Cause His funny "errolflynesque" willain exude not only a refined irony and sense of humor, he oozes charm and glamour. He has more chemistry with Connelly than Campbell and he steal the movie from the hands of the dull heroe
shareI agree. Dalton does a terrific job here. I remember seeing the film when it was new and thinking "Dalton needs to work some of this into his 3rd Bond film". Sadly, as we all know, that never happened.
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He effortlessly stole the show in Hot Fuzz as well...
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I feel guilty for saying this but Dalton was the hottest movie Nazi ever.
"Hand over the rocket... or I'll blow her brains... all over the cabin!"
Really, the whole end of the movie totally belongs to him.
I was thinking of Hot Fuzz while watching this. He is actually pretty good at playing charming villians.
shareDalton based his Bond on the novels, not Connery's or, certainly, not Moore's interpretations.
Desmond Llewellyn (Q) said that Dalton's was the closest to the way Fleming wrote Bond.
When 'License to Kill' played here, I recall a review saying 'Dalton isn't very funny, but, as written---neither is Bond. One can, however, believe he kills people for a living'. Bond is, after all, not a spy (sent to gather info), but an assassin(sent to eliminate a problem). Hence--the '00'.
People were simply used to Moore's 'international party guy' portrayal.
Carpe Noctem!
I didn't really like Dalton as a Bond but he was great for The Rocketeer. heh, and remember him in Flash Gordon? Some roles he fits, others... not so much.
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It's the villainous roles he fits, where a straight up hero doesn't hang right off his shoulders. I think part of it is that he doesn't have the face to play a knuckle-dusting hero, though a quasi-goodguy like Prince Barin in Flash Gordon works for him.
shareWell, villains are more fun to play, so actors tend to give more in those roles. Dalton sure seems to enjoy them.
With that said, I liked Dalton as Bond, but didn't care much for the scripts. By this point (and the end of Moore's run) they were being written by committee and suffered due to bland villains. I think Dalton would have been better with better scripts. Also, as far as I'm concerned, the Brocolli kids have ruined the franchise; although, you could also point to Harry Saltzman's departure as the turning point of the Bond films.
I always thought Dalton was great as Bond. I don't think he fully realized his potential due to the poor direction of John Glen and the scripts could've been better.
I see Dalton's work in other films like The Rocketeer, Framed or Hot Fuzz and you can see this guy is a great actor who can really shine. I think with a better director like Renny Harlin, John McTiernan or whoever else they were considering for GE with France's fresh and original screen play would've been Dalton's epic masterpiece. These new fresh elements would've been better able to suit Dalton and would've made for a better package over all.
Dalton, Arkin and Campbell made for a fantastic supporting cast. It's too bad Disney released this film when they did. They should've scheduled it better because it could've been a bigger success. It was a lot of fun and I still enjoy it to this day.
Dalton and Craig! Accept NO substitutes!
Just watched this movie tonight and really agree Dalton steals the show. He was a great 007 too, although the Bond producers and MGM let him down. A great very under-appreciated actor.
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"..a better director, like Renny Harlin..." COUGH! HACK! COUGH!
Sorry, I found that hard to swallow.
1. I agree with you concerning Dalton, it sucked he didn't get to do more Bond, he kicked serious ass (tho my fave role of his is still as Prince Baron in 'Flash Gordon', 1980)
2. I strongly disagree with you concerning the so-called 'boring' hero of 'The Rocketeer'...he was perfect! An everyday dude that adapted to his situation and did a damn fine job...I think Campbell did a very good job (read the comics, see if you still disagree...;)
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I strongly disagree with you concerning the so-called 'boring' hero of 'The Rocketeer'...he was perfect! An everyday dude that adapted to his situation and did a damn fine job...I think Campbell did a very good job (read the comics, see if you still disagree...;) >>> Campbell did do a great job is playing the good ole American hero, but sadly Cliff Secord in the comic books was a bit more than that...he was a selfish jackass as well. I liked that spunk in the character, but they bled it right out of him in the movie, as well as turning pin-up model Betty into aspiring actress Jenny. Of course, this was done because it all had to adhere to the wholesome Disney image, which begs the question...why not release this from Touchstone like they did Dick Tracy just the year before? Anyhow, this was not a fault of Campbell's at all, as he did the best he could with what he was given. And what he was given was not bad at all. At least he still got to be jealous and a bit hot-tempered.
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Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?
I always loved the grit that Dalton brought to Bond. "The Living Daylights"
is a very underrated entry in the Bond series. One of my favourites. It
really has an epic feel to it.
License to Kill was pretty blaise, but that was no fault of Dalton's.
I've always liked his work (but admittedly i'm a mark for ANYONE who
was in FLASH GORDON.)
People talk about Craig being a throwback to the literary Bond; but, Dalton was far closer in tone and style to Fleming's work. Living Daylights would have been great with a stronger villain. As it was, it was on par with the later Moore films. License to Kill was a real failure. Bond shouldn't be set against drug lords, even for revenge. Bond would take out a drug lord in the teaser (as in Goldfinger), not spend the whole film trying to kill him.
"Fortunately, Ah keep mah feathers numbered for just such an emergency!"
Dalton is my favourite 007. He was ahead of his time in attempting to bring more grittiness and realism to the role. But apart from that, he also fit the part of a suave gentleman. No disrespect to Daniel Craig because I think he's good too, but while he carries off the action scenes with aplomb, he sometimes looks too brutish when wearing the tuxedo.
shareI liked Dalton a lot as Bond. He was the first one in the series who had ever been interested in portraying Bond as Ian Fleming wrote him. Yes, several early Connery films got the story right, but they never really played Bond as the character Fleming wrote. Of course, most folks only know the screen version of 007 and not the character as he is on the printed page, so I think this is why Dalton tends to get more flack for his performance than the others. Personally, I found it interesting to see someone take an interest in the book characterization.
I also agree that Craig, while an excellent actor and great Bond overall, does look terrible in a tux or suit. He just can't pull off that suave side of 007 at all.
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Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?
He's the reason why I went to the theatre to see the movie and why I still watch it at home :)
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Excuse my English, I was born in a galaxy far, far away
Timothy Dalton wanted to do 007 true to the character in the original books by Ian Fleming.
shareIt's not Dalton's fault License to Kill was a horrible script.
As others have posted. If he wanted revenge, it would be done in 30 minutes screen time and it would have been it.
License to Kill is a like a bad 80's Movie of the Week. Even the quality of the cinematography was horrible. I didn't even like the Bond girls. (Too skinny, no curves, no personality)
Ian Fleming *wrote* "James Bond" as humorless and uncharismatic. The suave, dashing, joking "babe magnet" was a Hollywood creation, and bears little resemblance to the literary character. Book-Bond is cold, ruthless, with a nasty scar down the side of his face, and a seemingly eternal pessimism and "pissed-off-at-the-world" attitude. Dalton was a much better "Bond" than Moore and Brosnan (Moore and Brosnan were offensively and insultingly bad). Connery was good - at first - but his films soon turned into cartoons. Lazenby had the potential to be great, if he had stuck around. Craig is probably the best, overall.
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