Bond Performance - This week; Roger Moore as James Bond, 007 in A View To A Kill

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  • This is a difficult choice to narrow down, becase each Bond brought some of their era into their performances (ex. Connery, cool, suave, set the stereotype for 60s spys)

    In terms of acting, as I said in a thread that was deleted, Craig suceeds in provided emotional complexity far more than other Bond's before. Dalton was a real character, but never had the doubt about what his job was, never had that huge heartbreak to work with (PS, Lazenby failed to get me invested into his Bond in the ending) Craig had me invested the whole film. Even in such a crapshoot as QOS was, he was far better with that human-factor.
  • Posts: 12,837
    Dalton was a real character, but never had the doubt about what his job was, never had that huge heartbreak to work with

    Dalton did have doubts about his job. Like in TLD, when he says he'd be happy if M fired him. Not having a heartbreak to work with is hardly his fault. I reckon Dalton could've pulled off CR back in the 80s if he was given the chance.
  • Posts: 612
    Lazenby in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Crazy, I know.

    Lazenby had nothing going for him, from before the movie even started production. He wasn't Connery, so fans hated him immediately. Sure, his performance wasn't strong, but it wasn't terrible either. The script was brilliantly written, and Rigg and Savalas definitely held up the acting side of things.

    I think the most credit for Lazenby goes to his fight scenes. I found Connery's to be kind of here and there. Going back and watching the initial fist fights in Goldfinger, they look terrible. Lazenby had a very physical approach to the fights. He's throwing his whole body around, doing the most damage possible. Connery's were fairly uninspired, Moore's were more stylish than brutal, and Brosnan was just trying to look cool. Dalton and Craig hold up well, but credit goes out to Lazer.
  • edited July 2012 Posts: 12,837
    Lazenby was definetly the best fighter out of all the Bonds. I'd love to say it was Dalton, but let's be honest, he was decent but not the best in the fight scenes. Craig is good, but he has the advantage of modern film making and higher rated films so the fights look and seem more brutal. And Lazenby taught hand to hand to the Aussie army, so you know he's good in real life too.
  • Posts: 72
    It's hard to pick just one, but I think that the best performance was Connery's in FRWL. He was everything that Bond should be. He was suave but dangerous, classy but ruthless. I believe that Connery managed to show , in FRWL; evrerything that we expect from Bond: smart, suave, a good fighter and dangerous. At second place I would put Dan in CR. He managed to be suave, while cold, and sometimes with a sense of humour. The only thing that his perfomance lacked was a bit more Bondian moments, otherwise it would have been perfect.
  • Personally, I don't think the actors should be rated by how "Bond" they are. They should rated by what they brought to he table, how they did in the part (performance wise), not just because they those "Bond" moments that everyone seems to critique the actors (esspecially Daniel Craig) because they don't have certain elements already done by Connery.
  • Monsieur_AubergineMonsieur_Aubergine Top of the Eiffel Tower with a fly in my soup!
    Posts: 642
    Bond; Womanizer, smoker, drinker, assassin, a blunt instrument and he aint no superman.

    By definition it leads me only to Timothy Dalton (LTK)
  • edited July 2012 Posts: 4,762
    Lazenby in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Crazy, I know.

    Lazenby had nothing going for him, from before the movie even started production. He wasn't Connery, so fans hated him immediately. Sure, his performance wasn't strong, but it wasn't terrible either. The script was brilliantly written, and Rigg and Savalas definitely held up the acting side of things.

    I think the most credit for Lazenby goes to his fight scenes. I found Connery's to be kind of here and there. Going back and watching the initial fist fights in Goldfinger, they look terrible. Lazenby had a very physical approach to the fights. He's throwing his whole body around, doing the most damage possible. Connery's were fairly uninspired, Moore's were more stylish than brutal, and Brosnan was just trying to look cool. Dalton and Craig hold up well, but credit goes out to Lazer.

    Despite the fact that I detest Lazenby's "performance" (emphasis on quotes) as 007, I will give him credit for the fighting sequences. Out of all the Bond actors, it'd be difficult to say that he wouldn't get first place in that department.
  • Bond; Womanizer, smoker, drinker, assassin, a blunt instrument and he aint no superman.

    That's the very stereotype of which the actor's shouldn't be judge. The character of James Bond is so much more complex than that.

  • Posts: 4
    Connery in Goldfinger, Brosnan in Goldeneye, Craig in Royale.
  • Posts: 160
    Depends on which Bond we are looking for.

    Imo Dalton in TLD was very close to Flemings Bond. Maybe the closest yet. But there were lacks in the "Movie Bond"-department (which sounds more negative then I intended it to, I love TLD).

    Moore in TSWLM was fantastic as the "Movie Bond". So was Pierce in TWINE.


    Overall, I really go with the best Bond and the best movie and say: Sean in FRWL. Every second Sean is on screen he steals the attention and portrays everything I am looking for in my Bond. It is also still my favourite mix of the "Fleming Bond" and "Movie Bond".

    Though Craig really got close in CR. I remember seeing Craig at the press conference and I really liked him and was excited what he would do with Bond. I had no clue he would get so close to Sean and really blow me out of the water with his performance. I remeber after CR had finished at cinema, a friend of mine was looking at me starting the question "And what do you thin..ah nevermind". He was just looking in my grinning face. The opposite of what was happening after DAD..

  • Posts: 1,052
    Roger Moore in FYEO, combining Flemings Bond with the screen Bond perfectly!
  • Posts: 299
    I think to judge this properly one has to first gauge the complexity of the material. What the actor has to work with. On that front, Craig in CR is the clearly the best.
  • Posts: 562
    Definitive Bond is and always will be Timothy Dalton in LTK.
  • Craig in CR..I thought he might get an Oscar nomination to be honest.

  • DRESSED_TO_KILLDRESSED_TO_KILL Suspended
    edited August 2012 Posts: 260
    Best Bond performance, in my opinion is Craig in CR and 2nd is Connery in FRWL.
  • Dalton in both his films.
    roger moore was the worst bond, I don't even consider any of his movies actual bond movies. They're more unrealistic than austin powers...seriously Roger Moore was such a horrible choice. horrible.

    Without Roger Moore the series probably wouldn't even exist right now.

  • DRESSED_TO_KILLDRESSED_TO_KILL Suspended
    Posts: 260

    you can't say it couldn't but also cant say it could.
    It's a 50/50 thing
  • Posts: 4,762
    roger moore was the worst bond, I don't even consider any of his movies actual bond movies. They're more unrealistic than austin powers...seriously Roger Moore was such a horrible choice. horrible.

    Why do you not consider his movies actual Bond movies? There's more to his seven than just Roger Moore as Bond. Because you dislike Roger Moore, does that mean you also dislike every villain, plot, soundtrack, location, action sequence, and girl from each of his seven?
  • you can't say it couldn't but also cant say it could.
    It's a 50/50 thing

    I had trouble understanding this.

    It's not 50/50. Moore was popular and basically saved the series after the Connery/Lazenby confusion. He was really successful and without him, the films wouldn't have made as much money and they probably would've stopped making them, which is why they kept him on for so long.
  • edited August 2012 Posts: 299
    I agree. I think the best way to think of the Moore era is as a bridge between the initial frenzy of the 60's and the modern era. I respect that some don't like him as Bond. I myself, as much as I love him as a person, realize he was quite possibly the least-suited person to the role, at least in terms of how I visualize the character. But nonetheless, his contribution cannot be understated. He was crucially instrumental in keeping the frachise alive, and Cubby recognized that, hence why his tenure was as long as it was.

    Roger Moore was very valuable to the James Bond franchise.
  • royale65royale65 Caustic misanthrope reporting for duty.
    edited November 2012 Posts: 4,418

    If we're talking best balance of literary and cinema Bond then I agree probably FRWL although Laz and Tim in TLD are close behind.

    DN is probably too literary and GF and TB tilted too much towards cinema Bond so FRWL takes it for Sean.

    Rog and Brozza are all cinema Bond with only the odd flash of literary during their tenure so they're not really in the game.

    Craig is fairly heavily tilted towards literary but from some of the comments coming out of SF it sounds like we are heading more in the direction of cinema Bond this time round so with a bit of luck we might get the same sort of balance as we got in FRWL and OHMSS which is pretty close to perfect.

    After seeing Skyfall I'll have to think were to rank Craig, and his performance in SF. I don't want to get into it here, because our American/Canadian/Antipodean cousins haven't seen it yet.

    You talk about Connery's DN being literary. I agree, up to a point. Connery really was a "rough diamond" in DN; he's to harsh on the other characters; think the Police Commissionaire, when Bond is shown Strangway's house. It doesn't happen often, though, and by the time Connery's performance in FRWL happens, it was gone.

    Which brings me onto Craig's performance in CR. Craig was a very "rough diamond" in the beginning of that film, and the film morphs him into the Bond we know and love. I could just see Craig's CR-Bond evolving into Connery's DN-Bond.



  • edited December 2012 Posts: 546
    Sean Connery-From Russia With Love
    Sir Roger Moore-The Spy Who Loved Me & For Your Eyes Only
    Sir Timothy Dalton-License to Kill
    Pierce Bronsan-Goldeneye
    Daniel Craig-Casino Royale & Skyfall
  • you can't say it couldn't but also cant say it could.
    It's a 50/50 thing

    I know Buttons has departed, but the more I think about what he said, the more perplexed I get, although doubtless it makes perfect sense, and I'm just tired

    In any event, I'll do an update, and what's going on, Wasn't we taking today about the same subject but on a different thread ?

    I'll just do one for each actor, and imagine it hasn't changed..

    Connery - FRWL
    Moore - FYEO
    Dalton - LTK
    Brosnan - TWINE
    Craig - CR

    sorry about any confusion..
  • edited June 2013 Posts: 2,400
    Dalton in both his films, for me.

    Though, if I had to choose only one, I'd give it to The Living Daylights.

    Honourable mentions (from most to least Bondesque, one per actor):

    Craig in Casino Royale
    Lazenby in OHMSS
    Connery in FRWL
    Moore in TMWTGG
    Brosnan in TWINE

    EDIT: Actually, I'm quite divided with Dalton. It's a tossup again for me, I can't choose. The scene in LTK where, after he's killed Killifer by knocking him into the shark pool, he's just staring down emotionlessly at the aftermath, is the definitive realization of Ian Fleming's vision on screen. Whereas TLD is just so Flemingesque throughout as well.
  • ShardlakeShardlake Leeds, West Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 4,043
    After Skyfall I'd say Daniel Craig it for me is the best Bond performance yet, I thought he was getting close to Connery's FRWL performance with CR but his work in SF convinced me he's my favourite Bond now.

    There has been talk of both Dench or Bardem stealing the film, personallyI think Craig is in total command from the moment he appears and is utterly riveting in the role like no other actor since in my opinion and isn't and hasn't been upstaged since he took the role.
  • royale65royale65 Caustic misanthrope reporting for duty.
    Posts: 4,418
    I was thinking we could do one “Bond Performance” per week, really serve up some proper discussion, and really talk about the actors portrayal.


    Starting with -

    Dr No

    Terence Young, himself an erudite and sophisticated man, took Connery and knocked him into shape. The alliance of Young and Connery proved irresistible; Young turned the rough diamond Connery, into a ruthlessly elegant bon vivant, which embodied all the hallmarks of Fleming's 007; charming, yet very lethal.

    Connery himself had a natural strength and aggression, which Cubby so admired, tempered with a calm authority, great grace and elegant poise. In addition to his smooth, sexual magnetism and wry charm, Connery's Bond was underpinned by a real sense of danger; his was a Bond, like the novels, that had earned his 00-prefix, and this was a key development in translating Bond to the masses.

    The only caveat about Connery's 007, is a slight uncouthness, in relation to other characters; the Police Commissioner in Strangways' house, or when Leiter, Quarrel and Bond are sat in Puss Feller's bar, discussing Dr No, for example. Connery is rather rough in his interactions.

    Still, Connery's 007, is almost perfect in his début outing, the slight uncouthness being the only thing that distracts during his masterful performance. I'd say this performance is more Fleming's 007, than the cinematic 007.
  • I agree FRWL for me too.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,687
    Since reading the novels, I've seen Bond as a cool surface with as hot core, rather than a smooth character through and through. I think at the beginning (DN) Connery displayed that partially due to his youth & this being his first BIG starring role in a motion picture. By GF, this electric vibe was being replaced by the super-confidence generally associated with his performances (i.e. the 'cinematic' Bond). It's no coincidence that Connery's first two & Dalton's two are my favourite overall Bond performances in the series. No other 20th Century Bonds come as close to Fleming's literary character IMHO.
    Dr. No was an astounding job by Sir Sean.
  • edited October 2014 Posts: 4,622
    Sean Connery as James Bond 007
    In
    Ian Fleming's

    Diamonds Are Forever

    My favourite Bond performance of them all.
    A sheer pleasure to watch the classic Bond at his self assured best!
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