Yes he did. He picks up a Kamal Khan guard’s AK-47 and slides down the banister firing at some more guards–and, oh so memorably, the newel post nob at the end of the banister.
5 Likes
Ah yes, now that you mention it. NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN had a similar gag.
1 Like
When I say that I want to see Roger as Bond in LTK, this is what I mean by it. Moore in 1989’s LTK would have been a disaster, as he was already too old for the part four years earlier when he did AVTAK. But, Moore around the age he was for FYEO, when he was just starting to look a bit too old for the part but still believable, would have been ideal, and I think he could have pulled it off splendidly.
It could almost serve as a sequel to FYEO in a way, as I could see ways to bring back both Topol and Carole Bouquet for their parts respectively. I’m not sure exactly how the story for LTK would have unfolded in the early to mid-1980s, as I was too young to recall the political and social climate of the time, so it’s possible that it could have still worked with Sanchez as the villain. But they could also have set it in the smugging world, a bit similar to the dealings between Kristatos and Columbo in FYEO. Felix is involved in an investigation into smuggling into the US, gets caught up in that and things play more or less the same, with Columbo serving both as the Q role from LTK as well as a Mathis-type role from QOS by serving as Bond’s initial guide into the smuggling operation, with also maybe a brief encounter with Melina where she’s rightly angry with Bond for being a hypocrite after all of his pontificating about revenge he did in FYEO. I would eliminate the competing romantic interests for a Roger Moore version of this story, but maybe have a Camille-type character join him for a decent part of the journey.
Regardless, the point of this is whether or not Roger Moore could have handled LTK. He could have and, I think, it would have been amazing. The impact of seeing Bond performed that way by the same actor who gave us films like MR and LALD would have made for an even greater impact for the audience.
5 Likes
There are only two things in favor of this idea: one is the fact that David Hedison played Felix, which would have made for a neat bookend with LALD at the other end of Roger’s tenure (and would’ve made more sense than it does in the finished film, where we’ve never seen Hedison and Dalton together and Felix is too old for the friendship to mirror the one Fleming intended). The other is that Roger would’ve been old enough to add weight to things: having gone on a bit of a lark in his earlier entries, the fun finally comes to a screeching halt, play time is over and he’s willing to go out in a blaze of glory…or anyway, fury.
The problems are much more numerous: one, it’s not a film anyone would want to see. Audiences had an idea of what a Roger Bond film should be, and LTK was the exact opposite. Roger understood this, which leads to reason 2: protective of his image in the role, he fought even against the car-kicking moment in FYEO, so there’s no way he’d sign off on meting out the carnage Bond does in this film. He went on record as hating Zorin machine-gunning scores of miners in AVTAK, so we can only imagine what he’d think of characters being dismembered, impaled on forklifts, ground up into hamburger, having their heads explode, etc. And of course there’s a difference between “too old to care any more” and “too old to do anything the part requires.” Rog had crossed that line.
Personally I think the main reason LTK even got made is because of the scene in TLD where Dalton-Bond sees Saunders killed and switches over into “smoldering rage” mode. This moment was electric at the time because it was so far removed from what we’d become used to, and Dalton nailed it. He seemed uncomfortable with the corny quips, indifferent to the “cool and suave” routine and uninterested in bespoke wardrobes, but boy did he throw himself totally into the “coldly ruthless” angle. It must have seemed obvious to the EON team that this was the hook on which to hang Dalton’s Bond, so they wrote a film that revolved entirely around rage and vengeance and coldly efficient killing. None of that would been a goal at any point in Roger’s tenure, and there’s no hint it’s where they intended to go as recently as TLD; it was an extreme left turn that came up only because of the star they had under contract, and what it turned out he was good at.
Anyway, I think Roger could have done some version of LTK at some point in his tenure, but I don’t think he’d have wanted to, I don’t think it’s what he signed on for, I don’t think audiences would have gone for it and I don’t think it would’ve been any good.
So Miss.
5 Likes
If it did not deplete the world‘s water supply and add to everyone‘s misery all these ideas about an alternate LTK with Moore almost make me wish for an AI version of it.
2 Likes
Mess
I’ve been in these parts long enough to inhabit that part of the Venn Diagram where LTK-QoS-TWINE are almost worth a man-the-ramparts defend to the finish last stand (I leave TMWTGG off as even I can’t muster the energy for that, but even now I’ll come back to that in a moment).
For pretty much all the entire series, for all the talk of tailoring the films to the stars, I can easily see subbing out the lead for at least one other Bond. Some are obvious - we can all see Brozza dropping into any of Sir Rog’s and making them work. I can see every other actor doing GF (but not necessarily TB). It’s a weird reflection of both the strength of the series and its weaknesses.
LTK is so specific in that it’s a Bond film wanting to be perceived as “not your father’s Bond” that really I can only see TD in it. It was written for his interpretation and for most of the time his Bond (regardless of what one thinks of the film around him) is absolutely brilliant.
So no not even Sir Rog, could have done it better, or even close. Wellllll, maybe the Sir Rog of TMWTGG. The first meeting with Anders, dinner with Scaramanga.
Put anyone else in LTK and even I’m dumping on the film; but with TD, nope, never.
4 Likes
I think the danger with these “could so-and-so have been swapped into such-and-such film” thought experiments is that the result would have been films very different from what we know.
Could Roger have been in some iteration of LTK, at some point in the 70s or early 80s, where Felix is injured and he takes revenge, somehow? Yes, but outside of that very broad outline, it wouldn’t have been anything like the film we got. Could Sean or Roger or whoever have made OHMSS work? Yes, but not the OHMSS we know.
Ultimately it always adds up to “could another actor have been plopped into x film successfully IF nothing else about that film were altered in any way, IF that person had been older or younger than they actually were at that time, IF the producers and studio were interested in making that kind of film at that point in history” and so on. Which is like asking could Lincoln have done a better job than FDR during World War 2. It’s hard to know where to even start.
3 Likes
This. The concept of LTK with Moore is already a stretch - but it’s several times harder even thinking of a set of circumstances that would lead to Eon going this route in the first place. Starting with Moore’s protectiveness of his Bond and Eon’s trial and error approach to nail their Moore/007 package.
Last not least, the general absence of any need to give Bond a motivation for his assignments back in the day. ‘Bond chases Drax; Drax chases Bond’ as Broccoli said in the run up to MOONRAKER when asked about the film’s story. ‘What more story do you need?’ and he meant this literally. Not even Tracy got a proper revenge in that Bond-verse. Doing it for Felix would be paradigm-shifting; like taking inspiration from DEATH WISH instead of STAR WARS.
2 Likes
-
If made at the time of its production, Moore was too old for the role as conceived.
-
If made when Moore was younger, it could have come after TMWTGG, and expanded that characterization. But a script developed in the mid-1970s would have been different from the one written a decade or more later, so how much it would have been “LTK” is debatable.
3 Likes
Let’s be honest, EON’s M.O. through most of history has been to follow whatever trend was marketable at the time. In the 70s, that meant light-hearted romps with one foot in blaxploitation, chop-sockey and sci-fi. In the 90s it was OTT mindless action ala Bay or McTiernan and in the Craig era, it meant following the Jason Bourne blueprint.
In 1989, “revenge” movies starring the “good man pushed too far” were all the rage, be it Norris or Seagal, Arnold or Willis. Saville Row and savoir-faire were out, Uzis and dirty t-shirts were in. Heck, “License to Kill” even sounds like the title to a Steven Seagal movie.
Which is to say, making a late-80s style movie where Bond takes a wrecking ball to a Miami Vice villain in any period other than the one where it actually happened wouldn’t have made any sense at all. And by the time it did happen, Roger was too old to make it work.
4 Likes
I miss the days of “just because.” Bond is the good guy, Drax is the bad guy, what else do you need?
My greatest – maybe only – wish for the new Bond era is that we steer wll clear of the “personal stakes” zone. Bond saves the world because it’s his job. It reminds me of the gag where the actor asks, “What’s my motivation” and the director answers, “Your paycheck.” Just do the JOB.
5 Likes
That’s my main hope as well. Bond was on a personal vendetta of some sort and degree in every single one of the post-Cubby EON Bond films. Every. Single. One.
We haven’t had a non-personal Bond film since Timothy Dalton’s debut in 1987. It will have been 40 years, at least, since the last time we’ve had one by the time the next film actually arrives.
5 Likes
June 5.
The Amazon series introduces a regular girlfriend for Bond, much in the spirit of Sylvia Trench.
Her name is Alexa.
Every time her name is mentioned on screen or via audiobook of the novelisation, you are then prompted via your thickphone to buy whatever is on screen / referred to in the text at the time. An immersive experience to live like Bond. Some persons on YouTube will be as excited as they are conceited. Consumer and “art” as one.
This is very convenient. Or is it?
- Yes
- Mess
0
voters
2 Likes
Sure, why not? It’s just the next step in the already over-the-top product placement for which Bond has become known.
I can’t see it being any more egregious than the Omega watch bit from Casino Royale.
3 Likes
Mess.
I don’t want an Alexa, I don’t own an Alexa, I don’t need an Alexa.
Although, if it could put an end to megalomaniacs who only destroy and never create anything of positive value I would order it.
Looking forward to see JB hand dancing to Freedom 250, of course.
3 Likes
I can see some merit in it if Alexa is commenting that Bond is out of bleach again, or is in discourse with the minor villain, Kharton de Dogfleatickpowder.
I would then own James Bond’s bleach! There’s surely an influencer channel I can extrude out of that. The Bleach of Bond. Look at me. Me me me me me me me. Please.
More problematic if she’s admiring his Aston Martin or, as you say, his egregious timepiece. Or his gun.
4 Likes
On the plus side, this would certainly cause the budgets of these films to increase exponentially.
Even better, if the Alexa character appears in the title sequence, the entire audience gets floor seats to the artist’s next concert.
4 Likes
Everything and everyone is for sale somehow.
I wouldn’t be totally surprised if they tried something like this. Product placement taken that one step on.
No wonder it seems to be taking ages to get going. Can’t be easy to write let alone cast a character called Den Talfloss.
3 Likes
Not a fan of the Alexa experience. In the Germany of my childhood some houses featured a plaque ‘Betteln und Hausieren verboten!/No beggars and hawkers!’ - this strikes me like the digital equivalent of begging and hawking.
However, I could see Moneypenny reimagined as AI system to do research, booking, briefing in the field and Amazon renaming their next generation Alexa accordingly. People couldn’t just buy Bond’s bleach, they could do it with Moneypenny’s help…
3 Likes
And why stop there if the fridge already tells you what to buy or even buys it for you.
And why have a human Q if Bond can just step into a virtual reality room where Qalexa uploads the latest software onto the chip installed on his neck, so M can control Bond as if it all were just a video game?
Gee. I am so much old man yelling at THE cloud.
3 Likes