Peter Vieira
Wow, you're reading this? Thanks! If you're into RC cars and I seem vaguely familiar, it's because I spent over 25 years writing and editing RC car news, reviews, and tech articles in print and online. What else, what else ... I have a degree in Film Studies (useless), most of a degree in Graphic Design (useful), and I'm married to a wonderful woman with horrible taste in men. Thanks to her, we have a terrific daughter who just earned her Journalism degree and is way, waaay more together that I was at her age. Or right now.
Read All My Posts »
My favorite Madonna song is “Like a Surgeon” ha ha…oh, wait…that’s Weird Al, who is awesome (I love UHF!) That’s actually the only song that he accepted an idea from someone: Madonna herself.
One of my favorites Madonna songs is actually “Live to Tell”
I actually don’t really have a favorite Bond movie but the best Bond to me was Sean Connery (one of my favorite actors)
Roger Moore 4 ever
It’s funny that I didn’t catch this article last week, but I was itching to watch a Bond movie last night. I settled on “The Living Daylights” for the A-ha title song and that Aston Martin V8 Vantage.
“Ray of Light” is Madonna’s finest work and I will die on this hill. I’m not even a Madonna superfan.
Bruce Willis Jackal movie also doubles as like nine ads about how sick a 3rd gen Dodge Caravan is.
My favorite is Tomorrow Never Dies, the one with Michelle Yeoh. I thought it was cool to pair Bond with a woman who could kick the shit out of him. And no, it’s not because I have a thing for Asian women. I mean, I totally don’t have a thing for Asian women. Also, Teri Hatcher.
ffolkes. I remember that. I thought is was good, but since is was ages ago I may have deluded myself. Best Bond: Connery, then Craig, Then a Dalton/Brosnan tie, and last and least Moore.
This is EXACTLY the correct ranking.
So we just forget George Lazenby AGAIN?!?!
Next month can we have “Bond Girls who were allowed to drive cool cars”?
Timezones and such had me miss the Bond chat, I’m also a fan of OHMSS and the Dalton movies for being a bit more grounded.
Goldeneye will always have a special place as the first Bond I saw and the N64 game setting the standard for FPS games.
Lazenby did a pretty good job as the villain in The Man From Hong Kong, a great Aussie 70s action movie if you haven’t seen it. Also stars Hugh Keys-Byrne (The Toecutter/Immortal Joe in the Mad Max films).
As a Brit (sorry, so sorry for, well, everything) can I just ask how else you’d say JCB?
I know we wildly differ about the pronunciation of “Z”, because I’ve somehow been stuck with the US version when talking engine codes. It’s a Toyota two zee zee, not two zed zed, don’t know why.
But JCB is jay cee bee, right?
Yes
I’ve heard a lot of British commentators talking about “generation zee”, both members of that age cohort and older.
Sorry Ameri-friends, but in my head I will always read the band’s name as Zed-Zed Top.
I definitely didn’t spell it phonetically. I don’t know, but the JCB people had a little bit of flair when they said their company name! Probably just my American ears hearing British accents. 🙂
Oh really? The best Bond is obviously the OG Sean Connery in Dr No if for no reason other than his driving the Sunbeam Alpine up into the hills to meet Miss Taro! But Roger Moore in For Your Eyes Only (2CV “go backwards forwards quickly”) is a close second…and of course Timothy Dalton’s Aston Martin V8 in The Living Daylights with the optional extendable ski package.
Living Daylights has the best car hands down. Also a timeless take on the valiant struggle of the Mujahideen…
Does anyone pay for Peacock? Everyone I know who has it gets it thrown in with Comcast internet.
I don’t have Comcast as my provider and I never heard of Peacock until this post
Streaming is doomed unless they share access to films the same way they finally did with music on radio.
At the very least like dvds.
In the vast majority of the USA, hunger for dvds and any hard copy media has never been stronger. Streaming is a scam, and is wildly predatory in this country.
Not only is George Lazenby the best Bond, he’s also the most underrated Bond.
Shirley Bassey had a great voice, but the “Goldfinger” theme was lyrically and melodically absolute trash. It sounds like it was written for the lounge singer at the Holiday Inn on Route 9.
Bassey also did Diamonds Are Forever, though, which fully rips.
Moonraker is fine.
Cracking knuckles: Here we go. Dalton is my favorite Bond. Nobody Does It Better is my favorite Bond song. I like Roger Moore but Moonraker and A View to a Kill were dreadful. That’s not his fault. The best Bond movie is From Russia With Love. An honest to goodness spy movie with the incredible fight on the train. I get a kick out of it.
Regardless of my comment above, yes. From Russia With Love is the greatest Bond film ever. A great spy movie, it just doesn’t have a good car component for Autopian folks other than maybe the Citroën Traction Avant driven by the bad guys (Bulgarians, working for the Russians…)
“Half hourof the Jackal?” – Best line this week. Mad props to @MercedesStreeter
I can just about forgive Jason for using the wrong spelling of Shaun on Slack, but unsure what to do about Peter’s misspelling of Shirley Bassey’s last name in this article 🙂
What did I put, Bassy?
(checks)
EFF
Tis fixed
Roger Moore playing Seymour playing Roger Moore playing James Bond in the Cannonball Run is Roger Moore’s best James Bond.
And Duran Duran was the best part of A View to a Kill
George Lazenby is actually a pretty great Bond. He plays it straight after a break the fourth wall moment “this never happened to the other guy” st the beginning. And of course Diana Rigg.
Yes he is just a bit under peewee Herman as Bond
Actually have you seen Paul Reubens in 5 episodes of The Blacklist in seasons 2 and 3 (2014–2015). He played Mr. Vargas and he was pretty amazing. Very dark.
Anyway, prior to Daniel Craig , Lazenby was the only actor who played Bond straight.
Timothy Dalton would like a word with you on playing it straight. He has also been widely considered as the closest to the literary version of the character. Other than making an escape in a cello case, he’s not particularly campy as I recall.
For the record, Roger Moore is my favorite Bond. He was the current actor while I was growing up and the first Bond I remember.
OHMSS was a really good bond movie.
It also gets forgotten, which means that people don’t understand the meaning at the beginning of Diamonds are Forever where Bond (a returned Connery) is hunting down Blofeld.
Also, no less a filmmaker than Christopher Nolan agrees…its why there’s that very conspicuous ski chase in Inception.
Yes, I love that callback.
It primed me to happily expect the assault on the villain’s lair by teams of distinctly-attired commandos in Tenet.
I think Matt’s theory holds some water as the first Bond I ever saw (seeing the movies on TV) was Sean Connery and he remains my fave. There’s at least some amusement value to all of the various Bonds I’ve watched.
Even “Casino Royale”, the 1967 spoof with David Niven, Peter Sellers, Ursula Andress, et al. has amusement value. Saw it first in college at a “Decompression from Finals” event. Though it’s probably funnier if you’re not sober.
The 1967 Casino Royale has the best soundtrack.
Who is this “Matt” you speak of?
Oops! For some reason my brain associated the Bond Preference theory with Matt in the Slack rather than you (Peter) in the article. Mea culpa.
Second fave Bond theme song after Goldfinger? Probably “Live And Let Die”.
Though now I’ll have to look up the 1967 Casino Royale soundtrack Hugh mentioned just to see what’s on it. The last time I watched the movie was decades ago.
I’m Dalton era, but I rank him 4th. Lazenby was either my favorite or #2. I think people didn’t take Lazenby seriously at the time because he was a model and people equated Bond with Connery, but I wasn’t even born when OHMSS came out, so I took it as I saw it and I thought it was one of the best stories and Lazenby did a good job of capturing the book Bond IMO—not as cool as Connery (who is?), but colder in demeanor and a little more broken underneath. Craig played that part up a lot more, maybe a bit too much, but that depends on if you’re judging the individual’s take on the role as it is or how well they match the original Fleming character. I think Brosnan was a poor fit and the movies were among the worst. Moore’s movies were the worst, but he didn’t write them and I otherwise think he was a good fit for the character.
Just wish they hadn’t dubbed Lazenby’s voice because he sounded too Aussie. It was obvious and a bit off putting.
This does explain the votes for communists in elections
I never actually saw OHMSS, but I was delighted to learn that it’s got a great scene wherein Diana Rigg drives Bond through an ice race in a 1969 Mercury Cougar convertible to escape the bad guys! I mean, it’s a year older than my own Cougar, but still, just about the last Bond car I would ever expect.
https://youtu.be/JHhgKmJEgG8?is=o2u2rTHtiu-b8iA2
Yeah, she was great, too, and the scene was good. It’s been quite a while since I’ve seen it, but I remember it being pretty well grounded as far as JB movies go. A lot of them are a bit too OTT for me even knowing what I’m going to get.
Lazenby was actually sandwiched between the last two Connery Bonds, “You Only Live Twice” (nice Nancy Sinatra theme song, if somewhat tame) and “Diamonds Are Forever” as long as we’re not counting Connery’s comeback in “Never Say Never” and I’m not. Craig’s first two Bonds and last one rival Connery’s three first films, which I think were his best. I thought Moore ‘s “Live and Let Die” was decent, but the rest were awful. Lazenby never had a chance to get started. Dalton chewed too much scenery trying to prove he was an Actor, though the scripts were good. Brosnan was too cute. Did a decent job, though, and I’ve liked much of his other work. I’m older than all of the Bond films and have seen them all and read all of the Fleming novels by the time I was 12. I like a lot of the films, but I’ve yet to see any do real justice to the books. Love to see a series taking a season to do each novel wherein the stories return to their original timeline and settings.
Radiohead’s Spectre was the best Bond Theme that wasn’t. Goldfinger was the best that was.
As for Bonds (favorite to least-favorite):
Craig (saved the genre)Dalton (could act)Connery (“yesh, mish Moneypenny”)Brosnan (eyebrows did most of the acting)Lazenby (unfairly maligned)Moore (played it too camp for my taste, YMMV)Niven (if we’re including sans Broccoli)
Don’t forget Woody Allen as Jimmy Bond. Also, don’t forget Barry Nelson as an American James Bond in the 1954 CBS teleplay of “Casino Royale.”
DOTJ was a Book first, Matt! And an Ok one at that.
Not screenshotted, but Matt said in Slack that he hadn’t read the book
Sir Roger Moore recognized the ridiculousness of the premises he was in, and played the role as if it was action comedy, and he was fully in on the joke. Which is probably exactly what those scripts called for, sort of a generationally wealthy, bemused playboy stumbling through international intrigue as if it was a hobby to keep himself busy
I thought Roger Moore was a too-smug sequel version of a perfectly-bemused Lazenby, but then again, Lazenby had to start off with a joke to camera, so maybe Moore was just upping the ante of ridiculocity.
More of a Saint/Bond fusion.
Although, Vincent Price was a better Saint, I said it, don’t at me
Well, it was radio. Not certain how he’d have faired on TV.
Television is the worst thing to happen to mass entertainment since they came out with talkies, suddenly everyone wants to both see and hear actors while sitting in their own parlor, instead of one or the other, its a disgusting invasion of privacy
You’re probably kidding, but I was still able to listen radio shows like the The Shadow and Lone Ranger when I was small and I gotta admit, they were better than the film versions.
They have a bunch of old radio shows, including surviving ones of those two, on youtube. I love the old shows even if the quality of the writing is up and down and there are a lot of repeated stories with detail changes on some programs (though they originally aired years apart).
His Saint was better than his Bond.
Roger Moore had the perfect name for a Bond film. It’s basically as single-entendre as Pussy Galore.