MOVIE OF THE DAY: MOONRAKER

No one that got that far into Moonraker was going to have trouble accepting much of anything.

I loved it when I originally saw it in the theaters.
I hated it throughout the 90s because it wasn't a 'pure' Bond film.
I watched it again, for the heck of it, about two months ago. I enjoyed every ludicrous minute of it. It hits the exact right tone of camp goofiness from beginning to end.

I feel like "gritty" is the wrong word for On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Moonraker stands with Die Another Day, A View to a Kill and Never Say Never Again as the worst James Bond movies ever put to film. Even if NSNA is "unofficial".

David Oliver, Moonraker is one of my favorite 007 films. Lewis Gilbert is also my...favorite Bond Director.
My Favorite Bond Films...
1) The Spy Who Loved Me
2) For Your Eyes Only
3) Moonraker
4) You Only Live Twice
5) License To Kill
6) The Man With The Golden Gun
7) Octopussy
8) Casino Royale
9) Live And Let Die
10) Tomorrow Never Dies

Agree completely with the article. Would also add that it has one of John Barry's most grand, majestic scores. Worth seeing for that, alone.

Well, you're right about two of those.

Never Say Never Again is better than...Thunderball! Not one but...2 awesome Bond Babes, Kim Basinger and Barbara Cararra!

Moonraker was the first Bond movie I ever saw. While there are better Bond flicks, Goldfinger, FRWL, TSWLM, OHMSS, Casino Royale etc, I still enjoy Moonraker. For as silly as it is, its never boring.

Yeoh. Yeoh, Yoeh, Yeoh! I would put that one higher, but I may be biased.

Agent Z, Tomorrow Never Dies is great, but as far as 007 flicks go, the...Moore, the merrier!

Moonraker was the first Bond film I saw in theaters. Because of that, I was a fan of Moore's Bond as a kid.

These days, I'm not really a Bond fan, for a lot of reasons, but love Casino Royale. Hoping the third Craig outing resembles it a lot more than Quantum.

In many ways I actually find Moonraker to be an improvement over The Spy Who Loved Me. One thing I always hated about TSWLM was the stupid subplot with Anya vowing to kill Bond for the death of her lover because it never went anywhere interesting and was too inconsistent throughout the film, for example the very serious scene where Anya tells Bond she'll kill him cuts straight away to Bond and Anya hanging on a winch with Moore smiling at her as if he just got a boner. The scenes play out as if it's a high school production with Barabara Bach's utterly flat delivery "when the meeshun eez ovah... I will keel you", making her one of the worst acting Bond girls in the series (plus she looks like a monkey). While Lois Chiles is no better or worse at least the filmmakers never try pretending she's otherwise with terrible drama and instead just display her like a Bond girl should be: A plot device in the form of a hot beautiful woman with nice jugs for Roger Moore to fuck while orbiting earth.

Other bonuses for Moonraker are the cinematography, which I find far more impressive in MR, it really holds up well and at times looks as if its a brand new film that just got released (especially during the scenes in Venice). And John Barry returns to show how a Bond score is really done. It's fucking criminal that none of John Barry's Bond scores are ever nominated for Oscars, but somehow Marvin Hamlisch gets one? What the fuck is that all about!?

Moonraker's tone is more consistent too. It never tries to pretend to be anything else other than outlandish extravaganza. Maybe that's too far removed from the source material and previous films for some fans to handle, but I go along for the ride and enjoy it. It's a take it or leave it deal. The pre-title sequence with Roger Moore falling off a plane without a parachute pretty much lays out the tone for the entire film, a true tribute to the method Guy Hamilton used in Goldfinger.

I love the over the top nature of Moonraker. I also believe Diamonds Are Forever to be one of the best movies in the franchise. That should get a movie of the day also.

Moonraker was one I saw as a kid also, and I loved it, but I was introduced to Timothy Dalton in Licence To Kill, first, so I already knew of the serious Bond (Dalton is still my favorite Bond), and Moonraker didn't hamper that at all.

The best thing already mentioned is that we got For Your Eyes Only which is also one of the best Bond movies, and Moore's best outing as Bond. Coincidentally, yesterday my Dad was eating pistachio nuts and he mentioned the movie, and I ran off Columbo's little speech to Bond about what he smuggles and why he's not the bad guy. He liked that.

"But no heroin."

If not for Moonraker, there wouldn't be FYEO more realistic plot and action scenes. FYEO also had a car chase with a shitty car years before the Bourne movies.

Chaz, I was...devastated, when Bond's Lotus Turbo Esprit, self destructed. I always hate to see cool, supervehicles get wrecked! I nearly cried, when Roy Scheider's Frank Murphy landed the...Blue Thunder on the railroad tracks, causing it's destruction. As a result I love the...Blue Thunder Tv Series more!

Moonraker, set me over the...Moon, with excitement. This film alone has led me down the path of hardcore...James Bondage! I like, The Spy Who Loved Me...MOORE, but both are...Awe-Inspiring and Awesome!

Rene (Mr.Eko), Actually I like the subplot that...XXX, threatened to kill 007, for killing her husband. It is similar to...No Fault Divorce, today! Of Ms. Chiles, I love, Lois's...Lanes!

I've seen this movie many times in my life, but probably not since I was in 8th grade when I last forced myself to include the Moore films in my Bond marathons. Moore's Bond does not really appeal to my sensibilities these days, but reading over this MOD entry reminded me that even the films I hold in less than high esteem still had great elements. The parachute jump sequence is by far one of the better Bond openings. The river boat explosions were cool, as was the glass factory. I don't even really mind space, since Moore's Bond never felt like the same character to me as Connery and Craigs anyway. MOONRAKER may not be my favorite, but this MOD entry reminds me that it's not scorn worthy either

PS The death by hunting hounds was actually pretty grim and upsetting for a Moore flick