I saw Daniel Craig on Leno this week and read an interview with him awhile back. He seems an okay guy, but to me, just isn't James Bond. And I've read all the books.
Connery was best, followed by Timothy Dalton.
Moore, whose autobiography I've read,was misplaced. He could play Simon Templar, the Saint. But he was no 007.
Broccoli, or whoever has the movie franchise now, is just a filmmaker who thinks his audiences are dumb jerks who like action and spectacular explosions. And the books are no good now, either. The author and the movie people seem intent on forcing upon us PC issues that did not parallel Ian Fleming, whose views on such matters were clear. Some of his books probably couldn't be written now, in fact.
Actually, I don't think ANY of the subsequent authors understood Fleming or his character. The present one seems intent on having too many plot twists to surprise the reader.
I'll probably not see, "Skyfall", unless I find it cheap as a used DVD. The cute quips are not what the original Bond would say in most cases. After, "Thunderball", the movies drifted ever further from the books.
I am pretty sure that what has happened to Bond and even to Sherlock Holmes was what prompted Modesty Blaise's creator to kill her off when he retired, and to specify that no one else be allowed to resume writing his characters. I think it was a wise decision. Even the movies and the TV show about Modesty were "camp" or worse parodies of the comics and the excellent novels.
Overall, I think that moviemakers are cut of a different cloth than that from which good authors are shaped. Of course, they're trying to make money from the general public, which isn't too cerebral, and today's movie audiences are probably the least informed in history. But they do like action and explosions on a grand scale. Still, you'd think they could at least provide prettier actresses.
