An Elegy to My Lord Hampstershire A View to a Kill (1985), Directed by John Glen By Christina Harlin, your Fearless Young Orphan For my friend Max, who convinced me to give it a try. I know Roger Moore did more with his career than simply play James Bond. Nevertheless, one of the Bonds is who he’ll always be to me. Well, I admit, that’s really all I’ve seen him do, and in his own way, he did it perfectly well. He was lucky enough to be directed by both John Glen and Guy Hamilton in multiple Bond films. Roger Moore’s era as Bond produced some fine espionage movies– and some unforgettably silly ones – and, the thing about Bond movies is, those two things are not mutually exclusive. Especially not with Lord Hampstershire on board. I don’t want to get into a debate with myself (I am my most formidable debating opponent, impossible to argue with) about “who’s the better Bond” because to my mind, every Bond actor has managed to hit the right notes at some point (even the awful interpretation of Pierce Brosnan managed to impress once or twice). Remember (poor kids, how could you forget?) that I subscribe to the cipher-agent theory and think of Bond as only a professional title, so that despite some (lame!) evidence to the contrary, none of these guys are actually playing the same character. Roger Moore’s take on the playboy spy really emphasized the “playboy” and downplayed the “spy,” and for about half the time he was at the helm, he was intentionally playing the part for comedy. Roger Moore’s presence in the role covered the most years and the most tonal changes in the series. Starting with Guy Hamilton’s exciting Live and Let Die, then through The Man with the Golden Gun and The Spy who Loved Me, his Bond films got more over-the-top and more screwball until the whole thing culminated in the whacko Moonraker. What was Roger Moore supposed to do, truly? Play it straight? At that point the series had become a parody of itself anyway. Then John Glen stepped in to take over directing, slamming the brakes on the slapstick comedy, amping up the action and danger. He made three fairly excellent spy films in a row: For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, and A View to a Kill. In the last three, Moore was still permitted to be his smug and seductive Bond who found himself in ostentatious peril most of the time, but he was also required to show some previously unknown concern about the welfare of his country and the outcome of his deeds. My readers know I came late to Bond Fandom. Until about eight years ago, I was utterly convinced that most of the series was a waste of time. I actually began watching them from the beginning on a dare, more or less. My friend Max, a true fan of the series, goaded me into it, which I’ll always appreciate. So I set about watching one Bond film every week. I made it through Connery’s movies, the Lazenby Bond, more Connery after that, and finally fetched up on the shores of Roger Moore with trepidation. You see, I was already enjoying the series more than I ever thought I would, was on the verge of becoming a fan, even, and here comes this big change. “But Orphan,” you argue. “You already survived the Lazenby switch.” Well, yes, but George Lazenby’s turn as Bond was more of a temp- job than a permanent replacement, and aside from being rather more self- deprecating (I have never seen Sean Connery be self-deprecating), his interpretation of the part was not terribly different from Sean Connery’s altogether. Connery had grown bored with the role. I felt this was true. But I was not bored with the films. I was beginning to understand where we were going with this, and what the appeal was. With Bond, it’s all journey, no destination. Now, a big switcheroo. It was okay. It’ turned out just fine, in fact. Roger Moore was a different character to me. You may recall that I nicknamed him Percy DeWinter IV, Lord Hampstershire, for his distinctly gentrified mannerisms and way of speaking, quite like the lord of the manor out for jaunt that just happened to involve espionage. You can like an actor in the role, or hate him, but Bond films as a genre carry on regardless of who it is. They are a bigger force than the actor in charge of the part. We lost Roger Moore this week.1 I heard of Moore’s passing, then that very night I watched A View to a Kill which I think is my personal favorite of Moore’s Bond films for many reasons (yes, for its flaws as much as for its virtues). It would probably be a waste of time to go over why exactly this one holds my greatest affection over the other six (some of which are probably technically better); I’m not even sure I know myself. Here are some clues though: Christopher Walken, Grace Jones, and Patrick Macnee in supporting parts. Moneypenny in a pink flowered hat. Humor, and humanity, too. A gorgeous soundtrack (if you ignore the song by Duran Duran – oh hell, just ignore the silly title sequence altogether; it’s terrible). The fact that it was the last of Moore’s appearances and the fact that, holy cow, he 1 In a sad coincidence, just last week we also lost musician Chris Cornell, who among his many accomplishments sang my favorite Bond theme song “You Know My Name” for Casino Royale. Of all the Bond films, Casino Royale has the most beautiful, creative opening credits. They’ll make a shiver go down your spine, every time, and Cornell’s haunting voice has much to do with that. , you were such a rascalOh Lord Hampstershire, you were such a rascal! looked far too old to be doing this stuff and yet he was still doing it anyway, so screw you, age! And now that Roger Moore has gone to that great casino in the sky, the film will always have another layer of sentiment to me. If you look over the various Roger Moore entries in the series, there wasn’t one of them I didn’t enjoy – even freaking Moonraker (which I adored, making me certifiably insane, I’m positive). I thought I’d group up some things I had to say about Roger Moore. Many of these things I said as a newbie on a voyage of discovery; some I said a few years later, but there does seem to be a theme! “Roger Moore is a very different Bond: he’s more charming, affable, and elegant; he has no menace at all. I assume he’d rather just use diplomacy than beat the crap out of everybody . He doesn’t seem to care much about the job, or anything else, except his nice suits and his next chance to get a little action. If his mission failed, I could see him shrugging and saying, “Whatever,” then leaving to chase skirts. That being said, I didn’t dislike his Bond. I just found him hard to take seriously. You may recall that one thing I liked about Connery’s Bond was that he usually acted the part as if he was doing real espionage even when silly shit was happening all around him (until he seemed tired of it, in Thunderball). Moore’s Bond doesn’t do this, and so we are fully immersed in the silliness and he’s part of it. This would be a problem if the silliness were intolerable; lucky for us, this is good- natured, entertaining silliness.” (“Moore Bond and that Old Black Magic”; Live and Let Die, posted October 24, 2010) “Sure, most of the Bonds have their one-liners and mostly, they’re dreadful, but to me, Roger Moore is the only one who says them like he’s testing them out on open-mic night at the comedy club.” (“That VooDoo that You Do So Well”; Live and Let Die, posted May 14, 2016) “Roger Moore’s Bond . has such a casual interest in proceedings that I am certain he received the position not because of his fierce bravery and patriotism, but because he likes going on adventures, chasing tail, and his dad knows the P.M. personally.” (“That VooDoo that You Do So Well”; Live and Let Die, posted May 14, 2016) “Bond cares a little more about his job this time. Recall that in Live and Let Die, I never got the impression that he could give a crap about what happened. That situation has improved. Maybe he got a little red flag on his performance review.” (“Sometimes a Golden Gun is Just a Golden Gun”; The Man with the Golden Gun, posted November 14, 2010) A poem: Two great gentlemen spies side by side, the vortex of awesomeness opens wide. “He’s really rather disarming (harhar, I just remember that was the joke at the end of Live and Let Die), never particularly angry or scared, always seeming to be amused by everything that’s going on.” (“Sometimes a Golden Gun is Just a Golden Gun”; The Man with the Golden Gun, posted November 14, 2010) “Now I’m recovering from my surprise that I like Roger Moore as Bond. And I was really not expecting to.