51 replies to this topic

[pgram]

Savalas was definitely great. Being Greek and capable to do action sequences, was the man for the job, a lot closer to Fleming's Blofeld than Pleasance.

Pleasance was really iconic (Dr Evil anyone?). His portrayal on Blofeld was based, it seems to me, on SS leader, Heinrich Himmler. Small, ugly chap with an obvious inferiority complex. He really looks so bizarre that is menacing.

Savalas, on the other hand, was exactly the opposite. Powerful presence and self confidence are obvious on him. He doesn't look like he has inherited SPECTRE, he looks as if he has started as a low level gangster to create this huge organisation based on his skills.

I liked Gray much better as Henderson than Blofeld (was there a lack of actors and they had to cast a previous film's one?). He does look menacing and stylish, but then when he escapes as a drug queen, he just ruines everything (not really his fault, though).

Terence Young's Blofeld and SPECTRE are non others than Dr Mabuse and his criminal organization in the early German films by Fritz Lang.

[darthbond]

[QUOTE]I also don't like the way Pleasence practically clings to the cat for protection when confronting Bond in YOLT.

doublenoughtspy

neither do I, but Pleasance just always gives me a chill. He is what always envision as blofeld.

darthbond

[Qwerty]

I also can't picture Pleasence romancing Tracy - she would have laughed in his ugly face and pushed him over with a single slap.

That would be one of the most disturbing scenes in the entire series in my opinion, had it been done that way.

[Colossus]

Are you claiming that Pleasence has either Greek or Polish heritage?

The wonders of not reading...

Also whoever said Blofeld is greek, Blofeld's mother is greek, his father is POLISH.

[Colossus]

Salvalas' Blofeld was the weakest point about OHMSS. While someone younger undoubtedly needed to be cast than Pleasance (who is the best screen Blofeld, IMO), the role was treated like a mobster in OHMSS, and robbed the character of his power and dominance.

Yep-- it's a sad fact though. Thrown out the window in the post-cultural revolution opting for the shmuck and gaudiness popular at the time.

[Turn]

Salvalas' Blofeld was the weakest point about OHMSS. While someone younger undoubtedly needed to be cast than Pleasance (who is the best screen Blofeld, IMO), the role was treated like a mobster in OHMSS, and robbed the character of his power and dominance.

Yep-- it's a sad fact though. Thrown out the window in the post-cultural revolution opting for the shmuck and gaudiness popular at the time.

I didn't know they were going for Easy Rider here. You don't like the Savalas Blofeld character, that's your opinion. To toss in something like this makes no sense.

Going by your logic, why didn't they just cast Jane Fonda as Tracy? Did you know somebody slipped Lazenby a tape of Blood, Sweat and Tears, who they wanted for the soundtrack? Broccoli and Saltzman didn't exactly go for that in the "post-cultural revolution" did they?

[Colossus]

I didn't know they were going for Easy Rider here. You don't like the Savalas Blofeld character, that's your opinion. To toss in something like this makes no sense.

Apparently it's many others opinions as well. It makes sense, but ignorance may disagree.

Going by your logic, why didn't they just cast Jane Fonda as Tracy? Did you know somebody slipped Lazenby a tape of Blood, Sweat and Tears, who they wanted for the soundtrack? Broccoli and Saltzman didn't exactly go for that in the "post-cultural revolution" did they?

Ah going for the extreme Easy Rider notion?
Like said previously, this film was more affected by current events as post-1968 movies were. A movie from 1970 is a lot different from a 1960 one you realize.

[Turn]

I didn't know they were going for Easy Rider here. You don't like the Savalas Blofeld character, that's your opinion. To toss in something like this makes no sense.

Apparently it's many others opinions as well. It makes sense, but ignorance may disagree.

Going by your logic, why didn't they just cast Jane Fonda as Tracy? Did you know somebody slipped Lazenby a tape of Blood, Sweat and Tears, who they wanted for the soundtrack? Broccoli and Saltzman didn't exactly go for that in the "post-cultural revolution" did they?

Ah going for the extreme Easy Rider notion?
Like said previously, this film was more affected by current events as post-1968 movies were. A movie from 1970 is a lot different from a 1960 one you realize.

You still haven't made your case as to what exactly the current events were affected OHMSS, allegedly were. Didn't know Telly Savalas was a hot star or that he was somebody the counter-culture championed like he was a bald Bob Dylan or John Lennon or something, which is what I take you to mean.

[Colossus]

There you go taking your case to the extreme. If you can't see from the movie how his mannerisms and style was different from the previous Blofeld than there's no point in pointing it out.

[Turn]

There you go taking your case to the extreme. If you can't see from the movie how his mannerisms and style was different from the previous Blofeld than there's no point in pointing it out.

You are right. When I watch OHMSS I am too busy noticing how much I enjoy the film, the direction, the music, the style of it all. There's a character named Blofeld I have no trouble accepting. Funny, I was able to do that for 5 James Bonds and it didn't bother me. A villain seems minor in comparison.

[Colossus]

I said i enjoyed the story, plot, everything immensily. But films made 1968 and on really are different, take another small thing, the helicopters used in the previous films like the Little Nelly in YOLT, the bubble-dome copter in FRWL while they started using the sleek Huey's in OHMSS, now i understand it's needed for transporting and they could have opted for the earlier more 'fantastical' types, but it was definitely the first movie that was really the first new-era Bond.

[Scottlee]

I don't see any reason at all why Pleasance couldn't have been in this movie. For the skiing and bobsled scenes, Blofeld could have used a tough henchmen type like Kriegler to do all the work. Said person could then have 'definitely' been killed on the bob run, leavng Blofeld and Bunt to still return at the end.

[Harmsway]

I don't see any reason at all why Pleasance couldn't have been in this movie. For the skiing and bobsled scenes, Blofeld could have used a tough henchmen type like Kriegler to do all the work. Said person could then have 'definitely' been killed on the bob run, leavng Blofeld and Bunt to still return at the end.

Frankly, Pleasance's take probably wouldn't have worked, and giving it all to a henchman ruins the wonderful Bond vs. Blofeld dynamic that the final sequence goes for. What this movie needed was a cross between Pleasance and Savalas.

[Stephen Spotswood]

Telly Savalas is my favorite Blofield. He was a very silky villain, and his physicallity matched Lazenby (who made Bond look like a weight lifter), and Diana Rigg who could definitely out kick-box Roger Moore. Donald Pleasance was bland and monotonous, and I kept wishing a giant white blood cell would eat him. However, he clearly influenced Mike Myer's Dr. Evil.

[james st.john smythe]

television savalas was by far the best blofeld. he oozed charm and cool. he also looked cool with the cat and in those quazzy dapper suits

[Byron]

television savalas was by far the best blofeld. he oozed charm and cool. he also looked cool with the cat and in those quazzy dapper suits

I also have to agree. Savalas was a better and much more realistic Blofeld than either Grey or Pleasance. Pleasance although a fine character actor was too much of a caricature in YOLT.

Savalas is the closest to the book as well, although not quite the same as i imagine.

Edited by Byron, 02 December 2005 - 12:13 AM.

[Colossus]

Pleasence's Blofeld is more cold and calculative, kind of like Himmler. His Blofeld draws way more power around him, like a true no.1. Savalas' was kind of like one right under Blofeld.

And that sinister Blofeld voice in FRWL and TB is matched closer to Pleasence's Blofeld way more than any other subsequent onscreen potrayals.

Edited by Colossus, 02 December 2005 - 10:05 AM.

[Bon-san]

Pleasence's Blofeld is more cold and calculative, kind of like Himmler. His Blofeld draws way more power around him, like a true no.1. Savalas' was kind of like one right under Blofeld.

And that sinister Blofeld voice in FRWL and TB is matched closer to Pleasence's Blofeld way more than any other subsequent onscreen potrayals.

No. Not right. The voice of Blofeld in FRWL and TB is deep, like Savalas'. Pleasance's voice is high and nasally. I get a cackle every time he screams "Kill Bond, Now!" Sounds like my little brother when he was 10 years old.

I like Donald Pleasance. His Blofeld is a rightful classic. I happen to also like Savalas' Blofeld, which I think is way more appropriate for OHMSS than Pleasance's would have been. In any event, there's no need to go dissing Savalas portrayal just because you appear to prefer Pleasance's portrayal. Let's be civil, around here, eh?

[Colossus]

Then be civil because i'm showing an opinion, doesn't mean civility is on the line here. I didn't say which one's onscreen voice is closer to the FRWL and TB voice, what the effect each tone of the voice has, what he says, which is a lot more cold and calculative like Pleasence.

[Blofeld's Cat]

I guess this thread should now be merged with the new one that has a Blofeld poll.

[Gabriel]

I think that Pleasance's Blofeld is actually the cause of all the confusion over which portrayal is better. As a kid, I always took the approach that Pleasance's Blofeld was a "double" working for the real Blofeld (Savalas, who was also the one from FRWL and TB). He's certainly iconic, but Savalas seems to me to be far more like the character seen in the previous films.

The problem is that it was becoming clear around the time of YOLT that Bond could run and run. When the original films came out in the early 60s, the mood of the 1950s was still prevalent and they were made closely enough together that each film could tie in comfortably with the next: DN to TB are basically very consistent, barring the odd change of actor. FRWL even carries a Bond girl over from the previous film.

By the time we get to YOLT, the sexual revolution is in full swing, Diana Rigg is Emma Peel, and drama has become cooler, wittier and more knowing. A low key revenge thriller sequel to an as-yet-unfilmed novel wouldn't cut it!

The Bond novels, which were still quite new and were, indeed, still being written when the Dr No movie came out, were starting to show their age and become obviously the product of an earlier generation. With Fleming dead, the producers had to start to adapt what were already period novels to fit the new era.

The campier Pleasance Blofeld was ideal for the OTT delights of YOLT, which very much fits into the main era of The Avengers, Adam West's Batman and The Man From UNCLE.

By 1969, with OHMSS, Viet Nam was biting and populations of countries were turning on themselves as the whole world developed a crisis of confidence. The more mellow, sinister Savalas was perfect for the time in which the film was made. Bonds could no longer have a detailed, consistent continuity: they had to adapt to fit when they were made.

By 1971 the campier style of DAF was acceptable, making it more like a sequel to YOLT. Charles Grey's Blofeld was a wonderfully silly character and clearly very little of the Lazenby-starring revenge thriller that must have been intended was left. It fitted with the mood of the times that screen villains be a bit overblown in an era where terrorists would shortly be murdering athletes at the Olympics and hit teams would be sent against the terrorists: the world needed a break from the darkness.

Curiously enough, Blofeld is almost a prototype of Bin Laden (who also bears a resemblance to COBRA Commander from GI Joe/Action Force).

In the end, Savalas's Blofeld was vicious enough to kill Bond's wife on his wedding day. For me, it gives him an edge over every other portrayal.

[Colossus]

Wow you missed it, YOLT was the last of that pre-cultural revolution era. Films made 1968 and on had a different feel, YOLT still had that 50's feel to it like all the previous Bonds had with all the fantastical gadgetry, how Blofeld would have looked in earlier films had he appeared in FRWL or TB, a Pleasence type not a Savalas. OHMSS was the first true new-era Bond.