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As a kid obsessed with space and Bond, Bond going to space was the perfect thing. Loved it back then, and now. As others have said, you’re invited for a ride with Sir Roger and he’s going to give you a good time - if you’re willing.
Side note: I always liked that Barry also composed The Black Hole for Disney around the same time; the scores are similar but different; almost a Part One and Two.
Edited: seems as though her brother was sick.
This 10 year old boy loved the movie. Jaws left me awestruck. I couldn't believe he was that big. Bond seemed cool and while the sexual jokes and scenes went over my head I fell in love with the character of James Bond firmly because of this movie.
The years haven't been kind to this film. As I have grown and become more sophisticated I have viewed MR as a guilty pleasure. Not a great Bond movie. The plot has holes in it that you could drive a Mack Truck through. Bond in space is just wacky.
I recently showed it to my 8 old son and came away with a greater appreciation cause he enjoyed it so much. On reflection I would say there are some great scenes in the movie:
The death of Clorine is a dark moment in a rather light film.The pre-title sequence is well done. You really think it's Moore up there. The Jaws looks terrible but hey we can't have everything.
Drax delivers some wonderful villain lines. "Take Care of Mister Bond. See that some harm comes to him." "May I press you to a cucumber sandwich." etc.
The Brazilian is one sexy lady! Love her voice too!
The fight with Chang is a highlight. Some humour mixed with danger
A great guilty pleasure. Sure it's campy and has some big moments but that's the great thing with Bond. His character can work on many levels. The current producers might want to consider this as they seem determined to give us a steady diet of serious Bond.
Any Bond movie that attracts a younger crowd is a winner in my books. Mine was Goldeneye
For me Moonraker has always been a tough one to call. A great John Barry score, weighed down by a “so-so” theme song, lots of “bed hoping”, but zero chemistry between Moore and Chiles (Dr. Goodhead), etc. Even the double taking pigeon joke would work if it hadn’t been proceeded – just moments earlier - by 3-4 other sight gags. And, I think that’s MR primary problem for me – excess. Even YOLT knew when to pull back.
Despite this, while deeply flawed on many, many levels, MR can work as 2 hours of eye-candy – even better than TSWLM in some respects. If its’ on TV, I'll have it on in the background, paying attention only to catch a great line by Drax (Lonsdale) or a specular set piece by Ken Adam (just don’t get me started on that space station design – it blows IMO)!
BTW: Someone posted a link to MI6 over at NASASpaceflight.com for its' 40th!
Once one engages to treat MR as more or less of a Bond parody one should be able to live with its shortcomings, meaning the all-too-banal jokes (Bondola, double-taking pigeon etc.) as well as the sudden conversion of Jaws. He was a joke figure anyway, from day 1 in TSWLM. I never found him threatening. He was always played strictly for laughs (I wonder what Richard Kiel thought about it, but then his compensation probably made up for it). So the enlightenment, the love interest and sudden urge to speak a whole sentence (actually, it isn't even that) is nothing to complain about. It's just silly in both films.
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According to Kiel it was him who wanted to bring some humour to the character.
People often say it's how you view this film that determines what you'll think of it. While I mostly agree, I think that is selling itself short in some respects, and also in some respects the film still fails. Some of its attempts at comedy, in fact probably half(?), fall flat, while others land spectacularly. I believe you should meet a film on its own terms, and so to view this picture the same way we'd view FRWL would be a very stupid approach, and not at all fair to MR. And I do think that's one reason why it is often placed so far down the list of Bond films. Think if you viewed FRWL through the lense of MR? Would it not be one of the weaker Bond films, by that rubric? I don't know, food for thought.
My argument is that Moonraker, at least scripturally/conceptually, fails as often as it succeeds, but by and large its successes (particularly in the sensory departments of image and sound) are absolutely breathtaking. Also features a strong performance from Moore as well as one of the series' more delightfully campy villains in Hugo Drax, whom I adore.
I don't remember where I last ranked this thing. Somewhere around 11 or 12, I assume. I love it.
It has all that made Bond films fantastic two hour entertainments:
- John Barry score,
- Ken Adam design,
- the real M, Q, and Moneypenny,
- astonishing pre-title scene,
- really top Bond title: Moonraker...I love it
- hilariously evil villain that wants to "Rule the vorld!" (what did the villain in QOS want...control water rights???)
- incredibly exotic locales...including space!
- spectacular villain hideaway
- great villain's henchman
- great stunts and action
- fantastic laughs (the re-entry line is thee best laugh in the entire series)
(The only Bondian thing missing is a Bond car. The gondola and the Glastron boat don't cut it.)
Okay, Lois Chiles was a supporting actress in those movies I've just mentioned above and not the lead, but then neither was Sigourney Weaver prior to her career-defining role in Alien, who had only made a small appearance in Annie Hall up till then. Also, considering that all of Lois Chiles' movies that proceeded MR were of the dramatic variety, it gave the impression that this movie was going to be different. Without an abundance of clips to prove otherwise, and going off the original trailer, one could almost be forgiven for believing that MR was going to be a semi-serious Bond movie in tone.
I, like the majority of Bond fans back in the 70's, bought my tickets well-in-advance of any critics writing their scathing reviews so had no idea what to expect. Not that all the reviews were scathing I should add, more a case of mixed. And, of course, we're talking about a different era when Bond was critic-proof at the box office so it didn't really matter what they wrote anyway.
There might be a lot of things wrong with MR, but Lois Chiles isn't one of them IMHO.
The zero chemistry that is said to exist between Moore and Chiles could be said pretty much of all Moore's leading ladies, including Carole Bouquet, Tanya Roberts and Bach. Personally, I think the worse actress to play opposite Moore has been Kristina Wayborn in OP, who really was one-dimensional and flat. Maud Adams was okay, I guess, but the movie isn't that great either.
Holly Goodhead was a great Bond girl, IMO.
I still think Chiles is rather wooden in the film, but will throw in her favor that after MR she had a part in another acclaimed production, Broadcast News playing a TV reporter as I remember thinking that was interesting when I saw that.
I'll agree with you here, although I think Adams' work is still noteworthy, and I hope you're excluding the actual flight to space, which is a beautiful sequence if for no other reason than we get what is perhaps the best piece of John Barry score for this film, or any of the Bond films, which I believe is titled, fittingly (lol), "Flight to Space."
Again, I'm hardly disagreeing with you. The finale is pretty egregious, effectively a continuous, unbroken section of the "double take pidgeon" nonsense that only mildly mars the rest of the film. Those moments can be forgiven, because they come and go, and often pop up in the middle of what is an otherwise beautiful/fun sequence. The space shit, though, is pretty dire, even though I can admire Adams' design. Sorry for the long response.
There is a good 90-minute film in here. If only they had not let Bond leave earth and used more of Fleming's finale.
Yes, absolutely. I should have written "after they arrive at the space station".
I also think it encapsulates Cubby's mantra of every penny on the screen, the film looks expensive and makes good use of the globe trotting nature of the scenes.
I just used to not enjoy it very much. And I love each of the 6 Bond actors so that doesn’t always affect what I like least and most necessarily.
Hear, hear! It's my least favourite Moore film, but far from the worst Bond film. I just don't like the outer space bit.
What I do like about MR is most of what precedes it. Really enjoyable.
I'm not saying it is perfect or doesn't deserve criticism, but I've tended to bristle at the ways it is dismissed (and even worse, the ways it is "embraced") in recent years.