![]() My reservations about the film itself (as overrated as Octopus s y is underrated) can’t hide the fact that Moore is pretty much bang-on in the role. The Spy Who Loved Me is generally accepted as Moore’s zenith in the role. Things got a little awkward with The Man with the Golden Gun – a tendency to slap women about gave things an unsure edge. His first appearance in Live and Let Die was pretty assured, if a little smarmy – still, a surefire debut. Yet it arguably sees Moore at the peak of his approach to the character of James Bond. ![]() You know, the ‘who needs Austin Powers when the original films are funnier?’ kind of thinking. Octopussy is a sorely underrated film – its title alone is guaranteed to relegate it to the bad end of the Bond polls. The first two Bond films (and first ever VHS tapes) I acquired were Octopussy and The Living Daylights – guaranteed pleasure in the case of the former and exciting uncertainty for the latter. Given the size of this gunbarrel, the original artwork was usually heavily cropped – insanely so in the case of Diamonds are Forever or The Spy Who Loved Me. ![]() Inside that silhouette of 007 was the good old gunbarrel sight, inside of which was the original artwork from that particular film’s poster. All of the 16 Bond films to date had been re-released for the second time on retail VHS in uniform sleeves that boasted blue and black artwork with a silhouette of Bond on the front (the first run of releases featured grey artwork). Upon acquiring a video player at the start of nineties, I began my acquisition of James Bond films on video cassette. ![]() The Timothy Dalton films were far too new to be shown on telly and I don’t think I even registered the existence of George Lazenby back then. The Sean Connery ones felt so old-fashioned back then – they were from the 1960s! – so I don’t remember being too interested in them, although I do remember that they weren’t shown so much as the Moore ones, maybe because they’d already had their chance to be regularly screened? In comparison to the admittedly creaky Connery films (well, this is what I thought at the time), the Moore films seemed so much more lively and colourful. In the UK, ITV has always had the monopoly on 007 and the earliest films I can remember being shown are the Roger Moore ones – particularly Moonraker. I’ve loved the 007 films as far back as I can remember, but given that I was born in the eighties, my exposure to the series has been anything but chronological – with no video player, TV was the only option to catch him. Both films are quintessentially Bond, albeit for totally different reasons, and both are directed by John Glen, who also directed the other three 80’s Bond films, which makes for one impressively versatile range of tones and moods for the series. Given there are only two films and five years inbetween the high-camp escapist adventure of 1983’s Octopussy and the hard-edged, bloody thrills of 1989’s Licence to Kill, the swerve in tone is enough to give viewers of the series whiplash. Therefore it makes sense that my two favourite Bond films exist at opposite ends of this tonal spectrum. I also love it when James Bond gets serious.
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