Amph 60+ Years of James Bond 007

Moonraker is terrible. I mean, objectively awful. It starts with Jaws for no reason waiting until Bond has gotten some before appearing, then he lands on a circus tent after falling from a plane. There's no redeeming this film, which is a good thing because they don't.

There are, however, a few tonally jarring moments that actually work. Corrine's death is from another film, and really highlights what Havac is talking about with respect of Lewis Gilbert. The centrifuge scene ends with the 70 year old Roger Moore actually not just shrugging death off. But it's in a film with the Bondola, the pigeon double take, a literal safari suit with loafers, and the entire end piece. Not only is it ripping off Star Wars, it's ripping off the villain's plan from the previous film and just setting it in space.

Roger Moore is terrible as Bond and people are terrible for liking him. 001/007.

1. OHMSS
2. FRWL
3. Thunderball
4. Dr No
5. Goldfinger
6. TSWLM
7. YOLT
8. LALD
9. DAF (more like DIAF)
10. TMWTGG
11. Moonraker

 

@Ender Sai You're absolutely right about Corinne's death. It's probably the best scene in the film, but it does not fit the tone of the film at all.

 

you've left out the bit where he starts flapping his arms in an attempt to fly .

 

Blocked out. Not left out.

 

Moonraker is the worst.

 

Blocked it out ? No no no no no , that won't do , nurse have Mr. Ender prepared



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Moonraker .

To me it looks like they just thought well , let's do TSWLM again . But they upped the gags this time .
Thing is - Moonraker was a massive b.o. success , biggest to that date I believe and remained so for quite a while .

They certainly put the money on the screen , plenty of locations , sets and FX .
But its painfully dumb , all played for laughs .
And the action scenes - what a load of **** , instead of action scenes with moves , strategy etc. they can't be bothered , so gadgets appear out of thin air , a gondola turns into a hovercraft and a speedboat turns into a hanglider

The one thing I think is impeccable tho is Derek Meddings' FX , and all done in-camera , some of those shuttle shots are amazing .

the only other bit I'd mention is the end sequence where they're chasing those death pods , for some reason the music and editing work really well and it actually creates a fair amount of tension .

 

I think we'd all agree that Moonraker occupies the Bottom Five, but it's too goofy for me to hate it. Like Moore himself, the movie aims to please. The nadir would come later, with a couple of the aggressively stupid, slick Brosnan efforts (and, sadly, the last Craig film).

Score: 3.5/10 (Just slightly above DAF.)

 

One positive.....the Jaws/Pippi Longstocking romance is still a better love story than TWILIGHT......

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How would it rate as a movie if it wasn't a James Bond film?

 

It would still be a depressingly terrible film. As a Bond flick, it's utterly pathetic and inept. I just don't understand why people like Roger Moore Bond films. I've met a couple who are actually my age. They must huff a lot of glue.

 

I like them because I liked them as a child so they are somewhat nostalgic for me (at least they were until recently)

 

Nothing really to add... so many totally accurate posts have already been made pointing out just how terrible Moonraker is.

1. From Russia With Love
2. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
3. Dr. No
4. Goldfinger
5. Thunderball
6. Live And Let Die
7. The Spy Who Loved Me
8. You Only Live Twice
9. Diamonds Are Forever
10. The Man With The Golden Gun
11. Moonraker

 

The MST3K episode would be unremarkable save for whatever joke Crow made about metal teeth that most folks wouldn't be able to remember the source of.

I don't get the claims that Moonraker is hilariously bad, it's garbage but not funny about it. There's none of that earnest zeal or bizarre misreading of genre goals I want in a good-bad film, it's perfunctory cash-in crap that, like all the bad Bond movies, doesn't even have the courtesy to send-up its underlying premise. Consequently it succeeds at nothing save wasting my time.

 

Supposing you want to score it ironically, it's not even the funniest shameless Star Wars-inspired money grab bad film from 1979, much less when we start bringing in ironic watch heavyweights that don't fit those ultra-narrow criteria. Truly a worthless movie.

 

Funny how these things time out, because guess what premiered in London on this date in 1979?

 

Ready to discuss For Your Eyes Only? I don't care, actually. I'm discussing it.

FYEO can't entirely escape being a Moore movie. It's got the ridiculous assassination-attempt sequence that cycles through every winter sport imaginable, some terrible gags and puns, a godawful score, that pointless and terrible pre-credits scene, the pointless and terrible Thatcher-talks-to-a-parrot end scene -- you know, the usual profusion of dumb stuff. And Moore is visibly much too old for the role, looking creaky and uncomfortable during the physical action scenes and faintly ludicrous during his attempts at romancing a woman thirty years younger than him.

But what makes the movie work is that that stuff stays mostly incidental. The core elements, aside from Moore, are solid, and even Moore doesn't spend much time mugging. It's a pared-down, low-key return to Cold War espionage, with solid stakes but no ludicrous millionaire-madman doomsday plot. It feels very much like a Connery movie, a serious thriller, and would have been a perfect start to Dalton's tenure. The script is pretty good, with a solid Bond girl in Melina and a twisty plot that revolves around the excellent concept of the British getting played by a double agent. Kristatos is a fantastic villain, well played by Julian Glover, and gets a solid supporting cast of villainous underlings. Columbo is a great ally, firmly in the lusty-local-contact tradition going all the way back to Kerim Bey. The setting is great, full of lovely, fresh scenery. There are some really solid action scenes like the warehouse gunfight to go along with the silly hockey-player brawl and dune buggy rundown assassination attempts.

This is way, way closer to greatness than a Moore movie has any right to get.

1. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
2. From Russia with Love
3. Dr. No
4. For Your Eyes Only
5. Goldfinger
6. The Spy Who Loved Me
7. Thunderball
8. You Only Live Twice
9. The Man with the Golden Gun
10. Live and Let Die
11. Diamonds Are Forever
12. Moonraker

 

I know most Bond fans rate FYEO as Moore's best , but I'm afraid I'd rank it below Moonraker .

Yes , it brings the series back to earth and the plot is more Fleming than we'd seen in quite a while , but its very sluggish and quite boring at times .
I quite like lots of things about it , but the thing is I never get above 'quite liking' .
Topol and Julian Glover are good . The underwater stuff and the mountain climbing is just tedious .
And it has a serious contender for 'worst moment ever in a Bond movie ' : the awful unfunny sketch at the end with 'Maggie Thatcher' wtf .

.

 

FYEO

It's a second-rate From Russia With Love--Moore is no Connery, Glover no Lenya, Gothard no Shaw, Carole Bouquet a non-entity of a Bond girl, director Glenn lacking the graceful touch of Young--but still, in the barren wasteland of 70s Bond, something of a miracle. Two of the action sequences are exquisite--the Kristatos's underwater assassination attempt on Bond and Melina (lifted from the LALD novel) and the superbly staged/edited mountain climb--and the narrative comprehensible. The only Moore adventure that could be considered a genuinely decent movie.

Final score: 7/10

 

SHEER MADNESS.

 

For Your Eyes only is far from a good film or even a good Bond film. It has way too many dumb things in it to make it watchable. Bibi, the hockey team attack, the off pacing of the first two thirds of the film.

But good ****ing Lord, that mountain climbing sequence. What a masterful set piece from an otherwise mediocre film. And the supporting players were all fantastic.

 

For Your Eyes Only is similar to some of the other Moore films in that it's not great, but it kind of makes up for it with some nostalgic charm, IMO. I will say that one more time, BTW, when we discuss Octopussy. But FYEO is a decent movie if you can ignore the cheese, etc. It falls below the other Moore movies that have more fun or memorable parts in them, but above the really bad ones.

1. From Russia With Love
2. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
3. Dr. No
4. Goldfinger
5. Thunderball
6. Live And Let Die
7. The Spy Who Loved Me
8. For Your Eyes Only
9. You Only Live Twice
10. Diamonds Are Forever
11. The Man With The Golden Gun
12. Moonraker

 

Shame that the original plan for Peter Hunt to direct it never worked out.