It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
^ Back to Top
The MI6 Community is unofficial and in no way associated or linked with EON Productions, MGM, Sony Pictures, Activision or Ian Fleming Publications. Any views expressed on this website are of the individual members and do not necessarily reflect those of the Community owners. Any video or images displayed in topics on MI6 Community are embedded by users from third party sites and as such MI6 Community and its owners take no responsibility for this material.
James Bond News • James Bond Articles • James Bond Magazine
Comments
Somehow I don't think Dalton would oblige.
He just needs to be told that John Glen is back in the director's chair! He'd be there in a flash.
I was joking...
Even by late 80s standards, those two Bond films look cheaply made. They actually look more like made-for-TV movies. Now, in retrospect, it works for LTK, because to me that film's allure, 25+ years later, is its campiness.
As for Dalton: he was great. However, the difference between Dalton and Craig is that Dalton's performance wasn't as multidimensional. Craig says a lot more with a look than Dalton does.
A good example: the National gallery scene with Q. Craig's reaction when Ben Whishaw sits next to him speaks 1,000 words. It's subtle, yet effective. Craig's character has more emotion--but controlled emotion. I found Dalton's performance a little flatter, more one dimensional.
I'm not sure I agree with the producion design comments re: LTD & TLD however. I found them both very good. The aerial sequences in both were quite stunning and the Key West Sanchez escape was well done (done better in True Lies a few years later, but still....). The tanker chase in LTK & the blowing up of Wayne Newton's hangout were also well done I thought.
Perhaps Dalton should have combed his hair in LTK and worn some more classic suits like he did in TLD, but that's a different discussion....
How many times has the LTK PTS been ripped off in other films now? It seems to be endlessly reused. Doesn't one of the MI films use it as well?
It's similar in MI3 but not the same location. I think True Lies is the same spot.
I noticed that when I saw LTK recently. It really had some great sequences in the pretitles and others have taken the concept and added to it since (e.g TDKR opening scene which has Glen era Bond written all over it).
That's very true. Some of the on-ground scenes do have a cheap tv feel. I think that may have something to do with the US location, but yes, it's true. As I said somewhere else, even the actors had a tv flavour (the guys playing Sharkey, Killifer, Hawkins etc) and Priscilla Barnes (Mrs. Leiter) is a 70's tv queen.
@BAIN123, the film was shot in Mexico for budget reasons. There are perhaps a few shoddy moments, but that applies to a lot of the 70s and 80s Bonds. I think most people recognise that the action sequences in LTK are pretty well done. The fact that other big Hollywood directors are still ripping off the PTS 20 years later shows you how Bond was still setting the standard even in 89.
1. Craig is a film actor/star, Dalton never has been (he is better on TV and in the theatre) and has never had the big screen charisma. If he did have he would be a bigger star.
2. Craig made the ladies swoon when he removed his shirt, Dalton didn't.
3. Craig came in when the series needed a massive artistic overhaul, Dalton came in when they were still treading water and happy to employ John Glen.
Like most of the non-literary Bond fans, I wanted someone who leapt off the screen, like Connery.
Only after reading the novels did I come to be thrilled with his Bond. I *LIKE* that he doesn't project that charisma in his Bond. Similarly, Dan doesn't either. That's one thing I love about both of their Bonds.
I don't think its a coincidence that most of Dalton's filmography consists of made-for television shows and films.
Although, Dalton did appear in the BBC's Jane Eyre in the early 80's. He was superb in that.
It may have also played a role actually. Craig gets/got along very well with his Bond directors. Dalton, not at all. One of the worst director/actor couples in fact.
To be honest I always thought Brosnan had a tv star look, far more than any other Bond actor. And a b movie star look. But somehow it worked, in GE particularly.
A B-Movie star quality most definitely. But I think he works on the big screen in a way that Dalton doesn't quite manage.
I'd put Broz in the same sort of category as 80s Kurt Russell. A fairly popular star but also in a lot of forgettable B-movie nonsense.
Again I agree with you. However, I saw nearly all of Brosnan's B movies (and I mean some of the awful ones like Livewire, Murder 101, Entangled and Nomads) so he couldn't ever truly escape that for me. I didn't feel it in GE but later on I did. Roger Moore had a tv career too, but for me it was more old school romantic because it was before my time for the most part.
Dalton did not have a tv quality to me. He had a Shakespearean quality to him that seemed a bit aloof for Bond. Almost like he was playing it too dramatically at times, like a theatre production.
"DELLAAA!"
"TAKE ME TO ME TO HIM"
Almost as bad as "DAAANAAAAA" from Arnie in True Lies.