Pierces Brosnan’s Tenure as James Bond…

[Marc]

Then how would you have preferred the torture scene?

I don't really care, but torturing one of cinema's most masculine characters in a the most anti-masculine way is a bit obvious, don't you think ?

Especially given the change in his behaviour in the rest of the movie.

Dude, that is directly from the novel, a novel that the filmmakers set out adapt faithfully. I, for one, was glad they didn't puss out and cut the carpet beater.

I've got a book at home called The Bond Files by Paul Cornell and Andy Lane (iirc) who's name would be family to Doctor Who fans.

It's synopsis books that looks at all the Bond books, comiics, movies etc up to the point it was Published (post TND).

They describe the carpet beater scene as "the most sadistic scene Flemming ever wrote".

Bond's line "the bitch is dead" is also straight out of the book.

 

[trevanian]

Lots of people find other scenes in Fleming to be more sadistic, like the breaking of the flashbulb on Quarrel's face in DR NO, or Leiter being fed to sharks in L&LD.

I thought the CR poster should have been a chair with the cushion cut away in a spotlight, with a carpet beater and drops of blood below it. Nothing else. That way people would have been expecting something graphic, and they could have let it play at length (I figured it would be more like MARATHON MAN's dental scene.)

Then again, I dislike or disapprove of damned near everything in CR, so I guess complaining about the torture scene is laying it on thick, since that part does play okay.

I really wish Brosnan got to do a Tarantino version of CR ... it would have been a great exit vehicle and proved to everybody who didn't see TAILOR OF PANAMA how he could have been an excellent tough vicious Bond, allowing for script and good direction, stuff he didn't get in his tenure as 007.

There are moments in the Brosfilms that work, but none of them sustain. In fact, since the last act of LICENCE TO KILL kind of jumps the shark with all the truck wheelie crap, I guess it has been nearly 20 years since I've seen a full hour of Bond I didn't bitch about.

Keep FRWL, TLD and LTK, along with TB and GF and OHMSS (I guess) ... toss the rest, except for Ken Adam sets in the superturkeys from the 70s.

 

[Broccoli]

GoldenEye's cheesy soundtrack was much more suited to the infamous N64 game that outgrew it's parent SG-1 style.

Uh...what?

Bond's line "the bitch is dead" is also straight out of the book.

Yeah, but they buried it with other dialog and, imo, ruined the importance of the line.

 

[suarezguy]

I don't watch them often, but GoldenEye was his best for the characters (the Bond/Alec dynamic, Natalya being sympathetic, and the comic relief from Boris), the political aspects and tone were interesting, TWiNE (like in GE, the stakes felt pretty personal for Bond aside from the helicopter blades scene, Brosnan also seemed the perfect age and had right approach-I liked that he really felt experienced) and DAD (liked the fun factor and thought that Graves was a decent villain) were mostly enjoyable fluff, TND which I most recently watched was disappointing, fine concepts but weak script, acting and even action, felt like not a lot of effort put in.

 

[Orac Zen]

I love all the revision of history going on here. Brosnan nearly ruined the franchise? WTF?

Indeed. If Bond wasn't killed off by Moore's insufferable smugness and smart-arsery - never mind his laughable geriatric lumbering after women practically young enough to be his granddaughters - it certainly wasn't going to be "ruined" by Brosnan. I thought he was a terrific Bond; I may be one of the five or so people on the planet who enjoys all his movies, including the (almost) universally reviled DAD (I'd rather watch it than any of Moore's horrors).

I also agree with those who say Craig is far better than Casino Royale was. It was a decent movie but it's nothing like the masterpiece it's been built up to be.

 

[gblews]

Fortunately, Daniel Craig has come in and restored what was lost when Sean Connery hung up his Walter PPK (though briefly restored when Dalton was in the role) -- Bond as a tough-guy, scary dude, who was capable of doing just about anything to complete the mission.

There, I fixed that for you.

There, I fixed that again for you.

Dalton was even worse than Brosnan. He had absolutely no charisma. He was like that little dot Garry Trudeux used to use in Doonsbury (comic strip) to symbolize a certain charisma challenged past POTUS.

And yeah, I'm familiar with the often cited (around here) cliche, "Dalton wanted to bring the the Bond of Fleming's books to the screen", or some such. Frankly I can't say whether or not I think he succeeded because I just don't remember that much of his performances. Dalton's Bond was one of the the most easily forgettable execises in miscasting as has ever hit the screen.

Unfortunately, Connery established the onscreen Bond as a suave BUTdangerous tough guy with magnetic charisma. From what I saw in "Royale", Craig is the first actor to be able to credibly present ALL of those most important aspects of Bond since Connery.

MooreBrosnanDalton, all "pretty boys" did okay with the suave part (at least I think Dalton did), but failed completely at the other parts.

 

[Aragorn]

Some critic (Roger Ebert, maybe?) said Dalton's Bond looked like he was always trying to solve a math problem in his head.

 

[Timby]

Dalton was even worse than Brosnan. He had absolutely no charisma. He was like that little dot Garry Trudeux used to use in Doonsbury (comic strip) to symbolize a certain charisma challenged past POTUS.

And yeah, I'm familiar with the often cited (around here) cliche, "Dalton wanted to bring the the Bond of Fleming's books to the screen", or some such. Frankly I can't say whether or not I think he succeeded because I just don't remember that much of his performances. Dalton's Bond was one of the the most easily forgettable execises in miscasting as has ever hit the screen.

I once read that everyone becomes attached to the first Bond actor they watched. I don't think that's necessarily true, but I think it does play a part. I was born in '84, and I read the Fleming books long before I ever saw a Bond film beginning-to-end (I watched Licence to Kill about eight months before GoldenEye was released).

In the books, Bond was a chain-smoking, heavy-drinking cold-hearted shit, with a bit of a drug habit to boot -- not especially "charismatic," outside of his womanizing. When I saw Dalton in Licence to Kill and later The Living Daylights, that was the Bond I saw -- a guy who wasn't particularly concerned about being charming, but rather a guy who simply got the job done.

 

[Kelso]

Brosnan was my Bond (I was 14 in 1995).

These days, I'd rank him behind both Connery and Craig.. but you never really get over your first.

 

[gblews]

I once read that everyone becomes attached to the first Bond actor they watched. I don't think that's necessarily true, but I think it does play a part. I was born in '84, and I read the Fleming books long before I ever saw a Bond film beginning-to-end (I watched Licence to Kill about eight months before GoldenEye was released).

In the books, Bond was a chain-smoking, heavy-drinking cold-hearted shit, with a bit of a drug habit to boot -- not especially "charismatic," outside of his womanizing. When I saw Dalton in Licence to Kill and later The Living Daylights, that was the Bond I saw -- a guy who wasn't particularly concerned about being charming, but rather a guy who simply got the job done.

Dalton played the lead character in a big production action movie franchise; THAT guy needed chrisma in order to help carry the movie. In other words, people were seeing the movie version of Bond, they weren't reading Fleming's book.

BTW, I only remember your general description of Bond from one book, I think it was at the beginning of Thunderball or You Only Live Twice. Bond was coming off a serious drinking binge. The character drank and smoked in all the books but I don't recall it being emphsized as much as you seem to indicate it was. Admittedly, its been many years since I read Fleming's books.

 

[Aragorn]

Roger Moore was my first Bond, though I feel like I was too young to remember much of anything. In fact, I doubt I really comprehended that James Bond was a franchise. I didn't even know who Christopher Walken was when I saw A View to a Kill. And when you're still in single digits, Moonraker is kickass like Krull or The Last Starfighter.

My choice is Brosnan.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

I finally saw my first full Roger Moore outings this past week when I rented "The Spy Who Loved Me" & "For Your Eyes Only." I liked them a lot. Somehow, I just feel that these Moore films as well as the Brosnan films are what James Bond should be-- FUN! By comparison, "Casino Royale" has all the requisite action but just takes itself too seriously.

As for Timothy Dalton, I've only seen "License to Kill" so far. I didn't like it much, although I thought Dalton was good in it. I haven't seen "The Living Daylights" yet but I just rented it. It's next on my agenda.

The only Connery film I've seen all the way through has been "Goldfinger." I give it an A for effort but it's a bit slow for my tastes.

 

[Starkers]

I have difficulty coming up with my list of fave Bonds in order, although oddly Connery is perhaps my least favourite. There's just nothing likable about the guy.

I do think Roger Moore gets a bad rep sometimes. Especially in his early films he's easily as sadistic as Connery, and the fact that he is more amiable than Connery arguably makes it harsher. I rewatched Live and Let Die the other week. He tricks solitaire into sleeping with him, tells Rosie he certainly wouldn't have killed her before they had sex, and purposefully uses Solitaire as bait to lure Mr Big out. He also has little in the way of gadgets. A magnetic watch, that's it (unless a coffee maker counts!)

Equally the Spy Who Loved Me was perhaps his best film, love his casual killing of the guy on the roof.

Usually I cite Dalton as my favourite Bond though.

 

[trevanian]

I only remember your general description of Bond from one book, I think it was at the beginning of Thunderball or You Only Live Twice. Bond was coming off a serious drinking binge. The character drank and smoked in all the books but I don't recall it being emphsized as much as you seem to indicate it was. Admittedly, its been many years since I read Fleming's books.

It was in THUNDERBALL, but it was a description of his NORMAL life style, not a binge. It was 60 smokes a day, plus a list of his average booze consumption.

EDIT ADDON: to me, Dalton is playing the Bond in later books, who is more contemplative and also a bit contemptuous of his own life. He brings shading that Craig can't even begin to portray, mainly cuz Dalton LOOKS and acts like Bond, whereas Craig, regardless of reviews, is always going to be that ugly guy in the tuxedo to me.

And the way they wrote Bond in CR, makes Craig out to be playing an immature fool. I don't fault Craig for that, because it would have undone nearly any grownup performer.

 

[TedShatner10]

I have difficulty coming up with my list of fave Bonds in order, although oddly Connery is perhaps my least favourite. There's just nothing likable about the guy.

Connery seems a miserable shit quite often and Moore is a very nice guy, but George Lazenby is a right fucking prick and is involved in domestic violence (Pierce Brosnan has been verbally bullied by Lazenby as well).

 

[trevanian]

Moore always gets the 'nice guy' pass, but he's the one who cheated on his second wife with her best friend, whereas bastard Connery is the one who got cheated on. Does nice always translate to, 'he picked up the check?'

 

[Good Will Riker]

Moore always gets the 'nice guy' pass, but he's the one who cheated on his second wife with her best friend, whereas bastard Connery is the one who got cheated on. Does nice always translate to, 'he picked up the check?'

Didn't Sean Connery beat his first wife to a pulp to the point where when she looked in the mirror afterwards in her own words she looked like a "blowfish?"

 

[trevanian]

Moore always gets the 'nice guy' pass, but he's the one who cheated on his second wife with her best friend, whereas bastard Connery is the one who got cheated on. Does nice always translate to, 'he picked up the check?'

Didn't Sean Connery beat his first wife to a pulp to the point where when she looked in the mirror afterwards in her own words she looked like a "blowfish?"

Think you're mixing up events from a Bond story called HILLDEBRANDT RARITY, but if not, then it is news to me.

His wife was a tremendous actress, wouldn't surprise me if she could inspire such rage or fake a beating.

 

[Aragorn]

In Craig's next outing, he should have to fight Connery, Lazenby, Moore, Brosnan and Dalton.

 

[Vasquez Rocks]

Moore always gets the 'nice guy' pass, but he's the one who cheated on his second wife with her best friend, whereas bastard Connery is the one who got cheated on. Does nice always translate to, 'he picked up the check?'

Didn't Sean Connery beat his first wife to a pulp to the point where when she looked in the mirror afterwards in her own words she looked like a "blowfish?"

In her autobiography she claimed he beat her on several occasions, but he has denied this. In a Barbara Walters interview he said that it's okay to smack a woman when your arguing with her. Also in Vanity Fair he said "There are women who take it to the wire. That's what they are looking for, the ultimate confrontation. They want a smack."