Best Villain in Moore Era?

edited November 2012 in General Discussion Posts: 1,107
My favorite Moore villain would have to be Francisco Scaramanga. Christopher Lee was an absolute genius in this film. This is in fact the dark side of Bond and the man with the golden gun proves to be a vicious killer, doing it strictly for pleasure. Lee's performance was outstanding, scared me at points!
Who's your favorite villain in the Moore era?
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Comments

  • I agree. Scaramanga even has cooler gadgets than 007 has!

    The film as a whole ranks in the lower tier of the EON franchise -- why, oh why, did they bring Sheriff Pepper back? -- but Lee's Scaramanga is one of the outstanding villains of the series.
  • edited November 2012 Posts: 3,276
    "May I press you to a cucumber sandwich?"

    "Look after Mr. Bond. See that some harm comes to him."

    "Mr. Bond. You defy all my attempts to plan an amusing death for you."

    "James Bond. You appear with the tedious inevitability of an unloved season."

    Hugo Drax all the way. With Zorin at a close second!
  • Major_BoothroydMajor_Boothroyd Republic of Isthmus
    Posts: 2,722
    Zekidk wrote:
    "May I press you to a cucumber sandwich?"

    Hugo Drax all the way. With Zorin at a close second!

    This! Drax is excellent. His interplay with Moore is similar to Goldfinger's with Connery. Love their scenes together.

    'Desolated Mr Bond.'
    'Heartbroken Mr Drax.'
  • Have to second Zekidk, a man of taste!

    In retrospect, Mr Big is more animated than most, but I don't like him when he's Kananga. OP has a good villain ensemble, what with Orlov as well.
  • Moore had some of the best villains of the whole series. Kristatos is just about the only one I can think of who isn't colourful or memorable in some way.

    My personal favourites have to be Drax, Scaramanga and Khan.
  • Scaramanga for me. I liked Karl Stromberg, too.
  • Kamal Khan is one of the best villains in the series, so him. But I really like all of Moore's villains. Even though I liked the bait and switch in FYEO, I'd have to say Kristatos is his worst. Just not memorable enough.
  • DoctorKaufmannDoctorKaufmann Can shoot you from Stuttgart and still make it look like suicide.
    Posts: 1,261
    1. Christopher Walken as Zorin
    2. Curd Jürgens as Stromberg
    3. Christopher Lee as Scaramanga
  • Posts: 12,526
    Mine would have to be his first! Dr Kananga/Mr Big.
  • Posts: 1,492
    Kristatos is my favourite as he is so deceptive. I love that scene at the Greek casino where he is trying to implicate Colombo. You can imagine him playing both sides against the Nazis in WWII.

    Scaramanga was probably the best. Hellm they were all good,
  • Hugo Drax as played by Michael Lonsdale, is my favourite villian from the Roger Moore era, he conveys a thoroughly menacing quality, verging on pure evil, without reverting to over acting, infact if anyhing he underplays the role, adding to the quiet insanity of the character.
  • Moore had some very good villians. Toss up between Scaramanga and Stromberg for me.
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    Posts: 13,355
    Hugo Drax, Scaramanga, Maz Zorin, Orlov. Such a great list to choose from.
  • BennyBenny Shaken not stirredAdministrator, Moderator
    Posts: 15,138
    1. Kamal Khan
    2. Hugo Drax
    3. General Orlov
    4. Max Zorin
    5. Scramanga
    6. Stromberg
    7. Kananga
    8. Kristatos
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,351
    I really like Kamal Khan. He was very suave and sophisticated like Moore. They both had great chemistry. My favorite quote of his.

    GET BOND!
  • KerimKerim Istanbul Not Constantinople
    Posts: 2,629
    Scaramanga
    Zorin
    Kananga
    Khan
    Kristatos
    Drax
    Stromberg
  • Scaramanga & Max Zorin.
  • QBranchQBranch Always have an escape plan. Mine is watching James Bond films.
    edited December 2012 Posts: 14,588
    I don't like Hugo Drax one bit- and that is a compliment to Michael Lonsdale for doing such an excellent job of making me believe this despicable villain. He never cracks a smile; he instructs his goons to bring harm to Bond- instead of just saying 'Kill him', like it's all a game. Great performance all around. Quite possibly the best of Moore's tenure, although all his villains were pretty solid.

    Top three for now:

    Drax
    Scaramanga
    Zorin
  • I think that May Day is horribly underrated. She is tragic and chilling all at once, and contributes so much to the film's atmosphere. The scene where she kills Tibbet is probably her most memorable moment.
  • Posts: 501
    Scaramanga

    Zorin
    Khan
    Kristatos
    Stromberg
    Kananga



    Drax
  • The man with the buy two, get one free nipples.
  • edited December 2012 Posts: 5,767
    I guess Stromberg was overall the most impressive appearance, but they all had their priceless moments:
    Kananga: "Names is for tombstones, baby! Take that motha out and waste him!"
    Scaramanga for his sheer presence and wicked smile.
    Drax for the reasons mentioned in above posts. He had much better quips of course than Stromberg, but didn´t have Stromberg´s physical gravitas.
    Kristatos had a nice realistically threatening arrogance to him.
    Orlov for the dot right on his third eye. But seriously, he was one crazy guy, attempting to overrun the West, then sulking like a little boy when he was rebuked by his superior.
    Kamal Khan for being a slimey version of Jonathan Hart ;-).
    Christopher Walken: The short laughing noise he makes when he discovers Bond is a Double-oh agent is invaluable.
  • Agent007391Agent007391 Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start
    Posts: 7,854
    Drax. His voice was so fitting for the character.
  • Top three are in no particular order Zorin, Scaramanga, and Orlov. Drax like MR, the worst in the Moore era.

  • Posts: 7,653
    Hugo Drax easily, he was played by a brilliant actor that brought his character as a rather chilly person to the screen. The scenes between him and Moore showed real menace and were very good. Never again did Roger Moore got that kind of opposition of the baddie again.
  • Not my favourite (like I said, that's Stromberg or Scaramanga) but Drax did have some great moments with Moore.
  • Drax had great lines but as I've often stated, I fail to see the rest. Lonsdale was yawn inducing and sounded like he was reading from a teleprompter.
  • Posts: 3,276
    @SirHenryLeeChaChing
    Please explain why you think Orlov is a much better villain than the "yawn inducing" Drax then.
  • Zekidk wrote:
    @SirHenryLeeChaChing
    Please explain why you think Orlov is a much better villain than the "yawn inducing" Drax then.

    Personality about sums it up. Whether giving a speech in a big room, or listening to Bond connect the dots of his and Khan's plan, Berkoff is wildly entertaining compared to the robot that is Lonsdale. I wouldn't go as far to say that Lonsdale is an awful actor because I am unfamiliar with most of his work, but in this instance I would.

  • edited December 2012 Posts: 11,189
    I do love Christopher Lee as Scaramanga. Most lines that come out of his mouth are gold:

    "The English don't consider it sporting to...kill in cold blood do they?"
    "Mr Hi-Fat has just resigned...I'm the new Chairman of the board"
    "A mistress cannot serve two masters"
    "I could have shot you down when we landed but that would have been ridiculously easy"
    "A dual between titans...my golden gun against your Walther PPK...each of us with a 50-50 chance" (slightly over-the-top delivery but it works).
    "Ah mushrooms"

    Kristatos is a more low key character but I like Glover's performance.

    "...you cannot just...arrest him, you must find a different way...you may have to kill him"

    Kamal Kahn: "You have...a nasty habit...of surviving".

    A quote made famous by the VHS trailer in the mid 90s
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