Friday Flicks – Moonraker

A few weeks ago there was an authorly discussion on character development and whether one character could ‘break the rules’.

Discussion moved back and forth on character development and it was generally agreed that characters could break the mould the author has created for them with sufficient motivation.

This week on Friday Night @ The Flicks, we take a look at a couple of bad guys turn good.

The one that immediately came to mind was Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator. In the first film, he was the baddie and in the second, thanks to some adroit reprogramming, he was the goodie.

My dear husband pointed out another who is perhaps far more germain to a conversation on a romance web site. He is, everyone’s favourite Bond villain – Jaws.

Making his first appearance in The Spy Who Loved Me, Jaws was quite the naughty lad – biting people’s necks trying to kill James Bond and generally causing henchman mischief.

And yet, what do we see a scant two years later in the laughably camp Moonraker? Here he is chomping through a cable to try to send James  his doom when the suave secret agent turns the tables. Then…

And what does the love of a good woman do?

When Bond sneaks aboard the space station, Jaws is ordered to kill him. However, Bond points out that his small girlfriend Dolly wouldn’t match up to the standards of physical perfection for Drax’s rebirth plans. Implying that they would both be double-crossed and killed, Bond manages to turn Jaws against Drax. For the films finale, Jaws helps to unjam the docking mechanism for Bond’s shuttle, allowing him to escape and finish his mission. Jaws and Dolly are rescued, but don’t appear again in the series.

Awwww, let’s take a look at the cute couple:

 

How often do we see a villain in a novel or a film turn into a hero and particularly one who has been turned by love? Let us know in comment below.

And to finish Friday Night @ The Flicks – an appropriate outro – Love Changes Everything by Climie Fisher.