Rogerâs fights often seem to be more about avoiding contact than âwading inâ like Connery or Craig. He keeps his distance with balletic kicks and roundhouse punches with long, wide arcs. As a consequence, his fights come off as rehearsed, heavily choreographed and at times robotically executed, in contrast to the more visceral, spontaneous vibe of Conneryâs battles.
That said, Iâm going for the fight with Chang in MR. Itâs longer than most and goes from weapons (downstairs in the glass museum) to bare-handed (upstairs in the clockworks). Roger at this point is still fit enough to move convincingly and at times itâs âup close and personalâ (though in other moments, the doubles can be a bit obvious).
When they get upstairs, the use of shadows and that cool blue hue (from the clock face) adds a dramatic look to things â pretty and creepy at the same time â and additionally helps to disguise the moments where a double steps in. Overall, itâs convincing that Rogerâs Bond could have pulled off a win using the moves he did, unlike some other fights where a glancing âjudo chopâ or a kick to the ribs with soft loafers is enough to magically bring victory. Also, bonus points for driving the plot forward with a âclueâ (the label on the crate upstairs) and for slipping in a sight gag (the glass vial in his shirt pocket is the only piece of glass on premises that hasnât broken).
Exactly my thoughts, @David_M. The Chang confrontation is also my favourite among Mooreâs fights - so much so I think Chang would have been the better henchman throughout the film; a shame he was dispatched so fast.
Bond vs. Chang is the pinnacle of Moore fights for the reasons David_M notes. The action coupled with the humor make it distinctively MooreanâI never fail to smile when the priceless glass vase is first saved by Bond, and then casually destroyed.
Added thought: The nightclub fight in TMWTGG is good as well, and also has the Moore Bond humor. I will stick with my vote, but realize now, it is a closer choice than I had first realized.
The lingering question here is why heâs âChangâ in the book and credits, but half (all?) the people in the film call him âChaâ? Or maybe âCharâ?
Anyway he was good and I agree if Jawsâ involvement hadnât been mandated by the lingering public adoration after âSpy,â maybe Chang wouldâve lasted longer in the film. Heâs even fit enough to have maybe made Draxâs cut-off for âphysical perfection.â If MR had been made in this modern day of wirework and CG, imagine the zero-gravity chop-socky battle we mightâve gotten between Bond and Chang in space!
The really interesting quality of Chang - and therefore of this fight - is that he spends the entire film in traditional nipponese attire. Iâm not sure how many people weâd find in Japan to do so outside their homes and spare time. Yet here is Chang in âCaliforniaâ, serving tea in a chateau and manipulating a g-centrifuge in an astronaut training centre; and he does so throughout in his hakama and judo jacket.
Later he sets out to smash Bond to pieces in kendo gear - in Venice - and doesnât even bother to use a blade or a gun. He seems entirely confident to finish his task and from the great choreography and pacing of the sequence he comes across as more than an adequate fit for the job.
Compare to this the relatively harmless results Jaws manages to achieve, his sole quality having the script on his side and being indestructible. Chang on the other hand is devious and sneaky (centrifuge and spying on Dufour), without any scruples (doberman attack) and in this fight powerful and dangerous.
And heâs found his style and wears nothing else but what he likesâŚ
Itâs my favorite stunt from the series, but is it a âfightâ in the traditional sense? I have the same trouble with Dalton and the assassin at Gibraltar, or Moore vs Gobinda on top of Kamalâs plane. That (great) stuff is about 75% âstuntâ to me and 25% âfight.â Just to keep it apples to apples, Iâm looking for stuff in the Bond vs Red Grant âmano a manoâ tradition. YMMV
Very true. I actually admire this style of avoiding damage and only striking when absolutely sure, and would try and adhere to it myself if I ever had the misfortune of being in such a situation. Generally, I like how all the Bonds improvise with their immediate environments to even the odds. Heâs not necessarily the strongest but the smartest.
It should be more Bondâs body doubles vs Suttonâs thugs in AVTAK. Kidding aside I probably went a weird route and choose Bond fighting the thugs in the club TMWTGG. I liked Bond fighting off several people at once and the brutality of him actually getting hurt. It helps that Moore seems to be part of the action too.
Who lets you grab his face with your left hand so you can gauge your right haymaker?
Moore did that repeatedly, most notably with the thugee in the market in Octopussy, and with Zorinâs goons.
I expect it was really because Sir Roger normally wore glasses like Coke bottle bottoms and couldnât see to avoid actually hitting the other actor, but itâs the stun manâs responsibility to make it look good (watch the pub brawl in âBranniganâ for an example of how to make John Wayne look macho, when he could barely raise his arms anymore).
The vast majority of Mooreâs fights comes from the tradition of British telly fighting, AD 1965; think The Avengers, The Saint, Danger Man and the like: stuff that wasnât too demanding and largely family-friendly - softcore brutality that would not hurt to watch. Moore was already established as the smart fisticuffs man and much of his âactionâ was simply a continuation of his tv work.
The spectacular parts usually were fights standing out for their setting (Venini Glass, Cairo roofs) or the enormous size of his adversaries (Tee Hee, Jaws), not so much the fighting itself. That said, you didnât expect a Bond fight of the 70s/80s to be going beyond certain limits. It was Bond after all, not Charles Bronson.
But then Simon Templar was for a large part his thing: the charming depiction of the character, the feel-good quality of the series, even the production itself where the whole affair more or less rested on a handshake between him and Lew Grade. The Saint was tailored to Moore, and lots of the tailoring was done by himself and with his influence.
Bond happened a decade later, after his (younger) predecessor could settle down with less physical roles. I suppose if Moore had entered the role in 67 and would have still been eager to put his mark on the roleâŚthat might have been the crucial difference.
For the most part Mooreâs Bond seems above messy brawls. His reaction to Jaws ripping apart the van while heâs inside is a good example. Heâll get the job done if he has to, but in a way that usually shows detached bemusement. Charm and *playerâs privilege are his main superpowers. (*I wonât call it luck).
