81 replies to this topic

[DR76]

I thought her role was perfect in being a "capable" Bond girl who could hold her own while not upstaging Bond.

She tried to do that verbally, which I found annoying.

[Mister E]

Carey Lowell was merely okay. She did nothing to be particularly memorable. I have seen her done alot better on LAW AND ORDER.

[Bondesque]

CL should have stuck to Law and Order. There was no sizzle with Timothy Dalton. Although for some reason Dalton never had sexy blazing chemistry with any of his leading ladies. Could have been poor writing/direction, but in that arena TD pales in comparision with Craig.

[Judo chop]

Could have been poor...direction

Everything about the direction was wrong. Not just the directOR, but the direcTION.

[DavidSomerset]

Timothy Dalton would have zero chemistry even when you cast Marilyn Monroe (not the dead one, but one in 7 year itch) or any other femme fatale as the Bond gal. He was toooo serious to notice the preety ladies. He has a nice expression of "Oh no, I have to talk with this broad now" on his face whenever he has a romantic scene. CL also tries hard to show that she is a hard gal. Well, the gals they cast in the 80s Bond flicks were low on acting anyway. Tanya Roberts anyone?

[Royal Dalton]

Onscreen and offscreen, Dalton had great chemistry with both Maryam d'Abo and Carey Lowell.

Oh, and I think Lowell looked better with short hair.

[Mister E]

CL should have stuck to Law and Order.

Law and Order was after LTK.

In general, Timothy Dalton never got the scripts or the director he deserved. He should have been given the treatment Daniel Craig has now.

[Major Tallon]

CL should have stuck to Law and Order. There was no sizzle with Timothy Dalton. Although for some reason Dalton never had sexy blazing chemistry with any of his leading ladies. Could have been poor writing/direction, but in that arena TD pales in comparision with Craig.

I see it differently. Dalton's relationship with Kara is the most idealized and romantic of the series. No nudges and winks, no schoolboy leering, but Bond showing a genuine concern for her as a person, while Kara's story portrays how she started out as Koskov's girlfriend and found herself falling in love with Bond. Beautifully done, right down to the final fadeout with two glasses and a rose.

Dalton's relationship with Pam was different, but also well done. Pam started out with a thinly disguised dislike for a man she regarded as just another agent, this one less capable than she, and her feelings changed over the course of the adventure, while Dalton's also matured. The story of their relationship, though not fully fleshed out, showed genuine character growth as Bond and Pam balanced their mission with their growing feelings.

Both stories were well portrayed by the principals involved. The best action movies make the audience care about the characters, and this is a strength of Dalton's movies.

[DR76]

CL should have stuck to Law and Order. There was no sizzle with Timothy Dalton. Although for some reason Dalton never had sexy blazing chemistry with any of his leading ladies. Could have been poor writing/direction, but in that arena TD pales in comparision with Craig.

I see it differently. Dalton's relationship with Kara is the most idealized and romantic of the series. No nudges and winks, no schoolboy leering, but Bond showing a genuine concern for her as a person, while Kara's story portrays how she started out as Koskov's girlfriend and found herself falling in love with Bond. Beautifully done, right down to the final fadeout with two glasses and a rose.

Dalton's relationship with Pam was different, but also well done. Pam started out with a thinly disguised dislike for a man she regarded as just another agent, this one less capable than she, and her feelings changed over the course of the adventure, while Dalton's also matured. The story of their relationship, though not fully fleshed out, showed genuine character growth as Bond and Pam balanced their mission with their growing feelings.

Both stories were well portrayed by the principals involved. The best action movies make the audience care about the characters, and this is a strength of Dalton's movies.

I agree with the above. Granted, I still found certain aspects of Pam's personality a little irritating, I still thought she had a good chemistry with Bond. But I think Kara had a stronger chemistry with him.

[BoogieBond]

I am in the short hair brigade.
Cary Lowell was a very attractive woman. But I have to say I also thought the character of Pam Bouvier was just OK. IMO she is not one of the most memorable bond girls in the series(down to me to the writing), but not too bad either. Carey is married to Richard Gere I see as well. Lucky Richard

Edited by BoogieBond, 11 July 2008 - 03:57 PM.

[Bondesque]

The major problem with Dalton and his Bond girls is that thier scenes always seemed like a scene from a stage play, rather than film. A bit formal and stiff (no puns intneded). I like Dalton (I have met him twice) and he is a very gifted actor, however his love scenes as Bond just don't compare with Connery (animal lust) or Craig (deeply genuine).

I would have loved to seen TD have a script with the quality of CR and an A list production/budget. Interesting to see if could have pulled it off.

[Tarl_Cabot]

I love Carey Lowel. She's the best USA Bond girl and she's the only one I recall who had a dramatic change of appearence, for the better, with that short hair cut.And I love her positive attitude about having been a Bond girl and the fact that she has always defended Dalton from his many ditractors during interviews. A classy lady.

[Agent 76]

She had good and bad moments. nothing really special to me.


ps: but good looking.

[DavidSomerset]

Just read this on ew.com in list of 10 WORST Bond gals
7. Pam Bouvier (Carey Lowell)
License to Kill (1989)
We see what the Bond brain trust was trying to do by naming their main dame after Jackie O (and even winking to that fact during one extended sequence). But Lowell fumbled this attempt at giving 007 a modern, independent counterpart by turning her into a nagging pest. Who cared if she and our hero ever got it on? She just needed to shut up.

http://www.ew.com/ew...57891_4,00.html

Fits like a glove. If it fits then it is .

[byline]

I thought her role was perfect in being a "capable" Bond girl who could hold her own while not upstaging Bond.

She tried to do that verbally, which I found annoying.

I agree. Show, don't tell. . . .

[dogmanstar]

Yep, Pam Bouvier needed some backstory. She has some good moments but she is in, what is in my opinion, one of the cheesiest Bond scenes--the barrom brawl that looks like it was ripped out of an A-Team rerun!

[lazenbyland]

http://www.ew.com/ew...57891_4,00.html

Whilst I agree with some on that list, I fail to see that any list of the worst Bond girls can claim credibility without Teri Hatcher and especially Halle Berry.

Carey Lowell was one of the best Bond girls IMO. Smart AND very good looking. She was let down a bit by the script in places but easily Bond's match.

[Publius]

He was toooo serious to notice the preety ladies.

In TLD, he was immediately attracted to Kara (albeit in a less animalistic way than is usual for Bond), which I thought was fairly obvious.

In LTK, he clearly notices the pretty girl in Leiter's office by the name of Pam, and although he seems to put those thoughts out of his mind at the Bimini bar (no surprise, Leiter's just been maimed and Sanchez is free), he returns to checking her out later in the film, first when she gets her haircut, then when she tears off part of her dress to get her gun, and still later when she's soaking wet and they're aboard the WaveKrest.

As for Lupe, she seems like more of a throwback to the Bond girl who is infatuated with Bond and takes the initiative. He happily complies with her request to stay the night, but otherwise was electing to prey on her naivete to get to Sanchez.

Dalton gets a bad rap about this issue because in his first movie he has a more romantic relationship than normal (and one of the rare monogamous ones), while in the second he was consumed with revenge and only made love when there was nothing else to do. There's man work to be done before getting down. I always thought that was a staple of the cool cinematic hero.

Compared to almost any lead in most other action flicks (think about Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, True Lies, or Raiders of the Lost Ark), Dalton's Bond is a regular player. I don't see why Bond has to be a horny schoolboy to avoid being seen as borderline asexual.

http://www.ew.com/ew...57891_4,00.html

Wow, I disagree very strongly with five of those: Octopussy, Pam, Goodnight, Kara, and Christmas. Three of those have already been discussed in this thread, and I like Goodnight and Christmas precisely because they're ditzy eye candy. In the case of Goodnight that's all TMWTGG needed, and in the case of Christmas it was a welcome relief from the whining melodrama of TWINE. The absence of Jinx alone disqualifies that list from being taken seriously.

[dodge]

I must be missing the Lovin' Lowell gene. I completely admit that the fault may be mine--she's certainly verrrrrrrrry attrrrrrrrractive--but she's too wholesome and cleancut. I wanna feel dizzy, not Disneyed, when I look at a Bond beaut'.

[stamper]

Best Bond girl since Diana Rigg in OHMSS. Richard Gere married her (probably to prove all this mouse stories are bull but here we go)

[zencat]

No complaints.

[Mr Teddy Bear]

No complaints.

HELLO MUM.

Could I have your mum's phone number?

[sharpshooter]

Carey Lowell was one of the best Bond girls IMO. Smart AND very good looking.

That she was. It's refreshing when they have the brains to match.

[byline]

CL should have stuck to Law and Order. There was no sizzle with Timothy Dalton. Although for some reason Dalton never had sexy blazing chemistry with any of his leading ladies. Could have been poor writing/direction, but in that arena TD pales in comparision with Craig.

I see it differently. Dalton's relationship with Kara is the most idealized and romantic of the series. No nudges and winks, no schoolboy leering, but Bond showing a genuine concern for her as a person, while Kara's story portrays how she started out as Koskov's girlfriend and found herself falling in love with Bond. Beautifully done, right down to the final fadeout with two glasses and a rose.

I agree wholeheartedly. Maybe Dalton didn't sizzle with sexual chemistry with his leading ladies (though I would debate that, as it gets back to that whole "charisma" issue, which I think Dalton has loads of), but he certainly did have strong romantic chemistry with them. And maybe it's because my husband and I are both romantics at heart, but that was far more important to us than sexual chemistry (or, at least, sexual chemistry alone).

Just watched "The Living Daylights" again last night and was reminded once again of how it is the most unabashedly romantic film in the Bond series (followed, IMO, by "Casino Royale" and "For Your Eyes Only"; I know that "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" is supposed to be romantic, but somehow -- except for the ending -- I'm not swept away by it). I used to find Kara rather silly and annoying, but the more I watch this film, the more I appreciate her. She was completely innocent, and it's wonderful to watch Dalton's Bond use her at first to get to Koskov, come to fully realize her innocence, continue using her while trying to protect her, and finally fall in love with her. I realize that might not be every Bond fan's cuppa tea, but it sure is mine.

[byline]

Dalton gets a bad rap about this issue because in his first movie he has a more romantic relationship than normal (and one of the rare monogamous ones), while in the second he was consumed with revenge and only made love when there was nothing else to do. There's man work to be done before getting down. I always thought that was a staple of the cool cinematic hero.

Definitely agree with both of your assessments, though I also think it's clear by the end that Bond has fallen for Pam because, after all, he chooses her over Lupe.

Having just watched "The Living Daylights" again last night, it's still not clear to me why people believe that Bond was strictly platonic in this one (the "AIDS era" comments that have surrounded the decision to put Bond in a monogamous relationship here). Sure, their sleeping together is never shown, and there's that one scene in Vienna where the hotel concierge or owner asks if Bond wants his usual room, and Bond declines, asking for one with a second bed instead, but I always thought that had to do with just that particular scene, not the entire film. After all, at that point, Kara was still in love with Koskov, and Bond wanted her to stay that way because he believed he could use that to get to Koskov. As his feelings for Kara grew, the two of them became more and more attracted to one another, and there's no question in my mind that by the time that final scene in her dressing room rolls around, they've been sleeping together.

Edited by byline, 19 July 2008 - 05:44 PM.

[crheath]

No complaints.

Me neither. I love that scene where she pulls out her gun in the elevator...

[Publius]

As his feelings for Kara grew, the two of them became more and more attracted to one another, and there's no question in my mind that by the time that final scene in her dressing room rolls around, they've been sleeping together.

I've always thought they slept together that night in Afghanistan. It was the first night they were together that she didn't still have feelings for Koskov (indeed, she hated his guts by then), they were in as strange and distant a land as you could get, and she had been separated from Bond (who she had come to realize is one hell of a man) for some time. The way she attacked him with the pillow couldn't have made her love for him and desire to be with him more obvious. As if "at least we're together" earlier on hadn't made that clear.

[Golden Claw]

Carey Lowell as Pam Bouvier was a good Bond girl, if not great. she seemed much more Bond's equal than Anya Amasova, but without upstaging him (Wai Lin, Jinx). What I like most about her is that she doesn't turn into a damsel in distress at the end to be rescued by Bond, and that's a huge plus for me. She's also resourceful when needed.

But I don't like the way she whines and acts a bit immature at times.

[byline]

As his feelings for Kara grew, the two of them became more and more attracted to one another, and there's no question in my mind that by the time that final scene in her dressing room rolls around, they've been sleeping together.

I've always thought they slept together that night in Afghanistan. It was the first night they were together that she didn't still have feelings for Koskov (indeed, she hated his guts by then), they were in as strange and distant a land as you could get, and she had been separated from Bond (who she had come to realize is one hell of a man) for some time. The way she attacked him with the pillow couldn't have made her love for him and desire to be with him more obvious. As if "at least we're together" earlier on hadn't made that clear.

That line followed one of my favorite Bond comebacks:

Kara: We're free.
Bond: Kara, we're inside a Russian airbase in the middle of Afghanistan.

Who says Dalton's Bond didn't have a sense of humor?

[Mercator]

I think Pam Bouvier was pretty good as a Bond girl. She was hot and part of the plot and kinda was a fresh spin on the "Equal Bond Girl" thing they keep tryin to do.