THE SPY WHO LOVED ME - 1977
Directed by Lewis Gilbert
Starring Roger Moore, Barbara Bach, Curd Jurgens, Richard Kiel, Caroline Munro, Walter Gotell, Geoffrey Keen, Bernard Lee, and Desmond Llewelyn
Genre: Spy Action Adventure (Audio clip)
As a long-time Bond fan, this is probably my favorite one starring the late, great Sir Roger Moore. It makes sense too because never was there a story and setting better tailored to HIS particular approach towards playing 007: it's a goofy story told on a grand scale loaded with crazy gadgets, no shortage of scantily clad women in swimsuits, kitschy music throughout (a very disco-influensed score from the late great Marvin Hamlisch), crazy stunts (done by stuntmen of course), an over-the-top villain (Curt Jurgens playing Stromerg), an even wackier henchman (Jaws), LAVISH sets from Ken Adams, massive action sequences featuring large numbers of extras, and.....a beautiful, mysterious rival secret agent (Anya, Agent XXX played by Barbara Bach) from the Soviets who Bond has to pair up with on this latest crazy mission which SEEMS very similar to one prior he did during You Only Live Twice. 🤔
Funny that both films came from the same director.....Lewis Gilbert....hmmm....yeah this wouldn't be the first time either as this basic plot line would be used for the next Bond film as well, Moonraker. It's basically the "Power-mad Industrialist devises to incite a nuclear war between the East and the West...so after that, he can rule the scraps left for himself....in his image." In both YOLT and Moonraker, the main villain was looking to do this via space-based technology....THIS time around, Stromberg has plans to rule the world via his growing underwater empire. Which creates the opportunity for no shortage of impressively staged water-based action AND impressive water-based sets including Stromberg's underwater lair....which kinda looks like the cross between a quadrapod insect and Lex Luthor's Legion of Doom. :o
Moore is really at his best with charm and swagger to spear. Yes he does get his share of goofy lines ("Keeping the British end up, sir.") and smug double-takes but he still portrays a confident 007 who ALWAYS comes through in the clutch....especially through this film's dazzling extended climax which features Bond and an US sub captain (played by genre vet Shane Rimmer) leading the cavalry to not only take down Stromberg's red jumpsuit-wearing army inside a gargantuan submarine-swallowing super tanker! We're talking about a set SO large that DP Claude Renoir (whose lensing throughout leaves this as one of the more visually impressive Bonds) wasn't quite sure how to light it....so they went to Ken Adams' frequent collaborator for guidance on this.....so they received uncredited assistance from the late, great Stanley Kubrick (!) on setting up the lighting.
Also of note is the always charming Walter Gotell playing General Golgol, the head of the KGB and also Anya's boss - seriously for a film made back in Cold War '76, it's kinda shocking how this movie actually portrays the Soviets as more progressive and compassionate than the British. Kotel who would actually go on to play this character in five more Bond films was a big reason for that as he always had just such a warm smile and playful nature about him....
And of course we can't forget JAWS - as played by the late & fondly remembered Richard Kiel who was more than 7'3" at the time, he's just a giant, comically lumbering unstoppable force....so big and intimidating that it's easy to forget that he also has sharp metal teeth which come in handy towards the end. When he's trapped in a pool with a vicuous shark coming his way, it's HE who savagely bites the underwater beast with those teeth! 🤭 He's just a blast to watch....
The Spy Who Loved Me is mainly series of highlights and impressive setpieces which knows what it is and rarely disappoints. Oh it still has its share of clunky spots: all of the Egypt travelogue stuff probably pads it by an extra ten minutes or so, the villain himself is merely serviceable with minimal charisma (honestly Michael Lonsdale delivers a sharper version of this same type of villain as Hugo Drax in the next movie), there are a couple of distractingly cutesy music cues included within the score, and....there's a running suplot that’s pretty much dropped for no reason, I’ll get to that one in a bit. But overall, this is a highly entertaining action epic which for the most part rivals even the best of what we see today. THIS film was among a select few from the pre-Blockbuster Era which skied so that the likes of Mission Impossible Tom Cruise could eventually run. :)
Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film):
Out of the rest of the cast, we also have the truly LUMINOUS Barbara Bach playing Amya, a pretty crafty dueling spy partner for Bond. She and Moore have good chemistry and she holds her own in the action sequences…..until sadly the screenplay relegates her to a damsel-in-distress in the 3rd act. 😕 All around, Bach does the most she can with this role but is somewhat underused.
What always stuck out the most for me with regards to her character is that there is a tense subplot introduced early on relating to Anya's planned vengeance towards Bond for murdering her former lover on those ski slopes on the opening sequence. This culminates in one pretty strong scene roughly halfway through when they both realize each other’s involvement in this death – Bond owns up to the part he played in that spy’s murder and Anya then declares that she will kill him once their mission has ended. And then…..at the very end of the movie…..this whole subplot is just jarringly DROPPED for no particular reason. ☹️ Undoubtedly this character was a solid step forward for Bond’s female co-star in this franchise but clearly…..they still had a ways to go.
Best Needledrop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film) and Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie):
Strangely, I've gone this far without even mentioning what I consider to be the film's TRUE highlight: a cold open ski chase which not only cannily sets up the story but culminates with what remains propably one of the Top Ten most impressive stunts in the history of cinema.....SERIOUSLY. 😏 We see Bond evade several Soviet goons out to kill him while on the slopes - he actually fends them off with a ski pole that's also a firearm (Thanks Q!). He then does some impressive maneuvering downhill through various obstacles before......approaching a cliff.....which he then jumps off on skis....and as one camera follows this figure free-dalling through the air, while removing his skis.....he is then able to bust open a parachute featuring the Union Jack flag. ALL in one very impressive shot no less! Apparently no stunt had been done like this before as there was a frighteningly short window of time for any one taking this jump to be able to successfully remove his skis AND trigger the parachute before falling too low to be able to recover - genuinely death-defying stuff pulled off by the legendary stuntman, Rick Sylvester.
As if that sequence wasn't enough, this also leads into a crazy underwater-set opening credits sequence featuring what I consider to be THE Best Bond Theme of them all (though it's close between this and a couple of others)....and that would be "Nobody Does It Better" by Carly Simon, just a gorgeous ballad featuring not only her impressive pipes but lush piano and orchestration composed by Hamlisch himself. 🤗 Just the perfect sort of rousing, romantic music to kick off such a sprawling adventure.....
MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film):
Albert Broccoli (nicknamed Cubby) helped kickstart the Bond franchise in the late ‘50’s when he decided to partner with producer Harry Saltzman who had already owned the rights to the Ian Fleming novels from which they originated – together they decided to co-produce these films which lead to the creation of the production company EON Productions which is now the exclusive producer of all Bond-related content. After the unexpected success of Dr. No in 1962, Broccoli and Saltzman started cranking out more Bond films which just became bigger and bigger…though by the end of the decade, Saltzman’s interest in the franchise started to wane while he racked up massive debts with other business ventures. Unfortunately, Saltzman ended up using his partial ownership of EON as collateral on many a bad venture which lead to several different lawsuits regarding the rights. Along with other legal issues arising between Ian Fleming’s estate and a writer he had partnered with early on AND the underperformance of the previous Bond film from 1974 – The Man With the Golden Gun – this resulted in a VERY tumultuous time for the franchise.
Cubby then became the sole producer and took the reins – The Spy Who Loved Me was the first film released under his sole leadership and he clearly blew the doors off spearheading a movie which not only looked a LOT more expensive than it actually was but was SO successful at the box office that it helped re-establish Roger Moore as a popular James Bond for years to come. Albert Broccoli would remain as a producer until his passing in 1996 – his daughter Barbara Broccoli then took over producing duties and has done so in partnership with Michael G. Wilson to this day. For keeping this franchise thriving at a critical time, Cubby Broccoli is the MVP.
Final Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Of all of the Bond films, this one is firmly within my Top 10 overall…..likely sixth or seventh. Even if Roger Moore is not your cup of tea, there’s just so much to enjoy – check it out if you haven’t already!
Streaming on Prime Video
And that ends another STROMBERGIAN review