Moonraker (film)

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280px
Moonraker
Bond: Roger Moore
Writer: Ian Fleming
Christopher Wood
Screenplay: Christopher Wood
Director: Lewis Gilbert
Music: John Barry
Composer: John Barry
Hal David
Performer: Shirley Bassey
Distributor: United Artists
Released: June 29, 1979
Runtime: 126 min.
Preceded by: The Spy Who Loved Me
Followed by: For Your Eyes Only
Budget: $34,000,000
Worldgross: $210,300,000
Admissions: 85.1 million


Moonraker is a 1979 James Bond film based on the Moonraker book by Ian Fleming starring Roger Moore. When the end credits rolled for the previous Bond film, The Spy Who Loved Me, it said: "James Bond will return in For Your Eyes Only," however, after the tremendous box office success of Star Wars in 1977, the producers decided they wanted to cash in on the subsequent science fiction craze and make a film where Bond would go to space. Moonraker was chosen as the basis for the film, although Fleming's novel has no science fiction aspects. For Your Eyes Only was subsequently delayed and ended up following Moonraker in 1981.

In the film Hugo Drax's lair is relocated to outer space, although the plot remains equally fiendish. The film is one of the most outlandish of the Bond films and attracted criticism from fans and film critics, such as Leonard Maltin who in his capsule review of the film for the 1983 edition of TV Movies stated that Bond "no longer resembles Fleming's character." Nonetheless, the film's campy humor has made it a durable cult hit, and it has been widely parodied (in The Simpsons, the second Austin Powers film, and on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, among many other places).

Plot summary

Template:Spoiler When a Moonraker space shuttle is stolen while in transport on the top of a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (a modified Boeing 747), James Bond is sent by M to investigate. The pre-title sequence involves both the incineration of the airliner during the theft of the Moonraker and Bond being pushed out of a different aeroplane in South Africa without a parachute by Jaws, a hired assassin first seen in The Spy Who Loved Me. After surviving, Bond returns to headquarters in London where he is briefed by M on the current crisis. Bond is told to investigate Sir Hugo Drax, whose firm is a supplier of space shuttles. Bond goes to see him at his mansion and industrial plant in California.

At Drax Industries Bond is greeted unwelcomely by Drax and his henchman, Chang, who immediately set out to ensure that "some harm comes to him". Bond also meets Dr. Holly Goodhead, a scientist working for Drax who sets him up in a centrifuge, during which Chang attempts to "harm" Bond by making it spin too fast. After surviving, Bond that night sneaks into Drax's study and finds blueprints for a glass vial being produced in Venice, Italy. The next morning Bond leaves Drax and California for Venice where he meets up with Dr. Goodhead again and learns that she is actually an agent of the CIA and spying on Drax whom they suspect as well. Bond also learns that the vials are being used to hold a toxic nerve agent that kills only humans, leaving all other living things unharmed. After learning this Bond is attacked once again by Chang, who is subsequently thrown out of a clock face during the fight. With this intelligence, Bond "pushes the panic button" forcing M and the Minister of Defence to personally come to Venice and see the nerve agent labs for themselves. Unfortunately for Bond, however, the labs have been converted into a drawing room. Upset with Bond's bungle, M sends Bond to Rio de Janeiro to investigate some of Drax's cargo only to learn that Chang has been replaced by Jaws. Jaws and Bond fight at a local warehouse owned by Drax and then again on top of a cable car, after which Dr. Goodhead is captured.

Bond then travels up the Amazon River looking for Drax's research facility, which he ultimately finds after encountering Jaws again in a death-defying speedboat race, and then a bout with Drax's pet boa. Captured again, Bond and Dr. Goodhead are encaged underneath a Moonraker shuttle set for lift off. Fortunately Bond and Dr. Goodhead are able to escape with the help of Bond's watch. After doing so they pose as pilots then board one of Drax's shuttles on a preset flight to outer space.

Using a toxin found in a species of orchid located in the Amazon River basin, Drax plans to destroy all human life (the toxin affects only humans) by launching 50 globes containing the toxin from a radar-concealed space station; the toxin would be dispersed when each globe broke up during re-entry into Earth's atmosphere. Before launching the globes, Drax also transported several hundred carefully selected young men and women to the space station. They would live there until Earth was safe again for human life; these people would be the seed for a "new master race".

The space station manages to stay hidden from observers on Earth due to a radar jamming device, which Bond and Goodhead eventually disable. After they accomplish this, the Americans send a platoon of Marines aboard a military space shuttle for Drax's station. When they arrive, a Star Wars-style battle with lasers ensues. During the battle Drax is shot by Bond's wrist gun, pushed into an airlock, and then sucked out into space. Because of the battle, the space station takes heavy damage and begins to fall apart. Jaws, who became an ally of Bond's after it is pointed out that he and his girlfriend do not live up to Drax's standard for human "perfection", aids Bond by helping him and Dr. Goodhead escape the station in a space shuttle. At this point Jaws also speaks for the first time when he opens a champagne bottle with his metal teeth and tells his girlfriend, "Well, here's to us."

Prior to the battle in space, Drax was able to launch three globes towards Earth. On their way back, Bond uses the space shuttle's lasers to destroy them, having to manually shoot the third. At the end of the film the Americans and British attempt to talk to Bond and Dr. Goodhead to congratulate them, but when visual connection is made, they see Bond and Holly making love naked under an angelic white sheet in zero gravity. M dryly grumbles to himself "007...", the British Prime Minister asks "Good God, what's Bond doing?" Q, who is not looking at the screen but at the controls, responds "I think he's attempting re-entry sir."

Bond himself notices the camera is on and that he is being seen with Holly and, after offering an annoyed glance turned embarrassed grin, he turns off the camera. An exhausted but blissful Holly asks James "Take me around the world one more time?" He obliges her.

Cast & characters

The Women of Moonraker

Picture Name Actress
100px Holly Goodhead Lois Chiles Moonraker has often been plotwise compared to The Spy Who Loved Me. Both films featured a villain bent on reshaping the world into his image, and both films featured similar Bond Girls. The suggestively named Dr. Holly Goodhead is a fully trained astronaut working for Drax on loan from NASA. Like Anya Amasova before her, she is one of the top agents in her country (the CIA in this case) and she does not trust 007. And like Amasova before her, Goodhead join forces with Bond and succumbed to his charms. And finally, just like Amasova before, her dalliance with Bond was caught in full view by his and her superiors. She got one notch up from the other Bond girls in which she went "around the world" with him in zero gravity.
100px Corinne Dufour Corinne Clery Moonraker, too, featured a short-lived female helicopter pilot. In this case, it is Corinne Dufour, Drax's executive assistant and a "humble" helicopter pilot who greets and escorts Drax's guests. In the film, Bond tries to seduce information out of her, to which she replied that he "presume a great deal". His presumption turn out to be on target as Dufour indirectly revealed the location of Drax's safe. Unfortunately for her, the duo was spotted by Chang and the next day, Drax terminated her employment and then had her terminated.
100px Manuela Emily Bolton Bond, from clues gleamed from the Venice Glass Museum, follows the trail to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. There, a mysterious young woman seems eager to meet him, taking a picture of him in the process. She turn out to be Manuela, assigned to assist him by her department. While snooping around the warehouse where Drax's equipments were being stored (and have since been moved), Manuela nearly had a fatal encounter with Jaws, disguised as a "toothy clown".
100px Hostess Private Jet Leila Shenna Like The Spy Who Loved Me, the pre-title sequence of Moonraker has Bond engaged in the amorous embrace of a woman who turns treacherous. In this case, Bond was in the arms of a Middle Eastern private jet hostess who promptly pointed a gun into his face. It is assumed that she parachuted to safety while Bond and the pilot freefalled and fought over the one remaining parachute.

Crew

Soundtrack

200px
Moonraker
Type Soundtrack
Artist John Barry
Released 1979
Recorded April 1979
Genre
Length 30:54
Label EMI
Producer Frank Collura (Reissue)
Reviews *All Music Guide link
Last album The Deep
(1977)
This album Moonraker
(1979)
Next album Hanover Street
(1979)
Artist James Bond soundtrack
Background gainsboro
Last album The Spy Who Loved Me
(1977)
This album Moonraker
(1979)
Next album For Your Eyes Only
(1981)

Moonraker was the third of the three Bond films for which the theme song was performed by Shirley Bassey. The soundtrack was composed by John Barry. Moonraker uses for the first time since Diamonds Are Forever a piece of music called "007" (on track 7), the secondary Bond theme composed by Barry which was introduced in From Russia with Love.

Track listing

  1. "Main Title" - Moonraker by Shirley Bassey
  2. "Space Laster Battle"
  3. "Miss Goodhead Meets Bond"
  4. "Cable Car and Snake Fight"
  5. "Bond Lured to Pyramid"
  6. "Flight into Space"
  7. "Bond Arrives in Rio and Boat Chase"
  8. "Centrifuge and Corrine Put Down"
  9. "Bond Smells a Rat"
  10. "End Title" - Moonraker

A number of familiar pieces of music also appear in the film:-

Vehicles & gadgets

Template:Main Moonraker was criticized for an overabundance of gadgets to a degree many fans considered excessive. This film ultimately led to the more realistic For Your Eyes Only, which had Bond rely less on gadgets and more on his talents and instincts rather than a gadget supplied by Q-Branch to get him out of whatever trouble he was in.

Bond's gadgets include:-

  • A wrist gun that was given to him by Q-Branch. It could shoot:-
    • Armour-piercing dart, used to disable a high g-force simulator (centrifuge) that was being used by Drax to kill him after their first meeting.
    • Envenomed dart, used by Bond to kill Drax.
  • a ballpoint pen equipped with a hypodermic needle that allowed Bond to eliminate a boa constrictor in a pool while in Drax's jungle hideout.
  • A mini camera imprinted with "007".
  • A cigarette case safecracker, which contained a device that used x-rays to reveal the tumblers on a safe's combination lock.
  • A watch branded as Seiko. The watch face could open up for a small explosive charge connected to a wire, which allowed for quick removal of an entry obstacle. Bond uses the explosive charge to let him and Dr. Goodhead escape from the Moonraker launch platform.

It is never adequately explained how Bond keeps these items (the watch case bomb and the wrist gun) after having been captured and incarcerated by Drax.

There were two vehicles in Moonraker-

  • A gondola made by Q-Branch that could transform into a hovercraft and move on land. Bond uses this to escape from his pursuers while in Venice.
  • "Q's Hydrofoil Boat". This boat is used by Bond to escape from Jaws while searching for the Moonraker spacecraft launching facility. It came with all the usual Q refinements and a hang-glider.

The Bond girl, Dr. Holly Goodhead, is shown to also have been equipped with several gadgets of her own, including:-

  • The aforementioned needle pen.
  • A flame-throwing perfume bottle
  • A radio transmitter concealed in her handbag.

Several other gadgets or "futuristic" devices were used throughout the film including the "Moonraker laser", which is a laser gun that could be used to shoot in space. The gun was carried over and used in the video game, GoldenEye 007 in the Aztec Level, which was in many parts modelled after the launch site for Drax's rockets.

Locations

Film Locations

Shooting Locations

Novelisation

See James Bond and Moonraker.

Miscellanea

  • The Jaws character (played by Richard Kiel) makes a return, although in Moonraker the role is played more for laughs than as the killing machine that he was in The Spy Who Loved Me (see Jaws (James Bond) for more information on the character changes).
  • Executive Producer Michael G. Wilson continues a tradition in the Bond films he started in the film Goldfinger where he has a small cameo role. He appears twice in Moonraker, firstly as a tourist outside the Venini Glass shop in Venice, then at the end of the film as a technician in the NASA control room.
  • Bernard Lee makes his final appearance as 'M'. The actor was in ill health at the time of filming. Although he was scheduled to appear in the next Bond film, he died during pre-production.
  • Tom Mankiewicz had written a screenplay of Moonraker that was eventually discarded. Some scenes from his script were later used in subsequent films, including the Acrostar Jet sequence used in the teaser for Octopussy, and the Eiffel Tower scene in A View to a Kill.
  • Lois Chiles had been first approached by the producers for the role of Anya in The Spy Who Loved Me but had turned down the role as she had planned to leave the acting profession at that time.
  • As the first truly science fictional Bond film, Moonraker pays homage to two SF classics. When Bond arrives at Drax's pheasant shoot, a man plays the first three notes of "Also Sprach Zarathustra", the famous theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey, on a bugle. Later, when Bond observes a Drax scientist entering an access code into a keypad, the tones heard coming from the keypad form the famous five-note "alien message" theme from Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
  • Moonraker was at one point considered to be the Bond film to follow On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
  • In 1955 the film rights to Moonraker were initially sold to the Rank Organisation for £10,000. Fleming eventually bought back the rights in 1959. The Rank Organization never did anything with it.
  • In 2004, reports surfaced of a rumoured, lost 1956 version of Moonraker by Orson Welles. Supposedly, this lost film recently was discovered as 40 minutes of raw footage with Dirk Bogarde as Bond, Welles as Drax, and Peter Lorre as Drax's henchman. However, the film soon was revealed as an April Fool's Day joke. See [1] for more information.
  • This is the second Bond film in a row to begin its opening sequence with Bond riding a parachute.
  • The title track was offered to Kate Bush before Shirley Bassey.


External links


The James Bond films
Official films
Dr. No | From Russia with Love | Goldfinger | Thunderball | You Only Live Twice | On Her Majesty's Secret Service | Diamonds Are Forever | Live and Let Die | The Man with the Golden Gun | The Spy Who Loved Me | Moonraker | For Your Eyes Only | Octopussy | A View to a Kill | The Living Daylights | Licence to Kill | GoldenEye | Tomorrow Never Dies | The World Is Not Enough | Die Another Day | Casino Royale | Quantum of Solace
Unofficial films
Casino Royale (1954 TV) | Casino Royale (1967 spoof) | Never Say Never Again
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