Timothy Dalton, who?
asio
Melbourne, AustraliaPosts: 546MI6 Agent
I was speaking with a co-worker recently about various movies, and I mentioned Tim Dalton, to which she replied "Who's that?"
My co-worker would be in her mid-40's so she definately lived through Dalton's years as Bond, however she didn't recognise his name, or even remember that he played 007.
It's probably a fan thing, but I was astounded with this conversation, especially how the press went crazy after the release of The Living Daylights, at one point declaring Dalton to be the best Bond ever.
Has anyone else experienced this lack of love for the great Tim Dalton?
(Serves me right for speaking to the public...)
My co-worker would be in her mid-40's so she definately lived through Dalton's years as Bond, however she didn't recognise his name, or even remember that he played 007.
It's probably a fan thing, but I was astounded with this conversation, especially how the press went crazy after the release of The Living Daylights, at one point declaring Dalton to be the best Bond ever.
Has anyone else experienced this lack of love for the great Tim Dalton?
(Serves me right for speaking to the public...)
Drawn Out Dad.
Independent, one-shot comic books from the outskirts of Melbourne, Australia.
twitter.com/DrawnOutDad
Independent, one-shot comic books from the outskirts of Melbourne, Australia.
twitter.com/DrawnOutDad
Comments
Hello, Lady Rose.
It seems that all the actors bar Sean Connery are an acquired taste as Bond. Timothy Dalton's portrayal may have come as quite a shock to some after the Roger Moore era. From my point of view he was unfortunate in that he only appeared in two films before the legal hiatus. Since LTK Dalton has pretty much kept a low profile (by accident or design?) which may well explain why your co-worker did not recognise him.
Me: Blah blah blah, Connery's great 'n' all, but he's not my favourite Bond.
Friend: Who's your favourite Bond, then?
Me: Don't hate me for this but....Roger Moore.
Friend: Ha, he's mine too! I was really afraid you were gonna say....ermm...what's his name, the really bad one.
Me: Timothy Dalton?
Friend: Yes, him!
Interesting how I was somehow expecting to get verbally abused for supporting Rog, and how I knew instinctively that the lady was referring to Timmy D. I don't dislike him that much. Honest.
It's a sad fact that Tim has very low recognition outside of fan-boys. He is primarily a theatre actor and well respected as a 'quality item' in his sphere, but outside of that...also a number of
Circumstances prevented the momentum from TLD being sustained into LTK (the QOS) of it's day in some ways. History has not served Tim well, and his career never really took off as it could have.
A great Bond in my view, but once again poorly served by EON.
-Casino Royale, Ian Fleming
Well, if I had not played Bond, Dalton does not know him
too much of a change from R Moore, Although Many fans liked the change to a
Harder less cheesy Bond. ( as some would put it )
He's my Favourite Bond and I feel he got the part off to a tee.
"Wasn't Lazenby the first Bond but He wasn't any good. So they Got
Connery In and the series was a big Success "
I'm amazed at the amount of People who think this, It might be becoming
a new movie Urban Myth.
Along with a couple of Friends who where convinced that Lazenby was in bed
with XXX at the start of TSWLM.
Now what on earth made you think I'd have to comment on this thread ?
I must be honest I dont generally meet people who haven't head of him but when his name is mentioned it usually is in a very negative way when its in connection with Bond
I think there may be a point about him being a 'villain' actor. Some of his popular roles are usually where he is the villain and sporting a twirling moustache , Hot Fuzz, The Rocketeer ( my personal favourite) , Flash Gordon ... Maybe he should have played Bond with a moustache !!
As a general fan of his, his strengths are definitley in period dramas and villains.
Personally, I've always felt Dalton was let down by his filmmakers. Richard Maibaum and John Glen were really at the end of the road by the time Dalton came on board and they no longer had a grasp on making a Bond movie that would be accessible to a wider audience. I find it interesting that Living Daylights, which was originally written for Roger Moore and still had a lot of the globe-trotting hallmarks of his films, had a very respectable box office take in the USA whereas License to Kill, which was a drastic departure from what audiences were familiar with, flamed out. It also didn't help that LTK came out right around the same time as other box office juggernauts like Batman and Indiana Jones.
I still think that if Dalton had been given a proper vehicle, with a world-spanning plot worthy of Bond. a more notable foil as villain, and a more well thought out release date (back in the 80s Bond was still traditionally a summer release, when there were more blockbusters to contend with) he would have fared better.
So... Im the guy who wanted Sam Niell as James Bond, that would of been cool
-Casino Royale, Ian Fleming
I have a similar story, but not really.
I was telling my best friend in the car about how I've liked so many James Bond related things on this blog site I use, and her dad overheard me. knowing my luck he knew about it, and began a James Bond conversation; he seemed a little ill informed or just forgetful with some of his information but it was still fun. He asked me who my favourite was, I replied Roger Moore, but I thought Sean Connery played him with ease and was who I thought played him the best. He agreed, and began asking me about the other actors. Oh, George Lazenby, he was Australian wasn't he? He asked. Yup, sure is! He was pretty good. Not many people like him, but I thought he was good, was his reply. He then spoke about Pierce Brosnan being good, and that new Daniel Craig seemed alright.
He goes back to someone he'd forgotten, poor Timmy. And he ended up mixing up his name to something like Roger Dalton!
I said ahhah! No it's Timothy Dalton, he was the darker one.
I don't really think he knew about him, or had seen his films either.
I don't dislike Dalton, he comes in about 4th on my list, but I really liked him as Bond.
Very good post as always, Tony. I may well be mistaken but I am pretty certain that TLD was not originally written for Roger Moore. He was already out of the picture as I understand it. TLD was originally written for a "generic" (non specific) Bond. Having said that, whether it was written specifically for Moore or not there was clearly quite an influence.
Despite this, he could still have become better recognised if he had gone on to make Goldeneye and one or two others.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Totally agree with you,Dalton had very bad luck in his time as Bond, people began to tire of Moore's films, the problems faced by the Eon production, etc ...
His films weren't the best. He is a good actor and he looked interesting.
The "obey your husband" line from Draco made him chuckle......by 2012 a pretty dated line I'd say
I caught it recently and was disappointed to find it doesn't hold up as well as I thought. I agree that Jereon Krabbe played his scenes to comically and broad. Then, you have the geriatric bosses Bond reports to that give the whole thing a sense of mustiness. Ugh. On top of that, we never get a true villain. Koskov is a ninny and Whitaker is a buffoon. Neither one is worthy of Bond. And, ultimately, Dalton just never seems comforatable as Bond. Whenever he smiles he just looks like a lizard pretending to be human. He's perpetually ill-at-ease, and not suave at all.
TLD isn't as atrocious as the financially and creatively bankrupt LTK, but it's clear that this creative team needed to be purged in order for Dalton to have had a decent shot at establishing his Bond's persona.
I agree with that, and Dalton's regular dismissal by the media down the years has been unfair.
I do feel the Bonds from FYEO to LTK have good material but the way they are directed feel perfunctory. Box office dictated otherwise, however, given that FYEO apparently outdid Lost Ark at the UK box office, but as far more recent film releases have shown, that doesn't necessarily make them good.
Siskel and Ebert commented on the 'dirty' look of LTK when it was released, and that shots were missing. The way it is shot (or edited) the audience feels pushed out, and a lot of the supporting characters are not very fleshed out- I wanted to see characters like Ferrara, Chuck Lee and Tibbett actually survive to the end of the film.