craigger appreciated...But in all seriousness. I love Roger Moore as an actor (his portrayal of a mercenary in 'The Wild Geese' was fantastic); just not as Bond. And of course his humanitarianism commands a truckload of respect.

I respect Dalton's portrayal of Bond, which was like a shot of adrenalin after Moore's Geezer Bond^TM, dinner-theatre nadir---i.e., his last two films---and it's a pity that he didn't have more shots at it, but the ghost of Sir Roger (via the scripts, visual gags and John Glen's direction) haunted his brief reign, and he never seemed comfortable with the comedic material, so I can't say I loved his work, but his Flemingesque intensity redeems him a great deal.

Brozzer had some great moments in the role...but to me most of them were the quieter moments, where the self-reflection was well-played. He ran and jumped well, and looked very stylish with his one-handed automatic weapons work. I appreciate his Bond, which falls somewhere short of love and/or respect, but he moved the ball down the field despite workmanlike scripts and sometimes arbitrary director choices.

Respect goes to Lazenby, who delivered the goods in what is surely a classic-in-retrospect one-off.

chrisisall

Nicely put! -{