Talking about James Bond in last weeks Radio Times, film critic Barry Norman made the statement: Ask anybody: who is your favourite James bond? I guarantee the answer will be the first one they ever saw”. I’m not sure if I am more discerning or just awkward, but it isn’t true of me. To the best of my knowledge and memory the first Bond I saw was Roger Moore in Live and Let Die. Moore is far from my favourite Bond, but I have recently come to the conclusion that I don’t know who my favourite Bond is! For years I have always claimed it is Sean Connery with the caveat that Timothy Dalton is the closest to the character from Ian Fleming’s novels.
I hold with the popular opinion that George Lazenby was the worst Bond, and this is a great shame as On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is one of the best Bond films despite him. He is closely followed by Roger Moore whose comic version of Bond just doesn’t work for me. He did however make some decent movies, Live and Let Die and The Spy Who Loved Me were both really good films. The Man with the Golden Gun isn’t as good but does benefit from a fantastic performance from Christopher Lee as the villian Scaramanga.
So Back to who is my favourite Bond, Sean Connery certainly had the best stories with relatively faithful adaptations of Dr. No, From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball. You Only Live Twice is the point where the franchise started to get silly and even became a parody of itself, it was however still a good film in its own right. Connery’s only misstep was Diamonds Are Forever that was both silly and dull.
I have already said Timothy Dalton most closely resembles the character from the books in his portrayal, but there is another actor who probably looks most like Bond, Pierce Brosnan. This may be a bit of a stretch as there is little description of Bonds appearance beyond his short black hair and a resemblance to Hoagy Carmichael. Pierce Brosnan isn’t my favourite Bond either. He is perfect for the films he made and the time they were made, but sadly most of them weren’t actually very good. After a strong opening with GoldenEye the rest of his films got progressively worse culminating with the car crash of a movie, Die Another Day that was as bad as anything Moore did.
This leaves us with two contenders: Timothy Dalton who was hamstrung by only making two appearances both of them being good but not great films, The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill. Had he made more films he could well have been my favourite Bond but for reasons to long winded and complicated to go into today he didn’t. And finally Daniel Craig, Casino Royale is certainly one of my favourite Bond films and Quantum of Solace is underrated and will probably age well, but is he my favourite? Not yet but he may well be in future, with three more movies including Skyfall due out next month, he will certainly have a chance before handing his Aston Martin and Walther PPK to Michael Fassbender, my choice for the next James Bond.
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Interesting acrticle here, you bring some interesting and great points about each individual actor’s interpretation of the Bond character and the films that they were in. For me I’ll always love Sean Connery, there was something about the way he moved and spoke that just screams out ‘cool’ to me. I like Roger Moore to some degree and I have a great appreciation for Daniel Craig, if skyfall is good and he does a few more films I think he will be my new favourite Bond.
The trailers for Skyfall certainly make it look promising
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I found this article to be very interesting and great to read as I do love the James Bond films and there are always going to be occasions where you get asked which actor was your favourite version of the James Bond character. I like how in this article the writer brings some interesting and great points about each individual actor’s interpretation of the Bond character and the films that they were in. I’ve been watching Bond films since I was a kid and since then my interest in the Bond film series has grown and changed a great deal. At first Pierce Bronson was my favourite Bond because the way he looked, but as I grew up I came to appreciate Sean Connery and quickly became my favourite version of Bond. There was something about the way he moved and spoke that just screamed out ‘cool’, swarve and sophisticated to me. He was just the pure awesomeness. At the same time I’ve come to like Roger Moore to some degree as Live and Let Die is one of my favourite Bond films. Obviously in more recent years I have gained a great appreciation for Daniel Craig especially after Casino Royale came out (one of my favourite films ever!). And if Skyfall is as good as I hope it’ll be and he does a few more films I think Craig will be my new favourite Bond. Only time will tell.
Interesting read there Andy. And probably one of the toughest questions to answer from anyone that REALLY loves the Bond films.
I’m with you on the Dalton points, he’s the one that best mirrors the books, is darker and more dangerous than anyone else (at least until Craig) – definitely the most faithful. For me, because he was the Bond of my youth, I’d probably go for Brosnan, as he’s a little bit of every JB that came before him – suave, dangerous, campy… – just unfortunate, as you note, that most of his films were pants.
In saying this, I do like Craig, a lot, and over time, he could overtake Dalton/Broz for the #1 spot at PFR.
I will always have certain affection for GoldenEye as it was the first Bond film I saw in a cinema. But as mentioned, after a positive start each of Brosnan’s movies got progressively worse.
I always stand by the fact that you can’t be judged as a Bond unless you’ve done three films. Dalton comes close but he always felt a film away from actually being Bond. Pierce Brosnan is probably my favourite because, unlike you, I actually like his films. Die Another Day is awful, but Goldeneye, Tomorrow Never Dies and World is not Enough are all great Bond films! Great article too!
As mentioned I like Goldeneye. Tomorrow Never Dies is okay, but The World Is Not Enough isn’t much better than the dire Die Another Day. I don’t blame Pierce Brosnan, he always did a good job despite rubbish scripts.
The first Bond I saw was Pierce Brosnan and he was my favourite for a while, I watched all his films and I agree that each one got worse and worse, especially that one when the guy had a bullet in his head but it made him stronger? Stupid, stupid idea. As of now I’m torn between Daniel Craig and Sean Connery, swaying more to Craig. I’m really looking forward to Skyfall and when it comes out I’ll be doing a review on my blog, be great if you check it out.
Well Andy, you know full well who my favorite Bond is, and today I actually turn the spotlight on him 🙂 Even with two films he absolutely wowed me. It’s a pity that he didn’t get a chance to do a third movie, but it seems that as time goes by people appreciate his movies and Bond portrayal more and more. I like Craig but I still stand by my choice that Dalton is my fave Bond.
P.S. I also disagree about the statement by Barry Norman, the first Bond I ever saw was Roger Moore.
Really impressed with how well Daniel Craig has handled the character. For years I swore no one could replace Connery but Craig is certainly putting forth a noteworthy effort. looking forward to the new movie.