I have to disagree with Dan that Roger Moore was a better 007 than Sean Connery. He said that Moore was more stylish and humorous than Connery, but simply looking at the two proves him wrong on both counts.
Yes, Moore had more double entendres, comic booky plots, and was overall jokier than Connery was as Bond. But that doesn’t necessarily make him more humorous. One never got the sense with Moore as one did with Connery that he enjoyed tweaking both his superiors at MI6 and the villains, and the tension and the reactions always lent a certain humor to the Connery films. Perhaps this cheekiness is most notable in Goldfinger.
Furthermore, Moore lacked the general panache that Connery had. Moore was always too effeminate for the role, and simply came across as a fop. Connery was infinitely more manly. Maybe it’s just the contrast between Connery’s rugged Scottish accent and Moore’s fey London accent, but one got the sense that Moore’s Bond had never punched a guy in the face before in his life. With Connery’s Bond, you knew that he was a real man, and that he could handle himself without Q.
Yet he also lacked Connery’s smoothness and charisma. Perhaps this is most notable around women. Whenever Connery is around women, he’s always supremely confident and self-assured. Moore always seemed a bit confused and bland, lacking the grace and charm of his predecessor. One never doubts for a minute Connery’s ability to get women of all stripes into bed. One does wonder why all these increasingly gorgeous women have the hots for Roger Moore. To add fuel to the fire, Moore’s Bond never ordered a martini, and Connery looked better in a tuxedo than Moore did.
Moreover, the role just seemed to come naturally to Connery. He pulled it off with far greater ease than any other role in his long career…many people have said that Connery didn’t even have to act; he WAS James Bond, on and off the set. Moore never had that same ease as Bond. He was always distant. There was always something wooden and strained about his Bond, lacking the freshness and vitality of Connery’s. Even Moore himself said that the only two expressions on his face as Bond were: “Right eyebrow raised and left eyebrow raised.” Not that the role of James Bond exactly requires Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle, but a bit more than raising one’s eyebrows would be nice.
Finally, the Connery films are simply better than the Moore films. Goldfinger managed to find the perfect balance between camp and action. Moore’s films tend to be excessively campy. I don’t advocate über-seriousness, as in the lame Timothy Dalton and Daniel Craig films, but camp is a balancing act, and it fails much more easily than it succeeds. When it tried to out-Star Wars Star Wars that was definitely a step in the wrong direction.
So I have no idea why Dan prefers Moore. But nonetheless, Connery remains the ultimate Bond…and you can take that assessment to the bank. I’ll bet you a vodka martina…shaken, not stirred, of course.
