James Bond had solar, why can't we?

I haven't watched many James Bond movies in my life, but I'd like to someday. I just happened to catch one this weekend, called "The Man with the Golden Gun". It was made in 1974, almost 40 years ago, and it stars Roger Moore. What intrigued me most was this clip regarding solar energy, which is the "golden gun" the villian refers to. Watch the clip below (starts a couple minutes into the clip)...

The technology shown is available today I believe, but it wasn't that long ago that it has been around. After watching this clip, I feel a little frustrated that we haven't made more progress on solar. You have to consider the impact movies can have on society. How much easier was it to convince someone that we need to move to solar technology after watching this film? The movie practically sells it for them! If the movie hadn't been made, then you're left trying to sell solar through drawings, small prototypes and lengthy discussions. In other words, someone made the perfect sales pitch for solar, but we as a society didn't take full advantage. This isn't just a United States issue. James Bond is a British film, shown around the world. You couldn't have asked for a better film to spread the word globally.

I was actually born in 1974, and in 1979, we lived next door to a wonderful lady, who went around to the local elementary schools in Iowa City, and showed us solar-powered toys, and told us they would be used everywhere in the near future. That really made an impact on me, and I was only 5 years old. That was about the same time that the solar panels were on the White House during Jimmy Carter's presidental era.

Here's another example of movies and green technology. In the 1989 movie "Back to the Future", the time machine DeLorean vehicle uses garbage to fuel the vehicle. I've seen a few people try and replicate that, but you don't hear too much from major automotive companies about organic waste as fuel.

Are the movies so far ahead in thinking, that it just takes 40-50 years to implement these ideas? It didn't take us as long to reduce a computer from the size of a house, down to fit on a table. Other technology has seemed to pop up overnight without the aid of a movie plug. Maybe I'm just expecting a shorter time frame when there is a major motion picture that promotes the idea for free.

The only thing I can conclude from this lack of progress is that something happened in the 1980's to bring the progress of solar to a screeching halt. I don't know what it was (change in presidency, oil companies, politics, military, etc), but it would be worth it to understand what happened, so we don't make the same mistake!