Moon Zero Two (1969)

Director:

Roy Ward Baker

Writers:

Michael Carreras (writer)
Martin Davison (story)

Release Date:

March 1970 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Sci-Fi | Western

Tagline:

An Asteroid Worth Millions. A Robbery. A Murder.

Plot:

A space salvage expert and his partner become involved with a group of criminals intent on hijacking...

Plot Keywords:

Asteroid | Mining | Moon | Ray Gun | Animated Title Sequence

Cast

James Olson	...	Capt. William H. Kemp
Catherine Schell	...	Clementine Taplin (as Catherina von Schell)
Warren Mitchell	...	J.J. Hubbard
Adrienne Corri	...	Elizabeth Murphy
Ori Levy	...	Korminski
Dudley Foster	...	Whitsun
Bernard Bresslaw	...	Harry
Neil McCallum	...	Space Captain
Joby Blanshard	...	Smith
Michael Ripper	...	1st Card Player
Robert Tayman	...	2nd Card Player
Sam Kydd	...	Len the Barman
Keith Bonnard	...	Junior Customs Officer
Leo Britt	...	Senior Customs Officer
Carol Cleveland	...	Hostess

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

UK:U (theatrical rating) | USA:G

Filming Locations:

Associated British Picture Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Company:

Warner Brothers/Seven Arts

Trivia:

This movie was described by the producers and director as a "western in space", complete with claim jumpers, showdown-type gunfights, a hired gunslinger and even dancing saloon girls.

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: When Kemp shoots the bad guy in the yellow spacesuit at the mining site, the puncture blows out on the top rear of his tank, yet leaves no hole in his front- despite the fact the bad guy is far above and facing him.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Being from Another Planet (#5.5)" (1992)

Curious space western which shows flashes of imagination, but is infuriatingly infantile most of the time.

1969 was a year for classic westerns, with such titles as True Grit, Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid, and The Wild Bunch. It was also the year of the first space western. Moon Zero Two is a bizarre offering from Hammer studios, who evidently wanted to try out something a little different to their traditional horror fare. The film starts well with a genuinely likable cartoon credits sequence (a la Pink Panther), but then the real business actually starts and it's a downhill affair from there onwards. Classic western this most definitely ain't!

Kemp (James Olson) and Karminski (Ori Levy) are a couple of space pilots who eke out an existence by collecting floating space junk and ferrying passengers aboard their battered old space shuttle Moon Zero Two. In between jobs, they while away their time at the bar in Moon City (it's 2021, you see, and the moon has been extensively colonised). A wealthy businessman, J.J. Hubbard (Warren Mitchell), approaches the Moon Zero Two pilots asking them to help him to intercept and divert a geologically valuable asteroid so that it will crash land on the dark side of the moon. But is there more to his request than meets the eye?

What's most dismaying about Moon Zero Two is that occasionally it displays some genuinely ingenious flashes of imagination but does nothing with them. Just look at the crazy drinks served at the bar; the high-speed train from settlement to settlement; the inter-planetary space shuttle service; and even some of the interestingly designed costumes. Yet the film refuses to pursue any of these fascinating ideas. Instead, it is perfectly happy to plod along with its painfully conventional (not to mention juvenile) plot and dialogue, and its dismally inadequate special effects. There's something ultimately infuriating about the way that every intriguing idea in this film is counter-balanced by an equally predictable or banal one. In the end, Moon Zero Two emerges as a poor-to-mediocre affair, but it could've been oh so much more.