James Bond (Roger Moore)
LIVE & LET DIEÂ (PG)
D: Guy Hamilton
United Artists/Eon (Harry Saltzman)
UK 🇬🇧 1973
121 mins
Action/Thriller
W: Tom Mankiewicz [based on the novel by Ian
Fleming]
DP: Ted Moore
Mus: George Martin;Â Paul
McCartney
Roger Moore (James Bond), Yaphet Kotto (Dr. Kanaga /
Mr. Big), Jane Seymour (Solitaire), Julius Harris (Tee Hee Johnson)
Roger Moore steps into the role of James Bond
following Sean Connery's exodus from the role and the emphasis turns to witty one-liners and high profile stunts rather than spy espionage.
The plot is nonsensically entertaining enough, with
007 visiting the Caribbean to put the skids on a heroin-dealing cartel headed by a fortune-telling witch doctor.
Some may feel that the film's finest asset is its
theme song, written & performed by Paul and Linda McCartney.
6/10
THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUNÂ (PG)
D: Guy Hamilton
United Artists/Eon (Harry Saltzman & Albert R.
Broccoli)
UK 🇬🇧 1974
125 mins
Action/Thriller
W: Richard Maibaum & Tom Mankiewicz [based on the
novel by Ian Fleming]
DP: Ted Moore & Oswald Morris
Ed: Raymond Poulton & John Shirley
Mus: John Barry
PD: Peter Murton
Roger Moore (James Bond), Christopher Lee (Francisco
Scaramanga), Britt Ekland (Mary Goodnight), Maud Adams (Andrea Anders), Hervé Villechaize (Nick Nack)
Roger Moore's second outing as James Bond sees agent
007 travel to the Far East to take out a professional assassin named Scaramanga.
Moore's smarmy performance aside, the film itself is
good fun, albeit complete nonsense in comparison to the Connery Bond movies. Britt Ekland makes a memorable Bond girl, while Christopher Lee and midget actor Hervé Villachaize make a
great pair of villains.
Considered widely to be one of the worst Bond movies,
which I find quite a harsh assessment. It’s a little more wicked natured than it’s predecessors and later films, but it’s nowhere near as tacky as either Moonraker or Die Another
Day.
5/10
Â
THE SPY WHO LOVED MEÂ (PG)
D:Â Lewis Gilbert
United Artists/Eon (Albert R. Broccoli)
UK 🇬🇧 1977
125 mins
Action/Thriller
W: Christopher Wood & Richard Maibaum [based on
the novel by Ian Fleming]
DP: Claude Renoir
Mus:Â Marvin Hamlisch
PD:Â Ken AdamÂ
Roger Moore (James Bond), Barbara Bach (Anya Amasova),
Curt Jürgens (Karl Stromberg), Richard Kiel (Jaws), Caroline Munro (Naomi), Walter Gotell (Gen. Gogol), Bernard Lee (M), Lois Maxwell (Miss Moneypenny)
Bond outing number 3 for Roger Moore and the tenth
film for the series in total.
There's not much in the plot to set it aside from the
rest of the pack, with the usual luxuriant locations, fast car chases, gimmicky gadgets and impressive stunts, culminating in a major set piece battle in the final act.
There are many moments of originality though, as agent
007 teams up with a glamorous Russian spy to defeat a megalomaniac villain with an underwater missile base. The memorable 8-foot villain with metal teeth, nicknamed "Jaws" is also
introduced, returning to a lesser degree in the next film, Moonraker.
Amongst the better films of the
series, featuring probably the best Bond songs, performed by Carly Simon ("Nobody Does It Better"), though it should be noted that the plot of the film has little to do with the novel of
the same name, which was a standalone story by Fleming that was set in James Bond’s universe, but only had him as a side character.
6/10
Â
MOONRAKERÂ (PG)
D: Lewis Gilbert
United Artists/Eon (Albert R. Broccoli)
UK 🇬🇧 1979
126 mins
Action/Adventure/Science Fiction
W: Christopher Wood [based on the novel by Ian
Fleming]
DP: Jean Tournier
Ed: John Glen
Mus: John Barry
PD: Ken AdamÂ
Roger Moore (James Bond), Lois Chiles (Holly Goodhead),
Michael Lonsdale (Hugo Drax), Richard Kiel (Jaws)
One of the silliest James Bond films, put into production
ahead of For Your Eyes Only so the studio could cash in on some sci-fi dollars due to the enormous success of 1977’s Star Wars. Here, the British agent investigating the disappearance of a
space shuttle during a test flight by travelling to Venice, Rio, the Amazon & the lunar surface itself.
With Roger Moore starring as the main character, it's all
geared towards comedy and cheesy one-liners. There are just about enough action scenes to whet the appetite, but giant henchman Jaws makes a ridiculous transition from villain to hero with
some incredibly silly writing, all to make him more child-friendly.
The plot also has very little to do with Ian Fleming's
original novel, so this is an adaptation in name only.     Â
Entertaining enough for an action-adventure, but equally
tacky. Some of the visual effects are good, but it's certainly amongst the weaker Bond movies, not just of the Roger Moore canon, but of all the series.
4/10
FOR YOUR EYES ONLYÂ (PG)
D: John Glen
United Artists/Eon (Albert R. Broccoli)
UK 🇬🇧 1981
127 mins
Action/Adventure
W: Richard Maibaum & Michael G. Wilson [based on the
short stories 'For Your Eyes Only' & 'Risico' by Ian Fleming]
DP: Alan Hume
Ed:Â John Grover
Mus: Bill Conti
PD: Peter Lamont
Cos: Elizabeth Waller
Roger Moore (James Bond), Carole Bouquet (Melinda
Havelock), Topol (Milos Columbo), Lynn-Holly Johnson (Bibi Dahl), Julian Glover (Aristotle Kristatos)
Roger Moore's fifth outing as James Bond takes the British
spy to the Coast of Greece where he goes through the usual action set-pieces and stunts to beat the bad guys with the usual gadgets and fodder.
Entertaining for its duration, but becomes a bit of a blur
amongst the more memorable films of the franchise. The title song performed by Sheena Easton is probably its biggest asset.
6/10
OCTOPUSSYÂ (PG)
D: John Glen
Eon/Danjaq (Albert R. Broccoli)
UK 🇬🇧 1983
131 mins
Action/Thriller
W: George MacDonald Fraser, Richard Maibaum & Michael G.
Wilson [based on characters created by Ian Fleming]
DP: Alan Hume
Ed: Peter Davies & Henry Richardson
Mus: John Barry
Roger Moore (James Bond), Maud Adams (Octopussy), Louis
Jourdan (Kamal Khan), Kristina Wayborn (Magda), Kabir Bedi (Gobinda)
James Bond returns in this far-fetched adventure, sending him to the Middle East to take on an Arabic prince and escape the clutches of a seductive woman who between them plan to steal priceless treasures.
One of the weakest Bond films, even by Roger Moore's standards, when the emphasis was on expensive stunts, cheesy one-liners and a ridiculous scene in which 007 dresses up like a clown. Yup, it's that sort of movie. Silly fun, but the polar opposite of the serious spy adventures of Connery’s time in the role.
4/10
A VIEW TO A KILLÂ (PG)
D: John Glen
MGM-United Artists/Eon (Albert R. Broccoli)
UK 🇬🇧 1985
121 mins
Action/Adventure/Thriller
W:Â Richard Maibaum & Michael G. Wilson [based on
the story "From A View To A Kill" by Ian Fleming]
DP: Alan Hume
Ed: Peter Davies
Mus:Â John Barry
Roger Moore (James Bond), Christopher Walken (Max Zorin),
Grace Jones (May Day), Tanya Roberts (Stacey Sutton), Patrick Macnee (Sir Godfrey Tibbett), David Yip (Chuck Lee), Fiona Fullerton (Pola Ivanova)
Aside from one of the best ever Bond theme songs (by Duran
Duran), everything else about A View To A Kill is rather bland and unmemorable, not to say incredibly flawed with its technical aspects and the fact that the lead actor was getting far too
old for these shenanigans.
It's the usual formula of car chases, expensive stunts and
visual effects as 007 takes on a ruthless international businessman, this time in the form of Christopher Walken, before a big action finale atop the Golden Gate Bridge.
It saw Roger Moore's final performance as the British
agent, before the torch was passed to Timothy Dalton to play the character  in the next film of the series (The Living Daylights).
5/10
