Am I the only one to love Moonraker?

mooreisbest

I really love this film. I know it is over the top in the extreme and some of the scenes are plain silly, but I do get a big kick out of it. Maybe only Roger could make it fun, but for me Moonraker is always a great ride, and after buying the new dvd, I'm enjoying it once more. However I know a lot of people dislike it, so I'm wondering if I am the only one to love it. The theme is great too, and Doctor Holly Goodhead, well, you can only hope she lives up to that name!:D

Agent Sidewinder

You are absolutely NOT the only one to love Moonraker, mooreisbest (nice username, looks like we'll get on very well It is very underrated...God knows I've tried to explain why many times.-{

Lazenby

No, you're certainly not the only one. In its own way MR was just shy of a masterpiece-- Barry, Moore, Adam, Gilbert were all in top form with this one. To top it off it was also Bernard Lee's last performance, and it was a rather good one. The only thing that marred the film was its needless forays into juvenile slapstick. Apart from those it was top notch and imho the best Bond film between 1969 and 2006.

GoldFingerer

HELL NO.
I Moonraker! I reckon it kicked Moore ass than TSWLM.

actonsteve

I have to agree with the above to say it is just shy of a masterpiece - the cinematography is gorgeou, the music lush, the SFX stand up today and the locations world expanding.

What lets it down is he puerile humour which we all cringed at during 1979. But there are enough good bits to make it very enjoyable ie the space battle, the speedboat chase, the cablecar fight.

If it had been tightened up on the humour it could have been top 12.

bigzilcho

Mark my words, Mooreisbest: Not only is MR gaining in stature as the years pass in the Bond universe, it is my contention that the excursion into space (which has been ridiculed since 1979) makes this film AHEAD of its time.

I kid you not.

Quibble all you want about Bond going into space, the whole point of Drax's caper hinges on the fact that Bond HAS to go into space.

And, make no mistake, I do not think some Bond-fans truly appreciate how crazy this caper is compared to the others.

Beyond crazy. Chilling.

For you see,our world is filled with powerful men like Drax who would gladly press a button that could wipe out the majority of us...all in the name of a clean start.

THAT is why Drax is the last of the Bond super-villians with a world-domination plan...if you're going to dream...dream big.

MR is not perfect by any means...just good old-fashioned spectacular Bond entertainment.The knee-jerk reaction since 1979 has always been one of instant dismissal and cheap-shots. Well,THATS gonna change.

"You missed, Mr. Bond."
"Did I? As you said, such good sport."

Napoleon Plural

Still only two stars in Radio Times, though...

Of course, if CR is Bond in 2006, then MR could take place in 20 years time...

darenhat

Many of the things that plague MR are the same things that plague DAD today...primarily the Over the Top aspects of it. But what was considered unfathomable in 79 is a bit more commonplace today. Bond in space? Not as silly now that the space shuttle program and orbiting space stations are more commonplace than they were thirty years ago. In time, DAD's invisible car will be ho-hum (although not completely).

IMO, take out the double-taking pigeon and you have a pretty solid Bond film...not too unlike TSWLM (which featured a submersible Lotus which I don't think anyone has successfully emulated in real life) not to mention Jaws giving a man-eating shark a hicky.

John Drake

I used to despise MR, but I've grown more fond of it as I've got older. I think that may have something to do with nostalgia. MR is so different to what we are currently getting in the spy genre. Tough and gritty is the order of the day, which I can understand given the state of the world at the moment. But MR is big, silly and fun. There's a lot to be said for putting those three things together and making them work. The Brosnan films never managed it. It's unlikely we'll see anything like it during the Craig era, (though I would like to see him do at least one light-hearted Bond film). And Jaws tiny girlfriend is hot.

TonyDP

The phrase "They don't make them like that anymore" really applies when it comes to Moonraker. It's a big, showy spectacle with fantastic sets, great FX and incredible stunt work. It's a fun movie to watch as there's almost always something interesting on the screen. What's not to love?

It does go OTT at times and a few editorial cuts here and there would have probably made it more palatable for the Fleming Traditionalists. But then again no Bond film is 100% perfect.

We'll probably never see a Bond movie of that scope again and, double taking pidgeons or not, that's a real pity from where I stand.

Jack Burton

Moonraker is the end of an era. The combination of a story with epic scale and the great theme song, sets, cinematography and score make it Lewis Gilbert's best Bond film. I rather dig the whole package but am quite sad this is the last time we get to hear the 007 theme.

Prince Kamal Khan

Jack Burton wrote:

Moonraker is the end of an era. The combination of a story with epic scale and the great theme song, sets, cinematography and score make it Lewis Gilbert's best Bond film. I rather dig the whole package but am quite sad this is the last time we get to hear the 007 theme.

Well stated, Jack Burton. And no, mooreisbest, you're not alone in your love for MR. It was the first 007 film I saw in the cinema as a child and I'll always have a strong sentimental affection for it. I too find the constant bashing of MR more OTT than the film itself. Sure, it's unfaithful to the Fleming source material and it emphasizes the comedy aspects of Bond but so did every Bond film(save FYEO and OP, at least as far as Fleming fidelity goes since both FYEO and OP have a lot of comedy in them also) made between 1971 and 1985. I think MR gets unfairly singled out and criticized for those aspects.

Barbel

As Bond films go through cycles, so do Bond fans. OHMSS was initially disliked but nowadays is generally admired; TSWLM has been praised as quintessential Bond and dismissed as a cynical "Bond's Greatest Hits"; the entire Brosnan era was held in high esteem by many but is now repeatedly attacked. You can't please all of the people all of the time!

After the (relative) box-office disappointment of TMWTGG and a legal wrangle over the departing Harry Saltzman's stake in the Bond franchise, Cubby Broccoli saw TSWLM as a make-or-break movie and threw everything into making it work. It did, decisively, and few could resist the temptation to do the same thing again... only bigger. Since TSWLM was seen as rectifying the mistakes of TMWTGG, the aspects which made it work were re-used with more money thrown at them.

Audiences liked Jaws? Bring him back!
The jokes got laughs? Do more!
People liked the car/submarine? Let's have a gondola/hovercraft!

Mix this in with the percieved necessity for rivalling Star Wars and there's only one way to go- up. As has been said before, at the heart of MR is a very good James Bond movie; with just a little restraint (don't bring Jaws into the PTS; take out that bloody pigeon; remove Dolly) it could have been vastly improved. Sometimes, less is indeed Moore.

chrisno1

No , you are certainly not the only person to love Moonraker. As posted earlier, it was also my first Bond experience in a cinema, and I saw it at the Odeon Leicester Square....it was just huge. I loved every second of it and I still do. Itw as unfairly compared to the "Harry Houdini Show" in that you give the audience more of what it loves, but frankly, who cares? I rarely have so much pleasure as watching Bond grapple with Jaws in mid-air, Bond grapple with an anaconda in Brazil, grapple with Jaws on a cable car, grapple with Chang in Venice, make love to Holly Goodhead in Venice, all those beautiful women, the fantastic sets, Michael Lonsdale truly the last great big megalomaniacalBond villian, the lucious photography, the last great John Barry score, I could go on and on. It works because it is over the top and doesn't take itself too seriously, but it isnt unintentionally funny and you actually feel Bond is threatened in this one (unlike DAF, LALD, TMWTGG) Its well written, slick entertainment, something many later Bond films forgot to be as their own pretentions diappeared up their posteriors. I dont think its the best 007, and isnt top of my list, but by golly I enjoy it !

Barbel

chrisno1 wrote:

the last great John Barry score

I'd dispute that. The music for "Moonraker" IS great- JB did some of his finest work here ("Bond Lured To Pyramid", "Flight Into Space") but to dismiss his later work ignores the intensity ("Airship To Silicon Valley") of the AVTAK score as well as the variety ("Where Has Everybody Gone", the title track) and often beauty ("Into Vienna", "Mujahadin And Opium") of TLD.

Willie Garvin

Barbel wrote:

As Bond films go through cycles, so do Bond fans. OHMSS was initially disliked but nowadays is generally admired; TSWLM has been praised as quintessential Bond and dismissed as a cynical "Bond's Greatest Hits"; the entire Brosnan era was held in high esteem by many but is now repeatedly attacked. You can't please all of the people all of the time!

After the (relative) box-office disappointment of TMWTGG and a legal wrangle over the departing Harry Saltzman's stake in the Bond franchise, Cubby Broccoli saw TSWLM as a make-or-break movie and threw everything into making it work. It did, decisively, and few could resist the temptation to do the same thing again... only bigger. Since TSWLM was seen as rectifying the mistakes of TMWTGG, the aspects which made it work were re-used with more money thrown at them.

Audiences liked Jaws? Bring him back!
The jokes got laughs? Do more!
People liked the car/submarine? Let's have a gondola/hovercraft!

Mix this in with the percieved necessity for rivalling Star Wars and there's only one way to go- up. As has been said before, at the heart of MR is a very good James Bond movie; with just a little restraint (don't bring Jaws into the PTS; take out that bloody pigeon; remove Dolly) it could have been vastly improved. Sometimes, less is indeed Moore.

Agreed.This is easily one of the best looking films in the entire series and considering that really all of the Bond films are fantasies(including FRWL and CR'06),this one(like TSWLM) is even more so.

In my opinion,Drax has some of the finest dialogue of any of the Bond villains(reportedly written with the thought that James Mason might be play this role),and Michel Lonsdale delivers it brilliantly.Quite frankly,I have never cared for Jaws, and believe that this movie(and TSWLM) would have been greatly improved had he not been in it--but that's the only major quibble I have with this film.

Mailfist

I am afraid that I am one of the people who absolutely hate MR. To me it has nothing to do with James Bond, more to do with James Kirk.

It epitimises all that was wrong with the RM era when the series lost its way. James Bond became a follower rather than a leader in the 70s. LALD was following the blaxploitation movies such as Shaft, TMWTGG jumped on the martial arts bandwagon and MR was an attempt to catch some of the Star Wars dollars.

The keypad in Venice playing the Close Encounters tune just shows the shortage of original ideas.

You can seriously stretch creditibility with a Bond movie such as YOLT and TSWLM but with MR the elastic snapped. Sending Bond into space was a few steps too far and shootouts between space marines and baddies with lazer guns is just to much.

It is the prime example of the excesses which epitimised Roger Mooore's tenure.

The PTS was one of the best in the series but ruined by including Jaws. The gondola chase was unoriginal but would have got by if the gondola had not changed into a hoovercraft.

The whole inclusion of Jaws was a mistake. He was a one trick pony and should have been killed off in TSWLM - but he was popular so lets bring back and make him a goodie and give him a cutsie girlfriend. Pass the barf bag.

MR would have worked as an Austin Powers movie, but for me it will never be a proper JB movie.

Barbel

Mailfist wrote:

The gondola chase was unoriginal but would have got by if the gondola had not changed into a hoovercraft.

Yeah, that sucked....;%

Agent Sidewinder

Mailfist wrote:

MR would have worked as an Austin Powers movie, but for me it will never be a proper JB movie.

Why is it that to some people, James Bond films always have to be either gritty Fleming thrillers or goofy Austin Powers-esque self-parodies? It's an attitude I've always found annoying. Seriously, I have difficulty believing anyone could mistake MR for an Austin Powers movie.

Mailfist

Hi Sidwinder - maybe I was being a bit facious when I said MR reminded me more of an Austin Powers movie than a JB movie but Jaws flapping his arms trying to fly and pidgeons doing double takes as a gondola turns into a hoovercraft and glides through St. Marks Square to my mind is more AP than JB.

I don't expect all the Bond movies to be realistic and gritty - I love YOLT and TSWLM and even chunks of DAD - but there has to be a line where the excesses stop and MR stepped over it.