Yeah- right. Let's face it folks. Generation X may be the largest generation in existence at the moment, which means that for most of us, our first James Bond experience was with Mr. Roger Moore. And of course, this would imply that this second rate actor with the aged pretty boy face will always hold a special place in our hearts- I know he does with me. BUT- Out of all the Bonds- and I do mean all of them- Moore comes in behind everyone except "Jimmy Bond" (played by WOODY ALLEN in "Casino Royale") and the trained seals with the "007" tag on the collar around their necks, also in "Casino Royale". Now don't get me wrong- "The Spy Who Loved Me", along with "For Your Eyes Only" and "Octopussy" are among the best of the series- but this is proof that, like Batman, the actor playing Bond is not as important as the character himself. A good choice for the character only enhances the role.
TSWLM is, as has been pointed out, sort of a cinematic "Greatest Hits" album with alot of derivative action. The train fight with Jaws is derivative of the fight with Tee-Hee in "Live And Let Die", which was, itself, derivative of the classic, the train fight with Grant in "From Russia With Love". The giant lair for the villan, along with the basic plot of the film and particularly the last 30 minutes, is a total re-hash (almost a re-make) of "You Only Live Twice", right down to "Little Nellie" being replaced with "Wet Nellie"and the inclusion of a monorail in the villain's hideout, etc.
Moore, by this time, had "grown" into the part of Bond, at least his interpretation of it. His quips range from the inane- "All those feathers and he still can't fly!" to the very clever- "What a helpful chap." He even is forced to act in a few scenes- when Anya makes mention of his dead wife and when Anya realizes that he's reponsible for the death of her lover. His performance ranks just behind "FYEO" and "Octopussy", which tie as his pinnacle in the films. Barbara Bach makes a perfect "New Style" Bond girl, appropriately vulnerable, yet self-reliant and tough enough to get the job done, albeit with some misogynistic help from 007. Of course, as MAD Magazine said of another Bond Girl, her acting talent lays somewhere between "Erik Estrada and a Gravy Ladle", but who cares? She's got great cleavage, and she looked positively smashing in that black evening gown in the Mujaba Club Sequence. Lastly, I just want to comment on something that some previous reviewers have mentioned. The argue that they like their Bond with a proper English accent, rather than Connery's Scottish burr or Lazenby's perceived Australian accent (which is, in truth, totally non-existent) but the truth of the matter is- JAMES BOND IS NOT ENGLISH!!!!! According to his creator, Ian Fleming, 007's Father was, in fact, A SCOTSMAN! Therefore, Connery is the only Bond so far that at least sounds like one might think Bond sounds like. So everyone get off your high horse on the English James Bond (aka the poncy, poofy, pretty-boy fop) James Bond was, as he himself stated in one of the novels, a Scottish Peasant!
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