Ironically, I think Dalton played Bond closest to Ian Fleming's conception of the character, at least until David Craig came along. I would have liked to have seen a few more flicks with Dalton.
“I think Dalton played Bond closest to Ian Fleming’s conception of the character, at least until David Craig came along.”
Agree completely. As a kid I read all of Ian Fleming’s Bond books. Fleming’s Bond was a sophisticated thug and despite his adventures with lovely and provocatively named women, he was still a thug when it came to doing his job as 007. Of all of them, I think Daniel Craig plays the Bond that Fleming had in his books. He’s really not a nice guy, he’s not very funny, and he’s always willing to kill for the Her Majesty’s Government. Just my $.02.
Dalton was my favorite - heresy! - but he suffered from marginal scripts. Moore did well as The Saint but wasn’t serious enough for Bond. Brosnan was OK but all of the Bond flicks for the last 25 years have suffered from ridiculous stunts, particularly since computer graphics have taken over.