James Bond is back at the box-office with Spectre, his 24th big-screen adventure. The world’s greatest secret agent has been thrilling audiences for 53 years and in that time has been brought to life by six different actors. During the promo tour for Spectre, current Bond actor Daniel Craig has been flip-flopping as to whether or not he’ll return for one more film. With that in mind, we at The Young Folks decided to look back at his and the other actors’ contributions to the man that’s been shaking (not stirring) audiences for thrills.
Sean Connery by Matthew Goudreau
Tenure as Bond: 7 movies
Essential Adventure: From Russia With Love (1963)
Sean Connery is both the innovator and gold standard by which all other Bonds are measured. With 6 official films to his credit (plus Never Say Never Again which was produced by a different studio), Connery is the second longest tenured Bond behind Roger Moore. Even though his acting resume is filled with many impressive roles, he will always be remembered as James Bond to me. Daniel Craig is nipping at his heels but Connery has always been my favorite Bond since I began watching the series as a young boy. Diamonds are Forever was my introduction to Bond in general. It’s by no means the best film in the franchise but I have fond nostalgia for it. I’d go as far as to put it in my top 10 Bond films so get your hate mail ready.
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What makes Connery the perfect package as 007? I can break it down into three simple reasons. Firstly, he’s incredibly suave and seductive. For an actor who was only 31 when he began playing Bond, Connery provided a mature and rugged exterior to Bond. He was a believable ladies-man but was never mopey or distant. Secondly, he was believable as an action hero. Dr. No is rather grounded but never hesitated to utilize his license to kill. His confrontation with Professor Dent perfectly encapsulated the dangerous and cold-blooded aspects of James Bond. As he tells Dent, “That’s a Smith and Wesson…and you’ve had your six.” Third, he possessed great comedic timing.
From Russia with Love is easily my favorite Bond film for many reasons. Connery improved on his performance in Dr. No. He seemed to be much more comfortable in the role and the character himself was softened up. That doesn’t mean that Bond is a pushover. His fight with Red Grant aboard a moving train is a bloodthirsty fight. It’s a true highlight of the entire franchise. The film as a whole can be viewed as what a Hitchcock directed Bond film might have looked like. The plot is reliant on spy espionage, it’s beautifully shot, and it has great pacing throughout. It’s also a perfect example of how to utilize more than one central villain. SPECTRE is the primary adversary but Bond has to contend with its’ operatives caught in a proverbial chess match with one another. Given the upcoming release of Spectre this weekend, it’s as appropriate a time as ever to go back and revisit From Russia with Love.
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George Lazenby by Paul Gilbert
Tenure as Bond: 1 movie
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Essential Adventure: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)
George Lazenby wanted to be Bond badly. After Sean Connery left the titular role after the disastrous production and contract negotiations of You Only Live Twice producers Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman were in need of a Bond. In comes the Australian born model Lazenby. In fact, Lazenby (as he tells it) sneaked past Saltzman secretary and presented himself as the new James Bond. A few screen tests later and the two producers had found their new star. Broccoli and Saltzman had taken a risk in casting Lazenby and now they were going to take a few more in the adaptation of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. A film whose plot changed the trajectory of Bond and the franchise that revolved around him.
One of the reasons that Lazenby was given the job was that he could pull a punch and he does, BAM right in the kisser. The quick cutting and brutal punching style of Lazenby create great hand to hand combat scenes. Lazenby is not a great actor and fails to be truly convincing as Bond. It’s not surprising that audiences found it hard to warm up to Connery’s replacement. This is distracting and one can sense the uneasiness that the producers felt after Connery’s departure. In the end, Lazenby left the franchise because he felt with films such as Easy Rider and the rise of New Hollywood that Bond was quickly going to become pastiche. Poor fella.
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was not your average Bond film. After the bizarre opening sequence which ends with the infamous inside joke muttered by Lazenby, “This never happened to the other fella,” the film cuts to the most rockin theme of any of the Bond films. It’s fully orchestral and singularly James Bond. It was so popular that films continue to use it such as Pixar’s The Incredibles and one can hear it during the final trailer for latest installment in the Bond franchise, Spectre. In a film dominated by late 1960’s sexism, Tracy (Diana Rigg) stands out as strong and confidant female character. Despite what the men in her life say, she is not emotionally imbalanced. She is a reassured women and ready for anything. Tracy saves Bond’s life by escaping in a Cougar XR-7 through the sides streets of an Alps resort town and through a rally car race. By the end of the film Tracy “dominates” Bond instead of the other way around. Thanks to time and home video On Her Majesty’s Secret Service has found new respect and ceases to be a footnote on the long running franchise.
Roger Moore by Michael Fairbanks
Tenure as Bond: 7 movies
Essential Adventure: Live and Let Die (1973)
In 2006, as ten year old Michael ran through the lexicon of Bond films on his way to the release of Casino Royale, he developed something of a soft spot for the outings of Sir Roger Moore. Sure the Sean Connery films were a bit more sophisticated and high stakes, and the Brosnan ones a touch more cartoonish, but it was within the quirky and often comedic middle chapters that my imagination was most lit up. This is in no small part due to Moore’s criminally under-sold performance as 007. While arguably the longest running Bond (Connery’s seventh outing was somewhat un-official), portraying the character a nearly insane seven times, he often gets tossed aside in favor of Connery or Craig. With that said, I hadn’t touched a Moore Bond flick since that young age, so as I popped in Live and Let Die today, I had all the chance in the world of being let down. What I got was a movie much, much weirder than I could have dreamed of remembering, but a Bond that is still worth cherishing.
This is a Bond so refined and debonaire that he dosen’t need any form of grand introduction to immediately convince us of just who he is. While his Bond is certainly one unafraid to kill, Moore’s is the ladies man above all else. We find him in bed with his first of three women, and his sexually charged, cigar chomping British attitude makes it clear that these are three of many more. For Moore, being a secret agent is something that gives him great pleasure, his obstacles mere annoyances worthy of puns at worst. This goofy energy is absolutely infectious, as Moore dials up these qualities in a way that dosen’t feel cheesy or goofy, but just enough so that every line out of his mouth is fun. There’s a reason that characters such as Colin Firth’s Harry Hart in Kingsman are so heavily drawn from this James Bond, because in many ways, it’s the most refined and entertaining take on the character to date.
Frankly, I did not know what to expect out of Live and Let Die after all these years. My memory of it was merely that I enjoyed it about as much as The Spy Who Loved Me and For Your Eyes Only, which are widely considered to be the two best Moore-era films. As such, I was not quite prepared for what I was getting into. Holy hell, Live and Let Die is a weird, weird film. Sure, it’s borderline adorable in just how deliriously goofy it is, but it truly is a product of it’s time in that there is no way in hell any Bond film like it would get past the treatment today. This movie essentially chucks Mr. Bond into a blacksploitation film. Set mostly in Harlem and New Orleans, James takes on the swamp filled, street ripped world of Cajun superstition, in other words, nothing even remotely close to what had been done before. As such, we have moments where perhaps the classiest Bond is running on top of the head of alligators, manipulating gypsy women to have sex with him using terot cards, and inflating people up like balloons. It’s a film that actually has the line, “For $20, I’ll drive you to a KKK cookout,” which is one of the many moments that really drives home how much Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman seemed to not care exactly what was in a Bond film, as long as the spy himself was in the title. All of that said, there are a great deal of entertaining set-pieces, most notably a speed boat chase that runs about 20 minutes long through the bayous of New Orleans, and it does ultimately work as an establishment of one of the most iconic James Bonds of all time.
Timothy Dalton by Paul Gilbert
Tenure as Bond: 2 movies
Essential Adventure: License to Kill (1989)
Timothy Dalton wasn’t supposed to be Bond. It was Pierce Brosnan who was going to star in The Living Daylights and License to Kill. Once Dalton took over, those films became another beast. Dalton wanted to return to Bond from the books. During the Roger Moore years the character had become a kind of joke. Dalton made Bond into the sadistic, misogynistic bastard that he was always meant to be.
After Roger Moore left the role, Pierce Brosnan, then staring in the TV series Remington Steele, was poised to take over the mantle. The show had been cancelled, but NBC had 60 days in which to renew or sell the series. On day 60 when Brosnan was ready to be announced as the new Bond, Brosnan received a call informing him that Remington Steele was back on air. Drat. Fortunately, the producers found Welsh Shakespearian actor Timothy Dalton. Dalton was convinced that Bond had become a cartoon and set out to drastically course correct the series. His James Bond was not the one for puns. He was a brutal killing machine. This is most evident in License to Kill a cocaine filled movie with sadism and man eating sharks.
The Living Daylights is more palatable with some quirky remnants of the Roger Moore years. Audiences believed the two films to be too violent and not suitable for their children. Bond was never meant for children. This was what Dalton was fighting against. Do the movies go too far? This writer doesn’t think so. Bond is a sadistic fiend and will do anything and everything to accomplish his mission, even if that means mincing up a young Benicio del Toro in a coke grinder. Like Lazenby before him, audiences were not ready for Dalton. It took audiences until a post Jason Bourne Casino Royale for them to accept a Bond of that caliber of ruthlessness.
Pierce Brosnan by Jon Winkler
Tenure as Bond: 4 movies
Essential Adventure: GoldenEye (1995)
Let’s be honest, the 80s were not a place for 007. Timothy Dalton’s two outings as James Bond weren’t particularly memorable, trying to compete with the muscle-headed machismo of Stallone and Schwarzenegger. When the 90s came about, Bond needed to be retooled to bring back his suave style and focus on cool espionage. James Bond tried being tough, but he needed to be cool again.
Enter Pierce Brosnan, who had lost the chance to play Bond previously but still managed a successful film career. Brosnan was my first Bond when my dad, a huge Bond fan, took me to see 2002’s Die Another Day in theaters. Despite seeing all the other actors who played Bond, including Connery, I still think Brosnan was the man who physically embodied Bond best. Whenever there’s that black silhouette-outline of Bond on posters or magazines or video games, the outline was clearly Brosnan: the slicked back black hair, the stern pose, the tall head. I played video games as Brosnan’s Bond, I saw promo art of Brosnan’s Bond, I see Brosnan’s later movies as Brosnan’s Bond. Despite Goldfinger being my favorite movie of all time, I will go to bat every time I claim Brosnan was the perfect outline of who James Bond is supposed to be. His subtle confidence, focused attitude and suave style is the blueprint for Bond.
Much like what Daniel Craig did with Bond in Casino Royale, Brosnan rebooted the Bond character trying to add some levity to the films that Dalton had drained but without going overboard like some of Moore’s films. GoldenEye had a near perfect balance of sex appeal, thrilling action and a compelling story with Bond fighting his former friend, 006 (Sean Bean). Brosnan felt like he was never trying to impress audiences, he’s just naturally this charismatic. He even makes time to straighten his tie while he’s chasing down enemies through the streets….in a tank. Bond is about balancing the suave and the struggle, saving the world while trying to keep others out of this life with little chances for a future. Brosnan was the Bond that cared, laying down the idea that Bond could have a soul until Daniel Craig fully-formed it.
Fun fact: The last two reboots of Bond (GoldenEye and Casino Royale) were both directed by Martin Campbell. Maybe he could come back for the next Bond reboot and go for a hat trick?
Daniel Craig by Grant Jonsson
Tenure as Bond: 4 movies (currently)
Essential Adventure: Casino Royale (2006)
I have an interesting relationship with the James Bond franchise. Interesting in that it is very limited. My exposure in total has been to seven of the entire twenty-four films currently available to us. But that doesn’t mean I am any less of a fan of this classic spy. After the very muddled plot failure of Die Another Day, and the sad time effect on Pierce Brosnan’s body, 007 was in need of a very drastic face lift that would inspire an reinvention in both filmmaking practices and audience reception. Que the introduction of blue steely eyed Brit, Daniel Craig. He had a very different visual style than any other Bond actor prior to him, with his blonde hair and of course, his blue eyes. As well, one thing I feel that he possessed and possesses to this day, is a complete ownership and understanding of the role. He always knew exactly where Bond’s head was at in any given moment, and from what I’ve read, that hasn’t been seen since Connery.
The return to the early days of Bond’s career demonstrates what I believe Craig to have done so well. As a new 00 agent, Bond is of course now thrust with some new responsibility. The seasoned, rugged, and experienced agent we have come to known is no longer with us, so what we have is a man learning his trade, and Craig portrayed it perfectly.
The filmmaking team returned to the novel roots of the character’s creator, Ian Fleming, with a new adaptation of his first Bond novel, Casino Royale. Obviously, it was made in our contemporary period, (almost 10 years ago!!), but the return to the source material allowed the team to stay focused on telling a cohesive and compelling 007 narrative. This is why Casino Royale is my favourite of Craig’s Bond films. It was very tempting to pick 2012’s Skyfall, but Craig’s first outing as Bond, in my mind, has close to no flaws and it is the one of the very few films labelled as a definitive Bond experience.
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