Who is your favorite James Bond?

[Mercurius]

I voted Connery, Moore, Craig, though I liked Dalton OK - I just think Craig does it better (pun intended). Brosnan was boring and too down-the-center Bond. Lazenby didn't get a chance to grow into the role, but is a clear #5, imo. Connery, Moore, and Craig all put a more quirky spin on it, in different ways.

Connery for sheer presence: the dude just held the screen and more than any other Bond, had the swagger. I grew up with Moore and loved the humor and over-confidence; the guy never seemed to break a sweat. Craig somehow managed to remake Bond and still be Bond.

I hope the new Bond does something similar, but in a different way: Be Bond, but do it in an off-center way.

 

[pukunui]

Dalton because his Bond is humane and conscientious, actually thinks about whether he should murder the person he’s been sent to murder (his establishing character moment), and knows how to treat a woman like a human being. It’s a pity he didn’t get more than two films (and didn’t get to start earlier with For Your Eyes Only as planned).

Really? All I can really remember about his two films is that one of them featured a Bond girl who started out on equal footing but ended up a simpering swooning damsel by the end of it. That and his version of Felix Lighter gets eaten by a shark, right?

 

[Clint_L]

Maybe they’re actually voting for Diana Rigg? I could see that.

See, if they’d cast her as Bond she’d be top of my list! Magnificent actor!

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

Connery, and Moore.

The grittier Craig films have soured the licence for me.

 

[Mannahnin]

I voted Connery, Moore, Craig, though I liked Dalton OK - I just think Craig does it better (pun intended). Brosnan was boring and too down-the-center Bond. Lazenby didn't get a chance to grow into the role, but is a clear #5, imo. Connery, Moore, and Craig all put a more quirky spin on it, in different ways.

Connery for sheer presence: the dude just held the screen and more than any other Bond, had the swagger. I grew up with Moore and loved the humor and over-confidence; the guy never seemed to break a sweat. Craig somehow managed to remake Bond and still be Bond.

I hope the new Bond does something similar, but in a different way: Be Bond, but do it in an off-center way.

This almost exactly. Moore was the current Bond when I was a kid, and I still have a soft spot for his humor and unflappability. Connery seemed cruder by comparison, but in retrospect was great. Craig acts circles around the both of them, but they're all good fun.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

He didn’t. In the books Bond insists on his martinis stirred, the line was changed in the film because it sounded better.

.... that's not accurate. Unfortunately.

Ian Fleming preferred his cocktails shaken ... even when they are made with clear liquors. The preferences of Fleming are, for the most part, the preferences of Bond. Drinking, golf, gambling, and women. And the movies kept three of the four.

Now, with all of that said, the movies did accentuate some of his attributes in favor of others. For example, his ratio of vodka cocktails he called martinis (if you include Vespers) to martinis (the actual ones made with gin) is about 50/50 in the books. And while they are a prominent drink, I would argue that they are overshadowed by "drinking in general," and "the browns" (scotch and soda and bourbons).

PS- if you think Bond drinks a lot in the movies, he drinks less than a third of what he does in the books. It's ... it was a different time. And if you aren't familiar with Ian Fleming, well, he wasn't a teetotaller.

 

[Rabulias]

It’s a pity he didn’t get more than two films (and didn’t get to start earlier with For Your Eyes Only as planned).

And they had originally offered the Bond role to Dalton after Diamonds Are Forever. I agree with Dalton himself that he was too young at the time, but what could have been...

 

[Morrus]

The grittier Craig films have soured the licence for me.

The licence?

 

[payn]

Craig has solidified as my all time favorite. I think his era had the best general writing and he was just great in the role. I prefer this modern direction and look forward to DVs take on it.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Craig has solidified as my all time favorite. I think his era had the best general writing and he was just great in the role. I prefer this modern direction and look forward to DVs take on it.

I think that there are different ways to look at it. The thing is ... the movie Bond is based on the book, but the various Bonds in the movie are also different than the book's Bond. Arguably, Connery captures the book's Bond the best (so well that Fleming retconned Bond to be Scottish in later books, IIRC).

Personally, I would tier them as follows:

Tier 1 (The Bond Bonds): Connery, Craig
Connery is Bond. Period. But Craig brought Bond back. Both present a grounded Bond (Connery for his era). I get the haters on both (early Bond movies can feel stilted to a modern viewer, Craig movies feel too dark for a Bond fan, etc.). But they are both the Bonds of their times.

Tier 2 (The Suave Bonds): Moore, Brosnan
Moore's overall work, especially his earlier stuff, means that he was a much better Bond that Brosnan. IMO. But ... I put them in the same tier because Brosnan was a good Bond- he just had bad timing (Remington Steele contract) and bad writing. But while a lot of Moore's work has aged poorly to modern eyes, his take on escapism and the fact that he pretty much saved the franchise in many ways ... and is "THE BOND" for a generation of viewers is something.

Tier 3 (The Underrated Bond): Dalton
Dalton is criminally underrated. He read the books and tried to bring Fleming's tone to the movies. He has the pathos. He tried to bring it all to the screen. And yet ... I'd argue that he will always be underrated for a good reason. He was great, but his Bond movies weren't.

Tier Incomplete (The Hipster's Bond): Lazenby
Anyone who chooses Lazenby as the best Bond is just wrong. Look, this was his first acting job, and there are times when you know it. And yet ... he not only hits an almost modern take, he has a physical presence as Bond that is thrilling. He coulda been a contendah .... but he's not.