Each of the Bonds brought a different appearance to the role, to fit with the world times.
Connery was the kind of Bond that could be eating dinner with a girl, stick a knife into her stomach beneath it while kissing her, and say "She was just dying for a bite to eat" or something, and get away with it. He delivered the role in a time period in history where he was the kind of hero people wanted, in their books especially. His treatment of women fit into that time period too. The Bond women were all needing to be rescued, and were best fit as secretaries or as women who couldn't possibly understand or live in his world for very long.
Lazenby I think had potential, if he had chosen to stay with the role longer. He was much like Connery in how he moved, but he was constrained by the writing of OHMSS. If you watch, you see that he doesn't speak quite as much as the Bonds do normally in other films. Even though he was offered a contract for seven films, I don't think anyone had any intention to keep him for that long.
Moore was the escapist Bond, which is what audiences were looking for at that time period in the 70's and part of the 80's. The world was under the eye of the Cold War, so Bond films provided escapism for the public. I don't think a serious Bond like Connery would have really worked in this time period.
Dalton was a lot like the TV shows of that time period, and seemed to be geared more towards an American audience. License to Kill is a glorified Miami Vice episode, for example. The public watched TV shows with explosions and drug deals and ruthless characters, and they got them. Whether it was Leiter getting his leg chewed off, or the 'little valentine', it fit the bill.
Brosman was an attempt to bring Bond into the post-Cold War world, and modernize him. He relied on slick tricks and Q branch toys to a degree that not even Moore did. He was very action oriented (Die Another Day anyone?), stopped his smoking, wore Italian-suits, and was more than willing to be equal to women, unlike Connery (for example).
Craig is the new generation. A lot of movie franchises are being rebirthed, and are all going back to the source material to bring it closer to what made them popular in the first place. Gone are the days of Batman and Robin or Super Man III, we now have The Dark Knight and Superman Returns. Craig is a sign of the times, of people wanting to see all the excess stuff stripped away, and the characters being returned to solid, even sometimes more conservative, roots. And that is what this actor does.
My preferences though:
1) Connery/Craig
2) Moore (The Spy Who Loved Me)
3) Lazenby
4) Brosman
5) Dalton
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