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I'm done apologizing for liking Roger Moore!

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  • I'm done apologizing for liking Roger Moore!

    "He only plays himself" - so does Sean Connery.

    "He was the worst James Bond" - nope, that was Pierce Brosnan.

    "He can't act" - ever see "The Man Who Haunted Himself"?

    Moore is a proper movie star. He's also been in a lot of fun films besides the Bonds like THE WILD GEESE, ESCAPE TO ATHENA and THE QUEST.

  • #2
    Not a Bond fan really, but for me the Roger Moore ones are the best. I love the 70s vibe and the corniness. That dude is suave and too cool.

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    • #3
      Moore was fine as Bond. He just got stuck in some of the shittiest Bond movies. Plus he got too old for the part.

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      • #4
        Originally posted by Roderick View Post
        Moore was fine as Bond. He just got stuck in some of the shittiest Bond movies. Plus he got too old for the part.
        Correct on all points. I enjoy the movies he made for the franchise though.

        He's great in The Saint stuff I've seen him in.
        Rock! Shock! Pop!

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        • #5
          IMHO Moore is great as bond. He isn't the overly male pig like Connery, he has charm unlike Lazenby, and he does not give of that sleazy rapist vibe as Brosnan does. He is a genuinely likeable gentleman whos bond efforts are very mixed. And lets be honest, a little tongue in cheek feeling coupled with some of the greatest stunt sequences ever caught on film makes for great entertainment when it works.

          So, I am with Horamce on this issue.
          "No presh from the Dresh!"

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          • #6
            I'm done apologizing for liking Roger Moore!

            Thanks Swedish Joe.

            People also forget Moore could play rougher and less suave characters too. He's pretty ruthless in the WILD GEESE. Love that scene with the cocaine and the mobster.

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            • #7
              Growing up, my exposure to Bond was through marathons of the film series on cable, and the ones shown were always Connery and Moore. Those two are inexorably linked to that role in my mind, and those two are who I always think of. Am I slightly biased towards Connery? Yeah, Dr. No and Goldfinger were the first ones I saw, but I definitely respect Moore and the films he was in. View To A Kill is a definite guilty pleasure, and a hell of a lot of fun.

              All that said and truth be told, I'm not the biggest fan of the Bond stuff, but I do respect it. Frankly, the older ones are the only ones that really catch my attention, as the Brosnan and Craig ones just seem identical to every other action movie of the period, very little to make them distinct aside from the fact that there are characters in them named Bond.

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              • #8
                Moonraker. That's all that needs to be said. The ABC Sunday Night Movie version.

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                • #9
                  The Bond films were supposed to be espionage dramas and action thrillers with a mild tongue-in-cheek humor. They were not supposed to be comedies. I despise the facetiousness, the campiness and slapstick, and the infantile mentality of the 1970s to mid-1980s Bond films. Dramatically they were retarded films. Roger Moore's debonaire presence is the only thing I enjoy about them. Except for some mountain climbing on the backlot during FYEO, Moore didn't do any stunts in his Bond films. He handled some running and fight sequences okay, but the body-doubling during Moore's tenure was painfully obvious and understandably criticized, especially in TSWLM. Looking back on it, I wish Moore had fought for a more serious approach and demanded a motivated character. But he didn't.

                  My favorite Bond film of the 1970s was The Man With the Golden Gun (1974). Moore looks fine and carries the film well, although he hasn't quite mastered the size of big screen expressions yet. The production isn't too big and it isn't too small. Essentially, it's The Saint on the big screen. Maybe that's why I like it. There is too much of Guy Hamilton's stupid humor and static action. I wince in embarrassment at the offensive and unfunny J.W. Pepper, the idiotic fight in which two girls defeat an entire class of martial arts fighters, the car that turns into an airplane, the slanted ship in Tokyo Bay, and the over-reliance on the midget. Nor was it necessary to replay the boat chase from the previous film LALD. Compare the indoor funhouse to the target practice range in Magnum Force (1973). The gun duels that open and close TMWTGG should have been bruising, grueling outdoor competitions. But there is a really good story with some fine interaction between the players, and the presence of Christopher Lee and Maud Adams. She had a dark quality in her that she wanted to explore but nobody asked. She reminds me of models I've worked with who would go much further into the taboo if pressed. Her talent was an untapped reservoir. She'd have made a fine Vesper in a faithful Casino Royale.

                  When engaged by the material or challenged by the director, Moore could deliver the goods. His most committed performances were in The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970), Gold (1974), Shout At the Devil (1977), and Northsea Hijack aka Ffolkes (1976). Peter Hunt got the best out of him, I think and they would have been a good team if they'd been allowed to work together, along with writer Richard Maibaum, on the Bond films Hunt & Maibaum wanted to make with him during the 1970s. But the producers couldn't get out of their own way and did another thing.
                  "I've been to college, but I can still speak English when business demands it."
                  - Raymond Chandler, 1939.

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by The Silly Swede View Post
                    IMHO Moore is great as bond. He isn't the overly male pig like Connery, he has charm unlike Lazenby, and he does not give of that sleazy rapist vibe as Brosnan does. He is a genuinely likeable gentleman whos bond efforts are very mixed. And lets be honest, a little tongue in cheek feeling coupled with some of the greatest stunt sequences ever caught on film makes for great entertainment when it works.

                    So, I am with Horamce on this issue.
                    It is not necessary to disparage the other actors to make Moore look better. I appreciate Moore for his inner decency and the fact that he is a true gentlemen as well as a charming screen presence, but I disagree vehemently with your name-calling. Connery is not a male pig, Lazenby is not charmless, and Brosnan is not a sleazy rapist.
                    "I've been to college, but I can still speak English when business demands it."
                    - Raymond Chandler, 1939.

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Horace Cordier View Post
                      "He only plays himself" - so does Sean Connery.

                      "He was the worst James Bond" - nope, that was Pierce Brosnan.

                      "He can't act" - ever see "The Man Who Haunted Himself"?

                      Moore is a proper movie star. He's also been in a lot of fun films besides the Bonds like THE WILD GEESE, ESCAPE TO ATHENA and THE QUEST.
                      Connery worked hard to create the character of James Bond. He builds a lot of meticulous detail and layered behavior into the character which is most visible in Dr. No and From Russia With Love. It takes enormous effort on the part of an actor to make things look natural and easy. If you think Connery''s playing himself, that's good because that's what he wants you to believe. In fact he is very much himself, but that doesn't mean he isn't working. The measure of his success is in the fact that the actors who followed him tried to do what he did but couldn't. The entire franchise rides on the quality, the reputation and innovation of the Connery years.

                      Pierce Brosnan, like Roger Moore, couldn't get good writing. Buy he made a much better Bond than the material deserved.

                      The worst actor is Daniel Craig. Craig is clueless.


                      Here's the only authentic James Bond. No one else comes close:
                      Richard--W
                      a straight arrow
                      Last edited by Richard--W; 10-22-2012, 03:08 PM.
                      "I've been to college, but I can still speak English when business demands it."
                      - Raymond Chandler, 1939.

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Richard--W View Post
                        Here's the only authentic James Bond. No one else comes close:
                        [ATTACH=CONFIG]4608[/ATTACH]
                        Agreed.
                        Attached Files

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                        • #13
                          I don't get the point of posting the streaker from Academy Awards.

                          Roger Moore was an interesting actor in GOLD OF THE SEVEN SAINTS and THE SINS OF RACHEL CADE (both 1961). Both are available from Warner Archives. Peter Hunt's GOLD (1974) a personal favorite is finally available on a MOD uncut widescreen and anamorphic. Moore is at his very best in GOLD.

                          I wish THAT LUCKY TOUCH (1975) and STREET PEOPLE (USA / Italy, 1976) were on DVD in the USA. Both are available under other titles in other countries. Moore has one of his more unusual roles in STREET PEOPLE, he plays a lawyer for the Mafia. SHOUT AT THE DEVIL (1977), Peter Hunt's WW1 adventure which really puts Moore to the test, needs a region 1 release as well. Excellent if uneven film.

                          The complete monochrome episodes of THE SAINT have not been released, either. A & E released some of them. There is a box-set in the U.K. from Network that I wish A&E would import over here at the correct speed. Their packaging stinks but the early episodes show Moore in very fine form indeed.
                          Richard--W
                          a straight arrow
                          Last edited by Richard--W; 10-22-2012, 04:35 PM.
                          "I've been to college, but I can still speak English when business demands it."
                          - Raymond Chandler, 1939.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            I'm done apologizing for liking Roger Moore!

                            First off, the swede is referencing the ACTOR's vibe playing the character not the actual people - unless I'm grossly misreading something?

                            Brosnan is one of the nicer guys in the business - hardly known as having a "rapist" vibe. I just happen to think he wasn't a great Bond.

                            Connery was the best Bond but much like Moore he's a great star and not that versatile. He has the same damn Scottish accent whether he's in the US army in THE PRESIDIO or an Irish cop in THE UNTOUCHABLES for crying out loud. He can exceed expectations however - see THE OFFENCE. And Connery is always a pleasure to watch. But Donald Pleasence he most certainly is not.

                            My Bond rankings go like this from best to worst.

                            Connery
                            Dalton
                            Moore
                            Lazenby
                            Craig
                            Brosnan

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Horace Cordier View Post
                              First off, the swede is referencing the ACTOR's vibe playing the character not the actual people - unless I'm grossly misreading something?

                              Brosnan is one of the nicer guys in the business - hardly known as having a "rapist" vibe. I just happen to think he wasn't a great Bond.
                              Quite right. I like Brosnan as an actor and he seems like a decent enough man off camera, but his bond just never really clicked for me. There was just something a little off there. And of course, the attrocious level of the scripts they had him do never gave him a fair chance.
                              "No presh from the Dresh!"

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