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Comments
1. FYEO
+ chase on foot after Locque and his termination
+ watch with gadget
+ 2CV chase
+ Lotus burglar alarm
+ climbing and the end setting
+ Columbo
+ Melina self confident and not fearful
+ skiing
+ diving
- Bibi (Thank God Moore resists her offers)
- the comic end with Thatcher does not really fit the serious tone of the rest of the film
2. TSWLM
+ watch with gadget
+ Bond in uniform
+ minature boats look more realistic than modern CGI
+ Curd Jürgens as Stromberg
+ the interior of the tanker
+ strong beautiful Bondgirl
+ Lotus racing + diving
- Jaws, too comical, survives everything
- hilarious music, when the van in the dessert breaks down
3. Octopussy
+ car chase in Germany
+ Moore speaks some German
+ PTS
+ Train stunts
+ Plane stunts
+ watch with gadget
+ Louis Jordan, Maud Adams, Kabir Bedi and Steven Berkoff all good
- Tarzan scene
4. Moonraker
+ 1h30 classic Bond on earth, great locations
+ 2 boat chases + gadgets (Venice +Brazil)
+ PTS with real stunts
+ outstanding space effects (Many modern CGI effects look worse than the minature effects used here)
+ watch with gadget
+ Michael Lonsdale as Drax
- Jaws and his silly girlfriend
- Bond is rescued by US-troops
6. AVTAK
+ Paris scenes
+ mine set
+ evil girl Mayday
- silly Hollywood car chase with dumb US-policemen
- Bondgirl only screams in panic or sighs "James"
- Moore looks a bit old and fat (often has the hands in the pockets of his jacket to conceal his stomach)
- PTS music
5. TMWTGG
+ Scaramanga's Island + interior
+ no big showdown with hundreds of soldiers
- Bondgirl Goodhead dumb and naive
- Nicnac
- silly Kung Fu scenes
- PTS
- music ruins the car stunt over the river
7. LALD
+ watch seen very often and has nice gadgets
+ Kananga's death
+ Boat chase
- women silly, naive and dumb (especially Rose: how could anyone ever select a person so stupid and easily scared for spy work??? )
- Bond's clothing
- Bond dressed up in Harlem
- voodoo
- lamest PTS ever, without Bond
- no real Bond-feeling: too much US cars and settings, Bond uses a big revolver, smokes several cigars
I noticed that Moore only has a company car in two films, in the others he just steels a vehicle (bus, boat, AMC car , (Moonraker), Alfa, Mercedes, firetruck ...)
I fell in love with Roger in this one (and that is my main reason for loving it so) ... and that first spark still hasn't died for me.
I liked the story very much, Bach was fine, locations great, everything was well paced and just plain interesting, exciting, and fun. I can watch it again and again and again.
I don't mind FYEO but I think it's a bit overrated. I think lots of people put it as Moore's best film just because it's more serious than Moore's other films. I think Moore is good and Glen is my favourite Bond director but it gave Blofeld a terrible death, the villian was fairly forgettable and some of the action wasn't great imo.
:))
Here all 7 Moore movies in my ranking.
1 FYEO
2 TSWLM
3 OP
7 LALD
10 MR
12 TMWTGG
13 AVTAK
I love Roger Moore, clearly my favorite Bond.
Love all 7 almost equally. Only AVTAK is most clear for being last, but just because I feel, finally and sadly, Moore got too old for the role.
No other Bond actor has such a variety of great Bond movies, not even Connery.
LALD = voodoo, tarot theme, slight suspense/horror movie quality
TMWTGG = exotic, strange, most iconic villain, black humor
TSWLM = redefined Bond, Moore find the definite way to play Bond, pyramids, underwater Lotus, so many memorable images
MR = even at jumping on Star Wars train, succeeds being original with Bond in space, Rio is another classic location and setting for Bond including the mountain cable car sequence. Bringing Jaws back makes MR feel like sort of sequel to TSWLM. Humor is priceless!
FYEO = at right time back to basics. Moore never better in the role than here. Classic Bond feel with beautiful mediterranean setting. Bond on skis, Bond under water, Bond on mountain, Bond in car, Bond in air. Has it all plus Carole Bouquet perfect perfect Bond girl.
OP = fantastic fantasy adventure feel, best villain Kamal Khan, Octopussy classic Bond woman with power, best cold war story since 60s. Cast is great!
AVTAK = Eiffel Tower, iconic. Grace Jones unique Bond girl and work well with Walken who is most crazy Bond villain. Golden Gate bridge, again iconic to this day, just the picture of it with Bond standing on it is pop culture.
In all of this, there is the great various music of the one-off composers and John Barry. What a brilliant mix.
The stunt work in the Moore era never was equalled overall, even if Dalton and Brosnan had some great stunt work as well.
Connery made Bond 60s era phenomenon. But Bond would have died if Connery had stayed on.
Moore redefined Bond and added greatly, that way future is still save for Bond.
I can watch the 7 movies at any time. Never boring, always fun and humor stays. I can always laugh even if heard jokes for 100 times. Roger Moore so naturally performs, like be himself which feels great and brings good vibe on screen. Never feel tries to "act". Only one other Bond actor accomplished this too, Connery.
Roger Moore in commander's uniform is unrivaled. Just looks so great!
FYEO will always be my favorite, probably because of Locque, Columbo, Melina, Kriegler and even Bibi. What a cast of completely different characters thrown together in one movie and it works so perfectly.
Also Melina is one strong, determined, woman, the moment we realize she has taken revenge with her cross bow is always giving me chills. The moment we see the hate in her eyes early in the movie with camera zooming in on her face. It simply does not get better than that. That's emotion!
TSWLM probably is the most classic and loved of Moore's, it also was clearly his most successful in terms of ticket sales who went up back to heights of Connery 60s era.
Together with OP, TSWLM are my No 2 really, hard to decide which I like more.
Both so different but wonderful settings. The contrast of cold Berlin/train/circus/Russia setting to warm exotic setting of Kamal Khan's world is great and makes OP special, has even a adventure feel to it at times.
LALD and TMWTGG would be my No 3. I give LALD slightly better notes because of most unique setting of suspense voodoo, tarot world with unique Bond girl, clairvoyant tarot reader. The carribean island contrasting New York, then my favorite Felix Leiter. Filet O Soul is a great set, the turning table and the hidden office behind makes for some of my favorite scenes in the movie.
The stunt work is astonishing in LALD, just look at the crocodile stunt, the boat chase the car stunts etc.
The soundtrack is my favorite!
But then TMWTGG has so much to love too. A lovely, sexy, innocent and somewhat dumb Bond girl who does more harm than help but how charming she is! And if you watch closely Bond gives her quite a hard time, so we should be a bit more tolerant towards her.
Scaramanga is THE Bond villain. Lee makes it his role and for me best villain overall. The fun house one of most original sets of all Bond movies. I love it to bits. And there is so much more to love and look forward to whenever I watch it.
J.W. Pepper, every single word is priceless and the actor absolutely owns the screen. So happy they brought him back in TMWTGG.
AVTAK
Roger Moore's last and maybe one too many Bond movies understandably gets a lot of criticism.
But once you get past Mr Moore's age you can discover a throughout funny movie with lots of great action.
The Golden Gate Bridge sequence, the Eiffel Tower sequence, the Town Hall sequence, the Mine sequence. All very different and all work well. MayDay and Zorin make a great couple. If anything then maybe Tanya Roberts can go on nerves at times but I find the home cooking scene with the Quiche sweet and it plays wonderfully with Roger's age.
The saucy bit with the Russian spy Pola is quite funny including the ending in General Gogol's car.
As said, I have trouble choosing a ranking with those movies. I can but it is all awfully close together.
The more time passes, the more I enjoy Moore's movies. I tried the same with Dalton which is roughly in the same time but it's just not the same for me. What came after Dalton never really captured me, with exception of Goldeneye and now Spectre.
For me Tandem Connery/Moore with Lazenby sandwiched in between makes the Bond franchise. Bond still is good overall and nice to see gets new generations of fans still but for me it will always come back to the first 3 decades.
TSWLM (4)
FYEO (6)
OP (10)
LALD (11)
TMWTGG (14)
MR (16)
AVTAK (19)
The first two will (probably) never change, but the others move around a bit from year to year.
TSWLM
LALD
TMWTGG
FYEO
MR
OP
AVTAK
OP - for Moore's effortlessly cool performance despite his obviously advancing years, and for the sheer entertainment value of the film. It's probably the most fast paced of Sir Rog's outings, and such a blast from start to finish, with one of the most charismatic villain rosters in all of Bondom.
LALD - such a unique entry. Moore is super cool and so Bondian in his debut. Again, I love a charismatic villain roster, and it doesn't get much better than in this film. The George Martin score is the icing on the cake.
TMWTGG - sentimentally, this is one of my favourites. It was one of the earliest Bond films I watched with my parents on ITV, and it made an indelible impression. So quirky and stylish at the same time. I honestly think some of Moore's best scenes are in this film (Lazar, dinner with Scaramanga, dinner with Goodnight, Andrea interrogation, fight at Saida's, etc. etc.).
FYEO - critically this is one of his best, but subjectively I'm not too keen on it. A bit dull, but on the flip side I love Bouquet as the original revenge girl Melina Havelock (not bettered imho - if eyes could pierce, with a steely outer demeanour masking volative inner emotions which are almost frightening to contemplate). The ski sequence is the best since OHMSS (and better in some instances) and the cinematography is outstanding. Beautiful film to watch on blu ray.
MR - again, this is a sentimental favourite of mine. Sir Rog on fire (his most coolly assured performance, even if he is having too much fun in places), Drax is outstanding and memorable, Goodhead proves her worth, & the film has magnificent cinematography, location work and scale.
AVTAK - I realize some like this film, but I can't stand it. Sir Rog should have gone out on an all time high with the previous effort. Disappointing all round and down there with TWINE, DAD & SP as one of the misfires in the franchise's history.
2) OP. A close second. Orlov is awful, the PTS feels tacked on and the jungle chase is crap. But apart from that there's very little I don't enjoy in this one. Moore on top form. Barry too. Memorable characters and set pieces and the best plot of all the Moore films with a brilliantly tense finale.
3) LALD. Great villains, great score, Moore nails it, an amazing stunt, a cool supernatural theme, etc. I can't imagine what a breath of fresh air this must have felt when it came out. Make Solitaire black, cut the airport chase (have Solitaire be recaptured before they escape San Monique) and the boat chase and Pepper entirely and give it a whole new finale (so fresh and interesting then suddenly we're just in Bond by the numbers territory, complete with a shark pit) and this one would be a classic imo. As it stands it's really enjoyable but falls apart towards the end and there are some racist/imperialist overtones that rub me the wrong way.
4) AVTAK. Moore is too old. Stacey is crap. The action isn't very good (this can basically be put down to Moore's age) apart from the finale and the Eiffel Tower base jump. The plot is basically Goldfinger. But Zorin is brilliant, and the score is one of Barry's best.
5) FYEO. Not a fan at all if I'm honest. Tonally it's a complete mess, tries to be all gritty and dark but still has the usual Moore camp so it just comes across as jarring. Brings Bond back down to earth but ends up being so bland and forgettable in the proccess. Probably the worst PTS of the series. Forgettable villain, forgettable plot, etc. Score is awful too. Probably the most forgettable film of the series for me.
6) TMWTGG. I was tempted to put this above FYEO because of Scaramanga but in a way that makes it worse. This film has so much potential and totally squanders it. This is also the only film where I'm not a fan of Moore in the role (after a brilliant debut he's reduced to a subpar Connery impression).
7) MR. Bond in space could be many things but you wouldn't think boring would be one of them (to be fair the space scenes are one of the few enjoyable bits thanks to Barry and the brilliant special effects). Even if you take out the cringey comedic bits it'd be a dull bloated followup to TSWLM. Bond by the numbers is fine as long as there's an energy to it, as long as it feels fresh, it's done well and has some interesting ideas (TSWLM, GE, SP). MR is the opposite. A boring box ticking mess that's only remembered for the space stuff and the crap bits before we get there. A handful of good scenes can't save it from being Moore's worst imo (although to be fair I wouldn't say TMWTGG is any better, they can be joint last).
7) TMWTGG
6) AVTAK
5) MR
4) FYEO
3) LALD
2) TSWLM
1) OP - One of the absolute best in the series (maybe even *the* best) solely in terms of what a well-oiled machine it is as a spy thriller. Would have been the perfect note for Moore to end his run on; yes, he's visibly aged quite a lot by this time, but he kind of plays really effectively into a weathered, almost impossible-to-fool Bond whose years under the sun lend credence to his tenderness in the romance and his ability to constantly remain one step ahead of Kamal. My favourite of his performances and the one where it most feels like he's playing Fleming's Bond. I love the tie-ins to the titular short story and The Property of a Lady. Kamal Khan and Octopussy rank highly for me re: villain and Bond girl respectively, and even Gobinda is a memorable and imposing force! Not a big fan of the theme song but I do think the score is one of Barry's best and it uses the melodies of All Time High beautifully. Take away the Tarzan yell and Penelope Smallbone and this would threaten my top 5 of the series (and it's a real achievement that, despite having two of the worst moments ever in Bond, the rest of Octopussy makes it a top tier entry). Really do not understand the general vitriol that this one gets in the general public eye. I've tried to look at the film outside myself and I find a lot of the criticisms to be, frankly, nonsense whereas in most other Bond films' case - even my other favourites - I can at least *understand* the argument against. As important and beloved as The Spy Who Loved Me is to me, Octopussy feels like a tighter and more polished work in most ways.
I love the music of LALD, the scope of the film, and the unique locations. It tells a story without hollowed out volcanoes, space ships, submarine eating tankers, impossible to kill men with bad dentures, and all the rest of the bad decisions that characterize Moore extravagance. I like almost everything in LALD. I can even tolerate the unnecessarily stupid JW Pepper. The worst offense is Air-Kananga. This a film that had yet to morph into the traditional Moore parody.
FYEO is better because the actor plays it mostly straight but focus is easy to wander in non-essential bits or underwater scenes, the latter a bit like Thunderball. Moonraker is great, one of the very best music scores of the franchise but it's a clear cash-in attempt of the Star Wars, outer space movie titles of it's time and even in retrospect now seems bizarre and unnecessary.
TSWLM is good, lots of fun locations but never a favorite of it, would give it a miss if offered something other while Golden Gun and LALD are both intriguing, fun, exotic and there's so much to get involved in. Bringing Clifton James back for the former doesn't work for everyone but in truth he's a fun character and just seems to fit in. Even now I wouldn't change it.
Connery I suppose comes close but man do we have some wild swings in the tone and pace of Roger's films. I hate to say this, but I never buy Roger has the tough and cold blooded killer and yet in a couple of films he is asked to play it that way. We have some uneven results. Moore was best suited to lighter popcorn fare and a few of his films fit this bill.
Here is my rank a few random thoughts:
Moore is the reason the films continue to this day. He showed us that Bond wasn't tied to one actor. He took on the role with some high stakes and made the character his own. If I had to rank his performances it would look like this:
LALD is a close second with the overall ranking
MR
LALD
TMWTGG
TSWLM
OP
AVTAK
FYEO
- MR
- OP
- FYEO
- TSWLM
- LALD
- AVTAK
- TMWTGG
-FYEO
-TMWTGG
-LALD
-OP
-AVTAK
-MR
TSWLM
FYEO
OP
MR
AVTAK
TMWTGG
My introduction to Bond was a double bill of FYEO/TSWLM on telly back in 1995. Amazing experience. Those are not quite my faves though - I'd put LALD at the top - a real standout due to its unique themes and shift away from Connery-era tropes.
Bond at the airport in gloves - the travelling assassin. Ordering a bourbon. Hidden doors galore. Love all the voodoo and tarot items. Awesome gadgets and hotel room sweeping moment. Enchanting Bond girl. Bond returning to a location, and with a gun that isn't the PPK. Cavern lair check. Extra points awarded for a successful villain ensemble and spookiness level.
1. TSWLM
2. OP
3. LALD
4. MR
5. AVTAK
6. TMWTGG
7. FYEO
2. LALD
3. FYEO
4. TMWTGG
5. AVTAK
6. OP
7. MR
2. LALD
3. MR
4. FYEO
5. TMWTGG
6. TSWLM
7. AVTAK
2. FYEO
3. MR
4. TSWLM
5. TMWTGG
6. LALD
7. AVTAK
So was I. Roger acts best in MR, IMO, and gives his weakest performance in TMWTGG. The latter is not entirely his fault, by the way. He wasn't exactly given "good" material to work with.
1/Octopussy
2/LALD
3/MR
4/TSWLM
5/FYEO
6/TMWTGG
7/AVTAK