The Spy Who Loved Me

Roger Moore as James Bond has got another assignment involving the fate of the whole world. British Intelligence never gives him anything less. This time he's investigating this disappearance of both British and American nuclear powered submarines while on duty with no trace at all.

The evil genius behind it all is Curt Jurgens playing the role of an Onassis type billionaire shipping magnate who wants the world made to order for him. And in this case he believes mankind should start all over again in an undersea world which of course he will run. Just another case of a guy with all the money in the world thinking that entitles him to decide how everyone else should live and behave. Jurgens has the resources to make it stick unless 007 can do something about it.

With both the Russians and the British working on this, the powers that be which in this case is General Walter Gotell of the Soviet KGB and M of course played by Bernard Lee have decided to stop working against each other. In this case it means Moore working with beautiful Russian agent Barbara Bach and you know of course she'll be Bondified before the film is over.

Probably up to this point the most dangerous foe that James Bond ever faced was Odd Job in You Only Live Twice. But when Richard Kiel as Jaws made his appearance, he took that title away and retired the crown as far as I'm concerned. That is one menacing dude, 7'2" with a mouth full of steel teeth that finish off most people. Of course 007 ain't most people.

The Spy Who Loved Me garnered three Oscar nominations for Best Musical Score for Marvin Hamlisch and for Best Song with Nobody Does It Better for Hamlisch and Carole Bayer Sager and one for Art&Set Direction. I'm not sure, but this might be the most recognition the Motion Picture Academy gave a Bond film.

And this film review is dedicated to Tom Golisano, another megalomaniac billionaire who thinks he ought to be running things. We're well used to the type in my area.

This time James Bond-Roger Moore third outing and best entry ,he join forces with female Russian agent named Anya Amasova(Bach)to eliminate a nasty villainous(Curt Jurgens)and his henchman, a giant steel-toothed named Jaws(Richard Kiel).He schemes to utilize captured US and Russians atomic underwater with objective to destroy the world.For the first time nuclear submarines from Russia,Britain are sailing side by side.It may look like the beginning of WWIII,but don't worry .As usual,intervene Q (Desmond LLewelyn),MonneyPenny(Lois Maxwell),M(Bernard Lee) and Russian general Gogol(Walter Gotell).Roger Moore plays perfectly the master spy,Moore tells about his Simon Templar,The Saint, that he was a private person doing things for other people to help them and was rather a boy-scout following the rules of television and James Bond is an assassin licensed to kill.He's right,the tone is perfect for the times and for Roger Moore's brand of James Bond.Times have changed and for example, the Ian Fleming book based the film ,has nothing to do with cinematographic adaptation.His beautiful co-star is Barbara Bach and of course no Bond movie would be complete without the gorgeous Bond girls(Caroline Munro,Valerie Leon,among others).The movie is an agreeable blending of frenetic action,spectacular and exciting sets and humor with tongue in cheek.The film contains the world's largest sound stage specially constructed by production designer Ken Adam.In the inauguration day was even as special guest,former Prime Minister,Sir Harold Wilson. The motion picture is shot in Sardinia, Cala Volpe.There appears the car Lotus Esprit,¨Sweet Nellie¨, with weapons and rapidly become in sub.There's a very funny scene when the Lotus comes out of the water,but in order to avoid seeing the car underwater,Kem Adam had a speedboat doing waves .The scenes were really very simple attached a cable under the van to the front of the Lotus and pulled the car out the water.The Lotus could function underwater,but had to wear breathtaking equipment inside.The producer Albert Broccoli tells that they went to Egypt in the mid-1970s,tensions were hight in the Mideast.It took some careful negotiation to get out crew into Egypt.They had to submit the script in advance and an Egyptian government official had to be present during the shooting to make Egypt certain and did not portray the country in a negative light.The most challenging sequence was the night shooting in pyramids Giza,where was re-staged the ¨Son et Lumiere¨,despite the dramatic lighting effects much of the show had to be recreated in studio(Pinewood) using special effects.While the Bond films are not travelogues ,the producers do like to take viewers to spectacular places and show them things in a way that they've never seen before.The producers gambled that audiences were ready for a more fantasy-laden Bond film.Egypt(with an impressive temple of Karnak) was a great location for cameraman Claude Renoir,made it look elegant and exotic,Claude was the nephew of the great director,Jean Renoir.He helped photograph many Renoir's great films,like the ¨Grand illusion¨.He also shot second unit on ¨Cleopatra¨and photographer the 60s cult classic,¨Barbarella¨.This is his last major film as cinematographer.The film is well directed by Lewis Gilbert who had previously directed¨You only live twice¨a decade earlier.This picture is one of the more memorable Bond-Moore.

After the critical and commercial beating taken by THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN, producer Albert Broccoli, now solely in charge of the 007 franchise, had to re-evaluate the series for the third time in less than ten years. Certainly, Roger Moore would never be believable in a Sean Connery-type Bond film, but couldn't some of the series' best elements be restored, and the comedy reduced a bit, to make Moore's Bond a bit more believable?

The research, which became the basis of THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, took over two years to complete, and the script went through many writers before the final draft, by Christopher Wood and Richard Maibaum. With a renewed emphasis on more realistic action, Broccoli brought back Lewis Gilbert to direct; his earlier Bond effort, YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, while not a major 'hit', had featured the most spectacular action sequences of the series. With Gilbert on board, the production became very reminiscent of the Connery film (Even the concept of a supertanker 'swallowing' submarines echoed YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, and the spacecraft-'eating' SPECTRE capsule).

As the villain, esteemed German actor Curt Jurgens was cast as Karl Stromberg, an ideal choice, as the actor, with his bulging eyes, 'fit' the role of a fish-like megalomaniac. Playing his henchman, Jaws, in an inspired piece of casting, giant Richard Kiel, complete with 'bear-trap' steel teeth, would provide Moore with the greatest danger he'd ever face as Bond. Kiel was, in fact, so good in the role (possibly the most popular villain of the entire 007 franchise), that he would return in MOONRAKER, to bedevil Bond some more. Less successful, dramatically, but still astonishing to watch would be Stromberg's 'hit woman', Naomi, played by voluptuous Caroline Munro.

In an effort to 'update' Bond into an era of feminists, the strongest, most independent love interest to appear in at Bond film to that point was introduced. Major Anya Amasova, played by Ringo Starr's wife, the exotically beautiful Barbara Bach, was Bond's opposite number on the Russian side, an equal to 007 in every way. In a pivotal scene, she would display a knowledge of Bond's past that even included his dead wife, Tracy (the first time Bond's marriage had been mentioned since ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE). Moore's reaction to her comment would be both emotional and abrupt, and demonstrated that he could do far more than just deliver witty one-liners.

From the spectacular ski chase pre-title sequence, climaxing with a parachute free fall off a cliff (love that 'Union Jack'), to Bond and Anya's confrontations with Jaws, in Egypt (reminiscent of Bond's fights with Oddjob in GOLDFINGER and Tee Hee in LIVE AND LET DIE), to the amazing Lotus that would do service on land and in the ocean, to the massive tanker battle while Bond disarms a nuclear warhead (shades of GOLDFINGER), THE SPY WHO LOVED ME would do homage to 007's previous adventures, and utilize humor in support of the on-screen action, instead of spoofing it (other than the brief use of the LAWRENCE OF ARABIA theme...you'll spot it).

And to top things off, Carly Simon's rendition of the film's title tune, "Nobody Does It Better", would become a Top Ten hit, worldwide.

Critics and audiences loved THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, hailing it as Moore's best work, and one of the better Bonds of all time. Things were, again, looking up for 007...but STAR WARS was about to debut, and things would go dreadfully amiss, when Broccoli decided to send Bond into space, in MOONRAKER...

Undeniably one of the finest James Bond films to star Roger Moore, the film has plenty of excess, top notch special effects (for 1977) anyway, the humor less overt and left over for puns and one liners, and one of the first strong and independent Bond women, paving the way for future love interests like Jinx and Wai Lin. The Spy Who Loved Me scarcely puts a foot wrong. Sure the plot is far fetched to the extreme (an underwater building and a villain looking to repopulate the earth in his underwater city), but it has plenty of charm and is frequently enjoyable. Moore looks very confident in his performance as Bond, the one liners oozing effort and confidence, showing he has hit his stride in this, his third appearance as the character. His chemistry with Barbara Bach is in full swing, despite her odd Russian accent, and the two of them make for a great on screen couple.

This is a return to the values of many of the Bond films that were missing the last time around. The extravagant sets are back, the villain has plenty of henchman for Bond and the cavalry to fight and the gadgets are in full swing. Everything from a parachute with the Union Jack on it to the Lotus with just about every conceivable gadget at Bond's disposal. The emphasis on sight gags and overt comedy is gone and replaced with moments of genuine suspense, just check out Bond having to steal the detonator of a nuclear weapon, not to mention the superb theme tune Nobody Does it Better by Carly Simon.

It's an apt song for a series that found its footing and gave its lead actor his first classic Bond film.

I first saw this in the early 90s on a vhs. Revisited it recently. This is the tenth in the Bond series n the third to star Roger Moore as the secret agent James Bond. This is also one of my fav Bond film n it is very entertaining.

This time Bond has to deal with a reclusive but ultra rich scientist Stromberg, who plans to create WW3 and later aft the nuclear war, build a new civilisation under the sea. Lol. He shud have consulted Aquaman first. To thwart Stomberg's plan, Bond teams up with a Russian agent known as triple X.

This movie has one of my personal fav scene, the Union Jack-parachute scene.

This time Bond gets to cool off with Sue Vanner n Barbara Bach. And we get to cool off our eyes with Caroline Munro's amazing cleavage.

Apart from Stromberg, Bond has to face a motorbike henchman with a rocket sidecar, a small army of soldiers in red, an atractive helicopter pilot (Munro) n Stromberg's two fierce henchmen, Jaws n Sandor.

Some info on Stromberg from the book- he is totally bald, lacking eyebrows, and has a small mouth. Only the pinkie and ring finger of his left hand are webbed, as opposed to all of his digits in the film. His character is also given a rather lengthy backstory, revealing how he made his fortune and got into the shipping industry.

Some info on Jaws from the book - he used to b a basketball player but due to his sluggish reaction and his lack of speed, his career ended. Later he was arrested by the secret police for having taken part in a riot n beaten by the cops with hollow steel clubs encased in thick leather, breaking his jaw beyond repair. It was Stromberg who hired a prestigious doctor to create an artificial jaw for Jaws, that created the two rows of terrifying razor-sharp teeth.