MovieChat Forums > The Man Who Haunted Himself (1971) Discussion > James Bond reference...

James Bond reference...

posted 8 years ago by dustypistol
3 replies | jump to latest

I'm not going to go looking back through the whole film, but somewhere I believe in the first third or so in one of the company's business meetings, when someone has the idea that there might be a double-crosser in the room, Roger Moore says something along the lines of "Oh come on, now don't be silly! Business isn't all intrigue and spies, you know. We're not all James Bond!".

When watching this scene, I first assumed it was a comical reference to Moore's playing James Bond in other films. Looking around online, though, it seems that Moore made this film, "T.M.W.H.H.", three years BEFORE he himself starred as James Bond... in SIX movies! That's a pretty huge coincidence...

So it wasn't a self-referential gag, unless... could he have known that he was to be the next James Bond? Doubtful - if this film were made a year or less before his 1st Bond film, I'd say that's a good possibility, but being 3 years before I seriously doubt he had an idea he'd be the next Bond. Watching this movie, however, the character he plays is definitely Bond-like in a lot of ways - it's almost as if James Bond were stuck in a Hitchcock film, lol.

In fact, I wouldn't be at all surprised if this were the movie that convinced so-and-so-whoever that Moore would be the PERFECT Bond..

Just an observation :)
Anybody know if this was more than a wacky coincidence?

[–] dockbennett 8 years ago

I noticed the line too, and the film certainly came out before Moore started his roll as Bond. I think it was just one of those co-incidences, personally. :-) Or maybe Roger was dropping a hint??

[–] Prismark10 8 years ago

I guess at the time the film was made Moore's name was in the frame.

It's that man again!!

[–] combatreview 8 years ago

In the film 'Layer Cake', Daniel Craig's character is given a gun and he immediately strikes a James Bond pose and plays around for a minute or two - as many a man unused to guns might, but because this particular man later became James Bond it looks spooky even though it's entirely coincidental. In the same way, a reference to a ubiquitous pop culture figure in TMWHH could just have become spooky after the fact because of a simple coincidence.

However - whether Roger Moore was in the frame for the role or not, he was certainly well-known from 'The Saint' as another suave adventurer. This was presumably the reason that he was chosen to briefly play James Bond in a comedy sketch for British TV in the 1960s, long before Connery had left the role. That sketch now looks uncanny - but it's likely that even by then people felt he embodied the sort of thing that could make for a good Bond, in much the same way that people have thrown names like Idris Elba and Michael Fassbinder around in recent years. Just, in Moore's case it happened he actually got the role.