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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 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. Bond, however, has saved one of the small vials he found in the lab and turns it over to M for analysis. 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 reports to M's temporary headquarters in Brazil and learns that the vial contains a lethal toxin. 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. Drawing the toxin from a species of orchid located in the Amazon River basin, Drax plans to destroy all human life (the toxin affects only humans) from space 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 laser weapons 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 sustains 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 under an angelic white sheet in zero gravity. 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 Crew Soundtrack 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 Vehicles & gadgets 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:- There were two vehicles in Moonraker- The Bond girl, Dr. Holly Goodhead, is shown to also have been equipped with several gadgets of her own, including:- 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. Film Locations Shooting Locations Novelisation See James Bond and Moonraker. 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