The Roger Moore Era (1973-1985)

I used to hate his interpretation and his films. I guess it was my "bond r srs stuff" phase. I'm a lot more loose now regarding Moore. Not my idea of James Bond but he makes it his own and does well with it. I'm no longer bugged by his cool-as-a-cucumber-in-a-bowl-of-hot-sauce approach. And even if he tried Connery's asshole schtick it wouldn't work. Look at some scenes in TMWTGG such as his scene with Anders. He's too refined to pull off that act. So I regard that as his weakest performance.

His best? Somewhere between MR and OP. He didn't seem too comfortable with FYEO. He gave a good performance in AVTAK, despite looking older than my grandpa.

My ranking of the Moore films.

MR
OP
FYEO
TSWLM
LALD
TMWTGG
AVTAK

Seems about right.

And now the tribute courtesy of a bloke know by the alias Paul McCartney.

I'd rank the Rog's thusly:

1. FYEO. Those lyrics up there explain why. No further justification required. BILL CONTI RULES.

2. OP. It has Rog handing a wad of money to a man from a "poor continent", before saying "That'll keep you in curry for a few weeks". Political incorrectness, YAY. Racism? Well, probably yeah. But you can't win 'em all. And Rog vs Orlov alone would be a good excuse to stick this at number 2, but there's plenty of other awesomeness; Moore is on great form, and the suspense of the bomb chase is something the current era would kill to be able to muster. As is the score.

3. AVTAK. Yeah, Rog is old, but it's still a great performance. Awesome score, great stunts, Zorin, MayDay and a nice elegiac quality at times all help to say an underratedly solid goodbye to a classic era. I called this film GOLDFINGER DONE BETTER back at MI6, but I'd probably get lynched for that here, especially wth the swear filter switched off. Oh, fuck it. It's GOLDFINGER DONE BETTER. Even 58 year old Moore doesn't spend half the film sat on his arse here.

4. MR. I kinda love MR, despite 4th place here perhaps suggesting otherwise. Double-taking pigeon? F*cking love the bugger. Dracula rising from his coffin, getting knifed then falling back in? F*ckin' A. Victor The Drunk? Get in there. He should be in every Bond film to offset the almost-obligatory one stupid moment in almost every Bond film. Space? Hell yeah, it brings out some of the best stuff John Barry ever did for Bond, plus it humanises the previously roadrunner-esque Jaws. And the effects are terrific. Scale? Bet your ass. Scope? Bucketloads. Hot women? F*ckin' count 'em. A python? Sod it, yeah, we'll have a big f*ck-off Python as well. An ultra-smooth Moore and one of the best villains of the series? Damn straight. "Big, knowingly- dumb entertainment Bond" done right, with a proper budget, proper scale, proper scope, proper music and mostly just proper awesomeness. Babs promises us the moon, but really means "Here, kiss my ass". Moonraker delivers THE ACTUAL F*CKING MOON.

5. LALD. Meh. Funky as hell score, killer song, great title sequence, Jane Seymour, some decent moments, Kananga, a mostly great wardrobe for Rog, but the guy's in a sitcom here, made all the more so by Guy Hamilton making the whole thing look more like an episode of f*cking KOJAK than a film. I love KOJAK. But it's a TV show. Bond isn't. Complete waste of what should have been a fantastically sinister voodoo atmosphere as well. ROY WARD BAKER or someone, hell ANYONE else, should have directed this.

6. TMWTGG. A funny film at times, heck it's downright hilariously stupid at it's best, but it doesn't have the other stuff to back this up the way something like the epic MR does. Feels TV-made again. Rog's performance, while admirably harder at times, seems a bit useless given that everything else in the film is played as a big f*cking joke. I blow hot and cold on it. Sometimes it's just good dumb fun, some other times it just loses me less than halfway in. I don't hate it, mind, not by any means. There's still something old-school about it, it definitely feels like the last film of a certain era given the more full-on epic stuff which followed it. It's average at best though.

7. TSWLM. It was epic fun back in the day, but now I struggle with it. Too big and bloated for it's own good in the first half, the Jaws van scene is Rog's lowest ebb as Bond, the guy's like a really annoying lightweight "comedian" there. The PTS is still all kinds of awesomeness, there's a decent sense of scale in places, and I kinda like the oft-maligned Stromberg but just find him woefully underused. The tone flips relentlessly as well, a pretty big annoyance for me with this one. Hamlisch's score has it's moments, though I miss Barry here far more than I missed him in LALD; The grand scope this flick sometimes has could have used Barry. TSWLM has it's place in Bond history, that much I can never deny, but it just doesn't do much for me anymore.

In terms of films:
FYEO
OP/AVTAK
TMWTGG
TSWLM
MR
LALD

In terms of Moore's performance:FYEO
TMWTGG
AVTAK
OP
LALD
TSWLM
MR

I post explanations here another time.

Roger Moore is S-E-X personified.

1. FYEO
2. AVTAK
3. TMWTGG
4. TSWLM
5. MR
6. OP
7. LALD

If you bump FYEO down to between LALD and MR, Lazenby. said pretty much everything I have to say on the matter.

Though I'm tempted to give LALD bonus points for the sheer hilarity of seeing Roger Moore called "a honky" and the Rosie Carver character. And the jazz funeral idea could've come straight out of Fleming. God I love Mankiewicz.

Also Rog's navy jacket in the New York sequence is too cool for words.

1. FYEO
2. LALD
3. OP
4. TSWLM
5. MR
6. AVTAK
7. TMWTGG

The man is god - pity some of his films werent.

TSWLM
TMWTGG
FYEO
OP
LALD
MR
AVTAK

Every time I watch a Moore film the rankings change, which is a testament to the enjoyability that each and every one possesses. If I'm in the mood for a Bond film, nine times out of ten it'll be a Moore film.

Currently :

1. FYEO
2. TSWLM
3. OP
4. MR
5. AVTAK
6. LALD
7. TMWTGG

Moore's the man! He's jumped in my Bond actor ranking from about 5th to 2nd in the last few years, even though I'd only consider FYEO a top-10 Bond film. Moore is never a weak link in his films. And yes - after a shaky start with the Guy Hamilton films, Moore makes the role his own beginning with TSWLM and is brilliant in MR, FYEO, and OP. I consider his performance in FYEO to be on par with the best of what the other Bonds offer.

Film ranking:
1. FYEO
2. TSWLM
3. OP
4. MR
5. LALD
6. TMWTGG
7. AVTAK

Bond ranking:
1. FYEO
2. OP
3. MR
4. TSWLM
5. LALD
6. TMWTGG
7. AVTAK

Lazenby. wrote:

but the guy's in a sitcom here, made all the more so by Guy Hamilton making the whole thing look more like an episode of f*cking KOJAK than a film. I love KOJAK. But it's a TV show. Bond isn't. Complete waste of what should have been a fantastically sinister voodoo atmosphere as well. ROY WARD BAKER or someone, hell ANYONE else, should have directed this.

Agreed. It's a shame, too, because the whole voodoo approach is so unique that it will likely never be seen as a viable option for a future film. They wasted it.

Vesper wrote:

Though I'm tempted to give LALD bonus points for the sheer hilarity of seeing Roger Moore called "a honky" and the Rosie Carver character.

GET THAT THING OUT OF HERE

G section wrote:

Every time I watch a Moore film the rankings change, which is a testament to the enjoyability that each and every one possesses.

I agree they seem to change for me on a regular basis. My current rankings are:

FYEO
TSWLM
LALD
OP
AVTAK
TMWTGG
MR

Makeshift Python wrote:

I used to hate his interpretation and his films. I guess it was my "bond r srs stuff" phase. I'm a lot more loose now regarding Moore. Not my idea of James Bond but he makes it his own and does well with it.

I'm much the same way. I one ranked Moore at the bottom of my Bond actor list. Now he's ahead of Brosnan at least. I appreciate Moore's films much more than I used to. I often wrote them off just because he was in them, and thought them automatically too silly, but that's not the case with all his films, and it's not him in the films that makes them silly even when they are.

I rank his era as follows:

FYEO
OP
LALD
AVTAK
MR
TSWLM
TMWTGG - And that is not based on his performance. He is brilliant in this one. The film just bores me as a whole.

Laz, did I mention that I am your fan, and you are one of the main reason I am here (no, I'm not getting sappy), but your frickin' propensity to convert others deserves a big mention here. The one on Moonraker's awesome!

TSWLM
FYEO

...then the rest.

FourDot wrote:

TSWLM
FYEO

...then the rest.

TSWLM
FYEO
LALD
OP
TMWTGG
AVTAK
MR

1. A View to a Kill (1985)
2. Octopussy (1983)
3. For Your Eyes Only (1981)
4. Live and Let Die (1973)
5. The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)
6. The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
7. Moonraker (1979)

Yes, AVTAK is my favorite Moore 007 movie.

1. OCTOPUSSY
2. FOR YOUR EYES ONLY
3. MOONRAKER
4. A VIEW TO A KILL
5. THE SPY WHO LOVED ME
6. LIVE AND LET DIE
7. THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN

@The White Tuxedo: That is a most peculiar Moore ranking, but it's refreshing! Good to see that AVTAK is not your bottom place holder! Also interesting that LALD is your second to last.

I used to loooooathe AVTAK. I'd put it down at every opportunity. Honestly, I like every Bond movie from DN-LTK. I hate the Brosnan ones, and I like the Craig ones pretty well.

I like 1980's Moore. I do wish Dalton had taken the wheel in '81 though.

Hate the Brosnan movies?!?! OH NO!!! Haha, you see, I'm a huge Brosnan 007 fan. GE is my number 1, TND is my number four, and the often despised TWINE and DAD are both in my top 15.

TND is my new AVTAK. Can't stand it. :face:

The White Tuxedo wrote:

TND is my new AVTAK. Can't stand it. :face:

Oh dear me.....WHY?! Haha, I respect your opinion, really I do. I just don't understand how TND can be so hated! It's chock-full with superb action! A thrill ride if there ever was one!

TND is a boring generic action movie. It bored me at the age of 11 and it still does today.

Might pick this up in the Brosnan thread. :) TND.... It strikes me as a dumbass American action movie.

-The two great loves of Bond's life: Diana Rigg and Teri Hatcher.
-I hate the production design. Looks like a Steven Seagal movie with a budget.
-Michelle Yeoh underused... she could really wipe the floor with Brosnan. Terrible idea to pair Bond with a woman who could obviliously beat him up with no difficulty. And she's not very attractive IMHO. Neither is Hatcher.
-Pryce bores me to tears.
-Most of the movie bores me to tears.
-Bond drives a sedan? It's worse than the hairdresser's car he had in GE.
-More stuff.

I used to be able to rank Moore's films. But now I just can't do it. I can enjoy any of Rog's films and none really bum me out. I really see the genius of Roger Moore's interpretation. He brings the Etonian snobbery, London high class, St. James Club gentlemanly attitude, all while never really breaking a sweat. He never tried to ape Connery, and truly made the role his own. He was so natural in his performance it was as if he wasn't even acting, rather he was just playing himself. He practically carries every film he's in. This is not true of Connery (the locations, sets and music were the highlight of YOLT). How could I possibly rank Moore's films? It would be like ranking children. Roger's Moore has more charm in his pinky than Brosnan, Craig, and Dalton combined (though I still love Dalts and Bros). Though Connery is still my favorite, I really appreciate the suave and super sense of confidence Moore brings to the role.