Was Roger Moore really THAT old in AVTAK??

Hugo Drax

I watched the film several times and never thought anything about Moore's age until I read it in reviews.

Moore clearly had had some plastic surgery done and, ironically, this makes him look noticeably older than in Octopussy. In retrospect, he probably should have called it a day after Octopussy, as AVTAK is a weak exit for him.

I think Moore still looks handsome in AVTAK, but I also think charisma is about a lot more than looks. And charisma does get women into bed.

Firemass

here's an image from AVTAK. I honestly don't see what the big deal is.




yes at 57 he is too old. but he was also too old in FYEO and OP. He still manages to deliver his best performance as Bond. He also looks like he lost a lot of weight in AVTAK which is a huge plus.

I've heard the rumors about cosmetic surgery, but hasn't been confirmed. (Aside from removing a mole that could have been cancerous) He seems to have aged normally in the recent interviews i've watched.

Higgins

If I remember correctly, in " My word is my Bond " Moore himself mentioms a facelift prior to the movie

Having Moores age and shape in mind when watching Skyfall, I don't even want to imagine how Craig will look at that age

Jarvio

Firemass wrote:

here's an image from AVTAK. I honestly don't see what the big deal is.




yes at 57 he is too old. but he was also too old in FYEO and OP. He still manages to deliver his best performance as Bond. He also looks like he lost a lot of weight in AVTAK which is a huge plus.

I've heard the rumors about cosmetic surgery, but hasn't been confirmed. (Aside from removing a mole that could have been cancerous) He seems to have aged normally in the recent interviews i've watched.

Precisely. I honestly can't see how he looks any different to OP in terms of age

zaphod

Just watching it in HD on TV and Roger looks much better than I remember.

Silhouette Man

Roger looks fine, as someone else said if Daniel Craig looks this good at 57 he'll be doing OK and I would second that!

Blackleiter

I've said it before and I'll say it again - I don't think the problem is that Roger looks old. I think he looks pretty good for a 57 year old man. The problem is that he moves like an old man in the fight/action scenes, and for me that really diminishes the enjoyment of AVTAK.

zaphod

Blackleiter wrote:

I've said it before and I'll say it again - I don't think the problem is that Roger looks old. I think he looks pretty good for a 57 year old man. The problem is that he moves like an old man in the fight/action scenes, and for me that really diminishes the enjoyment of AVTAK.

I think you are right. He was never a physical actor and always struggled in action scenes, particularly fight scenes and this is the real problem. He was actually looking relatively trim in AVTAK.

chrisisall

zaphod wrote:

He was never a physical actor and always struggled in action scenes, particularly fight scenes and this is the real problem. He was actually looking relatively trim in AVTAK.

I love Moore, but if you can't do a dive roll, you needn't be playing Bond.
That said, Octopussy was endlessly entertaining, and should have been the end of his tenure IMO.
Movies like DAF & AVTAK are moments where you need to be a bollocks-out fan to be cool with them.

Firemass

chrisisall wrote:

zaphod wrote:

He was never a physical actor and always struggled in action scenes, particularly fight scenes and this is the real problem. He was actually looking relatively trim in AVTAK.

I love Moore, but if you can't do a dive roll, you needn't be playing Bond.

I know what you mean, but hey dive rolls are tricky. I wouldn't want to attempt one on a hardwood floor!

Besides, sean connery had a stunt double doing fairly routine stuff like run to the elevator in YOLT. (as i found out in the commentary)

Actually I'm more bothered by the ultra thin, super-agile skier stunt double in FYEO. Yeah, Roger logically should have retired after MR, but I'm still glad he stuck around because I happen to really, really like A View to a Kill.

chrisisall

Firemass wrote:

I know what you mean, but hey dive rolls are tricky. I wouldn't want to attempt one on a hardwood floor!

Performed correctly, even an old man can do it (like me, as old as Rog in MR!). )

Nick37

"Actually I'm more bothered by the ultra thin, super-agile skier stunt double in FYEO. Yeah, Roger logically should have retired after MR, but I'm still glad he stuck around because I happen to really, really like A View to a Kill."

I kind of long for a Dalton version of "A View to a Kill". The machine-gunning of the workers fits Dalton's gritty tone more, and I think the scenes between Dalton and Walken would have been cracking (Though they'd have had to retool the beginning and eliminate the older stumbling-spying Moore does.)

Firemass

Nick37 wrote:

I kind of long for a Dalton version of "A View to a Kill". The machine-gunning of the workers fits Dalton's gritty tone more, and I think the scenes between Dalton and Walken would have been cracking (Though they'd have had to retool the beginning and eliminate the older stumbling-spying Moore does.)

It's really not healthy to get hung up on 007 historical "what ifs"

I can understand your pain of Dalton only doing 2 Bond films, however it's not fair to encroach on his predecessor's films. Dalton's era should have continued into the early 90's but it didn't. Tough luck. I will agree that AVTAK made a nice transition film to the Dalton era because it had a harder edge to the violence and the gags were almost non-existant, especially compared to Octopussy.

Distorted Humor

I don't think he looks that much older in AVTAK then say, OP, but in OP he had a mature leading lady and he wasn't asked to do too much that would show off that he was in his 50's.

And watching Skyfall, I actually did have the thought "DC has one, at most two more bond films before he looks too old", and Crieg is a much younger man

Nick37

"I don't think he looks that much older in AVTAK then say, OP, but in OP he had a mature leading lady and he wasn't asked to do too much that would show off that he was in his 50's. "

He looks the oldest in that film, but still passable. I agree 100% that it would have worked a bit better with an older leading lady as Stacey. Though I did appreciate that the love scene took place after he saved her life. Made it a bit more believable than her just throwing herself on him just because he's James Bond.

They matched Connery up with an older lady in the opening when Fatima tries to kill him. Fatima sleeps with him for obvious reasons, and much like AVTAK, Domino and he have their first encounter after he's saved her life, though still older Sean Connery is still more magnetic than older Roger Moore, so her throwing herself at him I still could have bought after the massage sequence and the tango.

thegreatgalling

I hope I don't need to quantify my answer with the disclaimer that I loved AVTAK along with every other Moore Bond movie despite his age.

I just wish the latter Moore films treated his age differently. There is an odd balance of ignoring his age and calling attention to it in NEGATIVE ways that I believe worked against him a bit.

Like it has been said here, NSNA at least used Bond's age as a theme in the story. And it worked! Not that we need to see Bond rubbing vapor rub on his joints or anything, but acknowledging the mileage would have added an extra element to his performance.

By calling attention to it in a BAD way, I am mostly referring to the inclusion of Bibi Dahl's character in FYEO, as mentioned here by FelixLeiter. Her bizarre performance (acting way younger than she appeared) just further added to the creepy Grandpa element of their interactions.

And let's face it, there is a small element of make believe in that Moore could still turn heads at almost 60 like he could at 45.