Best Bond Movie per Actor...? (Page 1 of 2)

Really good point, this is what influences my responses between Moore and Connery because they both have more than one clear great performance.

Connery: GF
Gassy Man, you're right. It's down to the balance of his performance - although I don't like how for most of the film he doesn't really do anything, he still does nothing extremely well 

Moore: OP
Moore's range throughout all his Bond films are on show in what feels like a perfect blend of his ability. He's funny, he's serious, he's charming and plays the action well. While FYEO feels more in the direction of being serious - OP is able to perfectly achieve everything.

Dalton: TLD
While his humour is uncomfortable at times - his acting ability is on show in many scenes. It's an excellent performance. "It was exquisite"

Brosnan: TWINE
Best acting I've seen from Brosnan in any film. TND gives a good range of action hero and standard acting but in TWINE he's fully immersed in the role and you can tell that he's being well directed as opposed to his other 3. He's helped along in TWINE because everyone else (maybe not Christmas) is giving excellent performances too.

Craig: SF
Not a big fan of the film, but he's got some good material to "act" with here.

Connery :- Goldfinger
Lazenby :- OHMSS
Moore :- The Spy Who Loved Me
Dalton :- The Living Daylights
Brosnan :- GoldenEye
Craig :- Casino Royale

I found Craig to be the most difficult.. Between Casino Royale, Skyfall & Spectre.. Was a tough one but Casino Royale reigns supreme for now.

Now, normally I don't participate in these threads but:

CONNERY: GF or TB- he simply IS James Bond (DN & FRWL were embryonic; YOLT onwards were been there, done that jobs- performed professionally but lacking the spark)
LAZENBY: No choice really
MOORE: Always competent, always charming. Either FYEO or TSWLM for different reasons.
DALTON: TLD hands down. Fleming's James Bond.
BROSNAN: TWINE, his most layered and thought-out performance. If this (from the PTS) doesn't sway you, nothing will:

CRAIG: CR

Connery: DN (Favourite James Bond performance in the series)
Lazenby: OHMSS (while it's by default, it's actually quite good!)
Moore: AVTAK (Moore's most focused and grounded performance. Toss up b/w this and FYEO)
Dalton: TLD (One of the best performances in the series)
Brosnan: TWINE (Though I like all his Bond performances, even DAD)
Craig: SF.

Connery: TB (The swagger and charisma is at an all time high here. Best example: the scene where he humiliates Largo's henchman in the bathroom, then gives him his gun and throws the "little fish back. A great moment.);

Lazenby: OHMSS (While there's no choice here, he displays some pretty good acting at times for a guy who had never acted before.);

Moore: TSWLM (In his first two films, Moore was trapped between his natural instincts of how to play Bond and Connery's blueprint. For instance, cruelty always made Connery look menacing, but it just seemed mean when Moore played it that way. TSWLM is the film where Moore truly figured out how to play Bond his way. Although his later performances varied based on the tone of the film, TSWLM served as the template.);

Dalton: TLD (The lighter tone of this script prevented things from getting too serious, but there was still plenty for Dalton to sink his teeth into. Heavily influenced by Fleming, he gives one of the great performances of the series.);

Brosnan: TWINE (I agree with the consensus here. Brosnan was very convincing in this one. While I found his Bond to generally be rather dull, TWINE is the exception.);

Craig: QoS  (I realize this is controversial, but hear me out. Daniel Craig is given very little to work with here, yet he manages to squeeze water from a rock. His performance is very nuanced, but the film is paced so rapidly that it's only after repeated viewings that this comes through. He is a subtly able to convey anger, sadness, compassion, and grief. He's also very dynamic in the action scenes. He singlehandedly keeps the film afloat).

The above is actually my favourite performance per Bond actor, however, my favourite film from each actor would be:

Connery: FRWL (#2 on my ranking)
Lazenby: OHMSS (#5)
Moore: FYEO (#8 or so)
Dalton: TLD (#10 or 11)
Brosnan: TND (#1)
Craig: SF (#8 or so - interchangeable with FYEO)

Connery: Goldfinger. So suave and full of confidence. Totally at ease with the role and fully enjoying himself
Lazenby: OHMSS
Moore: For your eyes only. I prefer his acting here, although I like TSWLM more as a movie. But in FYEO, Moore played it really well.
Dalton: The living daylights.
Brosnan: The world is not enough. He really looked the business here. The ice cold kill of Electra and the Bilbao banker made him very believable as Bond.
Craig: Spectre. Agree though that his performance has been quite consistent, but he seemed most at ease with the humor in Spectre.

Connery's best performance in YOLT? That's new. I love YOLT and I love Connery, but his performance in that one was phoned in it seemed.

While I fully and wholeheartedly agree with how damn good that scene is - what exactly happened in the office? Bond didn't kill the banker, but he killed one of the heavies straight after the stun-gas Q trick happens? The cigar girl escapes and Renard kills one of the other heavies by sniper.

The banker is killed by the knife of the cigar girl isn't he?

CONNERY GOLDFINGER
LAZENBY OHMSS
MOORE THE SPY WHO LOVED ME
DALTON THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS
BROSNAN GOLDENEYE
CRAIG SPECTRE

Last edited by BondJasonBond006 (18th Jun 2017 01:58)

As Diabolik says - the question is ambiguous - is it best performance or best film so I will give both:

Performance:

TB (Cool, confident, mesmerizing)
OHMSS (A mixture of vulnerability and fearlessness - a fine performance)
TSWLM (Moore's most assured outing and the one before he looked too old for the role)
TLD/LTK (Dalton's performance's are the closest to Fleming's writings and bordering on greatness - impossible to separate which is best)
DAD (Whilst Brosnan is the weakest Bond of all this performance has a lot of merit)
SP (Craig's most assured performance so far)

Film:

FRWL (Classic spy thriller)
OHMSS (Best Bond of all)
FYEO (Topol's performance elevates this to the top of the Moore Bond's)
LTK (A quite simply superb entry in the series - some of the tension matches FRWL)
TND (Closest to the classic Bond formula - it falls a long way short of greatness but is the best Brosnan entry by far.)
SP (A classic. But like OHMSS it will take decades before the majesty of this production is realised and thus loved)