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Comments
I like CR but I do think it's a little overrated sometimes. Having said that, it's a massive improvement on Campbell's first effort, which I've always thought was appalling. GE to me is like a very bad rip off of a John Glen movie. Practically nothing about GE works for me - no the directing, music, casting, script, action etc.
CR however felt very new and fresh. I actually sometimes find it difficult to believe they're from the same director.
I've always chalked it up to him being a first time Bond director, the long gap between films, and the budget which was pretty small (and they did location filming in Monaco with that budget as well as building the great looking finale set which to this day impresses me).
I agree that looking back on it these days it definitely has a tv feel in places, but to me it somehow still manages to give off the Bondian flair that was missing in some of Glen's entries. GE is definitely a strange cookie....it straddles the past and also looks to the future, in more ways than one. The end fight is excellent though, as is the Ferrari/Aston homage chase.
But it would have been better.
And he has an incredible look too, along with his acting skills. And I love how he truly knows the character of Bond beyond Craig's recent revelation in Time Out Magazine : "he f**ks anything with a pulse". Wow Craig, are you talking about Austin Powers?
And Dalton is much classier than rough talking Craig in interviews. Dalton talks like a Prince Charles.
I was not impressed by Craig's undignified swearing in magazine interviews. Connery and Moore were class, and knew swearing was not becoming of a character like Bond. You are representing an institution, and Craig would have been scolded by Cubby Broccoli for use of such harsh language.
I am getting that feeling. Incidentally sir, I replied earlier to your post explaining my change of opinion on SF. You have a great memory sir!
True. If the next one is awful it will make Craig look good.
I think in the long term though when people have distance and time between them and the movies, there'll be a more measured assessment. I have no doubt he'll be fondly remembered by most, but will his portrayal have the enduring appreciation of Connery and Moore?
Same here. He's a great TV director but perhaps Campbell just got lucky on CR. Phil Meheux upped his game with the cinematography and we had the gravitas of Fleming material. Until we get to Montenegro the film is still skating perilously close to the mindless excessiveness of a Brosnan effort.
The appeal of GE continues to alude me. It looks cheap, it's incredibly dull in places (despite people suggesting it's a great action film) the dialogue is woefully unrealistic, the performances from Bean, Cumming and Famke all should have been reigned in, the Samantha Bond Moneypenny is rather ghastly, the model work at Serenya is too obvious, the PTS is a cheat and the running around with machine guns is out of character.
Even the tank sequence which is cited as a highlight looks tatty with the painfully obvious backlot reconstruction and the unharmed policemen stepping out of the crushed car is pure A-Team/Dukes Of Hazard material. This is the man who also thought 'I'm invincible' was appropriate for a Bond film despite publically criticising the Moore films.
I'd take Glen over Campbell as an action director any day and for all the Mendes hate that goes on at least his two Bond films have better dialogue than ' For England James...' '...tastes of strawberries' and the awful 'little finger' codswallop.
Totally agree!
I definitely think Campbell benefited from having some real Fleming to work with on CR. It's qualitatively miles away from GE on every level.
Dalton certainly could have delivered a superb GE (I'm 100% sure of it) and I actually think he may have been able to hold it together and give it more gravitas. Dalton in an Aston in Monaco would have been a joy to watch.
Iºm with you on that too. I admit i have a big soft spot for GE and always find it a lot of fun to watch.
i like Samantha Bond as well. Miles better than the 80s caricature that is Caroline Bliss.
Having said that, my appreciation for TLD has gone up a lot more in recent years as has my appreciation for Dalton as Bond.
I´m still a bit mixed on Glen as a director, but i feel his direction of TLD is solid (A LOT better than his previous work on AVTAK and even LTK, which i do think looks cheap at times though this may be understandable given their restrictions).
Whether we like it or not though, Dalton still seems to be a "forgotton Bond" amongst general media, even in todayºs "Craig Bond" universe. Ive heard programes take cheap swipes at him or undermine his contribution.
"Who is your favourite Bond. Could it be the rugged, sexy Sean Connery, the suave unflappable Roger Moore or even thesp Timothy Dal....haha just kidding"
(Channel 5 documentary)
"This is the first time we see Bond, the man"
(Jonathan Ross on the recent Spectre documentary)
Even in more general publicity, i doubt we´d ever hear about it if Dalton was caught with a knife in his hand luggage (at least it wouldnºt be given the same page space it was with Broz.
Dalton definitely did that decades ago, and to some extent, it can be argued that he actually did it better, since he did it within the confines of 'formula Bond'.
That's not to discount Craig's contributions to the series, which have indeed been formidable. It's just that Dalton does not get his fair shake, that's for sure.
Erm, no offence to DC, he's a superb Bond, but he does not bring the same layered performances that Dalton could.
This "Dalton is a tv/stage actor, not a movie-star leading man" stuff is b*llocks.
There are subtle introverted leading men and more obviously extroverted leading men - not every one of them is a forthright in-your face movie star like Jack Nicholson. Charisma is not measured by how loudly you dominate conversation.
Nobody said Henry Fonda or William Hurt lacked leading man qualities because they are of the introverted type. It is about presence, and Dalton had plenty of it as Bond.
Dalton in his Vantage from TLD driving into Monaco please. Not the DB5.
Tha would have been awesome.