Who do you think was the best James Bond?

That_Guy

Dalton for me. His portrayal of Bond is, for me, perfect. Not annoyingly punny, very dry wit and is a cold hearted bastard. Also, he's in two of my favourite Bond films ever.

pixelburp

It's easy to forget that for all the celebrating about Craig's 'grittier' Bond, they tried it once before and simply because the angsty hero wasn't flavor of the month as it is now (think Jason Bourne, Nolan's Batman etc.) Dalton's portrayal didn't go down well with audiences and we went back to cheesy nonsense.

It's a shame, because side by side, Dalton wipes the floor with Craig to be honest. The Dalton films are stronger too imo. Aside from being simply a better actor imo, Dalton had just the right combination of ice-cold brutality, mixed with genuine charm. He was utterly ruthless as an assassin, yet you could easily see why the women might like Dalton's Bond & how he could navigate through social circles.

Craig has never had that aura, and no matter how many Tom Ford suits he wears, his appearance in the flashier moments of his Bond films are always unconvincing. Also, considering how he looks like a bruiser, he feels unsuited to the grandeur and his physicality means violent moments never shocked me.

jpm4

pixelburp wrote: »

It's easy to forget that for all the celebrating about Craig's 'grittier' Bond, they tried it once before and simply because the angsty hero wasn't flavor of the month as it is now (think Jason Bourne, Nolan's Batman etc.) Dalton's portrayal didn't go down well with audiences and we went back to cheesy nonsense.

It's a shame, because side by side, Dalton wipes the floor with Craig to be honest. The Dalton films are stronger too imo. Aside from being simply a better actor imo, Dalton had just the right combination of ice-cold brutality, mixed with genuine charm. He was utterly ruthless as an assassin, yet you could easily see why the women might like Dalton's Bond & how he could navigate through social circles.

Craig has never had that aura, and no matter how many Tom Ford suits he wears, his appearance in the flashier moments of his Bond films are always unconvincing. Also, considering how he looks like a bruiser, he feels unsuited to the grandeur and his physicality means violent moments never shocked me.

Absolutely. Licence to Kill is an underrated gem as well - the truck chase scene at the end is one of my fav action sequences.

krudler

Licence To Kill has a fantastic musical score as well, Michael Kamen knocked it out of the park, has the best gunbarrel musical cue imo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OLEz02pNiA

kaimera

Connery - even with the wig

but Brosnan had Goldeneye which is my favourite.

Looper007

Craig for me Casino Royale and Skyfall have taken Bond to a different level. After Years of the Gay Hairdresser types with Brosnan and Moore and the slightly above average Dalton. Connery fell apart with his last three Bond films.

Thank God for Craig bringing Bond back as a flawed human hero and out acting every Bond before him. QOS is a underrated film in the Bond canon. He's bought back Bond to Critical and huge Commercial acclaim.

Looper007

pixelburp wrote: »

It's easy to forget that for all the celebrating about Craig's 'grittier' Bond, they tried it once before and simply because the angsty hero wasn't flavor of the month as it is now (think Jason Bourne, Nolan's Batman etc.) Dalton's portrayal didn't go down well with audiences and we went back to cheesy nonsense.

It's a shame, because side by side, Dalton wipes the floor with Craig to be honest. The Dalton films are stronger too imo. Aside from being simply a better actor imo, Dalton had just the right combination of ice-cold brutality, mixed with genuine charm. He was utterly ruthless as an assassin, yet you could easily see why the women might like Dalton's Bond & how he could navigate through social circles.

Craig has never had that aura, and no matter how many Tom Ford suits he wears, his appearance in the flashier moments of his Bond films are always unconvincing. Also, considering how he looks like a bruiser, he feels unsuited to the grandeur and his physicality means violent moments never shocked me.

:eek:

You Joking Craig is the best actor to have played Bond. Dalton was too stage actory for my taste. You felt he was trying to play Hamlet rather then Bond. Dalton films are stronger? :rolleyes: both fine films but so outdated it's silly. LTK is a Miami Vice ep with Bond as a guest star.

Craig can act with his body, makes you care for Bond, the only actor along with Lazenby that you are convinced could kick your ass and pull your Girlfriend at the same time. Tell me a moment that Dalton has like in QOS when Craig kills off the guy in the hotel brutal and cold blooded as Bond has ever got. Plus Craig has been Critical acclaimed and has won and be nommed for Best actor at the Bafta's for Bond.

Sad Professor

Looper007 wrote: »

:eek:

You Joking Craig is the best actor to have played Bond. Dalton was too stage actory for my taste. You felt he was trying to play Hamlet rather then Bond. Dalton films are stronger? :rolleyes: both fine films but so outdated it's silly. LTK is a Miami Vice ep with Bond as a guest star.

Craig can act with his body, makes you care for Bond, the only actor along with Lazenby that you are convinced could kick your ass and pull your Girlfriend at the same time. Tell me a moment that Dalton has like in QOS when Craig kills off the guy in the hotel brutal and cold blooded as Bond has ever got. Plus Craig has been Critical acclaimed and has won and be nommed for Best actor at the Bafta's for Bond.

I voted Dalton, but I would agree with this to a certain extent. As i said earlier, he wasn't very physically convincing as Bond. However I don't think he reached his full potential. He never had the same support as Craig and the other actors. TLD was originally written for Moore and he didn't have a chance to really shine until LTK which had serious script issues. John Glen's generally uninspired and workmanlike directing in both films didn't help either.

Re: the QoS rooftop scene, this is my favourite Craig moment (one of several in the film - he's brilliant in it). Funnily enough they ripped it out of The Spy Who Loved Me. Moore has several pretty ruthless moments in that film which he's visibly uncomfortable with.

mewso

I think age changes attitudes to the Bond question. Growing up Moore was Bond and my answer to the question then would be Moore simply because it was much more cartoonish stuff then. Who didn't love Jaws for crying out loud (assuming you were a 12 year old kid at the time of course), not to mention Jaws in Space taking it to an even greater level.

Now I would say Connery though.

quickbeam

Surprised but delighted at all the Dalton love on this thread. My favourites in order:

Dalton
Craig
Connery

Brosnan
Moore
Lazenby


Top three are far superior to the bottom three.

What a pity that the world wasn't ready for bad-ass Bond when Dalton took the role. They got there eventually with Craig but it would have been nice to see Dalton doing it a few more times.

miralize

I'd love to see Idris Elba as Bond. Would be huge too!

MisterAnarchy

Sleepy wrote: »

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.

Dalton was a big guy,6 foot 2 and very well built, I suspect he would beat the Living Daylights out of Craig in a fight.

Connery without question.

I too liked Timothy Dalton and both his films, Licence to Kill is actually still a good watch.

Moore was good too but he just seemed like such a sleaze though

Daniel Craig has re-created Bond and done a good job of it so far. Skyfall was brilliant and lets the Bond franchise move forward. I think they need a bad guy that is being chased properly through a few movies again and make him a sadistic ****er played by someone like Anthony Hopkins!

Jumboman

Roger Moore was by far the worst James Bond he was totally unbelievable in fight scenes Moore could not fight his way out of a paper bag.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

david niven, because he's david niven. he was the best at everything he did.

Jumboman

krudler wrote: »

Licence To Kill has a fantastic musical score as well, Michael Kamen knocked it out of the park, has the best gunbarrel musical cue imo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OLEz02pNiA

Licence To Kill didnt feel like a bond film to me it had a totally different tone to the living daylights also the score was out of place for a bond film. Maybe if it had a John Barry score it would have felt much more like a real bond film.

Also goldeneye had a crap score they didnt have a decent Bond score post John Barry untill tomorrow never dies.

TheDoc

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)

Agree with this, and the post that came before it.

The world wasn't ready for this type of bond, or tbh this type of movie. Punters went to the cinema to be amazed, to see crazy stuff and to be brought into a fantasy land of make believe.

As opposed to now, where you go into the cinema and you are querying stuff if it couldnt happen out on the street.....

I enjoyed Dalton because it took some of the sillyness from Bond, but still kept some of it there, at the right time. I love James Bond, I remember running home from football to catch every movie, every week on Network 2.

License to kill and the Living Daylights are my favourite bonds without a doubt, and it's a REAL pity they cut him out after two. I watched them both recently and they have aged well, not falling flat like alot of other bonds

FutureGuy

Cool_CM wrote: »

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

Completely agree. Loved Dalton. Have a casino chip prop from Licence to Kill on the wall of my home office. I think Dalton was way ahead of his time in his version of Bond.

Donnielighto

Was going to post this question but saw this was up recently so ill bump it instead.

I thought that Connery was a terrible bond, as with all his roles he didnt act per se but was just himself reading the lines, over rated cos he was the first out of the traps.

For me its between brosnan and craig for the suave vs coldhearted aspects of the character though dalton was a great mix, id have those 3 close together and significantly ahead of the rest.

miralize

Donnielighto wrote: »

Was going to post this question but saw this was up recently so ill bump it instead.

I thought that Connery was a terrible bond, as with all his roles he didnt act per se but was just himself reading the lines, over rated cos he was the first out of the traps.

For me its between brosnan and craig for the suave vs coldhearted aspects of the character though dalton was a great mix, id have those 3 close together and significantly ahead of the rest.

Goldeneye Brosnan is very different to the rest of his time as Bond....

Sad Professor

I always felt Brosnan's performance in GoldenEye didn't depart much from Dalton's take on the character. As a child the two seemed fairly similar to me. It wasn't until Tomorrow Never Dies that Brosnan seemed to put his own stamp on the character. GoldenEye felt very much in the same tone as the Dalton films.

I cant wait until someone gets their act together and gives Bond to Idris Elba.

Balls to the source material as far as ethnicity goes, plus if someone complains then just call them racist!:D

Then they would see the film and be astounded by Elba's acting. It will be a 'Joker'esqe performance I guarantee you.


My fave bond was Brosnan in Goldeneye. Then Craig close second for Skyfall.

charlie_says

I'm throwing my lot in with Dalton too. Craig is pretty good, and I agree that Brosnan was good in Goldeneye.

Basically I'm going with the majority here, but I thought of it first

p to the e

I came on here to declare my love for the Dalton Bond and thought I was going to be in a minority. Weird.

I remember reading a while back that Dalton wasn't cut after his two Bond performances but rather he chose to leave as he didn't want to be typecast. Good answer here:
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_did_Timothy_Dalton_not_want_to_play_James_Bond_anymore

Also just as a side note I came across this story from the set of Licence to Kill:

"For the finale, I had to jump from one moving tanker to another. I leap across, climb the ladder while all these bullets are going off - bam! bam! bam! - and the klaxon that means 'cut' goes off. I'm thrilled. I know I've done a good job. But when I look around, everyone's p**sing themselves. I look down and I'm in my underpants. My trousers are hanging down off my ankles."

Jumboman

I wonder what goldeneye would have been like if dalton was in it.

miralize

Jumboman wrote: »

I wonder what goldeneye would have been like if dalton was in it.

Maybe Sean Bean wouldnt have died.

kryogen

Connery by quite a distance, followed by Dalton and Craig in that order, Brosnan beats Roger Moore into last place

ricero

kryogen wrote: »

Connery by quite a distance, followed by Dalton and Craig in that order, Brosnan beats Roger Moore into last place

You forgot george lazenby as does most

kryogen

ricero wrote: »

You forgot george lazenby as does most

Nope, simply going by the choices given is all.

Worztron

kryogen wrote: »

Nope, simply going by the choices given is all.

There is also 'Other'.