61 replies to this topic

[Secret Treaties]

I think the transition from such two radically different interpretations of the character threw people for a loop. A View To A Kill was the last of Moore's borderline situation-comedies and there wasn't a real note of suspense to be found in the entire movie. The Bond audiences had been conditioned to see the movies as riffs on a "It's A Mad, Mad World" theme - alligator submarines, misunderstood henchmen who want nothing more than to be loved by girls wearing glasses and pigtails, and redneck Southern sheriffs abound. When Moore left and EON hired Dalton, the change in creative direction was abrupt. Gone were the sight-gags and the gently smirking, grandfatherly secret agent with a debonair wit. Instead, Dalton was brooding, intense, and brought the character closer to Fleming than any other actor had at that point. As a teenager who knew his Fleming, I was thrilled to have Dalton and relieved that the Bond of my childhood, Moore, had finally been put out to pasture.

There was no other approach to take. It was the late 80's and, in an entertainment world where rap music, gory horror films, and increasingly violent action movies were popular, Bond needed to return to his roots to survive. He needed to be darker. He needed an actor who could imbue Bond with the danger and gravitas that Moore seemingly disdained. Dalton, perhaps the best "pure" actor to ever take on the role, fit the bill admirably. I never bought into EON's template for the Bond films being, essentially, family entertainment. Without question, it's a successful commercial approach, but I always longed for the movies to be steered into darker waters. For a time in the late 1980's, I got what I wanted.

[The Shark]

A View To A Kill was the last of Moore's borderline situation-comedies and there wasn't a real note of suspense to be found in the entire movie.

Disagree there. Largely thanks to the talents of John Barry, the death of Tibbett, Bond trapped in the Roller, Bond almost being sucked into the propeller, along with a number others - remain pretty damn tense. There's also a unique air of menace (again, thanks mostly to Barry) that pervades this film, arguably more than any other in the Moore era. The closest parallel would be DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, where comedy is carefully balanced between the macabre.

[Pussfeller]

Yes, Barry is almost singlehandedly responsible for any shred of Bondian atmosphere in AVTAK. Without his score, it would have been like an episode of Dynasty.

[singleentendre]

Dalton is my second favorite. With more movies he most certainly could have taken the #1 spot.

[Pussfeller]

I think a lot of people discount Dalton because they don't like LTK, which is a very unusual Bond film.

[Secret Treaties]

I think a lot of people discount Dalton because they don't like LTK, which is a very unusual Bond film.

If that's true, it's really too bad. I'll always see it as a welcome deviation from the formula.

[Peckinpah1976]

I don't think Bond needs swagger; Fleming's Bond is intense, self-contained, taciturn and impassive - all elements that Dalton brought to the role. Swagger too easily becomes smugness - Connery just got away with this through pure charisma but it makes Moore and Brosnan unbearable IMO.

[David_M]

LTK was that movie that showed nothing special and no improvements on the 007 series, TD actually made 007 look like a sourpuss.

I always imagined the producers watching the scene in TLD where Dalton reacts with fury to Saunders' killing, and the one where he gets the drop on Pushkin, and thinking "Here now, what's this! This is great stuff! This is what we've been missing! Go out and write us a script where Bond is mad all the time and beats the Hell out of everyone!"

But what works well in small doses doesn't always hold up so well for two hours. In TLD, Dalton gets to show humor, fall (at least a little) in love and be dashing and suave. But because the stand-outs were those "angry and dangerous" scenes, he's loaded down with them in the follow-up, and IMHO it makes him seem more limited and one-note than he really was. People remember him as the "no fun" Bond, which is too bad.

I will agree with the above poster that Dalton will never be "best" for me because his films had only a 50% success rate with me. That's not really his fault, though, and anyway Craig is in the same boat pending my reaction to Skyfall.

[Skudor]

I think Dalton is the great 'what if' of the Bond actors - lots of promise but not really given much of a chance. I think you could fairly easily cast him in the Craig films and he'd fit right in. I don't think he wouldn't have added much to any of the Brosnan flicks (I can see him in Goldeney, but I think TND would be too action heavy and TWINE/DAD just too poor to do him justice). But if I ask myself whether we'd have had Bond Fever with a 33 year old Dalton in Dr No in 1962 and so on, then I have to say no. No one beats the Connery.

[David Schofield]

I think Dalton is the great 'what if' of the Bond actors - lots of promise but not really given much of a chance. I think you could fairly easily cast him in the Craig films and he'd fit right in. I don't think he wouldn't have added much to any of the Brosnan flicks (I can see him in Goldeney, but I think TND would be too action heavy and TWINE/DAD just too poor to do him justice). But if I ask myself whether we'd have had Bond Fever with a 33 year old Dalton in Dr No in 1962 and so on, then I have to say no. No one beats the Connery.

Huge TD fan - he's the best of the Bonds by some way in my, lit fan, mind.

But I couldn't imagine anyone in CR as it was written other than Craig (or a much, much younger, and more limited, actor). Craig captures the gaucheness and naivety the quite poorly written role of Bond requires in a way no other Bond could. Essentially, it is Craig's ability as an actor that saves CR. As big a fan of Dalton's acting that I am, I cannot see even a youthful TD handling CR as written: as a classical actor, he's have probably taken a look at the script and chucked it in the bin with a wry "who wrote this rubbish...?"

And as for TD in QOS...

[Royal Dalton]

As big a fan of Dalton's acting that I am, I cannot see even a youthful TD handling CR as written: as a classical actor, he's have probably taken a look at the script and chucked it in the bin with a wry "who wrote this rubbish...?"

Quite. I've never rated that film and I can't really understand why so many people seem to think so highly of it.

I don't think Craig's much cop in it, either.

[Aries Walker]

I like Dalton as Bond, but he was kind of hamstrung by the changing times, and by the fact that he doesn't look as great in a tux as the other Bonds - and that's to say nothing of that ridiculous pajama-looking jump suit they swaddled him in during the movie's very first scene.

[SecretAgentFan]

You´re right - self-confidence he has (I chose a wrong word). And maybe my memory was influenced more by LTK in which he, of course, has to be bitter. In TLD he is more relaxed and open.

I do think that Dalton was a tremendous Bond - but he came in when the world still viewed Bond as the Moore-inflected charming bonvivant, taking things not too seriously. It´s probably a sign of the times that Craig, coming in after the similar light weight Brosnan, succeeded. The world just was not ready for Dalton, unfortunately.

I still wish that Dalton would become "M" at some point. I believe he would excel at that. But this will probably never happen.

[Jericho_One]

I still wish that Dalton would become "M" at some point. I believe he would excel at that. But this will probably never happen.

Now that's an interesting idea...

[elizabeth]

He couldn't, and he isn't. No disrespect to him at all, he was great, but the other Bonds far surpass him.

[coco1997]

He couldn't, and he isn't. No disrespect to him at all, he was great, but the other Bonds far surpass him.

Which other Bonds? Surely you can't be referring to George Lazenby or Pierce Brosnan.

[Messervy]

Dalton could have easily been the best or 2nd best Bond actor,

Dalton indeed is the best Bond.

[Mr. Arlington Beech]

As someone who grow up in the 90s, I can assume I'm in your generation, and I can assure you that you don't speak for the entire generation.

Same here...

Me too...
The first Bond movie that I saw at the cinema was TND, when I was a teen; but, by that time I already have seen FYEO in VHS, so Moore is the first image that I have Bond.

I think a lot of people discount Dalton because they don't like LTK, which is a very unusual Bond film.

Yes, it's true, at least for me... it's hard to like Dalton that much, having in mind how tacky- especially for Bond standards- was LTK, even if you take to account how good was TLD.

[elizabeth]

He couldn't, and he isn't. No disrespect to him at all, he was great, but the other Bonds far surpass him.

Which other Bonds? Surely you can't be referring to George Lazenby or Pierce Brosnan.

I treat all the Bonds equally. Each of them had their perks.

[Royal Dalton]

Dalton indeed is the best Bond.

This is the correct answer.

[sharpshooter]

Was checking up on the Illustrated 007 blog, and saw this nice Dalton illustration from a 1987 Orbit TV guide. It's great to see, and there should be more of it. http://illustrated00...zine-cover.html

[mrevans]

I like Dalton as Bond, but he was kind of hamstrung by the changing times, and by the fact that he doesn't look as great in a tux as the other Bonds - and that's to say nothing of that ridiculous pajama-looking jump suit they swaddled him in during the movie's very first scene.

I've actually always thought that of all the bonds, he looks best in a suit. He always looks comfortable. Except in the casino scenes from LTK. I think its because his hair is slicked back though. Probably has nothing to do with suit. He just looks like a butt there. Then again he is angry and out for revenge and trying to pass himself off as an evil "problem eliminater", so who knows...

[glidrose]

Could Dalton have been the best Bond? If geriatric Roger Moore circa 1985 were the only other actor in the role, then yes, Dalton would have been the best Bond.

Let the flaming begin.

[larrythefatcat]

Connery will always be the best Bond... sure he has his faults, but they're few and far between. The fact that he was first in the role doesn't hurt, either.

It's really too bad that a terrible movie like Licence to Kill had to be his swansong... but, then again, Moore ended on AVTAK and Brosnan got DAD. I know the writers' strike greatly affected the film, but I don't think it would have been much better... just like QoS probably wouldn't have been much better without another strike since Marc Forster just didn't know when to (have the editors) stop.

I do like Dalton, but I think he's been better before and after Bond. I, for one, especially love his appearances in The Rocketeer, Hot Fuzz and Doctor Who!

[Messervy]

Dalton indeed is the best Bond.

This is the correct answer.

I always thought that, if all the other actors have their own take (Moore being the "I don't care too much" kind of guy, Connery being the "hard edge" guy, etc.), Dalton is the perfect blend of all the elements that make Bond: charming, hard-edged, humorous, leathal, stylish. Plus, performance-wise, he's a tremendous actor, always spot-on, never overdoing it (as Moore did, at times) and never overshadowed by anyone lese (as Brosnan could be, at times).
All in all, to me, he's the embodiement of Bond.

[robdread]

Each actor has brought something interesting to the role. Personally, I've always felt Connery was the best and Moore was my favorite (likely because I grew up in the 70s and early 80s and Moore was the first Bond I saw in a theater). Having said that, I've always liked Dalton alot and felt he didn't get the best of chances. I really wish he had done at least one more. I think then we'd have a better feel for him as Bond, just as I would have liked to see Lazenby do at least one more.

[robdread]

Another thing that I think worked against Dalton from the public's standpoint is that public sentiment was high on Brosnan due to his popularity as Remington Steele. It was well reported that Brosnan had been offered the role only to lose it when the network invoked their option to continue Remington Steele. Rightly or wrongly, the public wanted Brosnan. In the public's mind, Dalton was a second choice and place holder for the guy they really wanted -- Brosnan.
It's regrettable because Dalton is very strong in the role -- better than Brosnan -- and deserved at least one more film. Also, the extra time benefitted Brosnan since he was able to age a little and gain that sense of experience that Bond needs to have.

[bond girl 007]

Timothy Dalton is without a doubt the best bond it is after all quality not quantity that counts and flemmings bond lives in him

[Major Tallon]

Bless you, bondgirl007! And welcome to CBn!

[Harry Potter]

Timothy Dalton is without a doubt the best bond it is after all quality not quantity that counts and flemmings bond lives in him

Living Daylights was the first Bond film I remember on TV. I've seen them all lots of times since then, but I think that Dalton's mix of light and dark Bond still works now. Brosnon only got the gig because he looked like Roger Moore. I think Living Daylights was the best film. The stunt on the Hercules still rates number one in my book