Personally with the exception of his performance in Live and Let Die (which I regard as by far his best Bond film), I wouldn’t put him with the upper echelon of Bonds (Sean Connery, Daniel Craig and Timothy Dalton).

He is on par with Pierce Bronson and obviously better than George Lazenby.

The big issue with Moore was his age and general campiness. However, the role certainly meant far more to him than it did to other Bond actors (particularly Connery and Craig), so this gives him bonus points.

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  2. They were all good Bonds for the movies they were given. Timothy Dalton could not have done Moonraker. Sean Connery could not have done Quantum of Solace. I couldn’t see Brosnan crying over M dying, and I doubt Moore or Connery would have taken orders from a woman at all.

    Craig and Dalton could easily have played each others though, as could Moore and Brosnan.

    Moore and Brosnan’s films are definitely more suave and campy than Connery, Craig and Dalton’s, but it doesn’t make them any better/worse. Just different variations.

    I actually really liked George Lazenby’s portrayal. I thought he acted the story really well. It’s such a different portrayal though, that it’s hard to compare it to the others.

  3. Dalton was a great Bond – just not the best films to work with. I like the Moore films, they were my favourites when I was a kid, but they don’t hold up as well now.

  5. The worst one, if you only include actors who were allowed to do more than one film.

  7. Loved him as Bond because he didn’t take it or himself too seriously. Definitely behind Craig, Brosnan and Connery

  8. Good question. I mean in terms of Bond there’s really only 3.

    Brosnan > Connery > Moore. Though Moore dated much worse than the others.

    Dalton did ok, arguably better than Craig, but lazenby was terrible.

    Craig just sulked through his movies and made being bond seem about as much fun as a jockey with prolapsed anus in the grand national.

  11. Tim Dalton was by far my favourite, but probably Moore is a close second. He captured that incredibly campy Bond era perfectly and those movies will always be slightly guilty pleasures that remind me of childhood Christmas TV, haha.

    Connery was great, Brosnan was the perfect late 90’s Bond and Lazenby was… there. I never bought Craig as Bond at all – he just had zero charm and just seemed like a miserable git.

  12. Below Pierce Brosnan and Sean Connery and above George Lazenby. Worst has to be Daniel Craig by far. Tried to watch Quantum of Shoelace the other day… Oh Dear.

  13. For years I didn’t think I liked the Moore films. I’d seen one or two as a kid and presumed they were camp with bad FX and thus Moore was a bad Bond. But I got the box set a couple of years ago and my opinion has completely changed. Connery didn’t give a shit towards the end and it shows, but his early films for me sum up the essence of classic Bond. Lazenby gives a good performance in a film that is much more enjoyable than its predecessor, but is rather bloated (film not the actor). I like Dalton but he just doesn’t quite do it for me. I don’t know if it’s the films, the acting or the fact that 80s Bond feels like Hollywood B movie quality. And Craig gives a solid, if cold, performance. Not charming enough to be Bond but good films.

    That leaves Brosnan, who was my childhood Bond and my favourite, and Moore. And I think they’re both the most successful at pulling off Movie Bond (not book Bond). They’re charming and suave, they’re funny when it’s appropriate. And they can both pull off the action. Moore’s only weaknesses for me is that he was given some poor films and he was probably ten years too old.

  15. Not my favourite. The series did get a little silly at that point so its hard to say how much is his fault as an actor or simply the direction but yeah, he was a bit carry on and liked the bite that the others had. Dalton was actually a perfect counterpoint to him.

  16. The one I feel sorry for is Dalton. Made a good Bond, but the films were shite.

    Brosnan’s later films were also rubbish.

  17. Moore was my favourite.

    The Bond franchise has always been kitch and cheesy. Moore has that debonaire old-school charm that really works well with the genre.

    The edginess of the modern films falls flat on its face when you’re still confronted with the same old cheesy Bond antics. It makes me laugh at the film, rather than with the film.

    Like the scene where they’re smashing his testicles. Forgotten which film, Quantum of Solitude Tomorrow or something. It’s supposed to be super gritty and brutal. Yet in the next scene he is doing a woman without any problem. It’s ridiculous and it makes the grittiness seem comical. Does Bond have testicles made of steel or something? Is that part of his spy gadget arsenal?

    A Roger Moore era film could have pulled it off, because the whole thing is supposed to be cheesy and over the top.

  19. He’s alright. Connery is my quintessential Bond.

    Watched *Live and Let Die* on Sunday. My wife had never seen it. I told her it was a little less believable than the earlier ones and she said she actually found it more entertaining than some of the Connery ones.

    He was definitely too old by the time Octopussy/A View to A Kill came around mind you.

  20. His best movie was The Wild Geese with Richard Burton and Richard Harris.

    I’ve never really liked any Bond film.

    But he does star in the one i do find quite amusing.

  21. He is the only Bond that I really didn’t like….bottom of the list for me, I’m afraid.

  24. Probably around the top, to be fair, He and Connery did it for fun. I still can’t get behind Daniel Craig, nor understand the big deal with him.

  25. He’s my favourite, but favourite doesn’t necessarily mean I’m claiming he’s objectively the best, which I wouldn’t claim for any of them really – they’re all good in very different ways.

    Moore’s the Bond I grew up with, and I actually like the campness – and he can be very funny, and you can oddly believe him being charming despite him being far too old for all his Bond Girls and looking like a repurposed leather sofa.

  26. Probably 4th behind Craig, Bronson and Connery

    Don’t know if it’s just because he was Bond when I was growing up but I’d put Pierce Bronson on par with Daniel Craig personally

  28. “In the whole Roger vs. Sean debate that’s raged for the past 20 years, I have to say I’m firmly in the Roger camp. I believe no one could, sort of, wear a safari suit with the same degree of casualty”.-Alan Partridge.

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