James Bond 007 film-by-film thread

I might as well admit it: I love the double-take pigeon. It's so stupid that I can't help but laugh every time I see it.

 

Despite the over the top comedy and cringe worthy scenes involving the Gondola and pigeon, the look of this film is beautiful, including Venice. It was inspired by Star Wars, Close Encounters (the theme is played in the film) which were popular at the time. It did ratchet up from the previous film: Lawrence of Arabia theme in TSWLM to The Magnificent Seven theme in Moonraker.

And I do love the locales in this.

 

Moonraker looks stunning, has great locations, the bad guy gets some great one-liners and that fall out of the plane with no parachute is awesome. Top John Barry score too.

 

This is an interesting thread and has stirred me into revisiting the series.

Leaving aside personal favorites I would just note that movies which have a fantasy/Romantic* aspect or alternatively striking characters are more likely to survive compared with more realistic dramas no matter how well made. So purely in terms of longevity I would bet on some of the Roger Moore and some of the Connery films with these aspects to survive better than even some well made dramas in the series. This is despite the contemporary feeling that they are goofy or too unrealistic.

*By romantic I don't mean love/sex but rather a type of story that has characters with abilities slightly above the human range who are the heroes and heroines of fables.

 

NEWSFLASH: Radio Caroline founder Ronan O'Rahilly has passed away | Hotpress

 

The soundtrack album is very short and apparently Barry was not pleased with it. His original idea was a double album with the 2nd album featuring a suite based on cues used in the film plus additional material.

 

I watched Moonraker last night. I know it's widely ridiculed and the final act is ludicrous, but I have great affection for it, probably because it's the Bond film I saw most as a child. And Lois Chiles is my favourite Bond Girl.

I'm working my way through the series in sequence on blu-ray during the lockdown. I generally watch one every night, followed by the relevant Patrick Macnee narrated documentary.

I've occasionally watched something else or - as was the case tonight - played records instead, but I'll probably watch For Your Eyes Only tomorrow.

 

I've been doing the same - it's comforting to know during a global pandemic I can still depend on James Bond (cue theme!).

Moonraker is hard to hate (as least I think so) and I completely agree with your point about how one's opinion of the film is skewed by the age they first saw it. In 1979 I was 11 - and remember having an absolute ball of a time seeing Moonraker with a couple of buddies on a Saturday afternoon. The movie still takes me back to that (so does The Spy Who Loved Me).

 

I've recently started to watch (or re-watch) the whole franchise from the beginning, in chronological order. Kept finding nice copies of the Ultimate Collection 2DVD sets in charity shops, and decided to fill in all the other gaps in my collection. Am I too late for this thread?

EG.

 

I read that there was more music but it was either lost or destroyed many years ago, hence why they only have so many songs to release. Disappointing to hear if that's the case, as Moonraker has one of his best scores.

 

I was 12 when I saw it in the theater. People clapped and cheered after the opening scene and everyone was happy leaving the theater. Yeah, there's a couple of tacky sequences, but people loved the movie back then. The producers evidently were looking to outdo The Spy Who Loved Me, which was no easy task, and mostly succeeded. In fact, I believe it was the highest grossing Bond film up until that time, not adjusted for inflation. That would not have happened if they didn't do something right.

 

There are cover versions kicking about

 

Regarding Moonraker, is it the only time it has happend that the theme song appears two times in a JB movie? In two different versions? Did the disco version chart?

 

The Spy Who Love Me featured something similar, with a slightly different version of "Nobody Does It Better" appearing during the end credits. The Man with the Golden Gun did it as well, so it seemed really common during the Moore era.

 

I most recently watched Live and Let Die and it has another version of the theme song performed when Bond and Leiter go to a club. The singer, BJ Arnau, was at one point supposed to sing the opening credits version but Paul McCartney insisted on doing it himself with his band.

 

As I noted above, serious fans of the series are likely to be disappointed at the longevity of what they think are the goofier fantasy humor installments. One just has to look at the longevity of Doctor Who over more serious UK TV to see that.

Speaking of doctors my one significant disappointment with what has been a very consistent 60 year run of movies is the failure to get any Bond woman remotely as good let alone better than Ursula Andress in Dr. No. Most of the others were OK or better actresses but not really as magnetic on screen. Actually Ursula acted reasonably well in it.

 

I agree. She was in many ways the perfect Bond girl. I especially like the subtle moment where she criticizes Bond for killing one of Dr. No's men (unnecessarily, she feels) saying, "Why? Why?...." Bond replies "Because I had to..." but she's not buying it. She doesn't adore Bond and tumble into bed with him, and she isn't impressed with his macho countenance, she's more legitimate and independent than most Bond girls.

 

No Bond girl had a better introduction than Ursula Andress. That moment in Dr. No when she emerges from the sea is nearly as iconic as Sean Connery's introduction earlier in the film.

 

Underrated theme

 

Not the usual catchy Legrand score, but I like it.

 

I really enjoy the Moonraker soundtrack.

John Barry did a very good job as a lot of the songs aren't a typical Bond score.

 

Wasn’t the Moonraker theme originally to be sung by Johnny Mathis? Imho Dame Shirley nails it.

 

Moonraker has traditionally been in my top 5 of the Bond films, and has climbed as high as #2 at one time. There is just something so fun about it all, I simply can't see how people can think it is the worst when you have truly bad cheesy movies like Diamonds Are Forever and much harder to watch serious films (Dalton, World is Not Enough, Spectre etc.) I suppose it is destined for Moore's films to date the fastest, but as a distillation of what defines Bond from the others you gotta go with the Lewis Gilbert films. Moonraker one ups The Spy Who Loved Me by removing the lulls and having an adequate climax, plus it has to be one of the best looking films, or at least up there with YOLT and OHMSS, my other favorites.

 

Is OHMSS the only Xmas Bond film?