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Bad decisions with hindsight bias

M16_CartM16_Cart Craig fanboy?
in Bond Movies Posts: 541
What examples of decisions which were great in context of the times, but later turned out to negative consequences that no one could've seen coming.

Comments

  • thedovethedove hiding in the Greek underworld
    Posts: 5,431
    Are we talking about the film series decisions?

    I suppose the decision to kill off Bond was a good decision at the time. But in hindsight it's going to cause some interesting things to occur with the next fella. One wonders if Barbara will give that much artistic control to an actor or whether she will retain more creative control?

    I suppose rushing to use SPECTRE again after all those years was a smart decision, but in hindsight some saner heads should have pumped the brakes on that one. Might have made more sense to plot out a few films to plan out the storyline. Instead we got a bloated mess of a film that tried to jam everything into the one film instead of teasing it out over a few films.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,183
    thedove wrote: »
    Are we talking about the film series decisions?

    I suppose the decision to kill off Bond was a good decision at the time. But in hindsight it's going to cause some interesting things to occur with the next fella. One wonders if Barbara will give that much artistic control to an actor or whether she will retain more creative control?

    I suppose rushing to use SPECTRE again after all those years was a smart decision, but in hindsight some saner heads should have pumped the brakes on that one. Might have made more sense to plot out a few films to plan out the storyline. Instead we got a bloated mess of a film that tried to jam everything into the one film instead of teasing it out over a few films.

    No matter my appreciation for SP, I think you've made some excellent points here, @thedove. SPECTRE returning was always a good idea in my book. Technically, we hadn't seen SPECTRE since '71 -- and it wasn't even called by its name then. (Let's pretend NSNA doesn't count.) So after several decades, a return of that sinister group made perfect sense to me. BUT... a long-term vision would've been wise too.

    I'm not sure a big plan was needed, though. Just introduce SPECTRE as Bond's "new" nemesis and have them show up occasionally, like they did in the '60s. And puh-lease... don't . make . Blofeld . Bond's . foster . brother! They barely got away with that in my forgiving opinion, and not at all in most other people's opinion. Now, that was a bad decision!
  • SIS_HQSIS_HQ At the Vauxhall Headquarters
    edited June 3 Posts: 3,789
    Cubby hiring of random beauties to play Bond Girls, back then, it's practical given the cheap and affordable paychecks, but now, it's difficult to watch them being dubbed (in my opinion so poorly), and also their wooden performance, only three of the Bond Girls could qualify as performed by real actresses (Honor Blackman, Diana Rigg and Jane Seymour), but the rest were models and beauty queens hired as Bond Girls only to be dubbed because they can't speak English.

    And sure, with those three 'real' actresses hired, means it's possible for them to hire experienced actresses with affordable paychecks, I still can't fandom with Cubby's decision to reject Catherine Deneuve in favor of Barbara Bach, despite of the former allowing to reduce her salary, and now, the consequence is to see Bach in the role with her robotic (obvious) line deliveries, mannequin movements, limited facial expressions, and ridiculous (obviously phoney) Russian accent. The same for other Bond Girls who were dubbed (by the same voice actress), and turned in a stiff performance.

    Again, practical at the time, now, one could see the consequences of their decisions.
  • DEKE_RIVERSDEKE_RIVERS
    edited June 3 Posts: 1,365
    Hiring Moore after FYEO. It was a good idea at the time but this made Bond look old and outdated.

    By the end of the 80s it was already too late.

  • Mendes4LyfeMendes4Lyfe The long road ahead
    Posts: 8,396
    Making Craigs bond a continuing story arc, or tying them together.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    edited June 3 Posts: 16,411
    I guess the worst decision in the series was to hire George Lazenby. But then I also suppose that was immediately apparent as a bad idea rather than something it took a lot of hindsight to see.
    thedove wrote: »
    I suppose rushing to use SPECTRE again after all those years was a smart decision, but in hindsight some saner heads should have pumped the brakes on that one. Might have made more sense to plot out a few films to plan out the storyline. Instead we got a bloated mess of a film that tried to jam everything into the one film instead of teasing it out over a few films.

    I still think they were right to do that to be honest. I don't see the point in deferring pleasure; it's not like they got the rights to CR and then sat on that for years- they made it straight away and it was great. As far as they knew they only had one film with Craig left, so ending it on a climax with bringing in Spectre and Blofeld seems pretty fair to me. You've got other people saying they shouldn't have had a story arc at all and some saying they should have strung it out longer, so who can you please. Yes, Spectre could have been handled better as a film, but there's a few examples of those in series.
  • 007HallY007HallY
    Posts: 4,158
    Well, with hindsight I suppose Fleming deciding to write a script with Kevin McClory in 1958 was a pretty bad decision… or at the very least a consequential one.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    edited June 3 Posts: 16,411
    Yes that's a great point. Not least as he had a heart attack during the court case, with another the year after which killed him, so it perhaps even contributed to his early death. Writing that script, or rather writing the book and failing to acknowledge that it had been co-written, probably was the biggest bad decision if you look at it that way.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,183
    What about Saltzman not selling his shares to Cubby? Another very big mistake, if you ask me. Many production delays were caused by that poor move.
  • 007HallY007HallY
    Posts: 4,158
    mtm wrote: »
    Yes that's a great point. Not least as he had a heart attack during the court case, with another the year after which killed him, so it perhaps even contributed to his early death. Writing that script, or rather writing the book and failing to acknowledge that it had been co-written, probably was the biggest bad decision if you look at it that way.

    Exactly! I think most people’s thoughts in this thread will go to things like plot decisions or casting choices they don’t like. It depends on what one means by a bad decision with hindsight, but Fleming’s decision there had a knock on effect for himself and others which lasted decades afterwards.
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