1977 | Dir. Lewis Gilbert | 125 Minutes
"In our business, Anya, people get killed. We both know that. So did he. It was either him or me."
When British and Soviet nuclear submarines go missing, MI6 and the KGB send their respective top spies to investigate, Agent 007 James Bond and Agent XXX Anya Amasova. The two elite operatives must learn to set aside their differences and work together to stop wealthy madman Karl Stromberg from destroying the world.
Directly following installments that range from middling to terrible, Roger Moore's third Bond film is genuinely excellent. The Spy Who Loved Me boldly takes the series' signature brand of escapist espionage entertainment in a decidedly optimistic direction by presenting a scenario in which Cold War rivals collaborate to combat a mutual threat against humanity. To the credit of the filmmakers, they attempt to balance Bond's inherent chauvinism by pairing him with an opposing female agent created for this film to be his equal. The picture puts Roger Moore's undeniable charm to good use and combines it with director Lewis Gilbert's talent for presenting elaborate and fantastic action with a dash of humor resulting in an incredibly fun and memorable ride. The primary locations of Egypt and Sardinia are gorgeously photographed, exuding the sense of exoticism and luxury the series is known for when it's at its best, and Stromberg's underwater lair Atlantis and his massive supertanker Liparus are some of the most creative and ambitious sets of the franchise. The thoroughly enjoyable soundtrack by Marvin Hamlisch is most notable for its unique disco version of the James Bond theme.
The Spy Who Loved Me features some of the best and most memorable action sequences of the series. Jaws' relentless pursuit of Bond and Amasova brings on thrilling action sequences in Egyptian Ruins, aboard a train, and in Atlantis. A chase scene in Sardinia involving a helicopter and a Lotus Esprit courtesy of Q Branch that transforms into a submarine armed with all sorts of amusing weapons leads to a brief but visually stunning underwater battle. The final battle aboard Liparus culminating with Bond's perilous maneuver to blow open a reinforced steel wall with a nuclear warhead detonator is classic 007.
Roger Moore looks like he's having the time of his life playing Bond, consistently suave but far from infallible, leaning into the corny nature of the role as it was written at the time, his one-liner land more often than not on this outing and he sells the action sequences well enough. In the role of Agent Amasova, Barbara Bach is very lovely and makes for a convincingly competent Soviet superspy, an appropriate match for Bond until the narrative disappointingly turns her into a damsel for Bond to rescue during its final act. German-Austrian actor Curt Jurgens plays Stromberg as an emotionally subdued megalomaniac, his iconic physically imposing steel-toothed henchman Jaws played by Richard Kiel leaves much more of a lasting impression. Bernard Lee, Lois Maxwell, and Desmond Llewelyn once again return as exposition machines M, Moneypenny, and Q, operating out of a secret base in the Sahara, while Walter Gotell and Geoffrey Keen make their respective debuts as KGB head General Gogol and British Defence Minister Frederick Gray.
Extraordinarily entertaining, highly imaginative, and full of action and humor, The Spy Who Loved Me is the very peak of Roger Moore's run as 007 and the among the best of the James Bond series. It is among only a handful of classic Bond films that continues to hold up remarkably well.
THE COLD OPEN
A lot is packed into the cold open for this one but the payoff is awesome. An American submarine is abducted, the KGB activates Agent XXX who turns out to be a woman, and Bond escapes enemy combatants skiing off a cliff with a massive drop only to open a parachute emblazoned with the Union Jack. Absolutely glorious.
THE THEME SONG AND OPENING TITLES
Carly Simon's "Nobody Does It Better" is one of the very best Bond theme songs, and one of the few that effectively functions as a great love ballad beyond the movie. It was the second James Bond theme song to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. The opening title sequence by Maurice Binder is mostly saved by the song as Bond's war against a generic parade of nude female silhouettes, some in bearskins and some doing gymnastics on the barrel of a pistol, is more silly than sexy.
THE BOND GIRL
Agent XXX Anya Amasova is pretty great by Bond love interest standards as she actually gets the upper hand on Bond in a memorable sequence, easily seducing him before knocking him out with a cloud of sleeping powder and stealing the MacGuffin of the moment for her country. She proves to be a competent spy, and even resists Bond's charm for a good stretch. Amasova's hatred for Bond for killing her fellow spy and lover gives their relationship some third act tension, but she inexplicably and quite predictably ends up in bed with Bond anyway after she is reduced to a lady to be rescued by Bond for uninspired story reasons.
THE BOND VILLAIN
After so many SPECTRE agents, Blofeld and his harebrained schemes, and common criminals with impractical ambitions, Karl Stromberg is a refreshing Bond villain in the simplicity of his delusion. His scheme to kick start World War III with hijacked Western and Soviet nuclear submarines and create a new utopian civilization underwater is impractical and quite insane but his execution is kind of elegant thanks to his abundant resources. It's impressive that Stromberg has so many followers staffing the Liparus, though how many were paid as opposed to actually believing in Stromberg's questionable vision for the future. His lair is also pretty neat with a great view, and the trap door to feed enemies to his shark is a nice gag. However, the hidden gun under the long dining table wasn't the best idea and he inevitably paid for it.
FEATURED HENCHMEN
With an entertaining distinctive gimmick and an abundance of personality despite having no dialogue whatsoever, Jaws is best and most iconic Bond henchman ever. Jaws was so popular at test screenings that the filmmakers shot additional footage for the final cut of the film to reassure the audience that he survived his encounter with Stromberg's shark and the destruction of Atlantis. His counterpart, a short and squat bruiser named Sandor, is tragically mostly forgotten despite his memorable death scene.
FEATURED GADGET
The transforming Lotus Espirit submarine is peak 1970s Bond. It would be so much fun to go on an underwater date in that thing, even better if given the opportunity to take out enemies with missiles.
FLEMING FIDELITY
When Ian Fleming sold the film rights to his 1962 Bond novel The Spy Who Loved Me, the ninth in his series, he only gave permission for the title to be used as critics and readers were very disappointed with the book. The plot of the novel follows the tribulations of a young Canadian woman, thrown into a night of fending off gangsters at a motel with Bond coming to her assistance by chance. Jaws is based on one of gangsters in the book, a metal-toothed thug who goes by Sol "Horror" Horowitz.
FRAGMENTS
- As Anya dresses down Bond she mentions that he had been married once before he sternly stops her from saying more, a rare reference to the tragic events of On Her Majesty's Secret Service
- Walter Gotell previously appeared in From Russia with Love as SPECTRE henchman Morzeny
- Robert Brown makes his first appearance in the series as Vice-Admiral Hargreaves, eventually filling the role of M beginning in Octopussy; it's unclear in series canon if M was a title passed on to Hargreaves or if Robert Brown's M is meant to be the same character as the M played by Bernard Lee
- An excerpt from Maurice Jarre's score for Lawrence of Arabia during Bond and Amasova's journey through the Sahara
- Crew member Victor Tourjansky makes a cameo appearance as the man with a bottle of wine on the beach who reacts humorously to the Lotus Espirit emerging from the ocean; he would go on to appear in Moonraker and For Your Eyes Only
- At the bottom of the end credits, the film advertises that "James Bond will return in For Your Eyes Only" but due to the unprecedented success of Star Wars, Eon Productions followed up with Moonraker instead
