MovieChat Forums > Moonraker (1979) Discussion > All the Bond films ranked - is Moonraker...

All the Bond films ranked - is Moonraker in the all time top ten?


Moonraker is ranked pretty high, especially for a Roger Moore Bond flick!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qiabtsvtj48&t=174s

reply

It's in my top five. Look, it's got serious rewatchability. I have seen it more times than 90% of Bond movies. It's got it all - great Bond girl, tons of gadgets, exotic locales, a bad guy who wants to rule the world, TWO wicked bad guy lairs (South America and Space Station), the return of Jaws (my favorite henchman), a fantastic opening sequence...

reply

John Barry's mechalomaniac score... Moonraker is one of the movies that made me a soundtrack collector.

reply

It's in my top ten Bond films. But I've only seen eight of them. My favorites:
1. Goldeneye (1995)
2. Casino Royale (2006)
3. Moonraker (1979)
4. Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
5. License to Kill (1989)
6. Skyfall (2012)
7. The World Is Not Enough (1999)
8. Die Another Day (2002) - I sure hope there aren't any Bond films worse than this

reply

Did you see the newest one?

reply

8. Ooch.

reply

It's in my top 10:-

On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Goldfinger
Moonraker
The Spy Who Loved Me
You Only Live Twice
The Man with the Golden Gun
Dr No
Octopussy
Die Another Day
Live and Let Die

reply

Roger Moore was always my favourite Bond out of all of them, with perhaps Timothy Dalton SECOND, but I will say that Moonraker is one of my all-time favourite Bond movies! When you consider the whole premise of a British secret agent who foils ridiculous plots like Dr. No and Ernst Stavro Blofeld's evil schemes, then going one stage further with Hugo Drax's space city populated by eugenic supermen who plan to repopulate Earth after Drax has wiped out humankind on Earth as it is is really going to surprise no-one with it's ridiculousness, but is sure is FUCKING ENTERTAINING watching Bond defeat him at it!

reply

I'll say this -- a big part of the Franchise died after this one. Bernard Lee. Moonraker was his final appearance as M. The Franchise was never the same for me. He epitomized for me the aristocratic, pipe-smoking, exclusive Gentlemen's Club going (not in the American sense) spymaster. M was never the same. The Franchise was never the same. IMO.

reply

I know what you mean. Also, Moonraker was Ken Adams' last Bond (the set designer).

reply

Ken Adams was the master of James Bond sets! The father of the hollowed out volcano! (amongst other things)

reply

Interesting. There was definitely something lost towards the end of the Moore Era, which continued on with the Dalton efforts.

Perhaps Ken Adams' sets were a big part of that...

https://www.gearpatrol.com/briefings/a223273/remembering-ken-adam-production-design/

reply

Sure, its in my top5, at least.

reply

Top 15 maybe.

reply

I certainly think it is. It gets little respect among Bond films these days, and I do understand why. The plot is recycled from its immediate predecessor "The Spy Who Loved Me." It was a naked cash grab to make a sci-fi Bond film in the wake of the phenomenon that was Star Wars. It dialed up the camp that was characteristic of the Moore era. I understand why that turns some people off.

But the film has a lot going for it. It's one of the most beautifully filmed Bond films of all time; the cinematography is simply brilliant, and film just has an epic look and feel to it. Lois Chiles was one of the most gorgeous Bond girls of all time. The pre-credits action sequence was one of the best of all the Bond films. John Barry's score was perhaps the best he ever did for the series. It is a well-paced, well-directed, eminently rewatchable film. There's a reason it was the highest-grossing Bond film up that point. Audiences in 1979 really loved this film, and turned out in huge numbers.

Personally, it's also one of my favorites because I was a ten year-old kid, and this was the first Bond film I ever went to see in the theaters. Nostalgia definitely plays a part in how much I like the movie, but I do think it's simply a good film in its own right,and one I think you will enjoy if you can get past how discordant a note it strikes in the whole Bond series.

reply