Moonraker, the eleventh James Bond film in the official EON series, opened in the UK on June 28th 1979 (following its London premiere on the 26th). It was directed by Lewis Gilbert (his third and final Bond film), produced by Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli and written by
Christopher Wood. Ken Adam was the production designer,
Derek Meddings supervised the special effects, John Barry wrote the score whilst John Glen edited the film and directed the second unit.
I've already written an in-depth retrospective blog about the film (
which you can read here) but I didn't want to miss this opportunity to celebrate the fourth
Roger Moore-era Bond film so here's something a little different.
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| Corgi, who held the licence for die-cast Bond models, made Moonraker their cover star for the 1979 catalogue and produced a nifty Shuttle and Drax helicopter in two sizes. |
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| I really wanted one of these... |
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| I only discovered this when I was writing the post, I'm now resisting the urge to try and find it on ebay... |
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| The James Bond Moonraker annual was published by World & Whitman and featured articles (with plenty of pictures) on the making of the film, the cast and crew, Ian Fleming, the novels, the baddies, Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice. I spent ages looking in shops in nearby Kettering and Corby for a copy, finally discovering one in a little general store in Rothwell. |
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| The fact file, from the back pages of the annual |
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| Ken Adam's sets were inspired - and huge! The production took over three of the major studios in France. |
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| Derek Meddings works on the plane miniature from the start of the film. All of the space sequences were shot "in camera" with the film wound back after each take, rather than be optically composited (as those for Star Wars were). |
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| Announcing the film in Paris (from left) - Albert R Cubby Broccoli, Roger Moore, Lois Chiles, Lewis Gilbert |
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| Roger Moore on-set with his then-wife Luisa |
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| Roger Moore, Blanche Ravalec and Richard Kiel share a laugh between takes |
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| Behind the scenes on the artwork by Dan Goozee |
Happy anniversary, Moonraker!
40? How did that happen? I remember going to see this while I was on a school trip to the Lake District - which would be a brilliant place to hide a villain's lair...
ReplyDeleteIt's gone in a flash, hasn't it? And yes to the Lakes, that would be excellent!
DeleteThe scene with Jaws jumping from one cable car to the other makes me want to gouge my eyes out with a rusty spoon. The annual was great though, can clearly remember saving up for this when I was 10. Sadly I didn't get to see the film on initial release due to getting into a plum fight with the lad next door ! Colin
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree - and the back projection work on the cable cars is poor too! Still love it though. And I hope you won that plum fight!
DeleteI can't recall! And yes, I love it too. Still got the annual though. Got quite a shelf full of them now!
DeleteMe too - I had some I'd saved from childhood, picked others up from retro shops :)
Delete'His good looks tend to give the impression of a man of a delicate nature...' says the confidential file, making one wonder if the writer is referring to Roger Moore's Bond in particular. But no - the content of this piece was reprinted from one of the Connery Bond Annuals in the '60s. Surprising, eh? Not that I think Roger looks delicate, but it's never something you'd think could be said about Sean.
ReplyDeleteThat is surprising and certainly not something I'd associate with Connery.
DeleteIt's just hit me - 40 years. It surely can't be? I remember it as if it were yesterday. I saw the movie four times in my local cinema. It seems like I blinked - and 40 years had passed.
DeleteI know exactly what you mean! :)
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