Timothy Dalton or Daniel Craig?

1262729313248

Comments

  • Posts: 11,425
    I think Dalt's time has passed. I do love him as Bond but find him quite hammy in everything else. These days he just seems to dial in the performance. I assume he's done okay financially and doesn't need to worry too much about working. That's the impression I get.

    May be I'm harsh on him, but basically post-Bond his career is a crock of brown stuff.
  • NicNacNicNac Administrator, Moderator
    Posts: 7,582
    He was 'the next big thing' at one point. Around the time of Wuthering Heights in 1970. He was this young, tall , handsome, brooding star who was expected to make it big, and had already been spotted by Cubby.

    In a few short years he was co-starring with Charlie's Angels and Mae West. What happened?
  • Posts: 12,837
    Dalton hasn't done many big films lately and he isn't really famous, but I wouldn't call him a loser. He probably still has more money than I'll ever see.

    Anyway, this isn't about his career outside Bond. This is about his Bond. Which I think is much better than Craig's.
  • Posts: 11,189
    I think one of Dalt's finest hours (and I mean "hour") was in Hot Fuzz. I LOVE him in that.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,713
    @Getafix did you find Dalton hammy in Hot Fuzz ? I agree with @BAIN123 - he was awesome in that film.
  • edited June 2012 Posts: 371
    I liked him as Prince Barin in Flash Gordon, that movie has always been a bit of guilty pleasure of mine.
  • Posts: 12,837
    BAIN123 wrote:
    I think one of Dalt's finest hours (and I mean "hour") was in Hot Fuzz. I LOVE him in that.

    Definetly. One of the best parts of the film, and that's really saying something when you look at the cast and how funny and great that film was.

    I actually went to the premiere because I loved Shaun Of The Dead, and I wanted Pegg and/or Frost to sign my DVD of it. At the time I had no idea Dalton was in the film, so it was really cool when he showed up and I got his autograph.
  • Posts: 11,425
    NicNac wrote:
    He was 'the next big thing' at one point. Around the time of Wuthering Heights in 1970. He was this young, tall , handsome, brooding star who was expected to make it big, and had already been spotted by Cubby.

    In a few short years he was co-starring with Charlie's Angels and Mae West. What happened?

    Yes, I was aware his career was bubbling away nicely in the 60s and 70s. With hindsight I'd say he didn't want to do Bond earlier because he was a snob about the role and thought he was destined for bigger and better things. By '86 (or whenever he was cast), he realised the ship was about to sail and finally accepted the role. I don't think he ever fully embraced being Bond though - in the sense of seeing being a 'star' as being part of the job.
  • Posts: 12,837
    @Getafix I don't think he was a snob about it. He turned down OHMSS because he thought was too young, and thinking about how the film had Bond getting married and everything, I think he was right.
  • Posts: 11,425
    @Getafix I don't think he was a snob about it. He turned down OHMSS because he thought was too young, and thinking about how the film had Bond getting married and everything, I think he was right.

    May be. I don't think any one will ever know the full thought process. I know he gives the reason of feeling he was too young, but didn't the producers keep on coming back to him?

    I suppose it could be the simple truth. He was the perfect age by the time of TLD.
  • edited June 2012 Posts: 299
    I think this has become an analysis of Dalton's personality thread.

    Back on point... I love both him and Craig. But I think Craig edges him out ever so slightly if only because he seems to be more comfortable in front of the camera, and has a greater ease in the lighter moments. Humor was never Dalton's strength, and regardless of what Fleming wrote, it is an essential component, even if just slightly, of the cinematic Bond.
  • edited June 2012 Posts: 12,837
    I still think that people forget about Dalton. Lots of critics praise Craig for being dark and serious when Dalton was dark and serious 20 years earlier.

    Biggest example is Roger Ebert. He didn't like Dalton because he didn't have the humour Connery and Moore had, he even said in his TLD review that when Bond starts acting like a real man it doesn't work, and that it should all be a joke.

    Then in his CR review he basically praises Craig for doing what he criticised Dalton for, saying it was good that he was able to be hurt and that it was more serious.

    http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19870731/REVIEWS/707310304/1023

    http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070816/REVIEWS/708160301/1023

    The again, the guy rated Speed 2 higher than Die Hard so why should I listen to him.
  • Posts: 5,634
    Whoever rates Speed 2 (cruise control), over the original Die Hard should put whatever they are on, in a can, and try to sell it..

    Once again, Dalton was the first dark bond, although Connery exemplified this on occasion, especially in his earliest appearances, however I feel it was much more frequent with Dalton despite only the two appearances. Said it before, that's just how I want to see Bond, none of the childish nonsense or escapades of some others in the part, but I understand that humor and such are an integral part of the Bond series, but sometimes it seems there needs to be a limit, it went into overdrive sometimes on one or two occasions, and Tim stayed clear of all that, and did a good job of things, he looked the part, acted the part, had that meanness about him, as well as being debonair and all that entails the part of Bond often enough. I thought this was a Dalton appreciation thread actually, until I realized it is merely in comparison with another Bond actor, but there you are
  • Dalton probably has had a good career, but alot of it has been stage or fogotten pieces. Jane Eyre, for example, shows how great he can be.
  • I agree with what @NicNac says - Dalton is a fine actor; he just didn't have that effortless ability to charm the camera.

    I think there are a few details from his professional life that are quite telling - such as turning down Bond. I really do buy the idea that he didn't want to be a big star - for the most part he didn't try out for big Hollywood films, he dropped out of the starring role in one of the Christopher Columbus films because he wasn't satisfied that it would be artistically satisfying (and it wasn't the type of film that would be a box-office smash anyway), and he hated doing press that focused on him as a personality rather than on the work as a whole. It seems to me that he thought he *should* do the Bond films.

    As for post-Bond he has apparently done a lot of interesting theatre and it seems that he does the odd film or TV project to make the money to allow him to work on stage. So I don't think of him as a "has-been" at all. Interestingly he seems to have become much more nuanced and comfortable on camera now...when he was on Chuck he could be alternately funny, menacing, charming, and even touching.
  • Posts: 58
    Dalton, hands down. As they're both blunt and brutal, Dalton also got class, which Craig unfortunately don't have, in my opinion.
  • Posts: 11,189
    The last time I re-watched CR I was suprised at how funny Craig actually was in it. He has more humerous lines than people give him credit for.
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    Posts: 13,978
    I find the humour in the Craig films to be as funny as jumping out of a plane, only to realise that I don't have a parachute. They're just lines, I don't find them funny at all.

    "That last hand, nearly killed me."
    "We wouldn't want that now, would we."

    Nope... nothing.

    Then again, I have not yet gotten to the Craig films in my 2012 00Heaven.

    Dalton's humour by comparison to other Bond was more sarcastic, rather than tounge in cheek.
  • edited July 2012 Posts: 11,189
    I find the humour in the Craig films to be as funny as jumping out of a plane, only to realise that I don't have a parachute. They're just lines, I don't find them funny at all.

    "That last hand, nearly killed me."
    "We wouldn't want that now, would we."


    Nope... nothing.

    Then again, I have not yet gotten to the Craig films in my 2012 00Heaven.

    Dalton's humour by comparison to other Bond was more sarcastic, rather than tounge in cheek.

    That line got a huge laugh at the cinema I was at back in 2006.

    I don't think Craig's humour always works btw. The "I do hope so" line in QoS falls flat but in CR he's good. I think, by and large, he's better at the "one liners" and flippant remarks than Dalton ever was.
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    Posts: 13,978
    BAIN123 wrote:
    I find the humour in the Craig films to be as funny as jumping out of a plane, only to realise that I don't have a parachute. They're just lines, I don't find them funny at all.

    "That last hand, nearly killed me."
    "We wouldn't want that now, would we."


    Nope... nothing.

    Then again, I have not yet gotten to the Craig films in my 2012 00Heaven.

    Dalton's humour by comparison to other Bond was more sarcastic, rather than tounge in cheek.

    That line got a huge laugh at the cinema I was at back in 2006.

    I don't recall any reaction to that line. IIRC there was a collective shifting in the seats from the male audience during the torture scene, but that was about it.
  • edited July 2012 Posts: 11,189
    BAIN123 wrote:
    I find the humour in the Craig films to be as funny as jumping out of a plane, only to realise that I don't have a parachute. They're just lines, I don't find them funny at all.

    "That last hand, nearly killed me."
    "We wouldn't want that now, would we."


    Nope... nothing.

    Then again, I have not yet gotten to the Craig films in my 2012 00Heaven.

    Dalton's humour by comparison to other Bond was more sarcastic, rather than tounge in cheek.

    That line got a huge laugh at the cinema I was at back in 2006.

    I don't recall any reaction to that line. IIRC there was a collective shifting in the seats from the male audience during the torture scene, but that was about it.

    I remember it well, it got a big laugh. I suppose people react in different ways.

    Other examples I like:

    -"sign that dear...you represent the treasury"
    -"Not quite so stylishly"
    -"Certainly sir...sorry sir" (at the health spa - the moment he backed the car into the fence also got a big laugh as I recall)
    -"Because once you've tasted it (a Vesper) it's all you want to drink"
  • edited November 2017 Posts: 236
    .
  • NicNacNicNac Administrator, Moderator
    Posts: 7,582
    Lots of critics praise Craig for being dark and serious when Dalton was dark and serious 20 years earlier.

    Biggest example is Roger Ebert. He didn't like Dalton because he didn't have the humour Connery and Moore had, he even said in his TLD review that when Bond starts acting like a real man it doesn't work, and that it should all be a joke.

    Then in his CR review he basically praises Craig for doing what he criticised Dalton for, saying it was good that he was able to be hurt and that it was more serious.

    Yes but it isn't just about acting 'dark and serious'. Anyone can do that. It's about how convincing you are when you do it.
    Dalton is Fleming's Bond. Craig is Jason Bourne. Nuff said.
    No, Dalton is Mr Pricklepants. Craig is James Bond. Nuff said ;-)
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,713
    NicNac wrote:
    No, Dalton is Mr Pricklepants.

    Mr Pricklepants is a legend !! He is the most awesome character ever !
  • Posts: 12,837
    NicNac wrote:
    Lots of critics praise Craig for being dark and serious when Dalton was dark and serious 20 years earlier.

    Biggest example is Roger Ebert. He didn't like Dalton because he didn't have the humour Connery and Moore had, he even said in his TLD review that when Bond starts acting like a real man it doesn't work, and that it should all be a joke.

    Then in his CR review he basically praises Craig for doing what he criticised Dalton for, saying it was good that he was able to be hurt and that it was more serious.

    Yes but it isn't just about acting 'dark and serious'. Anyone can do that. It's about how convincing you are when you do it.

    He never said Dalton wasn't convincing though. He basically critiscised Dalton for not having the humour of Moore and Connery. Then CR comes along and he gives it 4 stars for doing something different and being dark and serious. It's hypocritical.
  • NicNacNicNac Administrator, Moderator
    Posts: 7,582
    NicNac wrote:
    Lots of critics praise Craig for being dark and serious when Dalton was dark and serious 20 years earlier.

    Biggest example is Roger Ebert. He didn't like Dalton because he didn't have the humour Connery and Moore had, he even said in his TLD review that when Bond starts acting like a real man it doesn't work, and that it should all be a joke.

    Then in his CR review he basically praises Craig for doing what he criticised Dalton for, saying it was good that he was able to be hurt and that it was more serious.

    Yes but it isn't just about acting 'dark and serious'. Anyone can do that. It's about how convincing you are when you do it.

    He never said Dalton wasn't convincing though. He basically critiscised Dalton for not having the humour of Moore and Connery. Then CR comes along and he gives it 4 stars for doing something different and being dark and serious. It's hypocritical.

    It certainly is, but what do you expect from film critics?
  • Posts: 266
    I Prefer Craig but only just, Dalton was brilliant too and is IMO the closest to Fleming's Bond. But the reason i prefer Craig is IMO he has that twinkle in his eye and the look of someone who could kill you. both are excellent portrayls.
  • Posts: 6,709
    Dalton rules!




    Craig rules!
  • edited November 2017 Posts: 236
    .
  • Posts: 5,634
    Craig is a decent Bond, an improvement on Brosnan, but better than Dalton?

    In a word, No
Sign In or Register to comment.