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Comments
Especially with your last sentence....
I personally find Largo superior to Goldfinger. He's colder, more athletic, more of a physical match for Bond, his antagonism with Bond is more personal. I find his introduction far better as well.
I respect both your opinions, but woah, do I disagree. Every time I watch GF I marvel at Frobe's physicality and Collins' vocal performance. The two are just so harmonious. Love the way his nonchalant exterior breaks with the line 'Except Crime!'
=))
If you're struggling so much that the spiritual father of Elvis makes the top 10 as a positive then it's probably time to admit TB isn't that good.
Vargas a plus? Seriously? The guy just stands around wearing sunglasses and then gets the point. He's such a nonentity of a threat Bond takes him down without even needing to get off his arse. Hardly Grant or Oddjob.
I would refute that entirely. If someone puts DAD top it most certainly does reflect on their intelligence. They are a f**king moron.
Whilst liking TB certainly doesn't put someone in that category, as it's a reasonable entry and still has solid roots in Fleming surely you can see that the statement DAF, TB and YOLT are the three best films of all time is clearly idiotic? If you want to say they are your three favourite then fine it's your funeral but you might want to check your Bond tinted glasses aren't too dark and stopping you from seeing the world outside.
Personally I find TB utterly underwhelming and it's in my bottom third. I can see why some people rate it higher. What I can't see is why people rate it as an all time classic when there are so many far better candidates to choose from. And as for it being one of the best three films of all time? Afraid I'm going to have to stand by my original comment Sir - risible.
If everyone's opinion is equally valid then why is Donald Trump getting so much shit the last few days?
As much as I love GF, Auric Goldfinger is a bit overrated as a villain. He can't sink a two foot putt, for crying out loud, and acts like a baby when he loses a golf game. If not for OddJob, GF would have no menace for Bond at all.
It tells you everything you need to know about his character. He 'always' gets what he wants and it's the second time Bond has prevented that from happening. Petulance is a part of his make up.
Forbes is definitely a far more powerful presence in GF than Celi is in TB, compared to other characters in the respective films. There is something darkly chilling about Celi's Largo though, in a low key Spectre #2 operative sort of way. A quieter, but menacing presence. Auric comes across as more of a Donald Trump sort of character to me... big flamboyant personality.
Gert Frobe is a great actor, no question here. One of the greatest German actors of his generation. But the character's introduction is not great: a fat guy showing up in summery clothes, about to play a game of cards. And he gets immediately dominated by Bond. In the novel, you had Fleming's prose to make something more arresting. Granted, Largo's introduction is not Dr No's or Klebb's, but it is a better one IMO: first we see thee honorable man in a suit who is respected as a notabile by the French police (and let's face it, the suit is far more dignified than Bermuda shorts), then he gets in the SPECTRE meeting, we see a different side of him, then he watches with cold indifference another member of his organization get toasted... then finally we see him as the field commander and tactician of the scheme. I also find Largo far more controlled than Goldfinger, even when he gets angry, which I find more menacing.
And however much I love Honor Blackman as an actress and a person and in spite of Claudine Auger's more limited acting skills, I still think Domino as a character is the better Bond girl and far better used in the plot, but that is another story.
Yes very interesting, the transition from Shrublands/England to sunny Bahamas is stark!
Someone that actually loves the film and has it top is better off fighting this fight.
Lee Tamahori and Madonna will be giving you a call.
Risible- my new favourite word! thanks Wiz!!
Maybe there is some hope for you.
I'll try and wheel it out more often for you. Fortunately this is just the thread to use it with so many TB diehards about the place!
I personally rate it lower, near DAF, and I like them both no matter the dopey parts because Connery & Brosnan are the point to watching those films.
If someone is SO into Pierce's performance, are in love with Halle Berry, come from a sci-fi background, and really dig sword fights it's conceivable that they could list DAD on top whilst still being a highly intelligent person.
You sir, get twenty lashes with a wet noodle for your knee-jerk broad stroke there. :))
But this board would be risible without out the Wiz and his outbursts.
I'm afraid many active members define others here by their country... :(
but in this case, it refers to many European movies forgotten since then, made in the 60s/70s first because of the multi-country budgets, with no real direction then. Definitely made for money and tax cuts, not for art. With some exception, as always, obviously.
If you are referring to films such as Hercules (1958) I must admit that it could qualify as "Eurotrash". Nevertheless, trash has been made in the Anglo-Saxon world as well and Europe has produced many of the finest film artists ever.
I'm against the term, it's derogatory and suggests that Europeans are only capable of producing atrocious movies. Just say something like "trashy" or "lowbrow" instead.
I think the number of people who fall into the category you describe are about the same as those who have their hearts on the right side of their body; one in a million - those are the odds.
While its not perhaps impossible for someone intelligent to enjoy Halle Berry's performance it goes wildly beyond the probable that such a person would. Elements of DAD are an insult to the intelligence of people who watch Mrs Brown's Boys so to the average Oxbridge graduate Jinx saying 'Yo Momma' before Bond jumps in his invisible car must be downright offensive no matter how engaging they find Pierce's performance (probably the best element of the film by the way).
Oh please. Am I going to have to go and dig out Mr Pink's smallest violin in the world just for @GoldenGun?
The discussion was about Adolfo Celi's CV and I would contend that the word Eurotrash aptly describes such classics as Confessions of a Frustrated Housewife and the seminal Operation Kid Brother.
Its not a criticism of all things European. Its not saying all European cinema is trash. Its just a throwaway line to describe a certain genre of low budget film, originating largely in Italy.
I would love to introduce you to the original Eurotrash on Channel 4 but that would probably give you a stroke given its sole existence was to laugh at you funny Europeans!
If this term seriously upsets you then you have my sympathies because I honestly dont know how you get through the day and I'd certainly suggest you might want to stay away from the internet because there are a lot more people less affable than my good self on here.
Instead of whining about being offended like a vegan, lesbian social worker who drives a Prius try and come back with some banter like Timmer does (even if his efforts at wit are, to coin a popular phrase, risible!)
No, TB is not overrated, get back to watching the film, and concentrate, then when film is finished you can come back here and post. :)
For me, the dreamy watery score, sunny vacation locale, save the world plot, women of extreme beauty and a Bond as criminally cool as is humanly possible make it a no brainer.
Hopefully a future rewatch results in a positive reassessment, like happened with DAD for you.
I hate to break it to you but the world is never in danger in TB. At worst Miami and some coral are at risk although given that Kotze has lobbed the fuse for the second bomb in the sea only the Miami bomb has any semblance of a threat and - genius screenwriting - that takes place off screen.
If you want the world to be in jeopardy try YOLT, TSWLM or OP. They obey the first rule of having a nuclear threat as your villain's scheme - have the bomb counting down so that if Bond doesn't succeed the world is at risk.
In TB after the Miami bomb is found Bond could go home because all Largo has without the fuse is a very large and heavy paperweight.
Towards the end of it all I was just appreciating the underwater fights, Domino in a bikini & Bond's cool underwater jet tank. I could do without the ridiculous sped up boat chase though.
It's not a film to think too much about. Perhaps this was where @gumbolt erred. He was concentrating too much. Just enjoy the vacation with Bond, Domino & the rest of the gang.
And actually, thinking about it, wasn't Kotz's line just a way to say the bombs would not blow up there and kill Bond, Domino and a good deal of people with the radiations.
Moonraker is an odd one in that its so tongue in cheek that I rarely feel the world is REALLY in danger.
TB is at least played relatively straight, hence the threat feels a bit more believable.
Because in TB it is far more plausible. It was back in the 60s and it still is.
It's irrelevant if Bond, MI6 and the CIA know if the bombs are defused or not. We the audience know that Kotze has thrown the arming devices into the sea so the tension is thus dissipated.
To get the remaining bomb to explode SPECTRE need to get hold of more 'little toys' and another Kotze to understand how they work (a lot is made of Kotze's technical abilities so it is clear that no one at SPECTRE has the scientific knowhow of how to operate the bombs). Ok I suppose they could take the whole thing apart at a later date, extract the fissile material and build a rudimentary device and hold the world to ransom again.
But in the here and now of the thrilling climax of 'the biggest Bond of all' all SPECTRE have in their possession is a useless lump of metal.