Science fiction was huge in 79, so many "space" films. So in a way it was lucky to
Have a Fleming title so suited to that genre -{ Bond was indeed Superman. Surviving
Some almost unbelievable attempts on him , but Roger Moore was simply such a
Cool guy, you believed . I also agree with those who have pointed out that MR has
An almost " Matt Helm" film feeling to it. As if it was an updated over the top 60s
Adventure.
I loved it as a kid and still enjoy it today, I'll be watching it tonight. -{
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
The rooftop fight in TSWLM is rubbish, it's the setting and pay-off that is superb. 'What a helpful chap!'
It's marred by Moore's sissy kicking, sub karate moves, and the fact that he's up against a fat weazing knacker. It's odd to see Moore do decent fisticuffs in The Persuaders five years earlier but never really as Bond. But then, that brutal nastiness was not really his scene, he was a Niven-ish Bond.
The rooftop fight in TSWLM is rubbish, it's the setting and pay-off that is superb. 'What a helpful chap!'
It's marred by Moore's sissy kicking, sub karate moves, and the fact that he's up against a fat weazing knacker. It's odd to see Moore do decent fisticuffs in The Persuaders five years earlier but never really as Bond. But then, that brutal nastiness was not really his scene, he was a Niven-ish Bond.
I find the editing to be its biggest fault and the directing to be quite unimaginative in that scene. Did Gilbert take time off because if you try to compare it to the office fight in YOLT or even the cloakroom (the room with the woman and the bullet if that isn't the right word) fight, they can't compare. I consider that to be Moore's most sudden all time low as Bond and the only time that I felt that he couldn't be Bond. Thank god for the rest of the movie and his other 6.
a reasonable rate of return
superadoRegent's Park West (CaliforniaPosts: 2,652MI6 Agent
Other ladies might not agree with me, but something about the RM era is really unaccessible to me because I have no idea what it is like to be a 14 year old boy. I know I am not really the key Bond demographic, but the RM era seems even more geared towards men (again, very much my opinion) MR feels more accessible *to me* for some reason. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it has a something that is different from the other RM films. It is over the top and campy but not dull, like DAF. I am not sure if this is logical.
Hmmm, I'm trying to think which qualities in MR might appeal to females more than the other Roger Moore Bond movies.
One summer while bored at my cousin's home and having just finished my own Robert Ludlum pocket book, I borrowed some of her pocket books with a female slant, like Sidney Sheldon's Bloodline and Judith Krantz(?)'s Princess Daisy, and I would say what distinguishes MR from the others is what I found in those ladies' books, which is MR's breezy, jet-set feel (disco, anyone?! ) ) never matched before or after, coupled with the fact that Sir Rog is just the most romantic Bond of them all! I think the filmmakers noticed this aspect of Sir Rog budding in TSWLM, further developing in MR, and being exploited to the hilt of his later entries. Notice how he became more of a protector figure (the stuff of manly heroes in romance novels) to his leading ladies and how they amped up of the romantic tunes starting with TSWLM up to OP.
If this romance novel slant contributed to the charm of the RM Bonds, the irony is that perhaps this was the same artistic experiment that Ian Fleming attempted w/TSWLM, but which he seemed to have relegated as a failure.
"...the purposeful slant of his striding figure looked dangerous, as if he was making quickly for something bad that was happening further down the street." -SMERSH on 007 dossier photo, Ch. 6 FRWL.....
The rooftop fight in TSWLM is rubbish, it's the setting and pay-off that is superb. 'What a helpful chap!'
It's marred by Moore's sissy kicking, sub karate moves, and the fact that he's up against a fat weazing knacker. It's odd to see Moore do decent fisticuffs in The Persuaders five years earlier but never really as Bond. But then, that brutal nastiness was not really his scene, he was a Niven-ish Bond.
I find the editing to be its biggest fault and the directing to be quite unimaginative in that scene. Did Gilbert take time off because if you try to compare it to the office fight in YOLT or even the cloakroom (the room with the woman and the bullet if that isn't the right word) fight, they can't compare. I consider that to be Moore's most sudden all time low as Bond and the only time that I felt that he couldn't be Bond. Thank god for the rest of the movie and his other 6.
The fight would be better if in closer quarters (similar to the fight with Jaws on the train) because the non-athletic actors just don't move well. The whole fight is focussed on the payoff at the end, as someone mentioned above. A fight with someone similar in size and fighting style to Roger probably would've been better on the rooftop...
Other ladies might not agree with me, but something about the RM era is really unaccessible to me because I have no idea what it is like to be a 14 year old boy. I know I am not really the key Bond demographic, but the RM era seems even more geared towards men (again, very much my opinion) MR feels more accessible *to me* for some reason. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it has a something that is different from the other RM films. It is over the top and campy but not dull, like DAF. I am not sure if this is logical.
Hmmm, I'm trying to think which qualities in MR might appeal to females more than the other Roger Moore Bond movies.
One summer while bored at my cousin's home and having just finished my own Robert Ludlum pocket book, I borrowed some of her pocket books with a female slant, like Sidney Sheldon's Bloodline and Judith Krantz(?)'s Princess Daisy, and I would say what distinguishes MR from the others is what I found in those ladies' books, which is MR's breezy, jet-set feel (disco, anyone?! ) ) never matched before or after, coupled with the fact that Sir Rog is just the most romantic Bond of them all! I think the filmmakers noticed this aspect of Sir Rog budding in TSWLM, further developing in MR, and being exploited to the hilt of his later entries. Notice how he became more of a protector figure (the stuff of manly heroes in romance novels) to his leading ladies and how they amped up of the romantic tunes starting with TSWLM up to OP.
If this romance novel slant contributed to the charm of the RM Bonds, the irony is that perhaps this was the same artistic experiment that Ian Fleming attempted w/TSWLM, but which he seemed to have relegated as a failure.
I think part of it is the Holly is not 19. In FYEO Bond kind of looks like the weird guy who shows up to a prom with an 18 year old and thinks it is "totes cool."
I think part of it is the Holly is not 19. In FYEO Bond kind of looks like the weird guy who shows up to a prom with an 18 year old and thinks it is "totes cool."
ah the age appropriate relationship thing. Good point, especially towards the end of the Moore era. You had me confused, because in FYEO Bond actually does spurn the advances of a young'un, as he should. But the actress playing Melina is only a few years older than the actress playing Bibi, and the two of them combined are probably still younger than Roger. But, they are actors, their job is to make us suspend disbelief, and the two characters as written are meant to be not so close to each other in age. I think Carole Bouquet succeeds in playing the part as more experienced.
In contrast to Moore, thinking of the Connery films (and OHMSS), I just assume Ursula Andress, Honour Blackman, Diana Rigg and Jill St John are closer to the Bond-actor's age. Don't know about the lesser known actresses. But Moore was two years older than Connery all along, and the producers like to keep the Bond-girls young and fresh and in their biological prime, so somethings gotta give.
What about all those Audrey Hepburn movies where she runs around with wrinkly old geezers like Humphrey Bogart or Cary Grant? a once accepted Hollywood convention, a double standard regarding the presumed point-of-view watching these movies, that we have evolved past only in more recent decades.
What about all those Audrey Hepburn movies where she runs around with wrinkly old geezers like Humphrey Bogart or Cary Grant?
Not to mention Fred Astaire in Funny Face. He was 58 and she was 28.
Thankfully there seems to be no problems of that nature in Moonraker even though Roger is like 20 years older. He just looks so dashing and Holly is a successful, smart, independent woman in her mid-30s.
My current 10 favorite:
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
For argument's sake, let's say that the 'problem' with Moonraker is the "fantastical plot" :
A rich industrialist plans to wipe out the human race with a deadly nerve gas and replace the population with his own idea of perfect human specimens.
Now compare that to the plot of OHMSS which is perhaps the most well regarded Bond film:
Bond's arch-nemesis Blofeld is masquerading as a Count and wants his title to be recognized by the College of Arms. Meanwhile, he is also running a clinic in the Swiss Alps brainwashing a group of beautiful women to spread sterility virus and destroy the world's food supply.
Now honestly, are they really all that different?
My current 10 favorite:
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
By Bond standards the plot is perfectly fine, it's the fantastical setting.
It's outlandish in the way it goes into space and while the whole Space Shuttle program of cheaper, more frequent space travel meant it was not far off people's imaginations at the time - it was still ahead of its time in concept and presentation.
YOLT follows very similar lines but because of the impact of space films around MR - it had to perform at a much higher level. What I think MR does well is that it takes the science fiction genre and blockbuster elements it wants, blends it with the "realistic" elements of 2001 and adds James Bond and boom you've got a highly entertaining, very well made crossover blockbuster.
What about all those Audrey Hepburn movies where she runs around with wrinkly old geezers like Humphrey Bogart or Cary Grant?
Not to mention Fred Astaire in Funny Face. He was 58 and she was 28.
Thankfully there seems to be no problems of that nature in Moonraker even though Roger is like 20 years older. He just looks so dashing and Holly is a successful, smart, independent woman in her mid-30s.
It is problematic. In Funny Face AH is the young girl who knows nothing about anything ( okay black turtlenecks) and falls in love with her teacher BECAUSE they are the teacher. I must say I am not a huge fan of this narrative regardless of the gender. and I think some Bonds can fall into this and it is not the actor's fault.
Speaking of Holly and Roger, I always found the seduction at the hotel to be rather magical and its dripping with chemistry between them. It's a shame the potential of said chemistry was never fully realised and expanded thanks to how the movie was written.
It's still one of my favourite scenes of the series (and a unique one, a testament to how well crafted it was) and a highlight of the movie.
I could go on and on about Moonraker and you'd find nothing but praise for it.
Funny how nobody mentioned the way the story was structured was very similar to SPY.
Happily I'm in love with the Bond films so see none of these faults and niggles. -{
Also I seem to be one of the few to understand and follow the plot, it's amazing to me
How some find them so complicated. )
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
Well, I watched it on telly the other night. It is a great movie for allowing a Mystery Theatre 3000-style commentary, y'know that US comedy series about a Red Dwarf type space craft where the crew sit down and watch a genuine, naff B-movie in the evening, with bitchy ad lib commentary.
Take the opening. Two guys in the Boeing, or whatever it is. Except, after 30 years and many views, you notice a third guy in the cockpit. He's saying nothing, just sulking. 'My agent said he'd get me a line! First line in the new Bond film! And what do I get - nothing!' Or maybe he's not doing any great moves because he's got a great line coming up...
'Captain: How are we doing, Richard?
RAF Officer: We should pass over the English coast 15 minutes ahead of time, sir.
Captain: Wow! With this load on our back, that's good going.
Third member of crew: 'Yeah, we could nip into Stringfellows before it shuts, all the ladies love a service uniform, eh? They're so well stacked there...'
RAF Officer: Just trust the RAF, sir.
Only to find his line, unaccountably, is cut from the final print.
Now it's odd, but these characters, we never ever see them in anything else, do we? I mean, the older guy might have later turned up in a long-running sitcom, and every time we'd see him in the film thereafter, we'd be put off this very serious moment, it would become risible. Do they sign a contract saying they will never ever make it as an actor in their own right? I mean, in YOLT I think, one of the Russian control announcers did turn up in Allo Allo as one of the fat jolly German officers, but that's over a decade later... Maybe EON secretly shoot all the extras after filming, so this never happens...
M in his office. 'Good God!' He said Good God near the beginning of LALD didn't he... In that instance it was a missing teaspoon, now it's a missing space shuttle, his problems have gone up in the world.
Hold on, if they were estimating being over the channel at a certain time, how come the flight debris is somewhere completely different? It doesn't stack up.
Bond in a plane cockpit. This is a delightful scene. Marred perhaps by a secret sweepstake among the crew to see how many times they can say 'Mister Bond'... 'Any higher Mister Bond and my ears will pop...' 'You're so right Mister Bond...' 'This is where we leave you Mister Bond'. As Danny in Grease might say, 'That's my name baby, don't wear it out!' Perhaps as he's a spy they are just checking they've got the right man. All our hero has to say is 'Mister Bond? My name is Herbie Snackermeister, I'm in plastics' and they'd reconsider.
What happens to the air hostess? In a Face/Off type movie she'd have her brains blown out in the cockpit, or be brutally ejected from the plane herself. In Moore's kinder, more gallant age she is just forgotten about. Does she have a parachute or not? Who cares.
Great freefall, good stuff. Should have the concealed parachutes across the chest if poss, seems a bit obvious now. The Moore lookalike is very good.
I could go on like this. The movie flows very well indeed. A python in the pool. Drax: 'I distinctly asked, did I not say, for a piranha!' Then, on arriving at the space station, I mean, think how long it takes to warm the flat up when you come back from holiday. It must be freezing up there. Good job someone cancelled the milk, or they'd be a long line of floating milk bottles stretching out to Mars. The whole space colony thing, I dunno, I've made unPC comments about this before and will desist, but just one black couple up there? Still, you can't really accuse the film of being racist when a) It's Drax's plan and b) He is also committing, well, not genocide (it's not against a targeted race, unless you count the human race) but mass murder.
Speaking of Holly and Roger, I always found the seduction at the hotel to be rather magical and its dripping with chemistry between them. It's a shame the potential of said chemistry was never fully realised and expanded thanks to how the movie was written.
It's still one of my favourite scenes of the series (and a unique one, a testament to how well crafted it was) and a highlight of the movie.
I could go on and on about Moonraker and you'd find nothing but praise for it.
Funny how nobody mentioned the way the story was structured was very similar to SPY.
A seduction in Venice rivaled only by...
"...the purposeful slant of his striding figure looked dangerous, as if he was making quickly for something bad that was happening further down the street." -SMERSH on 007 dossier photo, Ch. 6 FRWL.....
For argument's sake, let's say that the 'problem' with Moonraker is the "fantastical plot" :
A rich industrialist plans to wipe out the human race with a deadly nerve gas and replace the population with his own idea of perfect human specimens.
Now compare that to the plot of OHMSS which is perhaps the most well regarded Bond film:
Bond's arch-nemesis Blofeld is masquerading as a Count and wants his title to be recognized by the College of Arms. Meanwhile, he is also running a clinic in the Swiss Alps brainwashing a group of beautiful women to spread sterility virus and destroy the world's food supply.
Now honestly, are they really all that different?
All Bond films are tall tales. MR and OHMSS no exception. However it is the execution of the respective plots that differs them completely.
OHMSS is an honest adaptation of a Fleming book and is a reasonably serious action adventure film with emotional depth, which is no doubt why it is as you say, often considered the best film.
And whilst the motivations of the villain are outrageous, the elements of the plot ( action, characters, dialogue, settings) are for a Bond film, reasonably grounded and certainly more realistic than MR.
Imagine this, Bond gets to Piz Gloria with Draco's men and they have a giant laser battle with futuristic weapons against Blofeld and his goons. Now you may argue that the laser battle is completely out of context in this story, but as you said, both plots are fantastical, so why not have something like that thrown in there? Bigger and outlandish are better right? And then to cap it, Irma Bunt, instead of being the villan that shoots Bonds wife, meets cute with Draco and suddenly changes her ways and turns good and starts helping Bond defeat Blofeld and overcome the dreaded lasers all by way of knee slapping gags that come in an endless procession.
Speaking of Holly and Roger, I always found the seduction at the hotel to be rather magical and its dripping with chemistry between them. It's a shame the potential of said chemistry was never fully realised and expanded thanks to how the movie was written.
It's still one of my favourite scenes of the series (and a unique one, a testament to how well crafted it was) and a highlight of the movie.
I could go on and on about Moonraker and you'd find nothing but praise for it.
Funny how nobody mentioned the way the story was structured was very similar to SPY.
A seduction in Venice rivaled only by...
Bond vs Indy, Moore vs Ford.
FIGHT!
a reasonable rate of return
superadoRegent's Park West (CaliforniaPosts: 2,652MI6 Agent
Speaking of Holly and Roger, I always found the seduction at the hotel to be rather magical and its dripping with chemistry between them. It's a shame the potential of said chemistry was never fully realised and expanded thanks to how the movie was written.
It's still one of my favourite scenes of the series (and a unique one, a testament to how well crafted it was) and a highlight of the movie.
I could go on and on about Moonraker and you'd find nothing but praise for it.
Funny how nobody mentioned the way the story was structured was very similar to SPY.
A seduction in Venice rivaled only by...
Bond vs Indy, Moore vs Ford.
FIGHT!
Indy getting 007's sloppy seconds )
"...the purposeful slant of his striding figure looked dangerous, as if he was making quickly for something bad that was happening further down the street." -SMERSH on 007 dossier photo, Ch. 6 FRWL.....
superadoRegent's Park West (CaliforniaPosts: 2,652MI6 Agent
What about all those Audrey Hepburn movies where she runs around with wrinkly old geezers like Humphrey Bogart or Cary Grant?
Not to mention Fred Astaire in Funny Face. He was 58 and she was 28.
Thankfully there seems to be no problems of that nature in Moonraker even though Roger is like 20 years older. He just looks so dashing and Holly is a successful, smart, independent woman in her mid-30s.
Paired with a late middle-aged Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint's character in North by Northwest, Eve Kendall was only 26 years-old (today, 26 year olds are "woooo girls" still adjusting to the reality of being past drinking age while still having the minds of adolescents!), unmarried and relatively sophisticated. It seems most of Hitchcock's leading ladies fit this profile, just as his leading men were aged like Cary Grant, though this was the standard in movies throughout the 20th century (Bogart was 50ish when he met and married Lauren Bacall at age 19/20/21?) as well as the general population, maybe. Today, it would be called "Man Privilege" that progressive circles consider unfair and disgraceful, hence the rise and normalization of the cougar, which thankfully brought us Monica Bellucci!
"...the purposeful slant of his striding figure looked dangerous, as if he was making quickly for something bad that was happening further down the street." -SMERSH on 007 dossier photo, Ch. 6 FRWL.....
There's the famous story we all know of course about how Cary Grant's 'Mother' in NBNW was only a few months older than him. But in those days, to look like Grant at that age was like magic in itself, in the age of rickets and polio and lord knows what.
Re Astaire and Hepburn, well, probably same with Astaire and Judy Garland in Easter Parade. Thing is, I don't care because Funny Face allows us to enjoy a musical with both Astaire and Hepburn, so it's great for that, you enjoy it on that level. Like Moore is too old for many of his Bond films, but if you enjoy his portrayal and his films, you're just grateful for the chance to enjoy them.
"This is where we leave you Mr Bond."
Roger Moore 1927-2017
superadoRegent's Park West (CaliforniaPosts: 2,652MI6 Agent
There's the famous story we all know of course about how Cary Grant's 'Mother' in NBNW was only a few months older than him. But in those days, to look like Grant at that age was like magic in itself, in the age of rickets and polio and lord knows what.
Re Astaire and Hepburn, well, probably same with Astaire and Judy Garland in Easter Parade. Thing is, I don't care because Funny Face allows us to enjoy a musical with both Astaire and Hepburn, so it's great for that, you enjoy it on that level. Like Moore is too old for many of his Bond films, but if you enjoy his portrayal and his films, you're just grateful for the chance to enjoy them.
I think the May-December romance of Fred Astaire's that I found creepy during a re-viewing after many many years, was Daddy Long Legs with Leslie Caron, in which the age difference seemed the most stark. In it, Astaire is a rich benefactor who takes pity on an orphaned ingenue in Paris (Caron), who he then anonymously funds for a college education in America. She is so grateful for her patron that she fell in love with whomever it was, until Astaire "gives in." As much as they made him seem reluctant (something that Cary Grant insisted on in Charade, because originally they wanted him to be the pursuer and not the other way around), Astaire couldn't help but seem creepily lecherous. Should the movie be remade today, that issue can be better remedied by making the benefactor an early 20-something dot.com billionaire. I last watched the movie when I was a young teen but didn't notice what was involved and when I rewatched it, it was for my daughter who really likes the old MGM musicals, but I ended up having to give her a serious talk afterwards, lol.
"...the purposeful slant of his striding figure looked dangerous, as if he was making quickly for something bad that was happening further down the street." -SMERSH on 007 dossier photo, Ch. 6 FRWL.....
Well, I suppose Leslie Caron was used to it, thanks to Gigi and its problematic song, Thank Heavens for Little Girls! I haven't seen Daddy Long Legs in years, maybe that's the reason. The book is quite good, it's in the first person and maybe the plot owes something to those Shop Around the Corner type films when it later emerges they are known to each other... It's a bit CatFish, however. Perhaps now it could be reinterpreted as one of those first-person narratives like The Dog That Sneezed in the Night or whatever, were we see what is really going on.
I suppose Astaire has form, stealing Ginger Roger's cab and tapdancing on it, I mean do that sort of thing today, you'd get a court order. He got away with it because he's all charisma, and was young in that film, but still...
Back on topic. Who is Drax's squeeze in Moonraker? It seems to go against the Noah's Ark theme, even Noah had a wife.
I suppose Astaire has form, stealing Ginger Roger's cab and tapdancing on it, I mean do that sort of thing today, you'd get a court order. He got away with it because he's all charisma, and was young in that film, but still...
those Fred and Ginger movies, he cracks me up, his persona is so stalker-ish, never takes the hint, all snappy patter with no visible means of support, Ginger keeps trying to look away and he keeps bothering her, she gives him the sidelong glance with the skeptically raised eyebrow, then he breaks into song, which transfixes her attention unwillingly like the peacock and the peahen. Then he begins his dance steps and against all rational judgement she remembers "hey I can do that too" and she ends up thinking with her feet instead of her common sense, and he wins her again for yet another movie.
Bunt, instead of being the villan that shoots Bonds wife, meets cute with Draco and suddenly changes her ways and turns good and starts helping Bond defeat Blofeld and overcome the dreaded lasers all by way of knee slapping gags that come in an endless procession.
Villains have switched sides before. Imagine if Pussy Galore suddenly changes her ways and turns good and helps Bond defeat Goldfinger.
There are no knee slapping gags in the final laser battle that you are referring to, let alone an "endless procession."
My current 10 favorite:
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
superadoRegent's Park West (CaliforniaPosts: 2,652MI6 Agent
I suppose Astaire has form, stealing Ginger Roger's cab and tapdancing on it, I mean do that sort of thing today, you'd get a court order. He got away with it because he's all charisma, and was young in that film, but still...
those Fred and Ginger movies, he cracks me up, his persona is so stalker-ish, never takes the hint, all snappy patter with no visible means of support, Ginger keeps trying to look away and he keeps bothering her, she gives him the sidelong glance with the skeptically raised eyebrow, then he breaks into song, which transfixes her attention unwillingly like the peacock and the peahen. Then he begins his dance steps and against all rational judgement she remembers "hey I can do that too" and she ends up thinking with her feet instead of her common sense, and he wins her again for yet another movie.
Back on topic. Who is Drax's squeeze in Moonraker? It seems to go against the Noah's Ark theme, even Noah had a wife.
probably had Droit du Seigneur , after all he was paying all the bills ... to quote a wise man, "it's good to be da King!"
...and you look like the piss boy! )
"...the purposeful slant of his striding figure looked dangerous, as if he was making quickly for something bad that was happening further down the street." -SMERSH on 007 dossier photo, Ch. 6 FRWL.....
Comments
Have a Fleming title so suited to that genre -{ Bond was indeed Superman. Surviving
Some almost unbelievable attempts on him
Cool guy, you believed . I also agree with those who have pointed out that MR has
An almost " Matt Helm" film feeling to it. As if it was an updated over the top 60s
Adventure.
I loved it as a kid and still enjoy it today, I'll be watching it tonight. -{
It's marred by Moore's sissy kicking, sub karate moves, and the fact that he's up against a fat weazing knacker. It's odd to see Moore do decent fisticuffs in The Persuaders five years earlier but never really as Bond. But then, that brutal nastiness was not really his scene, he was a Niven-ish Bond.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Hmmm, I'm trying to think which qualities in MR might appeal to females more than the other Roger Moore Bond movies.
One summer while bored at my cousin's home and having just finished my own Robert Ludlum pocket book, I borrowed some of her pocket books with a female slant, like Sidney Sheldon's Bloodline and Judith Krantz(?)'s Princess Daisy, and I would say what distinguishes MR from the others is what I found in those ladies' books, which is MR's breezy, jet-set feel (disco, anyone?!
If this romance novel slant contributed to the charm of the RM Bonds, the irony is that perhaps this was the same artistic experiment that Ian Fleming attempted w/TSWLM, but which he seemed to have relegated as a failure.
The fight would be better if in closer quarters (similar to the fight with Jaws on the train) because the non-athletic actors just don't move well. The whole fight is focussed on the payoff at the end, as someone mentioned above. A fight with someone similar in size and fighting style to Roger probably would've been better on the rooftop...
"Better make that two."
Agree to disagree my friend. It is heavily flawed
Yes, you have said this.....
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
In contrast to Moore, thinking of the Connery films (and OHMSS), I just assume Ursula Andress, Honour Blackman, Diana Rigg and Jill St John are closer to the Bond-actor's age. Don't know about the lesser known actresses. But Moore was two years older than Connery all along, and the producers like to keep the Bond-girls young and fresh and in their biological prime, so somethings gotta give.
What about all those Audrey Hepburn movies where she runs around with wrinkly old geezers like Humphrey Bogart or Cary Grant? a once accepted Hollywood convention, a double standard regarding the presumed point-of-view watching these movies, that we have evolved past only in more recent decades.
Not to mention Fred Astaire in Funny Face. He was 58 and she was 28.
Thankfully there seems to be no problems of that nature in Moonraker even though Roger is like 20 years older. He just looks so dashing and Holly is a successful, smart, independent woman in her mid-30s.
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
A rich industrialist plans to wipe out the human race with a deadly nerve gas and replace the population with his own idea of perfect human specimens.
Now compare that to the plot of OHMSS which is perhaps the most well regarded Bond film:
Bond's arch-nemesis Blofeld is masquerading as a Count and wants his title to be recognized by the College of Arms. Meanwhile, he is also running a clinic in the Swiss Alps brainwashing a group of beautiful women to spread sterility virus and destroy the world's food supply.
Now honestly, are they really all that different?
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
It's outlandish in the way it goes into space and while the whole Space Shuttle program of cheaper, more frequent space travel meant it was not far off people's imaginations at the time - it was still ahead of its time in concept and presentation.
YOLT follows very similar lines but because of the impact of space films around MR - it had to perform at a much higher level. What I think MR does well is that it takes the science fiction genre and blockbuster elements it wants, blends it with the "realistic" elements of 2001 and adds James Bond and boom you've got a highly entertaining, very well made crossover blockbuster.
"Better make that two."
It's still one of my favourite scenes of the series (and a unique one, a testament to how well crafted it was) and a highlight of the movie.
I could go on and on about Moonraker and you'd find nothing but praise for it.
Funny how nobody mentioned the way the story was structured was very similar to SPY.
Also I seem to be one of the few to understand and follow the plot, it's amazing to me
How some find them so complicated.
} Bond saves the day (generally sex happens in the process.)
Take the opening. Two guys in the Boeing, or whatever it is. Except, after 30 years and many views, you notice a third guy in the cockpit. He's saying nothing, just sulking. 'My agent said he'd get me a line! First line in the new Bond film! And what do I get - nothing!' Or maybe he's not doing any great moves because he's got a great line coming up...
'Captain: How are we doing, Richard?
RAF Officer: We should pass over the English coast 15 minutes ahead of time, sir.
Captain: Wow! With this load on our back, that's good going.
Third member of crew: 'Yeah, we could nip into Stringfellows before it shuts, all the ladies love a service uniform, eh? They're so well stacked there...'
RAF Officer: Just trust the RAF, sir.
Only to find his line, unaccountably, is cut from the final print.
Now it's odd, but these characters, we never ever see them in anything else, do we? I mean, the older guy might have later turned up in a long-running sitcom, and every time we'd see him in the film thereafter, we'd be put off this very serious moment, it would become risible. Do they sign a contract saying they will never ever make it as an actor in their own right? I mean, in YOLT I think, one of the Russian control announcers did turn up in Allo Allo as one of the fat jolly German officers, but that's over a decade later... Maybe EON secretly shoot all the extras after filming, so this never happens...
M in his office. 'Good God!' He said Good God near the beginning of LALD didn't he... In that instance it was a missing teaspoon, now it's a missing space shuttle, his problems have gone up in the world.
Hold on, if they were estimating being over the channel at a certain time, how come the flight debris is somewhere completely different? It doesn't stack up.
Bond in a plane cockpit. This is a delightful scene. Marred perhaps by a secret sweepstake among the crew to see how many times they can say 'Mister Bond'... 'Any higher Mister Bond and my ears will pop...' 'You're so right Mister Bond...' 'This is where we leave you Mister Bond'. As Danny in Grease might say, 'That's my name baby, don't wear it out!' Perhaps as he's a spy they are just checking they've got the right man. All our hero has to say is 'Mister Bond? My name is Herbie Snackermeister, I'm in plastics' and they'd reconsider.
What happens to the air hostess? In a Face/Off type movie she'd have her brains blown out in the cockpit, or be brutally ejected from the plane herself. In Moore's kinder, more gallant age she is just forgotten about. Does she have a parachute or not? Who cares.
Great freefall, good stuff. Should have the concealed parachutes across the chest if poss, seems a bit obvious now. The Moore lookalike is very good.
I could go on like this. The movie flows very well indeed. A python in the pool. Drax: 'I distinctly asked, did I not say, for a piranha!' Then, on arriving at the space station, I mean, think how long it takes to warm the flat up when you come back from holiday. It must be freezing up there. Good job someone cancelled the milk, or they'd be a long line of floating milk bottles stretching out to Mars. The whole space colony thing, I dunno, I've made unPC comments about this before and will desist, but just one black couple up there? Still, you can't really accuse the film of being racist when a) It's Drax's plan and b) He is also committing, well, not genocide (it's not against a targeted race, unless you count the human race) but mass murder.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
That's an answer I've not found anywhere.
A seduction in Venice rivaled only by...
All Bond films are tall tales. MR and OHMSS no exception. However it is the execution of the respective plots that differs them completely.
OHMSS is an honest adaptation of a Fleming book and is a reasonably serious action adventure film with emotional depth, which is no doubt why it is as you say, often considered the best film.
And whilst the motivations of the villain are outrageous, the elements of the plot ( action, characters, dialogue, settings) are for a Bond film, reasonably grounded and certainly more realistic than MR.
Imagine this, Bond gets to Piz Gloria with Draco's men and they have a giant laser battle with futuristic weapons against Blofeld and his goons. Now you may argue that the laser battle is completely out of context in this story, but as you said, both plots are fantastical, so why not have something like that thrown in there? Bigger and outlandish are better right? And then to cap it, Irma Bunt, instead of being the villan that shoots Bonds wife, meets cute with Draco and suddenly changes her ways and turns good and starts helping Bond defeat Blofeld and overcome the dreaded lasers all by way of knee slapping gags that come in an endless procession.
So short answer...yes.
FIGHT!
Indy getting 007's sloppy seconds
Paired with a late middle-aged Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint's character in North by Northwest, Eve Kendall was only 26 years-old (today, 26 year olds are "woooo girls" still adjusting to the reality of being past drinking age while still having the minds of adolescents!), unmarried and relatively sophisticated. It seems most of Hitchcock's leading ladies fit this profile, just as his leading men were aged like Cary Grant, though this was the standard in movies throughout the 20th century (Bogart was 50ish when he met and married Lauren Bacall at age 19/20/21?) as well as the general population, maybe. Today, it would be called "Man Privilege" that progressive circles consider unfair and disgraceful, hence the rise and normalization of the cougar, which thankfully brought us Monica Bellucci!
Re Astaire and Hepburn, well, probably same with Astaire and Judy Garland in Easter Parade. Thing is, I don't care because Funny Face allows us to enjoy a musical with both Astaire and Hepburn, so it's great for that, you enjoy it on that level. Like Moore is too old for many of his Bond films, but if you enjoy his portrayal and his films, you're just grateful for the chance to enjoy them.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
I think the May-December romance of Fred Astaire's that I found creepy during a re-viewing after many many years, was Daddy Long Legs with Leslie Caron, in which the age difference seemed the most stark. In it, Astaire is a rich benefactor who takes pity on an orphaned ingenue in Paris (Caron), who he then anonymously funds for a college education in America. She is so grateful for her patron that she fell in love with whomever it was, until Astaire "gives in." As much as they made him seem reluctant (something that Cary Grant insisted on in Charade, because originally they wanted him to be the pursuer and not the other way around), Astaire couldn't help but seem creepily lecherous. Should the movie be remade today, that issue can be better remedied by making the benefactor an early 20-something dot.com billionaire. I last watched the movie when I was a young teen but didn't notice what was involved and when I rewatched it, it was for my daughter who really likes the old MGM musicals, but I ended up having to give her a serious talk afterwards, lol.
I suppose Astaire has form, stealing Ginger Roger's cab and tapdancing on it, I mean do that sort of thing today, you'd get a court order. He got away with it because he's all charisma, and was young in that film, but still...
Back on topic. Who is Drax's squeeze in Moonraker? It seems to go against the Noah's Ark theme, even Noah had a wife.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
probably had Droit du Seigneur , after all he was paying all the bills ... to quote a wise man, "it's good to be da King!"
Villains have switched sides before. Imagine if Pussy Galore suddenly changes her ways and turns good and helps Bond defeat Goldfinger.
There are no knee slapping gags in the final laser battle that you are referring to, let alone an "endless procession."
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
...and you look like the piss boy!