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Brozzer, a lovely man, was/is not a good actor. He gave Bond his all, but his all wasn't good enough at the time.
And no, he wouldn't shine in SP-- he couldn't take on Hinx (a dull fight, to me, as is; with Brosnan, wayyy worse, IMO); he would be sucking on Maddy's face after, with pain-face, he would have shrunk in Waltz's presence (and I thought Waltz wasn't very strong, at all).
I appreciate people saying DAD was where he "found" his Bond, but, to be controversial (wrong thread?), he was terrible vs Dench in the sick bay (and the beard and his pot-belly made it worse for this viewer).
I honestly think he would fared better in '87 after he did THE FOURTH PROTOCOL...
Sorry if I ruined your night. (I just think it's unfairly maligned!)
Agree
As usual I loved it. I wouldn't even change the flaws. 10/10.
If your friend liked Dr. No it bodes well that he'll enjoy the best of the best too, @Remington. You're doing great work here, opening another set of eyes to the franchise. I got my start when my best friend was downright offended I'd not seen a Connery Bond film, and nothing was the same after I went and saw one weeks later.
I adore this film. In particular I love the story that Dr. No is telling. As the budget increased sometimes the filmmakers forgot this. I’ve been watching this for nearly 20 years. Still just as fresh and exciting as when I first saw it, back when I was a nipper - it was roughly 1997. I was convinced that I didn't like the newer Bonds, despite not having seen either GoldenEye or Tomorrow Never Dies!
From the first time I watched Dr No, I loved it. The film had an air of seduction about it, and Sean Connery's performance was simply masterful and magnetic. I didn't have any problems with Dr No's supposed lack of pace. Nor did I find it boring – two common complaints it has faced.
Royale’s Ranking, Bondathon October 2017
1. Dr. No
2. Skyfall
3. Goldfinger
4. Tomorrow Never Dies
5. The World Is Not Enough
6. GoldenEye
7. Diamonds Are Forever
8. Live and Let Die
9. Die Another Day
10. The Man With The Golden Gun
Next up, Casino Royale. In Dr. No, Bond is sometimes brusque and aggressive. Which is similar to the traits that he has in Casino Royale. One can see Bond evolve from arrogant newbie over the course of Casino Royale and Dr. No, and by the time of From Russia With Love comes around, his “uncouthness” has virtually disappeared.
I hold FRWL and TB the same on that front, if not FRWL even more (about knowing the plan and waiting for Bond to catch on). The entire first part of the novel is hearing every minute stage of SMERSH's plan and waiting for Bond to show up, which I think the movie improves on immensely (like everything else).
In TB Bond is actually more aware than he is in FRWL (back to films), where he's made a stooge in the latter to show SPECTRE's power, so the former has that different element going for it. I like the progression from FRWL to TB because in TB we see the effect SPECTRE has had on Bond. He was duped once but he intends to never let it happen again and he uses the knowledge of the organization No and Grant spilled to him in their arrogance to really dig and prod Largo (like his clever wordplay at the card game) to let them all know he's got them on notice. He picks on the ostentatious and conspicuous octopus rings, taunts SPECTRE constantly, and really doesn't back down.
I really enjoy the detective elements of TB, as we really see Bond acting as a detective would more than any other film I can think of. He scopes out locations, cross references information to track the bombs, crosses details or locations off the list that don't match up, catches Quist off guard using his recorder, infiltrates the enemy to learn more information and manipulate things in his favor, and uses the facts to find the final location of the bombs by concluding that the weapons must be in the part of the island where Largo's rare sharks were collected from.
The pacing can bug some I guess (the same seems to be true with Dr. No similar detective driven plot) but I never have a problem with it as the film is always building to something quite smartly. When the finale of TB comes it's such an amazing payoff to me because I've seen Bond counteract all the plans that were there to stop him and the script allows us to know the villains, how they tick and what the cost of their plan working is so that Bond can be rooted for all the more. It's a suitably epic film for the first time Bond went widescreen and truly became cinematic.
Great post! Sums up my sentiments for DN. I loved it it the first time I saw it as a kid, and was hooked on Bond from then on.
A great Bond film, easily one of the best, yet overlooked these days.
I'll always remember my first experience of Connery as Bond. It was FRWL. My parents insisted I watch it to see who the 'real' Bond was. From the first scene I knew Connery had something special. I recall my mum murmuring in the background about how great he looked in that opening scene in Russia chased by Grant. The film however did nothing for me at that point (it's my #1 today). The next Connery one I saw was YOLT. I liked it much more of course (it had more spectacle to appeal to a young chap) but I still preferred the Moore entries. I remember always liking TB for some reason, which still holds true today (my #2). It had scale which has always been my thing (even these days).
So despite only coming round to his films much later, I never had anything against Connery (even though I used to prefer Moore). From the first time I saw him I could tell he was magnetic, like Moore. Just different.
What also stuck out to me is how good Connery was. He's as cool as ever but in his later films he seemed a bit larger than life to me? And because those later films leave such a strong lasting impression that's who I've always thought of his Bond as. Effortlessly suave, cool, badass, the guy everyone wants to be but nobody can be. And don't get me wrong he is still the definition of cool in DN. But last time I watched it I noticed something really human about him. He felt like a real person in the same way Lazenby, Dalton and Craig do, and he reminded me a lot of Fleming's Bond.
Had the Connery of DN been in FRWL, he would’ve put a bullet in Red Grant’s head the moment he suspected him.