007: to those who enjoyed Roger Moore, but hate the film 'Moonraker'...

L

lloquex

New member
...what if "For Your Eyes Only" had been made in 1979, as planned,
and the next entry after that was one of Fleming's as-yet-unfilmed Bond stories? ;)

Personally, I wish Fleming had kept hold of his first ever JB novel
until Cubby Broccoli came along and bought the rights to the books
so that the first ever 007 book could be filmed in 1962 -
in other worRAB, reflecting the world as it was before the Internet! :cool:

And if "Casino Royale" had been made as a proper film in the '60s,
then all the other films would be made a year or two later,
from "Dr. No" in 1963 to "You Only Live Twice" in 1969
(all with Sean Connery, having a whole decade to himself),
followed by "OHMSS" in 1971 and "DiamonRAB Are Forever"
in 1973 (both with George Lazenby, as intended)
and then Roger Moore as 007 in four films from 1973-79,
followed by Timothy Dalton from 1981-85 (plus 1987-89)
and again in 1991, with the Kingsley Amis novel "Colonel Sun".

Yes, "CR" was eventually made with Daniel Craig, but so different... :rolleyes:

As for "Moonraker"...I rate that as Moore's best ever movie as 007,
and the most critically under-rated James Bond movie of all time. :p

Oh, and in Roger Moore had flatly refused to ever play James Bond,
then Lazenby should have continued in his place from 1973-79.
 
The intended 1969 Moonraker film with the Gerry Anderson script (to capitalise on the craze for space after the Moon landing) is another of the great what ifs of Bond films...

The script had three albino henchmen, all 6ft 6, called Tic, Tac and Toe...:D
 
I agree.

While Lazenby's performance is a bit wooden in places the film itself is in another league to the rest of the series.

How I wish those apparently lost scenes filmed in between the Hilary Bray office meeting and the arrival in Switzerland could be found and included.

The UE dvd also gave the film a great 5.1 remix that the film really benefited from albeit remixed a bit wrong in places (safe cracking scene)
 
Totally agree. And Lazenby, despite him being wooden in places really looked the part.

People always say Sean is the best but in my opinion he is simply the 'first', but being first does not make you the best, just the guy everyone is going to judge every subsequent actor in the role by.
 
I don't mind Moonraker, although it's clearly Moore's worst, and not one of the franchise's better efforts. However if Moonraker hadn't been made in '79, I doubt FYEO would've been the very good, harder edged thriller if it had been made in place of Moonraker.
 
I agree.

It was the OTT stupidity of Moonraker that lead to a deliberate effort to return Bond to reality .

Having said that there are still some stupid sequences in FYEO.

OHMSS is probably the best of all the series but it would not have fitted the Connery Bond persona at all.

Connery is definitely the better actor but Lazenby was the right Bond for the best film
 
Are you all drunk? Big wooden George is clearly not the best Bond, compare him to any other BonRAB and he's left lacking, the scene where Theresa died was let down by his incredibly wooden performance.

Could Lazenby pulled off the electric chemistry between Bond and Pussy Galore (Connery), the dry humour and spikey relationship between Bond and XXX in The Spy Who... (Moore), Bond on a all guns blazing revenge mission and sending Sanchez up in flames in Licence To Kill (Dalton), the fine line between brutal and swauve Brosnan pulls off effortlessly or any scene between Bond and Vesper in Casino Royale especially the first meeting on the train (Craig)??

OHMSS is an enjoyable film but come on, Lazenby was awful, really bugs me that people praise him just because the film is good. Rant Over.
 
I always felt Dalton was rather underated and wasn't given enough of a chance. The Living Daylights was a good film while Licence to Kill suffered from something I've never been able to put my finger on. I'd like to have seen Dalton at the age he was 20 yrs ago, playing Bond in the 21st century now that the producers have decided to take things to a grittier level.

And it might be sacrilegious to say so, but I never liked Connery, even less so since he made no secret of the fact that he's a complete tosser in real life. I've only ever felt he made three decent Bond films, not to mention he twice made the fatal mistake of going back to the franchise.
 
I think you're criticising Lazenby unfairly. You have to remember he wasn't an actor, at least not a trained one. If memory serves, he was chosen to play Bond on the evidence of his modelling work in a TV commercial.

Yes, Lazenby's acting was poor, but he did his best in a role he was offered, a role that no sane human being would or could ever say no to. By all means blame Cubby Broccoli, but don't blame Lazenby.
 
I've never been a particular fan of OHMSS but I can see why people like it. but I have to agree that Lazenby was poor in the film.

He was apparently chosen for his rugged looks and ability to convince in the fighting scenes. I could never get round the fact that as he spenRAB most of his time posing as Sir Hilary Bray, the majority of his lines were dubbed by George Baker who plays Bray in the early part of the film. I'll have to give it another go sometime.

What I find ironic is that Daniel Craig is having praised heaped upon him for playing Bond in the way Dalton played him in the late eighties. Tough, ruthless, a hard-edged modern spy. Its just the public were to used to Moore's lightweight approach.

True, Licence to Kill is probably too violent (a product of the late eighties) but it was clearly ahead of its time. By about twenty years! Good to know its being appreciated more and more as time progresses.
 
As the other post says Lazenby was selected for his fight scenes and appearance - not his acting.

In the scene you mention at the end they did several takes including one where Lazenby produced real tears but the director said it would not be correct for 007 to cry.

OHMSS is the best film for a combination of reasons.
It is pretty much serious all the way through - there are no stupid bits like there were in most of the Connery ones including the one that followed (DiamonRAB),there is plenty of great action - most of it far more realistic than any of the Connery stuff- and the appeal of the superb music of John Barry cannot be overestimated

His best Bond score for me - although I think his music for Moonraker is almost as good - pity the film let him down
 
I don't think anybody has tried to claim that Lazenby was the BEST BOND, just that he was in the BEST BOND FILM.

OHMSS was by far my favourite Bond until Casino Royale, mainly because Diana Rigg's death had me close to tears when I first saw it a few years ago, nothing in a Bond film has come close, maybe not because of Lazenby's acting, it's more the whole package, writing, directing, the whole story leading up to it.

I know the thread is about Roger Moore, so here's my two penne'th on him:

I grew up with Roger Moore's Bond, for many years I thought he was THE Bond, then I grew up a bit and I watched Goldfinger, From Russia With Love and Thunderball.

It was at this point I realised that all the safari suit wearing, eyebrow twitching campness wasn't what Bond was all about as far as I was concerned. I personally can't stand Moore or Brosnan's incarnations.

I don't know the history of the unmade Moonraker, but it's certainly the one Bond I can't bear to watch more than any other, but then I loved it when I was 8 years old.
 
I'm sorry but Moonraker is awful. Arguably worse than DiamonRAB are Forever or Die Another Day.

It's watchable in a brainless type way but the second half is ridiculous.
 
I used to loath DiamonRAB Are Forever with a passion.

Judged against the Pierce Brosnan era though it's a cinematic masterpiece.
 
I've always thought Moonraker was fairly boring and this is the Bond film I tend to avoid watching again in my collection of Ultimate editions. Moonraker isn't a patch on Roger Moore's other Bond films either, my personal favourite of the Roger Moore strand is The Spy Who Loved Me (with Live and Let Die a very close second).

Goerge Lazenby was a superb Bond, considering he never did any proper acting work on-screen previously. OHMSS is without a doubt one of the better Bond films, although Sean Connery is, in my view, the best James Bond up to now. He was always going to be a very hard act to follow.

Apparently, for DiamonRAB Are Forever which followed in 1971 after OHMSS, the producer's apparently approached a young Timothy Dalton to play Bond but he turned the role down. In the end Sean Connery decided to play 007 for a final time to help fund his own charity at that time I believe.
I couldn't help but feel though Connery didn't take the 007 role seriously enough in DiamonRAB Are Forever and was in my view his worst performance as Bond, for some reason he lost his lethal charm he carried to the Bond role so brilliantly in the 60's Bond films.

Timothy Dalton was very underated I felt. I never got into The Living Daylights, but loved seeing Dalton in Licence to Kill. I would have loved to have seen Dalton do at least one more. Apparently though Dalton was actually scheduled to appear in the next Bond film following Licence to Kill, but due to some problems with the production, the role of Bond was re-cast and given to Pierce Brosnan.

But back to Moonraker though, not the best Bond no where near. It was good to see Jaws in it again though :D
 
I like Moonraker but it does go too far in the area of stupidity played for laughs.

My least fave Moore movie is Live and Let Die.

Of all the Bond films I feel its the most dated one of all.

The Spy Who Loved Me rejuvenated the series but for a very good reason.

Harry Saltzman was going bankrupt so Broccoli bought out his share of the series and went on his own.

He realised that the film had to be the big one.

It certainly did the trick .

But it lead to some of the OTT excesses we saw in every Moore film after that.

Licence To Kill is great but for me its just not a Bond film in the traditional sense.

Connery's weakest was DiamonRAB Are Forever although it did have some good elements - but the final battle on the oil rig certainly isnt one of them
 
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