Roger Moore vs. Timothy Dalton

I am a huge Bond fan and I rank the actors who portray the character in this order:

5. Lazenby
4. Moore/Dalton
3. Craig
2. Brosnan
1. Connery

But when it comes to Moore and Dalton, I cannot decide who is better since they are at complete opposite ends of the spectrum. Moore has great chemistry with the women, and the best for humor. Lazenby is the most serious Bond pretty much, and possibly the darkest, but lacking chemistry with the women, as the women kind of carry him along more so as a result I find.

So both pros and cons, but who do you think is better out of curiosity?

Moore is the more entertaining one, but Dalton, by far, embodies the characters more believably.

The jokes and open promiscuity were largely elements that Connery added to the role, but Fleming's Bond is dry, boring and a killer.

Moore, obviously, though Dalton is the only other one I bother with (even though I love Connery in other things).
They'll never better Roger.

I like George Lazenby as well. I think a good silhouette for the character and the action in On Her Majesty's is fantastic.

You could probably argue that Roger Moore is a more entertaining Bond than Timothy Dalton but it depends what you're after as a viewer, and which film you're talking about at the time. Moore, somewhat surprisingly and brilliantly, gets very dark at times. For example I particularly like that reptile grin he gives M in The Man with the Golden Gun.

I remember comments made that in the books Bond has a distaste for his job and Timothy Dalton (my favourite) certainly brought that out, as does Daniel Craig. I very much like that take on the material and you see it with the others to a lesser extent.

moore can be really dark when asked certain qurstions, or remarks, such as XXX MENTIONING THAT HE WAS MARRIED ONLY ONCE WHEN HE ANSWERS BLUNTINGLY STRAIGHT FACED: ALRIGHT I THINK U VE MADE UR POINT, CLASSIC ROGER MOORE MOMENT

Yes, I remember that. I know also that Moore was very uncomfortable with Bond's rougher treatment of Maud Adams' character in Golden Gun. It definitely seems uncharacteristic for his Bond overall and is perhaps more like Connery.

Pierce Brosnan was great I think at creating a combination of Moore and Connery's styles. He's like the "greatest hits" Bond really.

There's no way to say one is better than the other. I like them both, but then again I'm not big into Bond. It bores me to tears.

Dalton. He "looked" the most like Bond to me of them all.

Moore did the humor and charm better, but Dalton played every other aspect of the role more convincingly. He brought an energy and intensity to the role that hadn't been there in a while.


Also, Dalton changed the direction of the series for the better, asking the writers and producers to go toward more believable and nuanced plots, at a time when the series had gone into parody territory. With Moore, there was little concern about the plot or characters, as long as the film had entertaining gags.


Dalton only had 2 but both are good. Moore had 7 films, but they vary in quality control a lot.


I liked them both, but I'm voting Dalton here.