…my response will get me censored
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Self-censored. Devilishly clever!
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His name was Bond…James Bond
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Dec 6: there are so many great moments during Craig’s tenure, it’s hard to choose. But I’ll go with the final scene of Casino Royale and Craig’s first delivery of “Bond, James Bond” followed by the Bond theme blaring. I’d rank it as the number 2 instance of that line after only Connery’s first deliverance in Dr. No, which just oozes cool. The biggest missed opportunity was definitely not having a film in 2010. The story between QoS and SF definitely feels like it’s missing something as we see Bond go from a brash rookie, to a jaded veteran with nothing in the middle. The Bond games help to pad this time, but having another film would’ve gone a long way to cementing this transition. Additionally, another film between Spectre and No Time To Die would’ve been welcome too.
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Best moment?
Q’s complex feelings for Bond (resulting from the physical intimacy I am certain they shared) finding expression:
“Now, you may feel a small…”
“Christ!”
“…prick.”
And most glaring missed opportunity?
Nothing comes to mind. Over the course of fifteen years, we were treated to Bond as a rookie agent; a returning stalwart; a hardened-cum-disillusioned veteran; a programmed assassin (who deprograms himself); and a self-sacrificing family man. Craig was talented enough to play each of them, and make them all appealing. Individual viewers’ preferences will depend on their aesthetic, personal experiences, and societal positioning.
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Dec 6:
Best moment - “Yes, considerably.”
Missed opportunity: 2006! Bond Begins! … uhhhhhh … 2021, nevermind, Bond dies.
Part of me would nominate the same scene, the first encounter with Andrea Anders in Hong Kong as both best and least lovely (it’s certainly not lovely but I think he plays what he’s given to play in a very watchable manner). Otherwise, very fond of the Drax bird shoot bit. A hoot. Unless you’re a pigeon.
One frowns at the quiche-making (although one assumes that is part of the cover as James Stock and like so much of A View to a Kill, on several levels Roger Moore is barely playing James Bond in it) but it probably is the preachiness of all the “revenge is bad, young lady” when he’s killed “Blofeld” and Locque precisely for that reason, with no particular negative consequence for his wellbeing. Again, things he has to say but on this occasion, uncharacteristically clumsily delivered.
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December 007 (could not resist, and kind of fitting for Sir Roger):
Since he was my first Bond I will always love his portrayal, no matter how lightweight his tenure appears to be to the next generations of fans.
His best moment? So difficult to decide since he always managed to balance humor and seriousness. I adore his take on Bond for not being prone to violence; his Bond always tried to evade it and signal the audience that he had other ideas to persevere up his sleeve. But when situations forced him to get serious and tough, he did.
Today, it‘s a tie for me: the way he got rid of Jaws on the train - and his exit from the centrifuge.
His least lovely moment? Pushing the boy off the boat.
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Mine too
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December 7th -
Loveliest moment, after much deliberation and amusement, I have to plumb for a tiny scene in his first film, that encapsulates, in my opinion, everything beautiful about Sir Rogers performance…
Oh! Cult Voodoo shop. SirRogerBond to the lady at the counter " could you giftwrap it for me please… Lengthwise…" Wit, cheek, intelligence, and style.
Least Lovely - it’s the velure tracksuited fight"""""" in AVTAK, him and McNee look like zombies. In velure 
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Ah, Sir Roger, a champion for the series till the very end
Best: The comedy mask slips;
Commander James Bond, recruited to the British Secret Service from the Royal Navy. Licensed to kill and has done so on numerous occasions. Many lady friends but married only once. Wife killed…
Alright, you’ve made your point.
You’re sensitive, Mr. Bond?
About some things.
Worst…
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December 7
So I’ve been off sick for the last 3 weeks and one of the things I’ve done with my time is to re-watch my Roger Moore Bond films. You’d think this would make the question easier but I’ve come away with a renewed appreciation for what Moore’s tenure. The parts that were good were still good, the more ridiculous moments bothered me less and a couple of jokes landed where they hadn’t before (Margaret Thatcher talking to Max the parrot got a genuine chuckle this time). I think I enjoyed Moonraker more than I ever have on previous viewings.
This is just where I am mentally right now, craving the lighter and more fun side of things.
As for the question…
Best Scene: There was some iconic stunt work in those films but I want something that celebrates Moore himself and not his stunt team. His charm and lighter touches were what people remember which was what made his more serious moments stand out. I’m going to nominate the centrifuge scene from Moonraker. It was a really tense sequence and Moore plays it perfectly. There’s no quip, just Bond visibly shaken.
Least Lovely: The final scene of A View To A Kill, symbolic of how Moore was in the role just a bit too long.
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Sir Roger’s Best Moment:
Outwitting Drax on the space station and bringing Jaws onto his side.
Sir Roger’s Worst Moment:
The Tarzan yell.
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Best Moore scene: I have to go all the way back to LALD and the stealth arrival by parasail into San Monique dressed in his all black turtleneck outfit and that big magnum pistol in the shoulder holster. It established a new kind of comic book cool for Bond that was refreshing and Moore looked like he was a formidable physical threat. He even got to shoot that big gun.
Least lovely moment: Rouging up Maud Adams in TMWTGG. Even as a boy of 12 that scene offended my idea of what James Bond, or anyone representing the side of good, would or should do. Given his anti-violence stance throughout his tenure I’m surprised that Moore played that scene as he did; he’s cold and a right bastard in that one, made worse by the champagne toast ending. I actually find that Moore sells the scene, unseemly as it is, but it sticks out from his entire oeuvre as Bond.
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Roger is the whole reason I’m a Bond fan, so picking one favorite moment is impossible. Of course his tenure was largely defined by the “fun” moments, the high spirits and wild adventure and most prominently the one-liners he delivered with such skill that his successors were saddled with carrying them on, often uncomfortably and literally never with the same skill.
BUT…if pushed, I’d have to choose one of the moments when something darker and more sober peeked through the “fun and games” facade Roger’s Bond erected to keep himself sane, moments where the “imperturbable” act fell away and we saw the human being underneath. Because those moments were powerful for their scarcity and economy: the little glimpses of Roger-Bond’s more serious side made a stronger impression on me than 15 years of relentless angst and brooding in the Craig years.
Even then, I have to cheat and choose two scenes: first, Bond’s speech to Anya where he confesses to killing her lover in TSWLM. There’s an honesty there, not just in the confession itself, but in the acknowledgement of the ugly, unpleasant reality of what these two have chosen as a career. Bond is able to open up to her, a fellow professional, as he never would to a “civilian.” She’s not having it.
Second is a much shorter speech – just four words – in FYEO. About to be keel-hauled over a coral reef, Melina has given up hope, but Bond looks her in the eye and says, “We’re not dead yet.” It’s not the time for a clever quip; they both know they’re in real trouble. But Bond has been in trouble before, and things seemed just as hopeless then, as well. He doesn’t know at this point HOW they’re going to escape, but he’s gotten this far in life by putting panic and fatalism aside to be open to whatever solution presents itself. He’s telling her, “Trust me, this is what I do.” And then, by gum, he bloody does it.
For the worst moment, I’d have to pick Bond roughing up Andrea in TMWTGG. It’s wrong for Roger, it’s out of character for Fleming’s Bond (and I admit the two are often unrelated), it’s always been uncomfortable and in 2021 it’s virtually unwatchable. I get that they were still trying to figure out who Roger’s Bond was at this point, and make him seem “tough” and all, but bullying a woman has the opposite effect: it makes him look weak and cowardly.
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December 7, the 80th anniversary of Pearl Harbor. To borrow a quote from DC: “Doesn’t time fly.”
Roger Moore is my favorite Bond and, despite Tomorrow Never Dies being my first Bond film that I remember seeing from start to finish, I actually recall seeing a brief moment of the river chase from TMWTGG while my dad was watching a Bond marathon much earlier as a child. So, technically, Moore was my first Bond (but I don’t really count that). Roger’s tenure had some of the greatest highs of the series (TSWLM, “You left this with Ferarra,” “We’re not dead yet”) to name a few. And some of the lowest of lows of the series.
Best Roger Moment: He has a ton of great ones and many that would be worthy to be the top pick. But those that know me on here might be able to guess the scene that I’m going to pick. I’m going with the scene that is the most misunderstood in the whole franchise: the clown scene in Octopussy. The entire scene is incredibly tense with Bond literally racing against the clock to stop a nuclear bomb from exploding. He has to dress as a clown to evade the American MPs and then, while dressed as a clown, convince everyone that a bomb threat is real and they are in imminent danger. You can clearly see Bond panicking as no one believes him and he has to fight off the MPs to try and disarm it. Moore plays it so well and it shows what happens when a man is backed against the wall and can’t smooth talk his way out of things.
Worst Roger scene: There are several that could be here as well: the colonial racism in Octopussy, the entire Bibi subplot in FYEO (though, to his credit, MooreBond rejects her advances), pretty much every scene with Stacey Sutton where Bond comes off as nothing more than an old creep. But I’m going with what most have already said, it’s gotta be the scene where he smacks Andrea around for information. He already knows she’s terrified and in an extremely abusive relationship. Bond smacking her around and then acting as if everything is fine, just makes it worse. It is something that would be bad in a Connery film and is entirely out of place in a Moore one. Andrea was already going to help him, this scene was gratuitous in 1974 and has only gotten worse with age. Skyfall pays unfortunate homage to it when CraigBond slips into Severine’s shower to bang her after he correctly deduced her background as a tortured sex slave. Then, like Andrea, Severine becomes just another sacrificial lamb that Bond disposes of when he has no more need of her.
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I think it instructive that Jim, SAF, David_M, and Yellow-Pinky (and theSpectre as I was composing this post) all pick a moment of bullying/harshness in TMWTGG as Sir Roger’s worst moment. The performance is certainly the outlier of his tenure–an approach to Bond that underwent a course correction with Lewis Gilbert, who helped shape Moore Bond into its iconic form.
I will say that it is a consistent performance from Sir Roger from the film’s start to finish, and though a decided dead-end franchise-wise, shows an unexplored avenue of his talent. Of all the Bonds, Moore might have made the best Bond villain.
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Most definitely. I think Dalton could pull off a great Bond villain as well.
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I stated that though his worst moment, Moore sells the scene. He is utterly convincing in it and is believably cold and sadistic to achieve his end by any means he deems necessary. It hints at territory Moore had the talent to stretch into, yet I still find it distasteful.
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I agree it is distasteful, especially as Bond is a hero with whom the audience is meant to identify. For me as a queer spectator, I enjoy the open brutishness of Bond in TMWTGG–it was present in Connery Bond, but covered over with charm and swagger. Here it is naked. Such naked nastiness appeared sometimes in films noirs in Classical Hollywood, and when it did, it was usually accompanied by signifiers coding homosexual desire. Another 1970s film, THE FRENCH CONNECTION, has Popeye Doyle, an unambiguously racist cop, as its hero (and Gene Hackman copped the Best Actor Oscar for his work). And then there is Alex and his droogs and Peckinpah movies.
One reason I love 1970’s cinema so much is that the filmmakers were taking the shell off the male turtle for the world to see (among other innovations). This moment of exploration would crash and burn when it slammed into the success of JAWS and STAR WARS, but it produced some marvelous films, both the usually celebrated ones, and many less heralded, but still wonderful, e.g., THE LAST OF SHEILA from 1973 (just released on blu-ray).
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