ARTICLES:
THE EYEBROW
RAISER
A breif look at Roger Moore's portrayal of James Bond, and how it changed and developed over his 13 years in the role. From the smiling killer in Live and Let Die and the woman slapping badass in The Man with the Golden Gun, to the witty, eyebrowing hero of Octopussy and others. While it is always the same old Roger that we know and love, it's interesting to note his varied performaces.
Live and Let Die and The Man with the Golden Gun
Roger's first two films as 007, stepping into the large shoes of Sean Connery. Live and Let Die shows his as a rather good natured, smiling chap, if not entirely Bondish, though thats perhaps due to the lack of Bodn touches in the film, such as the tuxedo, vodka martini, Aston Martin etc. He plays it pretty straight, even during his liners. In his second film The Man with the Golden Gun its more of the same, with the hint of a more rough and tough edge, shown during the scene where he slaps Andrea around for information. Moore is good in these two films, but was still very much developing his 007 character.
The Spy who Loved Me
This film is widely considered as the best Roger Moore Bond film and one of the best in the series. Roger seems to have the perfect blend of humour and the moer serious aspect that the Bond role commands. Look at the scene in Egpyt with Bond on the roof with that bald dude for example. The dudes hanging off the edge holding onto Bonds tie to maintain balance. Bond seizes the oppurtunity to get the information he needs, then pulls his tie away leaving the bald dude to fall to his death. "Helpful chap" Bond comments, before adjusting his tie and walking off. An excellent scene by Moore.
Moonraker
Somedays I love Moonraker and other days I hate it, today I hate it. Well, 'hate' is a strong work, but Moonraker is a very cheesy film indeed. Who would have thought that a movie that featured such gems as "You missed Mr Bond" "Did I ?" and "Make sure some harm comes to him" could also contain some utter garbage. The pigeon doing double takes, Jaws acting like the Coyote from the Road Runner cartoons and him falling in love would all be laughable except for the fact that its just not funny. Don't even get me started on the space stuff, twenty years later, with the advances in technology, and it still looks far fetched. Don't get me wrong, some days I sit back and enjoy Moonraker for what it is, two hours of globe trotting adventure fun, some days I laugh along with the jokes and love the film, today is not one of these days.
For Your Eyes Only
Recoginised as the film that got the series back on track, brought it back down to earth after Moonraker. The return of the more serious, gritty Bond film. No scene tells it more so than whne Bond kicks the car over the cliff. This is a harder, colder scene, than the one in The Spy who Loved me mentioned before. First Bond throws the dove pin into teh car, leaving the driver wetting his pants as the car tilts slightly. In previous Bond films this would probably have been enough to knock the car over, but not here. Bond then brutally kicks the car off the edge of the cliff. Perhaps its Moores ageing face, or the fact that he's dressd in black, but this is a very different scene that whats been seen before. And fans, for the most part loved.
Octopussy
Octopussy seems to sit somewhere between For Your Eyes Only and Moonraker. Theres a serious plot, involving an Kamal Khan, a Russian General, Faberge eggs and an Island full of women. But scenes like the tennis crowd, who move their head from side to side during the chase as if watching a tennis game, and Bonds awful Tarzan yell while swinging a vine give the film a little of the slapstick feel that Moonraker had. Thankfully theres not too much of it. Moore getting a little older, but gives a terrific performace as Bond, perhaps nearly his best, which scenes such as the backgammon game where he uses Kamals cheating to his advantage, "Double sixes, fancy that" he says after rolling Kamals rigged die. Its perhaps a pity he didn't retire on this high, but who could possibly deny the great man one more film ?
A View to A Kill
His excellency's swansong. Thsi film starts off okay, good scenes in Paris, and at the stables between Bond and Sir Godfrey Tibbet. But the films goes downhill fast after Tibbet dies and Bond stucks air out of the tyres, from there on the film feels rather routine and tired, a little like Rodg's performance perhaps. Although his scenes with Patrick Macnee are a treat. "A ggod cover becomes almost second nature" he tells Tibbet, who has to play butler to Bond's English snob. Overall though, its perhaps one too many for the eyebrow raising one, cleaning the nausiating Stacey (who spent most of the film screaming "JJJAAAAMMMEESS" at the top of her voice) in the shower was not a fitting end to his Bond carrer.