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I was tempted to put her on the nominees. I think Carole was cast more for her look and the eyes than for acting ability. Outside of Seymour and Adams I don't think Moore had good leading ladies. Sure they looked good but not good actresses. Makes you marvel a bit more about Moore and his ability to compensate for a lackluster group of female leads.
I really think Lois Chiles was fine. I think Maud was great in TMWTGG, but controversially maybe, I feel she hams it up a bit in Octopussy. To be fair to her, though, she gets a couple corny scenes "...a PAID assassin!" As opposed to an unpaid assassin, I suppose.
Talia Shire
Faye Dunaway
Brooke Adams
Dianne Ladd
Terri Garr
Jenny Agutter
Genevive Bujold
The other three had to play against weak character scenes but they do what they can. Yes, Stacey screams too much, yes Goodnight does stupid stuff and yes Bibi is a bit annoying sometimes but in my opinion there is always the script to blame and not the acting.
That's an interesting "alternative" universe. One could write a doctoral thesis on the Bond “girls” on the Roger Moore era. Often hyped as “Bond’s equal”, more often or not, however, they didn’t even live up to the strong roles exhibited by Honey Rider, Pussy Galore, Domino or Tracy of a decade earlier. Subjective I know.
Excluding Holly Lynne Johnson (Bibi Dahl) as she is more of a minor character, any one of the remaining four could get my vote. However, Tanya Roberts, Lois Chiles and Britt Ekland don’t really demerit their films significantly, as their respective films have other significant flaws. In short, TMWTGG, MR and AVTAK are already second tier movies (IMO) and the actresses’ performance doesn’t really impact that for me. That leaves Barbara Bach’s Anya Amasova.
Over the years, I’ve come to see Bach’s acting as a major blemish on TSWLM and it is the sole reason that the film has slipped somewhat in my rankings – although still a top ten. Wooden doesn't even begin to describe it!
Barbara Bach for me:
The rest of the Bond Girls at least did the either sides of the coin: Stacey Sutton and Britt Ekland, while annoying as characters, but I think they've just did what's written on the script and are proven to be experienced actresses who had appeared in other films before Bond, I think they've just did their job of what was written, Lois Chiles, while not being a good actor, has a great character, Holly Goodhead is probably the only one who had been Bond's equal in the Moore Era, she had proven herself to be as tough and independent, and resourceful as Bond himself is.
Now, let's talk about Barbara Bach and her character, Anya Amasova, for me, she failed to hit the either sides: Her character did nothing in the film, what had she done? For me, she did nothing at all, and she's even the one who needs the saving from Bond in some scenes, she's just there to intimidate, but really? She did nothing, she's beefed up as 'Bond's equal' but failed to hit the mark, she's just passive throughout the film, we've never seen her full potential.
Next, the other side of the coin: Her acting, she's definitely wooden, not just wooden but monotone, with obvious line readings, unconvincing and terrible Russian accent, she's almost robotic in her performance, it just didn't helped at all, she's not believable in her performance, she had no facial expressions or whatsoever, she's like a mannequin throughout the film, she can't convey much emotions, and added to it was the lack of spark between her and Moore's Bond.
She had doubled it down, a mediocre, not fleshed out character and a wooden acting, she failed to hit both sides.
She's just overshadowed by the fact that TSWLM is an iconic film, but if not for that status, I doubt she's going to be put in such a high regard, what an overrated Bond Girl.
Maybe it didn't matter because the target of the movies was 13 year old boys.
I don't see any problem with a woman not exceeding sexuality, Natalya of GE was not sexualized, the same for Kara of TLD.
For all of Chiles' flaws, her character was tough though, I give her that, Holly Goodhead is what Anya Amasova should have been, she doesn't need to move with an air of sexuality in her, because all she showed was toughness, she's not attracting Bond with her charms, she's minding her own business, she's like the proto Pam Bouvier for me, at least.
I actually think she has a lot of admirers in this community, I actually think she's pretty overrated as a Bond Girl, she even overshadows other Moore Bond Girls that are miles better than Anya herself, like Holly or Octopussy.
If we're talking about Moore Bond Girls, it all came down to my observation that she had simply failed to hit both marks: acting and character, she failed to hit those.
The other Bond Girls still had the other sides of the coin checked: Some are not good characters but it's not their fault, they're just acting out what's written in the script, in a way yes, they're experienced actresses and they've acted it well, if following the script.
While some while not good actresses have great characters, this applies to Lois Chiles' Holly Goodhead.
With Barbara Bach's Anya Amasova, she had no redeeming qualities, she's just beautiful to look at (although I'm not even fond of her looks, she's sexy yes, but there were many other Bond Girls who are more beautiful looking than her though, I've even watched her in Give My Regards To Broad Street and she's just okay looking, she's sexy I give her that).
The worst performance by a female actor in a Roger Moore film is Barbara Bach as Anya Amasova in TSWLM. She received 6 votes.
Also gaining votes were Lois Chiles As Dr. Goodhead with 5 votes and Tanya Roberts as Stacey Sutton earning two votes"
The Dove was recently discussing with Junior Dove a ranking of the theme songs of the Daniel Craig era. We shall make history and do a double vote. Please share best and worst song from the Daniel Craig films. The nominees are:
Dear esteemed academy members, which song is getting your vote for a Bondie and which song is getting the Klebbie
A punchy, catchy opener beats a gloom/doom downer!
Another Klebbie to die
(a close runner-up is SF)
The Writing’s On The Wall for the Klebbie.
Writing's On The Wall for the Klebbie.
Same here.
No Time To Die for Klebbie (No energy, dreadful, boring of a theme song for me, someone in Reddit described it as Eilish whispering while singing in an elevator tune, Writings On The Wall, and Another Way To Die at least I could listen outside of Bond, as an individual theme song on their own, just like Madonna's DAD, but No Time To Die literally puts me to sleep).
No time to die for the klebbie
I don't ever think about AWTD. As for the last three, dreary and lyrics that seem chosen more for the rhyme than actual sense. I prefer NTTD to SF and WOTW, but the lyric, "Was I stupid...." always strikes me as odd. Just can't imagine Bond saying that.
I do hope we're over the melancholy Bond. Time for someone without emotional baggage.
Want to throw in that my main complaint about NTTD is the use of the word "just" to fill in a syllable in the melody. Very very lazy: "there's just no time to die". So lazy.
All five of these songs are at least decent though.
No Time To Die for the Klebbie. Not that it's dead terrible, but it's my least favourite theme from the Craig Era. It's only halfway through the song that some energy kicks in.
So, klebbie, AWTD.
Now, for the Bondie, I'd go for YKMN. A song that brought something completely new to the Bond universe and is probably the best introduction-song in the franchise. Skyfall sure is an excellent song as well, it grew on me considerably, and it has a more classic feel to it. Still, it doesn't beat the raw, pumped up, powerful introduction that YKMN provided for DC.
The rest of the seconds, however, are meant to destroy your ears instead of prepare you for an adventure. Even though I can now actually listen to it without getting hurt, I think it's by far the worst song in the frenchise, even beating Madonna's DAD. I understand why people hate that song, especially the lyrics, but it's listenable. It has melody, rythm, etc. AWTD doesn't have a decearnable melody at all. Nor does it have on-tone singing. It hardly has singing at all.
AWTD
Yeah, but I think Arnold used it twice in his score. I can understand you, but I think the song isn't entirely bad.