Alright I'm very late to this party, but on the other hand who cares. One of my presents this christmas was an iTunes Voucher, I know, I'm spoilt here and I used it to FINALLY get the fourth season of Chuck.
While it's not important to me I've always liked the show, just never had the time to get past the third year. So over the last week or so I've been watching the episodes and kicking myself over what I've missed. And the reason why could be summed up in two words:- Timothy Dalton.
Let's shoot, or at least wound, the elephant in the room; Dalton was and still is, in my opinion, the most underrated Bond. Often dismissed as the "oh yeah, him." of the Bonds. Not as infamous as Lazenby, nor as popular as Connery I still think he's one of the best Actors to play the role and deserves to be a lot more recognisable for roles outside of the franchise.
What do I mean by that? Simple; I say Connery and you think Bond. He's iconic in the role, that doesn't mean it's his only one though. Hunt for Red October and Highlander are two very strong roles but in the end he's always going to be Connery and you're always going to think Bond. It's the same as Leonard Nimoy and Spock. He's done hundreds of other roles but he'll always be that iconic character. The key difference is that Nimoy is a better actor.
Sorry he just is, for one if you asked him to play a Russian or Egyptian he wouldn't do it in a board Scottish accent! What does this have to do with Dalton? Simple, he's such a good actor that Bond shouldn't be the first thing you think. He should have a dozen roles fighting for attention. People should be discussing which role was his best and there should be a dozen answers.
Now his role, or roles, in Chuck have cemented this for me but go back and see what he's accomplished. The best way I've found to tell a good actor is to watch as many of their roles and interviews as possible and see where they overlap. Watch Dalton's Bond, then watch Hot Fuzz and throw in a bit of the Rocketter. Chuck shows his range, but I promise after seeing the last two I can forget about Bond. Which is harder than you'd think.
Still I'm going to look at that signature role. The biggest problem playing Bond is the layers. Connery pulled off a hard nosed, womanising killer with a sarcastic sense of humour that always came out when the more ridiculous things happened. Lazenby was the same man, sort of, but looking for a way out. He found that in his short lived wife. Connery's Bond was having too much fun to retire. Moore, well Moore was a wet lettuce. He's my least favourite, the humour was reduced to almost slapstick levels, the plots comical (Moonraker and Octopussy, Really?) and I still feel Moore himself played the role more slimy than smooth. Then came Dalton.
It was the end of the cold war, Russia was no longer the threat it once was and the more criminal elements Bond would go after weren't what they once were. The whole atmosphere was changing. Now was the time for the old spy looking for retirement plot line, a man out of step with the current situation. And that's what we got, at the same time we got Bond. Datlon's take walked the knife's edge. A man that would do whatever was necessary with charm and skill, while at the same time knowing that his humanity was being stripped a wafer thin slice at a time.
Unlike Moore there's a cold anger to Dalton, while Connery laughed at the more incredible events Dalton made the quip to hide that vain of ice that would quickly turn to lava. Dalton's Bond has done things he's not proud of for queen and country, the shine has worn off. The glitz and glamour has unfortunately given way to the very 80's defeatism. Alright so the films were made in the late 80's but who cares if they were a little behind. They are far from perfect, but Dalton does a bang up job in both and it's a shame he didn't get the third film he was contracted for.
I'd also say he was influential. Both Brosnon and Craig have portrayed a darker, perhaps more sadistic, Bond than before. In some ways a much more flawed version of the role, following in his footsteps. Thanks to Dalton's portrayal James is a lot more human, not to mention more understandable now than the smug, self confidant Moore or the sarcastic, smirking Connery. Still he had the charm, wit, sophistication and silver tongue necessary to pull off some fairly stunning stunts and cons.
But like I said that's not all. In the Rocketter he played Neville Sinclair. Basically Errol Flynn, if he was a Nazi sympathiser and spy (a whole kettle of worms I'm not going to go into, only to say that the character was undoubtedly based on the allegations). He played the character wonderfully; amoral, selfish and greedy. A monster who played at being a man, living it large in the spotlight at the hight of Hollywood glamour all the while being this dark evil force. As soon as the heroine scratched the surface she revealed the dark core.
Then we have Simon Skinner in Hot Fuzz. Another villain, but a lot different. By running the Supermarket he basically has a monopoly on the small town's shopping and a respected place in the community. While the true bad guys are a cabal of… well let's not give that away… Skinner obviously thinks of himself as the lord of the Mannor, going as far as to declare it his village. Again Dalton pulled out that sardonic wit to literally be the mustachio twirling vaudevillian villain. You can't help but laugh as he doesn't even bother to hide it this time.
Then comes Chuck, in which he plays three different people. The chief bad guy (noticing a pattern, well great actors always prefer that role, it let's them keep their teeth sharp), the bad guy playing a bumbling fool and a regretful father. I wouldn't call it a tour-de-force but it comes close. After all the above to see the character that Dalton ends up playing just proves that he's, after all that, a great actor.
I have to admit that I do feel a bit guilty going on for what is about one and a half pages of A4 about the guy, but the honest truth is I do respect him and feel that he is really under appreciated out there. I've said my piece, I hope I've made my point.
Thomas
PS I'd be remiss if I didn't mention his stint on Doctor Who as Rassilon himself! While I hate that two parter with a passion that grows even more every time I see it the shear menace and bombast he made in the first half was brilliant. You felt the threat building in his actions and his delivery, while not at all subtile really made his lack of pay off that much worse. Seriously he could have at least walked around a bit. Just because he's talking doesn't mean he should stand around like a statue...
