Splitting the gondola

During the Gondola chase in Moonraker, Bond speeds past another gondola, followed by two baddies in a speed boat. As Bond manages to speed past the gondola, the speedboat cuts the gondola in half.

Rio di Santa Caterina

The entire gondola chase was filmed on several different locations throughout Venice. This small action scene was filmed in the Cannaregio district, very close to the place where Bond meets with Dr Goodhead, covered in the last post. The gondola that gets split in half is coming out from the Rio di Santa Caterina as Bond and the two henchmen are coming in from the north on the canal.

Bond speeds up as he watches the gondola coming out from Rio di Santa Caterina 

This location can be found near the north margin of the city, at the intersections of Rio della Sensa and the confluence of Rio di Noale and Rio di San Falice. Another small part was filmed by the Squero di San Trovaso boat yard located in the opposite part of town.

As the gondola gets split in half, the front drifts away across the canal, towards Rio della Sensa, with the loving couple still kissing in the gondola.

Scuola vecchia della Misericordia

In the background you can see the Scuola vecchia della Misericordia prominently in the middle and a small white church to the right. The white church is the Chiesa dell'Abbazia della Misericordia, founded in the 10th century. The Scoula is a former charity building erected in 1310.

Bond and Dr Goodhead in Venice

In Moonraker, Bond follows a lead from California to the glass manufacturer Venini Glass in Venice. In the factory he spots Dr. Goodhead in a group of tourists. He follows her along the canal named 'Rio della Misericordia'. After catching up with Dr. Goodhead at Fondamenta Misericordia, covered earlier, Bond desperately tries to invite Dr. Goodhead for a dinner or drinks. Seen behind Dr Goodhead during the conversation is the canal 'Rio di Noale'.

                "-You're staying at the Danieli aren't you?"

Hotel Danieli, where Dr. Goodhead is staying and where Bond later surprises her in her bedroom, is a luxury hotel and one of the finest in Venice. One night is about €500.

After brushing off Bond's invitation for drinks, Dr. Goodhead walks away along Fondamenta Misericordia and crosses the bridge over Rio di Noale. As seen in the picture below, the green park or garden seen in the background as Dr. Goodhead walks away, has disappeared since 1979.

This brief scene was filmed only a stone's throw away from where the gondola is cut in half later in the film, during the gondola chase.

St Mark's Square, Venini and Piazzetta dei leoncini in Moonraker

Bond standing by St Mark's Square entering the smaller Piazzetta dei Leoncini 

In Moonraker, Bond, in the guise of Roger Moore, walks across St Marc's square on his way to Venini Glass, following a lead from California. A marble lion statue is seen to the right of Bond as he looks at his photos in front of Venini Glass. Venini is located by a small square called Piazzetta dei Leoncini, right next to St Mark's square.

Small steps leads up to Piazzetta dei Leoncini and Venini Glass

Piazzetta dei Leoncini is located on the north side of the St Mark's Basilica, immediately east of St Mark's square. 

On the morning after, Bond has called in M and the minister of Defense and alerted the local police about of Drax's secret laboratory. The police has sealed off the Piazzetta dei leoncini as Bond arrives with the two superiors. Just like in the film, the Venini Glass shop is located right by the square.

Earlier in the film, Bond drives across St Mark's square for another jolt, this time in his gondola-turned-hovercraft, one of the most stupid scenes in the Bond series.

Bond as gondolier - Venice

In Moonraker Bond is breaking into Drax's secret laboratory in Venice. Bond, disguised as a gondolier arrives in his gondola on the Grand Canal. Bond appears to enter a small door which probably is located on the facade of Casa de Uscoli, right next to Palazzetto Pisani. This location is fairly accurate since the following scenes with Bond breaking in and sneaking across the courtyard was filmed on the courtyard of Palazzetto Pisani.

The palazzo where Bond parks his gondola is located in the San Marco district. Seen in the background is the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute in the most southern Dorsoduro district.

The interior of Drax's laboratory was filmed at Ca' Rezzonico. The same part of the Grand Canal, filmed from the other side right by the basilica, was also seen in one of the last scenes in From Russia With Love. 

Play it again Sam... The Venice clock tower

In Moonraker when Bond goes to Venice to investigate Hugo Drax. After discovering the secret laboratory, Bond is chased through the glass museum and into a warehouse by Drax's henchman Chang. The fight ends behind a large clock that is supposed to sit on the building that houses the warehouse.

The clock however, is located right on the north side of St Marc's Square, at the entrance to the Merceria, which is the main street of the city. The clock sits on an early renaissance building that dates from the last decade of the 15th century. On a terrace at the very top of the tower are two great bronze figures, which strike the hours on a bell. These figures are also seen in Moonraker in the very first scene in Venice.

Bond fighting Chang behind the big clock

Through the lower two floors of the tower runs a monumental archway into the Merceria, which linked the political and religious centre at St Marc's square (the Piazza di San Marco) with the commercial and financial centre (the Rialto). In the film, a band is playing below the clock and a tenor is singing an aria during Bond's fight with Chang. 

The aria is "Vesti la giubba", the famous tenor aria from Ruggero Leoncavallo's opera Pagliacci from 1892. "Vesti la giubba" is sung at the conclusion of the first act.

The archway however, is one of the busiest pedestrian passageways to St Marc's square and putting a stage in front of it would be highly unlikely. 

During the fight, Bond throws Chang through the clock, thus destroying one of the famous landmarks in Venice. Chang ends up in the piano on the stage in front of the archway, causing Bond to utter the famous line that actually never was in Casablanca.

"Play it again Sam..."

The clock appears much larger and higher up in the film, and it is questionable whether a fall from the real clock actually would kill you.

Bond meets Dr. Goodhead

Bond follows Dr Goodhead through the streets of Venice in Moonraker, after spotting her at the Venini Glass factory. She is herself spying on Drax for the Americans and Bond eventually catches up with her on Fondamenta Misericordia, where he states that the building she's looking at is 14th century.

Dr Goodhead! 

Bond walks with Dr Goodhead along the Fondamenta Misericordia, up to the Scuola Grande Della Misericordia which is located on the little square where the canals intersect. The canal that they walk along is called Rio della Misericordia.

After declining Bond's invitation to dinner, Dr Goodhead walks away and Bond calls his gondolier Franco, who conveniently has been waiting for Bond by the steps of Rio della Misericordia.

Like most locations in Venice, this has not changed notably since 1979.

The building that Dr Goodhead is looking at is apparently called Mestiere Cinema and it is located right next to the Scuola Grande Della Misericordia, which also was built in the 14th century, as Bond remarks.

Mestiere Cinema

The James Bond references in Spectre - part 2

In Spectre, the previous Bond films are referenced in more or less conspicuous ways. The references to the first eight films were covered in a previous post and below I list the references to the next eight films: The Man With the Golden Gun trough Licence to Kill.

The Man With the Golden Gun
In the finale of Spectre, Blofeld has decorated the abandoned Mi6 building with pictures of people from Bond's past, such as Vesper, M and the villains Le Chiffre, Silva and Mr White. Blofeld lures Bond through the corridors of Mi6 and tricks him to shoot at flipping targets, similar to how Nick-Nack and Scaramanga lures Bond through Scaramanga's fun house in The Man With the Golden Gun.

The Man With the Golden Gun, 1974

Even the pattern of the dynamite wires that are covering the ceiling of the entire Mi6 building is slightly reminiscent of the interior design in Scaramanga's fun house. This of course might be a coincidence.

The dynamite wires stretched across Mi6 before the demolition

Scaramanga's fun house in 1974

However, the helicopter stunt from the pre-title sequence in Spectre resembles the famous car stunt from The Man With the Golden Gun, although this roll stunt has never been done with a helicopter in a Bond film before. 

The Spy Who Loved Me
Spectre references The Spy Who Loved Me during the plane/car chase in the Austrian alps. During the chase, Bond flies his plane alongside the car convoy and waves at Hinx travelling in the Range Rover with Madeleine Swan.

A similar scene occurs during the car chase in The Spy Who Loved me when Bond and Major Amasova are driving around in Sardinia. As Naomi chases Bond and agent triple X with a helicopter, she flies up alongside Bond's Lotus and at one point waves at him. Contrary to this film however, in Spectre, Bond is the one flying the aircraft and waves back at the henchman.

The Spy Who Loved Me, 1977

The big fight between Bond and Hinx aboard the Moroccan train could very well be a reference to the train fight between Bond and Donald Grant in From Russia With Love or the fight between Bond and TeeHee in Live and Let Die. But it might also be a reference to the fight between Bond and Jaws in The Spy Who Loved Me. Some has suggested that the big barrels, which Bond kicks off the train and ultimately uses to throw Hinx off, might be a reference to the 1975 movie Jaws where big barrels are used to force the big shark up to the surface. Very far-fetched, but still funny.

The fight ends with Bond throwing Hinx off the train, by attaching him to some heavy barrels and kicking them overboard. In The Spy Who Loved Me, Jaws pretty much goes the same way, when Bond kicks him through the window.

Moonraker
The Dia de Muertos parade in Mexico city in the pre-title sequence of Spectre can be considered as an homage to the carnival in Rio, visited by Bond in Moonraker. It is of course also reminiscent of the Jankanoo parade in Thunderball and the Jazz funerals in Live and Let Die.

Mexico City 

Rio de Janeiro 1979

Blofeld's lair in the Moroccan desert is reminiscent of Drax's secret control room in Moonraker. 

During the car chase in Rome, Bond uses a new feature in his Aston Martin in order to escape from Hinx and not ending up in the river Tiber, namely an ejector seat with a parachute. Unlike the ejector seats installed in Bond's previous Aston Martins, this one is located in the driver seat. Bond ejects himself moments before the car crashes into the river and afterwords he lands on the adjacent street. Similarly during the boat chase in Moonraker Bond manages to escape from both Jaws and the largest waterfall in Brasil with a built-in para glider in Q's boat, before landing/crashing in the Brazilian jungle.

For Your Eyes Only 

In the pre-title sequence of both For Your Eyes Only and Spectre Bond is hanging outside of a helicopter, trying to get in control of the aircraft.

In addition, Blofeld's helicopters in both Spectre and For Your Eyes Only fly past Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament in a similar view.

Furthermore, another For Your Eyes Only reference is the name 'Hildebrand' that appears on the door to the Mi6 safe house in Spectre. Hildebrand is the cover name on a shop in London, selling "prints and rarities", but in reality functioning as a safe house. The title 'The Hildebrand Rarity' is a short story written by Ian Fleming that is included in the book 'For Your Eyes Only' which was published in 1960.

Octopussy
As far as I have made out, there are no obvious visual references to Octopussy (apart from the giant Octopus symbolising the organisation SPECTRE) but a few things from the plot can be considered as similar. For instance, the fathers of both Octopussy and Madeleine Swan kill themselves after a visit from 007.

Furthermore, Kamal Khan, just as several other villains before him, travels around in a Rolls Royce, which might be referenced through the fact that Blofeld also owns a Rolls, that picks up Bond from the desert.

Bond watches Kamal arrive in Octopussy

Bond and Swan arriving to Blofeld's lair in Spectre

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A View to a Kill

A View is one of the few films that has no obvious references. If anyone has found anything, please leave a comment below.

The Living Daylights
The fact that Bond visits Tangier in Spectre is a reference to The Living Daylights which also used Tangier as a location.

Tangier in 2015

Tangier in 1987

Furthermore, Bond's outfit in Spectre, a tan suede Jacket and a navy polo shirt is probably inspired by Bond's outfit from 1987, when he visited the city in the guise of Timothy Dalton. Dalton wore a beige blouson and chinos together with a dark blue knit shirt.

Licence to Kill

The reuse of locations from earlier films was also apparent in the pre-title sequence of Spectre when Bond and Estrella takes the elevator up to her hotel room, from where Bond later jumps out the window. This elevator was seen in Licence to Kill when it was located in Bond's hotel, 'Hotel El Presidente'. 

In Licence to Kill Bond and Pam takes the elevator up to Bond's suite where Q is waiting.

In the same film, Q is on vacation and turns up to assist Bond in the field. The same thing happens in Spectre when Q turns up at the Hoffler clinic in Austria.

James Bond Locations will return with the final references in Spectre.