Roger Moore has died.

[Glebe]

Excellent post there, Revelator.

Oh fuck.me, new page twat.

[Mr Brightside]

Excellent post there, Revelator.

Yeah, it was unusually good for CaB. He's wasted on here.

[Revelator]

I really liked Gold, with the lovely Susannah York. It's only a 5.7 on IMDB, but I really enjoyed it, presumably in 1974 when it came out. Might be rubbish if I watch it again now, especially after a bit of Dark Knight stuff.

I saw it recently and think it holds up well. The plot and characters types are generic, but the punchy direction and excellent performances give them conviction. The pacing for the first half is leisurely by current standards, but I rather like that. The climax in the mine is a real nail-biter. There's also a subtle, positively-depicted gay relationship between Big King (the chief miner) and coworker--perhaps it was in the source novel, but I suspect it was put in by Peter Hunt, who was also gay. In any case, it's nice to see, especially in a mid-70s mainstream action film.

[Blumf]

Who would win in a fight between Simon Templar and James Bond?

John Drake

[biggytitbo]

The name is Bond.





Fun Bond.

The name is Fun Bond. Fun Bond.

[Attila]

John Drake

I would give you for that answer some karmas and some well-deserved holiday time (the latter of which I would immediately take away from you to send you off on a mission).

[Brundle-Fly]

The Spy Who Loved Me was, despite its humor, a seriously-done epic, and it allowed Moore to pit his detachment and ironic commentary against the movie's monster-size scale and drama. And when the later Bond films floated down to earth, they allowed Moore to tap into his vulnerability--"the spark in his worried, squinched-up eyes" to quote Pauline Kael--and his good-humored warmth.

The last quality is why some scenes from his first two Bonds, when he's made to imitate Connery, don't work. You don't buy the idea of Moore's Bond slapping a woman, because he isn't prone to that sort of enraged brutality. Look instead at For Your Eyes Only, at the scene where he kicks Locque's car off a cliff. His anger is controlled, the usual ironic detachment transmuted to icy, calm vengefulness. The scene is so fine it reminds you how good some of his films could have been if they'd given Moore more opportunities to act with sober coolness. You can also find it in a scene from The Spy Who Loved Me, where he admits to killing Anya's lover. The detachment behind his usual irony becomes the source for a moment of direct honesty--no quips or raised eyebrows, just the admission of responsibility and a statement of purpose. It was the flip-side of his famous charm.

In his book Bond On Bond (the audiobook is v enjoyable btw), Moore discusses how he found the way in for his "Jimmy Bond" . "He didn't particularly enjoy killing but took pride in doing his job well."
With Connery you always got the sense there was a hint of relish in his violence.

[Black_Bart]

An interview with him tonight on R2, from about 2014. Hope he does his Tony Curtis impression.

[Norton Canes]

No love for The Wild Geese?

I remember school showing the unexpurgated version of it at the end of term once. Why none of the teachers stopped the projector, even at the throat slitting scene, I have no idea. I think the moment where Moore forces a character to eat cocaine at gunpoint was lost on eight-year-old me.

[mothman]

I like The Wild Geese. It's a bit of a hand-wringy White-man's-burden view of Africa but even after 40 years shits all over the Expendables films.

Back in the day they'd change the schedule to show an old film when an actor of this stature died. They don't seem to do that anymore, do they? The Beeb would be a bit stuck, not having the rights to any of the Bonds. I wonder which film they would show - probably something underwhelming like The Sea Wolves...

ITV don't have that problematic choice, of course. Though they're always showing Bonds now, running the whole series forwards, backwards, in alphabetical order, by run time, girls shagged, body count...

[Bad Ambassador]

ITV is, as per usual, showing The Saint at the moment, screening on ITV4 on weekdays at 1.50pm, repeated first thing the following morning. The Spy Who Loved Me is on ITV1 on Sunday at 4.15pm, as had been scheduled.

[Blumf]

Has Alan Partridge written a eulogy?

[Glebe]

Has Alan Partridge written a eulogy?

No, but he's read The Wild Geese again, cover to cover.

[saltysnacks]

He was the only Bond who truly matched the tone of the series. They aren't even films, they straddle the line between awful and sublime.

[gatchamandave]

Goodbye, Mr Bond.

[MuteBanana]

I saw he died in Switzerland and wondered if he'd gone to one of those places to end it all. Then I read he had a home there.

As if, what was I thinking?

[mothman]

I watched a bit of The Wild Geese on one of the Channel 5s tonight. But then my 12yo daughter came downstairs to use the sewing box, so I switched the channel, because violence. It was only afterwards I realised she's older now than I was when I first saw it.

[Ambient Sheep]

I absolutely love the fact that Roger Moore must have looked it up to get the right answer (my local short-hop prices all went up 10p at the start of the year, I assume this one did as well).

Mind you, he should have priced it for the return, which is £1.40 more.  Or perhaps he wasn't expecting the lad to survive the encounter...


Talking of encounters with lads, that two-part story up there is absolutely lovely, thank you for bringing it to our attention, Revelator.

[Ambient Sheep]

Moore's great in The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970).

The Man who Haunted Himself looks alright.

He is indeed great in it and it was more than all right. :-)  It's a film I'm very fond of and my standard riposte to anyone who says he couldn't act.  The fear and confusion he displays as the film progresses are pretty good.

Definitely recommended.

[Ambient Sheep]

The more I think about this, the more this has made me really sad.  I guess it initially got lost in the whole Arena tragedy, but now it's starting to hit home.

RIP Roger.

[Quincey]

Some nice Roger Moore stories: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/may/25/one-of-natures-true-gentlemen-your-roger-moore-stories

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

In case anyone's missed it, this is a lovely Moore story: https://twitter.com/MrKenShabby/status/867036448037511169/photo/1

That's wonderful.

[mothman]

There was an interesting statistic I saw Tweeted the other day, that Chris Cornell was only the second main title artist to die, after Matt Monro. It was immediately quibbled by those that said that Monro didn't sing the main title theme to From Russia With Love, it was an instrumental; and whether Louis Armstrong counted for almost the same reason. But for a 55-year old movie franchise, to have lost so few of its main stars and recording artists (though there's been considerable attrition amongst supporting characters, and villains) is pretty extraordinary.

[Blumf]

Some nice Roger Moore stories: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/may/25/one-of-natures-true-gentlemen-your-roger-moore-stories

(The last anecdote was from a Mr. Lizard)

We really have lost a gem here haven't we. The entertainment industry just doesn't seem to pick up people like this any more.

[Dr Magus]

The biggest compliment i can give to Roger Moore is that in my humble opinion he was by a million miles the best James Bond of all time (if you don't include Sean Connery).

[Ambient Sheep]

Another lovely shooting-set story here:

http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/remembering-roger-moore-director-recalls-non-stop-hilarious-shoot/1434512

Even if, like me, you remember the ad in question, it's worth watching the 30-second video after you've read the story, it makes it that much funnier...

[Howj Begg]

The biggest compliment i can give to Roger Moore is that in my humble opinion he was by a million miles the best James Bond of all time (if you don't include Sean Connery).

this makes me imagine millions of Bonds across the Earth's history, each regenerating like an evolving fish

[biggytitbo]

Well James Bond is a timelord, of course.