The General Story
Super suave MI6 agent James Bond must thwart super villain Hugo Drax, who plans to wipe out all of humankind and replace it with a super race that he has cultivated in a massive space station. In this, the 11th installment in the series, Bond must turn boat into hang glider, CIA counterpart into bedmate, and steel-toothed nemesis into ally in order to spurn Drax and his army of yellow jump-suited henchmen hell bent on destroying the world (naturally). On the way, Bond will travel to exotic locales, make snide and overtly sexual comments, and dispatch untold enemies with punches that miss by a good 5 inches, all leading to a climactic laser shoot-em-up on the space station. A.K.A. “Bond in Space”, this entry in the canon was the most expensive Bond movie to date, spending almost twice as much as its predecessor, The Spy who Loved Me.
The Major Players
Lewis Gilbert, Director – the third and final Bond film he directed in the series.
Roger Moore, James Bond – 4th turn for Moore as Bond, and arguably his best.
Lois Chiles, Dr. Holly Goodhead – love interest, brunette, looks good in a jump suit.
Michael Lonsdale, Sir Hugo Drax – A French-accented American aeronautics tycoon bent on world destruction; bit of a slow talker.
Richard Kiel, Jaws – The oversized steel-toothed baddie who clashes with Bond on a plane, tram car, boat, and space station; has a thing for pigtails.
Bernard Lee, M – the Head of MI6. This was Lee’s final appearance as M.
Desmond Llewelyn, Q – MI6’s quartermaster. The man to see for deadly spy gadgets designed for specific situations that magically appear in this film.
The Bits to Cherish
G-Force Simulator malfunctions
Jaws and the airport metal detector
Bond wrestling a large rubber snake as 20 beautiful women stand around and watch
Duck hunting with Drax (“you missed Mr. Bond… did I?”)
Pimped-out gondolas
Zero gravity space sex featuring one of the best double entendres in film (“I think he’s attempting reentry”)
The Little Known Fact
At the end of every early James Bond movie, they teased the next movie in the series. In the end credits of 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me, it read “James Bond will return in For Your Eyes Only”. But after the tremendous success of 1977’s space-themed Star Wars, the producers decided to shelve For Your Eyes Only and replace it with the space-themed Moonraker to take advantage of the resurgent interest in science fiction. It worked. Moonraker went on to become the series’ highest grossing Bond film ($210 million worldwide), a record that stood until 1995’s GoldenEye.
The Beverage Accompaniment
A Martini of course, supplemented with a Red Stripe, which Ian Fleming introduced as Bond’s favorite beer in the book Thunderball.
The Final Grade
Well, it’s widely considered one of the campiest Bond movies ever made, and for good reason (“call in the US Space Marines!”). It’s definitely a far cry from the pseudo-serious Bond films of today. In fact, the exaggerated nature of the plot and space station sequence would later be spoofed in the Austin Powers vehicle The Spy Who Shagged Me. But as I kid I enjoyed Moonraker immensely, which I suppose was the point – apparently it was a few letters written by children that convinced the producers to make Jaws a “goodie” instead of a “baddie.” Sure they ruined an all-time great villain by having him turn soft and fall in love with a pig-tailed girl who looked 12 (creepy alert)… but you know what? Moonraker is pretty great. It has Jaws, a giant snake, speedboats, lasers, babes, space battles, and one of the best cold opens in Bond history (the free fall sequence), not to mention one of my all-time favorite lines: “James Bond. You appear with the tedious inevitability of an unloved season.” Frankly, I’m over the Moon over Moonraker.
B+
B+ MOVIES 