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The TIMOTHY DALTON Appreciation thread - Discuss His Life, His Career, His Bond Films
We have one for Connery, Moore and Brosnan, so why not one for imo, the very best Bond.
I love Dalton, and his films. TLD was one of the first films I ever saw, definetly the first Bond film and since then he's always been my favourite. I like all of them, but not even Brosnan (my 2nd fave), could match up to the greatness that is Dalton, and I don't think (in my eyes) anyone ever will. I like how he was dark and serious, but also classic Bond. LTK is still my favourite film of all time.
Outside of Bond, I haven't seen that much of him, but he was amazing in Hot Fuzz, one of the funniest films I've ever seen.
I love Dalton, and his films. TLD was one of the first films I ever saw, definetly the first Bond film and since then he's always been my favourite. I like all of them, but not even Brosnan (my 2nd fave), could match up to the greatness that is Dalton, and I don't think (in my eyes) anyone ever will. I like how he was dark and serious, but also classic Bond. LTK is still my favourite film of all time.
Outside of Bond, I haven't seen that much of him, but he was amazing in Hot Fuzz, one of the funniest films I've ever seen.
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Comments
While he's not my favourite Bond his contribution to the series shouldn't be overlooked. At least he left the series in a relitively dignified manner (both onscreen and off) unlike other actors who have played the role ;)
Here's to Timmy :D
Just want to say quickly (I am running out the door to catch a train soon!) that I think Craig is the kind of actor who delves in and does his own thing. Sure he could be influenced by others, but I do not feel he is really strongly influenced by Dalton. I think he is a really good actor and like Dalton has brought a more realistic and seriousness to Bond (due to his stories requiring that).
Timothy - more later! I love TLD, it is one of my favorite films, always a pleasure.
"Timothy played it right down the f***ing line there" - Pierce Brosnan
:D
Its a quote in the "James Bond Unmasked" book.
Nice to know they respect the master :)
I need to get the Bond unmasked book. Sounds intresting.
I read somewhere that he tried to watch CR on a plane when they were showing it but it broke.
He was apparently a Bond fan before though, he said somewhere that GF was the first film he ever saw, and I think he saw Dalton's films because at the GE press conference I think he said he admired what Dalton had done with the character, peeling back the skin.
The Daltonites \m/
There's two suggestions for this threads title. Now on to the actual appreaciation...
Dalton wasn't the first Bond I saw, but he became my favourite the first time I saw his films, and it's been that way since. I think he doesn't get the credit he deserves when it comes to being charming. Tim's Bond could be charming when he needed to be, the difference is, unlike other Bonds (who shall remain un-named, this is the Dalton thread afterall ;) ) that are claimd to be charming, actually overdo the charm and get right on my nerves. It wasn't his stong point, but he could display enough charm to see his Bond out of some situations. I can't imagine anyone else in TLD or LTK, as it's mostly Dalton that makes those two Bonds what they are. I do also think Tim deserved to do another 3 - 4 films in the 90's.*
As for my favourite Dalton film, it has to be the darkly comic, Hawks.
* I'm actually working on a new list that is my cast for Dalton's 3rd Bond: The Property Of A Lady (1994). That's all I can say about it at this time. ;)
Tom Gurnee @tomgurnee
Sweet! Just met James Bond (Timothy Dalton) at LAX. Lucky me! Very nice man. Said he likes Daniel Craig’s portrayal very much.
He took an iconic role, made his own stamp on it, and also moved on with his life.
As MajorD said above, I also cannot picture anyone else in the roles of TLD or LTK.
A tad bit colorful...
While Connery was cool, and Brosnan brilliant, only Dalton could show the dark side of Fleming's fearless agent
A darker shade of Bond ... Dalton turns up the heat on Carey Lowell in License to Kill. Photograph: Kobal
For me the name is Dalton, Timothy Dalton.
He was dark, he was ruthless, and he managed to show precisely what Bond was all about: a merciless, calculating, professional assassin. Is it inappropriate to mention that he was also unbelievably good-looking and charismatic?
Sure, Connery was the coolest and Brosnan brilliant. But following on from Moore's orange tan, Dalton was a huge step up. So why is he still treated as though he massacred the role? Timothy Dalton was a great 007.
People did go and see The Living Daylights when it came out in 1987: it apparently earned more money than the two previous Bond films put together, and more than Lethal Weapon and Die Hard, which were released at around the same time. Fair enough, License to Kill put less bums on seats. But surely 007 should be allowed to fail an assignment once in a while (Moonraker, anyone?).
Ironically, the very characteristics that got Dalton slammed are the very same things that the Bond producers are praising Daniel Craig for.
On and on, they have said they want Bond to be closer to the original Ian Fleming character. They want him to be grittier, darker and less jokey. What they really want, it seems, is to have Dalton back.
Watching the trailer for Casino Royale, Craig reminds me of his Welsh-born predecessor, only blonder and buffer. I am sure Craig is going to be great. Just like Dalton.
Gwladys Fouché
Friday 3 November 2006
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2006/nov/03/timothydalton
I've also changed the thread title
Yeah I did wonder if I'd get away with that one.
Dalton is a storng actor with a wide range. His two Bond films are very good. He really found his niche with LTK and he is outstanding at playing Bond as the dark, brooding MI6 assasin.
I only wish he could have done one and possibly two more. Can you imagine what GE would have been had we gotten with Dalton's 007 going up against Bean's 006.
Wow
Love it or hate it, MR was no failure. It did so well at the box office, Mad magazine rightly labeled their spoof of it "Moneyraker".
Otherwise, that's a good defense of Dalton. Dalton remains the most underrated Bond actor. And people who complain that the relative box office failure of LTK(it was still an international hit) means he shouldn't have made more seem to forget that TMWTGG was a relative box office failure as well. Thankfully, Moore was allowed his opportunity for a 3rd Bond film that, as well all know, raked in big bucks. It's too bad for the delays. A 3rd Dalton Bond film released possibly around Christmas 1991 or in 1992 might've rebounded the series quite well.
I agree a whole lot with this review. I have certainly never thought that Tim "massacred the role", that reaction I have always felt came from critics and fans who idealized the way Sir Roger portrayed Bond, and didn't look far back enough to see all the similarities between early Connery and Dalton, let alone Fleming's novels. TLD was such a refreshing change and Dalton turned out to be the right actor to assume the role and carry Sir Sean's legacy. I really don't think, in hindsight, that Brosnan would have done Tim's two movies justice as they were written. I consider it all "divine providence" that Pierce did not get the role in 1986 as he really was much more of a natural successor to the Moore legacy, but it was best that it was at a later time because I do think a good share of fans realized that the Moore era has run it's course.
I wholeheartedly disagree with the comparison of LTK to Moonraker short of the box office. Otherwise radically different films, LTK being both great and very fresh and showing a side of Bond truly never seen before as opposed to a un-Bondian farce more reminiscent of a Matt Helm film.
Craig does seem to be the natural successor to Connery and Dalton and I for one am thrilled if Daniel did indeed lean on either for inspiration. Bond should be more dark and gritty and resembling their legacy, as far as I am concerned. Some folks complain the recent films resemble Bourne, but if you consider Bourne to be dark and gritty, then I'd say Bourne was copying what Bond had already done before.
I was a confirmed Daltonite as soon as I saw his eyes while interrogating Pushkin. He had the same look of imminent violence as Sir Sean, something that Craig has also done consistently. These Bonds you would not want to meet in a dark alley. That look in the eye was much more rare and not consistent to how Moore and Brosnan generally interpreted the role. Bond may be a debonair playboy with a pronounced taste for the high life at times, but that should not be the basis of how the character should be portrayed. Even when Sir Sean and Tim delivered those quips when killing someone, they still had the look of a man who knows it is serious business. I could never take Moore too seriously as a result, in that respect Brosnan did much better, although I certainly understood that Sir Roger was trying to go opposite of Sir Sean and make murder a more, let's say "palatable" affair.