James Bond: Every Roger Moore Movie Ranked Worst To Best

In 1983, Bond producers found themselves competing for audience favour with Kevin McClory’s unofficial Bond film Never Say Never Again, starring none other than Sean Connery. To combat this, Eon Productions put all of their efforts into ensuring that Roger Moore would remain their champion as the incumbent, official 007.

The resulting film feels rather like a greatest hits compilation of the James Bond movies. Stunning exotic locations are graced by a bombastic, standalone opening scene, sophisticated villains, titanic, humourless henchmen, sexualised character names, crazy stunts and a high-stakes plot.

Of course, being a Roger Moore Bond film, Octopussy also features some of the more egregious silly gags of the franchise, including Bond dressed as both a gorilla and a clown, telling a snake to “hiss off”, and infamously swinging from vines to Tarzan yells. The tone, however, is deceptively serious, with the plot focused on the partnership between an exiled Afghan prince and a lone Soviet general, whose bloodthirsty scheme promises to conquer the West.

The sight of Moore’s 007 in a clown get-up desperately working to defuse a nuclear bomb is an apt symbol of his tenure, as cartoonish humour disguises death and destruction. By this time, Moore had established such forms of entertainment as an essential part of Bond, and audiences largely agreed; that’s why Octopussy defeated Connery’s 007 comeback at the box office.

Best Moore Moment: “I don’t suppose you’d care for a nightcap?” as Bond cheekily asks the enormous Gobinda. Moore was always the best at needling large, intimidating henchmen for maximum laughs from the audience.