1979’s Moonraker opens with an exciting scene of Bond and Jaws (the henchman returning from The Spy Who Loved Me) battling it out after jumping from an airplane.

The theme song is Shirley Bassey’s third of the franchise. It’s a good one, though not quite to the level of her previous two, “Goldfinger” and “Diamonds Are Forever”.

Ken Adam, the franchise’s renowned production designer, does an absolutely terrific job with the sets here. He’s the star of this movie, as far as I’m concerned.

There’s the pretty cool sight of James Bond hang gliding over a waterfall. And Rio De Janiero looks beautiful in the few minutes we spend there.

There are the positive aspects of Moonraker and maybe I should just leave it that, except for the pesky fact that just about everything else in the film sucks. I love the James Bond franchise, in case you haven’t figured that out. And I don’t want to write this post, but I have to be honest so here goes:

Moonraker is a travesty on a number of levels. Interestingly, the film was not supposed to be the 007 movie being released in 1979. At the end of its predecessor, The Spy Who Loved Me, we were told: “James Bond Will Return in For Your Eyes Only.” That’s what filmgoers saw in the end credits of Spy in the summer of 1977. Want to know something else audiences saw in the summer of 1977? A little film called Star Wars. 

And that, my friends, prompted Bond producers to change their minds and quickly make Moonraker the next 007 adventure. After the release of Star Wars (and also Close Encounters of the Third Kind) in 1977, science fiction was the most popular thing around… along with disco and Burt Reynolds.

So not only did MGM go with the Ian Fleming novel with sci-fi elements, they decided to open up the bank for Moonraker. Its predecessor, Spy Who Loved Me, had been the biggest budgeted 007 so far at $14 million. The budget for Moonraker would be set at $34 million. No question that the huge financial success of Spy contributed to the budget raise, but the producers knew Bond + space likely = $.

And they were right. Moonraker grossed over $200 million dollars worldwide, making it the biggest Bond so far financially. It made $70M in the U.S., placing it 10th for that year domestically. The fact is, science fiction was so trendy at that time that combining 007 with it was a winning combo, at least financially.

I suppose I’ll touch on the plot… briefly. Space shuttles get stolen. The man behind it is the manufacturer of the shuttles, Hugo Drax. He has a plan to use those shuttles to repopulate the Earth in space with only beautiful people he takes with him. This, of course, involves wiping out the planet and creating that master race in space. It’s a far-fetched and silly plot, even by Bond standards.

Speaking of the villain Drax, he’s the worst Bond baddie we’ve seen so far. Played by Michael Lonsdale with no real energy, the guy’s really just a bore. The less said the better because you’re going to forget his character anyway.

Then, we’re mistreated to one of the worst Bond girls so far. She does have a memorable name, Holly Goodhead. That’s the only memorable thing about her character or Lois Chiles’ listless performance as her.

Oh, it gets worse. Bond in spaghetti Western gear. Jaws, a solid character in Spy Who Loved Me, getting way overused. He even turns good guy in the end because he falls in love with a girl and realizes Drax will probably kill him. Lame.

All that said, what I disliked most about Moonraker is the final half hour when Bond and Goodhead are shot out of Earth in a shuttle and engage in a space war, complete with laser guns. Darth Vader does not enter the movie to fight them, but he might as well. The final battle scenes show the filmmakers really desperate to capture George Lucas-type magic on the screen. And they don’t.

This is supposed to be a James Bond movie. I can handle the Roger Moore entries becoming much more comical and silly (it happened first with Sean Connery in Diamonds Are Forever, by the way). What I had a hard time accepting is the Bond franchise completely capitulating to another franchise. In the last act of Moonraker, we don’t feel like we’re watching a 007 movie. We feel like we’re watching a bad Star Wars rip-off. One with great sets, of course (to give another Ken Adam shout-out). But, still bad.

We saw glimpses of this in Roger Moore’s first two features, with the influence of blaxpoitation in Live and Let Die and kung fu in The Man With the Golden Gun. Not to this extent, though. Moore’s third 007 movie, The Spy Who Loved Me, is terrific. It’s one of the greatest Bonds and I suspect it’ll register highly (very highly) on my favorite 007 flicks when I release my list after this blog series is complete. So, the fact that this was the follow-up adds to the letdown. Even the director of Spy, Lewis Gilbert, directed this too!

Moonraker, besides obviously trying (and succeeding) to cash in on Star Wars craze, makes references to 2001: A Space Odyssey and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. These joking references remind us that those were great sci-fi movies. Moonraker is neither a good sci-fi or James Bond movie. The joke is clearly on us.

Here are the facts:

Film: Moonraker

U.S. Release Date: June 29, 1979

Director: Lewis Gilbert

Screenplay: Christopher Wood

Bond: Roger Moore

Main Bond Villain: Hugo Drax (Michael Lonsdale)

Main Bond Girl: Holly Goodhead (Lois Chiles)

Theme Song: “Moonraker” – performed by Shirley Bassey

Budget: $34 million

Worldwide Box Office: $210.3 million

***On a somber note, actor Bernard Lee who portrayed the character of M in the first eleven Bond pictures, from Dr. No to Moonraker, passed away in early 1981 at age 73. Moonraker would mark Lee’s final appearance in the series.

My James Bond blog series will return in “The 007 Files: For Your Eyes Only”

007 fans would experience the biggest lull so far in between Bond pictures at two and a half years between The Man with the Golden Gun and the tenth film, 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me. As the old adage says, good things come to those who wait.

The Spy Who Loved Me is easily the best Bond movie since Connery’s heyday. The excitement starts right away in the pre-title credit sequence, with Bond performing an awesome ski stunt complete with the British flag parachute.

We then move immediately to one of the greatest Bond theme songs, “Nobody Does It Better”, by Carly Simon.

And this one actually has a cool plot no less, unlike Roger Moore’s first two entries in the series. The main villain, Stromberg (in a fine performance from Curt Jurgens) intends to use two nuclear weapons to destroy the world. The twist this time around? He doesn’t want ransom. Stromberg is a madman who wants to start the world over with an underwater civilization. His main henchman is Jaws (7’4″ actor Richard Kiel) who is the best secondary villain since Oddjob in Goldfinger. 

Then there’s the Bond girl Anya. She’s a Soviet spy who can hold her own with Bond. The writers (veteran Richard Maibaum and first-timer Christopher Wood) give 007 the best female counterpart since at least Diana Rigg in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Barbara Bach is solid in the role. The character of Anya also provides a dynamic never seen before in the series. It turns out Bond killed Anya’s lover in that cool opening ski scene. Anya vows to kill Bond after they complete their mission. This adds another new twist in Bond world and it’s a great development in the screenplay.

Again, it’s very necessary to focus on the production design of Ken Adam. Stromberg has an underwater hideout called Atlantis. Simply put, it’s really sweet looking. And the interiors of Atlantis and all the other sets prove once again that Adam is the best in the business and such an important figure in 007 history.

Of course, that scene shows that Stromberg likes to use sharks to off his victims, but once again, they do not have giant laser beams attached to their frickin heads.

Besides the wonderful looking Atlantis and submarine sequences, the early part of the film set in Cairo is gorgeously shot and they put that locale to perfect use. We even get a cool scene at the pyramids. And this great scene where 007 tries to find out the whereabouts of a key contact. It never goes quite as planned.

Piling on, we get a now-classic Bond car in The Spy Who Loved Me: The Lotus Esprit which turns into a freaking submarine! We discover this in a kick-ass action sequence.

The great usual Bond composer John Barry was unavailable this time around so the late Marvin Hamlisch was brought in to replace. He does a first-rate job, even though we do get a bit of disco mixed in occasionally. It’s a little disconcerting at first, but hey it was 1977! That’s the year Saturday Night Fever came out and there’s a couple of moments in Spy Who Loved Me where I thought the Bee Gees might start harmonizing over the soundtrack.

The budgets of 1965’s Thunderball and 1967’s You Only Live Twice were in the $9 million range, before the next three (Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die, Man with the Golden Gun) all were around $7 million. The Spy Who Loved Me was the most expensive Bond by quite a margin at $14 million. We see it on the screen. The action sequences are top notch as always. It looks like the most expensive Bond flick so far. Lewis Gilbert returns to direct his second 007 feature, ten years after You Only Live Twice. 

If you’ve noticed I haven’t complained in this post… you’re right. The fact is that The Spy Who Loved Me clicks on all cylinders. I found it to be most compatible to Thunderball for a couple of reasons. First, the underwater elements, but more than anything else it’s just a hell of a good time and a wildly fun popcorn movie.

The last element of my highly complimentary ramblings: it’s Roger Moore’s finest performance as Bond we’ve seen so far. Moore would say in later interviews that Spy is his favorite Bond movie and he seems to relish having a good script, something that can’t really be said for his two original go-rounds.

Moviegoers really liked it as well. It grossed $185 million worldwide, nearly double the amount its predecessor, Golden Gun, made. Earning $46 million in the United States, it was the 10th highest grossing picture that year.

The Spy Who Loved Me is a triumph. I highly suspect it will rank right up there with some of the early Connery entries when I do my rankings upon this blog series concluding.

Here are the facts:

Film: The Spy Who Loved Me

U.S. Release Date: July 13, 1977

Director: Lewis Gilbert

Screenplay: Christopher Wood and Richard Maibaum

Bond: Roger Moore

Main Bond Villain: Karl Stromberg (Curt Jurgens)

Main Bond Girl: Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach)

Theme Song: “Nobody Does It Better” – performed by Carly Simon

Budget: $14 million

Worldwide Box Office: $185.4 million

My James Bond blog series will return in “The 007 Files: Moonraker”

In The Man with the Golden Gun, Roger Moore’s second appearance as 007, we get a real mixed bag of a movie. It contains some solid elements but also a lot of weak stuff, from a poorly written Bond girl to a truly dull and nearly non-existent plot.

Moore’s first outing Live and Let Die certainly had some issues, too. It did have a classic Bond theme from Paul McCartney and Wings, though. This film’s theme song by Lulu? It’s pretty bad and definitely the worst Bond theme so far.

Let’s start positive. The villain character of Scaramanga is well-regarded among Bond fans. I give most of that credit to Christopher Lee, a fine actor who brings a lot to the character. He’s a world-famous assassin who happens to have his own island that happens to be a disguised solar power plant . Scaramanga’s plan is to sell the plant to the highest bidder or let the oil barons buy it so they don’t have competition. Or something like that. The plot is not the movie’s strong point. Not that specific story elements are ever extremely important in a 007 picture, but I’ve been struck how thinly plotted both Moore entries have been so far.

Oh, Scaramanga also kills his victims with a cool looking golden gun, in case you were wondering where the title came from.

And he also has a midget sidekick named Nick Nack (Herve Villechaize) who provides some memorable moments. The villain also has an elaborate funhouse set up on his island, which he and Nick Nack use to trap people who Scaramanga intends on killing. The funhouse element likely stems from Scaramanga’s past, where he was raised by a traveling circus ringmaster. As he explains to 007 at one point in the picture, his interest in becoming an assassin originated from an abusive animal trainer when he was a kid. You see, the mean ol animal trainer hurt an elephant that Scaramanga had made friends with, so Scaramanga killed him. Oh, and Scaramanga also has three nipples for some reason. Moving on…

The film’s main Bond girl is Mary Goodnight, played by the gorgeous Britt Ekland. Her character represents the low end of the spectrum for Bond girls. The writers (007 vets Richard Maibaum and Tom Mankiewicz) repeat the same mistake they made in Diamonds Are Forever. Goodnight is played as a total ditz. It’s even worse here because we’re supposed to believe this girl is a secret agent. Call it personal preference, but I’d much rather the Bond girl be someone who’s got some intelligence and adds a little to the story, like in the Connery pictures. Here, it’s as if Chrissy from “Three’s Company” somehow managed to become a spy.

In the role of Scaramanga’s mistress who ends up assisting Bond (in a couple of ways), actress Maud Adams is better and she has a cool demise. Adams would actually later appear as the main Bond girl in Octopussy nine years later. We’ll get there soon.

And then there’s the inexplicable return of the Sheriff J.W. Pepper character from Live and Let Die. Apparently, audiences must have responded positively to the redneck Louisiana sheriff, portrayed by Clifton James. Not sure why. When Bond discovers the hick lawman is vacationing in Bangkok (really?), 007’s reaction is: “Oh no!”. So was mine.

There’s also a few karate related sequences that were clearly put in to capitalize on the kung fu craze that was happening in the early 70s, due to Bruce Lee and others. While these scenes are mildly entertaining, I couldn’t help but think of how Live and Let Die also borrowed from the popular at the time blaxpoitation genre. The early Bond films set the trends that filmmakers in the action genre would follow. The first two Moore features seem to often be following whatever trend was hot at the moment.

The Man With the Golden Gun does make good use of its beautiful island location in the last half hour. In fact, the last act of the film is quite entertaining because Lee gets a chance to shine more than a lot of other Bond villains. Also, the funhouse showdown between Bond and Scaramanga is fun.

However, other than one nifty car stunt and a few other moments here and there, the first three-fourths of Golden Gun is forgettable and by-the-numbers.

Audiences, to an extent, seemed to agree. The picture’s worldwide gross was just under $100 million. In America, it earned $21 million, giving it the distinction of being the lowest grossing 007 picture so far and placing it 19th on the year’s list of moneymakers. With a $7 million dollar budget, don’t get me wrong: it made tons of money. Nevertheless, considering that its two predecessors, Diamonds Are Forever made $116 million and Live and Let Die made $161 million (in just the year before, no less), Golden Gun‘s numbers were subpar.

This would be director Guy Hamilton’s fourth and final go round as a 007 director. He started with a classic, Goldfinger. His other three entries – Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die, and this… not so classic.

Bottom line: for me, the final half hour almost made me forget the first hour and a half that I sat through. There’s a lot I didn’t like in Golden Gun, but like all Bond flicks, it’s watchable. How’s that for a sterling recommendation?

Here are the facts:

Film: The Man With the Golden Gun

U.S. Release Date: December 18, 1974

Director: Guy Hamilton

Screenplay: Richard Maibaum and Tom Mankiewicz

Bond: Roger Moore

Main Villain: Francisco Scaramanga (Christopher Lee)

Main Bond Girl: Mary Goodnight (Britt Ekland)

Theme Song: “The Man With the Golden Gun” – performed by Lulu

Budget: $7 million

Worldwide Box Office: $97.6 million

My James Bond blog series will return in “The 007 Files: The Spy Who Loved Me”

Live and Let Die, released in 1973, began a new 12 year era in the James Bond franchise with the casting of Roger Moore as 007. Sean Connery made it clear during the filming of 1971’s Diamonds Are Forever that this was a one film return, so the producers turned to Moore, an actor they’d had on their minds for a while.

Unlike Connery, Moore was far from an unknown when he landed the Bond role. From 1962-70, he gained worldwide fame in the television series “The Saint”. And unlike George Lazenby, producers seemed aware that the casting of Moore would necessitate a number of changes in the franchise. By Moore’s own admission, he did not bring quite the tough guy persona that Mr. Connery delivered. This would be a softer Bond. And a sillier Bond. Moore’s main strength was the gift of very good comic timing and he is certainly convincing with classic 007 quips and one-liners.

It is definitely Moore’s casting, though, that has divided 007 fans for years. My history with Moore is simple: he’s the James Bond I grew up watching the most. It wasn’t really until later that I discovered the wonder of Connery. And truthfully, the often comedy oriented style of the Moore pictures probably translates better to kids. It’s not until you get a little older that the Connery pics can be truly appreciated. At least that’s my story.

Upon receiving the Bond Blu Ray set, I was and am most curious to rediscover what I now feel about the Moore movies. It’s been a while and we start with Live and Let Die. I’ve already surprised myself once with On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. It had been years and years since I’d viewed it. Frankly, my recollection of it seemed to coincide with what a lot of Bond fans now feel about it: that it’s one of the greatest 007 adventures. Upon viewing it a few days ago, I discovered that I didn’t really feel that way. I have a feeling Majesty will fall somewhere in the middle of the pack when I finally rank them.

I have fond memories of watching Roger Moore as 007 as a child. But would they translate as an adult? So far, with Live and Let Die – the answer is a mixed bag. First, let’s get the obvious item out of the way. The theme song to the film, performed by Paul McCartney and Wings, is undoubtedly one of the greatest Bond themes ever. When regular Bond scorer John Barry was unavailable for the film, longtime Beatles producer George Martin took over the reins. And so we have a Bond theme by an ex-Beatle. Ironic, considering Sean Connery’s well-known line in Goldfinger: “That’s as bad as listening to the Beatles without earmuffs!”. Guess the new Bond was a little more hip.

Live and Let Die also contains some very memorable sequences, most notably an extended boat chase that is really terrific. Before that, we have a great sequence from 007 must deal with some nasty alligators. I remember loving these scenes as a kid and I still do.

We also have a truly beautiful Bond girl this time around, Solitaire, played by Jane Seymour. She’s a tarot card reader who also happens to be a virgin, until very shortly after meeting Mr. Bond, naturally. She’s certainly a major improvement over the Tiffany Case character in Diamonds Are Forever.

However, not all is well with Live and Let Die and there are some major issues. Much like in Diamonds, we get one character – loudmouth Louisiana Sheriff J.W. Pepper that seems to have wandered in from a different movie. A really dumb movie. Surprisingly, at least to me, this annoying character would prove popular and make a return appearance in the next 007 feature. Go figure.

And then there’s the matter of the plot. What Live and Let Die is most known for nowadays is the influence of the blaxpoitation genre on the film. Very popular in the early 70s, screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz chose to make the villains African-American and set the film in New Orleans and the Caribbean. Also, New York City in the early part of movie, where James Bond chases a “pimp mobile” (the script’s words, not mine). Watching the film today, trying to mesh blaxpoitation and 007 is an often uncomfortable mix. Lots of the African-American characters in the picture are pretty badly drawn stereotypes. While you come to expect that in blaxpoitation flicks, it’s a little disconcerting to see here. And frankly, it seems kind of unnecessary.

The influence of that genre leads to a rather unexciting plot. Instead of world domination, Bond is basically just trying to stop heroin dealers here. The main villain is Dr. Kananga, the dictator of a small country in the Caribbean who plans to give away two tons of heroin to put his competitors out of business. Then, of course, he gets lots of people hooked and can charge whatever he wants. Little different than nuclear annihilation, eh? Kananga is played Yaphet Kotto, who gives a solid performance even if the character isn’t too memorable.

Not that everything is totally different. Kananga does have an underground lair (with, as always, fantastic production design). He even nearly kills Bond and Solitaire at the end with his sharks… but Bond has time to outwit him due to the unnecessarily slow-moving dipping mechanism. This leads to a final encounter between Bond and Kananga that’s pretty darn memorable and cool. And utterly ridiculous, but that’s OK.

There is another quibble: Where’s Q??? In the history of Bond, from the second feature in 1963 to the third Brosnan feature in 1999 (Llewelyn passed away that year), Live and Let Die is the only 007 film that Desmond Llewelyn does not appear in. Apparently, he was shooting something else, but would’ve been let out in order to shoot his part in this. Producers decided to drop the character from Live and Let Die. They wouldn’t make that mistake again.

Producers had to be worried about how audiences would respond to the new James Bond, especially after the negative reaction to Lazenby. Things would be different this time, however. Live and Let Die was a hit, earning over $160 million worldwide. Clearly, crowds were much more accepting of Moore in the iconic role. In the U.S., it made $35 million – a decent number but less than the majority of the Connery films. It placed eighth on the list of 1973’s earners.

Director Guy Hamilton takes his third turn behind the camera here. For that third entry, it’s safe this one ain’t his best so far (Goldfinger) and ain’t his worst (Diamonds Are Forever).

There are some big problems I had with Live and Let Die including a dull plot and silly characters. Quite a bit of it, though, is just a hell of a lot of fun with some truly inspired action sequences. It’s a mixed bag, but it’s certainly an improvement over Diamonds Are Forever.

Here are the facts:

Film: Live and Let Die

U.S. Release Date: June 27, 1973

Director: Guy Hamilton

Screenplay: Tom Mankiewicz

Bond: Roger Moore

Main Villain: Dr. Kananga (Yaphet Kotto)

Main Bond Girl: Solitaire (Jane Seymour)

Theme Song: “Live and Let Die” – performed by Paul McCartney and Wings

Budget: $7 million

Worldwide Box Office: $161.8 million

My James Bond blog series will return in “The 007 Files: The Man with the Golden Gun”