James Bond Films Ranked Part 2: The Roger Moore Era 1973-1985

Sean Connery is my favorite Bond but Roger Moore will forever be one of the most important Bonds to me as following Connery’s departure from the role after Diamonds are Forever (1971), Roger Moore took over the mantle of Bond starting with Live and Let Die (1973), at the age of 45 and up until Daniel Craig’s recent extended tenure as the character was the longest-serving Bond portraying 007 across 7 different entries in the franchise over a span of a dozen years. Moore’s Bond is often criticized for driving the franchise into increasingly campy territory and for him playing the part well past his prime but his undeniably charismatic and suave portrayal of the playboy version of Bond no doubt sets him apart from the rest of the Bonds while his run as 007 brought a sense of consistency and stability to the series following all the fallout and drama from both Connery and Lazenby’s departure from the role in the late 60s/early 70s. The Roger Moore Bond films are particularly an intriguing set of films in the Bond franchise as some of them are better than others with the ones that don’t work showcasing some of the series' worst weaknesses while the ones that do work show Bond at his best. The following is my ranking of Roger Moore’s 7 Bond pictures ranked from worst to best.

7. Moonraker (1979)

By far not only Moore’s worst Bond film but the worst Bond film of all time Moonraker (1979) has high ambitions in its attempts to capitalize on the success of Star Wars in the late 70s but flounders it with campy tactics and mainly stunt-driven plotting not to mention terribly written Bond girls. Hopes were high for Moonraker following the smash success of The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), but the attempt to take the formula from that fantastic movie and meld it into a Star Wars hybrid failed miserably. Perhaps one of the more redeeming qualities of this movie is the reappearance of Jaws from the previous installment in the franchise giving the series a sense of continuity and serialization but even that storyline ended in an outlandishly cheesy fashion. Any sense of realism is immediately evaporated from the picture once the action takes James Bond to space and while I think there's a way that it could be done well but with the 70s special effects-styled laser gunfights and the inclusion of a Bond love scene in zero gravity any sense of a grounded and visceral approach to the material in the same vein as the Connery Bond films is lost. Moonraker certainly knocked the series down a peg after The Spy Who Loved Me so the Bond producer’s decision to bring Bond back down to earth in For Your Eyes Only (1981), was a wise one following the colossal disaster that was Moonraker. But hey that opening scene with Bond hijacking the bad guy’s parachute mid-air is pretty epic and something I could see Tom Cruise doing so it definitely lies in Bond’s territory as a grounded action-hero. And maybe Moonraker would have been a better movie if the plot had been framed around that sequence being the final showdown at the end versus a megalomaniacal maniac setting out to start his own version of the human race in outer space?

6. A View to A Kill (1985)

While one of the weaker entries in the Bond franchise with an ever-aging Moore in the role of Bond, a highly controversial bloodbath of an ending, and a truly terrible Bond girl A View to A Kill (1985) certainly has its strengths as well with the inclusion of the legendary Christoper Walken as Max Zorin and a truly climactic ending atop the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Plus you even have a 1960s-style TV show crossover between The Saint and The Avengers with Roger Moore and Patrick Macnee hailing from those two separate iconic series respectively. The dynamic between Bond and Macnee’s character posing as his manservant while on mission are classic and showcase that while Moore may have lost much of his realism in the action department as he was in his late 50s during the filming of A View to A Kill he still hadn’t lost his touch when it came to great comedic chops and playing a detective character. Who knows how strong this Bond entry could have been if they had de-emphasized the action elements of Bond and focused even more on the detective nature of the character in keeping with Moore’s age and also more in line with Ian Fleming’s Bond books? And while overall A View to A Kill doesn’t work nearly as well as it should with it being Moore's final portrayal as Bond their is no denying that this film is packed with iconic classic moments that demonstrate the very best of Moore’s Bond as we see Bond using his wits to evade drowning to death at the hands of Zorin and the deadly May Day to 007’s strong detective work alongside his “manservant” that in his quieter moments reveals the emotional vulnerability behind the seemingly invincible secret agent Moore’s Bond makes himself out to be.

5. For Your Eyes Only (1981)

“We had gone as far as we could into space. We needed a change of some sort, back to the grass roots of Bond. We wanted to make the new film more of a thriller than a romp, without losing sight of what made Bond famous – its humour.” Those are the words of John Glen who had been promoted from film editor to director, a position he would hold for four subsequent films. The Bond producers and Glen realized the series needed to bring Bond back to basics and give him his edge back and that was certainly the intention with For Your Eyes Only. While a good portion of the film is composed of stunt-driven sequences For Your Eyes Only does succeed at bringing to life a compelling thriller narrative with an intriguing mystery to be investigated by Bond. The Olympics-set action certainly is very memorable and the Greek tragedy inspired romance storyline between Bond and Melina (Carole Bouquet) is exhilarating as Melina’s quest for revenge coincides with Bond’s mission which has deadly stakes to it as illustrated in the scene where Bond and Melina are tied to the anchor of a boat by the villain and thrown into the water destined to become shark food. The villain twist reveal with Columbo is ingenious and allows for a great buddy cop dynamic between Bond and the drug smuggler Kristatos. For Your Eyes Only doesn’t exactly rise to the top of the list of the greatest Bond films of all time but it certainly does its job in delivering an edgy and captivating Bond tale that showcases just how deadly Moore’s Bond can be when properly motivated.

4. The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)

Featuring a classic duel between 007 and Bond villain Scaramanga portrayed by the great Christoper Lee, The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) works as a solid second entry in Moore’s run as Bond. Critics are quick to point out that Moore’s portrayal of the character is closer to Connery in his early films than that of the playboy version of Bond he is most famous for in his Bond pictures but I buy Moore as that sort of tough character though I do concede the better side of him is when he is lighter and more kind-hearted. Miss Goodnight is certainly portrayed as a clumsy and incompetent spy but she works her charm as an attractive knockout blonde who was seemingly competent enough to pull off undercover work in the tropics so who knows how great she could have been had the writing accommodated her so. The Man with the Golden Gun is far from a stellar Bond picture but it certainly has its charm and effectively captures the escapism aspect of the Bond films with style and class.

3. Octopussy (1983)

After the deadly and gruesome murder of 009 Bond is all in on his next mission which finds him uncovering an international jewel-smuggling operation headed by the mysterious Octopussy, being used to disguise a nuclear attack on N.A.T.O. forces. The campy theatrics of Moore’s tongue-in-cheek Bond films continue here but it is delivered by Moore with such great talent and charisma here that he effectively carries the picture. Moore initially was ready to retire from the role of Bond following For Your Eyes Only and as such the Bond producers selected James Brolin as the next 007 but when the news came out that Kevin McClory was doing his rival Bond film Never Say Never Again (1983) with Sean Connery the Bond producers felt they needed an established Bond to compete with Connery so they convinced Moore to return to the role of 007 for a sixth time. Moore’s chemistry with his leading ladies is great as usual and this time they hail from the world of high theatrics as Bond’s investigation leads him to Octopussy the leader of an island of women warriors and her lieutenant Magda who doubles as a tantalizing ringmaster in the third act as part of Octopussy’s smuggling operation via the front of a circus which unknown to her is being used as an assassination plot by her close ally. Seeing Bond dressed as a clown and racing for his life while being hunted by deadly knife-throwing circus cronies is certainly a prime element of the high suspense employed in this Bond picture that mixes the absurd with the edgy and dangerous visceral appeal even if it does overshoot the fence in the arena of believability from time to time. So while Octopussy (1983) may not be the best-written Moore Bond film it is certainly one of his strongest entries as the character with a lot of classic Bond elements present here in this suspenseful and highly engaging murder mystery thriller with Bond girls who are hard to look away from.

2. Live and Let Die (1973)

Roger Moore’s debut as Bond is certainly not a forgettable one as Moore strolls onto the scene of a picture that finds Bond investigating the mysterious deaths of several British agents in New Orleans and Harlem, NY. The story takes 007 into the world of voodoo and dark magic and while that element of Moore’s debut as the legendary spy certainly hasn’t aged well, what has aged well is Moore’s suave charm and sophistication that he brought to the role following Connery’s departure from the role. It is interesting to note that we got a rare look at Bond’s home life in Moore’s first scene as Bond as we are presented with M (Bernard Lee) visiting Bond’s flat in London for a mission debriefing with the tone for Moore’s Bond being set as Moneypenny aids him in sneaking out a one-night stand with M none the wiser. Moore took on the role of Bond at the age of 45 which might be considered old when judged against today’s standards but The Saint star was still well in his prime in those days with a baby-faced appearance that projected the youth of a younger man. Live and Let Die (1973) may not be the best written or most thematically resonant Bond picture but it certainly more than makes up for it with its iconic score and high-octane action scenes including a breathtaking speedboat chase sequence and Bond fending off plenty of crocodiles. Needless to say, revisit Moore’s debut performance as 007 and you’ll be humming along with the classic Live and Let Die theme song in your head all day long the next day.

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

I don’t think there is any denying that The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) is Moore’s best Bond entry and one of the Best Bond romances to date. The film follows Bond as he investigates the hijacking of British and Russian submarines carrying nuclear warheads, with the help of his opposite counterpart in the KGB Major Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach) also known as Agent Triple X. At the time the Bond films were in a bit of turmoil as following The Man with the Golden Gun Bond producer Harry Saltzman departed the series under unfortunate circumstances and Cubby Broccoli was fighting to get The Spy Who Loved Me made under nightmarish financial circumstances following the poor box office return of The Man with The Golden Gun. The Bond film saga was in danger of becoming extinct but Moore’s third entry as the character brought new life to the series that has seen the Bond film saga live on for the past 45 years. The heart of this Bond picture is in Bond’s romantic relationship with Agent Triple X as the unlikely duo of M16 Agent and Russian operative are forced to work together to take on the formidable force of Karl Stromberg who commands an underwater empire with the fierce and deadly Jaws at his side. The scale of the Bond series certainly began to escalate with The Spy Who Loved Me who some may see as the beginning of the series' downfall but within the context of this picture the scope and scale of the adventure is grounded in the emotional reality of the romance between Bond and Triple X.

The relationship is much more complicated and nuanced than most Bond romances and is more in line with the epic love stories presented in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) and Casino Royale (2006). What's more compelling is the fact that the Major is able to get under Bond’s skin as in their first meeting in an exotic restaurant following an action-packed Egyptian-set lightshow showdown they were both present at the night before as Triple X asserts to have done her homework on him listing off his resume as 007 but hits a nerve when she mentions the fact that he was only married once, his wife killed… before he abruptly cuts her off. Moore’s Bond most of the time comes off as bulletproof putting up a facade of perfection but in a rare moment like this, he shows the emotional vulnerability behind his character and this scene sets the tone for the romance that follows in the espionage thriller as the two spies on opposite sides of the Cold War slowly fall in love with each other albeit not without plenty of intriguing character-based conflict between them including the fact that Bond killed the Major’s former lover.

The Spy Who Loved Me is unquestionably Moore’s strongest Bond film as it sports plenty of spectacle but at its heart, it is truly a character-based romantic action suspense thriller that dives deep into the character of Bond. I think it would have been great if the Bond producers had decided to progress the character of Bond from that point forward moving on by having Bond end up with Triple X versus having his relationship with her being dissolved by the time of the next installment. They could have still had more Bond girls along the way in subsequent films with Bond and the Major having a will they/won’t they type dynamic between the two of them before Bond finally evolves as a character enough to the point where he would be ready to propose to her having recovered from the pain of losing his first wife Tracy in the tragic events of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Moore’s final Bond film could have seen Bond marrying Triple X and taking over the position of M and passing on the job of 007 to a new protege who would carry the series onward perhaps in the form of Timothy Dalton making for a very different set of 007 adventures moving forward. As history tells us that is not what happened but it is certainly fun to wonder what if and hopefully future Bond films will employ these kinds of elements of serialization so that the character of Bond can be progressed forward based off the rich template of character-driven/ spectacle filled storytelling that is inherent in The Spy Who Loved Me.