Quick Big Mi6 Community Bond girl Ranking Game

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Comments

  • zebrafishzebrafish <°)))< in Octopussy's garden in the shade
    Posts: 4,311
    Finally! I have been TSWLM's biggest fan, but I never warmed to Barbara Bach's complete lack of charme. The character itself is well written, but Bach does nothing with it. I have come to believe that Lewis Gilbert saw the problem, that's why in the second half of the film the only thing that stands out is her cleavage.
  • edited May 2021 Posts: 1,469
    My #9. I think there's so much that's good about TSWLM that she really can't do much wrong. I like her repartee with Bond in many scenes; at the Mojaba Club is a fave, and sometimes of course their dialogue is in good fun, like in Jaws' van, though there I guess a lot of it is Roger's. And after Bond's fight with Jaws on the train, she does get to say that great line about his wound ;) Often when I think of Barbara, I think Ringo Starr must be a lucky man. Edited to say/agree that she probably gets by mostly with her looks and low-key acting style and depends a lot on the dialogue and direction. Plus overall I'd say I view TSWLM more as entertainment and spectacle compared to some other Bond films that're generally more highly-regarded.
  • ProfJoeButcherProfJoeButcher Bless your heart
    Posts: 1,664
    About bloody time!

    I only recently learned via Wikipedia that Ms Bach is actually a native speaker of English. I had previously assumed TSWLM was one of her earliest attempts at verbal communication of any kind. So that was an interesting piece of trivia.

    Anyway, I was obviously one of the two right-minded folks who had her last. The "Bond's equal" trope was done better every single other time they tried it. Barbara Bach didn't do anything in TSWLM that could not have been done, perhaps even to greater effect, by a scarecrow with breasts.
  • BennyBenny In the shadowsAdministrator, Moderator
    Posts: 14,811
    I have Anya 16th. Great film but slightly lacking in the acting department.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 23,448
    Benny wrote: »
    I have Anya 16th. Great film but slightly lacking in the acting department.

    I agree. She's got some charm, but I don't feel it often enough.
  • CraigMooreOHMSSCraigMooreOHMSS Dublin, Ireland
    Posts: 8,009
    @GoldenGun, can you include which number we are down to on the countdown each post? I've kind of lost track now having not been here for a day or two due to work.
  • GoldenGunGoldenGun Per ora e per il momento che verrà
    Posts: 6,758
    I like the idea of Bond killing her former lover, but it's never really fleshed out enough. Maybe that's for the better though, since I find her line delivery rather off really. A bit lacking in the acting department as @Benny rightly states. One of my least favourites I'm afraid. She fared much better in the phenomenal giallo outing La corta notte delle bambole di vetro (aka Short Night of the Glass Dolls).

    @CraigMooreOHMSS no problem! Anya stranded at #14 :)
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,369
    I have Anya at #12, and honestly, she could probably be even lower than that.
  • Posts: 928
    I also have Bach in the mid-teens... a well-written character, all things considered, but not much more than eye-candy in execution. A stronger actress could've done wonders in the role. I'll still take Bach as Amasova over another considered actress for the role - Lois Chiles.
  • CraigMooreOHMSSCraigMooreOHMSS Dublin, Ireland
    Posts: 8,009
    GoldenGun wrote: »

    @CraigMooreOHMSS no problem! Anya stranded at #14 :)

    My man! Thank you! :)
  • ProfJoeButcherProfJoeButcher Bless your heart
    Posts: 1,664
    Birdleson wrote: »
    For those of the age, you’ll remember that she was an incredibly popular Bond Girl (back when that was a much bigger deal) at the time the film was released. She just seemed to work in the role. It was years later that I started to clearly and undeniably waken to what a horrible actress she is. Yet, it still doesn’t hurt the film.

    Audiences used to be a bit less savvy for sure, and I'm sure the general trend will continue. It's underappreciated how you never see actors/actresses as bad as this in major productions nowadays. We may make fun of Denise Richards, but she at least sounds like she understands the meaning of the words she's saying. Tilly Mastersons and Anya Amasovas are nowhere to be seen in anything with more than a five-figure budget.
  • zebrafishzebrafish <°)))< in Octopussy's garden in the shade
    Posts: 4,311
    Do not insult Tilly!
  • ProfJoeButcherProfJoeButcher Bless your heart
    Posts: 1,664
    Birdleson wrote: »
    Birdleson wrote: »
    For those of the age, you’ll remember that she was an incredibly popular Bond Girl (back when that was a much bigger deal) at the time the film was released. She just seemed to work in the role. It was years later that I started to clearly and undeniably waken to what a horrible actress she is. Yet, it still doesn’t hurt the film.

    Audiences used to be a bit less savvy for sure, and I'm sure the general trend will continue. It's underappreciated how you never see actors/actresses as bad as this in major productions nowadays. We may make fun of Denise Richards, but she at least sounds like she understands the meaning of the words she's saying. Tilly Mastersons and Anya Amasovas are nowhere to be seen in anything with more than a five-figure budget.

    I wouldn't say audiences are more "savvy" these days when you compare the trash that is regularly produced by 21st Century Hollywood compared to the creative heyday of the '70s (when large budget studio films were actually made for adults).

    Oh, of course they're more savvy. Pretty much necessarily so. With media diets being as large as they are, one's subconscious literacy of film is obviously higher now than it would be for an average person decades ago. The twist in "North by Northwest" would be laughably predictable to the dumbest guy in the room now, if only for the fact that the dumb guy has watched hundreds of films and series influenced by people who liked "North by Northwest", which of course remains a great watch today.

    You may be comparing the worst of today with the best of the past, but if you compare stuff from the modern "trash" category to their forgotten 70s equivalents, the new films will likely offer more thematic depth and competence in the storytelling. And everybody, even the children and extras, will act better than Barbara Bach!
  • ProfJoeButcherProfJoeButcher Bless your heart
    edited May 2021 Posts: 1,664
    Birdleson wrote: »
    I'll agree that the overall acting pool has improved., Thematic depth, no way. Studios just aren't geared for that anymore. Take out the genre and blockbuster crap (Bond included) from any year in the '70s and you're left with plenty of adult oriented, raw, and often subtle, adult fair. It was a conscious decision by the studios to shift gears following the success of JAWS and STAR WARS, and the monumental failure of HEAVEN'S GATE, to cut down on the number of productions and focus own crowd pleasing rip-offs and blockbuster fare. The forced gravitas of a Marvel film just doesn't cut it in my book.

    If we stick to the trash, you probably have something, but give me SUPERMAN, THE MOVIE over anything Snyder has created any day. Maybe corny, but intentionally so, and much more genuine and human at it's core.

    I hope we're not derailing here, but I'll follow your lead as a mod! ;)

    Blockbusters today, even "bad" "trash" ones have actual themes in a way they didn't used to. Batman movies and Jurassic World movies, dumb as they may be on some level, and popcorn entertainment though they are, have some very clever ideas behind them one wouldn't have seen ages ago. Or using Bond, since it's a touchstone we have, like them or not, QOS, SF, and SP have some pretty rich, intended, thematic material that are not to be found in GF or TB. That seems pretty undeniable.

    On a more nuts and bolts level, you wouldn't be likely to find gratuitous two-minute car-crushing scenes in a modern Bond, nor would they put Bond in an esoteric health spa without any explanation for why he's there. None of this is to say one set of movies is better than the other, but I was referring to the savviness of the audience and the relative complexity and competence of modern screenwriting.

    I still think you're comparing the worst of one era to the best of another. There is an entire new category of films that dominates the box office today that didn't exist really at all in the 1970s. But adult-oriented, raw, subtle movies for grownups are made all the time. And even the trash tends to be more subtle than one might think.

    It's easy to see when you think of television. Very little television (or television-like) material pre-Sopranos is worth watching today. Almost none of it is very good outside of nostalgia glasses. But adult-oriented, raw, subtle material is very easy to find in series-based entertainment, and it would be odd if none of this continued to exist in cinema. Of course it does.

    EDIT: I'm pretty sure I'd prefer the original Superman to any Zack Snyder film too
  • royale65royale65 Caustic misanthrope reporting for duty.
    edited May 2021 Posts: 4,417
    Birdleson wrote: »
    Much to ponder. I’ll give you television has filled that creative void in many ways. But your opening comment is correct, we should let the thread go back to what it is. Bad example being set by me.

    Naturally, one has to be flogged, for setting such a bad example.

    Anya. Great character. Middling actress. But good in the movie.
  • DwayneDwayne New York City
    Posts: 2,598
    Barbara Bach’s Anya has a couple of good moments in TSWLM, but with repeated viewings her limitations as an actress really do stand out. As a fellow New Yorker (Ms. Bach is from Queens, NY), it pains me to criticize her too much, but……..

    Maybe it’s my imagination, but Barbara Bach has really kept her bond experiences at “arms- length” since TSWLM. And that – perhaps – has also hurt her ranking over the years with fans.

    Pete Best: What does Ringo have that I don’t have?
    Everyone:
    fa16543d1103eafea7c0012a512a548c.jpg
    BTW: Both Ms. Bach and Linda Eastman were in attendance at The Beatles 1965 Shea Stadium concert.
  • I'm thinking Octopussy might be #13.
  • BennyBenny In the shadowsAdministrator, Moderator
    Posts: 14,811
    I'm thinking Octopussy might be #13.

    I do hope not. I have Pussy Galore at 13. Maybe Pam Bouvier ?
  • GoldenGunGoldenGun Per ora e per il momento che verrà
    edited May 2021 Posts: 6,758
    Making our way into the upper half, we'll go to a concert in Bratislava. Because in at 13 is:

    MARYAM d'ABO
    as Kara Milový
    in THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS

    James-Bond-007-Maryam-Dabo-The-Living-Daylights.jpg

    Clearly we're now getting close to the top 10, because the scores are getting higher now. Kara's lowest score was 23rd. Three 22nd places were also given to her, totalling her bottom 5's at four.

    Sixteen members placed her in the top 15, out of which eleven had a place for her in their top 10. Her best rating was third, on two occasions. She received four more top 5's in addition to that.

    In total Kara Milový 142 points.
  • ProfJoeButcherProfJoeButcher Bless your heart
    edited May 2021 Posts: 1,664
    I had Kara at 10 and found her difficult to rank.

    She's a really good character, and the romantic development between her and Bond is the best and most believable in the series. But on the other hand, I kind of feel that the romance works so well mostly because of how Timothy Dalton manages it in HIS performance. Kara also has a couple of iffy moments, but nothing all that terrible.

    I thought I was going a bit low with 10 though....
  • BennyBenny In the shadowsAdministrator, Moderator
    Posts: 14,811
    I have Kara at #5. I think she’s a great Bond girl. Well written and acted. Not your usual Bond girl and D’abo and Dalton have good on screen chemistry. Their relationship seems believable.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Benny wrote: »
    I have Kara at #5. I think she’s a great Bond girl. Well written and acted. Not your usual Bond girl and D’abo and Dalton have good on screen chemistry. Their relationship seems believable.

    TLD has some issues, but she isn t among them. I had her at 6.
  • CraigMooreOHMSSCraigMooreOHMSS Dublin, Ireland
    Posts: 8,009
    I had Kara at #22. One of my least favourites. I actually had both Jinx and Anya Amasova above her. Kara is the only thing I don't particularly like about TLD, unfortunately.

    There's been a lot of anti-Pam Bouvier sentiment here the last while but she leaves Kara for dust, as far as I'm concerned. ;)
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 23,448
    I had her at #9. Not that far off. I love her warm relationship with Bond.
  • GoldenGunGoldenGun Per ora e per il momento che verrà
    Posts: 6,758
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    I had her at #9. Not that far off. I love her warm relationship with Bond.

    Me too. I think TLD is the single most romantic entry that has the Bond girl survive the film.

    Very believable and well-acted. I don't mind the occasional incompetence either. She's never meant to be a field operative. She's a civilian caught in the wrong situation.

    Love this film and love this Bond girl. She was number 4 on my list, but could have been top 3 on another day.
  • zebrafishzebrafish <°)))< in Octopussy's garden in the shade
    edited May 2021 Posts: 4,311
    Quick recap of the score:

    13. Kara Milový (142)
    14. Anya Amasova (132) - biggest jump in scores yet, it is getting interesting.
    15. Wai Lin (118)
    16. Kissy Suzuki (118)
    17. Madeleine Swann (115)
    18. Sévérine (114)
    19. Holly Goodhead (106)
    20. Stacey Sutton (96)
    21. Christmas Jones (95)
    22. Tiffany Case (95)
    23. Domino Petachi (82)
    24. Mary Goodnight (76)
    25. Jinx (66)
    26. Vesper Lynd '67 (61)

    Suspicious absence of Pam and Pussy, I did not know that both had so many fans.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    zebrafish wrote: »
    Quick recap of the score:

    13. Kara Milový (142)
    14. Anya Amasova (132) - biggest jump in scores yet, it is getting interesting.
    15. Wai Lin (118)
    16. Kissy Suzuki (118)
    17. Madeleine Swann (115)
    18. Sévérine (114)
    19. Holly Goodhead (106)
    20. Stacey Sutton (96)
    21. Christmas Jones (95)
    22. Tiffany Case (95)
    23. Domino Petachi (82)
    24. Mary Goodnight (76)
    25. Jinx (66)
    26. Vesper Lynd '67 (61)

    Suspicious absence of Pam and Pussy, I did not know that both had so many fans.

    I put Pam at 10 and Pussy at 15.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 23,448
    zebrafish wrote: »
    Quick recap of the score:

    13. Kara Milový (142)
    14. Anya Amasova (132) - biggest jump in scores yet, it is getting interesting.
    15. Wai Lin (118)
    16. Kissy Suzuki (118)
    17. Madeleine Swann (115)
    18. Sévérine (114)
    19. Holly Goodhead (106)
    20. Stacey Sutton (96)
    21. Christmas Jones (95)
    22. Tiffany Case (95)
    23. Domino Petachi (82)
    24. Mary Goodnight (76)
    25. Jinx (66)
    26. Vesper Lynd '67 (61)

    Suspicious absence of Pam and Pussy, I did not know that both had so many fans.

    Pussy makes sense to me. She's iconic. Pam is, indeed, a surprise.
  • I have to imagine Octopussy will be one of the next two, though I can’t imagine who else won’t make the top 10. Really doubt it would be anyone from the 60s or Solitaire or Vesper. I would suppose Melina, Pam, Natalya, or Camille. But maybe Pussy doesn't have as many fans as I thought?
  • goldenswissroyalegoldenswissroyale Switzerland
    edited May 2021 Posts: 4,378
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    zebrafish wrote: »
    Quick recap of the score:

    13. Kara Milový (142)
    14. Anya Amasova (132) - biggest jump in scores yet, it is getting interesting.
    15. Wai Lin (118)
    16. Kissy Suzuki (118)
    17. Madeleine Swann (115)
    18. Sévérine (114)
    19. Holly Goodhead (106)
    20. Stacey Sutton (96)
    21. Christmas Jones (95)
    22. Tiffany Case (95)
    23. Domino Petachi (82)
    24. Mary Goodnight (76)
    25. Jinx (66)
    26. Vesper Lynd '67 (61)

    Suspicious absence of Pam and Pussy, I did not know that both had so many fans.

    Pussy makes sense to me. She's iconic. Pam is, indeed, a surprise.

    Pussy is iconic, yes. But Pam is much much better in my opinion. They are separated by around 20 places in my ranking...
    What I don't understand: Where is Melina “ice cold and not acting“ Havelock???
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