An American space shuttle has been hijacked from the back of a British 747 and OO7 is sent to investigate. Bond first arrives at Drax Enterprises where the Moonraker shuttles are built. He also meets Hugo Drax, the mysterious billionaire behind the Moonraker empire. Bond is immediately suspicious and Drax does not waste time trying to eliminate OO7. The movie globehops from California to Venice to Rio and then outer space. Where Bond and his CIA partner Holly Goodhead prepare
for a final showdown between Drax and his indestructible henchman, Jaws.

Without a doubt, Moonraker is the second worst in the series. Next to A View To A Kill (The Worst) and The Man With The Golden Gun (Third Worst). The film in my opinion is EON's very own Casino Royale version. It is played for laughs and spoofs other genres. Comparing the two films side by side can be rather scary. For example, In CR Bond lives in a mansion that looks very much like Drax's. The pheasant hunt in MR is similar to CR only the latter has robotic birds. Bond's gondola chase through the canals of Venice in MR is as silly as the Milk Truck chase in CR. And finally, the battle scene in Drax's space station
seems to copy itself from the final battle scene at the end of CR.

Although the film initially did very well at the boxoffice, however, it does not have the staying power of previous Bond films such as Goldfinger, Thunderball and On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Fortunately, the people at EON seem to realize that they drifted too far in the comic direction and have done a
complete 180 degree turn with the Dalton and Brosnan films.

Most Memorable Dialogue:

Drax: "Look after Mr. Bond. See that some harm comes to him."

Dr. Shatterhand's Scale from 1 to 10

"2"

CAST

Roger Moore . . . . . . . . . . James Bond OO7

Lois Chiles . . . . . . . . . . Dr. Holly Goodhead

Michael Lonsdale . . . . . . . . . . Hugo Drax

Richard Kiel . . . . . . . . . . Jaws

Corrine Clery . . . . . . . . . . Corrine Dufour

Toshiro Suga . . . . . . . . . . Chang

Geoffrey Keen . . . . . . . . . . Minister of Defense Frederick Grey

Bernard Lee . . . . . . . . . . M

Lois Maxwell . . . . . . . . . . Miss Moneypenny

Desmond Llewelyn . . . . . . . . . . Q

Emily Bolton . . . . . . . . . . Manuela

Blanche Ravalec . . . . . . . . . . Dolly

Irka Bochenko . . . . . . . . . . Blonde Beauty

Michael Marshall . . . . . . . . . . Colonel Scott

Walter Gotell . . . . . . . . . . General Anatol Gogol

Leila Shenna . . . . . . . . . . Hostess Private Jet

Anne Lonnberg . . . . . . . . . . Museum Guide

Arthur Howard . . . . . . . . . . Cavendish

Claude Carliez . . . . . . . . . . Gondolier

Georges Beller . . . . . . . . . . Drax's Technician