S M G
S M G
The Spy Who Loved Me raked it in. Albert Broccoli as a solo producer had been vindicated. Bond had retaken his place firmly in the cultural lexicon, and it was now sure that there really was a next generation audience for Bond. The mid 70’s had marked a change in the nature of cinema in Hollywood. A period of movies which belonged to the auteur, the individualistic movies which did not pander to audience expectations, but went determinedly their own way (Easy Rider, Serpico, The Man Who Fell to Earth) emerged. So did genre movies – the disaster movie came to life with The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno, and a new generation of bleak war movies (MASH, Patton).. but by the mid 70’s, one of the new generation of filmmakers had a smash hit with a film about a fish – Jaws, and one of his buddies then went on to have a smash hit set in a galaxy far, far away.. the blockbuster was born. In particular, space was in vogue, and the startling success of Close Encounters and Star Wars caught the eye of ‘Cubby’ Brocolli, who decided that instead of filming ‘For Your Eyes Only’ as promised in the end titles of The Spy Who Loved Me, the sky had to no longer be the limit for Bond – he had to go into space. “Moonraker” was the vehicle for that to happen.
The plot of the book was considered rather tame.. an atomic warhead pointed at London, after Stromberg had threatened to obliterate the world seemed to be thinking small… and everything about Moonraker was designed to be a step bigger. One big change for moviemakers though was that the cost of movies had exploded..(the budget for Moonraker was twice that for TSWLM) and at the same time the tax regime in the UK had become intolerable for many . John Barry had already become a tax exile and therefore been unable to do The Spy Who Loved Me. Broccoli made a painful decision – Bond was going to leave his spiritual home in the UK and decamp – to France. In order to film the movies huge scope, ever single inch of studio space in Paris was booked out. Ken Adams went to work, building his remarkable sets in multiple locations across the city. The location work was going to be the broadest scope also.. at one point there were 5 units working simultaneously on the movie, from Venice and Rio De Janeiro, Pinewood for special effects team, Central America, Napa Valley and Silver Springs Florida.
Moore happily signed up for another movie, though his initial 3 movie contract had been fulfilled. The France location required a French actor (for tax break purposes), so Michael Lonsdale, who spoke perfect English, was hired as Drax, and Lois Chiles was to play Holly Goodhead, another role reflecting Bonds concession to women’s lib following the success of Major Amasova in the previous outing. The other regulars all appeared, including, sadly, the last appearance of ailing Bernard Lee who died a year later of stomach cancer.
Broccoli declared the movie would not be science fiction, but science fact.. and the first half of the movie really is a tour de force of Bond staples with a bravura opening scene, boat chases, stunning locations and even the return of the popular Jaws. The second half though you’d be hard pressed to say was not sci-fi hokum, and is one of the most dated sections of the 70’s Bond movies. Try to remember though – this was phenomenal stuff in the late 70’s. The audiences lapped it up, and Moonraker broke all sorts of box office records. The premiere was attended by Andy Warhol, Frank Sinatra, Robin Williams, Gregory Peck and many others – it really defined the event movie, and it made as much as The Spy Who Loved Me – although ticket sales were slightly less.
Lewis Gilbert had returned to direct his third movie in the series, Ken Adams designed and even John Barry was back on music duties. Many critics at the time declared it the best Bond yet, praising the effects (which were nominated for an Oscar) and the humour and action scenes. Some however derided it as the campiest and most incredulous yet, with some of the criticism levelled at Moore for sleepwalking in the role.. Roger Ebert said "it's so jammed with faraway places and science fiction special effects that Bond has to move at a trot just to make it into all the scenes".
Over time, the movie that was the crowning success of blockbuster Bond has definitely not aged gracefully.
Trivia
Producer Albert R. Broccoli called Steven Spielberg requesting permission to use the indelible 5-note leitmotif from his Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Broccoli wanted to use it as the entry code for an electronic laboratory door lock in a scene in Moonraker. Some years later, Spielberg called Broccoli requesting permission to use the 007 theme music for a scene in a movie he was producing titled, The Goonies. The Steven Spielberg/Cubby Broccoli connection has another twist - an interest in directing a Bond film while in negotiations with Broccoli until Star Wars producer/creator George Lucas offered the script for Raiders of the Lost Ark.
The budget for Moonraker was more than the combined budget total of the first six EON James Bond movies put together.
Moonraker was filmed on three continents, in four studios, and across seven countries.
The filmmakers did not think that viewers would accept the relationship between Jaws and Dolly due to the height difference between them. Her role had been written for a giant lady to match Jaws' own size. It was only when Richard Kiel pointed out that his actual wife was the same height as Dolly that they changed their minds. Jaws' (Richard Kiel) height was 7 ft 2½ inches.
Claude Renoir was originally hired as Director of Photography but had to depart because of his failing eyesight.
Except for a few brief close-ups, the entire sequence of Bond, Jaws and the pilot falling from the plane with Bond and the pilot fighting for a single parachute was actually shot in free-fall. There were only sixty to seventy seconds of freefall time between when the stunt performers exited the aircraft and when they had to activate their 'chutes. After factoring in the time needed to get the performers and cameraman into position after leaving their plane, only a few seconds of film could be shot per jump. Therefore, the entire sequence required 88 jumps and five weeks to film, just to produce the two minutes of footage in the final film.
Albert R. Broccoli complained that Maurice Binder's title sequence cost more than the entire budget of Dr. No.
Beat the world record by having the biggest amount of "zero-g" wires used in one scene.
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