Moonraker (1979)

 

The space shuttle Moonraker is stolen. Suspicions lead Bond to the company that built the shuttle, owned by billionaire Hugo Drax, who has an idea – to move new ‘Adam snd Eves’ to a space base and then eradicate all other human life below and start a new civilisation. But, of course you are, Mr Drax!           

At the end of The Spy Who Loved Me we see the usual message to us fans, ‘James Bond will Return’. However, it said ‘…in For Your Eyes Only’! Well this obviously was the plan in 1977 when The Spy Who Loved Me was released – but then something happened in that same year. Star Wars. Science Fiction was not taken seriously in cinema before George Lucas’ groundbreaking tour de force. So when that film broke all box office records and made a pile of cash, every other studio was looking to make their science fiction projects, indeed SCI-FI was in vogue. Projects before Star Wars that were green lit for release in 1979 probably would never have been made – films such as Ridley Scott’s Alien and definitely we would not of seen a return to the cinema for Star Trek. With Sci-fi being the ‘in thing’ and Broccoli not one to never see an opportunity, we have Moonraker instead. Based on Ian Fleming’s novel of the same name, the film is of course very different but what we basically have here is Bond in Space for a filmgoing audience of 1979, who had an appetite for Sci-Fi space adventure fun, and Bond delivers just that.

Moonraker is one of my personal favourite Bond movies for the Sci-Fi angle, but also because of Hugo Drax played by Michael Lonsdale. His villain is sinister, stoic, slick and just simply a sociopath. There’s a scene early on that best sums up this man: a member of his staff helps Bond, he fires her then literally sets the dogs on her! In Drax’s employ we now find Jaws, again played by the mighty Richard Kiel. Bringing Jaws back is in my opinion a stroke of genius. Familiarity with a villain can be a good thing. Jaws is a scary henchman, his brute strength and intimidating stature all go in to making a now truly iconic villain. It is then such a shame what they do with him in this (and his final appearance) film; they do two things wrong: 1) they made him become a ‘good guy’ and 2) he falls in love!

With the Moore films we do definately notice the productions are upping the tongue-in-cheek, cheap laughs. Not just in dialogue and quick references – the cheekiness is spreading into the set pieces and action sequences. The Spy Who Loved Me had a submarine car, Moonraker has a boat chase in Venice, but with a gondola that transforms into a hovercraft. It’s this kind of thing that actual clashes with the more sincere elements, like a truly villainous villain, chemical weapons or even if Moore brings more of Bonds psyche forward rather than raising an eyebrow. The films by now are definitely being made with the family in mind – something for everyone.

Moonraker has its flaws, but for me it’s a guilty Bond pleasure. The battle in space at the end makes up for every small discrepancy it makes up forgetting to the finale (well for this fan). It’s probably the best example of ‘give the fans what they want’ and they wanted Bond in Space and well, we got it!

3 out of 5

Rhys

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

Investigating the disappearance of two nuclear submarines, Bond must team up with a Russian agent, Major Anya Amasova (also known as XXX), to prevent a nuclear strike from happening.

The idea of Anglo-Soviet co-operation in real life may have seemed unusual, given the Cold War. The scene with the microfilm where each agent attempts to outdo the other is amusing-the one-upmanship between Gogol and M is also good.

Moore often has a reputation for being a bit ineffective but here he’s quite the man of action: callously letting a man fall to his death from the roof of a building once Bond has the information required and effortlessly beating up two goons, not to mention his rather brutal dispatch of Stromberg. I also like the fact that Bond’s marriage is mentioned, thus providing some continuity for the character, and that Moore looks genuinely grieved to have it brought up. In his third outing as Bond, he’s started to find his own version of the role which is good to see.

Barbara Bach is brilliant as Anya. Far from being a damsel in distress, she matches Bond in wit and skill, even saving Bond from a falling rock at the Pyramids. She can even come out with a Bond-esque quip without it sounding forced. The chemistry between Bach and Moore is pretty good too; they spark off one another nicely. The scene where Anya asks Bond if he killed the man she loved is impressive.

Jaws makes his first appearance and is just great. Richard Kiel’s a physically imposing man (approximately seven feet tall) which just adds to the menace. He can rip a van to pieces with his bare hands and has no compunction about killing on orders.  He seems virtually indestructible, emerging unscathed from a crashed Ford Cortina and from being electrocuted and thrown off a train and even takes on a sharkand walks away from it.

It’s a shame that such a strong film is lumbered with a weak villain – Karl Stromberg, another megalomaniac with a shark fetish (like Largo and Blofeld before him). Stromberg is a web-handed recluse who wants to start a nuclear war to ensure that his plans for a civilisation under the sea can come to fruition. It’s often said that a Bond film is only as good as its villain which would rank this one just above Thunderball for me.

The sequence at the Pyramids, where Jaws takes out Fekkesh, is nicely done- director Lewis Gilbert once again showing a good eye for scope and scale. The scale of some of the sets is absolutely huge- the Liparus set is just immense as is the Atlantis set. There’s an absolutely rocking theme tune by Carly Simon (even if the campy showtune remix over the end credits leaves something to be desired), the underwater Lotus Esprit makes an appearance and is just as cool as I remember. The Union Jack parachute jump at the end of the pre-credits sequence is another iconic movie moment, a trifle overblown but still fun.

All said, The Spy Who Loved Me is one of the strongest Bond films in the franchise, transcending its flaws and coming up with a winner.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Tez