You know. I stared at that post a good thirty seconds I bet, thinking something didn’t seem quite right but couldn’t put my finger on it. Oh well.
I lost track of Roger Moore, and was a bit taken aback at his age. He seemed to have a good life and enjoyed himself, so good on him. My mom always took me to see the Moore Bond films as a kid, mainly because she was a big fan, and I loved going to see them. But they were visual popcorn for me, didn’t really make much impression. Now Jaws, that guy gave me nightmares. Younger me was glad Bond and Jaws kind of made their peace in Moonraker.
Moore was an underrated Bond. He took a lot of heat for not being as steely eyed cool as Connery, but I appreciated his humor. Also ‘my Bond’ as The Spy who Loved Me was released when I was nine, and I loved Moonraker and Octopussy as a kid. Also a great, and intrinsic member of the Cannonball Run crew!
Me too! My dad refused to go to the movies ever, so I associate Roger Moore with a wonderful, brief time when I was old enough to see Bond movies, but not too cool to be seen in public with my mom.
Sad news. Moonraker changed my life… I was 8 when I first saw it on a rainy Cape Cod summer vacation and loved it so much, we went back the very next day. It was the first movie I ever truly loved.
I can see why the corniness of Moore’s Bond films is a turn-off to some but as a kid, I just loved laughing in between the action scenes. Case in point, for years afterwards, me and my friends would recreate this classic reaction shot of Jaws heading for a waterfall…
I also frequently quote, to this very day, “The thought had occurred to me!”
We also loved to play this (in the most amateurish way possible…)
Thank you for so many of my favorite childhood memories, Roger Moore!
Not sure why Discourse isn’t hotboxing that link. It’s a NY Times appraisal by A.O. Scott called “Roger Moore Was the Best Bond Because He Was the Gen X Bond”
The best Bond. Jaws was, to kids under 10, the best nemesis. He had the best quips. The Spy Who Loved Me is a perfect film. Despite his rep as a lightweight funster, he portrayed cruel indifference quite well. And everything I’ve heard about him in real life showed him to be an absolute gent.
I am also a stout Moonraker apologist. In TSWLM he had a car that looked like a spaceship. It was also a sub, which was pretty cool. When you’re a kid the only thing cooler than Bond is space . And then he went into space.
Where do you go after the booze bottle double take on the beach in TSWLM? The only way is a Venetian pigeon double take, and for that you need Moore’s comic heft to see it home.
Just to echo so many here, Roger Moore was my introduction to Bond. As a kid I absolutely loved his Bond films. All the grown ups would show me the Sean Connery movies and tell me they were better, but Roger Moore was THE James Bond to me.
That was George Lazenby, BTW. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is one of my most favorite Bond films. Every bit as good as the best of the Connery flicks.
Very sad day. Moore was the Bond I grew up with. Connery was awesome, but before my time. As a child of the 80’s (10 years old in 1980) Moore’s films were the first Bond films I was able to go to with my dad, who was a huge fan of the novels and the movies. Moore’s Bond was always so smooth, so unshakeable, and as a kid and a teen that stuck with me as more impressive than any of the action bits.
Over the years I saw many many interviews of and appearances by Mr. Moore and it was obvious that the man was every bit as classy and cool as the character he played. RIP, Mr. Moore, you were an icon of my childhood, and you will be sorely missed.
Moonraker was my first Bond movie and as a kid I thought Moore was the only 007.
Later on, I watched and appreciated the Bonds before and after him (Dalton was underrated; Connery was great but I preferred Brosnan - shame about (some of) the films; Craig’s Casino Royale was awesome, again shame about his follow up films).
But Moore was having so much fun with the role and those films were cheesy and silly but entertaining as heck. He was suave, charming and the films were a little goofy and that was fine.
It’s sad that he’s not with us anymore, but if he’d died in his sleep instead of (mercifully brief) cancer, a kind, awesome dude checking out at 89 after an awesome life that he paid forward in terms of great charitable work is more or less the best we can do in this life.
