I'm possibly in a fairly rare position that I kinda like all the Bond films to one degree or another. Connery made the Best Bond, Lazenby was in one of the best Bond films, Dalton made the series gritty for a time, Brosnan brought some of the steeliness (no pun intended) of Connery with the wit of Moore, and Craig has revitalised the series. But Moore is often the most denigrated of Bonds - seen as making the series too frothy and camp and turning the entire franchise into a joke. I disagree, although I suspect this is largely due to a childhood raised on the Moore Bonds. I have rose-tinted spectacles to appreciate the Moore films through, which I wear to this day. That being said, there are several excellent Moore films even without rose-tinted specs. The Man With The Golden Gun isn't one of them, but I still enjoy it hugely.

For a start, it has Christopher Lee in it! A relative of Ian Fleming, Lee is the natural Bond villain and as Francisco Scaramanga has a nice balance between nonsensical villainous machinations and a genuine threat to Bond; here is an assassin (who charges a million a shot) who is possibly Bond's equal, who sees himself as a self-styled gentleman, and lives on an archipelago with a security man and a midget. It also stars Maud Adams as Andrea Anders, the only two-time Bond girl (she also stars as the titular Octopussy) and Britt Ekland as the most ineffectual agent (although 'Mrs Bond' in Live And Let Die might rival her in ineffectuality).

To be honest, I think the film is often unfairly maligned. Certainly it's not the most tightly plotted film, but it still has plenty of enjoyability with the various stand offs, especially when Scaramanga is on the scene. It's also nice to see someone else getting a decent gadget - a pen/lighter combo turning into a gun is genius. Let's hope modern day terrorists don't copy the idea! Nick Nack is pure Bond silliness, and his eventual demise inside a suitcase is, ahem, fitting.

Something that never ceases to amuse me is the convenience of evil henchmen dressing uniformly. I wonder at the evil geniuses choosing a colour combination that works (red jumpsuit white belt, red shirt blue trousers, orange jumpsuits, depending on the film and villain of choice). It does make it nice and easy for the good guys to know who the bad guys are come the final big Pinewood-set-bound finale.

The Man With The Golden Gun is one I file under 'guilty pleasure'. It's still very much enjoyable, and I love it, but I also recognise its weaknesses. I just choose to ignore them.

One of the most coherent Bond films, The Spy Who Loved Me is possibly my favourite of the Moore era Bonds. The opening double twist (it's not Bond! He's not the spy in question!) culminates with a great ski chase which itself ends with the daftest - and most awesome - ski jump ever. The Union Flag parachute is genius - unsubtle and not at all secretive - but genius. That silence as he falls, followed by the billowing parachute, and the lead into the credit music is great. And the theme tune is brilliant (I like quite a lot of them) too. Rather than ignore the title of the film altogether, or have the title of the film as the title of the song, here we have subtle (not often a word associated with Moore Bonds) as the title, see, is part of the song, but, like, not the title itself. Clever.

From this opening Bond does some proper globe-trotting, from Austria to Egypt to some place in the middle of the sea that submerges (classic villain's lair). We meet XXX (Barbara Bach) a Russian agent with whom Bond is forced to work and whose lover Bond inadvertently shot during the opening ski chase. It adds a frisson of tension to the already tense relationship when XXX, or Major Amasova, discovers Bond was her lover's killer. There is also a nice nod to OHMSS when Amasova reels off facts about Bond's life, including his marriage. A cloud comes over Moore's face and we see a slight darkness about him that is refreshingly contrasting to the usual bubble. It's also nice to see Q referred to by name for once as well.

In terms of nemeses, we have one evil-lair-crazy-suit-wearing-eye-patch-wearing-flood-the-world classic Bond villain in Karl Stromberg (Curd Jurgens), and one invincible-unstoppable-no-really-he-won't-f***ing-die villain in Richard Kiel's Jaws. An iconic villain, he would return for comedy value in Moonraker. The Spy Who Loved Me is one of the funnest Bonds, eminently watchable, and a cracking adventure to boot. It is also home to possibly the greatest Bond one-liner with the final line of the film. Makes one proud to be British.