Sir Roger Moore beginning every sentence in A VIEW TO A KILL with “Well...”: An Appreciation Thread

#AVTAKat35

Toward the end of Roger’s tenure as 007 he develops this habit of putting a “well” in front of practically everything he says. It becomes particularly noticeable in For Your Eyes Only and then he runs rampant with it during Octopussy and this one. I kind of dig it.

It marks out Moore’s portrayal as the smooth Bond; the insouciant Bond; the - let’s be frank about this - smug and condescending Bond.

I mean, the very first word he utters in the movie is “Well”.

Both his sentences here. Are these wells written in the script of is he just chucking them in? Well well...

My favourite kind of well he deploys comes out as a sort of exasperated blast of air...

Other wells are less discernible but they’re absolutely there

Here he’s talking about how microchips have become ubiquitous in every day life (because 1985), although 35 years later I am yet to own or even see a toaster than contains a microchip

The wells tend to become more noticeable when he’s talking to a pretty lady

Stick a well in front of even the most banal remarks and suddenly everything crackles with sexual tension

A well-deployed well can also be used to feign nonchalance in front of your villain - who could be deploying his own eccentric speech patterns (but that’s another story for another time)

All's well that ends well, but what about all those beginning wells?? I tried tallying them all up on my last viewing but alas it's just too daunting a task.