The James Bond Bedside Companion (73 page)

There are a few funny lines, and most of them are given to Drax. "You appear with the inevitability of an unloved season," he tells Bond on their third encounter. But my favorite is when he turns to Chang, his manservant, and says, perfectly seriously, "Look after Mr. Bond. See that some harm comes to him." But many lines, unfortunately, are groaners. Holly Goodhead's last line in the film, as she and Bond make love in orbit above the earth, is, "Oh James, take me around the world one more time."

DIRECTION

L
ewis Gilbert is back for his third Bond effort. His usual slick, fast tempo is applied to
Moonraker,
but the progression of events in the film is so contrived that it is difficult to detect any semblance of a story line. It seems that Bond simply hops from one country to another; it's not quite clear
why
he is doing so. Unless one's ears are pricked to catch every word, one might miss the fact that Bond travels to Venice to spy on a certain glass factory mentioned in one of the papers he found in Drax's safe in Los Angeles.

Gilbert's penchant for juvenile humor gets in the way quite a bit in
Moonraker.
The pre-credits sequence itself sets up the overall mood of the film. It begins with impressive model work by Derek Meddings, showing the hijacking of a Moonraker shuttle from the back of a 747. Next, we cut to a private airplane, where Bond is embracing a flight attendant. But she pulls a gun on him, and threatens to bail out of the plane with the pilot Bond overpowers her and attacks the pilot. But the pilot jumps out of the plane. Then, Jaws suddenly appears from nowhere and tosses Bond out of the plane, without a parachute. What follows is literally breathtaking. Freefalling, Bond straightens his body like a spear and dives through the air to catch up with the pilot. He
grabs the pilot and wrestles off the parachute. The pilot falls to his death as Bond puts the parachute on himself. If the filmmakers had ended the sequence here, it would have worked beautifully; but the tendency in
Moonraker is
toward overkill. Not far behind Bond is Jaws, now wearing a parachute. Jaws attempts the same trick of holding his body like a spear,
and eventually catches Bond. Bond escapes by opening his parachute. Jaws attempts to open his chute, too, but the rip cord snaps. Jaws plummets into the middle of a circus tent, and of course, lives to chase Bond again later.

The skydiving scenes were difficult to film, requiring that stuntmen and cameramen make several jumps. Second unit director/editor John Glen supervised the sequence, and visually it's stupendous. But the subsequent regression from excitement to cartoonish catand-mouse games is an error in judgment.

One of the sillier sequences in the film occurs when Bond is in Venice, and his gondola proves to be a floating arsenal from Q Branch. It might not have been so bad if we had been told beforehand that the craft was capable of making this transformation. But as it is, Bond simply hops into a gondola, is taken down a canal, and is attacked by a passing "funeral" lorry. A man rises from the exposed coffin and throws a knife at the agent But Bond throws the knife back at the man, killing him. Then, the gondola becomes a highspeed launch as Bond and his gondolier are chased through the canals. To top it off, the gondola becomes a hovercraft and moves onto the Piazza San Marco. At this point, there are several shots of incredulous tourists, doing double takes and suspiciously eyeing their drinks; animals squawking; and people falling into the water. The sequence is so dumb that one wonders at what age group the film was really aimed.

Other unnecessary attempts for laughs include some topical references, such as the door leading to Drax's lab in Venice. It can only be opened by pressing touchtones which play the tune of
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
. Too silly. There's another sequence in which Bond, dressed as a gaucho, rides a horse toward the South American branch of the Secret Service. The music on the soundtrack plays "The Magnificent Seven." This is simply annoying.

Gilbert does manage to handle the huge sets and hundreds of extras with proficiency, but the film loses any impact it may have had through overindulgence in all this slapstick and buffoonery.

ACTORS AND CHARACTERS

A
fter the promising development of his characterization of Bond in
The Spy Who Loved Me
, Roger Moore reverts to a cardboard representation in the new film. But then, the script does not give him much opportunity to show any human qualities. In fact, in
Moonraker
, James Bond, too, is a cartoon figure, functioning only as the center of all the confusion. It seems that Moore's entire characterization consists of raising one eyebrow.

Texas actress Lois Chiles was cast as Moore's leading lady, but she isn't Gala Brand, Special Branch agent from Scotland Yard (from the book). In the film, her name is Holly Goodhead (a blatant attempt at copying Pussy Galore), which doesn't fit the character at all. Holly is a CIA agent working undercover as a NASA scientist employed by Drax. She is quite independent, and gives Bond a rather hard time with his seduction ploys. Many times, she comes across as haughty and self-reliant, much like the Gala Brand character in the novel. The name Holly Goodhead conjures up visions of a Plenty O'Toole–type character. At least Miss Chiles has some screen presence, is attractive, and plays her part with a sincere straightforwardness. As written, Holly Goodhead is very similar to the Anya Amasova character in
The Spy Who Loved Me
: she eventually joins forces, reluctantly, with Bond in order to vanquish the villain.

Michael Lonsdale portrays Hugo Drax, and the character is quite different from the novel's villain. Drax in the book is a loud, obnoxious braggart Lonsdale portrays Drax as methodical, sardonic, and careful. It works for the most part, and Lonsdale is a definite improvement over Curt Jurgens' Karl Stromberg. Drax in the film is an American billionaire working out of a French châteaulike mansion near Los Angeles. It is he who is responsible for the hijacking of his own Moonraker shuttle at the beginning of the film. The one he was planning to use for his own purposes developed equipment failure. Drax's obligatory speech explaining his dastardly plan is one of the better ones in the series, and it reveals the archetypal megalomania present in all Bond villains. Drax's death in the film is not very original—he is sucked out of an airlock of his own space station. Shades of
Goldflnger
!

Richard Kiel returns as Jaws, the indestructible superman. He's working for Hugo Drax now, and always happens to turn up right when one expects him. Attempts to make Jaws a lovable character simply lower the quality of what began as an interesting and formidable minor villain. Blanche Ravalec had the misfortune of being cast as Dolly, the object of Jaws' affection. She's just too cute for words.

Lovely Corinne Clery portrays the Obligatory Sacrificial Lamb of the film, Corinne Dufour. Corinne works for Drax, but once Bond turns on the charm, she switches
her allegiance, of course. Her just reward for doing so is to be fed to Drax's pet Doberman Pinschers. The scene in which this happens could have been brutal and gripping; as photographed, it is lush and soft focused. It simply doesn't work.

Emily Bolton portrays Manuela, the Secret Service contact in Rio de Janeiro. She is merely another version of Paula from
Thunderball,
Rosie in
Live and Let Die,
and Mary Goodnight in
The Man With the Golden Gun.
Toshiro Suga portrays Chang, Drax's equivalent of Oddjob. Chang is disposed of early in the film during one of the more successful action sequences. Bond encounters Chang in a Venetian glass shop and their subsequent fight smashes every piece of glass in the showroom. (But again, the scene regresses into child's play when Chang is thrown off a balcony and into a grand piano at an outdoor concert.)

Bernard Lee makes his last appearance as M in
Moonraker.
Looking quite a bit older than before (Lee was very ill at the time), his scenes contain the usual banter between 007 and his superior. He shares most of his scenes with Minister of Defense Frederick Gray, played by Geoffrey Keen again. One particularly amusing passage occurs when Bond escorts M and Gray to the secret lab Bond has discovered in Venice. Upon arriving at the lab, they find that all of the equipment has been removed; nothing is there except some furniture and Hugo Drax lounging in a chair. Bond, M, and Gray enter the room wearing gas masks (for fear of the virus Drax was developing in his lab), and all look rather silly. Drax comments, "Forgive me gentlemen, but not being English, I don't quite share your unique
sense of humor." Q and Miss Moneypenny also have their share of obligatory scenes. Q is featured in a Q Branch sequence in South America, where equipment such as exploding bolos is being developed. No comment.

Moonraker
's stars Richard Kiel (as Jaws), Lois Chiles (as Holly Goodhead), and Roger Moore as 007. (Photo by Michel Ginfray/Gamma-Liaison Agency)

OTHER ASPECTS

K
en Adam has designed a multitude of expressionistic and futuristic sets again, most notable of which is the space station interior. Consisting of tubes, circular hallways, and sloping floors, the area resembles an optical illusion. Even though the filmmakers claim that the movie features scientific accuracy, there are problems with the space station. For instance, the gravitational pull would be toward the outer edges of the station, not the horizontal floor as presented in the film.

Jean Toumier is director of photography for this picture, and has succeeded in capturing beautiful location shots, especially in the mountains overlooking Rio de Janeiro. The locales are one of the few redeeming features of
Moonraker
.

Perhaps the most outstanding technical achievement in
Moonraker
is Derek Meddings' special visual effects. Meddings was nominated for an Academy Award for his work, but was beaten by Alien. Since
Moonraker
contained several scenes involving space travel, many miniatures were built. These included several space shuttles designed to NASA specifications. The space travel sequences equal the quality of effects that
Star Wars
and
Star Trek—The Motion Picture
brought to the screen.

The gadgets in the film are predictable and tired. Bond is presented with a wrist gun which can be fired with the slightest flick of the hand. It fires poisonous darts. The device is used by Bond to escape the centrifuge machine, and to shoot Drax. Bond also has a gadget on his person that is used to kill a giant python which he is forced to fight at Drax's Brazilian headquarters. It's some kind of poisoned ballpoint pen, which he stabs into the snake's head. We didn't know he had this device, so, as Brosnan notes, it's another example of the Bondian rules being broken. Other gadgets include the souped-up gondola, and a speedboat equipped with the usual Bond arsenal. The latter also has an extractable hang glider, which Bond miraculously engages to escape plunging down a waterfall when his boat goes over. The sequence is reminiscent of the hang glider moment in
Live and Let Die
, as well as the trick parachute ploy in the pre-credits sequence of
The Spy Who Loved Me
.

One of the best things in the film is John Barry's lovely, laid-back score. The main title theme, with lyrics by Hal David and sung by Shirley Bassey, is a haunting melody; it's full of major-seventh chords that give the song an exotic quality. The rest of the score is mellow and evocative of space travel, and Barry has escaped from his usual "science fiction" sound, which he used in
You Only Live Twice
and
Diamonds Are Forever
. It is quite easy to dismiss the score of this film because it seems lost in all the shenanigans, but it's certainly Barry's best Bond effort since
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
. Maurice Binder's accompanying title design is, as usual, the most erotic thing in the film.

Moonraker
was extremely successful and broke all of Eon Productions' records. But apparently Broccoli received much criticism from Bond fans, especially in North America. As a result, rumors began flying that the next Bond film would revert to the original, simpler style. Indeed,
Moonraker
went as far as Broccoli could go with outlandishness. The only direction possible for the Bond films of the eighties was backwards. The science fiction boom of the late seventies was already beginning to wane, and with competition like the
Star Wars
series, Broccoli realized that the Bond films couldn't contend on a special effects level. Broccoli's ace-in-the-hole was that James Bond is a fascinating character, potentially capable of much more than gracing a special effects action film. This would be proven correct.