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Macnee was to be Bond--would it have worked?

posted 14 years ago by autour
28 replies | jump to latest

I just listened to The Avengers' commentary of The Master Minds, by writer Robert Banks Stewart. In it he revealed that he had written what would have been the first Bond movie (entitled Casino Royale) and that Patrick Macnee was slated to be Bond.

He said it was a little known fact, and being a Bond fan, I have to agree with that. I'd never heard of it before.

They lost the producer and the project was halted. Then, as we know, Sean Connery got the role and the first movie.

My initial reaction is Patrick would have been a cross of Connery and Moore, which means I would have liked him.

Curious what others think.

[–] rockmail 11 years ago

Well yeah. Moore/Saint, Macnee/Steed are basically clones of each other, and when the Bond producers were willing to ramp up the camp, either actor would have filled the slot interchangeably. You could nearly have swapped them from movie to movie and never noticed the difference. (I like both, BTW.)

[–] ABetterDay 11 years ago

I think that Macnee would have been an excellent Bond....possibly the best of all. Of all the words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these....it might have been.

Remember When Movies Didn't Have To Be Politically Correct?

[–] captgage-1 10 years ago

I venture to say it would have worked.

[–] mulroon02 10 years ago

Patrick Macnee is considerably older than Sean Connery, so you'd have had a Bond in his early 40's instead of early 30's in Dr. No.

[–] greenbudgie 10 years ago

It would have been interesting. But I can't quite see Patrick Mcnee in the bedroom scenes. As Steed, Mcnee likes the ladies. But there is a gentlemanly air about him. Whereas Bond is far from a gentleman at times.

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] JHT 10 years ago

No, his looks are against him. and I do not believe he had the charisma that all Movie Stars need. He is perfect as Steed though.

[–] rampageandy 9 years ago

i would be 'curious' to know which discs You are listening to (And watching!!  ) as mine 'offer NO THING by way Of: "EXTRA features".. with exception of: "PRODUCTION STILLS"!! 

[–] autour 9 years ago

QUICK ANSWER

I own the Optimum release which is full of commentary, interviews, etc. It is Region 2 (England etc.). Came out in 2005 or 2010 or somewhere in there.

I assume you bought an A&E release which has no extras, which is Region 1 (North America basically).

SOME DETAILS

I assume you're in the US/region 1. Most people in the US have Region 1 players since most things are released here and released here first. I have an all region player (Panasonic, bought off Amazon.com) that allows me to play all regions (I have UK discs, Australian discs, etc).

IMDB reports there are 7 seasons to the Avengers. I disagree with that as does the Optimum collection. There are 6 seasons (or series, which word the British use instead of season).
Series 1: B/W with Patrick MacNee and Ian Hendry
Series 2 & 3: B/W with Patrick MacNee and Honor Blackman
Series 4: B/W with Patrick MacNee and Diane Rigg
Series 5: Color with Patrick MacNee and diane Rigg
Series 6: Color with Patrick MacNee and Linda Thorson

I highly recommend the Optimum releasing, if you can find a way to play it (comuter, all region DVD, etc.). It even has commentary on the very first Avenger episode (one of the surviving Ian Hendry episode). These comments are from those that worked on Avengers--and some admit they're old (in their '70s and '80s?).

For some reason I could not get them from Amazon.co.uk but I did get them from ebay.co.uk.

Probably too much, but hope this answers your queston.