Sir Roger Moore's tenure as James Bond 007 - though often met with little love from many fans and critics - is for me the most complete and rounded. And also the one that is the most fun. One interesting aspect of many is a certain symmetry in the five films. Starting with MOONRAKER as the focal point, you can see astonishing parallels in the films that are chronologically opposite each other, which I would like to go into more detail here (with a little wink).
Movie #1 and Movie #7: Bond in the US and in the Top 10
Probably the most obvious similarities between Roger Moore's debut LIVE AND LET DIE and his swan song A VIEW TO A KILL (both death-related titles) are the charismatic and trendy theme songs by Paul McCartney & Wings and Duran Duran. Both are among the most innovative as well as the most successful Bond songs, as they each achieved very high chart positions. Maurice Binder's titles also resemble each other with burning skull faces or ice faces in flames.
Live and let die begins where A View To A Kill ends: in a US metropolis. Once New York on the east coast, once San Francisco on the - symmetry says hello - west coast. Both films are largely set in the United States, where Bond meets a thin-skinned sheriff and causes a lot of fender bender.
In both films, Bond's love interest is significantly younger than him, Jane Seymor 24 years and Tanya Roberts 28, and he deals with a lady played by a black actress who works for the other side and with whom he sleeps, although he does already know. The opponents in both cases were also younger than Roger Moore and were played by New York-born Americans Yaphet Kotto and Christopher Walken. And there's something superhuman about both Moore's 007 first and last opponents - Mr. Big through his access to dark powers, Zorin as the product of human experimentation.
In both films, Bond also has more private contact with his MI-6 "family". First M and Moneypenny visit him at his flat, then Bond is at the racecourse with M, Q and Moneypenny. In terms of action, Bond can be seen behind the wheel of an unusually large vehicle - a double-decker bus/fire truck - with which he uses slalom movements to outpace his pursuers.
Film No. 2 and Film No. 6: Asian exoticism, Swedish girl power - and Dracula
The greatest similarity between THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN (1974) and OCTOPUSSY (1983) (both character-related titles) is Swedish actress Maud Adams, who had supporting roles in both films. (And each comes out of the bathroom naked before meeting Bond.) And the second female lead is cast in each case by a blonde Swede, Britt Ekland and Kristina Wayborn (whose first name is actually Britt as well).
In addition, both films have extensive locations in Asia - Thailand with the famous James Bond Island and Udaipur in India - which are considered two of the most exotic of the whole series.
The two opponents, Scaramanga and Kamal Khan, have one thing in common, in addition to their preference for the vowel A, which you won't find in any other villain actors in the series: Both Christopher Lee and Louis Jordan have embodied Count Dracula in adaptations of Bram Stoker's horror classic and belong to the most praised in this role. Lee played Dracula as many times as Moore Bond - seven times from 1958 to 1973. Louis Jourdan played Count Dracula in a 1977 BBC TV two-parter of the same name, which is considered one of the most faithful adaptations.
Both opponents also have a showman background: Scaramanga performed in a circus, his fun house also exudes a corresponding flair; while Khan uses a circus for his schemes. And in both films Bond is the object of the hunt: once by Scaramanga, who even owns Bond as a wannabe hunting trophy, so to speak, and once by Khan during an elephant hunt, a scene ispired from the film The Most Dangerous Game (1932). Both villains play off this sadistic aspect with diabolical charm, each has a double-O colleague on their conscience - 002 and 009 - and dines with Bond before their hunt.
Movie #3 and Movie #5:Mediterranean spy hunt on skis and under water
Again, the locations are amazingly similar, as they are both set around the Mediterranean Sea. Egypt and the Mediterranean island of Sardinia in THE SPY WHO LOVED ME and in FOR YOUR EYES ONLY (1981) Greece and the Mediterranean island of Corfu. (Here, too, thematically very related titles that refer explicitly to the espionage business) Bond is there in a Lotus Esprit or with his companion in a carriage.
In both cases, approaches to Britain's nuclear defenses end up on the open market and threaten to fall into Soviet hands - and accordingly become the subject of bitter pursuits. Both films have both extensive underwater action in the Mediterranean Sea and fast-paced ski chases in alpine regions - each scored with then modern and now controversial disco sound by the Americans Marvin Hamlisch and Bill Conti.
Anya (Barbara Bach) and Melina (Carole Bouquet) have lost loved ones and are driven by a desire for revenge that Bond must soothe. At each showdown, Bond must work with an ally (Carter, Columbo) and his team to storm the villain's lair.
In addition to similarities in the locations, the type of action and the music, both films have in common that they are considered Roger Moore's best Bond contributions.
Movie #4: Extraterrestrial Climax and Turning Point
1979's MOONRAKER is not only the pinnacle of the Moore era, but in more ways of larger-than-life bonds in general. It wasn't bigger or more spectacular before, and never was again afterwards. Accordingly, the film was not only a turning point within this era, but also in the franchise in general.
The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker and For Your Eyes Only are united as a pivotal triumvirate of Moore's Bond films by settings set in Italy, including Victor Tourjansky's parody of the Italian born vivant with one glass/bottle too many. In addition to Italy, the film sends Bond to America, as in the first and seventh films - and of course to space. An escapism that formally forced a rethinking in the films afterwards. So, to paraphrase Doc Brown, the film has some sort of certain cosmic significance. Almost as if it were the junction-point for Bond's space-time continuum. On the other hand, it could all just be a coincidence. Or the spawn of a bored nerd brain. ;)
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