Moonraker

In 1977 Eon Productions released their tenth movie in the “James Bond” franchise. “The Spy Who Loved Me,” was very successful at the box office. At the conclusion of the end credits came the announcement that “James Bond will return in ‘For Your Eyes Only.’” However there was a much bigger hit movie that year: “Star Wars!” Producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli decided to capitalize on the sudden and enormous popularity of science fiction by putting James Bond in space! The next movie in the series would be based instead on Ian Fleming’s third spy novel, “Moonraker,” (1954). Unfortunately this thriller was hopelessly out of date, so little was retained from the book except for the title and the name of the villain. Broccoli also wanted to incorporate America’s new “Space Shuttle” into the film. The producer brought back the writer and director, (and the basic plot), from the last movie. He also brought back the wonderful John Barry to compose the soundtrack and the great Ken Adam as production designer. Because of the high taxation rates in Britain at the time Broccoli moved the project to France where the film took over most of the studio space in Paris.

Unlike most of the major science fiction films of the day this production was pressed for time because it was committed to a specific release date. This only gave special effects artist Derek Meddings a limited period to accomplish visuals that were numerous, elaborate, and spectacular. Meddings decided to use simple and proven techniques to save time. Most of the space scenes were achieved by exposing one element, then rolling the film back in the camera to expose another element via double exposure. Amazingly the end result was just as convincing as the computerized motion control and blue screen compositing techniques being used on other big budget motion pictures in production that same year.

This week’s movie was “Moonraker” from United Artists in 1979, directed by Lewis Gilbert from a screenplay by Christopher Wood. The United States loans one of their “Moonraker Space Shuttles” to Great Britain, but the craft is hijacked in midair. MI6 agent “James Bond,” (Roger Moore), is assigned to investigate. He meets “Hugo Drax,” (Michael Lonsdale), in California where the billionaire builds the Space Shuttle for the government. Bond also encounters the lovely “Dr. Holly Goodhead,” (Lois Chiles), who is a trained astronaut, (and a CIA agent). Bond pursues leads to Venice and then to Rio de Janeiro, running into Dr. Goodhead in both places. Drax sends his enormous steel-toothed henchman “Jaws,” (Richard Kiel), to eliminate both agents. In Brazil Bond finally learns Drax’s evil plans. The billionaire intends to destroy all human life on Earth, while launching the members of his genetically perfect “super race” into the safety of orbit to avoid the disaster and repopulate the planet later on. Bond and Goodhead are flown to Drax’s space station which is then attacked by American Space Marines!

This is one of the silliest entries in the James Bond franchise. It is also one of the most entertaining. It is filled with imaginative set pieces culminating with the spectacular space battle that is worthy of one of the “Star Wars” movies. Critics were mixed on the film, but it quickly became the highest grossing picture of the Bond franchise, a position it held until the nineties.

This would be Bernard Lee’s final appearance as the character “M” before the actor passed away. Desmond Llewelyn returns as “Q” and Lois Maxwell returns as “Miss Moneypenny.”