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I feel he needed something more to him. To be honest I think they missed a trick not making him talk much (Bautista’s actually quite charismatic and I think he could have brought more humour to this role. I think he could have been given the ‘Mickey mouse’ interaction/comeback the other guard gives Bond, for example).
A big, bad boy in the mold of the classic Bond henchmen and by far my favorite villain of the whole Craig era.
Excellent and memorable introduction, great presence. But his exit was a bit underwhelming, which is a shame considering the great buildup.
Same for me. Even though I did have him a tad lower than that.
I absolutely love the train fight and the way of his demise doesn't bother me at all. Only really sad that he didn't return for the finale action scene.
Stylish and hard to beat. Disappointing to see him ranked so low.
He just doesn’t do anything for me as a character. All his traits, the imposing size and strength. The deadly thumbnails. They’ve all been done before. But in the past were better executed.
The fight with Bond on the train is brutal, but his demise is almost comical.
Think that was a Spanish guy though :p Sorry for the nitpick!
I do mostly agree with you on Hinx though. I suspected he would be the rare occasion in which SP would top Craig's era in a general vote, but alas he comes in second.
I suppose they don't, poor old Spanish guy.
Sorry again to be so nitpicky, no offence intended of course :)
Ah yes, true. Thanks for reminding us, I totally forgot his name. They were really subtle there, weren't they? :))
(Although I would say 'guerra' just means 'war', 'soldier' would be 'guerrero' or 'soldado'. I could be wrong though.)
JAWS
by Richard Kiel
in Moonraker
MR was one of the few films that was represented by two candidates, but they are both eliminated as of now.
Jaws' second appearance received two top 10's: one 6th and one 9th place. There were also two extra top 15's in one 12th and one 13th spot.
Most of us rated it between 16th and 25th, though three members gave this version of Jaws a bottom 5 spot. The lowest rating was a single 27th place.
MR's Jaws ended up with a total of 71 points. That's the same amount as Renard, though he received one top 15 less, so therefore Jaws ends up one place higher.
To impressionable kids, the steel-toothed giant may have seemed like a terrifying and formidable villain, but as an adult, all I see is a clumsy, not very bright, hulking buffoon.
Whilst his appearance in Spy was mostly good, in MR he becomes a cartoon character and a buffoon!
If the PTS with him flapping is arms like a bird wasn’t enough, they make him overly silly.
Turning the character into an ally at the end is imo a step too far.
Richard Kiel was fabulous in the role and an amazing ambassador for the series.
But Jaws should’ve either been killed off in Spy, or remained a serious villain and eliminated in MR.
It’s completely off the wall in how it’s done, but that sums up MR anyway. The comedy is played up this time but I don’t think this is out of character for Jaws or out of tone for the movie (yes, Jaws in TSWLM gets darker scenes on the whole, but there’s that inherent level of broad comedy to him in that one too - things like him dropping a stone on his foot etc). In fact I think making the character a bit more cartoonish in MR helps make his redemption palatable for the audience (I think if he’d been the robotic killer to the extent he was at the beginning of TSWLM it’d be a harder pill to swallow, at least when MR is viewed on its own. Back to back with TSWLM it emphasises Jaws’ redemption… again in that strange way).
I think ultimately many aren’t going to like MR Jaws. Personally I can see why he was brought back (Kiel is very memorable in the part and has good chemistry with Moore). So I’m fine with him.
Same opinion, I ranked him at #26. I love him as a henchman in TSWLM but in MR he doesn't work for me. I think the scene I despise the most in the whole Eon Bonds is him meeting Dolly in Rio combined with the music. The 7up bucket still standing there doesn't help either. So painful for me to watch that I can't him rank higher here. Despite the great atmosphere when he is walking to Manuela as giant clown, he ended at my bottom 5...
His German name was Beisser (Beißer, for the non-Swiss) because they couldn't use the German name of the Jaws movie for him and therefore had nothing that the public could connect to (calling a Bond henchman Der weiße Hai - The White Shark - wouldn't have made sense).
Either way, and acknowledging that he probably earned a shitload of money from it, I questioned even at the time if one should base a character on what is clearly a kind of disability or deformity. Same with Hervé Villechaize. One has grown too big, one too small. And those are the only two henchpersons, unless I forget someone here, which are defined by their actors' physical deficits and not some fake concept like diamond shreds in their face.
I could never think of Richard Kiel except of as a tragic figure. Which also means I don't "like" him being employed as a henchman, and even much less him being made fun of his physical deficits. Call me "woke" if you like.
@j_w_pepper
I get what you're saying. On the other hand, it's probably a good thing that people like Herve Villechaize and Richard Kiel were invited to play memorable parts, baddies or otherwise, and not entirely excluded from such roles because of their exceptional physical appearance. People of average height could have played giants with a little help from dressers and the camera too, but I'm not sure that would have been any less insensitive. In fact, nowadays a lot of anger goes out to inauthentic casting. We could, indeed, consider the choice to always make them bad guys unfortunate. However, being a henchman in a Bond film sounds like a great experience and a respected job to me. I'm sure it gave Richard Kiel a wonderful time, during and after filming his two films. But I may be wrong, of course.
While I think more into such things for newer films, I don't value it much for the older Bond movies. Different times...but of course, your critisism is totally reasonable @j_w_pepper
HELGA BRANDT
by Karin Dor
in You Only Live Twice
Fiona Volpe's German cousin had a highest rating of 9th, as well as one additional 10th place, taking home two top 10's. With one 11th, one 12th, one 13th and one 15th place, she also received four more top 15's.
At the other end of the spectrum there were four bottom 5's. Her lowest rating was 29th, on two occasions.
In total Helga Brandt obtained 71 points. That's the same as the previous two reveals, but she ended up in more top 15's than the other two, so she won the tiebreaker and as such entered the top 20.
The whole plane sequence is quite ludicrous and worst of all, not thrilling in the least,
Her death scene is quite memorable, though, so at least there's that.
Yes, from what I understand Villechaize was a tragic figure. I don't know as much about Kiel beyond what I've read briefly online - I understand he suffered from alcoholism though. Regardless, from interviews I've seen him in (and from accounts I've read) he seemed like a lovely man and led a full life with highs and lows. His career was pretty successful, and while slotted into some very particular roles he did manage to branch out a bit.
I don't personally have a firm opinion on this one way or the other, but I suppose every actor has something about their appearance that will have an impact on what roles they do in some way (not saying it's always right, and yes it can unfairly limit certain individuals dependent on certain factors - but as I said Kiel did have a successful career and his gigantism was a part of who he was).
She's not quite up there with Volpe but she's effective. YOLT really does recycle the henchmen/women of previous popular Bond films - Hans is a sort of Red Grant type too.
I could repeat all these points. And I ranked her also as #23. She is alright but the script is against her: Why try to kill him in the most complicated way? He is aleady tied up to a chair...this is far fetched, even for Bond standard.
But her death scene is great.