Top Ten… James Bond Moments, Part Two!
Ah, come in 007. After the success of your last mission, we’ve decided to send you off on something similar. After looking at the top ten moments of the Connery/Lazenby Bond era, we’re going to run down the top ten moments of the Roger Moore era. The Moore era gets a hard time, but there was some classic Bond-age to be found so here, submitted for your approval, are the top ten James Bond moments, part deux! Onward!
10. Bond vs. Scaramanga.
It’s fitting that the climax to the movie where Bond meets his match begins not with a massive firey attack on a volcano or mountain lair, but with a gentlemanly pistols-at-dawn duel. Of course, Scaramanga, being the bad bastard that he is, decides to bail on the duel and lure Bond into his booby trap ridden funhouse. He pays the price for his ungentlemanly conduct though as Bond, disguised as a wax model as himself, shoots the man with the golden gun down.
9. Slipping on the ladder.
A View To A Kill is a hard film to defend. Roger Moore is clearly too old to be a convincing Bond and the overeliance on humor and camp hurts what was already a flawed film. Christopher Walken is a welcome presence as the villain Max Zorin, but on the whole the film is one of the worst in the canon. There is at least one truly great moment, albeit a tiny, almost throwaway moment. As Bond rescues Stacy Sutton from a burning building, there is a brilliant moment where he slips on a fireman’s ladder, almost falling to his death. The music really makes the moment as it swells into the film’s theme when Bond regains his footing.
8. Clowning around.
Considering the Roger Moore era’s reputation, the idea of Bond, dressed as a circus clown trying to defuse an atomic bomb seems like an opportunity for a cheap laugh, but, in keeping with the more serious tone of Octopussy, the scene is played entirley straight and racks up considerable tension. It’s nice to see that Bond has learned how to defuse bombs (he had no idea in Goldfinger) and the scene is one of the most tense in any of the Bond films.
7. The Lotus.
Connery had his Aston Martin and, following some non-descript vehicles in his first two outings, Moore got his iconic Bondmobile in The Spy Who Loved Me: a white Lotus Esprit. Of course, this being a Bond film, Q has made some alterations to the car equping it with rockets, smoke screens and, best of all, the ability to change from a car to a submarine. Let me say that again: the car can turn into a submarine. Like so many other things, when it comes to cool cars, nobody does it better than 007.
6. See you later, aligator.
One of the most famous moments of the Moore era now, and one of the best stunts from any Bond film: the famous, aligator stepping stones scene from Live and Let Die. Trapped on a tiny island and surrounded by hungry alligators and crocodiles, all seems lost for Bond. But, Bond being Bond, he finds an unorthodox way out. Using the advancing crocodillia as stepping stones, Bond hops over his reptilian enemies and onto the saftey of terra firma. The director was so impressed by the stunt that he named the villain of the film after the stuntman who performed it, Ross Kananga.
5. “Desolate, Mr. Bond?”
Moonraker is a underappreciated Bond movie. Sure, it degenerates into sub Star Wars nonsense in the final reels and sure, there’s a bit too much emphasis on silliness, but it has some fantastic moments, including the best main villain death of the Moore era. On Hugo Drax’s space station, Drax has Bond cornered in the airlock, a gun pointed square at his heart. “Desolate, Mr. Bond?” Drax taunts. Bond, in classic 007 style replies with “heartbroken, Mr. Drax?” before shooting Drax through the chest with a wrist mounted dart gun, courtesy of Q branch.
4. Knievel. Evel Knievel.
The AMC Hornet is an uninspired choice for a Bondmobile, but nonetheless, 007 drives one in The Man With The Golden Gun. Roger Moore, as you may have noticed from the Lotus submarine, likes his cars to do more than just drive, and the AMC Hornet was no exception. Not content with merley chasing the baddies down the road, Bond decides to make the Hornet fly. When faced with a broken bridge, Bond drives up one side, does a 360 spin in mid air and lands on the other. The logistics of the stunt had to be worked out on a computer at Cornell University and was performed by stuntman “Bumps” Willard. The decision to add a silly Looney Tunes sound effect in post production almost ruins the entire effect, but the stunt itself is breathtaking.
3. “Where’s Fekkesh?”
People often like to suggest that Moore was somehow too “nice” to be Bond; that he never did anything ruthless and cold blooded, but these people, quite simply, are wrong. Roger Moore’s Bond could be a cold bastard when he needed to be: smacking and threatening the scared and defensless Andrea Anders in TMWTGG, shooting Stromberg four times in cold blood in TSWLM, threatening to kill the unarmed Rosie Carver in LALD and, of course, the killing of Sandor in TSWLM. After a fight on an Egyptian rooftop, Bond knocks Sandor over the edge of the roof. Sandor grasps wildly at the air and his hands find Bond’s tie, to which he holds on to for dear life. Bond allows the man to hold on and asks “where’s Fekkesh?” As soon as Sandor tells Bond what he wants to know, Bond slaps his hand away causing Sandor to plummet to his death.
2. Emile Locque: RIP.
Further proof that Roger Moore’s Bond was more of a badass than people rememeber him comes in For Your Eyes Only. After pumping several rounds into a car being driven by henchman Emile Locque, Bond finds the car precariously hanging on the edge of a cliff with an injured Locque inside. Locque had previously killed Bond’s ally Ferrara and so Bond aims a hefty boot at the side of the car and sends it plunging over the cliff. No witty one liners, no sardonic smile, no nothing – just a cold blooded example of Bond putting his license to kill to good use.
1. “So does England!”
My personal favorite moment from the entire Bond series, Bond’s ski jump in The Spy Who Loved Me is as iconic as it gets. After the gunbarrel sequence we find Bond in a cabin in Austria and, to quote Alan Partridge, “yes, he’s with a lady.” A message comes through on Bond’s watch-communicator-gadget and Bond leaves saying, in classic Bond fashion, “something’s come up.” “But James,” his lady protests, “I need you!” “So does England” responds 007 and heads off down the hill. Of course, this being a Bond movie he is chased by a group of Russians intent on Bond’s death. Bond skis off a cliff and for a long, long moment, it appears as though Bond has met his end, but, at the last possible second, he pulls a ripcord and parachutes to earth, guided safely down by a giant Union Jack parachute. Nobody – nobody – does it better.
After Roger Moore, of course, came the criminally underrated Timothy Dalton for two films and Peirce “knitting catalouge model” Brosnan for four. We’ll be looking at the top ten moments from those films next time, but until then gimmie your thoughts on the Moore era and return your equipment to Q branch. End transmission.
