Maps of Movies

Moonraker (1979)

Where Moonraker says it takes place, and where it was really shot.

A villain's California estate is a French chateau, his jungle pyramid a Guatemalan ruin, and Rio is the only place that is what it says

Scenes and places

Bond is thrown out of the plane (1979)

Jaws pushes Bond out of a plane over the sky with no parachute. Bond survives by grabbing the pilot's chute in mid-air, and the film's tone is set: danger played as a joke.

Set in A plane on its way to England — Bond is attacked on a flight home to England and thrown out of the aircraft.

There is no single place for this scene: it happens in the air, and the shoot took 88 skydives.

Filmed at Lake Berryessa, northern California (Lake Berryessa, Napa County, California, United States) — The skydiving sequence was shot in the air above this lake; the exact drop zone is not given. Google Maps · Apple Maps

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Tea at Drax's mansion (1979)

Bond arrives to apologise for the lost shuttle and meets Hugo Drax, who answers with polite menace and an offer of cucumber sandwiches. Each man is sizing up the other.

Set in Drax's mansion, California — The home of the industrialist Hugo Drax, where Bond is received and offered afternoon tea.

A grand chateau standing in for a California estate.

Filmed at Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, France (Vaux-le-Vicomte, Maincy, France) — Exteriors and the Grand Salon of Drax's mansion. Google Maps · Apple Maps

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Filmed at Château de Guermantes, France (Château de Guermantes, Guermantes, France) — The remaining interiors, including the drawing room. Google Maps · Apple Maps

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Inside the shuttle factory (1979)

Shown round the Moonraker works by Dr Goodhead, Bond climbs into the centrifuge trainer and is nearly killed by sabotage. He then slips into Drax's office to look for secrets.

Set in Drax Industries complex, California — The spaceplane factory and training ground where Bond meets Holly Goodhead and survives a centrifuge accident.

A working aerospace plant that Hollywood borrowed for a villain's base.

Filmed at Rockwell International plant, Palmdale (Air Force Plant 42 area) (Air Force Plant 42, Palmdale, California, United States) — Some of the earlier Moonraker assembly-plant scenes; the exact building is not given, the point shown is Air Force Plant 42. Google Maps · Apple Maps

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The glass factory in Venice (1979)

Bond joins a museum tour of the glassworks that Drax Industries now owns, and bumps into Goodhead there. She says it is a coincidence; he does not believe it.

Set in Venini glassworks, Venice — The Venetian glass museum and works where Bond picks up the vial trail and slips behind a secret door. Google Maps · Apple Maps

Venetian glass is the film's trail: the vials come from here.

Filmed at Venini, Murano (representative point) (Murano, Venice, Italy) — Venini glass shop and museum, Venice; the point shown is Murano, not the shop itself. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there:

Gondola chase through Venice (1979)

Drax's men chase Bond by boat through the canals. He loses them, comes back to the glassworks and finds the hidden laboratory.

Set in Piazza San Marco and the canals, Venice — A pursuit by boat through Venice's canals and into St Mark's Square. Google Maps · Apple Maps

St Mark's Square is the tourist heart of Venice; the chase uses its waterfront.

Filmed at Piazza San Marco and Grand Canal, Venice (Piazza San Marco, Venice, Italy) — Production locations listed for the Venice scenes: Place Saint-Marc, Grand Canal, Rio di Santa Caterina, Hôtel Danieli; the exact route is not given. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there:

The clockface fight (1979)

Chang attacks Bond in a tower. The fight ends with Chang crashing through the stained-glass clockface, and Bond learns that Drax is moving to Rio.

Set in St Mark's Clocktower, Venice — The tower on St Mark's Square where Bond fights Drax's henchman Chang. Google Maps · Apple Maps

The clocktower on St Mark's Square.

Bond lands in Rio (1979)

Bond arrives on two weeks' leave, finds a woman called Manuela waiting in his suite and learns of a Drax subsidiary with a warehouse on Carioca Avenue.

Set in Rio de Janeiro, arrival — Bond arrives in Rio on leave and is met by a contact from the local British station.

Rio was chosen early by the producers; Broccoli had visited on holiday.

Filmed at Santos Dumont Airport, Rio de Janeiro (Santos Dumont Airport, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) — The airport's own article says an L-188 Electra takes off from here in the film; the French film article names Galeão instead, so the arrival airport is disputed. Google Maps · Apple Maps

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Carnival night (1979)

Bond searches a Drax warehouse while the carnival goes on outside, then has to dodge Jaws among the dancers.

Set in Rio Carnival — A night search of a Drax warehouse turns into a carnival chase.

The carnival footage was filmed by an advance team in 1978; the exact street is not recorded.

The cable-car fight (1979)

Bond and Goodhead are attacked by Jaws in a cable car high above the ground, and Jaws bites at the cable.

Set in Sugarloaf Mountain, Rio de Janeiro — The cable car where Jaws attacks Bond and Goodhead. Google Maps · Apple Maps

Rio's best-known peak and cable car; only the car interiors were studio sets.

Filmed at Sugarloaf Mountain, Rio de Janeiro (Sugarloaf Mountain, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) — The real mountain and cable cars were used for the exteriors; the car interiors were built at Pinewood. Google Maps · Apple Maps

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Chased on the river (1979)

Bond travels up the Amazon in search of Drax's base and is ambushed on the water. The boat chase ends at a waterfall.

Set in The Amazon, upper basin — Bond follows the orchid trail upriver and is attacked by Drax's forces.

The falls used are in the south of Brazil, far from the Amazon.

Filmed at Iguazu Falls, Brazil-Argentina border (Iguazu Falls, Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil) — The falls stand in for the Amazon; the boat going over the edge was a miniature built at Pinewood. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there:

Drax's jungle pyramid (1979)

Captured by Jaws, Bond is brought to Drax inside a pyramid in the jungle. Drax explains the orchid's secret and what he intends to do with it.

Set in Drax's pyramid base, Amazon rain forest — A hidden base inside an ancient pyramid where Bond is brought as a prisoner.

The Maya ruins of Tikal are in Guatemala, not in Brazil.

Filmed at Tikal, Guatemala (Tikal, Petén, Guatemala) — Exterior of the pyramid headquarters; the interior was a set built at a French studio. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there:

The shuttle launch (1979)

Bond and Goodhead watch the four shuttles launch and then narrowly escape being burned in the exhaust of one of them.

Set in Drax's launch base — The launch site from which Drax's four Moonraker shuttles lift off.

The film shot all of its space-centre scenes here.

Filmed at Vehicle Assembly Building, Kennedy Space Center, Florida (Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island, Florida, United States) — All of the space-centre scenes were shot here. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there:

Characters

• James Bond — A British secret agent sent to find out what happened to a stolen space shuttle.
• Holly Goodhead — An astronaut at Drax's company who is secretly a CIA agent.
• Hugo Drax — The industrialist who builds the Moonraker shuttles.
• Jaws — A steel-toothed assassin who keeps coming back after Bond.

Questions answered on the map

• Where is Drax's California mansion really?
• Which Rio places does Bond fight Jaws in?
• Where were the Amazon scenes really filmed?