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What if Roger Moore had done OHMSS?
I often wonder about it, what it would have meant for Moore's tenure, OHMSS and the franchise. Would OHMSS have been lighter, and if so to which extend? Would the Moore era have been darker and more heavily influenced by Tracie's death? Would the public have been ready for Moore at this time?
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Comments
It would have been bloody awful that's what
I'd have loved to see it
Look at TSPWLM, it's tailor made for Moore, just like LTK is a perfect match for Dalton. I don't think that the producers would have went down the tongue in cheek route they did for later Moore movies had he done OHMSS, I can't say he would have been better than Lazenby but I can surely speculate that he wouldn't have been as jokey or light hearted in it as he was in his later movies.
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To start: Moore would have been 42, rather than 46/47 when he actually started, making him look perfect for the part. He, at this point, was keen to get out of his 'The Saint' role, meaning he would have been far more open to whatever style the film-makers were going for.
In 1970, Moore played a serious role in The Man Who Haunted Himself, further proving he was up for more dramatic roles, fitting perfectly with the far more down-to-Earth role OHMSS was looking for.
Also in 1969, Moore was trying to get out of a 'terrible' relationship with his then-wife, who eventually granted him a divorce. This would have strengthened his portrayal of Bond trying to get along with, and finally falling in love with the tough Tracy character.
Moore's actual films reflected his fun, playboy personality because that is how the writers decided to make the Bond character, because it would make the role more natural for Moore in 1973 and on.
Had Moore started when the writers wanted a serious portrayal of Bond in 1969, I'm sure Moore would have obliged. In fact, he did make a rather serious film in 1969, Crossplot, which involved Moore's character falling in love with a troubled woman, who eventually leads him to discover an organization out to destabilize the world order. Sound familiar?
As someone who is only a casual fan of a few of Moore's Bond films, I would love to see him play the role of Bond in 1969, because he seemed to fit really well.
Did I change anyone's mind?
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One thing I must say... it already looks like Tracy can kick Bond's a**
Mod edit: direct link to copyrighted image removed.
;)
Just thinking of this hurts my head. Happy with the way it is.
This is a really interesting analysis, and makes me reconsider Moore's tenure. Bond as perceived/written in the 70s influenced his tenure as much as he influenced it. And OHMSS may have change the whole tone of the Moore's Bond. However, I would say like many here that the fights would have been weaker (although Moore being younger, it might have helped).
Oh and on a side note I think Moore played very well the widower Bond in the few scenes when he remembers Tracy.
Furthermore, the OHMSS Bond has some pretty tough decisions to make, hurled between duty and love, self-awareness and pride. With Lazenby missing a few acting notes here and there, a certain kind of insecurity on his part can be felt and that only makes the performance, even by accident, stronger. Moore was always very conscious of himself as Bond. I'm not sure if the performance, while no doubt entertaining, would have convinced me with this script. Even the humour in this film, Moore's alleged trademark as Bond, had some complexity to it.
And of course there's the action. Lazenby had the physicality for sure - he was indeed a brawler. You can sense his anger, the power behind his fists. Moore's action was hardly ever beyond some 'pro forma' moves. Nothing wrong with that by the way - I love Moore's Bond - but I'm not too confident about him carrying the OHMSS script. YOLT, perhaps. Maybe even GF. But not OHMSS.
I wonder if Moore would have played Bond in OHMSS the way we expected him to play Bond. JWESTBROOK really challenged perceptions I had about Moore as an actor. I also wonder how him playing in the more dramatic, darker Bond movie that was OHMSS would have influenced his tenure.
What makes you think she would not have died?
Yes. And let's forget that when Moore became Bond, it was after DAF, which took the opposite approach to OHMSS. Moore's take was influenced by it.
He'd be re-acting his days at drama school in which he made his way through all the female students ;)
I remember reading an interview with Peter Hunt in which Hunt claimed that Moore's version of Bond was not to his taste - despite praising Moore himself very strongly.
It would've been terrible. /thread