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The next 007

@martin clark I totally agree Martin. I'd go further & say the best Bond was an Australian.. & as a cricket lover that's pretty tough to say. In the best Bond film too.

The thing that irks me about the new ones, which just don't feel like Bond movies at all to me but pseudo knock-offs even worse than Never Say Never Again, is they're too dense, too fast, too eager to pile your plate with so much bondfodder which in Mendes' eyes = a good Bond meal. It doesn't. Early & the best bond films were so much simpler, more time for the character of Bond to emerge, you relish the action more with time building up to it. Now it's bosh-bosh-bosh, more bish, more bosh, stuffed down your throat, until you feel like a force-fed goose. I'm not a goose. I refuse to be force-fed & then expected to find it acceptable. And the plots.. are sometimes so ludicrously complicated, you can't quite keep up: this fad got worse & worse in the late 80's into the 90's. My last gripe is the casting of Judy Dench. Omg. A diminutive, ever-so-polite thespian.. trying to portray a big head honcho & Bond's boss, is pathetic casting.

You're quite correct to say we need a -complete- overhaul, back to the drawing board. Read the original books. Calm down & stop being so silly.

Capt
 
The Captain said:
You're quite correct to say we need a -complete- overhaul, back to the drawing board. Read the original books. Calm down & stop being so silly.
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that will never attract the audience numbers they need.

We love all the Bond films, they are made to be in the now. Old ones are great, new ones are great. I think they should remake Dr No for now.

My wife is a Bond superfan (obsessed), and she thinks the modern ones are just as engaging as the older ones.
 
gintonic said:
that will never attract the audience numbers they need.

We love all the Bond films, they are made to be in the now. Old ones are great, new ones are great. I think they should remake Dr No for now.

My wife is a Bond superfan (obsessed), and she thinks the modern ones are just as engaging as the older ones.
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I love them all too. Products of different eras.

I think you have to be really careful making anything too self-consciously 'classic' or you end up with a mess like the awful Kingsman films.

I thought Judi Dench was superb as M too.
 
@The Captain George Lazenby bluffed his way into that role. He had done modelling, but had no previous acting experience at all - the audition came via a friend of a friend of Barbra Broccoli who'd seen him at a party. The story goes that after he was offered the job, he rang an actor friend in a panic, saying "But I can't act!". The friend replied along the lines of: "You stood in a room with Salzman and Broccoli, two of the biggest sharks in Hollywood, told them you were an experienced actor.. and they believed you. And you're telling ME now you can't act??"

Lazenby was right, though. His difficulty with screen acting was a major factor in delaying the shoot (it didn't help that Connery was a consummate professional: unusually efficient, and always well prepared). But he was a quick study, and you can almost figure out the shooting order by seeing his performance get less wooden as filming progressed.

Unfortunately, Lazenby's frustration at being out of his depth came out as a difficult, argumentative relationship with the crew, and that, combined with how much he cost in retakes, meant he was never going to get another film.

But yes, it is still the best Bond film, not least because of the ending. Best score definitely, and one of the best songs. I think No Time To Die foreshadowed the tone of it's own ending by quoting the music of OHMSS in several places...

As for who's next, I'm not fussed, but I would like them to reset the series, back to the 1950s of the books, at the height of the Cold War paranoia. Bond got silly when the character became a relic of a bygone age; put him back in his home era, and they could do something really good with it.
 
I think you're on to something here @KrisW. I remember a scene in Dr No where Bond is in bed and finds a tarantula on him. He kills it, but afterwards seems shocked and goes to the bathroom clutching his stomach. This was the most memorable and gripping scene for me because it has empathy, Bond 'expressing' that he only just escaped death.

By the time we get to Goldfinger empathy is but a distant memory in the franchise, suspension of disbelief being defeated by farce; the Moore and Brosnan era being on a par with 'Carry On' films. Although I enjoyed the remake of Casino Royale, despite some of the overly-indulgent and long-winded stunts, later movies soon reverted back to type, leaning on worn out tropes to sell those pictures.

Treating Bond movies as period pieces, like Sherlock Homes and Miss Marple etc', would arguably give the character more agency, make him more interesting. One could argue there would also be the opportuntity to explore and highlight cultural and attitudinal shifts whilst still delivering on the adventure and 'splosions and shit.

This will never happen of course because making Bond movies is about satisfying investment shareholders by exploiting public expectations. The Franchise is nothing more than very expensive to make soap powder (opera).

Meself, I'd rather watch a box of Daz. . .

John
 
For me the franchise ended with You Only Live Twice, itself a remake of Dr No. Nothing new since. Just kill it.

(Not saying there haven't been good films since, just that most of them could have belonged to any franchise or none. Especially the latest ones starring the bloke with the big boobs.)
 
@KrisW Lazenby wasn't a great actor, no. But acting prowess isn't the point, it isn't be all & end all, it's secondary requirement, for Bond. The fact is, that his portrayal was closest to the author's Bond, & even slightly better in this respect than Connery. He should be a bit distant, cold as ice: he's a friggin assassin first & foremost!! Not a schmaltzy crooning womaniser first up. Lazenby's slight woodenness, actually helps it can be argued too: he flukes the cold steelyness completely absent from Moore for example, even if RM's a much better actor.

Anyway the recent Bonds aren't watchable to me. I think it's partly Craig, I just can't accept him as Bond. I keep looking at his ears while my eyes glaze over at the ridiculously fast plot, bored having been force-fed too many action scenes & in pure disbelief whenever CGI's involved. Awful. Back to basics, or not at all is my position.

Capt
 
KrisW said:
@The Captain George Lazenby bluffed his way into that role. He had done modelling, but had no previous acting experience at all - the audition came via a friend of a friend of Barbra Broccoli who'd seen him at a party. The story goes that after he was offered the job, he rang an actor friend in a panic, saying "But I can't act!". The friend replied along the lines of: "You stood in a room with Salzman and Broccoli, two of the biggest sharks in Hollywood, told them you were an experienced actor.. and they believed you. And you're telling ME now you can't act??"

Lazenby was right, though. His difficulty with screen acting was a major factor in delaying the shoot (it didn't help that Connery was a consummate professional: unusually efficient, and always well prepared). But he was a quick study, and you can almost figure out the shooting order by seeing his performance get less wooden as filming progressed.

Unfortunately, Lazenby's frustration at being out of his depth came out as a difficult, argumentative relationship with the crew, and that, combined with how much he cost in retakes, meant he was never going to get another film.

But yes, it is still the best Bond film, not least because of the ending. Best score definitely, and one of the best songs. I think No Time To Die foreshadowed the tone of it's own ending by quoting the music of OHMSS in several places...

As for who's next, I'm not fussed, but I would like them to reset the series, back to the 1950s of the books, at the height of the Cold War paranoia. Bond got silly when the character became a relic of a bygone age; put him back in his home era, and they could do something really good with it.
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Until now I hadn't came across anyone else who agreed with my thought that this was the best Bond movie. Added to the reasons previously stated, though quite trivial in the grand scale, I thought Tracey (Diana Rigg) was the the most interesting and developed female character of the franchise. When Bond had been shot and was looking very much in the dumps, ready to concede defeat she skated back into his life and without making a fuss took charge of the situation, saving him from oblivion. If I was Bond, she would have been The One I would have married too :)

Since the next actor will likely be in the roll for about 15 years he should be not much older than 30 in the first movie. I think Bond was 32 in Fleming's first novel, Dr No. I agree with an early post, lets see the next movie set in the 1950's then Bond can behave as per novels. As also stated upthread, this will not happen for commercial reasons.

Was it just me, but I thought the way previous Bond cars were given an outing in No Time to Die was a last hurrah for the IC engine in the audience appeasing franchise. The next movie will feature Bond in an EV with all of the adrenaline inducing drama that entails........
 
martin clark said:
^ that can't be any worse than watching Roger Moore drive off in half a 2CV
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I was such a Bond prat as a kid, that I actually had a toy of the 2cv. With bullet holes along the side! The shame.

Yup, it was the Dianna Rigg character & plot around her, which elevated OHMSService to a cut above the others. The music/ score was a knockout too. As was Telly's lair perched on a swiss mountaintop. And the brutish Aston. My favourite Bond film of all.

Capt
 
martin clark said:
^ that can't be any worse than watching Roger Moore drive off in half a 2CV
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True. To be fair though Moore as 007 in the Louisiana boat-chase and corkscrew bridge-jump with Sheriiff JW Pepper (of the Lew-ee-zee-anna po-lees dee-puht-min') in other parts of the franchise did more than compensate :)
 
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I might read the books again, in order. I have a full set plus some spares of the paperbacks (already given another full set to my eldest son) and a few Cape hardback first editions, although not all with the dust-jackets.
They are non-taxing and relatively short books which suit me as since my brain injury I struggle to read anything that requires concentration.

The paperbacks that I have are very much like these illustrated - I got them from charity shops in the 1980’s/90’s when they were relatively easy to find. I never see them in charity shops nowadays.

Fleming%27s_paperback_Bonds.jpg
 
The Captain said:
@Big Tabs Wow, respect there! That collection should earn maximum pfm stars ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Capt
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Transparency - that is an internet image, but is representative of some of my Bond book collection.
- mine are stacked in the spare room, but they should have a shelf in the hi-fi room.
I do have a few copies of the Bond soundtracks on vinyl, O.H.M.S.S. is a cool gatefold sleeve with a graphic of George in ski gear in the centrefold

John Barry - On Her Majesty's Secret Service (Original Soundtrack Recording) album cover
More images
Label:United Artists Records – UAS 29020
Format:Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo, Gatefold
Country:UK
Released:1969
 
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