To even include this monstrosity of a movie in a catalog of Jame Bond films borders on travesty. This was NOT Bond! This was simply a sorry attempt to cash-in on the space craze started by Star Wars, and complete the process of turning Bond into a comic-book character. Fleming's Bond (or even Eon's early Bond incarnation, as played by Sean Connery) is by now totally unrecognizable. He's not a secret agent (and government-sanctioned assassin) but a jet-setting playboy crime-fighter who stumbles from one action set-piece to another. Roger Moore's Bond is a total lightweight, and comes across about as credible as Inspector Gadget. Maybe that's fitting, because "Moonraker" is far more a filmed cartoon than a spy thriller.
True, "Moonraker" didn't begin the slide from Fleming's vision into comic-strip, but did it accelerate it! You could even say that "Moonraker" ran the series right into the ground, so naturally there was no where else to go but "up" for the next entry, "For Your Eyes Only". "Moonraker" is absolute rock-bottom for the entire series, what with a totally outlandish plot, overblown futuristic sets straight out of "Star Trek", one-dimensional characters who are as thin as cardboard, and (most embarrassing of all) ill-advised attempts at broad humor.
The plot is senseless and ridiculous. True, Fleming's novel was horribly dated by 1979, but ANYTHING would have been better than what Christopher Wood finally dreamed up. Drax plotting to destroy all life on earth and breed a new generation of perfect people under his rule in a space station??? Does this make ANY sense??? All the action sequences are only tired re-workings of previous movies (far too many to list, but suffice to say that I saw elements of virtually every previous Bond flick made to date). And if this rehash wasn't enough, they even went so far as to bring back the "crowd-pleaser" of the previous film, Jaws. Jaws made a mildly interesting villain for one movie, but trying to sustain menace into a 2nd appearance just doesn't work -- you get the feeling that both Bond AND Jaws are completely indestructible, so where's the tension in their fights? I suspect the producers and screenwriter must have recognized this too, for mid-way thru they turn Jaws into a virtual cartoon character, and ultimately a "hero" who helps Bond. (Can anyone remotely picture Odd-job having a change-of-heart in Fort Knox and helping Bond diffuse the bomb???)
But what makes "Moonraker" truly unbearable is the comic relief. While Fleming purists might not like the witty remarks and tongue-in-cheek humor of the early Bond films, it could be argued that such an approach did make Bond more salable to the movie-going public. I suspect that if Eon Productions had retained the utterly humorless Bond of the novels, then "Dr. No" would have been a "one-off" production only, instead of the longest-running series in motion picture history. Unfortunately, each movie (especially from "Diamonds are Forever" on) became more and more campy and comic. By the time "Moonraker" was made Bond was being played strictly for laughs. James Brosnan, author of "James Bond in the Cinema", has called "Moonraker" the most expensive slapstick movie since "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World"...and unfortunately he's right.
The gondola sequence in Venice comes off as ridiculous; the craft itself is stupid-looking, and the scene is far too reminiscent of the boat-chases in "Live and Let Die" and "Man w/ the Golden Gun". But the scene really sinks into the pathetic when the gondola becomes a hovercraft and moves into the piazza. At this point we see tourists staring in disbelief and suspiciously eyeing their drinks, people falling into the water a la the Three Stooges, and even pigeons doing double-takes! (Man, but Ian Fleming must have been doing some serious turns in his grave at this point). Then we're treated to a scene in which Bond gains entrance to a lab by typing on a touch-tone pad, and it's naturally the alien's tune of "Close Encounters" (groan). Bond also rides a horse, dressed as a gaucho, to the theme from "The Magnificent Seven" (gag).
But Jaws contributes the most embarrassing scene in the entire movie (and the entire Bond series) when he meets that little blonde German gal and it's love-at-first-sight. They come together to the strains of "Tara's Theme" from "Gone with the Wind" and walk off hand-in-hand. OH MY GOD...truly excruciating!!! (By now poor old Ian Fleming must of been spinning like a top). When I first saw this scene in 1979, I was practically grasping for a barf-bag. But I noticed there were plenty of yahoos in the audience who were belly-laughing big-time. Geez, but talk about the producers playing to the lowest common denominator. (And I thought the redneck sheriff of "Live and Let Die" and "Man w/ the Golden Gun" was as cheesy as it comes!). Jaw-in-Love would be bad enough to sink even a good movie (which "Moonraker" certainly is NOT) all by itself. But it's inclusion here insures "Moonraker" as the WORST Bond film EVER.
True, "Moonraker" didn't begin the slide from Fleming's vision into comic-strip, but did it accelerate it! You could even say that "Moonraker" ran the series right into the ground, so naturally there was no where else to go but "up" for the next entry, "For Your Eyes Only". "Moonraker" is absolute rock-bottom for the entire series, what with a totally outlandish plot, overblown futuristic sets straight out of "Star Trek", one-dimensional characters who are as thin as cardboard, and (most embarrassing of all) ill-advised attempts at broad humor.
The plot is senseless and ridiculous. True, Fleming's novel was horribly dated by 1979, but ANYTHING would have been better than what Christopher Wood finally dreamed up. Drax plotting to destroy all life on earth and breed a new generation of perfect people under his rule in a space station??? Does this make ANY sense??? All the action sequences are only tired re-workings of previous movies (far too many to list, but suffice to say that I saw elements of virtually every previous Bond flick made to date). And if this rehash wasn't enough, they even went so far as to bring back the "crowd-pleaser" of the previous film, Jaws. Jaws made a mildly interesting villain for one movie, but trying to sustain menace into a 2nd appearance just doesn't work -- you get the feeling that both Bond AND Jaws are completely indestructible, so where's the tension in their fights? I suspect the producers and screenwriter must have recognized this too, for mid-way thru they turn Jaws into a virtual cartoon character, and ultimately a "hero" who helps Bond. (Can anyone remotely picture Odd-job having a change-of-heart in Fort Knox and helping Bond diffuse the bomb???)
But what makes "Moonraker" truly unbearable is the comic relief. While Fleming purists might not like the witty remarks and tongue-in-cheek humor of the early Bond films, it could be argued that such an approach did make Bond more salable to the movie-going public. I suspect that if Eon Productions had retained the utterly humorless Bond of the novels, then "Dr. No" would have been a "one-off" production only, instead of the longest-running series in motion picture history. Unfortunately, each movie (especially from "Diamonds are Forever" on) became more and more campy and comic. By the time "Moonraker" was made Bond was being played strictly for laughs. James Brosnan, author of "James Bond in the Cinema", has called "Moonraker" the most expensive slapstick movie since "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World"...and unfortunately he's right.
The gondola sequence in Venice comes off as ridiculous; the craft itself is stupid-looking, and the scene is far too reminiscent of the boat-chases in "Live and Let Die" and "Man w/ the Golden Gun". But the scene really sinks into the pathetic when the gondola becomes a hovercraft and moves into the piazza. At this point we see tourists staring in disbelief and suspiciously eyeing their drinks, people falling into the water a la the Three Stooges, and even pigeons doing double-takes! (Man, but Ian Fleming must have been doing some serious turns in his grave at this point). Then we're treated to a scene in which Bond gains entrance to a lab by typing on a touch-tone pad, and it's naturally the alien's tune of "Close Encounters" (groan). Bond also rides a horse, dressed as a gaucho, to the theme from "The Magnificent Seven" (gag).
But Jaws contributes the most embarrassing scene in the entire movie (and the entire Bond series) when he meets that little blonde German gal and it's love-at-first-sight. They come together to the strains of "Tara's Theme" from "Gone with the Wind" and walk off hand-in-hand. OH MY GOD...truly excruciating!!! (By now poor old Ian Fleming must of been spinning like a top). When I first saw this scene in 1979, I was practically grasping for a barf-bag. But I noticed there were plenty of yahoos in the audience who were belly-laughing big-time. Geez, but talk about the producers playing to the lowest common denominator. (And I thought the redneck sheriff of "Live and Let Die" and "Man w/ the Golden Gun" was as cheesy as it comes!). Jaw-in-Love would be bad enough to sink even a good movie (which "Moonraker" certainly is NOT) all by itself. But it's inclusion here insures "Moonraker" as the WORST Bond film EVER.