A space shuttle called the Moonraker, built by Drax Industries, is on its way to the U.K when it is hijacked in mid-air and the crew of the 747 carrying it is killed. Bond immediately is called into action, and starts the investigation with Hugo Drax himself. While at the Drax laboratories, Bond meets the brilliant & stunning Dr. Holly Goodhead (Chiles), a NASA astronaut & CIA agent who is investigating Drax for the U.S. Government. One of Drax's thugs, the sinister Chan, attempts to kill 007 at the lab but when that fails, he follows Bond to Venice and tries again there. Bond & Goodhead follow Drax's trail to Brazil, where they once again run into the 7' goliath Jaws (Kiel), a towering giant with metal teeth. Escaping from him, they discover the existence of a huge space station undetected by U.S. or Soviet radar, and a horrible plot by Drax to employ nerve gas in a genocidal project! Bond & Holly must quickly find a way to stop Hugo Drax before his horrific plans can be put into effect...
AMAZON.COM REVIEWS FOR MOONRAKER (1979): The second grab bag of 007 adventures features three Bonds in five films, including the legendary movie that started it all. In 1962 Sean Connery defined the cinematic James Bond as a tough, charming, and thoroughly professional cold war spy with a license to kill in the lean, hard-edged Dr. No. With Ursula Andress (as the original Bond girl Honey Ryder, who makes her entrance in a bikini), Bond battles a renegade supervillain with little more than his wits, his cunning, and his Walther PPK (this was before Q armed him with the coolest toys a superspy ever had). George Lazenby, a handsome Australian model with a self-effacing confidence, made his first and only appearance as James Bond in the underrated On Her Majesty's Secret Service, a witty and action-packed adventure that makes 007 history when Bond marries the girl (the lovely and talented Diana Rigg, fresh from her duties as the butt-kicking spy on the TV series The Avengers). Roger Moore brought a light tone and a suave assurance to the series as the third Bond, and the set features three of his seven appearances. In The Man with the Golden Gun, he battles million-dollar assassin Christopher Lee, one of Bond's most magnetic adversaries. The Spy Who Loved Me, perhaps Moore's finest hour, is a return to the extravagant set pieces and cold war thrills of Connery's pictures and introduces Richard Kiel's steel-dentured Jaws to the series. Jaws returns as a comic figure in Moonraker, a misguided sci-fi entry that takes Bond to space for a physically impressive but dramatically lackluster adventure. More of a mixed bag than the initial seven-film James Bond Gift Set, this set is aimed at the Bond completist rather than the general fan. The DVD editions of the films each feature audio commentary by the director and key members of the crew, "making of" documentaries, and a host of stills, TV spots, and trailers. --Sean Axmaker Bond: Moonraker (vhs):
Amazon.com video review:This was the first James Bond adventure produced after thesuccess of Star Wars, so it jumped on the sci-fi bandwagon bycombining the suave appeal of Agent 007 (once again played by RogerMoore) with enough high-tech hardware and special effects to make LukeSkywalker want to join Her Majesty's Secret Service. After therazzle-dazzle of The Spy Who Loved Me, this attempt to latchonto a trend proved to be a case of overkill, even though it broughtback the steel-toothed villain Jaws (Richard Kiel) and scored a majorhit at the box office. This time Bond is up against a criminalindustrialist named Drax (Michel Lonsdale) who wants to control theworld from his orbiting space station. In keeping with hiswell-groomed style, Bond thwarts this maniacal Neo-Hitler's schemewith the help of a beautiful, sleek-figured scientist (played by LoisChiles with all the vitality of a department-store mannequin). There'sa grand-scale climax involving space shuttles and ray guns, butdespite the film's popular success, this is one Bond adventure thatnever quite gets off the launching pad. It's as if the caretakers ofthe James Bond franchise had forgotten that it's Bond--and not abarrage of gizmos and gadgets (including a land-worthy Venetiangondola)--that fuels the series' success. Despite Moore's passiveperformance (which Pauline Kael described as "like an officemanager who is turning into dead wood but hanging on to collect hispension"), Moonraker had no problem attracting anappreciative audience, and there are even a few renegade Bond-phileswho consider it one of their favorites. --Jeff Shannon
AWARDS FOR MOONRAKER (1979):
- Academy Awards, USA
1980
Nominated
Oscar
Best Effects, Visual Effects
Derek Meddings
Paul Wilson
John Evans
- Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA
1980
Nominated
Saturn Award
Best Science Fiction Film
Best Special Effects
John Evans
John Richardson
Best Supporting Actor
Richard Kiel
- Golden Screen, Germany
1980
Won
Golden Screen
- Satellite Awards
2004
Nominated
Golden Satellite Award
Best Classic DVD Release
Also for From Russia with Love (1963), You Only Live Twice (1967), Diamonds Are Forever (1971), For Your Eyes Only (1981), The Living Daylights (1987) and The World Is Not Enough (1999) [Vol. 2].Also for Thunderball (1965), On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), Live and Let Die (1973), Octopussy (1983), A View to a Kill (1985) and Die Another Day (2002). [Vol. 3]For "The James Bond DVD Collection", volumes 2 & 3.
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