Who do you think was the best James Bond?

Worztron

Who was your favorite James Bond actor?

mike65

Ah couldn't you make George Lazenby an option?

/harsh!

I'm not sure we've yet found the perfect Bond, they have all had strengths and weaknesses, but then so have the films. I tend to find the better the film, the better the Bond!

Worztron

mike65 wrote: »

Ah couldn't you make George Lazenby an option?

/harsh!...

I only included those that were in more than one bond film, others go into the 'other' category.

thegreatiam

Bob Holness
/thread

mike65

thegreatiam wrote: »

Bob Holness
/thread

See your Holness and raise you a Barry Nelson

newmug

Roger Moore. He had that English baxtard factor that a real Bond should have.

Sad Professor

Worztron wrote: »

I only included those that were in more than one bond film, others go into the 'other' category.

But Lazenby was the only other Bond.

JohnFalstaff

Sad Professor wrote: »

But Lazenby was the only other Bond.

David Niven??

Sad Professor

Correction: the only other real Bond.

thegreatiam

David Niven and I are distantly related. Im sure he tells everyone when ever my name comes up ;-)

JohnFalstaff

Sad Professor wrote: »

Correction: the only other real Bond.

No true Scotsman!

Speaking of Scotsmen - Connery was the best Bond... but Daniel Craig is running him close and with a few more films under his belt, Craig may end up being the best Bond.

Cool_CM

Pity that we didn't get to see more from Timothy Dalton. I love those 2 films for completely different reasons.

krudler

Dalton for me, had the cold hearted bastard thing down long before Craig, it's a pity he didn't get a longer run with the series, he really found his feet in Licence To Kill (probably the most underrated Bond too and one of the only ones aimed at an adult audience)

thegreatiam

krudler wrote: »

Dalton for me, had the cold hearted bastard thing down long before Craig, it's a pity he didn't get a longer run with the series, he really found his feet in Licence To Kill (probably the most underrated Bond too and one of the only ones aimed at an adult audience)

I agree with this completely, it's unusual for his name to even come up.
Dalton was the closest (imho) to the book character.

I think roger moore is too much of a fop, Connery is pretty good, owned the part. But, like in all his roles, he's more Connery than bond.

Craig is interesting in the physical role, but I think Dalton nails the ruthless killer.

Radiosonde

They should have let Tarantino do Bond with Pierce Brosnan, then I might actually have liked a Bond film.

Sad Professor

Yeah, Craig nails the physical aspect. This was my one problem with Dalton. He was very unconvincing in the fight scenes. Otherwise I'd agree that he was the best all-round Bond.

The downside to Craig's physicality is that he's sticks out, especially in Skyfall. There's no way anyone would see him coming and not think "oh sh!t". But maybe that's the point with his version of Bond: he's a "blunt instrument" with none of the elegance of previous incarnations.

Pepe LeFrits

Dalton.

Sad Professor

Actually re: the physicality, I think I'd put Lazenby on top. He seemed like someone with serious training but (unlike Craig) didn't look like he spent all day in the gym. Connery was big and intimidating but he fought like a bear.

thegreatiam

Sad Professor wrote: »

Actually re: the physicality, I think I'd put Lazenby on top. He seemed like someone with serious training but (unlike Craig) didn't look like he spent all day in the gym. Connery was big and intimidating but he fought like a bear.

Actually by physicality I was thinking more the tenacious chase. I think bond as a fighter would be more clinical and dirty.

Craig is more of a bulk of muscle.

I think the fight scenes in all movies don't reflect what bond (or anyone) would fight like they merely reflect the style of fight at the time the movie was out.

We like our krav maga in movies now, back in the 60's they liked haymakers and throwing people through doorways.

DazMarz

I found it hard to choose. Every actor had their strengths in the roles. I found it very hard to choose between Connery, Dalton, Brosnan or Craig (I know, I know!). In the end, I went for Connery. He was the original and he just played the role so well.

Nobody else could look so at home in a tuxedo and still beat the head off bad guys. There was also that wonderful 1960's political incorrectness in the films (smoking, proper fist fights, flaking women about the place, "man talk", etc.) that made it just so good.

Add to the fact that Connery also gave us the first "Bond. James Bond", the debut of the Aston Martin DB5, and some of the best films in the series (Goldfinger, Dr. No, Thunderball).

He just had it down so well. I did love Dalton's more gritty, realistic portrayal and he should have been given a longer run at it. Brosnan was excellent as Bond too (especially in Goldeneye). Craig is also giving Dalton's interpretation another run out in the gritty, blunt-instrument style.

But Connery is still the best for me. I just love his interpretation and he is still cooler now that he's 81 than most other people!

Radiosonde

DazMarz wrote: »

But Connery is still the best for me. I just love his interpretation and he is still cooler now that he's 81 than most other people!

O/T he apparently turned down (and regrets) some juicy roles in the past roles like Gandalf and Morpheus in The Matrix. Matrix could have been Connery and Will Smith, which sounds like a very different movie.

thegreatiam

Radiosonde wrote: »

O/T he apparently turned down (and regrets) some juicy roles in the past roles like Gandalf and Morpheus in The Matrix. Matrix could have been Connery and Will Smith, which sounds like a very different movie.

he turned down gandalf because he didnt understand half of the script. Tbh I think we got lucky

krudler

thegreatiam wrote: »

he turned down gandalf because he didnt understand half of the script. Tbh I think we got lucky

"You..shall not...PASH!"

thegreatiam

krudler wrote: »

"You..shall not...PASH!"

haha

ScumLord

I think Conery and Craig are the only ones that could really pull off the bond character. They looked hard and you would believe they could be Bond for different reasons.

DazMarz

Radiosonde wrote: »

O/T he apparently turned down (and regrets) some juicy roles in the past roles like Gandalf and Morpheus in The Matrix. Matrix could have been Connery and Will Smith, which sounds like a very different movie.

Could see him as Gandalf, but really could not see him in the role of Morpheus. It would have been very interesting, but I'd find it hard to see him doing the hardcore physical fighting stuff that Morpheus did in the films.

JP Liz V1

Dalton for me

tupac_healy

Craig for me, he wins it with the attitude he brings to the character whilst still retaining the charm and wit of the Connery/Moore roles...


Overall I just don't see a weakness in his portrail of the character

du Maurier

newmug wrote: »

Roger Moore. He had that English baxtard factor that a real Bond should have.

Moore wasn't sinister or dark enough as it was conveyed by Fleming. Timothy Dalton for me. Always like his back-to-back films - perhaps too short lived.

Anyway, everyone has a favourite for whatever reason. I liked Moore, but a bit schmaltzy.

Duckworth_Luas

newmug wrote: »

Roger Moore. He had that English baxtard factor that a real Bond should have.

Funnily enough the literary character wasn't English. British surely, but his father was Scottish and his mother Swiss. He also spent much of his early life on the continent.

Sleepy

For me it's always been Dalton. I've never bought that an assassin needs to be a big guy, realistically someone who can blend in with a crowd whilst carrying a concealled sniper rifle would be more useful than someone as muscle-bound as Craig.

I'll also love Dalton's first film for being the first time we saw Bond sent purely and simply to kill someone. Fair enough, he backed out of taking the shot but it was nice to see a "double O" being sent to do what they were licensed to.