41 replies to this topic

[5 BONDS]

Roger Moore physically and athletically the worst Bond? Why.....
In my opinion of all Bonds I feel Roger Moore was the "weakest" Bond.
When he ran it felt like he had a huge weight on his shoulder.
Lets look at Sean Connery in YOLT when he is chasing Aki.
Lets look at George Lazenby overall throughout OHMSS.
Lets look at Timothy Dalton in the pre-title sequence in LTK whan he is running for the helicopter.
Lets look at Pierce Brosnan when he is being chased in the Carver news factory.

Roger Moore looks unfit in all the action sequences. Maybe I am being unfair because I didn't mind him as Bond but just felt he was not physically demanding enough as Bond.

Sorry to all the Roger Moore fans out there...............

[Loomis]

You're right. I'm sure Moore was extremely fit when he was playing Bond, but he certainly didn't look a fraction as athletic (or powerful, or threatening, etc.) as the others.

I know that all the Bond actors - for obvious reasons - had stunt doubles, but it also didn't help us swallow the illusion of Moore's physical prowess that his stand-ins tended to stick out like sore thumbs. Especially when he got far too old for it to be even remotely credible that his Bond was doing all this leaping and fighting (OCTOPUSSY and AVTAK).

All of which said, I'm by no means a Moore hater (I like all the actors who have played Bond equally), just agreeing with you on this particular point.

[zencat]

Poor Roger. He gets no respect.

[Rod Slater]

OK Roger isn't of course a "Rambo" and not a very strong guy. He doesn't have a lot of muscles...but the best on liners!

He's the funniest Bond!

[BondChick007]

I guess that part is true

I agree with pretty much everyone here. He just didn't not seem ver athletic at all. Did he do any of his own stunts? Even if he really is a strong guy he doesn't show it much.

[Lady Sinclair]

I agree with 'Rod Slater' saying Roger is not a strong man in any way.

No muscles... OK! but a lot of charm and humour. And the best Bond ever and a witty and generous man.

[Dr. Tynan]

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding everyone, but I think people are saying that Rog was a skinny bloke.

Rog was not as muscular as Van Damme, Hulk Hogan and Arnie (I can't remember how to spell his surname), but I don't think anyone could seriously argue that he is/was a skinny man.

Or maybe people think he was a tad overweight (he doesn't seem overweight to me, though I'm not a doctor. Yes I know it's odd I call my self Dr Tynan, though maybe not cause he was a dentist).

[Simon]

But he didn't have to be fit in that sense, his Bond was a technology and quips one - which suited him.

So you could also say he didn't have jet black hair - but who cares?

I was reading a Money paper that said his era of Bond films was the most profitable ever with the best returns to expenditure. They'd done all the number crunching and there it was, Moore on top, Lazenby at the bottom and everyone else in between.

[Turn]

Consider he was about 45 when he began his stint as Bond. He seemed physically convincing in his Saint days. By his stint as Bond, he was getting on in years, but looked pretty good, so the trade-off was there. He did fine early on, but you could tell he's lost a few steps as the series wore on.

This is also an interesting topic for the people who complain Brosnan is too slight, and Dalton to some degree.

[Sir James]

Well I think someting has to be remembered here. Now, while I am not a huge fan of Roger, I do know this. All the Bonds could beat the "living daylights" out of Moore, but WHO CARES! Sure, 007 is a man of action, no doubt, but honestly when was Bond ever about beating the **** out of someone to get somewhere?

After all, it was that *other* guy who bent steel in his bare hands and tossed hats to break statues. Fleming never wrote Bond as a superhuman muscleman -- the only superpower he seemed to have was the ability to survive getting the **** kicked out of him in every book despite a "fitness regimen".

Roger may not be a Hercules, but he is definitely "cool." No threat seems to ruffle him, no danger makes him sweat. In fact, his usual reaction when threatened with a horrible death is to infuriate his tormentor even further with some smart-*** remark. Now that is what makes Bond, Bond. Any action hero can beat someone up, but only one can do it while holding a smoking gun in one hand, and a beautiful women with a dry martini in the other...

[Bondpurist]

Don't be too hard on the old man - he was practically old enough for his old age pension in AVTAK. Most elderly citizens aren't too athletic.

[Roebuck]

True Bondpurist, and the scripts weren't being tailored to take his age into account (the way Connery's later action films such as 'The Rock' and Entrapment' were).

[Xenobia]

I agree with Roebuck. While FYEO was tailored to RM's advancing age, and therefore made FYEO far more moving in some respects than others in Moore's canon, his two films after that Octopussy and AVTAK were not, and that is a shame.

That being said, yes Bond has to be physical, but even Fleming's Bond wasn't doing the insane stunts that the cinematic ones are doing. His Bond was one of quiet action, and I think RM wanted to go in that direction, but again, the scripts did not support that.

What Moore tried to do, was show Bond using his head by being witty. Occasionally the one liners got to be too much, and this was another problem with his canon. So what is the take home message here? It's the writing that killed Moore's Bond, not his lack of physical prowness.

-- Xenobia

[1q2w3e4r]

I don't really think Rog gave it that much thought. He has been quoted saying the only differnce in how he played Bond from Simon Templer was that he raised his eyebrow in The Saint.

I know Rog's Bond had a heap of one-liners, mostly bad.

But I'll issue a challange because im curious. Can anyone come up with a film with more genuine one liners the Connery in Thunderball? If you watch it, the whole films full of them. And there actually some of the best in the series in my opinion.

[Dr. Tynan]

Aye lads, but do ya think Rog was a skinny bloke?

[freemo]

Lets look at Sean Connery in YOLT when he is chasing Aki.

No, I've got a better idea, lets look at him in YOLT in his grey ninja suit, with him tummy buldging out.

Lets look at George Lazenby overall throughout OHMSS.

Lazenby's too thin, IMO, I really can't see what his appeal is.

It's the writing that killed Moore's Bond, not his lack of physical prowness.

Nobody killed Moore's Bond, Moore's Bond rocked, represents the old fashioned good time at it's peak, who wouldn't want to be Moore's Bond, all the cool one liners, getting the girls, giving the villians elaborate deaths. I know allot of people prefer to have Bond get betrayed, get personally involved in every mission and be all emotional, but I consider Moore and Bond to be what the cinema Bond is all about.

[Loomis]

Good point, freemo. Moore's Bond is not the most dramatically involving of the screen quintet, but I think he's the Bond who most blokes, if they were given the choice and thought it over, would most like to be.

[Xenobia]

Freemo:

You are absolutely right...Moore was the ultimate in Bond...catch the bad guys, bed the girls, have fun, call it day. I do prefer a tad more edge to my Bond...but for fifteen years Roger Moore was my man, and no one is going to top his record of making movies and bedding the girls.

-- Xenobia

[freemo]

- Bond talks to Anya about killing her lover (TSWLM)
- Bonds reaction when Anya mentions Mrs Bond (TSWLM)
- Bond talks about "digging two graves" (FYEO)
- Bond kicks the car over the edge (FYEO)
- Bond gets revenge for 009 (OP)
- Bond / Octopussys father backstory (OP)

I wouldn't say Moore or the Moore Bond films are totally lacking in depth either, agents friends and enemies die, there are serious moments and whatnot, it's just that they play second fiddle to the main goings on, they are just little, but crucial moments.

[Adam]

Moore is my all-time favorite Bond, but I see what you're saying about his lack of athleticism. Watch TSWLM when he fights Sandor--it actually looks painful for him to move. Also whenever he runs, it reminds me of Leslie Nielson.

Oh well he's still awesome

[ChandlerBing]

I just love it when Roger kicks Sandor in the butt. That'll teach him! Oh, well, he does do the thing with the tie, and I like that kind of thing with Bond.

[Spectre001]

Someone has to come in last though don't they? The interesting question for me would be "who is the most athletic"? I would say that George Lazenby would be up there on this award.

[IrishCrown]

Something about those Aussies. When they go for it in the fights, they really go for it. Lazenby could be Russell Crowe's dimwitted long-lost cousin.

Even Russell Crowe would have handled the Bond contract thing better. He could have actually told the producers to **** themselves.

[Felix's lighter]

I'd just like to point out that a lot more was expected from Moore-Bond stuntwise than Connery-Bond. I wouldn't want to do a lot of the stunts the scripts in the Moore years required either. Jumping from car to car on a moving train? Uh... no. Skiing off a cliff - ditto.

Give Roger a break. Despite his incredible fear of heights, he sucked it up and scaled that rock face in FYEO. Connery was never required to do anything like that.

Having said that, Roger was very inconsistent in terms of his stage-fighting techniques. Some of the choreography in MR was simply terrible, and the fight in the horse stall in AVTAK is possibly the fakest-looking movie fistfight of all time. Strangely enough, however, he was in top form just one film before in Octopussy.

[JimmyBond]

Lets not forget its not Moore's fault the fights didnt look realistic, ok, maybe it is just a tad Still though, most of his fight scenes were meant to be funny, so thats why they looked phony. The fight with Chang in the glass museum is a good example of this, played strictly for laughs. As is the AVTAK fight in the horses stall.

[IrishCrown]

Hey, let's start another thread everyone! Which James Bond actor fought the most like a girl?

Just kidding.

[JimmyBond]

Originally posted by IrishCrown
Hey, let's start another thread everyone!  Which James Bond actor fought the most like a girl?  

Just kidding.

I think I know what your answer would be

[IrishCrown]

No, no, no. I'm not going to go there. I was only kidding. If someone else wants to jump through that door, they can, but I'm not.

[0007]

You can't blame him. Old people are always not as athletic as when they were in their younger ages.

Moore was my first Bond. The first Bond film I ever watched was Octopussy. Next was Live and Let Die.

[Sir James]

why does he have to be though. Just because Sean was a boxer does not mean everyone after him has to be able to win in a bar fight!