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Campy Bond Movies vs Fleming's Bond Movies

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  • BeatlesSansEarmuffsBeatlesSansEarmuffs
    Posts: 3,566
    Our parameters here aren't really exact -- Fleming himself readily acknowledged that even his most serious work was more than a trifle into the realm that became known as "camp" -- but grading on the curve, I prefer a more serious Bond. For what it's worth, I personally prefer FRWL to GF...but if I'm asked to choose a "definitive" Bond pic, there's no question that I'll point to Goldfinger.
  • Mendes4LyfeMendes4Lyfe The long road ahead
    Posts: 8,402
    Agent007391 wrote: »
    Mendes4Lyfe wrote: »
    Which is better, From Russia With Love or Goldfinger?

    If your answer is Goldfinger you prefer campy Bond.

    That's not exactly a good way to determine it. Goldfinger on the whole wasn't outrageously campy. It was lighter in tone than From Russia With Love before it or Thunderball after it, but the film wasn't outright camp. There were moments of outright camp - the duck on Bond's head at the beginning, for example - but the film itself wasn't. Was Auric Goldfinger an over-the-top villain? Yes. No more so than Dr. No, however, Dr. No was just played by a better actor. Oddjob, I feel, was a far more threatening henchman than Jaws, if for no other reason that the slasher smile that he never seems to turn off.

    Had you chosen Diamonds Are Forever as your camp determiner, I'd wholeheartedly agree with you, but Goldfinger is hardly the campiest film, and this is coming from someone who is well-known anti-Goldfinger.

    What about the women with the pointy, er, youknowwhats?
  • ForYourEyesOnlyForYourEyesOnly In the untained cradle of the heavens
    Posts: 1,984
    DAF, TSWLM, Moonraker, Octopussy and the last three Brosnan ones define camp. AVTAK and TMWTGG too, I guess.
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    Posts: 9,020
    ForYourEyesOnly wrote: »
    DAF, TSWLM, Moonraker, Octopussy and the last three Brosnan ones define camp. AVTAK and TMWTGG too, I guess.

    TWINE is camp??
    It is one of the most serious Bond movies imo, only Dr. Christmas can be called camp, respectively is the only comic relief in the movie.
  • Agent007391Agent007391 Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start
    Posts: 7,854
    BondJasonBond006 wrote: »
    ForYourEyesOnly wrote: »
    DAF, TSWLM, Moonraker, Octopussy and the last three Brosnan ones define camp. AVTAK and TMWTGG too, I guess.

    TWINE is camp??
    It is one of the most serious Bond movies imo, only Dr. Christmas can be called camp, respectively is the only comic relief in the movie.

    I can't really see TND classed as camp either. DAD, I feel, is the only Brosnan film that can be truly considered camp, whereas the other three balance their jokes quite well. They're not always good, but they're balanced well.
  • DoctorNoDoctorNo USA-Maryland
    Posts: 755
    The Ginger Babe test:

    Do you like the red headed villain in Thunderball or in You Only Live Twice?

    If it's TB, you like someone who seems real and is integral to the story.

    If it's YOLT, you don't care any more than the filmmakers, she's there just to be there.

    A good story and characters require some thought and effort, a campy story is less effort and just needs some spectacle to entertain the child mind.
  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 5,131
    Agent007391 wrote: »
    BondJasonBond006 wrote: »
    ForYourEyesOnly wrote: »
    DAF, TSWLM, Moonraker, Octopussy and the last three Brosnan ones define camp. AVTAK and TMWTGG too, I guess.

    TWINE is camp??
    It is one of the most serious Bond movies imo, only Dr. Christmas can be called camp, respectively is the only comic relief in the movie.

    I can't really see TND classed as camp either. DAD, I feel, is the only Brosnan film that can be truly considered camp, whereas the other three balance their jokes quite well. They're not always good, but they're balanced well.

    Jonathan Pryce is pantomime camp!
  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 5,131
    Agent007391 wrote: »
    BondJasonBond006 wrote: »
    ForYourEyesOnly wrote: »
    DAF, TSWLM, Moonraker, Octopussy and the last three Brosnan ones define camp. AVTAK and TMWTGG too, I guess.

    TWINE is camp??
    It is one of the most serious Bond movies imo, only Dr. Christmas can be called camp, respectively is the only comic relief in the movie.

    I can't really see TND classed as camp either. DAD, I feel, is the only Brosnan film that can be truly considered camp, whereas the other three balance their jokes quite well. They're not always good, but they're balanced well.

    Jonathan Pryce is pantomime camp!
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    Posts: 9,020
    TND has elements of camp but it's nowhere near DAF or MR level.
  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 5,131
    Yes true. Although DAD is just as camp.....Robocop out fit and camp acting villain.
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    edited November 2015 Posts: 9,020
    suavejmf wrote: »
    Yes true. Although DAD is just as camp.....Robocop out fit and camp acting villain.

    DAD is pure camp once Jinx and Graves show up.
  • Scaramanga12Scaramanga12
    Posts: 562
    There's camp that works and camp that doesn't. I think Moonraker is a good example of a film that's great for the first hour and then is dragged way down by awful campness. It makes you feel like you're watching carry on Bond. It's only really saved by the score.

    The kind of campness that can work is over the top characters, as long as they remain grounded in some kind of reality. Nick Nack and Wint and Kidd are good examples of characters that work, albeit in less that stellar films.

    Some things mentioned like the duck in goldfinger may be better off labelled as silly than camp.

    If I include silly as camp, then I would say make it brief and funny, and to make sense on some level (whatever that means). The Dr No tank is a good example of slight silliness working. The fire engine chase in AVTAK is the perfect example of what not to do.


  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    Die Another Day gets campy once Q comes in, to be honest. And no, Cleese's Q is definitely not the aspect I'm citing, but how the scene played out. The camp begins there and onward.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    edited November 2015 Posts: 15,718
    Which group would OP be part of? The India section with the tarzan yell, Sit!, hiss off!, Bond recognizing his own theme song, etc, is as campy as it can be. But the bomb chase in east Germany is, IMO, one of the darkest, most tense sequence in any Bond film. I hardly laugh at the funny bits due to the extreme tension.
  • JNOJNO Finland
    Posts: 137
    Mendes4Lyfe wrote: »
    Which is better, From Russia With Love or Goldfinger?

    If your answer is Goldfinger you prefer campy Bond.

    Was this for me? From Russia With Love. If it wasn´t for me, I´d still say FRWL.

    But I don´t see GF as campy one. It may be a spectacular film but not a campy one. YOLT, DAF, MR and the Brosnan entries. Aren´t those the campy ones? Is TSWLM campy because it´s over the top? Maybe it is.

    I never stop to think about it.

  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    Posts: 9,020
    DaltonCraig007 wrote: »
    Which group would OP be part of? The India section with the tarzan yell, Sit!, hiss off!, Bond recognizing his own theme song, etc, is as campy as it can be. But the bomb chase in east Germany is, IMO, one of the darkest, most tense sequence in any Bond film. I hardly laugh at the funny bits due to the extreme tension.

    OP is the best of both worlds and therefore clearly one of the greats and certainly Moore's best.
  • SzonanaSzonana Mexico
    edited November 2015 Posts: 1,130
    I prefer something in middle ground.
    Campiness and some serious moments as well.

    The perfect examples the first 4 Connery did and 4 with Pierce, Day another day could be called full camp but it has some serious moments and the way Pierce carried himself made the movie(DAD) a little less campy.

    Maybe you won't agree but i noticed how the actor carries himself is partly of what it sets the Tone.
    For example Roger and Lazenby have a very goofy voice like they are always jocking you just can't sense danger in them.

    Meanwhile Connery and Pierce had great balance in their portrayals and Last but not least Daniel and Dalton scream seriousness and thoughness.

    Diamonds are forever and Die another day would have looked way campier in the hands of Roger or Lazenby.

    Everyone says diamonds opened the doors for Roger Moore's portrayal but i think Lazenby started with it. If it wasn't for Tracy's death On her Majesty's secret service looked like a Moore film.

    Moore is the improved Lazenby, Craig is the modernized Dalton and Pierce is Modernized Connery.
  • timmertimmer
    Posts: 4,622
    I would consider all the Bond films campish with possible exception of QoS, which probably helps explain why it rests at bottom of my rankings.
  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 5,131
    BondJasonBond006 wrote: »
    suavejmf wrote: »
    Yes true. Although DAD is just as camp.....Robocop out fit and camp acting villain.

    DAD is pure camp once Jinx and Graves show up.

    Agreed.
  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 5,131
    BondJasonBond006 wrote: »
    suavejmf wrote: »
    Yes true. Although DAD is just as camp.....Robocop out fit and camp acting villain.

    DAD is pure camp once Jinx and Graves show up.

    Agreed.
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