The Dalton Defense

As I write the new 007 movie SPECTRE is fast approaching and in the UK has been met with a mostly positive reception and I myself am looking forward to it despite my not being as enthusiastic about the other Daniel Craig Bond films up to this point (all of them have lacked a really strong and memorable villain.)

But as much as I like Craig and Sean Connery in the role of Bond I have a big soft spot for one other actor who took on the part: Timothy Dalton.

But why is that you say? He only lasted 2 movies and the 2nd one was met with a very mixed reception in 1989?

Well let me answer the ways:

- The first reason is that I feel he really did try to bring the series back down to Earth following the increasing silliness of the Roger Moore era where the jokes and the gadgets and the need to pretty much shag any woman who so much as had the tiniest of roles in his films which as his tenure went on got a bit much and by the time of 1985's A View to a Kill downright embarrassing.

But the other part of this equation was that Moore never felt comfortable doing the action scenes (Pierce Brosnan who succeeded Dalton in the role fared little better as his were slightly unconvincing as well even with Martin Campbell cracking the whip on Goldeneye) whereas Dalton threw himself into them and with Licence to Kill and the Living Daylights his physical presence and grace in those scenes became a real highlight.

- The second reason was the women, part of this I'm sure was due to the fear of the AIDS virus at the time but the women in both of his films aren't there just to be shagged or stripped or ignored there was a real attempt (at least in my eyes) to make them into characters we and Bond could come to care about in a romantic sense (The Living Daylights at times feels like a genuine love story) even if the actresses cast in those roles weren't quite up to the material handed to them.

- And the third is the plots, no longer would they outlandish plots about world domination no sir this was to go right back down to Earth similar to the tone and style of the early Connery films which I have to say are the films that people regards as the classics as they transcend just being a Bond film (Dalton himself said that this was his goal when taking on the part, to bring people back to believing this character, to bring his reality to it.)

His intentions (which were fully supported by Cubby Broccoli) are one thing, the execution of that became something else entirely as audiences were reluctant to warm to Dalton's take on the character but why was that well allow me to explain why.

- The first reason is that the public had become so use to Moore's take on 007 where he was a very jovial and almost kid friendly type of character that this harder edge which was at the core of Ian Fleming's James Bond books was very jarring at that time and as a result you could make the case that the movie going public for the most part from that time period simply weren't ready for it.

This sort of feeling is hard to explain or put into a column like this one because it's more of a feeling in the air a collective breath in the public to put it in those terms they know it and they follow that instinct for the most part.

- The second reason which follows on from the first was also the products that cinema goers in the late 80s were paying to see be it at Hoyts or Greater Union or Village or any number of Independent cinemas:

-- The Rambo films with Sylvester Stallone
-- The output from Steven Spielberg/Robert Zemeckis/John Hughes
-- The Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer films
-- The Arnold Schwarzenegger Action films
-- The Indiana Jones series with Harrison Ford (which was inspired by Spielberg's desire to direct a Bond film)

And so on and so on plus in the same year that the Living Daylights came out you had the first Lethal Weapon film released and in 1988 the year in between Dalton's 2 pictures as Bond you had the first Die Hard film blitz cinemas plus in 89 you had the three titans of Lethal Weapon 2, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and the first Batman film from Tim Burton.

And when you put all of that together you have a situation where the rivals of James Bond in terms of action pictures caught up to 007 and in some cases surpassed him and as a result Dalton's tenure came to an end which the early 90's legal fights with MGM helped to accelerate and Brosnan who was THE favorite to replace Roger when he retired finally got his chance to take on the role and audiences were more embracing of him.

But all was not lost for all of this helped I think to plant the seeds for Daniel Craig's tenure as Bond and this time audiences are now ready for that harder edge take on the character as it fit with the post 9/11 world as compared to the more optimistic period of the late 80s.

But also like the late 80s we could be seeing a repeat of the Bond rivals catching up and potentially surpassing him again I mean just this year alone we've had Matthew Vaughn's Kingsman: The Secret Service (which was inspired by the early films), Spy with Melissa McCarthy and Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation where Tom Cruise pretty much went one step short of playing chicken with the Grim Reaper and in those cases they're either taking on Bond or addressing some of his shortcomings particularly when it comes to the female characters which could become a very big problem for the Bond series going forward.

But coming back to Dalton (as well as bringing this column full circle) I can't help but wonder from time to time if audiences might just might have warmed to him more had A View to a Kill been his first film in the role instead of the Living Daylights, he would have had 3 films under his belt instead of 2 prior to the early 90s legal battles plus the action in that film might have had much more suspense and impact with Dalton and the hard edge give it your all approach he took to the action scenes in his films.

Plus having him there might have helped to ease the transition back towards a Connery/Fleming type character as it would have been juxtaposed with the high class world of horse racing as it was presented in that film not to mention breathing new life into the script as well as making the scenes with the women a lot more believable especially in terms of Ms Mayday (Her vs. Dalton's Bond would've been very cool) as compared to Moore but alas Sir Roger just simply did not know when to leave and as a result everything played out in the way it did.

And so that was my defense of Tim Dalton as James Bond and I hereby rest my case.