Voting closes June 19
My votes are for:
Sean Connery–From Russia With Love over Daniel Craig–Casino Royale
Connery–Thunderball over Roger Moore–For Your Eyes Only
Moore–The Spy Who Loved Me over Craig–Skyfall
Connery–Goldfinger over Moore–Moonraker
As I’ve posted before: Sir Roger has said SWLM was his best 007 film.
You gonna argue with him?
Yes.
I think he found his Bond groove in TSWLM, perfected it in MR, and went on to do aging variations on it in his subsequent films.
Agreed, Moonraker is the better film. It’s rather funny that TSWLM is accepted by many as not just Roger’s best, but one of the best in the series. It’s a film that seems more acceptable in a mainstream way even for fans of more grounded takes. Something we’re allowed to enjoy for what it is, underwater city and all. But the city in space is just too much.
Possible reasons:
It established the MooreBond persona as Commander Bond, and Sir Roger finally looks comfortable in the role.
It is a breath of fresh air for the series, providing the escapism/adventure of the earlier films, but with what comes across as a lighter touch (the Moore effect).
There are still faint whiffs of ConneryBond in Moore’s performance, e.g., the fight on the roof and the wisecrack about women drivers.
It is “Bond-in-space,” rather than a space adventure a la STAR WARS. For me, this second remake of YOLT nails it, and MR is perfectly tailored to Sir Roger’s talents–all traces of ConneryBond are gone. We also get John Barry’s first symphonic score, as if ushering in/complementing the emergence of the complete MooreBond.
Lastly, MR is the film where Sir Roger begins to show his age–so it is both peak MooreBond, and the commencement of the descent. At the conclusion of TSWLM, MooreBond is still ascending.
Bless this board for all the MR love; I spent too many years alone in the wilderness.
Indeed, it’s become a tired cliche to say FYEO “brought Bond back to Earth” but the flip side of that apparent praise is that it tacitly admits MR represents Bond’s apogee. And while roller coasters, ski slopes and waterslides everywhere prove that travelling downhill can be very exciting, at the end of the day you’re still travelling downhill.
The space station is a big part of it. Visually it’s completely different, with no monorail system that calls back to YOLT’s volcano lair. Connery was set to enter space but was spotted at the last second. Moore actually went there, crossing the threshold into uncharted territory.