Best Bond Director

heartbroken_mr_drax · November 2006

From what you know about the director and his vision, excluding which films u like etc....

Who do you think are the 2 best directors for a bond movie?

I think: Michael Apted and Lewis Gilbert.
Special Mention: Ternace Young & John Glen

Alex · November 2006

Terence Young and Peter Hunt.

darenhat · November 2006

Alex wrote:

Terence Young and Peter Hunt.

I'd have to agree with these two. I will say this in John Glen's defense: he was very very capable of keeping the action from getting noisy and confusing. While this deals greatly with the editing as well, I think alot of credit goes to a solid vision of the story.

BTW: I vote that this belongs in the 'Films' forum.

ATPrescott · November 2006

Best: Lewis Gilbert and Terence Young
Special Mention: John Glen and Guy Hamilton (in Goldfinger)

Thundernuts · November 2006

Definately NOT Lee Tamahori

No. No. No. No. No.

And that is all I have to say about that.

Hardyboy · November 2006

This was one of our poll questions a while back, and the winner was Terence Young. As he should have been. He's the one who set the style, who insisted that Peter Young alter his editing style to fit his vision, who molded Connery into Bond, who incorporated Fleming's characteristic "know-it-all" narration into the character of Bond himself. . . Without Young, Bond would be, quite frankly, nothing.

Alex · November 2006

darenhat wrote:

Alex wrote:

Terence Young and Peter Hunt.

I'd have to agree with these two. I will say this in John Glen's defense: he was very very capable of keeping the action from getting noisy and confusing. While this deals greatly with the editing as well, I think alot of credit goes to a solid vision of the story.

BTW: I vote that this belongs in the 'Films' forum.

John Glen was an assembly line, he never rested on his laurels, only directed highly entertaining films every deuce years. (1980s detractors kiss my behind)

Young, Hunt, Hamilton and Gilbert, were old school professionals. I respect all Bond directors for different reasons. Tamahori's title sequence deserves a few accolades for originality methinks!

Loeffelholz · November 2006

Terence Young and Guy Hamilton, with Honourable Mention to Peter Hunt.

Dan Same · November 2006

This is interesting because the best director does not necessarily equate to being the best Bond director. IMO the two best Bond directors are Young and Hamilton, with honourable mentions to Hunt and Gilbert. However, if one takes their non-Bond careers into account as well, then IMO the two best directors (who just happened to direct a Bond film) are Gilbert and Apted, with honourable mentions to Hamilton and Young.*

*I know this is rather controversial as most people would rate Young as among the very best, but apart from my lack of desire to be swayed by peer pressure

, I think that when overall careers are taken into account, Young was not quite as good as Apted.

Alex · November 2006

That's cool Dan. In my world however, Terence Young, as HB already mentioned, is the messiah of literary and cinematic Bond. And not just for the "origin" aspect, for quality. And for his career outside the 007 envelope. (ever seen THE KLANSMAN)?

Apted was great, though he could have used Hunt for TWINE's pacing.

Loeffelholz · November 2006

For myself, I took this question as Best Director within the context of Bond. IMRO, the 'Best' directors in the history of cinema---Kurosawa, Lean, Kubrick, Hitchcock, et al.---never did Bond, and would have chafed under Eon's yolk if they had done.

darenhat · November 2006

Alex wrote:

Apted was great, though he could have used Hunt for TWINE's pacing.

Aye! TWINE's pacing and incredibly confusing action sequencing need some help (the whole silo bit and caviar factory comes to mind). After LTK, it seems that the films dropped off quite a bit in terms of 'sensible' action. To often, I find myself asking 'why is this or that happening' and I can hear the director whispering "your not supposed to be thinking! Just watch the movie!"

heartbroken_mr_drax · November 2006

I dont agree with that, i dont understand why people find TWINE confusing??

Klaus Hergescheimer · November 2006

Terrence Young. No question about it.

The Cat · November 2006

Alex wrote:

Tamahori's title sequence deserves a few accolades for originality methinks!

Credit given where credit is due - let Danny Kleinman get tose accolades for HIS titles sequence.

Alex · November 2006

The Cat wrote:

Alex wrote:

Tamahori's title sequence deserves a few accolades for originality methinks!

Credit given where credit is due - let Danny Kleinman get tose accolades for HIS titles sequence.

Whomever is responsible for those wonderful scenes at the beginning of DAD, kudos my friends!

heartbroken_mr_drax · November 2006

vic armstrong lol not tamihori haha!

DAD had a few good elements, but DAD is just a montage movie, its like a clip show.

Krassno Granitski · November 2006

Terence Young set the tone and Peter Hunt perfected it.

Willie Garvin · November 2006

Hardyboy wrote:

This was one of our poll questions a while back, and the winner was Terence Young. As he should have been. He's the one who set the style, who insisted that Peter Hunt alter his editing style to fit his vision, who molded Connery into Bond, who incorporated Fleming's characteristic "know-it-all" narration into the character of Bond himself. . . Without Young, Bond would be, quite frankly, nothing.

Exactly.It's Terence Young who is the single most important director in the entire history of the James Bond series, and for all of the reasons Hardyboy lists.Young's particular style is THE style of the series,and it's the one EON continually emulates.And of the lot,he's still the best director.

All of the other directors-- regardless of any unique talents and special fame they may enjoy apart from the Bond series--are just other directors who imitate Terence Young with varying degrees of success.

Dan Same · November 2006

Alex wrote:

That's cool Dan. In my world however, Terence Young, as HB already mentioned, is the messiah of literary and cinematic Bond. And not just for the "origin" aspect, for quality. And for his career outside the 007 envelope. (ever seen THE KLANSMAN)?

I adore Young. After all he directed three of my four favourite Bond films. However as good as he was, when his entire career was taken into account, I don't think he was quite as good as Apted. Oh, and as a matter of fact, I have seen The Klansman. I saw it about 8 years ago when I was in America for the first time. What do I think about it? Well, let's just say that I love Young's Bond films.

Alex wrote:

Apted was great, though he could have used Hunt for TWINE's pacing.

True, but I actually consider TWINE to be among the best directed Bond films of recent years. My problems with it are mainly due to the screenplay (which at the same time I think is a real strength of the film

).)

Brosnan_fan · November 2006

John Glen, unquestionably.

He successfully brought the espionage style back to the Bond fold in FYEO, fashioned exciting action thrillers out of OP and LTK, and also guided AVTAK and TLD which (if not memorable) were rather watchable.

It is of no importance that he didn't work with Connery or Brosnan; his films will always be hard to overlook.

Napoleon Plural · November 2006

Well Apted was the closest in recent years, he could actually set up a one-liner. He was keen to do another unlike Campbell at the time and Spottiswoode, so EON fired him and went with Tamorhi - and the rest is Bond is history!

They picked Tamorhi cos DAD would be a wall-to-wall action flick and Apted didn't do that. Of course, Tamorhi hadn't done an action film either up to that point.

And TWINE had been a move away from non-stop action of TND, which, it had been decided, wouldn't work.

?:)

It makes your head hurt, trying to follow Mickey and Babs' decisions...

)

Dan Same · November 2006

Napoleon Plural wrote:

He was keen to do another unlike Campbell at the time and Spottiswoode, so EON fired him and went with Tamorhi - and the rest is Bond is history!

Wait a minute. EON fired him because he wanted to do another? ?:)

Napoleon Plural · November 2006

No that was my sarcasm kicking in. Just, here was a director up for one more, unlike most of them, and had done a good job, ditto imo, so EON get rid of him... 8-)

Dan Same · November 2006

Napoleon Plural wrote:

No that was my sarcasm kicking in. Just, here was a director up for one more, unlike most of them, and had done a good job, ditto imo, so EON get rid of him... 8-)

I completely agree. 8-)

PUCCINI · November 2006

Terence Young and Peter Hunt, the first gave the form, the style and the wit needed for the series, and the second simply maked the best film, stylish, centered and very close to Fleming's novel.

especial mention: I think most of them have been great directors, especially (apart from the best two) Lewis Gilbert, John Glen, Michael Apted and Martin Campbell, they had more balance and developed more consistant stories than Lee Tamahori, Roger Spootishwood or -the one who almost got in my list of best directors- Guy Hamilton.

But If we talk about "trademarks" I think Hamilton did a great job with that extreme-head on collision-zooms (for example at the end of GF). Campbell and his close ups, bigger than life action; Young and his master shots, depicting Bond's personal life and behavior towards autority or women; Hunt and that great sense for sensibility; Glen and Gilbert's cheerful aproach, the list is endless...

Napoleon Plural · November 2006

No Guy Hamilton?

Goldfinger and LALD are in my top five, smoothly enjoyable classics that slip down nicely.

Mister Biswas · November 2006

Willy Bogner deserves a mention here. I suppose he is not the main director of any of the films, but he did handle the ski chases in FYEO and OHMSS and TSWLM.

superado · November 2006

Krassno Granitski wrote:

Terence Young set the tone and Peter Hunt perfected it.

Young definitely gave the breath of life into the cinematic Bond, going far beyond the duties of a director in pre-production. However, IMO, Hunt gave us pure honey.

PoorMansJB · November 2006

heartbroken_mr_drax wrote:

I dont agree with that, i dont understand why people find TWINE confusing??

I don't think anyone finds if confusing, just S-L-O-W, especially (at least from my perspective) the ParaHawk chase, though most everything in the film runs too long.

PoorMansJB · November 2006

I'm surprised there's only one mention of Campbell. I think he's great and should have been kept on for at least one more especially as evidenced by the Zorro films.

Young is clearly good though a bit humorless. I'd vote for Hamilton were it not for DAF and a host of others.

While OHMSS is a great film, I think Hunt mostly got lucky; the bulk of his directing efforts are pretty dreadful.

Best Bond Director

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