The James Bond Film Discussion Thread (With Bonus Lazenby!)

[TallGhost Host]

I am so psyched for Thursday Murder Club. (I'm almost done with the book.)

That's a tough call for who I would like to see come back. I'm a much bigger fan of Brosnan. But I have to admit Dalton would be more interesting.

 

[CaptainCalvinCat]

Which is, why I said "Maybe in voice-over-works", you two. ^^ Then he doesn't need to run, sprint and do all the things, Bond should be doing. And while Brosnan is in his 70s, I still can imagine him being that active. But maybe all the older Bonds should return - at least in voice-works, maybe for Audio-Dramas or for Videogames. I think, I heard, that in the Game-Version of "From Russia with love" either a very good Connery-Impersonator was playing Bond, or Mr. Connery himself did the honours.

 

[TallGhost Host]

Which is, why I said "Maybe in voice-over-works", you two. ^^ Then he doesn't need to run, sprint and do all the things, Bond should be doing. And while Brosnan is in his 70s, I still can imagine him being that active. But maybe all the older Bonds should return - at least in voice-works, maybe for Audio-Dramas or for Videogames. I think, I heard, that in the Game-Version of "From Russia with love" either a very good Connery-Impersonator was playing Bond, or Mr. Connery himself did the honours.

Oh no. I want to see Old Man Bond. Seriously. You want to "deconstruct" James Bond in our "modern world"? Let him live. Make him become a grown up and have to deal with that! (I'll spare you my "Where Indiana Jone and the Dial of Destiny went wrong.")

And yes, Sir Sean did the video game of FRWL.

 

[CaptainCalvinCat]

Oh no. I want to see Old Man Bond. Seriously. You want to "deconstruct" James Bond in our "modern world"? Let him live. Make him become a grown up and have to deal with that! (I'll spare you my "Where Indiana Jone and the Dial of Destiny went wrong.")

And yes, Sir Sean did the video game of FRWL.

YIKES! "Deconstructing" Bond? No. Never. All I said is: Give the Bonds, who are still alive, another chance to play Bond - and not in a deconstructing manner for the "Modern World", but an old, classic Bond-Adventure, as it was done from Connery till Brosnan.

 

[TallGhost Host]

YIKES! "Deconstructing" Bond? No. Never. All I said is: Give the Bonds, who are still alive, another chance to play Bond - and not in a deconstructing manner for the "Modern World", but an old, classic Bond-Adventure, as it was done from Connery till Brosnan.

For that just cast some 30-40 year old man and make a good Bond movie. If you're going to bring back Brosnan or Dalton I don't want to see them as a special effect.

 

[The Realist]

an old, classic Bond-Adventure, as it was done from Connery till Brosnan.

If only ....

 

[CaptainCalvinCat]

For that just cast some 30-40 year old man and make a good Bond movie. If you're going to bring back Brosnan or Dalton I don't want to see them as a special effect.

Maybe Henry Cavill? I mean, he was great in "The man from U.N.C.L.E.". I'm sure, he could play a good James. And like I said - the return of Brosnan, Dalton and Lazenby would be restricted to Audio Dramas, as one did with Doctor Who.

If only ....

I know, right? I had a hard time, acknowledging Daniel Craig as Bond. Casino Royale was not my cup of tea and Quantum of Solace was bad. Skyfall was good.

 

[Captaindemotion]

I sometimes compare Bond to Sherlock Holmes (I’m sure I’ve done it in this thread, sorry); in the last decade and a half or so we have had very different modern updated versions with Sherlock and Elementary, RDJ playing him as a man of action and Ian McKellen as an elderly retired Holmes. I’m sure there have been others I’ve forgotten. In that time, there has been precisely one James Bond, Daniel Craig.

I do respect that Eon treat it as a bespoke series, not one to over-exploit, but I would love to see them doing the odd one-off take that would allow Dalton or Brosnan to do NSNA-style returns. As has been pointed out, Lazenby has retired but I bet he’d return to do a bookend for a film that flashed back to a direct sequel to OHMSS (obviously a younger actor playing Bond for the main body of the film). Their deal with Amazon would presumably make this sort of film possible and they might be able to land actors like Tom Hardy or Idris Elba for one-off movies, be they set in the 1950s. They wouldn’t need to worry about being tied to franchises or too old for the role.

I know it’s far-fetched in the extreme but I still like the idea. Perhaps it’ll happen when 007 enters the public domain as regards copyright (no doubt the people who made the Winnie the Pooh and Popeye horror movies are already planning films based around the idea of a licence to kill…).

 

[TallGhost Host]

I heard a rumor (I don't remember where - I hope it wasn't here) that Amazon wanted to do book-faithful (ish, I'm sure), period appropriate adaptations of the books.

That could be AMAAAAAAZING. (Or terrible.)

So we watched The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. It features young Ian Flemming. As did Operation Mincemeat. Both of them have him riffing on James Bond. "Flemming. Ian Flemming." Lots of gadgets and references to such.

IAN FLEMMING'S BOND NEVER SAID THAT! His fanciest gadget was a radio tracker where he had to double back when he took the wrong turn that took him farther away from the target!

Arrrrgh!

OTOH, why don't they ever put young Christopher Lee in any of these things? That would be awesome!

 

[Kai "the spy"]

Barely anybody knows anything about Ian Fleming, so they can cast just about anybody for that role.

Christopher Lee was a tall man with distinctive facial features, a deep booming voice and a fuckton of charisma, all known around the world across generations. That's a lot harder to cast, and if you find a suitable young actor you'd better have him for a proper biopic.

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

Bond #26, Licence Renewed. With the world in danger James Bond (Timothy Dalton) needs to come out of retirement to battle an insidious enemy

Hey if Harrison Ford can do it...

Okay, I'm in.

 

[Captaindemotion]

Bond #26, Licence Renewed. With the world in danger James Bond (Timothy Dalton) needs to come out of retirement to battle an insidious enemy

Hey if Harrison Ford can do it...

It is a little ironic that stars of 3 of the major studio releases of 1989 have in the last few years reprised their roles from those films, but of those, the stars of the smash hits, namely Batman and Indiana Jones & TLC, were in films that more or less flopped (The Flash and Indiana Jones & the Dial of Destiny). Whereas while Ghostbusters 2 underperformed, Afterlife was a hit. So by that rationale, a third Dalton film should now be a hit.

 

[Commander Troi]

I am so psyched for Thursday Murder Club.

I looked that up and it looks like lots of fun! Thanks!

Oh no. I want to see Old Man Bond. Seriously. You want to "deconstruct" James Bond in our "modern world"? Let him live. Make him become a grown up and have to deal with that! (I'll spare you my "Where Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny went wrong.")

Alan Moore did a very rude Aged Bond in his Century book and it was kind of sad but logical. OTOH, a really serious Old Man Bond - dealing with his body not doing what it used to, with perhaps being alone among much younger folks who think he's washed up, etc. - could be as beautiful and heartbreaking as Unforgiven.

 

[Starkers]

I sometimes compare Bond to Sherlock Holmes (I’m sure I’ve done it in this thread, sorry); in the last decade and a half or so we have had very different modern updated versions with Sherlock and Elementary, RDJ playing him as a man of action and Ian McKellen as an elderly retired Holmes. I’m sure there have been others I’ve forgotten. In that time, there has been precisely one James Bond, Daniel Craig.

I do respect that Eon treat it as a bespoke series, not one to over-exploit, but I would love to see them doing the odd one-off take that would allow Dalton or Brosnan to do NSNA-style returns. As has been pointed out, Lazenby has retired but I bet he’d return to do a bookend for a film that flashed back to a direct sequel to OHMSS (obviously a younger actor playing Bond for the main body of the film). Their deal with Amazon would presumably make this sort of film possible and they might be able to land actors like Tom Hardy or Idris Elba for one-off movies, be they set in the 1950s. They wouldn’t need to worry about being tied to franchises or too old for the role.

I know it’s far-fetched in the extreme but I still like the idea. Perhaps it’ll happen when 007 enters the public domain as regards copyright (no doubt the people who made the Winnie the Pooh and Popeye horror movies are already planning films based around the idea of a licence to kill…).

I think when Bond enters public domain we might get some very interesting takes, but I think people are going to have to be very careful given how much the films have added to the character. The slightest slip and Eon's lawyers will be on you like a shot! There may be some very interesting legal cases come 2035(?). Of course the way we're going we might be lucky to have two more cannon films before that point!

I'm torn. Part of me really respects that Eon keep it so locked down and drip feed us new Bond stuff, whilst part of me would love a period set Bond tv show!

I looked that up and it looks like lots of fun! Thanks!


Alan Moore did a very rude Aged Bond in his Century book and it was kind of sad but logical. OTOH, a really serious Old Man Bond - dealing with his body not doing what it used to, with perhaps being alone among much younger folks who think he's washed up, etc. - could be as beautiful and heartbreaking as Unforgiven.

There's definitely potential for an Unforgiven/Logan style Bond movie.

 

[Captaindemotion]

My only reservation about the Logan/Old Man Bond type movie is that to some degree we’ve seen that across the Craig era. In Skyfall, he comes back and is out of shape and unfocused (this still grates with me, seeing as he was a rookie in the previous 2 films). Then in NTTD, he comes out of retirement, we see him mocked about his dodgy knee and MI6 not retiring the 007 code, as well as the guy at reception not recognising the “Bond…James Bond” introduction. And, of course, Bond gets a family and dies. We’ve also had Bond mocked as a Cold War dinosaur since Goldeneye.

So I do sort of wonder what could be done to really make a comeback for Brosnan or Dalton (great as it would be to see either) stand out a lot. Bond in a toupee (more a Tim than Pierce problem)? Knocking back viagra to make up for those vodka martinis? Going up against some Elon Musk tech bro villain who replies to every Bond wisecrack with “okay boomer”?

 

[Starkers]

Skyfall is an interesting one. Skyfall is the outlier of all Crag's films, which might be part of the reason I like it so much. In many ways it feels like a film you could have dropped any Bond into (and as the 50th anniversary film rightly so). The presence of the tricked out DB5 implies this is the classic era Bond, as does the appearance of Q and Moneypenny, and of course it's the only Craig era film where Vesper isn't mentioned, and the only Bond film not to feature Mr White or at least reference him.

Skyfall should have been the first of a series of standalone Bond films, instead they doubled down on everything having to be connected and part an overarching plot despite that stretching credulity (Quantum was SPECTRE all along, retrofitting Silva as Blofeld's henchman when he's quite obviously his own man etc)

 

[Starkers]

My only reservation about the Logan/Old Man Bond type movie is that to some degree we’ve seen that across the Craig era. In Skyfall, he comes back and is out of shape and unfocused (this still grates with me, seeing as he was a rookie in the previous 2 films). Then in NTTD, he comes out of retirement, we see him mocked about his dodgy knee and MI6 not retiring the 007 code, as well as the guy at reception not recognising the “Bond…James Bond” introduction. And, of course, Bond gets a family and dies. We’ve also had Bond mocked as a Cold War dinosaur since Goldeneye.

So I do sort of wonder what could be done to really make a comeback for Brosnan or Dalton (great as it would be to see either) stand out a lot. Bond in a toupee (more a Tim than Pierce problem)? Knocking back viagra to make up for those vodka martinis? Going up against some Elon Musk tech bro villain who replies to every Bond wisecrack with “okay boomer”?

It strikes me that "Ok Boomer!" would be quite the pithy one liner just after Bond's thrown an exploding pen at some villain...

 

[Captaindemotion]

Some sad Bond-related news here

James Bond theme song guitarist Vic Flick dies aged 87

English studio guitarist Vic Flick, best known for playing on the iconic James...

hellorayo.co.uk

 

[The Old Mixer]

I heard a rumor (I don't remember where - I hope it wasn't here) that Amazon wanted to do book-faithful (ish, I'm sure), period appropriate adaptations of the books.

That could be AMAAAAAAZING. (Or terrible.)

So we watched The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. It features young Ian Flemming. As did Operation Mincemeat. Both of them have him riffing on James Bond. "Flemming. Ian Flemming." Lots of gadgets and references to such.

IAN FLEMMING'S BOND NEVER SAID THAT! His fanciest gadget was a radio tracker where he had to double back when he took the wrong turn that took him farther away from the target!

Arrrrgh!

OTOH, why don't they ever put young Christopher Lee in any of these things? That would be awesome!

See also:

Spymaker: The Secret Life of Ian Fleming (TV Movie 1990) ⭐ 6.2 | Adventure, Biography, War

1h 40m | 15

www.imdb.com

 

[Ghouleddie74]

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