MovieChat Forums > The Cannonball Run (1981) Discussion > Roger Moore cracks me up in this.

Roger Moore cracks me up in this.


One scene in particular had me in stitches when the fight at the end breaks out and Jackie Chan takes the lead doing his Kung Fu. The camera cuts to Roger as he is watching Jackie he and does some hand movements and nods as if to say to himself "I get the gist of it. I can perform those moves. Simple enough." Ha ha. It still has me laughing 35 years on. What other moments made you the audience laugh, because there are some great ones for sure.

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When the door to the ambulance opens and we see the doctor for the first time.


Small moves Ellie, small moves

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Yep he was one cool customer in this, fair play to him taking the piss out of himself šŸ‘

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Yeah, Moore stole the movie, in my eyes. His entire arc and character are so meta... I'm still not sure if Moore was playing himself, if he was playing Bond or if he was playing a lunatic who was playing Moore who was playing Bond...

About the character, wikipedia mentions:

Roger Moore plays "heir to the Goldfarb Girdles fortune", Seymour Goldfarb, Jr., who perpetually identifies himself as actor Roger Moore and signs into the race under that name. His character behaves similarly to James Bond and only once (by his mother) is called by his real name. He drives a silver Aston Martin DB5.

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I am not sure if the character is insane and actually thinks he's Roger Moore, or if it's -actually- Roger Moore and the mom just thinks he's Seymour, or if he's actually a secret agent that just happens to be named Roger Moore, but goes by Seymour as his cover or because it's his 'real name', and 'Roger Moore' is his agent name, or if it's just Seymour 'living a fantasy', fully knowing the facts, but unwilling to accept them (being spoiled by being a rich kid, thinking he can do whatever he wants, because he usually can)..

There are so many possibilties that the movie really doesn't clarify, that it becomes very layered and strange, when you think about it. I mean, we have Roger Moore playing a character that identifies as Roger Moore, without -really- being Roger Moore, but for all intents and purposes, seems to be the actual Roger Moore (because the actor really is), playing his most iconic role as James Bond, but yet making it silly and joking around (the gun that says 'BANG', for example).

It's kind of hard to know what to make of it, but it's very enjoyable and very surreal in a fictional-sort-of-way. As the viewer never knows what to expect of him and the character, there's a certain anticipatory intensity about the whole situation and surrounding his character. The 'british, agent-like elegance' and the constant references muddle the waters and make the viewer almost think he IS James Bond (or at least Roger Moore), until we get to the 'reality of the situation', like the fight scenes, and then his limitations become more apparent, if I recall correctly.

A brilliant move anyway.. it keeps the viewer guessing so much, while sometimes giving certainty in one way or another.

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