Roger Moore’s tenure as James Bond, spanning seven films and twelve years, comes to an end with 1985’s A View to a Kill. His time as 007 has divided series aficionados for years as the movies took an undeniable turn for the silly and cartoonish at times. As I explained in my posting for the first Moore feature, 1973’s Live and Let Die, Moore was the first Bond I really knew. I viewed more of his 007 flicks as a child than the Connery ones.

Upon revisiting all his films as Bond, I would say that they run from the truly great (The Spy Who Loved Me) to the solid (For Your Eyes Only) to guilty pleasure fun (Octopussy) to the mediocre (Live and Let Die, The Man with the Golden Gun) to the pretty bad (Moonraker).

A View to a Kill falls towards the bottom of the Moore entries. It’s better than Moonraker and on par with his first two, Live and Let Die and Golden Gun. There are definitely some positive aspects to the picture, but a lot left to be desired, too.

In the opening sequence, we get 007 on the slopes (again), which felt a little tired.

The title credit sequence perks things up considerably with one of my very favorite Bond theme songs, Duran Duran’s terrific title track. This song was a huge hit and deviates from the typical ballad to a great pop song. The track also has the distinction of the only Bond theme I’ve ever seen performed live!

The film does offer us some memorable villains, but more because of the actors who play them. Christopher Walken is Max Zorin, a psychotic microchip tycoon with plans to destroy Silicon Valley and take over the entire market. Walken was already an Oscar winner (for 1978’s The Deer Hunter) when he took on this role and getting him must have been quite a get for the Bond producers. Like many of you, I suspect, I find Walken to be great in just about everything and his performance is predictably solid. Singer/model/generally strange individual Grace Jones plays Mayday, Zorin’s henchwoman. She has some good moments as well. Zorin also has a tricked-out blimp, too!

Speaking of villains, check out this clip from the film. Notice the Russian henchman standing in the background for this brief scene who has zero lines? It’s Dolph Lundgren, who only six months later would enter film history as Ivan Drago in Rocky IV!

While the villains provide some positive elements, I cannot say the same for our Bond girl this time around. Geologist Stacey Sutton, played in a weak performance by Tanya Roberts, is one of the more forgettable Bond gals we have seen.

It’s the plot to destroy Silicon Valley that becomes the main plot narrative, but we have to sit through a slow and protracted first half to get there. The only saving grace in the first hour is some nice interplay between Moore and Patrick Macnee as Bond’s ally who must pose as 007’s servant. Macnee is best known for starring in the popular British series “The Avengers”. There’s also a neat little sequence at the Eiffel Tower.

For the most part, however, A View to a Kill‘s first act is dull. There are improvements in the second act as we see more of Walken, which helps. His character is written as a true wack job and he seems to take real joy in his work, including wiping out most of his crew in the climax. We also get a decent chase sequence with Bond commandeering a fire truck and being chased by police through the streets of San Francisco. The final climax taking place in a mine shaft and the Golden Gate Bridge has its moments as well.

Still, most of A View to a Kill feels like Bond on autopilot. Getting off on the wrong foot with an unremarkable first half, the second half is considerably better. Yet there’s still not much here to improve of what we’ve seen in other 007 flicks. The action scenes are well-done like they always are, but nothing truly separates them.

And there’s also the small matter of Moore. In later interviews, Moore would admit that he probably shouldn’t have done the picture and that he was getting too old for the role. He was right in retrospect. At 57 years of age when the picture was released, he was simply (in the words of Lethal Weapon‘s Roger Murtaugh) “getting too old for this shit”. Mr. Moore may have been better off leaving after Octopussy, which I believe would have been on a high-note (even though many would disagree with that).

Keeping with that theme, Lois Maxwell would make her final appearance as Miss Moneypenny, having appeared in all 007 films up to that point.

So how do I regard Roger Moore as Bond? Well, clearly a mixed bag. The quality of his films varied considerably. His strengths always lied in humor and his fine ability at one-liners. He knew he’d never be have the mix of charm and danger that Connery possessed. Moore knew he’d have to make the role his own and that he did. By doing so, he carried the franchise for twelve years with box office success. View was a financial success, even though it didn’t match the numbers of predecessor Octopussy. 

Yes, he’s no Connery, but this beloved series simply wouldn’t have continued without the considerable contributions of Moore. And as I’ve mentioned, we got one bonafide classic out of him, The Spy Who Loved Me.

Unfortunately, strong villain aside, Moore doesn’t go out on a strong note with A View to a Kill. With his realization that it was time to hang up the tuxedo, the Bond producers wouldn’t wait long to introduce us to a new Bond just two years later. And that, my friends, is where we’ll pick up in the next post.

Here are the facts:

Film: A View to a Kill

U.S. Release Date: May 24, 1985

Director: John Glen

Screenplay: Michael G. Wilson and Richard Maibaum

Bond: Roger Moore

Main Bond Villain: Max Zorin (Christopher Walken)

Main Bond Girl: Stacey Sutton (Tanya Roberts)

Theme Song: “A View to a Kill” – performed by Duran Duran

Budget: $30 million

Worldwide Box Office: $152.4 million

My James Bond blog series will return in “The 007 Files: The Living Daylights”

I found Octopussy to be the one of the intriguing entries in the Bond franchise for an interesting reason. It features a great number of the problems that I’ve had with certain Roger Moore 007 pictures. It tends to copy and, at least, heavily “borrow from” hot trends of the time. It tends to rely on silliness and overly comedic situations.

However, a strange occurrence took place upon my viewing of it. Despite its flaws, the fact is: Octopussy is just a tremendously fun picture. A lot of it doesn’t necessarily feel like a Bond movie, but I found that not bothering me so much. Why? Mostly because the action sequences, done under the sturdy direction of John Glen, are just terrific. And this Bond entry, probably more than any other, is mostly wall-to-wall action set pieces that are amazingly handled.

The film opens with one of those exciting sequences with Bond flying his jet, literally, out a horse’s ass. A fake horse’s ass, mind you. Like other Moore features, the opening sequence doesn’t have much to do the plot, but it’s good stuff.

For the theme song, we have “All Time High”, performed by Rita Coolidge. It’s a solid enough ballad. The track is probably most well known to you right now as the song Mark Wahlberg sings to Mila Kunis to win back her affection in this past summer’s comedy hit Ted. Strangely enough, the opening title sequence with the song is the only one so far that I couldn’t find on YouTube, but here’s the track:

The plot doesn’t really matter in a Bond movie like this one and granted, it’s a silly one. Bond’s colleague 009 is killed (wearing a clown disguise) while carrying an expensive (or possibly fake) Faberge egg. Told ya. 007 is put on the case and this leads him to a variety of villains. The main one is Kamal Khan, a Middle Eastern prince. A lot of the plot, at least for a while, deals with this Faberge artifact and I was left wondering: really? That’s what this movie is about? Alas, Khan is also in bed with the Soviets, who have a more dastardly plan that involves setting off a nuclear bomb. Much more Bond like!

Our main Bond girl is the title character, Octopussy, played Maud Adams. Interestingly, Adams also appeared in The Man With the Golden Gun as a completely different character. Her part here is of a jewel smuggler who happens to live at a palace only populated with beautiful women who are trained to be in a circus she runs as a side business.

I know. I know. While you’re reading this, you’re probably thinking this sounds like the stupidest James Bond film ever. And if you concentrate only on the plot – well, there’s a lot left to be desired.

However, the story line in many a 007 flick is not all that important. This is a prime example. Here’s what I found important:

1) There is a totally awesome sequence where Khan and his army of henchmen hunt 007 down in the jungle. In this sequence, Bond not only has to deal with these ruthless human baddies, but also tigers, snakes, elephants, leeches, spiders, and alligators.

2) There is the best train action sequence since From Russia with Love.

3) The main female character is both a fairly interesting character and has great chemistry with Roger Moore. She’s not portrayed as an airhead and seems smarter than most of the other characters. These are compliments I cannot pay to many other Bond women, especially those in the Moore films. And Maud Adams’ performance is solid.

4) While not one of the great 007 villains, Louis Jourdan’s performance as Khan is a good one. Here’s a good scene between him and Bond playing backgammon and wagering on that all-important Faberge egg.

5) The way the action sequences are shot and choreographed represent some of the best work of the series.

Is this film overly silly? Oh yes. We get treated to the sight of 007 in a gorilla suit and made up as a clown. We get more over-the-top villains than we can count, including Steven Berkoff (who played the main baddie in Beverly Hills Cop) hamming it up as Soviet general.

Yes it’s ridiculous, but did it bother me as much as it did in other 007 films like Diamonds Are Forever, The Man with the Golden Gun, or Moonraker? No. Octopussy may not always feel like a Bond film. In fact, the first half especially is closer in tone to a film that came out two years prior in 1981: Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark. 

The fact that Octopussy is set in India that helps contribute to this. It’s not just that, however. The tone of the picture feels more like a Saturday afternoon serial. I suspect the producers were going for that Indiana Jones vibe here after seeing its massive success, just as they did with Moonraker, which was released two years after Star Wars. Call this Indiana James or Raiders of the Lost Faberge Egg. 

Call it whatever you want, but I was surprised by how much I liked it, especially considering its mediocre reputation. Like most of the other 007 flicks, it had been years and years since I’d seen Octopussy. I remember loving it as a kid. There are many who disagree in principle with a Bond movie being this over-the-top and I understand. I prefer a darker Bond, too. To me, this is the one “silly” Bond movie though that seems to get it right, at least on its own terms. The reason is simple: the action is so well-handled and exciting that you don’t really give a damn how silly it is.

Octopussy would post solid box office numbers, earning slightly under $200 million worldwide, close to the numbers of its predecessor For Your Eyes Only. Domestically, it would outshine that movie with a U.S. gross of $67 million, compared to $54 million for Eyes Only.

If you choose to accept Octopussy for what it is and just go along for the ride, it is a worthwhile entry in the 007 franchise.

As a side note, the year 1983 is a significant one in 007’s history in that there were two competing Bond films. Octopussy would be the official picture that came from the Bond camp, but Sean Connery would reprise his portrayal of 007 in Never Say Never Again. That film was produced by a different company after a protracted legal battle over rights to the story allowed it. The Connery adventure would do well at the box office, but would not match the numbers of Octopussy, much to the delight of the Bond team. Never Say Never Again is not considered part of the official 007 cannon and therefore will not be included in “The 007 Files”. In fact, it’s even hard to get a copy of the DVD at anything approaching a worthwhile price. If and when I do purchase it, expect a separate blog entry in the future.

Here are the facts:

Film: Octopussy

U.S. Release Date: June 10, 1983

Director: John Glen

Screenplay: George MacDonald Fraser, Michael G. Wilson, and Richard Maibaum

Bond: Roger Moore

Main Bond Villain: Kamal Khan (Louis Jourdan)

Main Bond Girl: Octopussy (Maud Adams)

Theme Song: “All Time High” – performed by Rita Coolidge

Budget: $27.5 million

Worldwide Box Office: $187.5 million

My James Bond blog series will return in “The 007 Files: A View to a Kill”

After the mostly unfortunate experience of re-watching Moonraker, I couldn’t get the Blu Ray disc for its followup, 1981’s For Your Eyes Only, in the player fast enough. I was trying to erase my memories of James Bond fighting a Star Wars-style laser gun battle in space as quickly as possible.

The 007 producers, despite the financial success of Moonraker, decided to go in a different direction with this film: back to basics. Decrease the silliness. Make it more serious than the previous Moore entries. Considering its predecessor, it was time to bring Bond back down to earth, literally and figuratively.

For Your Eyes Only gets off to a rather interesting start in the pre-title credit sequence, hearkening back to the Bond pictures of old. We begin with 007 visiting the grave of his wife Tracy from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Other than a very brief mention of her in The Spy Who Loved Me, this is the first time her character is acknowledged since her death that took place 12 years earlier in Bond world. This leads right into an action sequence where Bond has one last battle with Blofeld, the famous villain who served as 007’s arch nemesis in several earlier pictures. Due to legal issues involving using Blofeld’s likeness that would take far too long to explain, we actually never see Blofeld’s face in the scene and the character is never called Blofeld. However, there’s no doubt it’s Blofeld. I mean… the fluffy white kitty is on his lap and everything! There’s been other Bond films where the pre-credit sequence has nothing to do with the rest of the film, but this one really doesn’t and it does feel a little out of place. Still, it’s refreshing to see the producers establishing a continuum that we don’t often see in the franchise.

Moving on to the title credits, the song “For Your Eyes Only” is sung by Sheena Easton. It’s a pretty solid ballad and the title credits are notable because Easton actually appears in them singing the song. This is the first (and I believe only) time this occurred. This probably happened because the film was released in 1981. MTV debuted in 1981 as well so music videos were the hot thing around at the moment. Easton would go on to play Sonny Crockett’s wife in an episode arc of “Miami Vice” and have some of her songs produced by Prince. Why mention this? No real reason really. I’m just a huge fan of Prince and “Miami Vice”.

The plot involves Bond investigating the sinking of a British spy boat. A marine archaeologist and his wife who were contracted by the Brits to find the sunken boat are murdered in front of their daughter, Melina (Caroline Bouquet), who serves as the main Bond girl this time around. Her part is a little more integral to the story than lots of Bond babes because her mission to track the bad guys is much more personal than 007’s.

The bad guy turns out to be Aristotle Kristatos, who works for the KGB and is initially presented an ally to Bond before we find out otherwise. The villain is played by Julian Glover in a solid performance, even if the character isn’t particularly memorable.

Of course, we get a number of action scenes that are handled well. This is the first time in the 007 director’s chair for John Glen, who served as 2nd unit director on three previous Bond pictures. 2nd unit director essentially means he shot a lot of the action sequences and that experience shows here. There’s great underwater action footage. At a couple points, Bond and Melina nearly meet their demise by sharks. And yet again, none of these sharks have giant laser beams attached to their frickin heads.

Of particular note is the climax in the beautiful mountains of Greece, which is very well-directed and exciting. We also get yet another ski chase scene, but this one’s damn good and involves motorbikes and bobsleds too!

Director Glen would go on to direct five Bond movies in a row, which means every 80s 007 flick. This makes Glen the man who’s directed the most films in the franchise.

One of Bond’s allies in For Your Eyes Only is Columbo, played in a winning performance by Topol, who you may know as Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof. The secondary Bond girl is Bibi, an ice skating prodigy being sponsored by the villain. Played by Lynn-Holly Johnson, her character serves no real purpose in the story and she could have been cut out completely and that probably would’ve been better. The other Bond girl here represents an interesting bit of Bond history. Actress Cassandra Harris plays Columbo’s mistress, who ends up sleeping with 007, naturally. At the time of filming, Harris was married to an up-and-coming actor by the name of… Pierce Brosnan, who I’m confident you’ll read a lot about in later blog posts. Sadly, Harris would pass away in 1991 due to complications from cancer.

To show that this Bond was going back to basics, 007 even kills a character in cold blood by kicking his car as its falling down a cliff. It’s a little startling at first because this doesn’t really match Roger Moore’s characterization of the super spy. We believe it when Connery did it, as he did in Dr. No. Apparently, Moore had to be coaxed into this scene by the writers and producers. It worked for me, even though Moore will never be as menacing as Connery. At least he knew it.

For Your Eyes Only does contain some overly silly elements that are par for the course with the Moore films. Quite a few of them, however, are unintentional and more a product of the early 80s time frame. There’s “Q” showing 007 the “3D Identigraph”, high-tech technology using 3D effects for facial recognition of a suspect. When you watch the scene, it’s basically just Bond explaining what the dude generally looks like (hair color, style of glasses) and all of a sudden… we’ve got him!! The absence of composer John Barry is missed, too. Bill Conti is the composer here. For most of the film, he does an adequate job. However, there is a scene on the ski slopes where the synth-driven and ever-so-eighties sounding instrumentals sound like they’d comfortably belong in one of that era’s raunchy sex comedies. Not exactly the lush sounds we’re used to from Barry, but oh well.

The film would fall a little short of Moonraker‘s box office performance, but it still made a killing at the box office, earning nearly $200 million worldwide. In the U.S., it earned $54 million, placing it eighth for that year’s releases.

For Your Eyes Only is not in the very upper echelon of 007 pictures, but I found it quite entertaining and the change of pace worked for me, especially after the horribly silly levels that Moonraker took us to. Watching it, I kind of wished the producers had used this approach to the Moore flicks. Seeing the Roger Moore entries switch back and forth in tone contributes to a kind-of box of chocolates like mentality the producers seemed to have during this time period. The exception, of course, is the terrific Spy Who Loved Me from four years earlier. This picture isn’t on that level, but it’s a step above the other features in Moore’s tenure for sure.

Here are the facts:

Film: For Your Eyes Only

U.S. Release Date: June 26, 1981

Director: John Glen

Screenplay: Michael G. Wilson and Richard Maibaum

Bond: Roger Moore

Main Bond Villain: Aristotle Kristatos (Julian Glover)

Main Bond Girl: Melina Havelock (Caroline Bouquet)

Theme Song: “For Your Eyes Only” – performed by Sheena Easton

Budget: $28 million

Worldwide Box Office: $195.3 million