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Connery voted best Bond in Vanity Fair poll. Journalist opinion differs.

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  • thelivingroyalethelivingroyale
    Posts: 12,837
    @SirHenryLeeChaChing I always get the impression that he was less popular in the US than here in the UK. LTK didn't do that well at the box office in America, but most people I know/knew at the time liked him and it did fine here in the UK (TLD did well enough in both I think).

    Looking at your comments about Moore, does Bond HAVE to be really physical? Yeah Moore wasn't the most physical Bond, but somebody who smokes and drinks as much as Bond wouldn't be a super fit fighting machine like Craig. I prefer it when Bond is more physical but I don't think there's anything wrong with the way Moore played Bond.
  • SirHenryLeeChaChingSirHenryLeeChaChing
    Posts: 3,494
    Honestly, I can only speak regarding the American point of view towards Dalton. How someone from the UK says he did there, they would know better than I.

    As far as Moore, it's my personal preference that Bond be an imposing, physical presence who carries an air of danger and violence about him, yet can at times relax and be playful with the women. That describes something Connery, Dalton, and Craig have all demonstrated to me. I only get the latter from Sir Roger, he's not scary to me, I wouldn't fear or hesitate to fight his Bond mano a mano. He's just...well, charming and lovable and that's why, even if you and others feel it's not in character, I prefer those performances (FYEO and TMWTGG as examples) to his usual "Bond Lite" that most look to.
  • SaintMarkSaintMark
    Posts: 7,653
    From my personal experience I can only tell that I saw all great blockbusters that summer and LTK was not that great. It is also one of two 007 movies that people walked out of during the break. When I asked the proprietor about it he told me that this was happening at all showings of LTK. People just did not bond with his performance, non charm. Dalton lacked the attraction the Connery, Moore, Brosnan & Craig do have.

    The next time I saw it was with QoS, this time it had far more to do with the movie than the actor. This time the movie started with a full room and almost half of it was empty after the break. And by the time the movie finished I did not disagree with them.

  • RC7RC7
    Posts: 10,512
    SaintMark wrote:
    This time the movie started with a full room and almost half of it was empty after the break. And by the time the movie finished I did not disagree with them.

    Do you still have intervals at your cinema? QoS is only 5 minutes long.
  • DRush76DRush76
    edited October 2012 Posts: 533
    Hmmm......every opinion is valid, but perhaps I could give more credence to this particular journalist's anti-Connery comments, if he could get his facts straight. Roger Moore's SIX outings as Bond? Has one of them been erased from existence? (insert your least favourite Rog outing, here).

    Connery is King. I don't think Lazenby or Craig (at this stage) can touch the great man's Bond.


    You oppose the journalist's opinions, because he or she failed to get the number of Bond movies that Roger Moore did right? That's your argument?


    By the way, I have no favorite James Bond actor. They were all great in their own way. And all six actors feature in my some of my favorite Bond movies of all time.
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    Posts: 9,117
    SaintMark wrote:
    From my personal experience I can only tell that I saw all great blockbusters that summer and LTK was not that great. It is also one of two 007 movies that people walked out of during the break. When I asked the proprietor about it he told me that this was happening at all showings of LTK. People just did not bond with his performance, non charm. Dalton lacked the attraction the Connery, Moore, Brosnan & Craig do have.

    The next time I saw it was with QoS, this time it had far more to do with the movie than the actor. This time the movie started with a full room and almost half of it was empty after the break. And by the time the movie finished I did not disagree with them.

    How quaint - you still have intervals in 2008!

    Does the Pearl and Dean music still come on and a woman come round with Kia-Ora ('Its too orangey for crows. Its just for me and my dog!).

    Where exactly do you live by the way - the 70s?
  • thelivingroyalethelivingroyale
    edited October 2012 Posts: 12,837
    SaintMark wrote:
    From my personal experience I can only tell that I saw all great blockbusters that summer and LTK was not that great. It is also one of two 007 movies that people walked out of during the break. When I asked the proprietor about it he told me that this was happening at all showings of LTK. People just did not bond with his performance, non charm. Dalton lacked the attraction the Connery, Moore, Brosnan & Craig do have.

    The next time I saw it was with QoS, this time it had far more to do with the movie than the actor. This time the movie started with a full room and almost half of it was empty after the break. And by the time the movie finished I did not disagree with them.

    So where you live people just happened to walk out of films you don't like. How convinient :-? Are you sure you're not making this up?

    I remember from some of your posts that you liked MR and DAD, I suppose nobody walked out on those?
  • DRush76DRush76
    Posts: 533
    From my personal experience I can only tell that I saw all great blockbusters that summer and LTK was not that great. It is also one of two 007 movies that people walked out of during the break. When I asked the proprietor about it he told me that this was happening at all showings of LTK. People just did not bond with his performance, non charm. Dalton lacked the attraction the Connery, Moore, Brosnan & Craig do have.


    Dalton lacked charm as James Bond, because people were walking out in the middle of LTK? Exactly what were they doing when TLD was in the theaters, two years earlier?
  • DoubleOhhSevenDoubleOhhSeven
    Posts: 1,778
    SaintMark wrote:
    From my personal experience I can only tell that I saw all great blockbusters that summer and LTK was not that great. It is also one of two 007 movies that people walked out of during the break. When I asked the proprietor about it he told me that this was happening at all showings of LTK. People just did not bond with his performance, non charm. Dalton lacked the attraction the Connery, Moore, Brosnan & Craig do have.

    The next time I saw it was with QoS, this time it had far more to do with the movie than the actor. This time the movie started with a full room and almost half of it was empty after the break. And by the time the movie finished I did not disagree with them.

    I obviously can't chime in with LTK as I was only a few months old at the time but I saw QOS in a sold out theater in Manhattan when it was released and no one walked out. The film didn't get the same response CR got but the audience certainly didn't hate it. Call me crazy but I think you might be exagerrating.
  • Baltimore_007Baltimore_007
    Posts: 5,634
    License to Kill - Great Bond - lousy movie

    Quantum of Solace - Great, no, good Bond, - lousy movie

    Kind of a connection there I'm guessing

    I saw them both at theaters on their release and didn't walk out of either, never have walked out of a Bond release, never will. Even if it gets to Blair Witch levels by the last 10 minutes, I will stay in my seat and see it out to the end

    This year will be no different
  • KerimKerim Istanbul Not Constantinople
    Posts: 2,629
    A new “60 Minutes”Vanity Fair poll found Americans’ favorite James Bond is, of course, Sean Connery, ranked No. 1 with a bullet at 56%.
    Pierce Brosnan came in second at 10%, with Roger Moore at 9%.
    But while Connery’s position wasn’t shocking, this opinion might be:
    Lower-tier Bonds Daniel Craig and George Lazenby need to be ranked as great as Connery.
    Sure, Craig’s only got two Bonds under his belt — his third, “Skyfall,” is due this November — and Lazenby is the oft-forgotten Australian who replaced Connery for one film only.
    But Lazenby’s 1969 “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” and Craig’s first, 2006’s “Casino Royale,” match the best of Sir Sean’s six official Bonds — and defeat anything Brosnan (four films) or Moore (six films) ever did. (Timothy Dalton’s pair of ’80s films deserve their weak spot in the poll.)

    Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/shocker-sean-connery-voted-best-james-bond-60-minutes-vanity-fair-poll-article-1.1030234#ixzz28y3QlZ8V


    All right, let me point out what's wrong here.

    1. Pierce finished second.
    2. Daniel Craig was called a lower-tier Bond (although I agree with the synopsis that succeeded that statement).
    3. Timothy Dalton deserved his weak spot.

    Many of us agree that Pierce was not the best Bond.

    If Skyfall and Craig's next film are well recieved and Craig avoids discrediting the franchise, I think Craig is in the discussion as best all time Bond.

    I'm tired of the Dalton rejection by the mainstream media.

    Clearly the majority of people who participated in this poll are at best casual fans.
  • GetafixGetafix
    Posts: 11,425
    Kerim wrote:
    A new “60 Minutes”Vanity Fair poll found Americans’ favorite James Bond is, of course, Sean Connery, ranked No. 1 with a bullet at 56%.
    Pierce Brosnan came in second at 10%, with Roger Moore at 9%.
    But while Connery’s position wasn’t shocking, this opinion might be:
    Lower-tier Bonds Daniel Craig and George Lazenby need to be ranked as great as Connery.
    Sure, Craig’s only got two Bonds under his belt — his third, “Skyfall,” is due this November — and Lazenby is the oft-forgotten Australian who replaced Connery for one film only.
    But Lazenby’s 1969 “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” and Craig’s first, 2006’s “Casino Royale,” match the best of Sir Sean’s six official Bonds — and defeat anything Brosnan (four films) or Moore (six films) ever did. (Timothy Dalton’s pair of ’80s films deserve their weak spot in the poll.)

    Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/shocker-sean-connery-voted-best-james-bond-60-minutes-vanity-fair-poll-article-1.1030234#ixzz28y3QlZ8V


    All right, let me point out what's wrong here.

    1. Pierce finished second.
    2. Daniel Craig was called a lower-tier Bond (although I agree with the synopsis that succeeded that statement).
    3. Timothy Dalton deserved his weak spot.

    Many of us agree that Pierce was not the best Bond.

    If Skyfall and Craig's next film are well recieved and Craig avoids discrediting the franchise, I think Craig is in the discussion as best all time Bond.

    I'm tired of the Dalton rejection by the mainstream media.

    Clearly the majority of people who participated in this poll are at best casual fans.

    Funny you should say that, as the Guardian newspaper in the UK ran an article only last week saying TLD was the best Bomd movie.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/oct/05/living-daylights-favourite-bond-film
  • HASEROTHASEROT has returned like the tedious inevitability of an unloved season---
    Posts: 4,399
    there is a bigger world out there for Bond than just us devoted fans... we probably only make up less than a percent of people who watch the movies...

    most people who vote in these polls, probably only just vote "Connery" because it's Sean Connery... Pierce being #2 (no pun intended lol) isn't surprising either, he remains a very popular Bond to a lot of casual movie goers.... the placements for Rog, Tim and George don't surprise me at all.... in fact - nothing about this poll is surprising, nothing caught me off guard.... but i think the person writing the article did make some valid points about Craig (not so much Laz IMO)... if Skyfall is a critical and box office smash - then Craig needs to be in consideration for "Best Bond" along with Connery...

    we all have our favs... some we rate higher than others - but i have no overwhelming problems with any of the actors..
  • actonsteveactonsteve
    Posts: 1,492
    I am going back to the quality versus quantity argument.

    I was around in 1989 and it was the best product that summer. I was 20, a student, and got into the local fleapit cheaply and saw each of the below on release.

    Licence to Kill
    Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
    Lethal Weapon 2
    Batman

    You have to remember the hype that Batman had. The advertisement budget was phenomenal. We had the poster stare back at us on every tube platform or bus stop. Everyone went and saw it because of the hype. Like Jurassic Park, Independence Day etc it was an event movie.

    Unfortunately most people who saw it wern't happy. Too dark, too grim, not enough laughs -seem familiar.

    Lethal Weapon 2 was shit. A dumb actioner with a slightly unlikeable Mel. Personally, I hated it.

    Indiana Jones? Very lightweight. It was good but didn't seem to have much backbone. A succession of quips and stunts with nice locations.

    LTK was the one we saw twice. It got good marks all rounfd and in the pub afterwards Robert Davi and Tim Dalton were approved of. The story was better and it was more invoving then the other three.

    So just putting my two penneth in from someone who was there. Batman seemed to be the one thought crap that summer but people paid their money before realising it.
  • w2bondw2bond is indeed a very rare breed
    Posts: 2,252
    The author makes valid points - DAF is a joke (I cannot believe the same man who put up the fight with Grant could not fend himself against Bambi and Thumper). Connery in YOLT is nowhere near as tough, and in GF he doesn't do a whole lot. That's 3 out of 6. Thunderball does drag on but it's otherwise a decent film.
  • ThepastykidThepastykid
    Posts: 553
    The certification issue can't be underestimated in the UK either. As much as I agree with Dalton that these films were never really meant for children, it didn't help that only the second film onto the run of a man general audiences had not been sure about first time was now a 15. In simple terms this meant less people seeing it - even adults who would normally take families - and less people for whom Dalton is a warm early Bond memory.
  • SaintMarkSaintMark
    edited October 2012 Posts: 7,653
    thelivingroyale wrote:
    SaintMark wrote:
    From my personal experience I can only tell that I saw all great blockbusters that summer and LTK was not that great. It is also one of two 007 movies that people walked out of during the break. When I asked the proprietor about it he told me that this was happening at all showings of LTK. People just did not bond with his performance, non charm. Dalton lacked the attraction the Connery, Moore, Brosnan & Craig do have.

    The next time I saw it was with QoS, this time it had far more to do with the movie than the actor. This time the movie started with a full room and almost half of it was empty after the break. And by the time the movie finished I did not disagree with them.

    So where you live people just happened to walk out of films you don't like. How convinient :-? Are you sure you're not making this up?

    I remember from some of your posts that you liked MR and DAD, I suppose nobody walked out on those?

    I remembered it because one of the people walking out of LTK was my best friend who watched with me every single 007-movie on opening night (from FYEO) untill LTK. And he still dislikes Dalton as 007.

    And with QoS the late showing there was a break simply because it offers the cinema a heck more money than the ticketsales do. And it is the last showing of the night so there is no crowd waiting for it. And on a Sundaynight it is only us 'old" farts that go to the cinema because them young ones have a schoolday the next day. (I dislike watching movies with a lot of noise from the crowd that has nothing to do with the movie. Monday and tuesday nights are also good without the young crowd).

    As for Moonraker it was the 1st Bondmovie I saw in cinema and was in absolute awe of the movie even if I could not quite match it with book I had read. (Have seen all 007's in cinema since and some more than once).
    For DAD we Dutch folks went to our naeighboring country Belgium as some smartpants decided to to release the movie in january of the next year due to the Harry Potter competition and some other popular movies. And having driven so far I'd be darned to walk out. That said if they were to show a 007 movie on the big screen near me I'd go in a flash even if it is a Dalton movie, they work best on the big screen imho. (I would give QoS a miss I admit that, but then again they are showing CR in the week before the release of Bond23 so that easy to say).

  • thelivingroyalethelivingroyale
    Posts: 12,837
    actonsteve wrote:
    I am going back to the quality versus quantity argument.

    I was around in 1989 and it was the best product that summer. I was 20, a student, and got into the local fleapit cheaply and saw each of the below on release.

    Licence to Kill
    Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
    Lethal Weapon 2
    Batman

    You have to remember the hype that Batman had. The advertisement budget was phenomenal. We had the poster stare back at us on every tube platform or bus stop. Everyone went and saw it because of the hype. Like Jurassic Park, Independence Day etc it was an event movie.

    Unfortunately most people who saw it wern't happy. Too dark, too grim, not enough laughs -seem familiar.

    Lethal Weapon 2 was shit. A dumb actioner with a slightly unlikeable Mel. Personally, I hated it.

    Indiana Jones? Very lightweight. It was good but didn't seem to have much backbone. A succession of quips and stunts with nice locations.

    LTK was the one we saw twice. It got good marks all rounfd and in the pub afterwards Robert Davi and Tim Dalton were approved of. The story was better and it was more invoving then the other three.

    So just putting my two penneth in from someone who was there. Batman seemed to be the one thought crap that summer but people paid their money before realising it.

    Everyone was obsessed with Batman when it was coming out. I was I think 7 and I still remember seeing the big poster on the way too school.
  • SaintMarkSaintMark
    Posts: 7,653
    I agree that the competition that summer was no where as awefull as the Dalton fans might have us believe. I think that TD was just the kind of actor in the part of 007 that people failed to bond with and LTK is just not that good a movie.

    But the movies that are mentioned by Actonsteve I all saw in the cinema. With Batman there was big discussion about Micheal Keaton in the role of Batman. And he proved himself with 2 Batman movies to be a strange choice but it worked. The star of the movie was the looney Nickelson and he worked very well. I kind have a soft spot for this Batman movie but found the sequel far better.
  • LeChiffreLeChiffre
    Posts: 1,548
    I think it was mainly the American marketie the idiots on Aint It Cool who vastly underrated Dalton as they were used to the jokey Moore era and just didn't like the gritty realistic approach that TD brilliantly conveyed.
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    Posts: 13,978
    Dalton fans are also individuals, as shocking as that might be. O:-)

    I have seen the other 3 films listed in @actonsteve's post (Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, Lethal Weapon 2 & Batman), and though LTK is my favourite film of the four, I do like Keaton in the 1989 Batman.
  • thelivingroyalethelivingroyale
    Posts: 12,837
    SaintMark wrote:
    I agree that the competition that summer was no where as awefull as the Dalton fans might have us believe. I think that TD was just the kind of actor in the part of 007 that people failed to bond with and LTK is just not that good a movie.

    Indiana Jones, Batman and Lethal Weapon not big enough competition for you, along with poor advertising?

    LTK did well critically and it made money, just not as much as other Bond films. So I'd say it is a good movie.

    And like I said, I don't think anybody walked out on LTK at your showing. I find it wierd that in two Bond films you don't like, people just happened to walk out.

  • lewisblakelewisblake
    Posts: 188
    BTW - I bought the recent 'Bond edition' of Vanity Fair, and there's like 2 or 3 pages interview with Craig in the whole magazine and that's about it. So not much Bond content really to back the excellent Bond cover up.

    The GQ special is so so so much better!
    http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?um=1&hl=en&safe=off&sa=N&biw=1092&bih=514&tbm=isch&tbnid=DPS8A3gRf9e2MM:&imgrefurl=http://www.selectism.com/2012/10/05/british-gq-6-james-bond-leading-men-covers/&docid=gA-uWx94Dmc-SM&imgurl=http://www.selectism.com/files/2012/10/british-gq-bond-covers-1.jpg&w=630&h=411&ei=j_13UM-yHIer0QXS2IGIDQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=85&vpy=159&dur=587&hovh=181&hovw=279&tx=187&ty=57&sig=109530907516394781676&page=1&tbnh=142&tbnw=168&start=0&ndsp=12&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:72
  • actonsteveactonsteve
    Posts: 1,492
    thelivingroyale wrote:
    [
    And like I said, I don't think anybody walked out on LTK at your showing. I find it wierd that in two Bond films you don't like, people just happened to walk out.

    He shoots! He scores!

    b-(
  • DRush76DRush76
    Posts: 533



    There is no definite answer to this question on who was the best James Bond. Why do people act as if there is?
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