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Let's not forget Bond in a gorilla suit. There's lots of reasons to be less than enamored with OP. But it's way better than NSNA, and it's nowhere near as over the top as MR. The Moore incarnation of Bond simply wasn't my favorite rendition of the character...but I have come to believe that it was exactly the Bond that those times called for. And without the commercial success of Roger's Bond, we'd have never seen Dalton's, Brosnan's, or Craig's. So I'm willing to give Roger a bit of slack...as well as a delicatessen in stainless steeeeeeeeeel....
But before either was released...which one were you rooting for?
Which leads me to wonder: how does that train of thought run today for the folks following this thread? Did Roger ever qualify as a "real Bond" for you? How about Lazzer? Pierce? Tim? Or even Daniel? Who would you consider a Real Bond now that we've had a full half dozen candidates?
OHMSS is one of my top three movies, Lazenby is good the film has a lot to do with that.
Pierce back in the 80's I thought was too much of a wimp to play Bond, though he proved me wrong in GE, Pierce was given poor movies after GE.
Craig loved his first two films, his last two films I have little time for, though I expect NTTD to be great.
As for OP and NSNA, I was fully behind OP before watching it at the cinema, NSNA I was curious about despite it clearly being an imposter movie to me even as a 9 year old.
My Bond actor ranking...
Connery
Moore
Dalton
Lazenby
Craig
Brosnan
I don't dislike any of them, though I think some of the actors carry bad films better than others.
I think many fans who were adults when the first Bond films were released considered Connery the "real" Bond--everyone who followed him was just a placeholder. Nowadays we hear less from those first-generation fans because many of them, like Sir Sean, have passed away. Others are very old and don't use message boards like this one.
Fans born during Moore's tenure, or those of the later Bonds, are far less likely to consider anyone the "real" Bond. Their favorite tends to be the Bond they grew up with. Though I consider Connery the best Bond, I was born in 1980, so Dalton is my second favorite and I have a soft spot for Roger. I was a little too old to be bowled over by Brosnan, since by the time GoldenEye premiered I was 15 and had become a discriminating fan of the books and films.
There are also fans who care more about the series than the actors. My father was around 19 or 20 when he saw Dr. No in the theaters, and though Connery was his first Bond he liked Roger Moore's charm and enjoyed the grittiness of the Dalton films. He accepted Brosnan and Craig and happily rewatches their films.
The only Bond he disliked was Lazenby, who he considers a one-off freak and failure. It seems any unknown actor who followed Connery was doomed to look wan to the public. In contrast, Roger Moore had already built up a strong persona that was well-liked by the public and greased the wheels for his acceptance as Bond. My mother grew up in Turkey, but even there The Persuaders was a hit.
Ironically, I'm a Bond fan who got introduced to Bond with the release of Goldfinger and then immediately caught up on DN and FRWL. Goldfinger changed my life forever but............................ to my surprise I loved OHMSS and Lazenby as Bond though I thought no one could replace Connery.
Connery will always be the most magnetic of the Bonds. When I was a child, I noticed how much I loved his suits and the way he moved in them. I could watch him do anything- meeting M, in bed with one of his many conquests, facing off with the villain at a dinner table or playing golf. Connery was like a spotlight that you couldn’t help but always be looking at. I still feel this to this day….
Unlike my father, I love/loved OHMSS (my number 1 Bond film); because Lazenby looked so much younger than Connery, my young brain at the time always saw this film like a prequel— and I still feel that way to this day; there’s something so naive and at times clumsy in Lazenby that it feels like this is the unpolished version of 007. In my world, this film happens before all the other adventures…
I do have a major soft spot for Moore— especially as I grow older. He’s a charming entertainer, and, what he lacked in the physical he more than made up for with his likeable presence. He was effortless and breezy fun, but I also admired when he turned on the edge.
I too was happy to see Dalton take over. I still think he is the most strikingly handsome of all the Bonds. He has a wonderful face and when he was angry (Saunders murder), I felt it as a viewer. I was also happy to see a far more physical Bond. The only drawback I see with Dalton is we seem to be catching 007 near the end of his career: he’s more exhausted and jaded and fails to have fun with Bond’s more hedonistic side. Unfortunately, I don’t think Tim could find any joy in his interpretation…
Unfortunately for me, the Brosnan Era was, and has always been, my least favourite. I don’t like the films they gave him, and I found his performance to be weak in presence and delivery. He always seemed to be “Acting” with a big “A”… and I shudder thinking of him getting emotional (“he knew all about us, about my shouuulder”… ). Physically he didn’t do it for me and I was disappointed in his fight sequences; it looks like he’s never thrown a punch in his life, and I can “see” the staged choreography (Bean sold their battle in GE); saying that, I thought Broz was at his best in the first half of TND. He looked very good, relaxed and he was charming. In short, he was very likeable (which I don’t often say about his films; most of the time I found him smarmy and very difficult to watch);
Craig was such a bold choice and I fell in love, not just with the blunt instrument and his fantastic physical work and animal magnetism, but also, to me, he captured the little boy, the loner, the orphan, that grew into the man with a need to prove himself (if not to others), that he’s worthy… I remember when I first walked out of the cinema, I told my wife: it’s like Connery Bond had a child with Fiona and Craig-Bond was the outcome.
Rankings:
Connery…. Craig
Moore/Dalton
Lazenby
Brosnan
My own Bond ranking puts Connery at the top, of course, followed closely by Craig, who is very clearly presenting his own interpretation of Bond and scoring strongly for the boldness of his choices. I put Dalton at 3rd for the fidelity of his performance to Fleming's source material. Moore and Brosnan are tied for 4th/5th in my mind: I just can't believe Moore at all when he's pretending to throw a punch, and his sometimes smirky portrayal of Bond just doesn't sit well with me... but I do appreciate his lengthy and memorable service to the franchise as a whole, so it's getting hard for me to downgrade him too severely. Brosnan, on the other hand, is a kind of general-issue Bond: he seems to take a bit of Connery, a bit of Moore, a bit of Dalton and even a smidgen of Lazenby in forming his performance. At the core, he seems to be a bit too impressed with the part that he's landed to be able to really give it his own interpretation. I liked him best in GE and TND, and his performances got weaker, not stronger, over the next two films. Lazenby takes 6th position for his failings as an actor. In his scenes with Garbrielle Ferzetti's Marc-Ange Draco, it is the secondary character who is taking the lead -- a position that Connery would never have allowed!
Great quote, Peter. Like something a publisher would use as a pulled quote on a book cover or magazine article. Sounds like our rankings are rather close.
I was born at a unique time when the franchise was in shake-up mode: Born in October '66 when YOLT was being filmed, Lazenby was in the wings as was Connery's comeback and eventually Moore. So I got a lot of different Bond variations in my young life up to that point.
Connery rereleases and DAF being the first new Bond movie I was exposed to made an impact. Even at that young age I remember my mom and uncle talking about Connery coming back, not realizing he left or anything and for years people talked about him highly.
I have a unique connection with the Moore era as he began filming LALD when I started kindergarten and AVTAK was released a week to the day before my high school graduation. Growing up, it seemed my favorite between Connery and Moore was whichever I'd seen last on the ABC movie telecast. However, by the time his years were winding down I longed for a more Connery-like approach.
First saw OHMSS on a double feature with DAF at age 7. No idea this movie existed but it always stuck with me. Honestly, Lazenby never registered, just how different it was to the other movies and that shock ending. Watched the infamous '76 butchering and seeing again as I became a big Bond fan it became a firm favorite before it was fashionable.
Dalton was simply the Bond I longed for, having read the novels and tired of Moore's portrayal. Was glad Brosnan didn't get the role at the time. I loved the two Dalton films and was annoyed at his departure and admit that somewhat influenced my lack of enthusiasm for Brosnan. He was a people's Bond and that's part of what I didn't find appealing about him, he didn't bring anything different other than a comfortable fit.
Whereas Craig was what the series needed, especially in garnering protests from the "fans" as he didn't fit their image. Props to Barbara and MGW for taking a chance that paid off big-time.
My rankings:
Connery. Never get tired of his portrayal, everything that defines Bond.
Dalton/Craig. Both brought the harder-edge in reaction to what preceded them. Combine a lot of what I want in Bond characterizations. Dalton still is the closest to how I imagine the Fleming character. Craig is always interesting to watch.
Moore. Hard to not like but also frustrating in his choices to prefer lighter touches to what Bond is about. That said, his tough moments stand out more.
Lazenby. His portrayal is always fresh and energetic. There are deficiencies to the performances but never enough to distract from the experience of OHMSS.
Brosnan. The films I come back to the least. I like Brosnan the man more than his portrayal of Bond. His hybrid Bond doesn't improve on any of those that preceded him and as most of his movies are weaker, it can't fall back on him carrying things the way I can with other Bond actors.
Others are of course welcome to contribute whenever appropriate. @BT3366 seems to qualify as an Original per his posting above, and @peter's father was obviously an Original back in the day. It's good to get fresh points of view; still, it's probably time to come up with a new topic for general discussion. Any ideas out there?
I'm, just as @Revelator, a kid of the eighties, to be precise 1980. For me Brosnan was the first Bond in cinema's, but as I grew up in that then-hughe time-gap between the films, I became interested in Bond through the yearly screenings on TV on one certain channel. The odd thing is my opinions on all actors have swayed over the years. Now, I'm hardly 'ranking', but admit that Brosnan wasn't very strong in his. As @Peter said, it seemed that the role impressed him too much. Obviously i didn't hold that view when I was 15 and GE finally made it into cinema's, but by the time the Ice Palace showed up I felt something had gone utterly wrong.
In the end I think the 'ranking' comes down to the films themselves. Of course Connery takes the cake in TB, but that's not just because of him, but more so the chemistry he has with one of the biggest sex-bombs I've ever seen grace the silver screen that is Fiona Volpe, next to the sensational beauty that is Claudine Auger's Domino. I also love the hidden danger that is Adolfo Cheli's Largo and never understood people calling him dull. All in all that film works so wonderfully, it blows everything out of the water (pun intended).
No film has had such a combination since, but I do love RM's LALD, or Craig's QoS for similar reasons. The atmosphere, the believability (disregarding plot logic). And yes, OHMSS is in that top-whatever too. I appreciate what Lazenby tried to do, and knowing his back story it makes for quite the viewing. I can believe his Bond, as much as I believe Craig's in all his movies, RM's in most, Connery in most and TD in TLD. LTK, in example, just doesn't work that well for me, even though it's got the best infiltration of the villain's organisation of the series. But Pam doesn't cut it at all, and that jars so much it just takes me out of the film. SO, all in all, a messy story about me not beeing able to list them from best to worst. I've become too moderate I suppose.
All I have to say is that Connery was my first Bond, my template of the cinematic character. Laz was a decent place holder. Moore was wildly entertaining, but made Bond a bit Saintly. Tim made Bond feel real again to me, especially after I read all the books. Pierce was my hero-version of Bond. And I like Dan because he has that "I don't really want to be here" vibe Connery radiated in You Only Live Twice... the burnt-out spy thing. ;)
You had the briefcase? You lucky dog!! I WANTED that briefcase....
Did you get a chance to use the knives?
Excellent. I took up scuba diving among other things.
I WOULD have taken up scuba diving if I could have gotten my hands on an aqualung! As it was, all I could get were flippers, a mask, and a snorkel -- but you'd better believe the pool at the local YMCA was clear of atomic bombs, first order of business!
I wanted to scuba dive because of Sea Hunt!
For me, I incorporated Bond into my life by enjoying driving, expertly yet not too fast, with the Bond theme song in my head. I cannot say how often I did this, but on long trips it was pretty much standard that part of the way I was in Bond mode. ;)
I might not be an original, but I did have the 'Best of Bond' CD in my car. And it Did start playing unexpectadly when I drove away from the parking place next to a village that's been flooded by a dam in the north of Italy with only the church tower famously still sticking out of the water. It took me more than half a second to realise i wasn't in a Bond movie (it starts with the Bond theme from Dr. No).
Actually I'm rather glad nobody started shooting at me. But I did (still do) drive fast. Not sure if that's Bond's influence. Always wanted to be a fighter pilot.
Never thought you went away.
Me too. Bond music on a four track tape and now streaming in the car has always been a must.