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Jumping in late as I am still recovering from my holiday weekend from hell.

This is what Ian Fleming says about Bond.

In Casino Royale Vesper Lynd remarks, "Bond reminds me rather of Hoagy Carmichael, but there is something cold and ruthless."

Likewise, in Moonraker, Special Branch Officer Gala Brand thinks that Bond is "certainly good-looking ... Rather like Hoagy Carmichael in a way. That black hair falling down over the right eyebrow. Much the same bones. But there was something a bit cruel in the mouth, and the eyes were cold."

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the composer, singer and actor, Hoagy Carmichael here are a couple of pics.



If anything Timothy Dalton's looks come the closest to Carmichael's, I think.

Bit of Bond Trivia. Did you know that the Cubby Broccoli's first choice to replace Sean Connery as Bond was Dalton but he was rejected in end for being too young and they rolled the dice with Lazenby who was a model and not an actor at the time.

It is a shame they came up craps because On Her Majesty's Secret Service would likely have been the best Bond film ever if any other of the Bonds had been in it, it certainly had the best supporting cast. Telly Savalas, Diana Rigg and a song by Louis Armstrong and as it is most people have never seen it.

Not that anyone would care but I actually met Lazenby, at Dragon Con.

More Bond Trivia: Fleming hated Connery as Bond at first. But warmed up to him to the point that he mentions that Bond is a Scot in very last short story he wrote before his death.

Going back to the beginning. Casper Van Dien? Mina you must be a baby if that is your image of Tarzan. Like many others here I grew up on the Johnny Weismuller's "Me Tarzan, you Jane." movies. And come on, everyone who can remember the Jungle Jim TV show raise your hand. You know who you are.

I do seem to remember that that Casper Van Dien Tarzan movie wasn't nearly as bad as the Christopher Lambert one.

Last bit of Bond. The babies out there might not know this one either. Since they probably never saw Remington Steele. Those of us who do remember Steele also remember talking one look then pointing at the TV and declaring "That guy should be James Bond!"

Did you know that Pierce Brosnan was supposed to be Bond years earlier instead of Dalton. NBC cancelled Remington Steele and Cubby Broccoli announced his choice to replace Roger Moore was Pierce Brosnan and the dirty dogs at NBC renewed Remington Steele for another season and Cubby, who had a rule that said Bond actors couldn't do anything else, hired Dalton instead.

Guess I'm not done after all. When you talk about the 'best Bond' I think you have to distinguish between the best Fleming Bond and best Broccoli Bond. Because they are two very different guys. Fleming's Bond is an assassin who fixes problems by making them go away. Broccoli's Bond is basically a super hero, who saves the world, not just the day. I think Sean Connery, especially in Dr. No and From Russia With Love comes the closest to being a Fleming Bond. And that Pierce Brosnan is by far the best Broccoli (movie) Bond. Daniel Craig might just be the worst, IMHO he is James Bourne, not James Bond.

J-J I am a big WWII Buff and have seen many pictures of the Real George Patton, I even read his autobiography, but the George C. Scott version has become so imprinted in my mind that I tend to think of the real Patton as not looking enough like Patton.

Other imprints

Ralph Bellamy as FDR
Henry Fonda as Young Lincoln
Roger Moore as the Saint
Brian Keith as Teddy Roosevelt
Robert Vaughn as Napoleon Solo
I would have said David McCallum as Illya Kuryakin but slowly over the years he has transformed himself into Ducky.

One of my favorite moments from NCIS is still the time when Kate asked Gibbs, "What did Ducky look like when he was young." Gibbs thought about it for a minute and said, "Illya Kuryakin."

OK ... I will admit that I really like the Connery Bond movies. It is that they seemed to be so at odds with the image of Bond I had from reading the books. So, I guess that I would have preferred it if they had called it something other than James Bond ... I =LIKE= the 'Broccoli Bond' label <chuckle>

It may be that Lazenby's 'lack of acting' skills is what made me like him as the 'emotionless Bond' I remembered from the books. I had mostly quit watching after I say Moore in the role <shudder> I may try going back and watching some of the later movies on NetFlix after all this <g>

The Saint is the one the exception for me on your list Don. I really liked Val Kilmer's version a lot <g>

Mike,

You right in that Goldfinger, the third Bond film, established the movie Bond formula and after that there was little or no attempt to honor the books, or Fleming, who was dead by then, as well.

I actually like Live and Let Die but the Moore films, through no fault of his, turned into caricatures of the movie formula, more like live action cartoons than movies. I also don't blame Dalton for how bad his films were. Licence to Kill tried to break the formula and ended up directionless telling two separate stories at same time ans ended up terribly muddled.

They tried to give a harder edge back to Bond in the Brosnan movies but by then the formula was what sold tickets not the character.

I won't dispute that 'lowest common denominator' idea driving the studio to 'demeaning' the ideal. But I actually had also always thought that Goldfinger was the ... 'inspiration' for the Coburn 'Flint' movies ... which I =really= love, by the way <chuckle>

While, as I mentioned, I haven't seen the later movies, from what I have seen and read, I agree that 'they' sold out Flemming to make box office numbers <sigh> Although, I would like to think that the films ... if done correctly ... would still have made money ... just not as much money <sigh>

(raising my hand on Jungle Jim)

All this talk about James Bond has put me in the mood to watch some and as it turns out Starz is running the lot right now so I just finished watching Dr. No. Haven't done the full run since the 50th anniversary back in 2012, so I am due.

Johnny Weissmuller had to do Jungle Jim because he developed too much of a gut to be Tarzan anymore.