IMDb > Moonraker (1979)
Moonraker
Quicklinks
Top Links
trailers and videosfull cast and crewtriviaofficial sitesmemorable quotes
Overview
main detailscombined detailsfull cast and crewcompany creditstv schedule
Awards & Reviews
user commentsexternal reviewsnewsgroup reviewsawardsuser ratingsparents guiderecommendationsmessage board
Plot & Quotes
plot summarysynopsisplot keywordsAmazon.com summarymemorable quotes
Fun Stuff
triviagoofssoundtrack listingcrazy creditsalternate versionsmovie connectionsFAQ
Other Info
merchandising linksbox office/businessrelease datesfilming locationstechnical specslaserdisc detailsDVD detailsliterature listingsNewsDesk
Promotional
taglines trailers and videos posters photo gallery
External Links
showtimesofficial sitesmiscellaneousphotographssound clipsvideo clips

Moonraker (1979) More at IMDbPro »

Videos (see all 2 NEW)
Moonraker (1979) -- ZuGuide.com - Trailer (Flash)
Moonraker (1979) -- Sinematurk - Trailer (Flash)

Overview

User Rating:
6.1/10   24,486 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 5% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Lewis Gilbert
Writer:
Christopher Wood (screenplay)
more
Contact:
View company contact information for Moonraker on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
29 June 1979 (USA) more
Tagline:
Moonraker Is Out Of This World more
Plot:
James Bond investigates the mid-air theft of a space shuttle and discovers a plot to commit global genocide. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
Awards:
Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win & 4 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(23 articles)
Review: 'James Bond Encyclopedia'
 (From Comicmix. 27 October 2009, 5:27 AM, PDT)

James Bond has licence to thrill in new comic strip collection
 (From The Geek Files. 9 September 2009, 3:53 AM, PDT)

User Comments:
The most visually striking 007 ever made more (228 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
Create a character page for: ?

Additional Details

Also Known As:
Ian Fleming's Moonraker (UK) (complete title)
Moonraker (France)
more
Runtime:
126 min
Country:
UK | France
Language:
English | Italian
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Dolby (35 mm prints)
Certification:
Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Ireland:PG | South Korea:15 | Brazil:12 | Germany:12 (re-rating) | West Germany:16 (original rating) | Portugal:M/12 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | Norway:16 (1979) | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:PG | Singapore:PG | UK:A (original rating) | Netherlands:12
Company:
Danjaq more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
The film boasts an exciting cable car sequence above Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Interestingly, "BONDinho" is truly one of the actual names used to describe these glass cable cars that do the same run from Sugar Loaf Mountain to Urca Hill as seen in the movie. "BONDinho" is a name taken from the Portugese language. more
Goofs:
Continuity: After Bond is imprisoned with Dr. Goodhead, the ceiling begins to slide open and we can see that they are actually underneath the launching pad of one of the shuttles. The jet thrusters of the shuttle are above the level of the opening but when Drax appears beside the shuttle, the thrusters are now below the level of the opening. A minute later, as the shuttle prepares for liftoff, the thrusters are back above the opening. more
Quotes:
[first lines]
Captain: How are we doing, Richard?
RAF Officer: We should pass over the English coast 15 minutes ahead of time, sir.
Captain: Wow! With this load on our back, that's good going.
RAF Officer: Just trust the RAF, sir.
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Life Serial (#6.5)" (2001) more
Soundtrack:
Romeo And Juliet Overture-Fantasy more

FAQ

Is "Moonraker" based on a book?
How did they create the G-force effect on Bond's face?
What kind of snake does Bond fight when he's thrown in Drax's snakepool?
more
6 out of 7 people found the following comment useful.
The most visually striking 007 ever made, 17 June 2007
7/10
Author: Bryce David

Of all the Bond films, MOONRAKER is, imo, the most visually striking of the entire series. It looks like it cost a billion bucks to make. The sets by Ken Adams are amazing (he should have won an Oscar for them). The locations are stunning. The fx are well made and still hold up today. The women are above average gorgeous (they all look like supermodels before supermodels were in). All of this beautifully filmed by cinematographer Jean Tournier. I love watching MOONRAKER just because it's so damn gorgeous to look at. I don't know how many times I saw it at the movies when it came out just to appreciate the beauty of it all. Unfortunately, we are talking about a James Bond film and of course there has to be the usual formulaic stuff seen in every other James Bond film.

Basically, MOONRAKER is a remake of YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE and THE SPY WHO LOVED ME. I always preferred MOONRAKER over the schintzy SPY WHO LOVED ME, which was made just before this one. Lewis Gilbert directed those three Bond films and MOONRAKER is his crowning achievement. Personally speaking, Gilbert is a bad director. His films are always bloated and sorta soulless and yet still gorgeous. Aside from his Bond films, he rarely made an impression with his other films. In fact, he's the one who directed THE ADVENTURERS, which is a good looking film but it's really, really awful. I'm glad Gilbert stopped making Bond films. He was always too laid back for action films like this.

There ARE a lot of memorable scenes in MOONRAKER: the entire intro is now a classic and much better than the one in SWLM. Corinne being chased by dogs. The simulator scene. Bond fighting with Chang in Venice. My favorite scene is when Bond and Goodhead are stuck below a shuttle's rockets and are about to be burned alive. A near perfect action moment there. The climax in space is fun if improbable. I love the scene when they have to destroy those globes as they re-enter the atmosphere. Really suspenseful. But as good as those scenes are individually they almost don't register as a whole because the story and direction are so lackadaisical, so relax. It's like everyone was on vacation. There's absolutely no grit to this film. It's really sleek and smooth but nearly bite-less. The whole story seems to be just a preamble to the action set in space.

What really stands out about MOONRAKER are the many long moments with no dialogue. I'd say about 50 to 60% of the film has no dialogue. Just music and sound effects. It's almost a silent film. Moore didn't have a lot of dialogue to remember and this was an easy film to dub.

The story is as easy as connect-the-dots: The British owned Moonraker 5 disappears in mid-air and 007 is sent to California to investigate its disappearance. At the Moonraker plant in California (France really) Bond find blueprints of vials which leads him to Venice, where the vials are fabricated. And from Venice Bond goes to Brazil where the vials, filled with deadly nerve gas, are shipped to the underground layout of Drax (boringly played by the usually reliable Michael Lonsdale. Love the name "Drax" though). Oh and we learn that Drax wants to create a new race of super humans by killing everyone on earth by dropping those nerve gas filled globes from space while Drax and his super humans reside in Drax's space station. I actually like that part of the story and some of the grandeur of it (Drax wanting to be God) is actually achieved with the striking visuals and the amazingly lush score by the brilliant John Barry. Unfortunately, again, this is a James Bond film and thought provoking ideas are set aside for formulaic action.

I wish this wasn't a James Bond film. Take away all the Bond elements, the stupid humor, flesh out the screenplay and this would be a spectacular kick ass science fiction film.

Anyway, back to James Bond.

I really like Lois Chiles as Holly Goodhead. She's my favorite Bond girl ever. Beautiful and sophisticated but tough. She's no bimbo. I remember a lot of my friends in school didn't like her because they thought she was too tough for a babe. I guess Holly Goodhead was Girl Power before Girl Power was in. For me, Chiles epitomizes everything chic and sexy about the late 1970s. She's unforgettable in that black jumpsuit. But the Holly Goodhead role is a really badly written one. She's almost an afterthought to the whole story. They basically needed a character to fly the space shuttle and Bond into space (something 007 obviously couldn't do) and Goodhead was basically that: just a pilot. Then there's Corinne Clery who is truly gorgeous but sadly, again, her role is minimal. Then there's the not so beautiful Jaws. Jaws was so popular in SPY WHO LOVED ME they brought him back here. I don't mind this but they turned him into a good guy and he even falls in love with a ditsy girl. This part of MOONRAKER is *really* bad. Someone should completely edit that storyline out of the movie and its rating would go up exponentially. And like in THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, the musical in-jokes were needlessly distracting.

These bad aspects about MOONRAKER are almost negligible though because the film is such a visual (and aural) feast. Whether it's one of the best or worst of the series, I really don't care. I can positively state though that this is THE best looking Bond film ever, with an actually cool science fiction story somewhere in it. I give MOONRAKER 10 stars for the look of it all but 5 stars for the laid back and sometimes silly direction. So an average of 7 stars.

Was the above comment useful to you?
more (228 total)

Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Moonraker (1979)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
What is the real name of Drax's Japanese henchman? cryptical70
Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro cryptical70
Jaws' Girlfriend and Braces sh_a_rk
Boeing 747's with the RAF? steve-544-31268
Is that Shane Rimmers voice? Pineapples101
Possible goof: Different dogs? rogueforte
more

Recommendations

If you enjoyed this title, our database also recommends:
- - - - -
The Spy Who Loved Me Live and Let Die The World Is Not Enough GoldenEye Die Another Day
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
Show more recommendations

Related Links

Full cast and crew Company credits External reviews
News articles IMDb Action section IMDb UK section
Add this title to MyMovies

You may report errors and omissions on this page to the IMDb database managers. They will be examined and if approved will be included in a future update. Clicking the 'Update' button will take you through a step-by-step process.