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Rank the Bond Screenwriters

OHMSS69OHMSS69
edited October 2012 in Bond Movies Posts: 2,341
Maybe we have already hit this subject, if I am bringing up a duplicate post then I apologize. We have beat and beat the subject of the actors, the directors, even the producers but aside from the occasional rant that Purvis and Wade suck the big one lets take a moment and rate the screenwriters.
Richard Maibaum I so miss him and the wit he brought to the series in the early days
Michael G Wilson though a producer and working with Maibaum, he is responsible for penning the supreb FYEO and LTK
Mankeiwicz I can't remember his first name but he brought us the tongue in cheek approach startng with DAF. Not my favorite but he has a flair about his work and he broght us some thrilling moments as well as humor.
Christopher Wood he penned that crap shed worthy MR
Roald Dahl He was not a lover of screenplay writing and it shows in YOLT
Purvis and Wade They belong in the Hall of Shame

Comments

  • Goldeneye95Goldeneye95
    edited January 2013 Posts: 546
    My top 10-

    1.Michael France
    2.Richard Maibaum
    3.Bruce Feirstien
    4.John Logan
    5.Michael G. Wilson
    6.Paul Dehn
    7.Simon Raven
    8.Johanna Hardwood
    9.Christopher Wood
    10.Tom Mankeinwicz

    Screenwriters I didn't care for that much-

    1.Neil Purvis & Robert Wade...that's it! And @OHMSS69, Purvis & Wade belong in the HOS.
  • bondsumbondsum
    edited February 2013 Posts: 3,333
    Richard Maibaum
    Johanna Harwood
    Tom Mankeinwicz
    Paul Dehn
    John Hopkins
    Simon Raven
    Roald Dahl
    Christopher Wood
    George MacDonald Fraser
    Neil Purvis & Robert Wade
    John Logan
    Michael G. Wilson
    Michael France
    Bruce Feirstien
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    edited January 2013 Posts: 13,350
    1. Richard Maibaum
    2. Johanna Harwood
    3. Tom Mankeinwicz
    4. Paul Dehn
    5. Simon Raven
    6. John Hopkins
    7. John Logan
    8. George MacDonald Fraser
    9. Jeffrey Caine
    10. Robert Wade
    11. Michael G. Wilson
    12. Michael France
    13. Neil Purvis
    14. Roald Dahl
    15. Christopher Wood
    16. Paul Haggis
    17. Bruce Feirstien
  • RC7RC7
    Posts: 10,512
    It's 'Maibaum' guys. Sorry to nitpick. It's like when I see 'Flemming'.

    In no particular order...

    Tom Mankiewicz
    Richard Maibaum
    Christopher Wood
    Paul Dehn
  • MrBondMrBond Station S
    Posts: 2,044
    Samuel001 wrote:
    1. Richard Maibaum
    2. Johanna Hardwood
    3. Tom Mankeinwicz
    4. Paul Dehn
    5. Simon Raven
    6. John Hopkins
    7. John Logan
    8. George MacDonald Fraser
    9. Jeffrey Caine
    10. Robert Wade
    11. Michael G. Wilson
    12. Michael France
    13. Neil Purvis
    14. Roald Dahl
    15. Christopher Wood
    16. Paul Haggis
    17. Bruce Feirstien

    How can you separate the work of Purvis and Wade?
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    Posts: 13,350
    I wondered if anyone would catch that! I can't but to me, in interviews and documentaries Wade comes across as knowing what he's talking about and displays a far greater understanding of Fleming and Bond in general.
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    Posts: 9,117
    bondsum wrote:
    Richard Maibaum
    Johanna Hardwood
    Tom Mankeinwicz
    Paul Dehn
    John Hopkins
    Simon Raven
    Roald Dahl
    Christopher Wood
    George MacDonald Fraser
    Neil Purvis & Robert Wade
    John Logan
    Michael G. Wilson
    Michael France
    Bruce Feirstien

    P&W above MGW? Thats pretty insulting. As is Tom 'DAF and TMWTGG' Mankiewicz.

    MGW delivered 3 excellent scripts with Maibaum in the 80s in OP, TLD and LTK not to mention his work on others.

    Simon Raven? Are you joking here? I'll happily stand corrected but I'm fairly certain in Charles Helfensteins Making of OHMSS it states that practically Ravens only contribution was Tracys 'Thy dawn' speech. You must have really loved that soliloquy. Much as I dont rate P&W I think their overall contribution is better than Ravens.
    Feel free to slap me down as I read that book about a year ago so am going from memory and cant really be bothered to walk across the room and look it up.
  • thelivingroyalethelivingroyale
    edited January 2013 Posts: 12,837
    Maibaum and Wilson are my favourites. OP, and the glorious Dalton films, nuff said. FYEO was good too.

    AVTAK was pretty naff but one bad film out of 5 isn't bad and hte other 4 more than make up for it. I still think the 80s is probably the golden era.
  • SirHenryLeeChaChingSirHenryLeeChaChing
    edited January 2013 Posts: 3,494
    I believe it's Joanna Harwood. Last I knew, she wasn't a male porn star :)
  • NapoleonPluralNapoleonPlural
    Posts: 512
    Yes, is she the one interviewed in that movie magazine special about the 50th anniversary of Dr No? Some great gags in GF and TB too, something was lost when she went, if I'm thinking of the same person. The jokes in YOLT and OHMSS and a bit generic. And have been in both the Brozzer and Craig movies imo.

    What about Lorezo Semple and Dick Clement & Ian Le Frenais?
  • NapoleonPluralNapoleonPlural
    Posts: 512
    Oh, amazed that someone has Michael France as his number one, that's dedication for you! His GE draft was heavily reworked, though I'd like to see the original. Is that the one that begins with a car chase on a high-speed train in a tunnel? Guess that kind of got used in the Skyfall pts in a way.
  • LicencedToKilt69007LicencedToKilt69007 Belgium, Wallonia
    Posts: 523
    Richard Maibaum as number 1
    Michael G. WIlson as number 2
    Bruce Feirstein, Jeffrey Caine and Michael France as number 3.
    Tom Mankiewicz and Christopher Wood as number 4.
    Neal Purvis & Robert Wade as number 5.
    John Logan as number 6.

    no order for the others. Yet.
  • bondsumbondsum
    edited February 2013 Posts: 3,333
    TheWizardOfIce wrote:
    bondsum wrote:
    Richard Maibaum
    Joanna Harwood
    Tom Mankeinwicz
    Paul Dehn
    John Hopkins
    Simon Raven
    Paul Haggis
    Roald Dahl
    Christopher Wood
    George MacDonald Fraser
    Neil Purvis & Robert Wade
    John Logan
    Michael G. Wilson
    Michael France
    Bruce Feirstien

    P&W above MGW? Thats pretty insulting. As is Tom 'DAF and TMWTGG' Mankiewicz.

    MGW delivered 3 excellent scripts with Maibaum in the 80s in OP, TLD and LTK not to mention his work on others.

    Simon Raven? Are you joking here? I'll happily stand corrected but I'm fairly certain in Charles Helfensteins Making of OHMSS it states that practically Ravens only contribution was Tracys 'Thy dawn' speech. You must have really loved that soliloquy. Much as I dont rate P&W I think their overall contribution is better than Ravens.
    Feel free to slap me down as I read that book about a year ago so am going from memory and cant really be bothered to walk across the room and look it up.
    For me the listing becomes rather sticky after Richard Maibaum and Joanna Harwood, but I much prefer Tom Mankeinwicz's contributions over anything Michael G. Wilson has been involved in. I actually don't blame him for the poor bits in DAF as most of the story and ideas were courtesy of Cubby Broccoli. Mankeinwicz's script for LALD was a marked improvement and probably had more to do with Saltzman not insisting on his story outline when he was in charge of LALD. As for TMWTGG, that's not Mankeinwicz's fault as his original first draft for the script in 1973 was a battle of wills between Bond and Scaramanga, but much of the plot involving Scaramanga being Bond's equal was sidelined in later drafts when Maibaum was brought in by Guy Hamilton when tensions between TM and the director got heated. It was Maibaum that came up with the "Solex agitator" in his later drafts. I read somewhere that Broccoli's stepson Michael G. Wilson researched about solar power to create the Solex. Another black mark against his name then!! So basically, I don't blame TM for what went wrong with TMWTGG.

    Apart from TLD I can't say I've been that impressed with anything with MGW's name on the writing credits. I certainly don't hold him in the same high regard as yourself, @Wizard. After all, if he was that good why didn't he help out with the QoS script when they were having problems meeting the deadline? However Mankeinwicz completely rewrote Donner's Superman screenplay but couldn't receive a credit due to some Writer’s Guild objection, hence the "Creative Consultant" tag. Let's not forget, apart from writing a great script, TM also came up with the idea of the Superman logo being a family crest which has now become the accepted origin in today's graphic novels and comics. TM was a great ideas man and for that I truly appreciate his contributions.

    And as for Raven, I just love Tracy's 'Thy dawn' speech which has more originality than spouting Lord Tennyson's 'Ulysses' poem in SF.

    Alas, unless there have been any books on the subject it's a little hard to discern exactly what the additional writers added, which is why I have to mark them on how I feel about their movies as a whole, hence my order of preference. I also forgot to include Haggis in my first list but I'd place him above P&W.
  • thelionthelion
    Posts: 72
    The best screenwriter is Maibaum, hands down. In second place, I'd put Dehn, in third Chris Wood, in fourth Logan ( until now) and in fifth Purvis and Wade. Honorable mention to Joanna Harwood.
  • JBFan626JBFan626
    Posts: 1,497
    Richard Maibaum and Tom Mankiewicz, the rest I could take or leave them.
  • AgentJamesBond007AgentJamesBond007 Vesper’s grave
    edited February 2013 Posts: 2,630
    1. Richard Maibaum
    2. Johanna Harwood
    3. Michael G. Wilson
    4. Paul Dehn
    5. John Logan
    6. Tom Mankiewicz
    7. John Hopkins
    8. Christopher Wood
    9. Simon Raven
    10. Roald Dahl
    11. George MacDonald Fraser
    12. Neil Purvis & Robert Wade
    13. Michael France
    14. Bruce Feirstien
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