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I only recently learned via Wikipedia that Ms Bach is actually a native speaker of English. I had previously assumed TSWLM was one of her earliest attempts at verbal communication of any kind. So that was an interesting piece of trivia.
Anyway, I was obviously one of the two right-minded folks who had her last. The "Bond's equal" trope was done better every single other time they tried it. Barbara Bach didn't do anything in TSWLM that could not have been done, perhaps even to greater effect, by a scarecrow with breasts.
I agree. She's got some charm, but I don't feel it often enough.
@CraigMooreOHMSS no problem! Anya stranded at #14 :)
My man! Thank you! :)
Audiences used to be a bit less savvy for sure, and I'm sure the general trend will continue. It's underappreciated how you never see actors/actresses as bad as this in major productions nowadays. We may make fun of Denise Richards, but she at least sounds like she understands the meaning of the words she's saying. Tilly Mastersons and Anya Amasovas are nowhere to be seen in anything with more than a five-figure budget.
Oh, of course they're more savvy. Pretty much necessarily so. With media diets being as large as they are, one's subconscious literacy of film is obviously higher now than it would be for an average person decades ago. The twist in "North by Northwest" would be laughably predictable to the dumbest guy in the room now, if only for the fact that the dumb guy has watched hundreds of films and series influenced by people who liked "North by Northwest", which of course remains a great watch today.
You may be comparing the worst of today with the best of the past, but if you compare stuff from the modern "trash" category to their forgotten 70s equivalents, the new films will likely offer more thematic depth and competence in the storytelling. And everybody, even the children and extras, will act better than Barbara Bach!
I hope we're not derailing here, but I'll follow your lead as a mod! ;)
Blockbusters today, even "bad" "trash" ones have actual themes in a way they didn't used to. Batman movies and Jurassic World movies, dumb as they may be on some level, and popcorn entertainment though they are, have some very clever ideas behind them one wouldn't have seen ages ago. Or using Bond, since it's a touchstone we have, like them or not, QOS, SF, and SP have some pretty rich, intended, thematic material that are not to be found in GF or TB. That seems pretty undeniable.
On a more nuts and bolts level, you wouldn't be likely to find gratuitous two-minute car-crushing scenes in a modern Bond, nor would they put Bond in an esoteric health spa without any explanation for why he's there. None of this is to say one set of movies is better than the other, but I was referring to the savviness of the audience and the relative complexity and competence of modern screenwriting.
I still think you're comparing the worst of one era to the best of another. There is an entire new category of films that dominates the box office today that didn't exist really at all in the 1970s. But adult-oriented, raw, subtle movies for grownups are made all the time. And even the trash tends to be more subtle than one might think.
It's easy to see when you think of television. Very little television (or television-like) material pre-Sopranos is worth watching today. Almost none of it is very good outside of nostalgia glasses. But adult-oriented, raw, subtle material is very easy to find in series-based entertainment, and it would be odd if none of this continued to exist in cinema. Of course it does.
EDIT: I'm pretty sure I'd prefer the original Superman to any Zack Snyder film too
Naturally, one has to be flogged, for setting such a bad example.
Anya. Great character. Middling actress. But good in the movie.
Maybe it’s my imagination, but Barbara Bach has really kept her bond experiences at “arms- length” since TSWLM. And that – perhaps – has also hurt her ranking over the years with fans.
Pete Best: What does Ringo have that I don’t have?
Everyone:
BTW: Both Ms. Bach and Linda Eastman were in attendance at The Beatles 1965 Shea Stadium concert.
I do hope not. I have Pussy Galore at 13. Maybe Pam Bouvier ?
MARYAM d'ABO
as Kara Milový
in THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS
Clearly we're now getting close to the top 10, because the scores are getting higher now. Kara's lowest score was 23rd. Three 22nd places were also given to her, totalling her bottom 5's at four.
Sixteen members placed her in the top 15, out of which eleven had a place for her in their top 10. Her best rating was third, on two occasions. She received four more top 5's in addition to that.
In total Kara Milový 142 points.
She's a really good character, and the romantic development between her and Bond is the best and most believable in the series. But on the other hand, I kind of feel that the romance works so well mostly because of how Timothy Dalton manages it in HIS performance. Kara also has a couple of iffy moments, but nothing all that terrible.
I thought I was going a bit low with 10 though....
TLD has some issues, but she isn t among them. I had her at 6.
There's been a lot of anti-Pam Bouvier sentiment here the last while but she leaves Kara for dust, as far as I'm concerned. ;)
Me too. I think TLD is the single most romantic entry that has the Bond girl survive the film.
Very believable and well-acted. I don't mind the occasional incompetence either. She's never meant to be a field operative. She's a civilian caught in the wrong situation.
Love this film and love this Bond girl. She was number 4 on my list, but could have been top 3 on another day.
13. Kara Milový (142)
14. Anya Amasova (132) - biggest jump in scores yet, it is getting interesting.
15. Wai Lin (118)
16. Kissy Suzuki (118)
17. Madeleine Swann (115)
18. Sévérine (114)
19. Holly Goodhead (106)
20. Stacey Sutton (96)
21. Christmas Jones (95)
22. Tiffany Case (95)
23. Domino Petachi (82)
24. Mary Goodnight (76)
25. Jinx (66)
26. Vesper Lynd '67 (61)
Suspicious absence of Pam and Pussy, I did not know that both had so many fans.
I put Pam at 10 and Pussy at 15.
Pussy makes sense to me. She's iconic. Pam is, indeed, a surprise.
Pussy is iconic, yes. But Pam is much much better in my opinion. They are separated by around 20 places in my ranking...
What I don't understand: Where is Melina “ice cold and not acting“ Havelock???