The most expensive film produced by Hammer Studios was not a Dracula movie, but a space-western. 1969's "Moon Zero Two" has everything a B Movie fan needs; spaceships, saloon fights, dance hall damsels (portrayed by the 1960's dance team, The Gojos), and lots of space babes! The hero is gritty and cynical (James Olson as Capt. Kemp) and his love interest (or one of them) is played by the beautiful Catherine Schell (Space 1999) as Clementine. This is a British film, directed by Roy Ward Baker (The Avengers TV show), but it is true to the American cowboy opera.
The plot: Kemp owns and operates a two-man salvage company, which clears space debris from navigable routes. The proverbial evil corporation is trying to shut him down in order to obtain a lunar monopoly on all exploration, mining and space. They try to hit him with lunar regulations which would require him to upgrade his ship, which he can't afford, and eventually, try to hit him with bullets. Clementine shows up and enlists Kemp's help to find her miner brother who has been missing for months. Meanwhile, the corporation hires Kemp to put rockets on a passing asteroid so it will crash into the far side of the moon. This asteroid is 6,000 tons of sapphire, and the evil corporation intends to rake in a fortune with it. The corporation is upset that Kemp is helping Clementine as they are in the process of taking over all mining operations on the far side. Both Kemp and the corporation are being carefully monitored by Murphy (Adrienne Corri), who is the law on the moon, and clad in some very attractive leather boots. She knows the corporation is corrupt, and is in love with Kemp.
When the corporation murders Murphy (a very sad loss for us guys), Kemp goes all out to help Clementine, sensing that they have also murdered her brother. If, successful, Clementine will be a very rich gal, and possibly be able to lay claim to the sapphires which are about to rain on the far side. The corporation will do anything to prevent that. Great saloon scenes, including a bar fight in which the gravity machine has been turned off, and several dance numbers by The Gojos keep this flick a western. Made in 1969, and set in 2021, this was just another film fueling a nation's ambition and desire for space exploration. How sad it is that in 2014.....this spirit and ambition is gone from our nation's consciousness. See "Moon Zero Two" and dream, and avoid the modern mindset of failure and small hopes.
But small hopes and acceptance of failure keep big gov't in business! I <3 Big Brother.
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