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The Award Winning : 'Bond...comments while you watch...'

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  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    edited December 2017 Posts: 23,883
    Huge fan of Moore and Connery's Bond here. The two top dogs as far as I'm concerned. Love them both for different reasons. Growing up I always thought that Moore Bond was the same chap as Connery Bond, especially in the first three films. Just played by a different actor. Sure, there are differences in approach due to the fact that someone else is playing the part, but to young me the character was essentially the same cinematic template. As I grew up the nuances and variations became more apparent, but I still rate these two top of the pile. They are far and away the most entertaining to watch on screen for me and it's their films that I like to revisit the most often as a result.

    Oh, and I have no problems with Moore Bond slapping Adam's Andrea around to get some info. That's exactly what I would expect Bond to do, given he had limited time to uncover why the world's priciest hitman had a contract out on him. No time for the usual pleasantries, except perhaps a glass of champagne.
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    edited December 2017 Posts: 11,189
    To be honest I'm not sure Moore conveyed that aspect as convincingly as Connery did ("and I want him theeere").

    Also when Connery did it in FRWL there was a reason for It and it made sense given his friend had just been killed.

    Truth is I just see Moore acting moody. With FRWL I can believe that Connery is generally angry and upset at Kerim's death.
  • bondsumbondsum
    edited December 2017 Posts: 3,334
    I don't like FYEO, I'm afraid, so there's not much in that movie that convinces me of anything. It's such an odd movie, with its constant shifting tones and thin plot. I mean, one minute it's spoofing itself, then the next it wants you take it seriously.

    Alas, the leading of the Naval soldiers in TSWLM is nothing but a poor echo of the volcano battle in YOLT which just made me yearn for Connery even more. TSWLM is pretty much a greatest hits package of Connery and Lazenby's Bond movies. It's a movie designed not to fail, and it's also a movie I have a hard time taking seriously from beginning to end. It's fun, I guess, and it looks good but it doesn't do anything storywise that we haven't seen before. Same goes for MR. The Bond seen onward from TMWTGG isn't really Bond anymore, it's now just become a showcase for big stunts and big laughs. It would take Dalton to drag it back to anything close to where it left off pre-TMWTGG. Of course, even Dalton had to put up with some goofiness.
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    Posts: 11,189
    Moore did the leading of the soldiers thing better than Connery did in my view.
  • bondsumbondsum
    Posts: 3,334
    Fair enough.
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    edited December 2017 Posts: 11,189
    I get what you mean about the "greatest hits" package of Spy but, like you say, it's a fun well-produced film. The underwater lotus section still stands up very well (bar the fish bit).

    By Spy I don't miss Connery in the slightest. It's Roger's film through and through.

    MR is well produced but best enjoyed as an all out comedy.
  • bondsumbondsum
    Posts: 3,334
    BAIN123 wrote: »
    Also when Connery did it in FRWL there was a reason for It and it made sense given his friend had just been killed.
    Wasn't Bond getting rough with Adam's Andrea because he had his name/number on an assassin's bullet - not just any old assassin but the finest assassin there is - and wanted answers for how his name ended up on Scaramanga's calling card? I think under the circumstances, he was considerably restrained.
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    bondsum wrote: »
    BAIN123 wrote: »
    Also when Connery did it in FRWL there was a reason for It and it made sense given his friend had just been killed.
    Wasn't Bond getting rough with Adam's Andrea because he had his name/number on an assassin's bullet - not just any old assassin but the finest assassin there is - and wanted answers for how his name ended up on Scaramanga's calling card? I think under the circumstances, he was considerably restrained.
    Precisely.
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    Posts: 11,189
    Hmm...perhaps. Im maybe over-analyzing that scene to be fair.
  • bondsumbondsum
    Posts: 3,334
    BAIN123 wrote: »
    I get what you mean about the "greatest hits" package of Spy but, like you say, it's a fun well-produced film. The underwater lotus section still stands up very well (bar the fish bit).

    By Spy I don't miss Connery in the slightest. It's Roger's film through and through.

    MR is well produced but best enjoyed as an all out comedy.
    Not wanting to sound too presumptuous, but I think you might have been too young to have genuinely not missed Connery back in 1977, @BAIN123. Strangely, I recall being half-entertained but also concerned which direction the Bond series would take from thereon in. I also recall DAF being shown at the cinema again shortly after TSWLM, not as a double-bill but as a single entry, and the cinema being just as packed as it was for TSWLM. This was before DAF was shown on TV for the first time. It seemed that I wasn't alone, because the audience clearly wanted to see Connery again on the big screen, even with pink kipper tie and a tad puffy of the waist.
  • bondsumbondsum
    Posts: 3,334
    bondjames wrote: »
    bondsum wrote: »
    BAIN123 wrote: »
    Also when Connery did it in FRWL there was a reason for It and it made sense given his friend had just been killed.
    Wasn't Bond getting rough with Adam's Andrea because he had his name/number on an assassin's bullet - not just any old assassin but the finest assassin there is - and wanted answers for how his name ended up on Scaramanga's calling card? I think under the circumstances, he was considerably restrained.
    Precisely.
    I think the problems of TMWTGG lie elsewhere, not so much Moore himself. I think the change of location from Cambodia to Thailand and the rush to get this movie out quickly resulted in a less than stellar entry. The production looked kind of shoddy without Ken Adams, too.
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    edited December 2017 Posts: 11,189
    I was a month old when Roger officially retired from Bond in December 1985. By the time I became a fan in 1995/96 they were long gone. However, I did grow up watching them both on VHS in the mid-late 90s...but yes I wasn't around while the films were actually being made.

    I'm seeing it purely from a younger fans perspective obviously.

    Incidentally, I rewatched DAF again a few months back and enjoyed it more than I normally do despite its obvious shortcomings.
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    edited December 2017 Posts: 11,189
    bondsum wrote: »
    bondjames wrote: »
    bondsum wrote: »
    BAIN123 wrote: »
    Also when Connery did it in FRWL there was a reason for It and it made sense given his friend had just been killed.
    Wasn't Bond getting rough with Adam's Andrea because he had his name/number on an assassin's bullet - not just any old assassin but the finest assassin there is - and wanted answers for how his name ended up on Scaramanga's calling card? I think under the circumstances, he was considerably restrained.
    Precisely.
    I think the problems of TMWTGG lie elsewhere, not so much Moore himself. I think the change of location from Cambodia to Thailand and the rush to get this movie out quickly resulted in a less than stellar entry. The production looked kind of shoddy without Ken Adams, too.

    Something isn't right about the look of the film I agree. It feels quite dirty...but not in a classy FRWL type of way. The mix of childish slapstick and cruel, vicious sleaze also feels uncomfortable. Despite what I've said Moore was mainly ok but this kind of vicious character wasn't really his thing. He was not only unlikeable but unsympathetic. He didn't deserve to win at the end.

    Plus the sets look horribly dated today.
  • bondsumbondsum
    Posts: 3,334
    I don't mind the sleaze, but those clubs in Macau and Thailand were clearly a set in Pinewood. Macau used to have grand casinos, you had to dress properly, there were no nude ladies in the ones I visited.
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    Posts: 11,189
    I'm guessing LALD is your favourite Roger film @Bondsum.
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    All 3 of Hamilton's later films have a grubby look to them in places imho. I'm not sure if it was intentional or a result of budget cuts post-OHMSS. I suspect a little of both. As I've mentioned previously, none of that particularly bothers me though. I love the charisma and the idiosyncrasy of all of these early 70's films. It's very unique and hasn't been seen since, although I'd contend that a little bit of that seeped into DAD.
  • MooseWithFleasMooseWithFleas Philadelphia
    Posts: 3,370
    bondsum wrote: »
    I think the problems of TMWTGG lie elsewhere, not so much Moore himself. I think the change of location from Cambodia to Thailand and the rush to get this movie out quickly resulted in a less than stellar entry. The production looked kind of shoddy without Ken Adams, too.

    It does have a rushed feel in places, but interesting that in Peter Murton's only go as Bond PD, he put together some so-so sets and then makes the truly inspired RMS Elizabeth set, which is a top 5er in my opinion.

    Snowed in today. Perfect timing for my FYEO viewing.
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    edited December 2017 Posts: 11,189
    When I was watching them all for the first time on video in the mid/late 90s GG was one of the last films to see.

    I remember thinking then even as an 11-year old that something was "off" with the film. Though at the time I didn't know quite what or why.
  • Andi1996RueggAndi1996Ruegg Hello. It's me, Evelyn Tremble.
    Posts: 2,005
    I think it's fair to say by now that I'm a huge Connery and Moore fan too. @bondjames "the two top dogs" very good wording.

    The other four are great as well in my book, but nothing really compares to the 60s and 70s Bond films, for me that is.

    The first 11 films are in my Top 16 and it's likely by the end of my second Bondathon all 11 will even be higher up.
  • MooseWithFleasMooseWithFleas Philadelphia
    Posts: 3,370
    The hat throw in mirror by Rog in FYEO. A hat in that time especially with Rog's style would look so out of place but glad they got the hat toss in. He also does Draco's hat toss in MR after the gondola chase.

    I wonder why they had Freddie Gray go 'MMMMM' so much in his scenes with Bond.
  • Andi1996RueggAndi1996Ruegg Hello. It's me, Evelyn Tremble.
    Posts: 2,005
    I'm halfway through Moonraker and it's really great. On my first viewing I was thinking it was too similar to TSWLM but now that doesn't bother me one bit anymore.

    MR: "Such good sport."

    love the repartee between Goodhead (that name!!) and Bond.
  • Andi1996RueggAndi1996Ruegg Hello. It's me, Evelyn Tremble.
    Posts: 2,005
    Oh and I say with good conscious that Lewis Gilbert is my favorite Bond director after Guy Hamilton.

    YOLT and TSWLM are both in my Top 6.

    oh and I realized that one of my favorite films ALFIE is from him too!
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    Posts: 11,189
    Louis Maxwell looks weird in FYEO I think. A bit overly made-up, like an ageing Bette Davis.
  • Andi1996RueggAndi1996Ruegg Hello. It's me, Evelyn Tremble.
    Posts: 2,005
    BAIN123 wrote: »
    Louis Maxwell looks weird in FYEO I think. A bit overly made-up, like an ageing Bette Davis.

    can't quite remember her looks but I did like her tremendously in the first scene with Bond at his flat.
  • Andi1996RueggAndi1996Ruegg Hello. It's me, Evelyn Tremble.
    Posts: 2,005
    Andi1996Ruegg wrote: »
    BAIN123 wrote: »
    Louis Maxwell looks weird in FYEO I think. A bit overly made-up, like an ageing Bette Davis.

    can't quite remember her looks but I did like her tremendously in the first scene with Bond at his flat.

    oh wait...that's LALD silly me
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    edited December 2017 Posts: 11,189
    She only gets two genuinely decent scenes with Moore - LALD and OP. The rest are too brief.
  • Andi1996RueggAndi1996Ruegg Hello. It's me, Evelyn Tremble.
    Posts: 2,005
    "Hang on James!"

    :))
  • Andi1996RueggAndi1996Ruegg Hello. It's me, Evelyn Tremble.
    Posts: 2,005
    Wait a minute!

    is John Barry reusing his Thunderball theme in the boat chase!?
  • Andi1996RueggAndi1996Ruegg Hello. It's me, Evelyn Tremble.
    Posts: 2,005
    Roger Moore in another major boat chase, he really seemed to love those things ha ha...
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    Posts: 11,189
    Andi1996Ruegg wrote: »
    Wait a minute!

    is John Barry reusing his Thunderball theme in the boat chase!?

    I'd quite like them to do a modern version of that theme as it hasn't been heard since 1979.
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