Bond Performance - This week; Roger Moore as James Bond, 007 in A View To A Kill

11012141516

Comments

  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    I think it's funny when Moore almost seems to get blamed for DAF. :))
  • BennyBenny Shaken not stirredAdministrator, Moderator
    Posts: 15,138
    DrGorner wrote: »
    I think it's funny when Moore almost seems to get blamed for DAF. :))

    DAF can be blamed squarely on Guy Hamilton, Tom Mankiewicz , Cubby and Harry and Sean Connery.
    The Bond of DAF(t) is not the same Bond we encountered in DN,FRWL, GF and TB. After his hissy fit with YOLT it all went pear shaped for Connery Bond. DAF is not James Bond. It's Sean Connery playing a man called James Bond in a parody of his former self.

  • edited January 2015 Posts: 238
    Benny wrote: »
    DrGorner wrote: »
    I think it's funny when Moore almost seems to get blamed for DAF. :))

    DAF can be blamed squarely on Guy Hamilton, Tom Mankiewicz , Cubby and Harry and Sean Connery.
    The Bond of DAF(t) is not the same Bond we encountered in DN,FRWL, GF and TB. After his hissy fit with YOLT it all went pear shaped for Connery Bond. DAF is not James Bond. It's Sean Connery playing a man called James Bond in a parody of his former self.
    The reason for the DAF anomaly is very clear, just no one wants to accept it.
  • NicNacNicNac Administrator, Moderator
    Posts: 7,582
    Benny wrote: »
    DrGorner wrote: »
    I think it's funny when Moore almost seems to get blamed for DAF. :))

    DAF can be blamed squarely on Guy Hamilton, Tom Mankiewicz , Cubby and Harry and Sean Connery.
    The Bond of DAF(t) is not the same Bond we encountered in DN,FRWL, GF and TB. After his hissy fit with YOLT it all went pear shaped for Connery Bond. DAF is not James Bond. It's Sean Connery playing a man called James Bond in a parody of his former self.
    The reason for the DAF anomaly is very clear, just no one wants to accept it.

    Don't be silly, we all accept it. DAF was a dream. A big, daft, silly old dream.
  • NicNac wrote: »
    Benny wrote: »
    DrGorner wrote: »
    I think it's funny when Moore almost seems to get blamed for DAF. :))

    DAF can be blamed squarely on Guy Hamilton, Tom Mankiewicz , Cubby and Harry and Sean Connery.
    The Bond of DAF(t) is not the same Bond we encountered in DN,FRWL, GF and TB. After his hissy fit with YOLT it all went pear shaped for Connery Bond. DAF is not James Bond. It's Sean Connery playing a man called James Bond in a parody of his former self.
    The reason for the DAF anomaly is very clear, just no one wants to accept it.

    Don't be silly, we all accept it. DAF was a dream. A big, daft, silly old dream.
    NicNac, you are a very wise and sensible person indeed.
  • royale65royale65 Caustic misanthrope reporting for duty.
    Posts: 4,423
    My, my ,my.

    Imagine when I get in from work, and this "discussion" has 72 new posts. Excellent! I should have released what the vast majority of it was. The same old comments about Sir Roger, who, as I'm aware, didn't even star in DAF. And the same old comments about DAF it being all a dream. Grow up the pair of you.
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    Posts: 12,480
    And to think there are seven Moore performances up for discussion after this...
    oh this is brilliant. :D

    And we can rest a little more reassured, we may have actual decent discussions on all the Moore films coming up. Thank you, dear mods.
  • royale65royale65 Caustic misanthrope reporting for duty.
    Posts: 4,423
    Actually, I was going to skip the Moore outings, but in this case....
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    Posts: 12,480
    Yes, do stick around. It should be more pleasant now. :)
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,800
    I had no idea who this bloke Bond was in '71- I just made my Mom take me because the TV ads made it look so cool. And I LOVED it! For nostalgia's sake, I still get a kick out of it. But yeah, it's not as good now as when I was 11. Connery was clearly just goofing off here.
  • royale65royale65 Caustic misanthrope reporting for duty.
    Posts: 4,423
    Roger Moore is a completely different type of personality and character to Sean Connery. Moore has an air of haughty indifference to playing 007. Urbane and laconic, Moore was a gifted light comedian, and through his lightness of touch, Moore differentiated himself, not only from Connery, but also the other actors to subsequently inhabit the role of 007.

    Moore skimmed through the books, but found little in the way of how he was meant to play Bond. Nevertheless, Moore found in Ian Fleming's Goldfinger, a useful tip; Bond hated killing, but he took pride in doing the job well. That was Moore's mantra – he abhorred killing.

    Both the literary Bond and Moore's Bond loathed cold blooded killing, and both would take great pains to avoid it, unless it was absolutely necessary, in which case they took pride in doing the job well.

    That is not the only similarity between Fleming's Bond and Moore's Bond. In Fleming's novels, Bond used to play the "ineffectual, blustering Englishman", to disarm his opponents. After all, what does one have to fear from this Limey, grinning chap, the P.G Wodehouse type of Englishman; pleasant, yet naive and blunderous, and that seems to be in over his head?

    Both Fleming's Bond and Moore's Bond used this gambit to devastating effect. Take the scene in Moore's début, Live and Let Die. Early on in the movie, Bond gets captured by Mr Big, in Harlem. Mr Big tells his cronies to "waste him" ("waste him", is that good? asks Moore surreptitiously; the Englishman out of his depth in Harlem, is quite amusing). They take Bond outside, in order to shoot him; Bond even has his hands up. The goons think that Bond is playing by the "Queensbury Rules".

    But they'd be wrong; Bond, seeing his chance, leaps up onto a fire escape, and in one swift kick, knocks the two goons to the floor. By seemingly being a "good sport", as befitting an English gentleman, Bond has undermined his threat to his opponents, and then when Bond reveals what his true intentions are, a wolf in Englishman's clothing if you will, it is too late. Moore is the only actor to get this particular facet of playing Bond.

    Both the literary Bond and Moore's Bond have the sophistication and the suaveness, but underneath that veneer, one finds a particularly cold, professional man, even un-likeable.

    As Tom Mankiewicz succinctly said, Moore was the "old Etonian drop-out that Fleming had imagined."

    If there is one thing to reproach Moore with, is that he does not move with the same grace and elegance, that his two predecessors had, and it would only get worse as Moore aged in the role. Moore was 45 when he started work on Live and Let Die, but his fresh face belied that fact.

    Thus Moore played 007 as Moore, with a flavouring of Ian Fleming's 007; cool, decisive and very charming, with a dash of "white knight". Moore, for example, would go out of his way to save a "damsel in distress", when arguably, Fleming's Bond may not have. The mission always came first in the literary Bond.

    Although Bond wasn't always an English gentleman, which Moore stereotypically played. This Bond, like Sean Connery's Bond, thought of nothing to spend time making love to a villainess, or using his charm to deflower the virginal Solitaire, in order to get close to Mr Big, although the "cards" were slightly stacked in favour of Bond, in that last example. This, then, was a Bond, cynical and callous as it may be, who would use every trick up his finely tailored sleeve, in order to get the job done.

    In Roger Moore's début outing, he smoothly takes over the mantle, being understated, in an understated film, all told, considering what came after it, Voodoo elements notwithstanding, in his performance, featuring his trademark style and charisma. All though it was an evolving portrayal by Moore, fleshing out his take on the role, which improves from here, in subsequent Bond adventures.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    Lovely summing up Royale65 =D>
  • edited January 2015 Posts: 11,189
    royale65 wrote: »
    R
    Moore skimmed through the books, but found little in the way of how he was meant to play Bond. Nevertheless, Moore found in Ian Fleming's Goldfinger, a useful tip; Bond hated killing, but he took pride in doing the job well. That was Moore's mantra – he abhorred killing.

    Yet Moore still had the smoothness to deliver a one-liner after he killed Kananga...and AGAIN after Teehe.

    Moore was probably the smoothest of all the Bond's but he plays it a little straighter here than he would later on.

    Watched a bit of LALD earlier on ITV, Moore's decent enough. Confident, commanding and amusing with the one-liners.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    Moore was his most like the literary Bond in his first two films. By
    His third, I think they knew his strengths and steered the films more
    To his light comic touch.
    For me his best performance was in FYEO, once again a more serious
    take on Bond, even in OP, and AVTAK. I think he plays an ageing 007
    Very well. ( and I don't say that to knock him).
    Unlike any other actor Moore played Bond totally in his own style, and
    What style he had. :)
  • royale65royale65 Caustic misanthrope reporting for duty.
    Posts: 4,423
    Can't think of a simile/metaphor to go with "like butter". Coz that's what Sir Rog is ;)
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    Posts: 12,480
    Beautifully said, @royale65. I agree.
    And I think Roger's innate charm and self confidence, both well honed by the time he took over as Bond, stood him well, gave him that specifically unique touch, that enabled him to break free from the Connery mold. There was no real Lazenby mold to worry about. The franchise continued on truly because of Roger Moore as Bond.

    Nobody can ever do this quite the way Moore did because he rather "patented" this take on Bond. Nobody did it better indeed, when it comes to the best Moore moments as Bond and in particular having a light touch of humor, sardonic, elegant, fun, and underneath quite serious about the job.

    Moore had ups and downs during his tenure, but he was a memorable Bond - and one who was exactly what was needed when he took over the role.
  • royale65royale65 Caustic misanthrope reporting for duty.
    Posts: 4,423
    Thanks ladies and gents. I copied and pasted that write up from @SirHenry's Originals Thread, and from the review I done on Live and Let Die
  • Posts: 158
    Totally agree with @4EverBonded. I always wonder what people's opinions on Sir Rog would have been if he had been the first cinematic Bond. Live and Let Die was a great film and debut for him.
  • pachazopachazo Make Your Choice
    Posts: 7,314
    Considering the circumstances, it's impressive how comfortably and confidently Moore stepped into the role. I wasn't around at the time but I can imagine how enormous the pressure to follow Connery was. Moore would become even more confident in his portrayal as he went on but right from the start he made it his own. He was quite the charmer and (obviously) humorous but his Bond could be a cold bastard when he had to be. He looked great in a suit, although sometimes the 70's fashions betrayed him, but he certainly emitted that element of class that Bond must have. As @royale65 pointed out, he was not afraid to use every trick up his sleeve. He enjoyed when his enemies underestimated him. Audiences certainly approved and Cubby and Harry rushed to get another film into production right away.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Already in 1971, the rumour had it that Roger Moore would be the next Bond. I can understand why. he was the perfect candidate for it.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    I love the bit on croc island, when Bond asked for the information on how to kill one.
    As Tee Hee tells him about the pen idea, Moore's hand goes up to check if he has a pen in his inside jacket pocket. Brilliant little bit of physical humour. :)
  • Oh dear.

    What can we say about Rog? Ruined a perfectly good franchise with the buffoonery.
  • Oh dear.

    What can we say about Rog? Ruined a perfectly good franchise with the buffoonery.

    I'm more convinced now than ever that MartonAstin and Doubleohdad were the same person. It's sad when someone is unable to fit in and is reduced to creating a friend for himself.
  • Birdleson wrote: »
    Could be true, but if so he definitely wanted Doubleohdad to appear to be the more rational and congenial of the two.

    Split personality?
  • SarkSark Guangdong, PRC
    Posts: 1,138
    Lol at the late doubleohdad creating account after account to bash Moore. I think he spends more time thinking about Moore than the biggest fans here.
  • edited January 2015 Posts: 1,778
    Sark wrote: »
    Lol at the late doubleohdad creating account after account to bash Moore. I think he spends more time thinking about Moore than the biggest fans here.

    I wonder if maybe Roger Moore slept with his wife/girlfriend or something. Or maybe he started out as a huge Roger Moore fan but Moore never returned his fan mail. Either way he has some sort of unhealthy fixation on Sir Rog.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    I find it odd why someone would spend so much time, to attack an actor he
    Hates ? I have a couple of actors ,I don't rate very highly. So I don't go out
    Of my way to watch their films, I certainly wouldn't spend ages on a fan
    Site to attack them. Really can't see the point ! :)
  • royale65royale65 Caustic misanthrope reporting for duty.
    Posts: 4,423
    As James Bond, 007, Roger Moore improves on his début in Live And Let Die, showing more confidence in the role. This time, however, Moore presents a terser interpretation, as if he's being haunted by the spectre of Scaramanga.

    This edgier undercurrent counterpoints well with Moore's urbane charm, and is used to great effect in the film, for example, there is a surprisingly nasty encounter between Bond and some goons in Beirut, in which Moore acquits himself rather well. Indeed we get to see Moore's Bond not playing by the rules. Moore's Bond, like Fleming's Bond, used the gambit of the unassuming Englishman to deceive their enemies. Further evidence of this, is in an enjoyable kung fu showdown. That is before the sequence was ruined by having the entire kung fu dojo, being defeated by two schoolgirls, one of the low-points in the Bondian cannon.

    Moreover, at the dinner, Scaramanga goads Bond into admitting that he enjoys killing just as much as him. "Killing you would be a pleasure" Bond coolly replies. Lastly Bond gets overly physical with Andrea, over the whereabouts of Scaramanga. There is a subtle quality in Golden Gun's script, regrading the character of Bond.

    This last scene is uncomfortable to watch, Bond slapping a woman, but it is meant to be. We are meant to question Bond's actions, this moral quandary is an excellent piece of drama, and remember drama doesn't have to be nice, to be drama, and is inspired by the novels of Fleming, in which Fleming encapsulates this "moral quandary" so well. Andrea could be the key to finding out where Scaramanga is, and lest not forget that Scaramanga is reportedly trying to kill Bond. The means justified the end. This scene, uncomfortable as it may be to watch, is played well by Moore and Maud Adams, who portrays Andrea.

    Bond shoves Goodnight into a closet, in a scene not to dissimilar to the farcical scene that introduced Moore as 007, where by he attempts to hide Ms Caruso from M. Bond and Andrea discuss their arrangement – Bond would kill Scaramanga, but only after Andrea has got the Solex Agitator. Before, inevitably, making love, with Goodnight still in the closet.

    This is the most chauvinistic act, in the series, perpetrated by Bond, especially when Bond has "finished" with Andrea, he promises Goodnight that "her time will come soon". This odd mix between callous and camp that makes Golden Gun so disconcerting.
  • edited January 2015 Posts: 11,189
    I still remember Maud Adams saying that the attempt to make Bond "harder" in GG didn't work at all in her opinion.

    Still, I think Moore gives a decent enough performance even if he is rather rigid at times.
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    edited January 2015 Posts: 13,978
    In TMWTGG, Moore's performance is all over the place. Very inconsistent. Veering from trying to come off like Connery's Bond to something not unlike what was seen in the previous film (LALD). The film itself is quite a poor show, but Christopher Lee is superb as Scaramanga.

    Back to the point, TMWTGG features one of Moore's worst performances in the role.
Sign In or Register to comment.