Tommy Collison

Roger Moore, 81, played legendary superspy James Bond from 1973 to 1985. His Bond became known as a tongue-in-cheek one who preferred bedding women to hurting them. Here he talks about why he doesn’t like the new turn modern day Bond films…

Movie audiences nowadays expect scenes of graphic violence in James Bond movies, unlike when Roger Moore played the super spy with a tongue-in-cheek humor, the actor believes.

“I am happy to have done it, but I’m sad that it has turned so violent,” Moore said before “Quantum of Solace,” starring Daniel Craig as a darker Agent 007, opens in North America on Friday.

“That’s keeping up with the times, it’s what cinema-goers seem to want and it’s proved by the box-office figures,” Moore told Reuters in an interview about his memoir, “My Word is My Bond.”

This is true. Moore’s Bond films were about as far from violence as Pluto is the sun (about 3660 million miles /nerdy moment).

Moore’s Bond liked portraying Bond as an upper-class Englishman who never killed unless strictly necessary, and the article reflects this by saying..

“While making “The Man With the Golden Gun,” director Guy Hamilton wanted Bond to be tougher and had him threaten to break Maud Adams’ character’s arm to get information, he writes. “That sort of characterization didn’t sit well with me, but Guy was keen to make my Bond a little more ruthless.

“I suggested my Bond would have charmed the information out of her by bedding her first. My Bond was a lover and a giggler, but I went along with Guy,” the British actor wrote.”

The fact of the matter is:

* If one of Moore’s flicks, say Live and Let Die, was released today, it wouldn’t be considered a great film. The plot would be said to be “too thick and hard to follow” and the action scenes “tame”. It certainly was popular when it was released in ‘73, bringing in $91,000,000 (1973).

* Bond needs to adapt to today’s audience. These days, more marks out of ten are given for action than for plot. This wasn’t the case always, but it is now. Bond needs to conform to modern-day society’s idea of a good film, or be forgotten