40 replies to this topic

[ChrissBond007]

He was a great henchman indeed, probably the best role in Tomorrow Never Dies and the conversation between Bond and Kaufman is also my favourite moment in the movie, I love it. Shame that it where only a couple of minutes.

Edited by ChrissBond007, 27 August 2008 - 04:37 PM.

[Shot Your Bolt]

Dr. Kaufman should have got more screentime. He was awesome, but he only had time to explain who he was before he was killed. Much better than that bland Red Grant-clone Stamper.

[Nicolas Suszczyk]

"My name is Doktor Kaufman... (...) They want me... to make you... open your car.

Loved him. Amazing!

[Joey Bond]

"Believe me, I can shoot you all the way of SCHTUUDGART and still create ZE proper effect"
"I feel like an idiot, I don't know what to say"

I think he had the potential to do to Bond what Health Ledger's Joker did to Batman: a sick-minded killer who evokes comic relief. Shame his role was way too underwritten.

[Skudor]

He's a hidden gem, that's for sure. One of my favourite parts of TND (that and the car park sequence).

[stamper]

Best thread ever !

He was like a father to me.

[Colossus]

Mr. Melty Face was a true highlight.

[Willowhugger]

I think that Doctor Kaufman was, unfortunately, a huge dissapointment. For a guy that's built up to be a Master of Torture by the movie, it's kind of ridiculous to do it AFTER he's dead. He also speaks in SUCH A RIDICULOUSLY FAKE accent that I actually thought it was supposed to be Fake in the movie.

The fact that Doctor Kaufman also acts like a cartook while he's talking to Bond about killing him and helping him open the car door after explictly indicating that he's going to murder him (and right next to Paris' body) is so ridiculous that it actually exceeds anything in the Roger Moore films from Slide Whistle to California Girls for sheer ridiculousness.

Honestly, the choice of actor was bad for me as well. Instead, I remembered him as the Uncle of Jenny Calender from Buffy.

[00Twelve]

Schiavelli was a terrific, TERRIFIC character actor. I think he made Kaufman as good as the character possibly could have been.

However, the scripting of the whole scene's pretty weak IMO. It was basically the Bond/Grant pre-fight scene with some comedy thrown in and a hammy throwback to Bond's cold kill in DN (Why the arms fanning out, Pierce? Why??).

And as was said above, it would have been nice to get a little glimpse of Kaufman's torture techniques. At least a mention of how long it took Paris to die or something. Something to make him really despicable.

Still, Schiavelli. He was a real gem.

[plankattack]

Schiavelli is a great actor. And completely wasted as Dr Kaufman - a cameo villain at best, with a dodgy accent, whose appearance is almost as comedic as it it villainous.

That being said, Stamper has absolutely nothing to distinguish himself from the long line of henchmen in the series(he is the big blonde guy from YOLT than another Jaws/Oddjob) and I would much rather have seen Schiavelli/Kaufman used as the main henchmen with more screentime. More screentime would have made him a much more threatening presence in the movie, rather than "hey, there's the guy from Fast Times at Ridgemont High!"

Even the Stamper/Kaufman relationship is given only lip-service - other than the former telling us that the latter mentored him, there's no other sense of passed-on "henchman knowledge."

I know that having a young guy challenge Bond is good for the drama, but a sadistic Kaufman (as he's clearly supposed to be) would have been a better foil, than another buffed-up young fella(Necros was more of a presenc than Stamper). A missed opportunity, IMHO.

[DAN LIGHTER]

Vincent Schiavelli was complete class!