All great points mentioned above, especially in the original post.
Another point that occurred to me when I last watched TSWLM a few years ago is that they set up great conflict between Bond and XXX with her discovering that he killed her partner. There is actually a great dialog scene between them in a hotel but that conflict just fizzles out by the end. There is no proper resolution to it. I would have liked it to have played a bigger part in the finale, maybe with a fight / gun battle between the two with Bond finally convincing her he was just a professional doing a job (to quote Dr Kaufmann). It would add more tension.
All great points mentioned above, especially in the original post.
Another point that occurred to me when I last watched TSWLM a few years ago is that they set up great conflict between Bond and XXX with her discovering that he killed her partner. There is actually a great dialog scene between them in a hotel but that conflict just fizzles out by the end. There is no proper resolution to it. I would have liked it to have played a bigger part in the finale, maybe with a fight / gun battle between the two with Bond finally convincing her he was just a professional doing a job (to quote Dr Kaufmann). It would add more tension.
She forgave him when he risked his life to save hers. If there was a gun battle or fight, it would have had to end with her death. You don't convince someone in a fight.
Caught a bit of Man With the Golden Gun last night - I do wish Harry and Cubby had pushed back against United Artists wanting it delivered only a year after Live and Let Die. The film so nearly works but the script just wasn't ready. It desperately needs a time factor adding to give the finale some urgency.
Caught a bit of Man With the Golden Gun last night - I do wish Harry and Cubby had pushed back against United Artists wanting it delivered only a year after Live and Let Die. The film so nearly works but the script just wasn't ready. It desperately needs a time factor adding to give the finale some urgency.
Well nobody could accuse them of rushing recently. Be careful what you wish for I guess.
Of that of which we cannot speak we must pass over in silence- Ludwig Wittgenstein.
Caught a bit of Man With the Golden Gun last night - I do wish Harry and Cubby had pushed back against United Artists wanting it delivered only a year after Live and Let Die. The film so nearly works but the script just wasn't ready. It desperately needs a time factor adding to give the finale some urgency.
It was a year and a half after LALD, the same amount of time between DAF and LALD. Nobody ever complains that LALD didn't have enough time. More time often leads to bloated scripts. TMWTGG could have suffered from that problem with more time like Craig's Bond films do!
Perhaps the problem was retaining Guy Hamilton for a third straight film. Both director and series could probably have done with a break from each other. It's a shame as some parts of the film work pretty well.
Dalton in A View to A Kill. That film had serious potential. It never really seemed like a Moore-esque film. It suited the late 80s Dalton era a lot better........plus Dalton against Walken, what more could you ask for??
Bruce Lee as ? (it was never to be due to the Grim Reaper.....let's face it , Grace Jones was flavor of the month too)
John Barry not composing post-TLD
no painted movie posters post-TLD
I hate to say it, but some of Barry's later scores from after his Bond period are somewhat samey and lacking in energy. The Living Daylights is cracking, though. He worked well with synthesisers from the sixties and here the use of drum machines gives his music some real propulsion.
Dalton in A View to A Kill. That film had serious potential. It never really seemed like a Moore-esque film. It suited the late 80s Dalton era a lot better........plus Dalton against Walken, what more could you ask for??
can you imagine the competing facial twitches between those two? that could be the entire movie.
Sort of like the long stand-off scene in the Good the Bad and the Ugly, where for nearly five minutes nobody does anything, nobody says a word, the camera just alternates between extreme closeups of the eyes of the three protagonists.
Dalton and Walken could both have easily done a standoff scene like that and made it more interesting than any corny dialog.
My missed opportunities include:-
NOT
....
casting more well known actors as villains in Craigs films
That's a holdover from Cubby's day. He thought that the habit the Batman series at that time had of casting very well-known actors as villains (eg Jack Nicholson, Danny de Vito, Jim Carrey, Tommy Lee Jones, Arnold Schwarzenegger) was a poor one and deliberately didn't follow that policy (maybe once or twice in earlier years eg Christophers Lee & Walken, but they were the exception rather than the rule). His heirs have in the main continued in this vein.
I agree, but ive never heard of many of the Daniel Craig villain actors.
As a fan of The A-Team, i had heard of Walter Gotell, Robert Davi and others who had before and since starred in the films. I think Cubby saw these popular tv shows and looked at the underrated actors.
"You're in the wrong business... leave it to the professionals!"
James Bond- Licence To Kill
I agree, but ive never heard of many of the Daniel Craig villain actors.
Exactly. Cubby saw no point in casting star names as villains ("James Bond is the star") and MGW & BB have continued with this policy, only occasionally casting well-known actors as the villains.
I agree, but ive never heard of many of the Daniel Craig villain actors.
As a fan of The A-Team, i had heard of Walter Gotell, Robert Davi and others who had before and since starred in the films. I think Cubby saw these popular tv shows and looked at the underrated actors.
Cubby cast Walter Gotell in Bond 20 years before the A-Team. It seems like many of the supporting roles in the Bond films were filled by actors who just made the rounds in the UK. You can spot so many actors from the Bond films in TV shows like The Saint, Danger Man and the Avengers, and in countless British films. It makes the UK film industry seem so small.
Not casting underrated actors such as
Wings Hauser
June Chadwick
Dennis Franz
Sid Haigh
James Woods
John Amos
Tia Carrera
Elisha Cook Jr
Steve Sandor
John Saxon
James Avery
Al Leong
Isaac Hayes
Lance Henriksson
Robert Tessier
Jesse Vint
Beau Starr
Ken Norton
Anthony James
Paul Koslo
Dean Stockwell
"You're in the wrong business... leave it to the professionals!"
James Bond- Licence To Kill
Not casting underrated actors such as
Wings Hauser
June Chadwick
Dennis Franz
Sid Haigh
James Woods
John Amos
Tia Carrera
Elisha Cook Jr
Steve Sandor
John Saxon
James Avery
Al Leong
Isaac Hayes
Lance Henriksson
Robert Tessier
Jesse Vint
Beau Starr
Ken Norton
Anthony James
Paul Koslo
Dean Stockwell
Just watching 'Press' on uk TV and it struck me again what a superb LeCiffre David Suchet would have made. Darkly avuncular and deeply sinister. Loved Mads of course but would love to have seen a similar kind of creepy and polite stillness that Suchet brings to Press.
Of that of which we cannot speak we must pass over in silence- Ludwig Wittgenstein.
I would've liked to have seen Connery stick around for LALD and MWTGG. Seeing Connery's Bond in gritty 1970s New York, and with all the voodoo stuff in Jamaica, especially with Quarrel Jr, would've been really cool; Seeing him take on the 70s Kung Fu phase and entering the Disco era would've been interesting. I like to imagine Connery's Bond in a wide collared shirt beating the **** out of people in the 70s.
Just watching 'Press' on uk TV and it struck me again what a superb LeCiffre David Suchet would have made. Darkly avuncular and deeply sinister. Loved Mads of course but would love to have seen a similar kind of creepy and polite stillness that Suchet brings to Press.
Lazenby is the big one for me. I love OHMSS and I know Moore brought 007 into a new generation, but I really would love to have seen Lazenby do more films.
Brosnan with a more serious DC type script. I think he would have done a terrific job portraying a more grounded Bond like DC.
Or what the series would have looked like if Connery stayed on long term. Interesting "what ifs".
Barry White should have done a 70s theme song, during the Moore era.
Kate Bush should have sung Moonraker.
Slyvia Trench should have been in all of Connerys Bond films.
More Moneypenny in LTK. Actually more Caroline Bliss please.
Replace Pushkin with Gogol.
Make the safe house attack in TLD occur while Bond, Freddie Gray etc. Are still there.
Replace Pola Ivanova with Anya Amosava played by Bach (though her presence might make Stacy Sutton seem even worse)
“The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning. "
-Casino Royale, Ian Fleming
Comments
Octopussy being a serious film with Moore retiring afterwards.
Dalton in A View To A Kill and Goldeneye.
Another point that occurred to me when I last watched TSWLM a few years ago is that they set up great conflict between Bond and XXX with her discovering that he killed her partner. There is actually a great dialog scene between them in a hotel but that conflict just fizzles out by the end. There is no proper resolution to it. I would have liked it to have played a bigger part in the finale, maybe with a fight / gun battle between the two with Bond finally convincing her he was just a professional doing a job (to quote Dr Kaufmann). It would add more tension.
She forgave him when he risked his life to save hers. If there was a gun battle or fight, it would have had to end with her death. You don't convince someone in a fight.
Well nobody could accuse them of rushing recently. Be careful what you wish for I guess.
It was a year and a half after LALD, the same amount of time between DAF and LALD. Nobody ever complains that LALD didn't have enough time. More time often leads to bloated scripts. TMWTGG could have suffered from that problem with more time like Craig's Bond films do!
Bowie as Zorin
Bruce Lee as ? (it was never to be due to the Grim Reaper.....let's face it , Grace Jones was flavor of the month too)
John Barry not composing post-TLD
no painted movie posters post-TLD
I hate to say it, but some of Barry's later scores from after his Bond period are somewhat samey and lacking in energy. The Living Daylights is cracking, though. He worked well with synthesisers from the sixties and here the use of drum machines gives his music some real propulsion.
IG: @thebondarchives
Check it out, you won’t be disappointed
Sort of like the long stand-off scene in the Good the Bad and the Ugly, where for nearly five minutes nobody does anything, nobody says a word, the camera just alternates between extreme closeups of the eyes of the three protagonists.
Dalton and Walken could both have easily done a standoff scene like that and made it more interesting than any corny dialog.
NOT
casting Anthony Hopkins as Trevelyan in GE
casting Tim Dalton in AVTAK
casting more well known actors as villains in Craigs films
and on a personal note, not casting either Tricia Penrose, Julie Goodyear or Natalie Portman as a villainess in the Brosnan films.
James Bond- Licence To Kill
True. Not casting Helen Mirren as the new M.
James Bond- Licence To Kill
That's a holdover from Cubby's day. He thought that the habit the Batman series at that time had of casting very well-known actors as villains (eg Jack Nicholson, Danny de Vito, Jim Carrey, Tommy Lee Jones, Arnold Schwarzenegger) was a poor one and deliberately didn't follow that policy (maybe once or twice in earlier years eg Christophers Lee & Walken, but they were the exception rather than the rule). His heirs have in the main continued in this vein.
As a fan of The A-Team, i had heard of Walter Gotell, Robert Davi and others who had before and since starred in the films. I think Cubby saw these popular tv shows and looked at the underrated actors.
James Bond- Licence To Kill
Exactly. Cubby saw no point in casting star names as villains ("James Bond is the star") and MGW & BB have continued with this policy, only occasionally casting well-known actors as the villains.
" I don't listen to hip hop!"
Cubby cast Walter Gotell in Bond 20 years before the A-Team. It seems like many of the supporting roles in the Bond films were filled by actors who just made the rounds in the UK. You can spot so many actors from the Bond films in TV shows like The Saint, Danger Man and the Avengers, and in countless British films. It makes the UK film industry seem so small.
Wings Hauser
June Chadwick
Dennis Franz
Sid Haigh
James Woods
John Amos
Tia Carrera
Elisha Cook Jr
Steve Sandor
John Saxon
James Avery
Al Leong
Isaac Hayes
Lance Henriksson
Robert Tessier
Jesse Vint
Beau Starr
Ken Norton
Anthony James
Paul Koslo
Dean Stockwell
James Bond- Licence To Kill
Sid Haig was cast as henchman in DAF.
IG: @thebondarchives
Check it out, you won’t be disappointed
IMHO Suchet (I admire him very much as Hercule Poirot) was a terrible Dr No in the BBC production (see https://www.ajb007.co.uk/topic/50493/the-bbc-radio-4-james-bond-series/ if unfamiliar with this).
Brosnan with a more serious DC type script. I think he would have done a terrific job portraying a more grounded Bond like DC.
Or what the series would have looked like if Connery stayed on long term. Interesting "what ifs".
Kate Bush should have sung Moonraker.
Slyvia Trench should have been in all of Connerys Bond films.
More Moneypenny in LTK. Actually more Caroline Bliss please.
Replace Pushkin with Gogol.
Make the safe house attack in TLD occur while Bond, Freddie Gray etc. Are still there.
Replace Pola Ivanova with Anya Amosava played by Bach (though her presence might make Stacy Sutton seem even worse)
-Casino Royale, Ian Fleming