Ich denke MR kann man gut mit DAD vergleichen
Am Anfang fängt MR wirklich klasse an, bietet exotische Drehorte, Charme, Witz und auch Action, nachher, sobald Bond in Drax' Station im Urwald ist und schließlich im All wird es unrealistischer - das gleiche bei DAD mit Ikarus und diesem Anzug von Graves.
Daher erhält MR von mit insgesamt 8/10 Pkt.
Re: Bewertet: Moonraker
107Dieser Vergleich MR vs. DAD scheint naheliegend, da es sich zweifellos bei beiden Filmen um die umstrittensten und übertriebensten handelt.
Dennoch finde ich trifft der Vergleich nicht richtig zu.
Beide Filme haben Stärken und Schwächen und sicher ist bei beiden Filmen die erste Hälfte jeweils besser als die Zweite. Dennoch finde ich, dass DAD hier in der zweiten Hälfte in einer ganz anderen Liga der Schwachsinnigkeit ist.
MR mag unglaubwürdiger oder gar noch übertriebener sein mit seinen Laser-Kanonen im Weltall. Aber dennoch zerfällt der Film für mich nicht so wie es DAD tut. Bei DAD wird die Story gar nicht gut entwickelt, Bond stolpert eher von einer Episode in die Nächste. Der "Plan" des Bösewichts wird eigentlich nur in wenigen Nebensätzen angerissen. Alles was davor war im Film, spielt auch eigentlich dafür keine Rolle. Die Diamanten sind kaum wichtig, die Traummaschine ist Dreck, der Raketenschlitten ist Blödsinn, die Rüstung Graves is Quark etc. Was ermittelt Bond eigentlich im Film? Muss er ja auch nicht, weil am Ende Graves alles selbst enthüllt. Es folgt eine peinliche Ansammlung von nichtssagendem Effekt-Brei.
Bei MR ist das sehr anders. Den ganzen Film über ermittelt Bond und kommt dem Plan des Bösewichts nach und nach auf die Schliche. Die Action im All wäre zwar nicht nötig gewesen, aber dennoch ist sie stimmig inszeniert. Außerdem ist es nicht reine Action sondern es gibt weiterhin Dialoge, die alles vorantreiben. Letztlich ist der SHowdown ein stimmiger Abschluss des Films. Ich finde auch, MR hat seine Probleme eher in einigen langatmigen Actionszenen zuvor (die beiden Bootsverfolgungen) und manchen übertriebenen Details (die Krankenwagenszene etc.). Aber in Summe bleibt der Film stimmig und konsequent.
Dennoch finde ich trifft der Vergleich nicht richtig zu.
Beide Filme haben Stärken und Schwächen und sicher ist bei beiden Filmen die erste Hälfte jeweils besser als die Zweite. Dennoch finde ich, dass DAD hier in der zweiten Hälfte in einer ganz anderen Liga der Schwachsinnigkeit ist.
MR mag unglaubwürdiger oder gar noch übertriebener sein mit seinen Laser-Kanonen im Weltall. Aber dennoch zerfällt der Film für mich nicht so wie es DAD tut. Bei DAD wird die Story gar nicht gut entwickelt, Bond stolpert eher von einer Episode in die Nächste. Der "Plan" des Bösewichts wird eigentlich nur in wenigen Nebensätzen angerissen. Alles was davor war im Film, spielt auch eigentlich dafür keine Rolle. Die Diamanten sind kaum wichtig, die Traummaschine ist Dreck, der Raketenschlitten ist Blödsinn, die Rüstung Graves is Quark etc. Was ermittelt Bond eigentlich im Film? Muss er ja auch nicht, weil am Ende Graves alles selbst enthüllt. Es folgt eine peinliche Ansammlung von nichtssagendem Effekt-Brei.
Bei MR ist das sehr anders. Den ganzen Film über ermittelt Bond und kommt dem Plan des Bösewichts nach und nach auf die Schliche. Die Action im All wäre zwar nicht nötig gewesen, aber dennoch ist sie stimmig inszeniert. Außerdem ist es nicht reine Action sondern es gibt weiterhin Dialoge, die alles vorantreiben. Letztlich ist der SHowdown ein stimmiger Abschluss des Films. Ich finde auch, MR hat seine Probleme eher in einigen langatmigen Actionszenen zuvor (die beiden Bootsverfolgungen) und manchen übertriebenen Details (die Krankenwagenszene etc.). Aber in Summe bleibt der Film stimmig und konsequent.
"It's been a long time - and finally, here we are"
Re: Bewertet: Moonraker
108auf jeden Fall ist MR besser!
es gab ja zu der Zeit auch diese Euphorie, das sieht man schon daran, dass nach TSWLM FYEO, nicht MR geplant war, dieser dann aber trotzdem erst vorgezogen wurde.
es gab ja zu der Zeit auch diese Euphorie, das sieht man schon daran, dass nach TSWLM FYEO, nicht MR geplant war, dieser dann aber trotzdem erst vorgezogen wurde.
"Für England, James? - Nein, für mich!"
Re: Bewertet: Moonraker
109Ein Vergleich zwischen MR und DAD liegt nahe, da beide mit seinerzeit monströsen Budgets gedreht wurden und beide auch unverblümt Anleihen im phantastischen Bereich machen. Letzterer Grund ist sicherlich auch mit ausschlaggebend dafür, dass nicht wenige Bondfans diesen Filmen eher skeptisch gegenüberstehen. Ich finde dennoch nicht, dass abgesehen von den genannten Punkten allzu viele Ähnlichkeiten zwischen beiden Filmen bestehen. Dafür sind die Filme vom Grundtempo schon viel zu unterschiedlich. MR ist eher ein gemütlicher, auskostender Film während DAD hingegen eher ein filmischer Parforce-Ritt auf Speed ist. Vor allem ist MR auch ein absolut stimmiger Film der nie versucht mehr als ein überbordendes buntes Spektakel zu sein. DAD hat da doch zu viele Brüche in Handlung, Thematik, Stil und Stimmung drin, als dass man ihn als wirklich durchgehend und stimmig bezeichnen könnte.
In der Beziehung sehe ich wesentlich mehr Parallelen zwischen MR und TWINE, der für einen Brosnan-Bond auch ein eher gemächliches Tempo (abgesehen von ein paar damals zeitgemäßen Hi-Speed-Actionszenen die aber auch deutlich spärlicher und übersichtlicher daherkommen als zB in TND und DAD) anschlägt und er trotz seiner Versuche ernsthaftere Töne anzuschlagen und seinen Figuren mehr Tiefgang zu verleihen in vielen Dingen letztlich auch nur das bunte Spektakel sein will (lesbische Nuklearphysikerin mit Modelmaße, schmerzloser Schurke mit Kugel im Kopf, Henchmen a la Mr Bull...) und daher trotz der ernsteren Elemente weitaus stimmiger ist. In Tempo, Stimmung und Stil sind sich MR und TWINE nicht unähnlich.
In der Beziehung sehe ich wesentlich mehr Parallelen zwischen MR und TWINE, der für einen Brosnan-Bond auch ein eher gemächliches Tempo (abgesehen von ein paar damals zeitgemäßen Hi-Speed-Actionszenen die aber auch deutlich spärlicher und übersichtlicher daherkommen als zB in TND und DAD) anschlägt und er trotz seiner Versuche ernsthaftere Töne anzuschlagen und seinen Figuren mehr Tiefgang zu verleihen in vielen Dingen letztlich auch nur das bunte Spektakel sein will (lesbische Nuklearphysikerin mit Modelmaße, schmerzloser Schurke mit Kugel im Kopf, Henchmen a la Mr Bull...) und daher trotz der ernsteren Elemente weitaus stimmiger ist. In Tempo, Stimmung und Stil sind sich MR und TWINE nicht unähnlich.
"Ihr bescheisst ja!?" - "Wir? Äh-Äh!" - "Na Na!"
Re: Bewertet: Moonraker
110Das sehe ich ganz anders. Schon deswegen weil ich MR nicht für einen stimmigen Film halte. Nicht mal in seinen Schwächen stimmig.
Ich finde das keiner der Brosnan Bonds MR sonderlich ähnlich wäre (abgesehen natürlich von den üblichen Ähnlichkeiten die jeder Bond zueinander hat). Der Bond der am besten zu MR passt ist eigentlich nur YOLT.
Aber ich habe gerade begonnen mir DAD noch einmal hereinzuziehen. Mal sehen was diesmal dabei herauskommt.
Na ja, wahrscheinlich nichts großartig anderes als beim letzten Mal. Die ersten 30 Min sind wirklich ziemlich gut. Sogar visuell aufregender als ich es in Erinnerung hatte.
Ich finde das keiner der Brosnan Bonds MR sonderlich ähnlich wäre (abgesehen natürlich von den üblichen Ähnlichkeiten die jeder Bond zueinander hat). Der Bond der am besten zu MR passt ist eigentlich nur YOLT.
Aber ich habe gerade begonnen mir DAD noch einmal hereinzuziehen. Mal sehen was diesmal dabei herauskommt.
Na ja, wahrscheinlich nichts großartig anderes als beim letzten Mal. Die ersten 30 Min sind wirklich ziemlich gut. Sogar visuell aufregender als ich es in Erinnerung hatte.
Re: Bewertet: Moonraker
111In Moonraker gibt es, auch nach so häufigem Ansehen, eine Sache, die für mich nicht schlüssig ist:
Wenn ein Missionar ein Exemplar der Orchidee, mit der Drax die Globen gefüllt hat, aus der unteren Region des Tapirape mitgebracht haben soll, wieso muss dann Drax ausgerechnet dort seine Station für den Abschuss der Moonraker errichten? Es wird ja schließlich im Film so erläutert. "Dann brachte ein Missionar ein Exemplar aus der oberen Region des Amazoco mit… Verzeihen Sie, aber es war die untere Region des Tapirape… Ich habe etwas das Sie dorthin bringen wird… es ist auch ein überaus seltenes Exemplar."
Weiß jemand, wie das zu erklären ist?
Wenn ein Missionar ein Exemplar der Orchidee, mit der Drax die Globen gefüllt hat, aus der unteren Region des Tapirape mitgebracht haben soll, wieso muss dann Drax ausgerechnet dort seine Station für den Abschuss der Moonraker errichten? Es wird ja schließlich im Film so erläutert. "Dann brachte ein Missionar ein Exemplar aus der oberen Region des Amazoco mit… Verzeihen Sie, aber es war die untere Region des Tapirape… Ich habe etwas das Sie dorthin bringen wird… es ist auch ein überaus seltenes Exemplar."
Weiß jemand, wie das zu erklären ist?
"Für England, James? - Nein, für mich!"
Re: Bewertet: Moonraker
112Bond sucht wahrscheinlich den Ort an dem Drax sich der Pflanzen bemächtigt, um so einen neuen Anhaltspunkt zu haben (Wo lässt Drax die Blüten hinbringen?) Das Drax dort eine Raketenabschussbasis stehen hat, ist dann ja die große Überraschung.
https://filmduelle.de/
Let the sheep out, kid.
Let the sheep out, kid.
Re: Bewertet: Moonraker
113Und warum hat Drax gerade dort die Basis stehen?
"Für England, James? - Nein, für mich!"
Re: Bewertet: Moonraker
114Weil ihn mitten im brasilianischen Wald wohl keiner suchen wird...Vijay hat geschrieben:Und warum hat Drax gerade dort die Basis stehen?
https://filmduelle.de/
Let the sheep out, kid.
Let the sheep out, kid.
Re: Bewertet: Moonraker
115Ja, das ist logisch, aber man sieht, dass dieser Zusammenhang nicht ganz klar ist.
Aber wir wollen es jetzt mal dabei belassen.
Aber wir wollen es jetzt mal dabei belassen.
"Für England, James? - Nein, für mich!"
Re: Bewertet: Moonraker
116Weils Ken Adam gesagt hat und stylisch aussiehtVijay hat geschrieben:Und warum hat Drax gerade dort die Basis stehen?
Logische Erklärung auch wenn die Macher bestimmt nicht dachten ist wegen der Lage nahe des Äquators:
http://de.answers.yahoo.com/question/in ... 155AAyJwwU
Mitunter der Grund wieso der europäische Waltraumbahnhof in Französisch Guyana liegt und Cape Canaveral (einer der südlichsten Punkte der USA) der amerikanische (Haupt-)Weltraumbahnhof ist.
"In a Bond film you aren't involved in cinema verite or avant-garde. One is involved in colossal fun."
Terence Young
Terence Young
Moonraker
117.
Einige prägnante Beispiele in diesem englischsprachigen Drehbuchvorentwurf von Christopher Wood zu "Moonraker" die sehr deutlich aufzeigen, welche Ideen zum Teil in späteren Filmabenteuern der Reihe erst Verwendung gefunden haben:
Beitrag von Bill Koenig auf http://www.hmss.com
"Moonraker" - an early, undated draft
The early, undated draft, weighs in at 153 pages. The rule of thumb in the film industries is that each page of a script will be roughly a minute of screen time. Thus, this version would have been more than two-and-a-half hours had it been filmed. Christopher Wood’s name isn’t on the title page, but we’ll assume he’s responsible. Tom Mankiewicz had been involved in the treatment, or outline, stage but was, by all accounts, not involved in actual script drafts. Much of the script has sequences that match the completed film. But this version of Moonraker is bigger, much bigger and, in the end, too big for 007.
The Venice sequence of this script is much more elaborate that the final film. When the minions of villain Hugo Drax pursue 007, Bond uses a hand microphone under the seat of his gondola and radios “Station Twenty-Three. He says, “Stand by with J.P. One. At this point, the assassin disguised as a corpse in a casket is still alive and is firing a sub-machine gun at Bond. The agent dispatches the killer with a shot from his Walther PPK but is still being pursued by other of Drax’s men.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Elements in this piece taken directly from the screenplays are represented by a green-colored Courier New font
Bond takes his gondola into a boathouse. One of Drax’s men lobs what looks like a hand-grenade into it which is followed by the sound of a muffled explosion. At once, clouds of black smoke come pouring from the boathouse. Inside, Bond is apparently struggling with a bulky package rather like a parachute pack.
Drax’s men are poised outside the boathouse, ready for Bond to come out. Instead, the agent soars out at speed through the smoke, propelled by the jet-pack on his back.
Wait, it gets better...
Suddenly, a helicopter is chasing after Bond. 007 is manipulating his jet-pack expertly. The helicopter is twisting and turning to catching him, rather as a large bird does to a smaller one. A shot from the helicopter pierces the jet-pack and fuel begins to leak. Bond looks about him urgently for a means of escape. Bond dives, flying under a bridge while the helicopter tries to fly over it but instead flies straight into it and blows up dramatically.
Whew! And the script is just getting started.
Later, in Brazil, Bond and CIA agent Holly Goodhead agree to work together, much as in the final film. They escape from Jaws in a cable-car sequence, again much as the finished movie, but get captured by other Drax henchmen.
The script, however, starts another sequence with Bond waking up in a yacht belonging to Drax. Bond again meets Drax. Ahh, Mr. Bond -- I see you are with us at last, Drax says. Poor Doctor Goodhead has been quite anxious about you… find me enjoying your country’s one indisputable contribution to Western civilisation -- the English breakfast.
A steward brings two boiled eggs to Drax. The villain picks up an egg-spoon in one hand, a knife the in other. He looks at BOND, smiling mockingly.
DRAX:
Tell me -- do you tap or cut?
BOND:
It depends who I’m up against.
DRAX
(slices off the top of the egg):
And that is what I’m going to do with you, my dear Bond -- and to your devoted companion. Cut.
By cut, Drax means he’s going to keel haul Bond and Holly, dragging them across a coral reef. Your flesh will be ripped form your bones, Drax says. Beyond the reef there are sharks. Your blood will attract them.
Drax has also sent Jaws to get Bond’s belongings, including a briefcase, from 007’s hotel. On the side of the briefcase is a plate with a numbered dial. BOND adjusts thje dial, moves the catches and they click open. With a quick movement, BOND moves the dial again, then opens the case wide. Drax dumps the contents of the briefcase (including a Walther PPK, a knife and Bond’s passport) overboard and lays the briefcase down, out of Drax’s sight. Meanwhile, the script’s stage directions call for a close shot of the briefcase. Numerals on the dial are changing at one second intervals. They now show 29.15.
Fleming originally devised such a sequence for his Live And Let Die novel but it was dropped from the screenplay for that film. Wood brings it back for Moonraker, while also providing a tip of the hat to the booby-trapped briefcase shown in From Russia With Love. Drax departs the yacht while his goons proceed to keel haul Bond and Holly.
HOLLY:
Have we any chance at all?
BOND:
A chance -- yes. Time will tell.
Once the keel hauling is underway, the script calls for a shot of Bond and Holly. 007 fights to keep HOLLY’s head above water. Meanwhile, back at the yacht, Jaws notices that one of the thugs is looking at Bond’s briefcase and is handling it with interest. Jaws grabs the briefcase while not noticing that the numerals on the locking dial now read 04.28. Bond and Holly are being dragged across the coral, with 007 twisting so that his body takes the worst of the impact. He winces as he is bashed against the sharp edges.
Eventually, Jaws notices the locking dial on the briefcase. The digits change to 0.06, 0.05, 0.04. Jaws stares at the dial with growing suspicion. He stands up, still holding the case, now holding it by the handle, preparing to thow it overboard. The yacht explodes violently into complete disintegration. A geyser shoots into the air, showing the sea with fragments of wood and metal. Bond gets the unconscious Holly onto a piece of wreckage, and then strikes out powerfully with his legs to get to land.
Jaws? He’s nearby sitting astride a baulk of timber, still holding the handle of the exploded briefcase. He looks about him with weary resignation. Some sharks dine on the one thugs who had earlier looked at the briefcase but Jaws gets away. Bond and Holly, meantime, reach shore and 007’s back is raw and bleeding as if he had been birched. Bond tells Holly about the explosive in the briefcase.
HOLLY:
How did you know when to set it for?
BOND:
I didn't. I guessed thirty minutes.
A love scene ensures but, given the scope of this movie, it doesn’t last long. We’re next taken to a straight, flat road in the middle of a vast area of grasslands. Bond and Holly are waiting and soon, Q and an assistant arrive in a vehicle towing a big horse box which has a sign, Pegasus Riding Stables. Inside are two mini-jets.
Well, I’ve brought your mounts, Q says. You’d better be jolly careful with them.
After the pair are airborne, Bond radios to Holly and smugly asks her, Holly -- d’you think you can handle one of these? She maneuvers her aircraft so it’s flying upside down, parallel to Bond’s. She waves happily to BOND, the script says.
Shortly, the two agents are on the trail of a Drax Air Freight plane. After following it for a bit, they’re attacked by three unmarked jets sent by Drax and an aerial dogfight ensues. Bond and Holly do a series of tricky moves, which causes two of the Drax jets to fly into each other. Holly gets shot down, landing in the middle of a lake, her fate unknown (for the moment). Bond has his own troubles as the last Drax jet is on his trail.
Bond is now flying in a gorge, the Drax jet is pursuit. The gorge narrows suddenly, so the that the tall cliffs are no more than a few feet apart -- certainly less than the wing span of Bond’s aircraft. The agent tilts his aircraft so the wings are now vertical, barely getting through the space. The Drax plane isn’t so lucky. As the jet flies into the gap, both wings are torn off, it crashes and explodes dramatically.
Bond’s not of out of the woods, however. His fuel is now down to zero and the engine is sputtering. He barely manages to get the mini-jet to land on a road and taxies up to a filling station. Ordinary or super? the station attendant asks. Bond & Holly, ready for space!After that, Bond goes to MI6’s secret Brazil facility, as in the film. One minor difference: we’re told the rare orchid that’s the basis of the deadly fluid Bond found in Drax’s Venice laboratory (as in the film) was found where Holly was shut down.
Bond is outfitted with a special boat by Q (again like the finished film) and a boat chase ensues, but in this script Jaws doesn’t participate.
As in the film, Bond has to make an emergency exit from the Q boat, using a glider. In the script, however, Bond crash lands the glider in water. For a moment, BOND and the glider are lost to view in a cloud of spray. The glider gets sucked down a whirlpool, but Bond makes it safety. He catches the sight of a blonde beauty in a strange, exotic costume -- long split skirt, white cotton mantle swathing breast and hand, the script says. She stands, seen through the rainbow haze of the spray from the torrent below, looking not at BOND, but across the gorge.
Eventually, Bond finds his way into Drax’s secret Brazilian jungle headquarters, though with more effort than in the film, and catches up to the blonde beauty, who now has two handmaidens with her. Bond flirts more in the script than the finished film. I suppose a vodka martini would be out of the question? he says to the blonde beauty who smiles enchantingly without answering. The blonde beauty and handmaidens lead Bond to a pool. On the far side of the pool, fresh clothes are laid out. Additional handmaidens appear and are setting out wine and trays of whole roast fowls and exotic fruits. The blonde beauty gestures at the pool and then across the pool to the waiting food.
Bond wearily takes off his wet and tattered clothing and slips gratefully into the pool. Stage directions call for a shot of the same type of rare orchid to be sinking beneath the surface of the pool. Of course, Bond’s rest will be short lived. As in the film, a giant anaconda makes an appearance. He gets out of the hazard in a different fashion in this script. He finds a drainage valve, opens it and the snake is drawn into the drain.
What follows is pretty similar to the finished film, though there are some differences in dialogue and a few additions. For example, while trying to find Drax’s radar-jamming system, they can see into a zero-gravity chamber in the center of the villain’s space station. There, two lovers evidently want to get started on creating a new master race for Drax. The girl appears to be naked beneath a white diaphonous garment that billows erotically as she and her partner -- also seemingly naked -- move in a sensuous mating ballet.
Bond quips, Somebody’s taking Drax’s address to heart, anyway.
After Bond and Holly wreck the radar-jamming equipment, the space station is now visible to the nations of Earth. The U.S. contacts the Soviet Union. However, instead of General Gogol, the Soviet representative taking the call is a General Kuchinsky. In any case the script concludes much the way the film did.
Besides the additional action sequences, the script also has one other change of note. In Rio, Bond is assisted by a male agent, instead of a woman operative. That agent ends up being killed by Jaws (before he switches to Bond’s side in the space station) and ends up as a second “sacrificial lamb.” In the completed film, Jaws doesn’t actually kill anybody -- he tries a lot but is almost entirely a comic foil. When Jaws debuted in The Spy Who Loved Me, he provided both menace and comic relief. But you couldn’t totally laugh him off because we saw him kill somebody early in that 1977 film.
One suspects producer Broccoli felt if Jaws would convert to Bond’s side in Moonraker, it’d be better if there wasn’t that messy MI6 agent’s death to overlook. As in the finished film, the first “sacrificial lamb” in the Moonraker script is the woman pilot who helps Bond early in the film at Drax’s supposed California mansion. In the script, the character’s name is Trudi Parker. The name was changed when French actress Corinne Clery was hired for the role.
What to make of all this? Well, a film close to the 153-page script would have been a massive undertaking and presumably would have added substantially to the movie’s budget. The early script also has a “Best of Bond” feel to it, much like 2002’s "Die Another Day". (Let’s take the jet-pack from "Thunderball"! Let’s do a new version of "From Russia With Love’s briefcase"!). Still, this Moonraker script does have an epic feel to it. It was so big, Broccoli & Co. carved out two sequences for later re-use (the keel hauling sequence would be used in "For Your Eyes Only" while a single mini-jet would be used in "Octopussy"’s pre-title sequence). If the script could be summarized in a word, it’d be ambitious. But even 007 couldn’t cash the checks needed to make a film based on the complete 153-page script.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Einige prägnante Beispiele in diesem englischsprachigen Drehbuchvorentwurf von Christopher Wood zu "Moonraker" die sehr deutlich aufzeigen, welche Ideen zum Teil in späteren Filmabenteuern der Reihe erst Verwendung gefunden haben:
Beitrag von Bill Koenig auf http://www.hmss.com
"Moonraker" - an early, undated draft
The early, undated draft, weighs in at 153 pages. The rule of thumb in the film industries is that each page of a script will be roughly a minute of screen time. Thus, this version would have been more than two-and-a-half hours had it been filmed. Christopher Wood’s name isn’t on the title page, but we’ll assume he’s responsible. Tom Mankiewicz had been involved in the treatment, or outline, stage but was, by all accounts, not involved in actual script drafts. Much of the script has sequences that match the completed film. But this version of Moonraker is bigger, much bigger and, in the end, too big for 007.
The Venice sequence of this script is much more elaborate that the final film. When the minions of villain Hugo Drax pursue 007, Bond uses a hand microphone under the seat of his gondola and radios “Station Twenty-Three. He says, “Stand by with J.P. One. At this point, the assassin disguised as a corpse in a casket is still alive and is firing a sub-machine gun at Bond. The agent dispatches the killer with a shot from his Walther PPK but is still being pursued by other of Drax’s men.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Elements in this piece taken directly from the screenplays are represented by a green-colored Courier New font
Bond takes his gondola into a boathouse. One of Drax’s men lobs what looks like a hand-grenade into it which is followed by the sound of a muffled explosion. At once, clouds of black smoke come pouring from the boathouse. Inside, Bond is apparently struggling with a bulky package rather like a parachute pack.
Drax’s men are poised outside the boathouse, ready for Bond to come out. Instead, the agent soars out at speed through the smoke, propelled by the jet-pack on his back.
Wait, it gets better...
Suddenly, a helicopter is chasing after Bond. 007 is manipulating his jet-pack expertly. The helicopter is twisting and turning to catching him, rather as a large bird does to a smaller one. A shot from the helicopter pierces the jet-pack and fuel begins to leak. Bond looks about him urgently for a means of escape. Bond dives, flying under a bridge while the helicopter tries to fly over it but instead flies straight into it and blows up dramatically.
Whew! And the script is just getting started.
Later, in Brazil, Bond and CIA agent Holly Goodhead agree to work together, much as in the final film. They escape from Jaws in a cable-car sequence, again much as the finished movie, but get captured by other Drax henchmen.
The script, however, starts another sequence with Bond waking up in a yacht belonging to Drax. Bond again meets Drax. Ahh, Mr. Bond -- I see you are with us at last, Drax says. Poor Doctor Goodhead has been quite anxious about you… find me enjoying your country’s one indisputable contribution to Western civilisation -- the English breakfast.
A steward brings two boiled eggs to Drax. The villain picks up an egg-spoon in one hand, a knife the in other. He looks at BOND, smiling mockingly.
DRAX:
Tell me -- do you tap or cut?
BOND:
It depends who I’m up against.
DRAX
(slices off the top of the egg):
And that is what I’m going to do with you, my dear Bond -- and to your devoted companion. Cut.
By cut, Drax means he’s going to keel haul Bond and Holly, dragging them across a coral reef. Your flesh will be ripped form your bones, Drax says. Beyond the reef there are sharks. Your blood will attract them.
Drax has also sent Jaws to get Bond’s belongings, including a briefcase, from 007’s hotel. On the side of the briefcase is a plate with a numbered dial. BOND adjusts thje dial, moves the catches and they click open. With a quick movement, BOND moves the dial again, then opens the case wide. Drax dumps the contents of the briefcase (including a Walther PPK, a knife and Bond’s passport) overboard and lays the briefcase down, out of Drax’s sight. Meanwhile, the script’s stage directions call for a close shot of the briefcase. Numerals on the dial are changing at one second intervals. They now show 29.15.
Fleming originally devised such a sequence for his Live And Let Die novel but it was dropped from the screenplay for that film. Wood brings it back for Moonraker, while also providing a tip of the hat to the booby-trapped briefcase shown in From Russia With Love. Drax departs the yacht while his goons proceed to keel haul Bond and Holly.
HOLLY:
Have we any chance at all?
BOND:
A chance -- yes. Time will tell.
Once the keel hauling is underway, the script calls for a shot of Bond and Holly. 007 fights to keep HOLLY’s head above water. Meanwhile, back at the yacht, Jaws notices that one of the thugs is looking at Bond’s briefcase and is handling it with interest. Jaws grabs the briefcase while not noticing that the numerals on the locking dial now read 04.28. Bond and Holly are being dragged across the coral, with 007 twisting so that his body takes the worst of the impact. He winces as he is bashed against the sharp edges.
Eventually, Jaws notices the locking dial on the briefcase. The digits change to 0.06, 0.05, 0.04. Jaws stares at the dial with growing suspicion. He stands up, still holding the case, now holding it by the handle, preparing to thow it overboard. The yacht explodes violently into complete disintegration. A geyser shoots into the air, showing the sea with fragments of wood and metal. Bond gets the unconscious Holly onto a piece of wreckage, and then strikes out powerfully with his legs to get to land.
Jaws? He’s nearby sitting astride a baulk of timber, still holding the handle of the exploded briefcase. He looks about him with weary resignation. Some sharks dine on the one thugs who had earlier looked at the briefcase but Jaws gets away. Bond and Holly, meantime, reach shore and 007’s back is raw and bleeding as if he had been birched. Bond tells Holly about the explosive in the briefcase.
HOLLY:
How did you know when to set it for?
BOND:
I didn't. I guessed thirty minutes.
A love scene ensures but, given the scope of this movie, it doesn’t last long. We’re next taken to a straight, flat road in the middle of a vast area of grasslands. Bond and Holly are waiting and soon, Q and an assistant arrive in a vehicle towing a big horse box which has a sign, Pegasus Riding Stables. Inside are two mini-jets.
Well, I’ve brought your mounts, Q says. You’d better be jolly careful with them.
After the pair are airborne, Bond radios to Holly and smugly asks her, Holly -- d’you think you can handle one of these? She maneuvers her aircraft so it’s flying upside down, parallel to Bond’s. She waves happily to BOND, the script says.
Shortly, the two agents are on the trail of a Drax Air Freight plane. After following it for a bit, they’re attacked by three unmarked jets sent by Drax and an aerial dogfight ensues. Bond and Holly do a series of tricky moves, which causes two of the Drax jets to fly into each other. Holly gets shot down, landing in the middle of a lake, her fate unknown (for the moment). Bond has his own troubles as the last Drax jet is on his trail.
Bond is now flying in a gorge, the Drax jet is pursuit. The gorge narrows suddenly, so the that the tall cliffs are no more than a few feet apart -- certainly less than the wing span of Bond’s aircraft. The agent tilts his aircraft so the wings are now vertical, barely getting through the space. The Drax plane isn’t so lucky. As the jet flies into the gap, both wings are torn off, it crashes and explodes dramatically.
Bond’s not of out of the woods, however. His fuel is now down to zero and the engine is sputtering. He barely manages to get the mini-jet to land on a road and taxies up to a filling station. Ordinary or super? the station attendant asks. Bond & Holly, ready for space!After that, Bond goes to MI6’s secret Brazil facility, as in the film. One minor difference: we’re told the rare orchid that’s the basis of the deadly fluid Bond found in Drax’s Venice laboratory (as in the film) was found where Holly was shut down.
Bond is outfitted with a special boat by Q (again like the finished film) and a boat chase ensues, but in this script Jaws doesn’t participate.
As in the film, Bond has to make an emergency exit from the Q boat, using a glider. In the script, however, Bond crash lands the glider in water. For a moment, BOND and the glider are lost to view in a cloud of spray. The glider gets sucked down a whirlpool, but Bond makes it safety. He catches the sight of a blonde beauty in a strange, exotic costume -- long split skirt, white cotton mantle swathing breast and hand, the script says. She stands, seen through the rainbow haze of the spray from the torrent below, looking not at BOND, but across the gorge.
Eventually, Bond finds his way into Drax’s secret Brazilian jungle headquarters, though with more effort than in the film, and catches up to the blonde beauty, who now has two handmaidens with her. Bond flirts more in the script than the finished film. I suppose a vodka martini would be out of the question? he says to the blonde beauty who smiles enchantingly without answering. The blonde beauty and handmaidens lead Bond to a pool. On the far side of the pool, fresh clothes are laid out. Additional handmaidens appear and are setting out wine and trays of whole roast fowls and exotic fruits. The blonde beauty gestures at the pool and then across the pool to the waiting food.
Bond wearily takes off his wet and tattered clothing and slips gratefully into the pool. Stage directions call for a shot of the same type of rare orchid to be sinking beneath the surface of the pool. Of course, Bond’s rest will be short lived. As in the film, a giant anaconda makes an appearance. He gets out of the hazard in a different fashion in this script. He finds a drainage valve, opens it and the snake is drawn into the drain.
What follows is pretty similar to the finished film, though there are some differences in dialogue and a few additions. For example, while trying to find Drax’s radar-jamming system, they can see into a zero-gravity chamber in the center of the villain’s space station. There, two lovers evidently want to get started on creating a new master race for Drax. The girl appears to be naked beneath a white diaphonous garment that billows erotically as she and her partner -- also seemingly naked -- move in a sensuous mating ballet.
Bond quips, Somebody’s taking Drax’s address to heart, anyway.
After Bond and Holly wreck the radar-jamming equipment, the space station is now visible to the nations of Earth. The U.S. contacts the Soviet Union. However, instead of General Gogol, the Soviet representative taking the call is a General Kuchinsky. In any case the script concludes much the way the film did.
Besides the additional action sequences, the script also has one other change of note. In Rio, Bond is assisted by a male agent, instead of a woman operative. That agent ends up being killed by Jaws (before he switches to Bond’s side in the space station) and ends up as a second “sacrificial lamb.” In the completed film, Jaws doesn’t actually kill anybody -- he tries a lot but is almost entirely a comic foil. When Jaws debuted in The Spy Who Loved Me, he provided both menace and comic relief. But you couldn’t totally laugh him off because we saw him kill somebody early in that 1977 film.
One suspects producer Broccoli felt if Jaws would convert to Bond’s side in Moonraker, it’d be better if there wasn’t that messy MI6 agent’s death to overlook. As in the finished film, the first “sacrificial lamb” in the Moonraker script is the woman pilot who helps Bond early in the film at Drax’s supposed California mansion. In the script, the character’s name is Trudi Parker. The name was changed when French actress Corinne Clery was hired for the role.
What to make of all this? Well, a film close to the 153-page script would have been a massive undertaking and presumably would have added substantially to the movie’s budget. The early script also has a “Best of Bond” feel to it, much like 2002’s "Die Another Day". (Let’s take the jet-pack from "Thunderball"! Let’s do a new version of "From Russia With Love’s briefcase"!). Still, this Moonraker script does have an epic feel to it. It was so big, Broccoli & Co. carved out two sequences for later re-use (the keel hauling sequence would be used in "For Your Eyes Only" while a single mini-jet would be used in "Octopussy"’s pre-title sequence). If the script could be summarized in a word, it’d be ambitious. But even 007 couldn’t cash the checks needed to make a film based on the complete 153-page script.
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Re: Bewertet: Moonraker
118Am Wochenende MR erstmals in HD gesehen. Der Film ist einfach eine Augenweide und vieln Einelszenen wirklich brillant. Könnte man glatt so heute noch mal ins Kino bringen.
Schade dass man sich wie bei OP immer wieder zu wirklich dämlichen Elementen und Pointen hat hinreißen lassen
Schade dass man sich wie bei OP immer wieder zu wirklich dämlichen Elementen und Pointen hat hinreißen lassen
"It's been a long time - and finally, here we are"
Re: Bewertet: Moonraker
119Meiner Meinung nach ein durchschnittlicher Bondfilm, der nicht herausragend ist-aber es auch nicht verdient hat als schlechtester Bondfilm aller Zeiten dargestellt zu werden. 5/10
"Sie verstehen etwas von Waffen, Mr. Bond?" - "Nein, aber von Frauen"
Re: Bewertet: Moonraker
120Meiner Ansicht ist MR der Schwächste aller bondfilme. 3/4 der Laufzeit finde ich ihn recht gut, da hat MR alles, was ein guter Bondfilm braucht, auch wenn es, wie zu Moore-Zeiten leider üblich, teilweise doch recht albern wird. Negativ fällt auch das zu offensichtliche Product Placement auf. Wäre aber alles nur halb so schlimm, wäre da nicht dieses völlig übertriebene Finale. Das passt einfach nicht zu Bond. Das hat mir den Filmgenuss kaputt gemacht und meine Wertung in den Keller fallen lassen (ich muss da auch immer an den 4. Indy-Film denken, da ging es mir ähnlich. 3/4 des Films gut, Finale totaler Mist).
Fazit: Eigentlich 7/10, doch durch das mMn völlig verkorkste Finale nur 4/10.
Fazit: Eigentlich 7/10, doch durch das mMn völlig verkorkste Finale nur 4/10.