Nobody Did It Better - A Tribute To Sir Roger Moore

This week has been an awful, utterly shit week, but instead of down and sad I want to write something in celebration of a life we lost this week and celebrate the wonderful man that is Sir Roger Moore.

I know a lot of people will disagree when I say this, but Moore isn’t only my favourite James Bond, more importantly, THE BEST JAMES BOND EVER!

Two from his run as the character – Live and Let Die and For Your Eyes Only (which is my mum’s favourite Bond film) – are in my top five favourite Bond films (alongside Skyfall, Casino Royale and For Her Majesty’s Secret Service) and there’s a very good reason for that.

Because after Sean Connery and George Lazenby, the franchise had to go into a different direction and make this fun and bring in a new generation who simply was in awe of him.

Moore became the longest serving 007 spanning two decades from 1973’s Live and Let Die to 1985’s A View to a Kill, even at the age of 58 (the oldest actor to ever play Bond) he still charmed his way into and out any situation.

A VIEW TO A KILL

That’s the thing about Moore and why he’s probably the most popular 007 because whatever your age he was instantly likeable and never took the character seriously. Just look at the title Octopussy, you can’t help but have a childish smile on your face and the best film to highlight Moore’s campy comedy is Moonraker.

Is the 1979 film utterly, but brilliantly crap, yes. It is basically a campy version of Star Wars and a film were one of the best and scariest villains finds love, but they don’t say a word to each other. But you can see Moore playing on the campy humour and just having a blast.

MOONRAKER

Thanks to ITV/ITV4 in the UK for endlessly repeating all the old James Bond film (I’m sure there’s a channel in the US that shows Bond films endlessly too) generations can be in awe of this character and Moore is the best person to introduce us to the crazy world of being a British secret agent.

Plenty of those kids who grew up with Moore’s 007 are working in the film industry today. One of those being The LEGO Batman director Chris McKay.

“Roger Moore was my first Bond. He was charming and cool and effortless. Everything he did was so simple. I just loved how much fun he looked like he was having making these movies. Say whatever you want about the Bond films, but in the Roger Moore ones everyone looks like they are having a blast and they are all making the same movie.

“I think it's fair to say that without Roger Moore the series would have died. Who else could have embodied the character the way he did across all of those films whose styles ranged from LIVE AND LET DIE weirdness to campy MOONRAKER to almost Daniel Craig-esque FOR YOUR EYES ONLY. FYEO was my first Bond film and it's the one that still stands out to me because of the Carole Bouquet revenge plot. The fact that she drove the plot for half the movie was and is still cool to me.

“I just iTunes'd all the Moore films and I'm going to watch them to celebrate my father's favourite film character: James Bond.”

Much like McKay, I’ve started rewatching his run again and even though they show their age, they still hold up.

If you want to see Moore pre-Bond and why he got the role in the first place, check out a series called The Saint.

Nobody really brought the charm and tongue-in-cheek fun, nobody did it better at playing James Bond then Sir Roger Moore.

You’ll be missed, but not forgotten.