WHERE ALL OTHER BONDS END, THIS ONE BEGINS…

James Bond (Roger Moore) tries to find out what happened to a missing space shuttle and the traces lead to an industrialist (Michael Lonsdale) who is planning to start a new civilization in space.

The eleventh Bond flick followed the contemporary space trend, which was a bad fit. If you want to know why, just check out the climactic, dumb laser battle in space that looks like it belongs in a different franchise.

Moonraker does have a few good action sequences, but it’s an obvious copy of The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) with countless similar ingredients.

1979-U.K.-U.S. 126 min. Color. Widescreen. Directed by Lewis Gilbert. Song: ”Moonraker” (performed by Shirley Bassey). Cast: Roger Moore (James Bond), Lois Chiles (Holly Goodhead), Michael Lonsdale (Hugo Drax), Richard Kiel, Corinne Cléry, Bernard Lee, Desmond Llewelyn, Lois Maxwell. 

Trivia: Steven Spielberg offered to direct the film, as he did with The Spy Who Loved Me but was once again rejected. James Mason and Stewart Granger were considered for the part of Drax; Jaclyn Smith as Holly Goodhead. Lee’s final film as M. Followed by For Your Eyes Only (1981). 

Quote: “James Bond. You appear with the tedious inevitability of an unloved season.” (Lonsdale to Moore)