James Bond U.S. Poster Rankings: No. 13

After so many of these entries about movie posters, you have probably noticed a common design theme with nearly every single promotional poster throughout the James Bond series.  It seems that many of these posters show 007 flanked by pretty women and selected action sequences or explosions scattered around the centered characters.  So what differentiates one poster from the next?  Well, I don't really have a good answer for that, but let's take the next film in this series and use it as an example of why it ranks where it does.

 

 

13. Moonraker

Following the 10th film in the series, The Spy Who Loved Me, Bond producer Albert "Cubby" Broccoli had planned to release For Your Eyes Only in 1979.  However, with the box office success and increased interest in science fiction following the release of Star Wars, it was decided to delay For Your Eyes Only and instead turn Fleming's novel Moonraker into the next feature film.

 

The U.S. one-sheet poster for Moonraker is quite similar to previous and later 007 posters.  James Bond is surrounded by girls, villains, and danger.  Truly, the only major difference between this and the marketing material for something like Diamonds are Forever or Tomorrow Never Dies is that Roger Moore is seen wearing a space suit instead of a tuxedo, which is to go along with the outer space theme of the film.  This leads me to ask again, what makes this artwork better or worse than the others used in the Bond series?

 

Other than the fact that Bond is seen in outer space, not too much of the plot is given away.  There is also the sex appeal of the women's costumes, which are very near to what is actually worn in the movie, but with a little more accent on cleavage and upper thighs.  Those two things combined make this poster stand out a little more than the ones that came before it on my list.

 

The above design was used in most of the marketing throughout the globe.  There was a different creation used, labeled U.S. One-Sheet Style B, that included more action sequences from the movie.

 

 

This poster uses more hand-drawn artwork and the space station's wings are canvases to show off the stunt work from the picture.  However, Moore and Lois Chiles are practically copied and pasted over from the other promotional material.  I don't necessarily think the Style B poster is better than the poster at the top because it gives a bit too much away from the movie's action scenes.