A thought...

Lazenby

TMWTGG would have been a much better movie had George Lazenby stuck around for it. Just think! The martial arts theme in Thailand, coupled with his prowess as a fighter, would have made for some great action sequences-- instead of the embarrassing ones we got with Moore in that film. Plus, Lazenby's image is perfectly suited to that whole "Six Million Dollar Man" theme of the 70s. I personally wish he would have stuck around longer.

Napoleon Han Solo

Lazenby wrote:

TMWTGG would have been a much better movie had George Lazenby stuck around for it. Just think! The martial arts theme in Thailand, coupled with his prowess as a fighter, would have made for some great action sequences-- instead of the embarrassing ones we got with Moore in that film. Plus, Lazenby's image is perfectly suited to that whole "Six Million Dollar Man" theme of the 70s. I personally wish he would have stuck around longer.

I like Moore in the fighting scenes...but GL did sort of have prescient seventies hair, didn't he?

Lazenby

Napoleon Han Solo wrote:

GL did sort of have prescient seventies hair, didn't he?

He did! His whole thing would have worked wonderfully in the 70s. If I have come to one conclusion after 20+ years of being Bond fan it's that George Lazenby was that great shining star of 70s Bond/action hero who never was. As for Moore, he was certainly charming, but he was no fighter.

Moore Not Less

Lazenby wrote:

As for Moore, he was certainly charming, but he was no fighter.

Fighting wasn't Roger Moore's greatest asset as Bond, that's for sure. But to say he was no fighter is rather harsh. For one thing, he did not benefit from Peter Hunt's editing technique in the same way that Sean Connery and George Lazenby did before him.

Roger was a good fighter. An example being the fight with those three thugs in Saida's dressing room in TMWTGG.

John Drake

TMWTGG would have suited Lazenby, as I think would LALD. Both of these are very 70's genre-inspired films, Kung Fu and Blaxploitation, and Lazenby would have been right for them. I'd rather have Roger Moore in TSWLM though. That's one my favourite Bond performances.

Anybody seen the two kung-fu films Lazenby made shortly after quitting Bond?

Steed

I don't think anybody could have improved TMWTTGG too much- the worst Bond of all for me. Roger's performance and Christopher Lee are the only saving graces, imho.

Anyone who says Moore is 'no fighter' has not seen him in 'The Saint', imo. Most fans of that series would agree he is superb in the fight scenes and a wholly credible action hero. He is no more jokey than Connery is in his Bond films, either. It's just the scriptwriters tended to forcefeed ridiculous situations into the Moore movies, to their detriment, really.

Barbel

John Drake wrote:

Anybody seen the two kung-fu films Lazenby made shortly after quitting Bond?

I saw The Man From Hong Kong when it came out, but can hardly remember it now (30 years or so later!) apart from the use of the Pilot song "Sky High"; what was the other one?

Lazenby

Moore Not Less wrote:

For one thing, he did not benefit from Peter Hunt's editing technique in the same way that Sean Connery and George Lazenby did before him.

Lazenby was a fight instructor for the Australian Special Forces (while Connery just plain oozed tough from every particle of his being)-- and it totally shows in the fight scenes in OHMSS. This fact alone broke my heart almost beyond repair that Lazenby didn't continue with Bond until at least TMWTGG. Moore could pretend well enough on screen but he just didn't come off (to me) as someone who, in real life, could dominate to the degree that Lazenby and Connery could.

Lazenby

Steed wrote:

I don't think anybody could have improved TMWTTGG too much

If it was written for Lazenby I think it could have been made <i>a lot</i> better.

Lazenby

John Drake wrote:

I'd rather have Roger Moore in TSWLM though. That's one my favourite Bond performances.

Agreed. I actually think Moore is better in Moonraker, but his performance in that film is ignored typically because people spend more time zeroing in on the film's unfortunate comic escapades. Lazenby from OHMSS to TMWTGG would have been perfect for me, with Moore taking over from TSWLM to OP.

Steed

Lazenby's other Hong Kong film of note was called 'Stoner'. There's a clip from this in the Bruce Lee docu 'The Legend', where Lazenby beds an actress called Betty Ting Pei who is perhaps best described as a female acquiantance of Bruce Lee, shall we say. Laughably, I think 'Stoner' is about a narcotics agent!!:D

He did one called 'Queen's Ransom' too around this period- I've heard about some scenes from it but have not seen them.

John Drake

Barbel wrote:

John Drake wrote:

Anybody seen the two kung-fu films Lazenby made shortly after quitting Bond?

I saw The Man From Hong Kong when it came out, but can hardly remember it now (30 years or so later!) apart from the use of the Pilot song "Sky High"; what was the other one?

Apparently it's called 'A Man Called Stoner.' IMDB gives it about four titles though.

Lazenby880

John Drake wrote:

Barbel wrote:

John Drake wrote:

Anybody seen the two kung-fu films Lazenby made shortly after quitting Bond?

I saw The Man From Hong Kong when it came out, but can hardly remember it now (30 years or so later!) apart from the use of the Pilot song "Sky High"; what was the other one?

Apparently it's called 'A Man Called Stoner.' IMDB gives it about four titles though.

Incidentally I have seen Who Saw Her Die? (I have a copy on video). Lazenby is dubbed so it is difficult to assess his acting. He does look rather ill, and the picture is a pretty cheap 'Euro-flick'. I did find the film quite disturbing though, as it involves the murder of a child (I hate programmes/films with violence against children).

John Drake

Lazenby880 wrote:

Incidentally I have seen Who Saw Her Die? (I have a copy on video). Lazenby is dubbed so it is difficult to assess his acting. He does look rather ill, and the picture is a pretty cheap 'Euro-flick'. I did find the film quite disturbing though, as it involves the murder of a child (I hate programmes/films with violence against children).

I've seen this too. I got it on DVD. It's a rather odd film. There's an excellent little documentary about the making of it though. It mentions a bit about the Bond producers and Lazenby falling out. I think he mentions that Lazenby did his film for the money. He didn't really have any left and he just wanted to buy a sail boat and disappear for a while. I'll maybe look it out tomorrow and transcribe what is actually said. It's just a few minutes worth, but interesting.

Lazenby

It's George Lazenby!

Dan Same

Moore Not Less wrote:

Fighting wasn't Roger Moore's greatest asset as Bond, that's for sure. But to say he was no fighter is rather harsh. For one thing, he did not benefit from Peter Hunt's editing technique in the same way that Sean Connery and George Lazenby did before him.

Roger was a good fighter. An example being the fight with those three thugs in Saida's dressing room in TMWTGG.

How true. That fight in TMWTGG was great, as was his fight with Sandor in TSWLM. Moore may not have been the best fighter of the Bonds, but I think he was sufficently convincing. I also think that Lazenby being in TMWTGG would have made it worse, as IMO Lazenby was the second worst Bond of all time (just ahead of Dalton.) I think what would have improved TMWTGG would either have been a better screenplay or if Moore had done it later on in his career.

Moore Not Less

Dan Same wrote:

Moore may not have been the best fighter of the Bonds, but I think he was sufficently convincing.

Absolutely. As I stated in my previous post, Roger Moore did not benefit from Peter Hunt's editing technique in the same way that Sean Connery and George Lazenby did before him. Hunt's technique was like condensing a fight into a highlights package giving it more pace and energy. Many of Roger's fights appear slow and cumbersome in comparison which exaggerates the differences between him and Sean/George.

baccaret

Moore Not Less wrote:

Dan Same wrote:

Moore may not have been the best fighter of the Bonds, but I think he was sufficently convincing.

Absolutely. As I stated in my previous post, Roger Moore did not benefit from Peter Hunt's editing technique in the same way that Sean Connery and George Lazenby did before him. Hunt's technique was like condensing a fight into a highlights package giving it more pace and energy. Many of Roger's fights appear slow and cumbersome in comparison which exaggerates the differences between him and Sean/George.

I totally agree leave Roger alone, he might not be the best bond ever but he had is moments. I think is fighting scenes were very passable indeed!!:007)