Does anyone else think that this one has the cheesiest humor, and not in a good way?

There is good cheesy and tack cheesy but this kind is just tacky. Lines like "A genuine Felix Leiter, illuminating", or "For 20 dollars, I'll take you to a Ku Klux Klan cookout", or "Get me a make on a white pimpmobile", etc.

Or the Ms. Bell, giving those looks that are suppose to be funny, when they are really not. Or Rosie Carver is suppose to be funny cause she goes over the top scared, but it was kind of painful. So the bad humor really brings this one down for me. But what do you think?

The cookout line was funny.

Things were funnier pre-Current Year.

Why was that line funny though, as oppose to bad cheesy?

It was funny because it made me LOL.

CJB wrote:

It was funny because it made me LOL.

Yeah I guess it's different strokes for people.   I guess I just feel that this one is the worst entry in the series for bad dialogue probably.

CJB wrote:

It was funny because it made me LOL.

Careful! You'll overload its logic circuits!

Blunt Instrument wrote:

CJB wrote:

It was funny because it made me LOL.

Careful! You'll overload its logic circuits!

ironpony wrote:

Yeah I guess it's different strokes for people. I guess I just feel that this one is the worst entry in the series for bad dialogue probably.

LALD is far from one of my favourites, but it's mainly due to story more than anything else. As flawed as the script is (in my opinion, HGTB will beg to differ), one of the film's greatest strengths is the dialogue. Any enjoyment from this film for me comes from the dialogue and the music, so while in places it might be cheesy, to talk your language, it's good cheesy.

Agreed. Lots of good wit in LALD.

They're blink and you miss it hysterical. The cookout line is truly dark in tone and gives the scene the edgy vibe it needs because Bond is indeed going into Harlem and will stick out like a very sore thumb. It is then sold by the world's best cab driver/henchman turning around and flashing that amazing toothy grin.
Other random favorites:
One more time again
Not married by any chance are you?
We shared the same bootmaker
Is that all it does?
I'm sure the overburdened British taxpayer...
I feel very tempted to test that theory right now...
Like following a cue ball.
Incurable romantic Mrs. Bond
It's just a hat, darling, belonging to a small headed man of limited means who lost a fight with a chicken
We should be able to lick you into shape
Nice to know I'm in line for the same kind of aid
If all else fails cyanide pills. I'll settle for two bedrooms.
Dear Uncle Felix
Meet the man who shares my hairbrush-Quarrel Jr.
A lousy agent-but let the compensations speak for themselves
You might have even killed me if you'd taken off the safety catch
Where is Bond now-cut to hang glider
Names is for tombstones baby
No sense in going off half cocked
Kananga's knitting a flag in there
Not even with that clever disguise you're wearing. White face in Harlem good thinking Bond.
Harold Strutter CIA where were you when I didn't need you.
If he finds it kill him.
Where would you like to go? (Solitaire lays on bed) Anywhere we can find one of these...
Sweet mother of pearl!-Roll change end of the line!
Where in hell can the man be-relax he probably got tied up somewhere

and so on and so on....

He's going on in!
I sure hope you make friends easy!
I once took a nasty turn in a booth.
Something in heads?
I'll need it gift-wrapped. Lengthwise.
What are you? Some kind of doomsday machine?
Well, we got a cage strong enough to hold an animal like you.
I suspect this ain't exactly your daybyooo at this sort of thing.
Ten fingahs on da fendah.
Now you listen here troopah boy! We got a swamp full of black Russian driving boats to beat the band!
If one side of the family don't get 'em, the other side shore will! Here comes Billy Bob now!

Not forgetting the non-verbal 'Trespassers Will Be Eaten' and 'Make Boating A Fun Sport ... 3 MPH Please'.

"He's a sort of secret agent"
"A SECRET AGENT? ON WHOSE SIDE?"

Golden.

Great stuff! I say that as someone who has never really rated LALD.

There used to be a time when Bond films - and films in general - were packed full of genuine wit and fun.

Yep. Wonder if we'll get back to that, what with a more charismatic lead actor and the likes of Deadpool and Ragnarok supposedly veering away from the doom and gloom origin stories.

Plus the boating sign has exclamation points making it all the more funny with the droning of the slow boat engine and all the spectators just staring at Bond making the proper safe entrance after all the boat mayhem.

These films really picked up on a need for wit and irreverence in the early 70's that people just weren't getting on the screen. In so many ways they predate the emergence of the 70's actioner and the eventual morphing into the 80's action film. And of course it took full flight when Mank did Superman with Donner. "Kent may seem like just a mild-mannered reporter, but listen, not only does he know how to treat his editor-in-chief with the proper respect, not only does he have a snappy, punchy prose style, but he is, in my forty years in this business, the fastest typist I've ever seen."

Of course I memorize most every Bond line or facial tic and usually twist them a bit to make the humorous when I re-quote them. That's how I came up with things like Whitaker sounding more like Col. Sanders etc.

Well after watching Moonraker again, maybe that one takes the cake for bad dialogue since the flirty dialogue between Bond and the two ladies, is somewhat painful to watch, if anyone thinks so?

I don't mind his exchanges with Corrine and the first scene with Goodhead is classic Moore humour. But Wood is no Mankiewicz.

I find the 'cheese' in MR is more of the non-verbal sort - Jaws attempting to 'fly' in the PTS and That Bloody Pigeon, for example.

I think the likes of Golden Gun and TSWLM edge LALD and MR out in cheesy humour. As Blunty says, MR does have Jaws flapping like a bleedin' idiot and that flipping pigeon.

The cookout line was funny not just because of the line alone but how the actor delivered the line. That actor was so fun and charismatic it's surprising he didn't have a bigger role in the film.

It's all about how it works in context of the story being told, the flavor of a particular scene and ensuring that things don't stick out like a sore thumb. There's a few groaners and off-key bits admittedly in GG but as I like to point out that was likely due to the production rushing and not finalizing a shooting script that properly balanced the different drafts-not to mention giving people time to rest and recharge.

MR does have more groaners but they are definitely on the event/goofy action side and not the dialogue which is almost always brilliant. One could find issue with Bond's treatment of Holly at first but Roger has so much charm you realize he's merely jesting and poking holes in Holly's brusque front which is course revealed to be a cover.
The wit on display in the dialogue banter for the hotel room unmasking of Holly as CIA is something you'll never see in a large motion picture again. "If it's Bollinger '69 you were expecting me." Plus it's a different way of doing the same sort of relationship with XXX and thus it stays fresh.
Bond's time with Corinne in the estate is just...sublime. Barry's score combined with the production design, more romanticized tone, lighting, Roger's playing of the scene and especially the lensing of particular shots especially the closeups of Clery....it just adds so much to that particular scene that it's almost otherworldly and wistful-and then we get the scene immediately thereafter in Drax's study which removes the aspects of fantasy yet shows both enjoyed themselves and that there is an actual connection there that sows the seeds of Corrine's fate. It's a shame Bond does not later discover her murder which could have been a great sacrificial lamb prompt to action.


Spy having cheesy bits? Where? I don't think anything is off the mark and most of the gags have a darker yet knowing edge to them which is nice. The only thing I dislike is the birth of the "John Glen Jump Scare" TM in the editing of Jaws on the train and later at Atlantis for the climax.

ironpony wrote:

Well after watching Moonraker again, maybe that one takes the cake for bad dialogue since the flirty dialogue between Bond and the two ladies, is somewhat painful to watch, if anyone thinks so?

These are both awful bastardizations of two of the finest Fleming books. That LALD is stuck between the brilliant bastardizations DAF and TMWTGG probably does not help its cause. I guess both LALD and MR have such outrageous premises that it was hard to rein in the silly stuff.