The James Bond Bedside Companion (72 page)

A familiar face from fantasy films (such as the Sinbad series), Caroline Munro, portrays Stromberg's mistress and helicopter pilot, Naomi. Miss Munro is also an extremely attractive actress, and for once, uses her seductive qualities for an evil character. The shame is that her role isn't larger. Miss Munro creates an unusual female villain type (a la Fiona in
Thunderball
) but the script gives her nothing to do. She meets her death soon after her first appearance when Bond's Lotus fires a missile at her helicopter.

Vernon Dobtcheff and Nadim Sawaiha portray the film's two Obligatory Sacrificial Lambs, but they barely qualify. The characters are Max Kalba and Fekkesh, respectively. They are contacts in Egypt who lead Bond to the stolen microfilm containing the plans for Stromberg's submarine tracker. Both characters meet their death early in the film, not giving us much chance to develop any sympathy for them.

Walter Gotell, who played the SPECTRE training camp commander in
From Russia With Love
, portrays General Gogol of the KGB, who becomes a regular character in the series from this point. In this film, Gogol joins forces with M, since the search for the microfilm is in the best interest of both countries. Geoffrey Keen makes an appearance as the Minister of Defense, who
also becomes a running character in the series. Basically another M, this character adds more comedy in the form of an authority figure's constant exasperation with Bond's actions.

M, Moneypenny, and
Q
all show up on location in Egypt, as well as on a huge battleship off Sardinia at the film's end. There is even a special Egyptian
Q
Branch, where
Q
is developing items such as a hookah with guns in the hoses. These obligatory sequences are becoming increasingly egregious.

OTHER ASPECTS

K
en Adam does it again, designing monstrous, spectacular sets for the film. The notable achievement this time is that Adam allotted at least a million dollars of his budget to build an entirely new soundstage at Pinewood Studios. It is the largest soundstage in the world, measuring 374 feet long, 160 feet wide, and 53 feet high. The building has been named Number 007 and will be used for subsequent Bond films as well as other pictures. For
The Spy
Who Loved Me,
the soundstage was used as the inside of the
Liparus
tanker, where replicas of nuclear submarines are held in troughs. It is here that the final climactic battle between Stromberg's forces and the submarine crews takes place. The set is sleek, workable, and beautiful to look at.

Cinematography in the film is by Claude Renoir, whose grandfather was the brilliant painter, Pierre Auguste Renoir, and whose uncle was the great filmmaker, Jean Renoir. His work is impressive, giving the film a polished and exotic look that is a cut above the rest of the series, except for perhaps
You Only Live
Twice. Lamar Boren, who photographed the underwater scenes in
Thunderball
and
You Only
Live Twice,
filmed the many ocean sequences.

Editor and second unit director John Glen makes his mark in the series with
The Spy Who Loved Me.
Glen had been second unit director/editor for
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
, and his filming of the pre-credits scene of the new picture recalls the former one. Ski champion Willy Bogner, Jr. is again the camera operator for the ski scenes, and the entire sequence is thrilling. In fact the pre-credits scene in this film is the best one since
Goldfinger.
It contains the most outrageous and spectacular stunt of the entire series. As Bond is chased on skis by a Russian hit team, he shoots the leader with a ski-stick gun, and then skis straight off a ledge. We see Bond falling and falling into the abyss, losing his skis and turning somersaults. The descent seems to go on forever as the audience wonders where in the world they filmed this sequence. Finally, we see a parachute, decorated with the Union Jack, open and carry Bond to safety.

The 3,000 foot Asgard peak off of which stuntman Rick Sylvester skied in the spectacular pre-credits scene in
The Spy Who Loved Me.
(Photo by Rick Sylvester, courtesy of Steven Jay Rubin.)

This magnificent stunt was performed by ski champion Rick Sylvester (for which I hope he received a great deal of money). Weather conditions had to be completely perfect for Sylvester to do the jump. The location was the three-thousand-foot-high Asgard peak in Auquittuq National Park on Canada's Baffin Island. Naturally, the jump had to be shot in one take, so several cameras were set up in key locations, only one of which was successful in capturing the stunt John Glen supervised the sequence.

Bob Simmons, as usual, handled the remaining stunt work, including the fights with Jaws. And thanks to
John Glen's editing, it is impossible to tell whether it's Moore fighting, or Simmons doubling Moore.

The big gadget in the film is the updated Aston Martin—the Lotus Esprit. On land, it's basically like its predecessor (it contains a paint sprayer in its tail end rather than an oil slick); but its most impressive feature is the fact that it can become a submarine. Lotus provided Eon Productions with several bodies for the car, and Perry Submarines and Oceanographics built the rest of "Wet Nellie," as it is called. The car is actually a submersible, which means that the driver must wear a skindiving suit and oxygen tanks. When it's underwater, the Lotus can fire CO
₂
guns, launch mines, and perform the usual assortment of tricks associated with a Q Branch creation. Much of the success of the Lotus sequence is attributed to special effects supervisor Derek Meddings. His model work for the film is state of the art. Many of the Lotus shots feature models, and the shots of Stromberg's tanker, the
Liparus
, also incorporate a model. The
Liparus
model was over seventy feet long, and was actually exploded for the final scene.

John Barry is absent from the film, and popular composer Marvin Hamlisch scores
The Spy Who Loved Me
. Hamlisch does a marvelous job, for which he received two Oscar nominations: one for best score and the other for best song. The main title song is "Nobody Does It Better," with lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager. Carly Simon performs the song in the film, and it subsequently became a hit single. Maurice Binder's main title design incorporates images of Roger Moore behind this song, the first time that the actor playing Bond has been used here. The rest of Hamlisch's score is very modem; his version of "The James Bond Theme" (called "Bond 77" on the soundtrack album) has the semblance of a disco beat. His underwater music accompanying the Lotus is beautiful, and his work with arranger/composer Paul Buckmaster on the cabaret and nightclub scenes is also unique.

PRODUCTION

T
he eleventh James Bond film was originally announced to be
For Your Eyes Only
, but the success of
Star Wars
and
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
encouraged Cubby Broccoli to change his mind.
Moonraker
, the only available Fleming title that could possibly incorporate an outer space theme, was chosen as the next adventure. But therein lies the rub—the entire concept behind choosing
Moonraker
for the next film emphasizes the Bond series' inability to maintain its originality. The new opus would simply be an imitation not only of
Star Wars
and the like, but of the Bond series itself.

As a result,
Moonraker
must rank as the least artistically successful film in the series. Ironically,
Moonraker
is now the biggest grosser to date for Eon Productions. Diehard Bond fans who complained about the direction the series has taken since
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
were few in number, and it was the new generation of adolescents at which
Moonraker
was aimed. The film contains the most absurd and ridiculous slapstick humor of all the films, and the character of James Bond functions merely as a focal point for a series of outlandish set-pieces. And even the set-pieces are recycled from previous films.

With Michael G. Wilson now executive producer, Broccoli was forced to join forces with a French production company due to Britain's tight tax laws. Therefore, only the special effects in
Moonraker
were shot at Pinewood Studios in England. All interiors were built and shot in France. Locations chosen for the film were Los Angeles, Venice, and South America. The film was the most expensive in the series, mainly due to the elaborate special effects, but also because of the relocation of the interior scenes.
Moonraker
cost thirty million dollars to make, which is thirty times the cost of
Dr. No
, and twice that of
The Spy Who Loved Me
.

The film was widely advertised as being "scientifically accurate." Broccoli went on record to say that everything in the film was "science fact, not fiction." With the help of NASA in an advisory capacity, the concepts behind the space shuttle in the film are truly believable; but the latter half of the film—dealing with space stations and laser battles between two armies of astronauts—is ridiculous. James Bond almost became an astronaut in
You Only Live Twice
but was stopped before he could enter the SPECTRE rocket. This is acceptable, to a certain extent; but actually putting Bond into space is another thing altogether. Ian Fleming's James Bond, despite rigorous training in Naval Intelligence and expertise in a number of fields, was never qualified for space travel. It's just another example of how little care is taken in developing the Bond character for the films.

SCREENPLAY

T
om Mankiewicz did initial work on the script
of Moonraker,
but is uncredited. Christopher Wood penned the final shooting script, as well as the novelizations for both
The Spy Who Loved Me
and
Moonraker.
The two plots are basically the same, and almost nothing remains from the original MOONRAKER novel (which, although somewhat dated, remains a very good story). Instead of planning to destroy London with an experimental rocket, Hugo Drax is plotting to destroy all human life on earth and breed a new generation of perfect mortals under his rule in a space station orbiting around the globe. Some difference! (And wasn't Karl Stromberg attempting to do the very same thing, only underwater?)

Jaws is back, but attempts are made to make him seem more human, and even lovable. At one point, Jaws emerges from a pile of wreckage to spy a small, freckle-faced, dumb, bespectacled, blonde girl. Her name is Dolly, and it's love at first sight Jaws grins, his steel teeth sparkling, and he takes Dolly's hand. Together they walk away from the debris as the music becomes tender. The series has never dipped so low into kitsch. At a crucial moment during the film's climax, Bond convinces Jaws that Drax intends to destroy the giant and his girlfriend because they are not considered perfect. Jaws ponders this, and then becomes a good guy and helps Bond defeat the evil Hugo Drax. It seems that the filmmakers intended Jaws to become some kind of hero, too, so that he could become a recurring character. But it is obvious that the plan failed, because most of Jaws' scenes in
Moonraker
are embarrassing. Any threat Jaws might have been to Bond is completely thrown out the window; he is simply a cartoon character who is in no danger of actually getting hurt.
Moonraker is
the first maudlin James Bond picture.

Several sequences recall similar events in previous films. For instance, the scene in which Bond is trapped inside a centrifuge machine is strikingly comparable to the "rack" scene in
Thunderball.
The street carnival in Rio recalls the junkanoo in the same film. The gondola boat chase is a rehash of the dong chase through the floating market in
The Man With the Golden Gun.
The boat chase in the Brazilian jungle is similar to the flotilla chase in
From Russia With Love.
And the final climactic battle between the NASA astronauts and Drax's army recalls the underwater battle from
Thunderball;
the assault on SPECTRE's volcano in
You Only Live Twice;
the raid on Piz Gloria in
On Her Majesty's Secret
Service;
the bombing of SPECTRE's oil rig in
Diamonds Are Forever;
and the battle between the submarine crews and Stromberg's men in
The Spy Who Loved Me.
The repetitiveness of the Bond series is most apparent in
Moonraker.