Who's the worst Bond?
Dalton, or Craig?
shareMoore. Easily. Next question?
shareNo. Not by a long shot. The order, from best to worst, goes like this:
1. Connery
2. Lazenby
3. Moore
4. Brosnan
5. Dalton
6. Craig
Almost right, but not:
-Connery—absent him, NO Bond franchise. His donnybrook with
Robert Shaw on the train in
From Russia, With Love (which,
on balance, I think is the best Bond film thus far) is the most exciting and compelling scene in all Bond films, far beyond Le
Chriffe posing to cut Bond’s dick off in Casinoi Royale (the real version, not the Woody Allen travesty)
Craig—hate to say it, but brought the Bond franchise into
the (corrupt) Bourne era, hence, preserved it
- Lazenby-a one-off wonder with a man’s physique who fought convincingly like a tiger.
- Brosnan—built like a toothpick-figure, can’t fight for shit, but charming and witty. I loved on the TV series Remington Steele, though I loved Stephanie Zimbalist more, because I wanted to, you know, fuck her. He was 50 percent of Sean Connery: charm and poise, but no mussles or balls.
- Craig—great physique. Believable fighter. Zero charm, 2 on a scale of 5 for wit. A Bond responding to the Jason Bourne generation. He’s Not really James Bond.
- Moore. Bond is not blonde. Bond is not geriatric. Bond, in a pinch, defends himself with training and sklll, not with gadgets. The worst Bond ever. Except for the Woody Allen movie. And even then . . . .
Jaws?! Barf!!
I'm with you 100% on Connery. FRwL is my favourite Bond film, and Connery is part of that. But the reason I love Connery is for his elevation of the character beyond the book Bond. Connery added more depth to him. He also perfectly embodies the balance between thuggish brute assassin and wry, sophisticated gentleman. Others have come close to that formula, but Connery got it right from day one.
Dalton is next for me. You forgot him in your line-up entirely! I think he's next to Connery in terms of getting the balance just right. He's a bit too charmless compared to Connery; he seems too serious. He also got a very short run and The Living Daylights is only okay (love LtK, though!)
Craig comes in a *close* third, and I could see my way to letting him be number two. Like Dalton, he's a little too thug and a not quite humoured or charming enough. He's also got a bit more of an edge with Casino Royale and Skyfall - two of the best - and I didn't mind Spectre (though it's overlong and the plot twist is an eye-roller). Of course, I hated Quantum (QoS? No: PoS).
Brosnan in fourth, having the opposite problem of Dalton and Craig. Err on the side of "brute", though, I guess, since I find Brosnan a bit too delicate - as you do. GoldenEye is great, Tomorrow Never Dies is all right, and I think Die Another Day might have grown on me since I last watched it (at least the first half). TWINE is underrated.
Moore next. The silliest, and Moore is a bit of a special case here for me. In some ways, I think Moore isn't really able to be measured against the others because he's such a different Bond that it feels like he's number 1 at being Moore-Bond, and there aren't any other contenders. He's a delight in his own way. Plus, longest run, although quite uneven.
Lazenby: OHMSS is *brilliant*, but it's weighted down by this plank of wood. He's basically the only Bond I don't like, which makes his film super-conflicting for me because the movie's great, held back by a dull millstone hung 'round its neck.
Connery: The first...the best...and the standard by which all others would be measured. The first time you see him at that baccarat table in Dr. No utter those words: "Bond, James Bond".......it's as if he was born to play that role.
And when he serenades Honey Ryder along the Jamaican shoreline ("underneath the mango tree..."), it's like: Could this guy possibly be more charming? He had the perfect mix of alpha male command...charm....humor...size...and skill sets, to make him the perfect Bond.
Roger Moore: People unfairly discount Moore for things like age..and because he was sometimes silly (or at least in silly scenes). However, Moore is a sentimental favorite of mine...and to me, he's under-appreciated. If you were a kid in the 70's like me, your first exposure to a Bond film might have been on the ABC Friday Night Movie on TV....and it was probably one of those awesomely fun Moore films like The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker or For Your Eyes Only. Sorry, but as a kid...there was just nothing else quite like these movies--they were so cool and jaw-dropping! And Roger Moore was the perfect guy for those films and in that great 70's, playboy, cool car, hot chicks, great stunts zeitgeist. And I'm sorry, but I'll never buy the "he was too old" bs. The 50's...and even 60's are not too old to be a great spy with great skill sets. Look at the old movies of Clint Eastwood...Lee Marvin...heck, Tom Cruise is almost 60 and look what he does in those MI movies!! Moore was not only cool, charming, suave and funny...he could also be plenty tough and serious when he had to. Thank you, Mr. Moore...for those great movies of the 70's and early 80's...and for being an awesome part of my childhood.
Craig: I'm putting Craig at #3 because he's badass and cool...was in one of the best Bond films ever...and, was responsible for bringing the franchise back from it's lowest point (the truly awful Die Another Day). From the opening (free running) scene in Casino Royale...there's never been a Bond with that much pure physicality. He looked like a guy who could kill someone with his bare hands. A great example of his coolness was the scene in the stairwell. He kills a machete-wielding assassin by choking him out...then goes back up to his suite, slugs down a double scotch, changes his shirt...and heads back down to the poker game. And when the bartender asks if he'd like his drink shaken or stirred, his reply: "Do I look like I give a damn?" The Bond in Flemming's books was never meant to be "suave"...and he sure wasn't a prettyboy. He was a badass assassin...with a big scar running down his face. Craig nails it...and is freaking awesome. His fight on the train against Baustista in Spectre is one of the best fight scenes ever...put...to....film.
Brosnan: I think Goldeneye is WAY overrated...(and it was the best of the Brosnan outings). The Bond girls were dull and even annoying. The Alan Cumming character was annoying as hell. And don't get me started on Joe Don Baker. Brosnan plays Bond as a prissy, prettyboy...prancing around in his little tuxedos, not a hair out of place...and worrying about whether his little martinis are shaken not stirred. I like Brosnan in other (non-Bond) movies. But his tenure as Bond almost ruined the franchise. By the time we got to invisible cars...and Bond windsurfing on a tidal wave...using a car door and a parachute....the franchise was in desperate need of a reboot! (Thank you again, Daniel Craig).
Lazenby: He had just one film....but he was cool and alpha. Not a bad outing, but he had the un-enviable task of following Connery. If he had a couple more films to work with...he may have made a great Bond. But with just the one film....he was ok, nothing more.
Dalton: Dalton gets way too much credit for the serious way he portrayed Bond. What some call serious and badass....I call stuffy and stiff. I do admire his effort. And he was ok. But his two films were cheaply made...and it hampered his tenure. Both of the Dalton films were just......meh. Sorry Timothy.
Can anybody seriously debate Connery's crown? It's amazing even that he had it so great out the gate. First try. One wonders if he ever needed a second take, it seems like a second skin. Heck, Ian Fleming wound up giving the character Scottish ancestry as a tribute to Connery's performance. How many films elevate the character past the author's original?
I agree with you on Moore. I had him low on my list, but as I noted, the reasoning feels a little unfair. Yeah, he's sillier, but that's what they were going for. So what? Should we dislike him for that? He's playing a parallel Bond. I think hurting Moore's case might be that a lot of the goofy stuff happened on his watch. So, Moore was a boss with that magnet watch running across alligators and his quips and everything, but when you've got the slide-whistles and things it feels a little cornball.
Still, The Spy Who Loved Me - that's one of the best ones and features my favourite spy car feature.
To me, Quantum is the low point for Bond, but Die Another Day was off-putting. Although I'd like to re-watch it. I think stuff like the sword fight scene and large chunks of the first half will really hold up. Halle Berry really held that movie back, in my opinion, and the fact that they were trying to lightly prime the pump with a "female American Bond" to spinoff...that was awkward.
Great takes, Ace. Agree on all fronts.
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