Bondathon Podcast Part 5: The Dalton Years

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Here's our reviews of Timothy Dalton's all to short tenure as 007 - enjoy !!

The Living Daylights (1987)

Russian General Koskov defects, but it is all a lie to get all sides running around, so he and a arms dealer General Brad Whittaker can prepare a new world war to make money of the sales of arms.

Moore left and now it’s time to shake things up, time to get Bond back to being Bond, James Bond. Timothy Dalton takes centre stage and he fills it so well, with the opening pre-title sequence where a training operation is over-run by an assassin. You know you’re in safe hands when the lead actor can be seen actually doing a lot of his own stunts and more importantly you believe he could kill you. Dalton brings with him a sense of realism to the role, he plays the role gritty, close to his instincts but has the stony side that a young Connery has and the wit and charm of Moore.

With Dalton comes a new Monepenny, a younger model and a fresh thinking woman played by Caroline Bliss. Jeroen Krabbe plays the film’s villain – but saying that, this Bond film is a tangled web of espionage, very much in the vain of From Russia With Love was. There’s more than just one nemesis- Joe Don Baker plays corrupt arms dealer Brad Whittaker- and the Bond Girl is played by Maryam d’Abo. The interesting thing here is for first time in numerous films, the female role has been treated as actually a role, a character, and not just a piece of set dressing, She’s a independent, competent woman and what’s nice is she is an innocent party who got mixed up with a wrong individual.

The action is handled superbly, ranging from a car chase across the snow of the Austrian border, with a Bond car full of (very Goldfinger) gadgets, that leads to using a cello case as a sled. We have the action move location and it then takes place in Afghanistan, which at the time was in the control of the USSR and Bond helps the local rebels (Taliban?). But probably the most remembered action sequence is Bond hanging out on a net from the back of a plane, tens of thousands of feet high in the sky, fighting Koskov’s henchman – just classic Bondian fun, but now with a Dalton cutting edge.

This film manages to walk the fine line, it delivers new Bond, a Bond for the late 80s – a Bond closer to the book while at the same time keeping just the right amount of fun in the film, giving us an action adventure film that delivers just what a Bond fan wants and to be honest needed at that time.  It is truly one of my favourites as Dalton is our Welsh James Bond.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Rhys

Countdown: The Watchers' 10 Worst Henchmen

Some henchmen (and henchwomen) are loyal, efficient, ruthless and occasionally terrifying; they may be the blunt tools but they do it in style. Sadly, this shower of ineffective miscreants would make even the most distant megalomaniacal supervillains get their own hands dirty.

For your consideration, The Watchers' 10 Worst Henchmen

1. THE THREE BLIND MICE
(played by three uncredited actors in Dr. No)

There's something borderline offensive about these three assassins misappropriating a physical disability as a means to murder someone. Much like the slightly racist portrayal of Julius No, the attitudes of the time may be writ large across the film- but that doesn't mean we have to like it.






2. ZAO
(played by Rick Yune in Die Another Day)

The only thing differentiating Zao from any other hired thug are the diamonds in his face. That's it.

3. NECROS
(played by Andreas Wisniewski in The Living Daylights)

Bond henchmen are supposed to be menacing, exuding an air of danger. They are not supposed to be dressed up as milkman and use exploding milk bottles.






4. TEE-HEE
(played by Julius H. Harris in Live And Let Die)

The laugh isn't sinister. It's just annoying. Adding a prosthetic claw doesn't add to the menace either. Another example of lazily equating the villains with being physically disabled.







5. BLOFELD'S ANGELS OF DEATH
(played by various in On Her Majesty's Secret Service)

They come under this list due to the utter ridiculousness of Blofeld's plan in this film; even as Bond villain plans go, it's an absolute nonsense and- as such- the unwitting pawns deserve to go on the list.

6. GOBINDA
(played by Kabir Bedi in Octopussy)

Big. Dumb. Lots of muscle but no brain. An archetypal thuggish henchman. Nothing to get excited about.




 
7. MIRANDA FROST

(played by Rosamund Pike in Die Another Day)

Duplicitous snake-in-the-grass. So far, so-so. There's more sexual chemistry between garden gnomes than there is between Frost and Bond. Kick-ass fight at the end with Jinx, though.

8. MR. STAMPER
(played by Gotz Otto in Tomorrow Never Dies)

Again, an identikit Bond henchman. Blonde, muscly, slight tendency towards violence; a carbon copy of 'Red' Grant but, sadly, with a tenth of his charisma.

9.  RENARD
(played by Robert Carlyle in The World Is Not Enough)

As soon as Elektra is revealed as the mastermind behind the plot, Renard quickly reverts to the 'standard henchman' role; a shame because he's been pretty good up to that point.






10. MAY-DAY
(played by Grace Jones in A View To A Kill)

Completely out there (much like Ms Jones herself), May-Day's outrageousness- skydiving off the Eiffel Tower, for example- strikes a slightly jarring note in the film, although she's still pretty cool.







There seems to be stiff competition for this list. Who would you put on? Let us know in the comments below.

Video Countdown: Top Ten Bond Stunts

When you think about Bond films, there are certain elements which spring to mind. One we'd like to focus on today is the action sequences and stunts. There have been some truly amazing stunts throughout the Bond franchise and we've put together our Top Ten. Click the video below to find out what we rated as the best stunt in a Bond movie: