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Is "Bond goes Japanese" the silliest thing in Connery's era?

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  • JCRendleJCRendle
    Posts: 1,552
    Sark wrote: »
    Don't forget his classic turn as the Russian submarine commander with the thick Scottish accent ;)

    I haven't known many Scots, but Connery's accent seems different from most of the ones I see on tv. The guy who played Obi Wan in the new Star Wars movies and Craig Ferguson don't sound anything like Connery.
    It depends on the region. Connery was born and raised in Edinburgh, Ewan McGregor (Obi Wan) was brought up in Crieff, which is 60 miles from Edinburgh and Craig Ferguson was brought up in Cumbernauld, which is 40 miles from Edinburgh and is closer to Glasgow.

    Accents in Scotland aren't all the same, some are very thick and difficult to understand if you're not from the area, others are light and perfectly easy to follow. The accents from the highlands are very different from the lowlands, etc.
  • Campbell2Campbell2 Epsilon Rho Rho house, Bending State University
    Posts: 299
    Connery is famous for not bowing to the custom of softening his accent as many other Scots had to in the entertainment industry. But thanks to Bond he was also in a unique position to remain steadfast about it. Today's actors often have a number of accents at the ready, marketing decides what gets chosen. I heard some directors would often rather have more local colour but studios insist on easy listening
  • SarkSark Guangdong, PRC
    Posts: 1,138
    Connery's accent was much softer as Bond than in his post-Bond roles.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,716
    Robert Carlyle's got a pretty thick accent in interviews, which makes him sound totally different than in the movies.
  • Campbell2Campbell2 Epsilon Rho Rho house, Bending State University
    edited March 2015 Posts: 299
    Sark wrote: »
    Connery's accent was much softer as Bond than in his post-Bond roles.

    Of course, the man had to get jobs and pay the rent. After Bond he could pick his roles as he wished.
    JCRendle wrote: »
    It depends on the region. Connery was born and raised in Edinburgh, Ewan McGregor (Obi Wan) was brought up in Crieff, which is 60 miles from Edinburgh and Craig Ferguson was brought up in Cumbernauld, which is 40 miles from Edinburgh and is closer to Glasgow.

    Accents in Scotland aren't all the same, some are very thick and difficult to understand if you're not from the area, others are light and perfectly easy to follow. The accents from the highlands are very different from the lowlands, etc.

    What he said.
  • LudovicoLudovico
    Posts: 15,115
    The further you are away from a region the less familiar you will be with its various accents. I cannot make much difference between the various French accents and most French people would be unable to distinguish the Saguenay accent I have from the accent of Montreal.
  • SarkSark Guangdong, PRC
    Posts: 1,138
    This is why Americans so often confuse Irish and English accents. And don't ask them to place a South African one!
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    edited March 2015 Posts: 17,790
    Sark wrote: »
    This is why Americans so often confuse Irish and English accents. And don't ask them to place a South African one!
    Soth Avreekin?
  • LudovicoLudovico
    Posts: 15,115
    Sark wrote: »
    This is why Americans so often confuse Irish and English accents. And don't ask them to place a South African one!

    To be , SA accents are maybe the most difficult to understand and mimic. My father in law is South African and even my wife didn't recognize his voice once on the phone.
  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 5,131
    It is weird how British actors such as Bale and Farrall can stage a perfect American accent. But I can't name a single American actor who can 'do' a decent English accent?????
  • JCRendleJCRendle
    Posts: 1,552
    suavejmf wrote: »
    It is weird how British actors such as Bale and Farrall can stage a perfect American accent. But I can't name a single American actor who can 'do' a decent English accent?????
    The guys in Spinal Tap did a good job or Renee Zellwegger as Beatrix Potter, RDJ in Sherlock Holmes, Johnny Depp, Meryl Streep - I think a few bad accents (Dick Van Dyke, Keanu Reeves in Dracula, Don Cheadle in the Oceans 11 films) cause us to forget about the decent efforts.
  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 5,131
    With acception of Spinal Tap. All these are bad examples.....Depp is one of the worst I've heard. As a brit I can always spot a fake Brit accent and it ruins the film for me.
  • ThomasCrown76ThomasCrown76 Augusta, ks
    Posts: 757
    johnny dip sucks
  • OnlyManWhoCanOnlyManWhoCan Greater London
    edited March 2015 Posts: 202
    It's been mentioned already but a picture says a thousand words:
    diamondsareforeverdisc1085ny4.png
  • LudovicoLudovico
    Posts: 15,115
    Birdleson wrote: »
    Depp is highly overrated period. If he's not playing it broad and showy, the cracks are very obvious.

    He can be good but now he plays Depp in all his roles.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    OnlyManWhoCan wrote: »
    It's been mentioned already but a picture says a thousand words:
    diamondsareforeverdisc1085ny4.png

    Which is which again?
  • OnlyManWhoCanOnlyManWhoCan Greater London
    Posts: 202
    Birdleson wrote: »
    I don't mind the Blofeld in drag. Why not? It works. Look at Robert Durst, who is currently all over the American papers. He successfully dressed as an old woman, moved from New York it Galveston, TX and rent an apartment in that identity.

    I guess it depends on how it is played on screen. I won't deny that someone could get dressed as a woman to go undercover in a serious film but I feel here it is done for yucks, and Charles Gray's high-camp performance as Blofeld goes into the stratosphere at this point.

    I am definitely a 'Bond for all seasons' fan who thinks there is a place for serious and silly interpretations of Fleming's novels, but I think here is where they stretched it to breaking point and it would take a long time for something even more daft to come around.
  • LudovicoLudovico
    Posts: 15,115
    Villains in a drag can work. Psycho proved it. But Blofeld in DAF was no Norman Bates.
  • JCRendleJCRendle
    edited March 2015 Posts: 1,552
    What about Bond going undercover as a woman In a future film...

    Daniel-Craig-wears-drag_320.jpg
  • OnlyManWhoCanOnlyManWhoCan Greater London
    Posts: 202
    Ludovico wrote: »
    Villains in a drag can work. Psycho proved it. But Blofeld in DAF was no Norman Bates.

    I hear that. He was more Dame Edna Everage.

  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 5,131
    Unfortunately Charles Grey neither effective as Blofeld (DF) or Dikko Henderson (YOLT). Telly remains the best Blofeld to date I believe. Suave, menacing and physically imposing.
  • ThighsOfXeniaThighsOfXenia
    Posts: 1,596
    I've actually liked all of the on-screen Blofelds, although I prefer unseen Blofeld from FRWL and TB
  • TR007TR007
    Posts: 1,165
    Rewatched DAF recently. As much as I admire Connery, this for me has to be the worst Bond film of all time.
    It contains many nasty moments such as Bond stripping and strangling a girl with her bikini, bizarre moments like Blofeld in drag and also the silliest moment in any 007 film IMO - the elephant at the slot machines. Jesus Christ. Where was the quality control on this film? How do you go from OHMSS to this?

    Reading the James Bond Archives and seeing script notes from Connery on Goldfinger, it's clear to see his interest was only in the paycheck for this film.
  • BMW_with_missilesBMW_with_missiles All the usual refinements.
    edited January 2016 Posts: 3,000
    JCRendle wrote: »
    What about Bond going undercover as a woman In a future film...

    Daniel-Craig-wears-drag_320.jpg

    The horror!
    [img]<img src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/7b/6f/f6/7b6ff6d68976b9842b7b51ea6d8dcd20.gif"/>[/img]
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    edited January 2016 Posts: 6,290
    Ludovico wrote: »
    Let's not forget that five years before Joseph Wiseman was playing a Germano-Chinese man... And nobody thought it was odd. Not that it was: you can be of mixed race and look more like one race than the other. But it was also the spirit of the time: white actors played Asians or other ethnic groups.

    I don't like YOLT, I consider it the first movie of the franchise that remarkably went downhill. But Bond turning Japanese was not the silliest thing in the Connery era, heck it was not the silliest thing in the movie!

    By the late '60s, it had become passe for Caucasians to play Asian. And by the '90s, it had become offensive.

    I cringe a little at the "We have the Orientals' money" in LTK. Has not aged well.
  • DRush76DRush76
    Posts: 533
    Yeah . . . it is. Bond being recognized by a smuggler like Tiffany Case is the second silliest thing in Connery's era.
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,351
    I gotta say Blofeld in Drag. It just turns Bond's biggest foe into a total joke.
  • AnthraxAnthrax Sweden
    Posts: 77
    An elephant playing a slot machine in DAF.
  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 5,131
    DRush76 wrote: »
    Yeah . . . it is. Bond being recognized by a smuggler like Tiffany Case is the second silliest thing in Connery's era.

    Bang on.
  • Scaramanga12Scaramanga12
    Posts: 562
    The back projection on the disco volante going ridiculously fast but they still manage to steer it away from rocks. And that random goon bringing up champagne.

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