Moonraker

Continuing my quest to watch all of the Bond films in order, Sharon, Jack and I watched Moonraker on Friday night. Released in 1979, this is the eleventh spy film of the British James Bond series and the fourth to star Roger Moore as the British secret agent James Bond. The film takes its title from the third novel in Ian Fleming's James Bond series. The script for the film was significantly from the book to include outer space.

Bond is sent to investigate the mysterious theft of a space shuttle, leading him to Hugo Drax, billionaire owner of the shuttle-manufacturing firm. Along with space scientist Holly Goodhead, who later is identified as a CIA agent also investigating Drax, Bond follows the trail of clues from California to Venice, Italy, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and the Amazon rain forest, and finally into outer space in a bid to prevent a genocidal plot to wipe out the world and re-create human existence with a master race.

In addition to Roger Moore as James Bond, the cast includes Michael Lonsdale as Sir Hugo Drax, Lois Chiles as Holly Goodhead and Richard Kiel as Jaws.

Of all the Bond films that we have seen to-date, these are probably my least favorite villain and Bond girl. Michael Lonsdale's biography indicates that he has appeared in over 180 films and television shows, but I thought that his performance was wooden and uninspiring. Lois Chiles performance as the Bond girl left me cold.