What Kind of Film Character is Bond?

General Bond discussion from Sean Connery to Pierce Brosnan
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Commander 0077
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What Kind of Film Character is Bond?

Post by Commander 0077 »

I was leafing thru a book on classic adventure movies, from Douglas Fairbanks, Errol Flynn, etc. to Johnny Weismuller (may be mispelt :)
and I have this to put on the table:

What kind of hero IYO, is the screen Bond?
To me, he is a larger-than-life person like Errol Flynn's Robin Hood. There are few actors, if any, who could have played RH as perfectly as Flynn. Not only would they have to have the Look, but the dashing bits.

IMO (only) Bond is closer to Hood than to a bleak, grey, spy/killer.

IMO2, if the current EON team had been around when the Adventures of Robin Hood was being made, they would have settled for 'just' an actor, and not care about the 'dash factor.'

(Also, AORH is not meant to be a history lesson. Bond inhabits the same type of world. As one author said, he is a modern day knight slaying the dragon.)

To go into a totally 'realistic' direction for Bond means Bond will just be an ordinary guy who happens to kill people, instead of an extraordinary guy having adventures.
You move very well for a dead man, Mr Bond
Kill him!
Kill Bond! Now!
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Post by The Sweeney »

IMO Bond should be like the Bond of the books, not the films.

So for me CR was perfect.
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Post by Blowfeld »

What kind of hero IYO, is the screen Bond?
Ian's books were criticized long before the first movie was made. Real secret agents considered Bond’s exploits laughable, more so after the movies came upon the scene.
Reality was escaped between the pages of double O sevens adventures as well as on screen.

The screen Bond was (past tense for time being) larger than life and charming like Flynn’s Robin Hood, incidentally the producers of the new Robin Hood (BBC?) series could have used a peek at Flynn’s Hood.

Part of the charm was the dashing, the story works because of the charisma of the actor wrapped in the fantastic backdrop feed the imagination.
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"Those were the days when we still associated Bond with suave, old school actors such as Sean Connery and Roger Moore,"
"Daniel didn't have a hint of suave about him," - Patsy Palmer
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Post by Capt. Sir Dominic Flandry »

The movie James Bond used to be everything Daniel Craig is not. I can't find much of Craig's Bond in the Fleming novels either.
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Post by Jedi007 »

The Sweeney wrote:IMO Bond should be like the Bond of the books, not the films.

So for me CR was perfect.
Come on, Sweeney, or are you blind not to see that your so called "Bond of the Books" in CR is nothing more than EON's Version of dumb, egoistic and arrogant Bond! Is Fleming Bond really that psychotic?
BOND sells, NOT CRAIG
The reboot is a risky area, did Eon need to do it? NO. Did this confuse alot of people? YES.
The Bond character will always be anchored in the values of the 60s
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Post by Captain Nash »

Jedi007 wrote:
The Sweeney wrote:IMO Bond should be like the Bond of the books, not the films.

So for me CR was perfect.
Come on, Sweeney, or are you blind not to see that your so called "Bond of the Books" in CR is nothing more than EON's Version of dumb, egoistic and arrogant Bond! Is Fleming Bond really that psychotic?
See that's where discussion forums get onto sticky ground. That is Sweeneys opinion, and I also saw a Fleming type Bond in CR. The fact that you did not shouldn't be an issue. You saw a psychotic...I didn't. Neither of us is right or wrong though.
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Post by Jedi007 »

See that's where discussion forums get onto sticky ground. That is Sweeneys opinion, and I also saw a Fleming type Bond in CR. The fact that you did not shouldn't be an issue. You saw a psychotic...I didn't. Neither of us is right or wrong though.
The thing is here you always defend CR's Bond as "true to books" when we can clearly see that it is not so. Did Fleming wrote Bond as arrogant and egoistic? No. Then how come the new Bond is better than the previous incarnations of Bond? No, he is not better. He's still not true to the books, and the CR's Bond just hyped up Bond's negative characteristics.

I also want you to see this: The James Bond character isn't just like any icon who's still popular and gaining money today. What I mean is he doesn't become popular in other media unlike Batman and others, who was known in comics and television. He became popular in films only. The films is what made him what he is today. How many people do you think in the whole wide world has the original Fleming novels? People know him through films. James Bond is now a cinematic icon.
BOND sells, NOT CRAIG
The reboot is a risky area, did Eon need to do it? NO. Did this confuse alot of people? YES.
The Bond character will always be anchored in the values of the 60s
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Post by Captain Nash »

Jedi007 wrote:
See that's where discussion forums get onto sticky ground. That is Sweeneys opinion, and I also saw a Fleming type Bond in CR. The fact that you did not shouldn't be an issue. You saw a psychotic...I didn't. Neither of us is right or wrong though.
The thing is here you always defend CR's Bond as "true to books" when we can clearly see that it is not so. Did Fleming wrote Bond as arrogant and egoistic? No. Then how come the new Bond is better than the previous incarnations of Bond? No, he is not better.
Two things.
1. I have never said that the Bond of CR is true to the books. I said I can see a Flemingesque Bond in CR.
2. I have also not said he is better than any of the previous incarnations.
I liked Daniel Craigs performance. I think he makes a good James Bond. That is my right of opinion.
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Post by Skywalker »

Captain Nash wrote:
1. I have never said that the Bond of CR is true to the books. I said I can see a Flemingesque Bond in CR.
Care to elaborate?

Captain Nash wrote:2. I have also not said he is better than any of the previous incarnations. I liked Daniel Craigs performance. I think he makes a good James Bond. That is my right of opinion.
Have you done your fav Bond rankings?
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Post by Captain Nash »

I might waste my time on it some rainy day.
Last edited by Captain Nash on Sun Apr 22, 2007 5:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Skywalker »

Captain Nash wrote:I might waste me time on it some rainy day.
Fair enough.
“I'd like to thank the Royal Marines for bringing me in like that and scaring the s--- out of me,” Bond Hardman Daniel Craig.
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Post by stockslivevan »

I think the Bond character of the films should be close to the books but with that smartass humor Connery possessed. So far Connery and Craig have succeeded in my book. Dalton was very good but his lack of humor is why he's below those two.
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Post by Jedi007 »

Captain Nash wrote:I have also not said he is better than any of the previous incarnations.
I liked Daniel Craigs performance. I think he makes a good James Bond. That is my right of opinion.
How come DC's Bond is Flemingesque?
BOND sells, NOT CRAIG
The reboot is a risky area, did Eon need to do it? NO. Did this confuse alot of people? YES.
The Bond character will always be anchored in the values of the 60s
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Post by Captain Nash »

You didn't see it? :?
I did. :wink:
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Post by Jedi007 »

That's why I am asking coz I don't see it. Is being arrogant and egoistic Flemingesque? Is a Blonde Bond Flemingesque? Is a Post-9/11 Bond Flemingesque?
BOND sells, NOT CRAIG
The reboot is a risky area, did Eon need to do it? NO. Did this confuse alot of people? YES.
The Bond character will always be anchored in the values of the 60s
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Post by The Sweeney »

Jedi007 wrote:That's why I am asking coz I don't see it. Is being arrogant and egoistic Flemingesque? Is a Blonde Bond Flemingesque? Is a Post-9/11 Bond Flemingesque?
How about a Bond who is more serious, less tongue-in-cheek, a Bond who thinks twice before jumping off a crane, a Bond who stares himself in the mirror, reflecting after killing 2 men, bloodied and drinking a glass of bourbon, a Bond who looks slightly uneasy before a gruseome torture, a Bond who is emotionally keeping his cards close to his chest, a blunt instrument who ends up falling in love, a Bond who physically looks menacing, looks threatening, looks like he could kill.

And yes, Bond was egotistical, and he was also arrogant in the novels.

What can you retort to with this I wonder......?

`B...b...but he has blonde hair?' :cry:
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Post by paco chaos »

blonde hair, and no personality.
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Captain Nash
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From Russia With Love
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Post by Captain Nash »

Have they still not fixed that broken record?
:roll:
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Post by paco chaos »

no it's a permanent scratch. and no amount of polish will fix it. sorry. :wink:
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Captain Nash
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Location: Well here obviously. At the moment of course

Post by Captain Nash »

I'd update to a cd myself. :lol:
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