James Bond movies are like white sliced loaves of bread – you have to catch them first while they are very fresh.
The key word in that statement is ‘first’. If you get a nice fresh loaf of bread and it slowly goes a bit stale on you, you can still use it. You can perhaps toast it or grate it up for breadcrumbs or… well, you get the idea.
If it was somebody else’s loaf of bread, you wouldn’t dream of using it. You would just throw it out. But this is your loaf, you knew it when it was fresh and tasty, it has aged and hardened under your watchful eye and so you still hold some deep-seated affection for it.
Let’s face it, most of the James Bond movies are very much like loaves of bread. They are conceived and executed to be at their best on the day that they are released. They use ingredients which date and age and lose their quality quite quickly. They become hard to swallow.
The early ones are the exception to this little rule of mine. Whether that’s because they weren’t trying so hard to be ‘of-the-moment’ or whether it’s because they come from a time when many of the fans weren't actually born – thus allowing a greater deal of respect - well I’m not sure. It’s probably just because that young Connery was so damn good that all other considerations pale. Whatever the reason, those first three do buck the trend and they remain eminently watchable.
So, having said all that, let me present my defence of Timothy Dalton as James Bond. Many of you will disagree. That’s understandable. Dalton, you see, was my ‘Loaf of Bread’. It’s quite possible that he wasn’t yours.
For me, Dalton’s first Bond film, The Living Daylights, arrived like a super-refreshing bolt-from-the-blue. Roger Moore had ceased to have any relevance, to anything, several features before he finally bowed out and, as a result, the franchise was two stages past being on its knees.
The early ones are the exception to this little rule of mine. Whether that’s because they weren’t trying so hard to be ‘of-the-moment’ or whether it’s because they come from a time when many of the fans weren't actually born – thus allowing a greater deal of respect - well I’m not sure. It’s probably just because that young Connery was so damn good that all other considerations pale. Whatever the reason, those first three do buck the trend and they remain eminently watchable.
So, having said all that, let me present my defence of Timothy Dalton as James Bond. Many of you will disagree. That’s understandable. Dalton, you see, was my ‘Loaf of Bread’. It’s quite possible that he wasn’t yours.
For me, Dalton’s first Bond film, The Living Daylights, arrived like a super-refreshing bolt-from-the-blue. Roger Moore had ceased to have any relevance, to anything, several features before he finally bowed out and, as a result, the franchise was two stages past being on its knees.
Casting Dalton was a brave and imaginative move and he threw out most of what had gone before and made the part his own. The music was brilliant, the film looked fabulous on the big screen. It was, at times, romantic and sweet in a way that no other Bond film was ever brave enough to try and it had a re-worked hard edge to it that the Moore Era had successfully worn away over such a long time. Plus Maryam d'Abo was a lovely Bond girl.
But, just because I like my own loaf of bread, that doesn’t mean that I can’t see that it has gotten stale over time. It is a fact that Bond movies go stale and, when they do, our affection for them comes down to our memories of how we were when we first saw them – it is this which keeps a particular one high in our esteem and allows us to remember how good it once used to be.
So let it be with ‘The Living Daylights.”
When I see it now, I see the staleness. I see the rather insipid villains, the unconvincing Mujahideen sequence, the milkman with his exploding bottles… I see how it probably won’t convince anyone who sees it for the first time now.
I also see the value in other people’s loaves of bread, even if they are not mine. For me, Craig’s Casino Royale remains a stunning and almost flawless reboot and I will not argue with anyone who puts him second best. I will, perhaps, quietly point out that his second outing ‘Quantum of Solace’ is almost grindingly boring from start to finish (I watched it twice to confirm this) but I will also accept that Dalton’s second attempt ‘Licence to Kill’ was also quite poor.
So, for those of you who will doubtless say that Craig in Casino Royale is the best thing ever, and for those of you who say Brosnan in Goldeneye is the one, think for a moment about my little analogy. I just bet your favourite (Connery excepted because he wins everything) was the one who arrived fresh and new for you…
…your own personal ‘Loaf of Bread’.
I just bet it was.
But, just because I like my own loaf of bread, that doesn’t mean that I can’t see that it has gotten stale over time. It is a fact that Bond movies go stale and, when they do, our affection for them comes down to our memories of how we were when we first saw them – it is this which keeps a particular one high in our esteem and allows us to remember how good it once used to be.
So let it be with ‘The Living Daylights.”
When I see it now, I see the staleness. I see the rather insipid villains, the unconvincing Mujahideen sequence, the milkman with his exploding bottles… I see how it probably won’t convince anyone who sees it for the first time now.
I also see the value in other people’s loaves of bread, even if they are not mine. For me, Craig’s Casino Royale remains a stunning and almost flawless reboot and I will not argue with anyone who puts him second best. I will, perhaps, quietly point out that his second outing ‘Quantum of Solace’ is almost grindingly boring from start to finish (I watched it twice to confirm this) but I will also accept that Dalton’s second attempt ‘Licence to Kill’ was also quite poor.
So, for those of you who will doubtless say that Craig in Casino Royale is the best thing ever, and for those of you who say Brosnan in Goldeneye is the one, think for a moment about my little analogy. I just bet your favourite (Connery excepted because he wins everything) was the one who arrived fresh and new for you…
…your own personal ‘Loaf of Bread’.
I just bet it was.