Anyone follow James Bond films?

no idea, but my instinct says he didn't like being owned by a machine. did you know Never Say Never Again was actually something Connery's wife said to him when they were calling, offering more to get him back.

watch that recent documentary about George Lazenby. it is very telling. they basically disallowed him from having a career because he wouldn't maintain the false image. even Diana Rigg chastised him.

look at the kinds of things Connery did before he sold out for the bucks again in the 90s-- cult, arty weird movies. Zardoz, Highlander, In the Name of the Rose, The Great Train Robbery. an excellent one which actually had him acting--The Offense.

never a Gielgud, but you can tell that he wanted and tried to develop his limited talents. i ASSume he thought of the Bond role as a trap, a guilded cage.

sorry, *gilded.

although it stands as a pun!

George was easily the hottest. Many Bond purists think the best.

[quote] Many Bond purists think the best.

Of whom I'm one. With the caveat I've never watched Daniel Craig's Bond, Lazenby played the character closest to Ian Fleming's vision. Although even at that he was a bit too handsome. In the early novels there are two or three references to Bond's annoyance that people mistake him for Hoagy Carmichael.

Like R1 said, Connery was really fed up with the Bond producers increasingly shitty attitude toward him, basically- we made you, we can easily replace you etc. At this stage, Connery was the hottest male star on the planet, more than a movie star, a cultural phenomenon, the press/public intrusion was insane and the Bond movies were very, very lucrative for the producers, not so much for Connery. They were in Japan shooting You Only Live Twice when he decided to quit.

After Lazenby didn't work out the studio more or less ordered Broccoli and Saltzman to get Connery back, whatever the price. He got a million dollars upfront for Diamonds are Forever (which is shit and Connery looks terrible in it) and a guarantee the studio would finance/produce two movies of his choice. Something like that...

I still wish that Idris Elba would sign on to be the next Bond. He would immediately become the hottest Bond of all time.

Was there big push to have a gay Bond a couple years ago? With our luck it would be played by Armie Hammer

Go home, Idris Elba queen. You are boring us to death with that single, plaintive, incessant shriek.

R8 whatever. He is fine as fuck! And a good actor. Dim in the Bond suit with the Bond attitude makes me wet

Have you shit your Depends r9?

George Lazenby was easily the sexiest Bond of all time....I know I know, he was wooden. But his face body and demeanor where hot as fuck...much more than Connery.

Lazenby was a pain. He made too many demands and was difficult all round, so they dropped him.

Next thing he did was Universal Soldier. And he looked quite different.

I think all the actors who played James Bond, from Sean Connery to Daniel Craig were/are gay.

That's' so interesting, R13,

No, just stop r13 before you embarrass yourself even further.

The one person I would have LOVED to see play Bond but never did was Clive Owen

Owen would have been perfect.

I never liked Sean Connery, who was "my" James Bond, so I never got into the movies. I read a number of the books, though.

Dalton.

the end.

term coincided with the worst era of bond (aside Moonraker), balding, not in extremely good shape body-wise.

still the hottest Bond.

Timothy Dalton is wonderful in Hot Fuzz. I didn’t know he was so good at comedy.

The next Bond must be a person of color. Forget the fact that he was not created as a person of color!!!! WE DEMAND IT!!!

No love for the 𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍 Bond? American agent Jimmy Bond live broadcast includuing a couple of dialogue and production stumbles.

They aren’t really very good as films, but then again neither are most marvel films.

No one, and I mean absolutely NO ONE ever agrees with me when I state emphatically that Roger Moore was the best James Bond of the whole lot. The absolute coolest.

There is a very good reason NO ONE agrees with you. Moore's Bond was a buffoon. But when not being Bond, Roger had his moments.

Moore's Bond was a mincing priss.

Calm down Nick Nack

With Connery his reasons for leaving, coming back, then coming back again basically boiled down to money.

The second time is interesting because Never Say Never Again was independent from the other Bond Films. It's a complicated story, but a screenwriter who worked with Fleming in the early days wound up wth the rights to the story which was originally made as Thunderball. He shopped it around, and the money was so good Connery came back. In fact, he shopped it a second time and was threatening to make it again with Dalton until Sony quietly wrote him a giant check to get the story rights back.

It's not my favorite Bond film (the big scene with the killer video game is absurd), but I sort of like seeing Connery in his early 50's playing Bond as an older, wiser, and a bit slower character.

R24 I too loved Roger Moore as Bond. It was a campy era and that's how he played it - tongue in cheek. He was in on the joke which is what made it so delightfully fun. Instead of comparing Moore's Bond to the oh-so-serious dark moody Bonds, I appreciate it for what it was at the time - feel good popcorn munching entertainment done well.

[quote]The next Bond must be a person of color. Forget the fact that he was not created as a person of color!!!! WE DEMAND IT!!!

As someone noted earlier in the thread, Bond was “created as” someone who looked like Hoagy Carmichael. Is that what you want?

London was only 60 percent white in 2011, according to Wikipedia, so I’m not sure why you think Elba is such an outlandish idea. Weren’t there people who objected to the casting of a Scottish bodybuilder?

Bond was half Scottish r30 and the family home is in Scotland so no, the casting was very true to the books.

A man of color. A woman of icy dykeness. Anything but a smirking white guy.

Bond's main appeal back then was that he was a womanizing drunk who saves the world in spectacular ways. Recently I watched older ones like For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy and The Living Daylights and they were as great as I remembered. Craig's Bond is more brooding (still hung up on Vesper Lynd from Casino Royale?) and so much less fun.

Oh Jesus Fucking Christ, Idris Elba is hot but Bond is white. You can have a black Bond when we have a white Shaft.

Why is Bond white?

Roger Moore?@??! That flabby former pretty boy? He had NOTHING to do with James Bond....and Daniel Craig looks like an old woman. (Yes, I know: he has a big dick, which is irrelevant.)

I need to see George Lazenby again--I don't remember that movie....

Sean Connery. Amused, furry, sexy as fuck....No competition.

Because Hoagy Carmichael is white, R35. Read the thread.

R37 Nah, Nah! Give us da mike, R37 ! Bond was Black because his last name start wid a B. Okay, saying Bond white be racists!!

Thank you for the reminder about the Lazenby documentary, “Becoming Bond”, R1! Watching it now!

[quote]You can have a black Bond when we have a white Shaft.

AND a white "Hamilton."

R35 because the author Ian Fleming wrote him that way. Fleming himself had experience of the murky spy world as a Naval intelligence officer. The character of Bond had a Swiss mother and Scots father, educated at Gordonstoun and a family estate in Scotland. The world of post WWII British spies was white because the vast majority of British people were white. This was the world Fleming inhabited. The sketch is by Fleming, how he imagined Bond:

Bond has a streak of cruelty so Connery fit that but Moore did not (His Saint character was iconic though). Clive Owen, Idris Elba, Sean Bean all fit when they were younger as does Daniel Craig. Lazenby, Brosnan, and Dalton, like Moore, were too pretty-boy handsome.

There's nothing the make colored happen people wouldn't love to ruin.

^Take your ass back to bed.

That sketch looks like Benedict Cumberbatch, R41.

Lazenby I think was just awful. He was a model and extremely limited as an actor.

Moore seems buffoonish now but he was popular at the time so I suppose he fit the mood of the times.

Dalton was fantastic. It was a shame he couldn't have stayed on.

Brosnan seemed good at the time, but his Bond really hasn't aged very well, and now it appears as dated as Moore's. Brosnan was also limited as an actor (although not as much as Lazenby). He seemed to only have a couple of facial expressions he could manage: smirking and grimacing.

Craig is great; better than even Dalton.

Lazenby was a severe nutcase at the time. The biggest reason he didn't want to do another Bond? He wanted to go back to modeling. Everyone thinks he was fired and that his one Bond film was flop. Neither are true. They offered him something like a five Bond film deal. He's the one that turned them down. Plus he was one of those actors that liked to give notes. Diana Rigg hated him for it. It was his first film for fucks sake. Rigg just despised him. She made that clear in interviews even while they were still filming.

Moore was terrible. The others were all good enough in their way. But it would be great if now they did something different with the role to resuscitate it. The best would be a gay Bond.

Yes. That's not how the books were written. That's what would make the next movie differ from the last dozens.... which is what they need.

They went so far to the serious and brooding side with Craig. No matter who succeeds him will have to show a lighter side, just to distinguish himself from Craig.

Personally, I don't see a need for Bond being black. Why does he have to be? Let him be the Swiss-Scottish Brit that he is. If you need a black version, I propose a spin-off. Felix Leiter can be whatever American actor you want.

Speaking of sticking to the original novels: Was Blofeld really an adopted brother of Bond? If it isn't part of the novelized canon, I find it a bit contrived, and it should not have become part of the movie canon.

Modern day Bond is more Jason Bourne than the traditional, classic Bond. The old Bond had flashy, gimmicky gadgets that saved his life and the world. Craig's Bond is too self sufficient and relies too much on his physical strength.

I only watched the beginnings for the theme songs and then turned them off as a teen when they were on the ABC Sunday Night Movie.

I love them all, specially that fab theme song!

oddly I found Dalton the hot one! after craig...pity they gave him such suckey scripts

I remember rumors bout Dalton filmin in florida and there was a line of whores outside his motel door waiting their turn to fuk him.

[quote]Oh Jesus Fucking Christ, Idris Elba is hot but Bond is white. You can have a black Bond when we have a white Shaft.

Very ironic statement, considering that Jesus Christ is often portrayed as white and blond.

For R52

Timothy Dalton was offered the role over Sean Connery. Dalton turned it down because he thought he was two young. If Moore hadn't returned James Brolin would have been the next Bond. Here's the list of bridesmaids and those who turned it down.

[quote]Oh Jesus Fucking Christ, Idris Elba is hot but Bond is white. You can have a black Bond when we have a white Shaft.

99 percent of 20th century movie characters were white, but you won’t give one up without trading one-for-one.

R56 why don't you write a new black spy? Once Bond goes black he ain't coming back, series will end after that.

I'm excited to see Moneypenny played by Tiffany Haddish and asking Bond, played by Tyler Perry, "when you gon be putting yo thingy up my booty hole?!"

[quote]Here's the list of bridesmaids and those who turned it down.

Dick VanDyke was considered? I'd take that list with a grain of salt, although Jeremy Brett would have been a really interesting Bond.

Antony Hamilton came pretty close. They must have found out he was fruity.

Agree with R3 and R4. OHMSS is one of the best Bond films and it's because of Lazenby. It was dismissed for years by fans but an online fan site did a survey some years back and his film was rated as the best one in the franchise.

Brosnan forever.

R24 he's actually my favorite Bond. Maybe because I remember him better than the others, but View To A Kill is still a fave of mine and gets multiple viewings each year.

The Dalton didn't do well because the first was a Moore film and the second was more violent than any other Bond film before it. Oddly enough, License To Kill is the most like the Bond books in tone and violence. Audiences just weren't ready for a violent Bond but Dalton ushered in that style.

Brosnan, aside from Golden Eye, was shit as Bond and even he knew it.

Swiss-Scottish derivation: indispensable

Resemblance to Hoagy Carmichael: they’re just books

I'd like a prequel.

I’m Camp Roger Moore as well. He did the goofy, acid trip Bonds. I love Connery and acknowledge him as OG Bond. After that Craig, for bringing a new twist to the role.

The rest can bite it, though I am a recent Timothy Dalton fan. Very good in Hot Fuzz.

I think Idris would be a fantastic Bond. It would inject a fresh energy into the franchise.

Craig is far too dour and humourless.

Idris is too old for Bond now. I read somewhere he’s doing another Luther, I’ll watch that.

The Roger Moore Bond fucked Grace Jones. He HAD to be a bass ass to do that!

Moore was hideous at Bond.. He was magnificent in The Saint. He was prettier, had better writing, more talented costars, and his wry humor worked better. For a short time you were able to watch The Saint on Netflix. I binged that like hell.

R51, I remember how exciting it was when the theme song kicked in over those stylish Maurice Binder credit sequences.

The first one I saw in the theatre was “The Spy Who Loved Me” (yes, I’m an eldergay) and when that breathtaking ski jump turned into “Nobody Does It Better”, the theatre went wild. First time I’d witnessed that.

Carly's theme was something else though. Perfect. She's been adamant though that she hates the song and never really wanted to do it. She did it as a favor to Marvin.

Here it is:

I hated Timothy Dalton as Bond because it was 1987 and the interviews were all about how this was a different Bond and a new era. That meant less booze (if any) and that James would only sleep with women that he loved.

It was so Reagan-ized, it was atrocious to watched.

I grew up with the Moore Bond, who I found unbelievable. For some reason, the scene of him flouncing about on top of crocodile backs sticks in my mind, watching it on ABC on a Sunday Night in the Late Seventies. Dreadful.

I never knew the Connery movies until I was about 17, and then I saw one and said to my young gay self, "THAT is what everyone is talking about! WOW!" He is super hot in those early movies!

LOVE the first three Brosnan movies! 'Goldeneye' was so exciting to see in the theatre - wonderfully filmed and acted! The one with Madonna ruined the franchise at that point in 2002.

Daniel Craig... Aren't these just Mission Impossible movies with a blond man? Loving ONE woman, getting vengeance for her death, blah, blah, blah. Plus, Adele's song ruined movie soundtracks for all time. EVERY movie now ends with a sound-a-like of her shitty Bond song.

[quote] Carly's theme was something else though. Perfect.

I can't stand it. I love Carly but that song sounds like she had too much to drink at 3am. But more broadly it's been a long time since I've enjoyed a new Bond theme. The most recent one I've enjoyed was "Live and Let Die", and that was a LONG time ago. Wouldn't you think that in fifty years they'd have had time to get something that approached Shirley Bassey's "Goldfinger".

I'm another Roger Moore as Bond fan. In face, I think he was the perfect James Bond. I also give him credit for already being 50 years old at the time he first appeared as 007 in 1973's "Live and let Die."

I’m yet another Roger Moore fan, probably because he was the Bond I grew up with.

The Spy Who Loved Me is my favorite theme - after Goldfinger, of course.

I call BS on Dalton being offered Bond in 1968. He really would have been to young. But even more importantly. If you are offered Bond, you take it. Rejecting Bond because you feel too young for it? Please...

Loved Adels Bond song, and loved Skywall. One of the best Bonds ever, certainly better than the other three with Craig. Spectre in comparison was just bad.

Next to Adele's Skywall, I, too, would have to go way back. Loved Tina Turner's GoldenEye. Hrr voice had the right gravitas, and I like the way the song was orchestrated.

KD Lang's Tomorrow Never Dies is an awesome song. I love it when it comes on when I'm on the treadmill. It is the perfect tempo. But puke this reminds me that Terri Hatcher was a Bond girl.

"You Only Live Twice" is the second-best theme (after "Goldfinger," of course.)

Another one here for the Moore Bond films. (The Spy Who Loved Me was my first Bond movie in a theater as well.)

R72 - I remember the audience being really enthusiastic through the entire film. And if I'm not mistaken, it was the 2nd biggest grossing film of the year (after Star Wars).

The best Bond theme they didn't actually use.

Love Thunderball, the original Tom Jones one. Also You Only Live Twice and From Russia, With Love.

I enjoy most of the theme songs but OHMSS is one of my favorites. That bass draws you in.