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Hey I didn't say Connery lol. I think he's a better Bond than Craig and Moore.
The absolute worst line deliveries are the Hilary Baker dubbing scenes. The Lazenby one liners were mostly dubbed in afterwards. Not the guy's fault.
Scottish Bond? Literary but not on screen unless it's Connery.
From what is known, raised in Glencoe, Scotland. After the death of his parents when Bond was 11, Bond goes to live with his aunt, Miss Charmian Bond, in the village of Pett Bottom in Kent, where he completes his early education. Later, he briefly attends Eton College but is removed after two halves because of girl trouble with a maid. Bond was sent to Fettes College in Edinburgh, Scotland to complete his education. We then know he moved on from Eton to Cambridge (YOLT) "you forget...I took a first in oriental languages at Cambridge". Bond spent a lot of time either side of the border, likely how his accent can go from Connery's Scottish to Moore's southern English without issue.
an accent :)) bit of a joke but, Many old families are Anglo Scottish or
Anglo Irish. So you can be Scottish but sound very English. ;)
I don't hold the dubbing against Lazenby, Bond was supposed to be impersonating Sir Hilary Bray, Lazenby couldn't do the accent so was over dubbed was used. From what I gather without Lazenby knowing. Lazenby gave as good as he could for someone who had not acted before. More people appreciate OHMSS now due to two factors. 1. It was real, gritty and without comical elements. New fans to the franchise like these elements to Dan's movies and going back at looking at OHMSS they see it more in DN, FRWL OHMSS and LTD & LTK. 2. the audience back then were sceptical about an Aussie becoming Bond, particularly an actor they had never heard of and anyone following Sean's success was going to struggle to convince the audience. Dan had the same issue when he was announced as Bond, the mainstream media and some fans turned on him before CR, but Dan delivered on CR and change that perception whereas Lazenby did not. Hence Moore comes in after Sean's second stint, people knew and liked him already for his work as Templar in the Saint which was a cult show and his transition to Bond was easier.
Lazenby was offered more films as you well know. At 30 years old he could have had a very long stint and we wouldn't have had pensioner Moore hanging from a zeppelin.
Besides, following Connery is a damn sight harder than following Brosnan.
"following Connery is a damn sight harder than following Brosnan" Disagree the damage done and how silly things got towards the end of Brosnan's era the job was to take Bond back to early Connery, Bond has never been more globally appreciated than under Dan's tenure.
"Lazenby was offered more films as you well know. At 30 years old he could have had a very long stint and we wouldn't have had pensioner Moore hanging from a zeppelin."
To Quote Lazenby himself from the Everything Or Nothing Documentary "I would be hanging out with Roman Polanski at parties and he would bring people over and say, meet my friend James Bond, then a year later people would come over and Polanski would say "have you met George the out of work actor".
Lazenby himself says he blew it because he wanted to be cool, being a government man in a suit was not cool to the ladies. He was hanging about with hippies doing LSD with Ronan O'Rahilly the founder of Radio Caroline. He was warned by Broccoli and Saltzman to be clean shaven for the OHMSS he rebelled and turned up with long hair and a long beard he rebelled again them because Ronan O'Rahilly told Lazenby he was being exploited.
He left a lasting impression on Diana Rigg who was also quoted as saying, "I can no longer cater for his obsession with himself. He is utterly, unbelievably ... bloody impossible".[
Lazenby may have been offered roles but did nothing of any artistic or critical merit since OHMSS, he found his place a TV actor with bit parts in Diagnosis Murder and Baywatch.
I meant he was offered more Bond films. I believe it may have been a 7 film contract. He turned it down. You can't say he wasn't a success. He wouldn't have been offered that contract otherwise.
After he turned it down, Cubby Brocolli blackened his name and made him unemployable. Lazenby made a massive mistake as he has admitted.
Ah I see, I don't disagree he would have probably got better and better and the films would have flowed more smoothly. However it did not, but worth pointing out Lazenby has contradicted himself on his reasons twice. He said previously his agent Ronan O'Rahilly advised him to reject the contract, that the secret agent would be archaic in the liberated 1970s and his career would be ruined. He was earlier quoted in 1969 stating his reasons for leaving were when ideads for TMWTGG was to be his next project " "They made me feel like I was mindless. They disregarded everything I suggested simply because I hadn't been in the film business like them for about a thousand years".
So on one hand he is saying he didn't want to be Bond because his agent told him he would no longer be cool by the 70's but had earlier cited it was because EON wouldn't listen to his suggestions. Odd to say the least?
Yeah either way it was his decision to back out. All I'm saying is that I often hear (from casual fans) that Lazenby was rubbish as Bond and then back that up it with the fact he only made one film. The truth is he could have had a very long stint as Bond. To me, he was a very good bond already in OHMSS.
We will see what happens post-Craig, but I suspect he will be the third actor who will be difficult to follow, so sadly we may have a failure before we have another success.
Just to be clear, from my perspective, Lazenby is not a better actor than Moore. I think that should be self-evident to anyone and not need explanation.
I disagree. Lazenby was not even close to either Craig or Moore. He lucked out with a superb novel, an exceptional director, incredible cinematography and iconic score, and a brilliant co-star. Even an ape should have been able to make something with what he was given imho. He did well enough but people overpraise his performance without fully acknowledging all the other factors that helped his performance look good in that film. He was serviceable no doubt.....that's it.
The only thing he did uniquely bring was vulnerability, but that was because the film called for it. Both Craig and Moore can deliver that (they've done it in other films).
Craig showed what actually can be done with the privilege of superb source material in CR. Moore showed how rubbish source material and scripts can be salvaged.
Regarding a gay Q, if it was incidental (as has been hypothesized) I wouldn't have a problem with it. However, I wouldn't want it to be a recurring plot point. That's not necessary imho, especially not in the Bond universe. Neither was a female M for 7 films either.
I said Lazenby is a better Bond than Moore, not a better actor. Moore never convinces in the fight scenes for one.
Agreed. He doesn't convince in the fight scenes, but he is a lot more convincing in other areas imho, and was consistent over 7 films, including some dodgy ones. He should get more credit for that.
As I said, Lazenby was given a gift with the OHMSS script and all the other things that were provided for that film. He just needed to show up, just like Brosnan just needed to show up for GE imho..
-f-wording, Swear-wording andFOUL language=british bashing-around crap talk; to trash half one's language in every third uttering online and offline forces You to eat more to keep up-with dwindling fortune's as the debilitating effect!
Your relative misfortune is actually a result of You trashing Yourself(I was almost going to use the F-word).Your LANGUAGE is Your Best and First FORTUNE! do not riddle it with "British Crap Talking"
Yes, - and regretfully so!
Said this earlier, CR showed what Craig could do with a Fleming Novel with a twist. If there had been more novels from Fleming not yet put on screen Craig's tenure would have been even stronger as nobody wrote Bond story or dialogue like Fleming.
Imagine Craig in TMWTGG or Octopussy? they would have been incredible.
I think at the end Craig would have been more suited to saying 'waste of a good windscreen', shoving miss Rigg out of the car, and driving off after Blofeld.
Okay, I disagree with these views on Lazenby, but you are been a bit rude. Of course Lois Maxwell is better than Caroline Bliss but if someone were to express that opinion or any opinion we do not personally agree with can we not respond in this way. Constructive discussion please.
Good post.
Personally I never understood what the deal was with Lazenby wearing a beard at the premiere. He probably did it just to annoy Broccoli and Saltzman, but what would it matter if an actor came to the premiere with a beard?
It was the Lazenby Bond that was my first Bond Movie-I was 9 years Old; and the beautiful car he was driving got me caught on cars forever..!-therefore I can't bash him for being Bond, all too beautiful memories for that..!
You have to put it in to context at the time. Long hair and a beard was cool because it was anti establishment and the look was to rebel against what the hippie movement called a supressed society. Broccoli and Saltzman always wanted their Bonds to be clean cut and dressed to thrill they strongly believed you had to be the gentleman on screen as you were off it as you represented the Bond brand. Lazenby did it to rebel, but that was his downfall he took poor advice from Ronan O'Rahilly a key man in the swinging sixties anti establishment movement.
P+W just blatantly copied their own scripts from the Brosnan era and even recycled Alec Trevelyan.
It's the third time in a row that the first movie of an actor is the best followed by weaker movies.
SP seems to become Craig's DAD ratings wise and who knows if SP will not get the same treatment in 5-10 years than DAD got.
If I look at other eras I can't say this one was a let down, if I judge it by its own, the flaws are regrettable.
But I rather get one of the greatest per era and mixed results for the rest than only mediocre ones in one era, which luckily has never happend so far.
In what sense didn't they succeed? Like I say Lazenby was offered more bond films. If he hadn't turned it down would you then deem him a success?
Dalton was unlucky with the legal wrangling which prevented a third film. Again I don't see how you can deem him a failure.
From a box office perspective, both films (OHMSS & LTK) were comparable failures in the US market compared to their predecessors and successors. The US market did matter a lot back then, and EON paid attention to it.
With respect to Lazenby in particular, Michael Wilson has said on camera that the public did not take to him which is regrettable (I'm paraphrasing) and Dalton's lack of US acceptance was noted in Everything or Nothing (but with more appreciation by EON for what he creatively tried to do with the role).