RIP Roger Moore
Greg
Posts: 1,946
Sir Roger Moore passed away today.
When I was younger he and Sean Connery were always trading spots as my favorite James Bond and he's still right up there today after Dalton, Brosnan and Craig took on the roll.
My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.
When I was younger he and Sean Connery were always trading spots as my favorite James Bond and he's still right up there today after Dalton, Brosnan and Craig took on the roll.
My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.
Comments
I remember seeing a couple of episodes of The Saint on the old CBS Late Movie show back in the early ’80s, and thinking he was better suited for that role. Maybe it was because he was younger, maybe it was because there’s more humor built into the character than there is with Bond, but I think he was a better Saint than he was a Bond.
Besides Bond, what I remember Moore for is Cannonball Run. I probably saw him parody Bond before I actually saw him as Bond.
I actually thought Moore was older. For some reason, I thought he was around 100.
Rest in peace Sir.
He added an interesting part to the Bond character. Brosnan is still my favorite 007. He was a great amalgam of what Connery, Moore, & Dalton specifically brought to the role.
I'll have to look into the Saint episodes. I do find it fascinating that Brosnan's Bond had a Remington Steele aspect. I wonder if Moore's Bond has a Simon Templar aspect too.
An interesting sidenote, there was a report in the mid-’80s that Moore was trying to produce a Saint movie, and he wanted Brosnan to star.
When the kid sees the signature, he can't quite read it, but eventually figures out it says “Roger Moore”. He says to the grandfather, not knowing the differnce between the actor and the character at this age, “This isn’t his name. His name is James Bond.” So the grandfather walks back over to Moore, and repeats what the kid had said. Moore said, “Tell your grandson that I can’t sign my real name because there are agents in the airport, and I can't blow my cover.” When the grandfather repeats this to the kid, it all makes sense, and it makes his day.
When this guy grew up, he went into the industry and happened to work on set with Moore on a project, and told him the story. Moore said, “I don’t remember that, but I'm glad it's a happy memory for you.” Later in the day, Moore sidles up to the guy and whispers in his ear, “Sorry I couldn’t verify your story earlier. They might be listening.”
Bond movies rarely have any real suspense, especially after Bond became a superman, and there was way too much of the bombastic score and wacky vehicle hijinks, too many quips and bon mots, to sustain real suspense and fear. And honestly, it began with Connery in his last few outings.
But in this scene of suspense from For Your Eyes Only, Bond has to scramble desperately (and use some cool shoelace-hitching to climb up the rope rapidly) to get into a position where he even has a hope of survival.
Another suspenseful FYEO scene, (this one was actually lifted from the novel Live and Let Die) and was one of the few really suspenseful scenes in all of Bond's history, with Bond stuck in a really bad situation with lots of time for fear to build and he improvises a way to survive which could actually work.
Exhibit Z of why the villain shouldn't have tried killing Bond in a clever way, but should just have SHOT HIM IN THE FACE. As usual. Will they never learn?
Rest In Peace, Roger Moore, a spy, a knight and a gentleman.