Roger Moore’s Top Ten Bond Moments
By David Pegram
As we continue to honor the late Roger Moore, let’s take a look at his ten best moments as James Bond. There are many great ones to choose from, considering Moore’s run as Bond lasted seven films, across twelve years. But we think we’ve got the top ten nailed down.
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Of course, not all of these moments are ones in which Moore is actually on screen. We acknowledge that in the case of stunts, well-trained stuntmen did all (or most of) the work. Nevertheless, we include them here, because we think of Moore, and his portrayal of James Bond, when watching the stunts performed,
Enjoy!
10. Fight Atop the Golden Gate Bridge (A View to a Kill)
This final showdown between Bond and Zorin is notable, because it is Roger Moore’s last hurrah. And what better villain to have than one played by Christopher Walken? One could argue that the bridge, in this case, is symbolic, as the Bond franchise will now cross one, into the Timothy Dalton era.
9. The Fight with Tee-Hee (Live and Let Die)
Bond films are known for their train fights. This one is the first in which Bond’s enemy is almost superhuman. The fight scene reminds us that either train cars are made of thin plastic or that Bond and his opponent are really applying force. We’d like to think it is the latter.
8. Locque’s Death (For Your Eyes Only)
In his autobiography, Roger Moore stated that he was never pleased with this scene, in which Bond’s ruthlessness is on full display. But the scene works because of that ruthlessness; the tone in this scene is a marked contrast to the rest of the film.
7. The Boat Chase (Live and Let Die)
Roger Moore’s Bond would find himself in a lot of boat chases. This was the first and best choreographed, as Bond escapes Kananga’s henchmen in the Louisiana swamps. According to Bond historians Matthew Field and Jay Chowdhury, it took a whopping 24 days to shoot the sequence.
6. The Free Fall (Moonraker)
Yes, we can see that these are stuntmen, but this doesn’t mean we can’t include it here. Moore’s Bond finds himself thrown out of a moving plane, with one chance at survival. Watch him make the most of that chance.
5. Fight with Jaws (The Spy Who Loved Me)
Whenever James Bond is over-matched physically, he tends to outsmart his opponent. That is certainly the case here. The close confines of the train car make Jaws even more menacing, as there is no escaping him. Plus, his appearance, as XXX (Barbara Bach) opens the vanity, may be greatest “jump out of your seat” moment in Bond film history.
4. The Barrel Roll (The Man with the Golden Gun)
Too bad director Guy Hamilton decided to go with the slide whistle sound effect on this one, because the stunt stands on its own. What isn’t known is that the design for this barrel roll jump was conceived by a computer program and originally performed as part of a travelling car show. In The Man with the Golden Gun, it was completed in one take.
3. The Lotus Esprit Submarine (The Spy Who Loved Me)
While the Aston Martin DB-5 is the iconic car for Bond, this white Lotus Esprit also has a place in Bond lore. Little do audience know, when Bond drives the Lotus off a dock and into the sea, that the car can do more than turn on rails.
2. The Crocodiles (Live and Let Die)
Bond’s escape from a pack of hungry crocodiles isn’t just entertaining. It’s enthralling. The scene was filmed exactly as it appears, with the crocodile’s owner (doubling as Bond) jumping across the backs of real, live crocodiles. An homage to the scene was used in Skyfall, when Bond jumps on the back of a Komodo dragon.
1. The Ski Jump (The Spy Who Loved Me)
Rick Sylvester’s ski/parachute jump changed not only the ways in which we view Bond, but also the world of extreme sports. The stunt inspired the late, great Shane McConkey, an extreme skier who went on to film a remake of this scene. Not even Marvin Hamlisch’s cheesy Disco era score can derail this scene’s effectiveness.