Moonraker (1979)

James Bond investigates the mid-air theft of a space shuttle, and discovers a plot to commit global genocide.

Director:

Lewis Gilbert

Writer:

Christopher Wood (screenplay by)

Stars:

Roger Moore, Lois Chiles, Michael Lonsdale

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Roger Moore	...	James Bond
Lois Chiles	...	Holly Goodhead
Michael Lonsdale	...	Hugo Drax
Richard Kiel	...	Jaws
Corinne Cléry	...	Corinne Dufour (as Corinne Clery)
Bernard Lee	...	M
Geoffrey Keen	...	Sir Frederick Gray
Desmond Llewelyn	...	Q
Lois Maxwell	...	Miss Moneypenny
Toshirô Suga	...	Chang (as Toshiro Suga)
Emily Bolton	...	Manuela
Blanche Ravalec	...	Dolly - Jaws' Girlfriend
Irka Bochenko	...	Blonde Beauty
Mike Marshall	...	Col. Scott (as Michael Marshall)
Leila Shenna	...	Hostess Private Jet

Storyline

James Bond is back for another mission and this time, he is blasting off into space. A spaceship travelling through space is mysteriously hijacked and Bond must work quickly to find out who was behind it all. He starts with the rockets creators, Drax Industries and the man behind the organization, Hugo Drax. On his journey he ends up meeting Dr. Holly Goodhead and encounters the metal-toothed Jaws once again.

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Plot Keywords:

space shuttle | jaws | 007 | space station | astronaut | 

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Taglines:

Outer space now belongs to 007

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

This movie opens with a scene showing a N.A.S.A. Space Shuttle. After a brief interlude at MI6 in London, the next scene involves Bond on a small private jet. This aircraft is painted with the brand name "Apollo", which was the name of N.A.S.A.'s principal manned spacecraft prior to the Shuttle.

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Goofs

During the gondola hovercraft scene through St. Mark's Square, the fringe at the bottom of the gondola hangs freely as if the vehicle is actually on wheels, rather than being blown around due to the cushion of air.

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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.

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Crazy Credits

THE END of "MOONRAKER" James Bond will return in "FOR YOUR EYES ONLY"

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Alternate Versions

A scene involving Bond and Holly inside what appears to be a meditation room aboard Drax's space station, was shot but never used in the final film. Shots of this scene made its way into some of the press stills as well as the trading cards released by Topps in 1979.

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Connections

Featured in The South Bank Show: Bond (2008)

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Soundtracks

Romeo And Juliet Overture-Fantasy
(uncredited)
by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

User Reviews

Different Idea, Unique Film

Moonraker is a rather different kind of James Bond film, but is still interesting and unique all the way through.

This time, James Bond (Roger Moore) investigates a space shuttle that has been hijacked and teams up with the beautiful CIA agent Holly (Lois Chiles) to stop the vicous Hugo Drax (Michael Lonsdale) who plans to destroy humanity on Earth. Bond and Holly travel to outer space and do everything they can to foil his plans.

Moonraker was different because half of the film was your usual awesome James Bond film, while the other half is like a big spce adventure that was very neat. I liked the story and the idea behind that and the visuals for space were very nice for 1979. This came out after Star Wars, so space visuals were still looking very good.

The acting was awesome from everyone. Roger Moore was amazing yet again, Lois Chiles was awesome as Holly, and Micharl Lonsdale made for a rather cool villan. Richard Kiel comes back as Jaws, and like Spy Who Loved Me, Jaws made for a really unique secondary villan.

The action in this one is really good. It has your usual James Bond action, and then they put it into space in the second half which made things very intriguing.

Bottom line, Moonraker is a unique and interesting Bond film.

Details

Official Sites:

MGM [United States]

Country:

UK France

Language:

English Italian Portuguese

Release Date:

29 June 1979 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ian Fleming's Moonraker

Filming Locations:

Mariana, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Box Office

Budget:

$34,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$7,108,344, 1 July 1979

Gross USA:

$70,308,099

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$210,308,099

Company Credits

Production Co:

Les Productions Artistes Associés, Eon Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

126 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo (35 mm prints) 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1