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Guy Hamilton 1922-2016

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  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    edited April 2016 Posts: 9,117
    Benny wrote:
    http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/apr/21/james-bond-director-guy-hamilton-dies-aged-93

    Guy Hamilton director of four James Bond films has sadly passed away at the age of 93.
    Hamilton born in 1922 was director of Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever, Live And Let Die and The Man With The Golden Gun.

    Sir Roger Moore tweeted :
    Incredibly, incredibly saddened to hear the wonderful director Guy Hamilton has gone to the great cutting room in the sky. 2016 is horrid.

    Whilst I'm not a big fan of Hamilton's later Bond films, as a Bond fan I cannot overlook Goldfinger and the contribution it made to the series. One has to wonder if the series would've lasted this long without the success brought by Goldfinger. And for that I do appreciate Guy Hamilton.
    A sad day for Bond fans.
    Guy Hamilton RIP.

    This.
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    He wanted us to "just have a little bit of fun".

    Guy, we had a lot of fun, thanks to you!

    Sleep well.

    And this.

    It's very easy these days for us all to slate GF for its lack of grit and character arcs but try and remember the first time you ever saw it and how it simply enthralled you with iconic moments piling up on each other relentlessly without a homage in sight.

    Perhaps Terence Young started the formula but Guy polished it to within an inch of its life and laid down a marker that set up the next 50 years of sheer entertainment.

    Thank you Sir.
  • pachazopachazo Make Your Choice
    edited April 2016 Posts: 7,314
    Very sad news. I wouldn't want all Bond films to be like Hamilton's but I'd never trade in the ones he gave us for anything in the world. R.I.P.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    If Goldfinger was the only film he ever made, he would still be a legend.
  • ShameladyShamelady
    edited April 2016 Posts: 38
    Gerard: '"The IPCRESS File" (a masterpiece)'

    Actually, 'twas FUNERAL IN BERLIN that was Guy's.
  • ShameladyShamelady
    Posts: 38
    Not my favorite Bond director by a long shot. Good as GOLDFINGER is, I was surprised when I saw it on a double-bill with DR. NO that Young's direction was more adroit. Can't fully fault Hamilton for some of the shortcomings of DAF, LALD, and TMWTGG (all of which I like, mind you); if Peter Hunt had edited them I think they'd be considerably sharper-edged.

    Nonetheless G.H. has a pretty good filmography outside of Bond -- certainly better than Young's. 'Bye, Guy.
  • Aziz_FekkeshAziz_Fekkesh Royale-les-Eaux
    Posts: 403
    RIP. Not my favourite Bond director but a sad loss all the same. Truly the end of an era.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,827
    I loved what he did on Remo Williams. RIP sir.
  • LudovicoLudovico
    Posts: 15,229
    I just learned about it. At 93, it is not a tragedy, it is still very sad. Nevertheless, Guy Hamilton had a very rewarding life and made the best of it so if it is any comfort we are mourning his death because we celebrate his life.
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    Posts: 9,020
    While Goldfinger is quite simply the iconic movie his Live And Let Die is very underrated in my opinion.
    In any case, the Bond franchise without Guy Hamilton is unthinkable.
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    I'm compelled to watch one of his creations tonight. I think it will be LALD, since talk of Yaphet Kotto on another thread yesterday had already whetted my appetite.
  • ShameladyShamelady
    Posts: 38
    Birdleson wrote: »
    Shamelady wrote: »
    Not my favorite Bond director by a long shot. Good as GOLDFINGER is, I was surprised when I saw it on a double-bill with DR. NO that Young's direction was more adroit.


    @Shamelady , was that in '65? That was the double-bill that I saw.

    I believe it would have been spring 1966, after the release of THUNDERBALL, although if memory serves, I saw a pairing of DN & GF on two different occasions, the latter of which I can't place. I seem to recall that there was a double-bill of DN and FRWL (the first pairing of Bond I was aware of, but didn't attend) shortly before TB was issued, late '65. Does that sound right?
  • MooseWithFleasMooseWithFleas Philadelphia
    Posts: 3,370
    RIP Guy. Thanks for all the memories. Your fantastic work will live on forever. Seemed like a genuine good guy. Always loved hearing him speak in interviews and making of features.
  • AlexanderWaverlyAlexanderWaverly
    Posts: 2,115
    Guy Hamilton, an appreciation: http://bit.ly/1SnxvoJ
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,359
    RIP Guy, thank you for your contributions to the Bond series.

    These weren't intended as a tribute but I feel they are fitting.
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  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,359
    Thanks @Birdleson.
  • fire_and_icefire_and_ice
    Posts: 6,432
    Captures the look of each film perfectly.
  • Crazysoul95Crazysoul95
    Posts: 3,336
    Nicely done Murdock
  • YtterbiumYtterbium
    Posts: 269
    My first memory of Bond is the crushed car from Goldfinger. His four films were also those I watched the most when I was a child, and LALD and TMWTGG remain my favorite Moore films.

    Thanks Guy for my first fascinating contact with Bond !
  • pachazopachazo Make Your Choice
    Posts: 7,314
    @Murdock, those are great. Well done.
  • RC7RC7
    edited April 2016 Posts: 10,512
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    When my wife started her contractions I contemplated which film would be the last I ever watched before becoming a father. It seemed there could only really be one. I took the above photo about six hours before we went to the hospital. Within the next 24 hours she gave birth and when I returned from the hospital I watched it again. I will now forever associate this gem with my daughter. A titanic film, which is sorely underrated by many. Guy Hamilton is in that strata of very few individuals who can claim to be a 'father' of the cinematic Bond. RIP.
  • identigraphidentigraph
    Posts: 1,052
    LALD is my first memory of Bond and was my favourite for many years, and still is on any given day, such a memorable film, love TMWTGG too. Of course GF would have cemented his status in Bond history anyway.

    DAF was a bit poo but I still think Guy Hamilton rates pretty highly amongst the Bond directors.
  • IncompetentHenchmanIncompetentHenchman
    Posts: 1,817
    A sad day for all Bond fans, let's be honest, even if you didn't like all of his later films, GF is a masterpiece in every sense of the word.

    R.I.P. Guy Hamilton.
  • PDJamesBondPDJamesBond
    Posts: 669
    I will always have a great fondness for the Guy Hamilton / Tom Mankiewicz films. They’re not perfect but always enjoyable. And, of course, Goldfinger is a classic, giving us some of the most iconic imagery not just in 007 films but in all of film in general. His contribution to the Bond canon can’t be overstated. R.I.P.
  • ProfJoeButcherProfJoeButcher Bless your heart
    Posts: 1,714
    It's weird to think of the director of Goldfinger as underrated, but I think Guy Hamilton is.

    I'm grateful for all four of his movies, and how frankly bizarre they all were. Blofeld in drag, weird gay assassins, cars crushed with men in them, Baron Samedi, Nick Nack, the fun house, the magic coffin that picks up bodies off the ground, the moon buggy....his movies were full of outlandish but genuinue novel and interesting things that I'd never trade even for more gritty, serious Bond films. We have plenty of those now, and I like having a bit of whimsy in the occasional film as well. I'd love to see another movie as bonkers as TMWTGG again.
  • stun_harvestingstun_harvesting
    Posts: 337
    His movies were outlandish but I believe the right type of films for the time. His last two entries into the Bond canon were my first experiences of Bond in cinema, and for that I will be forever grateful to him. Certainly, I enjoyed that carefree and outrageous take on Bond more than I do the overbearingly serious movies like Skyfall. I miss the days where the fantasy of Bond had no limits and humour was natural, not forced.
  • SuperintendentSuperintendent A separate pool. For sharks, no less.
    Posts: 871
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  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    Excellent read @Superintendent . Thanks for posting. It's amazing how much they were aware of back then in terms of not imitating the past which they seem to have lost. The next director had better read this article, and the same goes for the one who has to introduce Bond #007 for B26.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Nice article, but had we never seen Bond s appartment before LALD, Guy? And sorry, TMWTGG didn t turn out to be the biggest Bond grosser of all time. Where did the journalist get that idea?
  • BT3366BT3366
    Posts: 1,926
    Interesting read. I don't necessarily agree they aren't repeating the formula, especially "well they enjoyed that last time, let's do it again," especially when they brought J.W. Pepper back in that very film.

    It also mentions the big budgets, but none of Hamilton's Bonds' budgets were that big, which would have made his version of TSWLM interesting had he stayed with it just to see what he could do with it that type of epic.
  • GetafixGetafix
    Posts: 11,425
    Hamilton is a funny one. Love GF but his other 3 really fall into a campy category of their own. They all have elements I like but I don't regard any of them as anywhere near to GF. Feels like it took Lewis Gilbert to really give us the movie that defined Moore's Bond.

    Having said that, DAF and TMWTGG are still very enjoyable. LALD is probably my least favourite of his films, despite its iconic status.
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