John Fox
Modern Bond retrospectives lazily tend to almost completely dismiss Roger Moore’s tenure as James Bond. He is frequently called the ’worst’ Bond and his movies are dismissed as Carry On style romps. Roger would even make light of this himself. The truth is though that Roger was a great Bond. Sure, he maybe made a couple of films too many and the comedic elements of his films sometimes got out of hand but the Roger Moore years constitute the most fun era of Bond. If you sit down and watch one of Roger’s Bond films you are guaranteed to have a good time. Roger Moore’s Bond is Christmas Day afternoon. John Barry, Ken Adam, Lewis Gilbert, Carly Simon, crazy stunts, quips, Caroline Munro in a helicopter, underwater bases, Jaws, Jane Seymour, the Lotus, parachutes, jet planes, space battles, crocodiles, ski chases, casinos, tuxedos, double-entendres. The Roger Moore era of Bond wasn’t terrible or embarrassing. It was fantastic! In the book that follows we shall take a deep dive into the Roger Moore era of Bond and explore his tenure from start to finish. We’ll assess the strengths and weaknesses of both Roger’s Bond and his films but most of all this book is a celebration of Roger Moore’s James Bond and the years he spent suavely karate chopping baddies in a selection of safari suits and cream flares. Roger’s amazing contribution to the Bond franchise is far too often derided and mocked these days. This book will hopefully serve as an entertaining and robust defence of Roger Moore and his incarnation of James Bond.
