10 Biggest Mistakes The James Bond Series Ever Made

With Roger Moore's introduction in 1973's Live And Let Die, Bond marched boldly forth into a new decade with an all-new persona. Moore's dandyish, perpetually smirking charm was lightyears removed from Connery's more square-jawed machismo, and with this new approach came an openness to more overt comedy on all levels in the Bond movies.

It's for this reason that the Moore years have long been a divisive period among 007 devotees. Many feel that the influx of lampoonish, Carry On-esque humour took the format too far from Ian Fleming's harder-edged original creation; others argue that the films were unabashedly light-hearted and fun, a quality that the films have surely lacked in recent years.

Still, just about every Moore film has at least one comedic moment that pushed things a little too far into outright silliness. His second film, 1974's The Man With The Golden Gun, was the first to really revel in its own ridiculousness, and it's not hard to see how series aficionados of the time would have been taken aback.

The problem is, this absurdity often inadvertently sabotages what should have been truly dramatic moments. There's no better example of this than the decision to use a slide whistle effect on the corkscrew car jump. This is one of the most remarkable car stunts ever put to film, and it's a moment that should thrill the audience to their core; instead, it becomes a sight gag akin to someone slipping on a banana peel.

Other notable ill-placed comedic beats from the Moore era include the clown suit and the Tarzan impersonation in Octopussy, or Bond snowboarding to the sound of the Beach Boys in A View To A Kill. But then, by that point the films were inherently absurd thanks to the increasing age of their leading man.

On which note...