Poll: Rank the Bond directors

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Rank the Bond Directors.

Terence Young (Dr No, From Russia with Love, Thunderball)
19
23%
Guy Hamilton (Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever, Live And Let Die, The Man With The Golden Gun)
7
8%
Peter Hunt (On Her Majesty’s Secret Service)
9
11%
Lewis Gilbert (You Only Live Twice, The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker)
9
11%
John Glen (For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, A View To A Kill, The Living Daylights, Licence To Kill)
13
15%
Martin Campbell (GoldenEye, Casino Royale)
12
14%
Roger Spottiswoode (Tomorrow Never Dies)
5
6%
Michael Apted (The World Is Not Enough)
9
11%
Lee Tamahori (Die Another Day)
1
1%
 
Total votes: 84

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Poll: Rank the Bond directors

Post by Kristatos »

Here are my rankings. Your mileage may vary (at least I hope so, otherwise it will be a pretty dull debate):-


1. Lewis Gilbert: I know this will be a controversial choice, and that it seems odd to list the director of my least favourite Bond film as my favourite Bond director. But even Moonraker had its good points, and they were mostly down to Gilbert’s greatest strength as a Bond director: he knows how to make films seem big. No other director’s Bond films seem quite as epic in scope as Gilbert’s.
2. Terence Young: The director who really established Bond. Though undistinguished as a director, his main advantage is that he lived a Bondian lifestyle himself, and was able to transmit that effortless upper-class cool to his distinctly working-class leading actor, Sean Connery. Plus, he presided over the series’ golden age, from Dr No to Thunderball, although he handed over the director’s chair on Goldfinger shortly after the start of production, to….
3. Guy Hamilton: OK, he directed some turkeys (DAF and TMWTGG), and LALD probably would have been better with someone else at the helm, but Goldfinger is generally credited as the film where the series found its unique voice, and while its hard to know exactly how much different it would have been had Terence Young stayed on, it would be churlish not to give Hamilton at least some of the credit for that.
4. Peter Hunt: Probably would have been higher had he directed more than one Bond film. He did a pretty good job of working around his leading man’s deficiencies in the acting department, except in OHMSS’s final scene, and his fast-paced editing on earlier films makes him as much an architect of the Bond style as Sean Connery, Terence Young, Maurice Binder, Ken Adam and John Barry.
5. John Glen: Deserves credit for directing five consecutive Bond films, no mean feat, but the fact that they varied so wildly in quality makes it hard to place him higher, or to regard him as anything more than a journeyman.
6. Roger Spottiswoode: A fine action director who was well suited to the “action, action uber alles” mentality of the Brosnan years.
7. Michael Apted: The best director ever to work on a Bond film, if one judges his overall filmography, but his attempt at a more character and plot driven Bond film wasn’t quite as good as it should have been.
8. Martin Campbell: You all know my views on Campbell by now, so I won’t bore you with them again.
9. Lee Tamahori: The cross-dressing incident just confirms what we already knew – Tamahori is Edward D Wood Jr with a studio budget.
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Post by Kristatos »

Does nobody else want to play?
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Post by carl stromberg »

Did someone say something? :twisted:

I agree with most of your points, especially those concerning Lewis Gilbert.
I thought Tamahori did an ok job with Die Another Day.

Rankings:

1. Lewis Gilbert:
2.=Terence Young
Guy Hamilton
Peter Hunt
4.John Glen:
5=Roger Spottiswoode
Michael Apted
Martin Campbell
Lee Tamahori
Bring back Bond!
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Post by stockslivevan »

Terence Young - Set the standard, clearly knew how to construct a film and get some memorable performances by the casts.

Peter Hunt - Carried Young's direction with something new. Should have stayed on after OHMSS.

Martin Campbell - Managed to make good debuts for two Bonds. Pretty solid.

Lewis Gilbert - He does get some great shots, but he can't get a good performance by anyone to save his life.

Guy Hamilton - Decent at times but overall sent the series out of direction, especially in the '70s.

John Glen - Bland. That's all I gotta say.

Michael Apted - Good director, failed on TWINE.

Roger Spottiswoode - Oh wow. The director of Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot and Turner and Hootch is a great choice for a Bond film! :roll:

Lee Tamahori - Look what the cat dragged in.
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Post by Kristatos »

stockslivevan wrote:Guy Hamilton - Decent at times but overall sent the series out of direction, especially in the '70s.
Truth be told, I was seriously toying with the idea of placing Hamilton lower, possibly below Glen, but to me, the fact that he directed Goldfinger, albeit with help from Terence Young, is such a huge deal that perhaps it has artificially inflated his reputation in my eyes.
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Post by stockslivevan »

Kristatos wrote:
stockslivevan wrote:Guy Hamilton - Decent at times but overall sent the series out of direction, especially in the '70s.
Truth be told, I was seriously toying with the idea of placing Hamilton lower, possibly below Glen, but to me, the fact that he directed Goldfinger, albeit with help from Terence Young, is such a huge deal that perhaps it has artificially inflated his reputation in my eyes.
Hamilton and Glen do have their high points (GF and TLD) and their low (TMWTGG and AVTAK). But I don't think they should have been given the director's chair at all.

If I were EON, I would done more to keep Terence Young and Peter Hunt at helm. They were vital to the popularization as much as Connery was. I would have had Young direct all the 60s, have Hunt direct the 70s and possibly the 80s.

Lewis Gilbert needed better scripts and better acting. Tom Mankiewicz's writing would have been perfect with Gilbert's epic scope.
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Post by Kristatos »

stockslivevan wrote:If I were EON, I would done more to keep Terence Young and Peter Hunt at helm. They were vital to the popularization as much as Connery was. I would have had Young direct all the 60s, have Hunt direct the 70s and possibly the 80s.
I've read differing accounts as to why Young quit Goldfinger, but it sounds like there wasn't a whole lot EON could have done to keep him on board. I don't know that Young would have been the right director for OHMSS, I think Hunt did the best he could with it.
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Post by stockslivevan »

I always had the impression that Young wanted a raise but Cubby would rather hire another director than pay up because "it's Bond that sells, not the director" so by a producer's logic, he was expendable (this is the guy who knew using the Star Wars craze would pay off). Young would only return when McClory offered a better deal, then Cubby would take over again for YOLT and off goes Young again.

Young seriously deserves more credit than he usually gets, he really helped shape the character of Bond on film. I think if Young was there for YOLT, we would have had a more enthusiastic Connery, because he always seemed quite fond of him from all those interviews. He always mentions him whenever he talks about his Bond experience.
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Re: Rank the Bond directors

Post by Dr. No »

Great topic.

1. Terence Young: Dr. No set the standards. It was a brilliant mix of Fleming's book and the fantastic.
He also directed 3 of my favorite Connery Bonds; Dr. No, FRWL & Thunderball

2. Michael Apted: I really like what he did with TWINE. I've got to wonder how much better it would have been if the producer had let Brosnan have control of the character.

3. Roger Spottiswoode: Decent director, did a good job with teh story and special effects. Any weakness this film has I attribute to last minute re-writes and bad casting.

4. Peter Hunt: Did good job with OHMSS, but it's not one of my favorites. I will give him credit for successfully mixing the previous Bond elements and being the first to have the grapes to direct a non Connery Bond.

5. Lewis Gilbert: I didn't rank him as high, but YOLT and TSWLM are two I like two watch over an over.

6. Guy Hamilton: I'm not sure about him either. LALD was good.DAF and MWtGG were ones I didn't really care for.

7. John Glen: 1981-89 I agree he did some good ones, but was hit or miss in the quality department. I don't know if that was his fault or the producers (nepotism).

8. Martin Campbell: I really like goldeneye, although there are some very dull scenes where the movie stalls. It was also the major attempt to PC Bond, I know LTK & TLD had some, but this was obvious attempt to empower the female characters in the Bond world. Like the some of the scenes ripped off from GE for CR

9. Lee Tamahori: Kept the story on course and clear. Did well with the action scenes and special effects. Maybe a bit too much CGI and too greatly influenced the Matrix. Again any problems with the story is the producers and writers fault.
But it was the first film to show Bond captured, abandoned and seriously tortured. Broke new ground and did it with style.
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Re: Poll: Rank the Bond directors

Post by carl stromberg »

We should add that incompetent Swiss git now!
Bring back Bond!
katied

Re: Poll: Rank the Bond directors

Post by katied »

carl stromberg wrote:We should add that incompetent Swiss git now!
I don't think Forster is that bad..the award for worst director HAS to go to Tamawhorey.


My choices for the best:


Hamilton


Campbell


Young
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Re: Poll: Rank the Bond directors

Post by stockslivevan »

I can't believe someone voted for Tamahori. :shock:
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Re: Poll: Rank the Bond directors

Post by Kristatos »

stockslivevan wrote:I can't believe someone voted for Tamahori. :shock:
Wasn't me.
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Re: Poll: Rank the Bond directors

Post by katied »

stockslivevan wrote:I can't believe someone voted for Tamahori. :shock:

I know, right! :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Re: Poll: Rank the Bond directors

Post by Gary Seven »

Lee Tamahori did a good job with his material. Marc Forster's shoddy work was the final nail in the coffin of Quantum of Solace. So, controversially, Tamahori did a better job than Forster. Although Forster is probably the better director.
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Re: Poll: Rank the Bond directors

Post by Mazer Rackham »

I think you can save yourselves the trouble of adding Marc Forster to the game.


Terence Young

Peter Hunt

Lewis Gilbert


John Glen
Guy Hamilton
Martin Campbell
Michael Apted
Roger Spottiswoode
Lee Tamahori
:skull: Marc Forster :skull:
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Re: Poll: Rank the Bond directors

Post by Lord Shark »

1. Terence Young
2. Peter Hunt
3. Lewis Glibert
4. Guy Hamilton
5. Martin Campbell
6. John Glen
7. Marc Forster
8. Roger Spottiswood
9. Lee Tamahori
10. Michael Apdted
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Re: Poll: Rank the Bond directors

Post by Veronica »

1.Terence Young,hands down. THE MAN.Established Bond movies. Dr.No,FRWL and Thunderball are all among the best Bond movies and IMO FRWL is an absolute best. Those three just had an aura of elegance,sophistication more than,quite possibly any other entry in the series.
2.Lewis Gilbert-the man just knew how to make THE BIG BOND.Grander than life adventure. All of his movies were exactly that. Moonraker went too far,that's true but YOLT and especially TSWLM are classics. Perfect examples of what "grander than life Bond adventure" means.
3.Martin Campbell-soley for GoldenEye. The movie brought Bond back,when many though that Bond can't exist in a post-Cold War world. The movie proved them wrong. The movie uses the themes of Cold War and the fact that-"goverments change,the lies stay the same". It's brilliant but my god...CR is just overly-boring,overly-long,reminds me of soap opera and generally has more faults than anything else...James Bond nowhere in sight..oh and the "do I look like a give a d**n line"...atrocity for a supposed-to-be Bond movie.
4.Apted. I know this may seem as a controversial choice. But I really like what Apted did with a story. The movie gave us some originality and the first female villain and to say that Elektra is the best character that ever graced this series for me would be an understatment. M is given more importance here and Judi Dench was superb. the movie has a more character-driven plot and I quite like that. I give it extra points for the love scene between Bond and Elektra although that's more to do with the leads and great chemistry with them. But some action feels like it's there for the actions sake. It's like:"OK,guys now we need an action sequence". This is the movie that gives the fireworks because of characters themselves but aside PTS boat chase which is fantastic the rest of the action is a little bit-not that fantastic and not that thrilling. I still wait for Apted's explanation-why the hell there is Christmas Jones in this movie?!
5. Hamilton-for Goldfinger. The rest
are not among my favourites.
6.Spotswood. too much action at the end. But TND show how Bond is still very much the thing with all the tropes people came to expect. Crazy villain,crazy plan. I give points for great soundtrack,Dr.Kaufman and hotel scene with Bond sipping vodka. As one review said:"While GoldenEye dismantled the character,TND picked him from the ground up". I agree with this. Still,way too much action at the end-should have made it in a more of a "spy game" mold imo
7.Peter Hunt-OHMSS is not among my favourites-and not not just because of Lazenby... Hunt did a good job nevertheless.
8.John Glenn-I give him props for doing five films in a row. That's impressive. but none of them are all that great imo.
9.Tamahori-the movie isn't all bad. It's great up to Cuba and there is that whole clinic thing. It goes downhill on Iceland-mega men suit?! Great sword fight and that moment when Bond just walks in a posh hotrl in his payamas,acting like he own the place. Brilliant. And stoling the glasses in the beginning from that guy. :D but in the end it's just too much.
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Re: Poll: Rank the Bond directors

Post by numpol »

Hamilton
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