OK so its time for a bit of post revisitation where I expand on one of my previous posts and this is another James Bond one and the Bond film in question is Roger Moore's The Spy Who Loved Me. So after nearly 40 years how does this classic stand up? Well let's find out.....
And as usual the following warning will be issued:
SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!
STORY
So it all starts in Austria, where James Bond (Roger Moore) is on holiday, but he soon receives a communication from HQ to investigate the disappearance of British nuclear submarines. As Bond leaves his log cabin, leaving behind his latest fling, the log cabin girl (Sue Venner) he is attacked by Soviet agents, and he kills one of them as he skis off a cliff and escapes using a Union Jack parachute.
Bond soon joins up with M (Bernard Lee) the head of MI6 and Bond's boss, who tells him that he is to try and recover plans for an advanced submarine tracking system, which is supposedly to be found in Egypt. Bond travels to Egypt and soon meets up with a rival agent, from the KGB, Major Anya Amasova "Triple XXX" (Barbara Bach) who is also looking for the plans, as Soviet submarines have also gone missing.
Bond and Anya meet with a marketeer, Max Kalba (Vernon Dobtcheff) who has the plans on microfilm, but Kalba is called away for a phone call at one point before they can start bidding for the microfilm, and Kalba is then killed by a 7 foot henchman, Jaws (Richard Kiel) who has metal teeth. Jaws takes the microfilm and leaves, with Bond following him, he get's into the back of Jaws's van, as does Anya and the two of them are driven out into the desert. Jaws parks the van at a building site, and as Bond and Anya follow him, Jaws fights with Bond, but they quickly manage to escape and take the microfilm. Bond and Anya soon make it across the desert and get onto a boat, where Anya knocks out Bond with gas from a mock cigarette and takes the microfilm.
Bond comes to and soon travels to MI6's HQ based in Egypt, where he sees M and also M's opposite number, General Gogol (Walter Gotell), the head of the KGB, along with Anya. M tells Bond that he and Anya are to work together in order to find the missing submarines, and Bond also tells them that microfilm they recovered was useless as the crucial technical information was removed, but they scan the film nonethless and see mark which shows the signature of the laboratory of scientist and shipping tycoon, Karl Stromberg (Curd Jugens) who turns out to be the film's main villain.
Together Bond and Anya travel to Stromberg's base out in Sardinia, and en route Jaws tries to kill them both on a train, but Bond stops him. Once they arrive at Stromberg's base, Bond meets with the man himself, who tells Bond of his dream to create a world under the sea, as he has a great passion for marine life. After Bond and Anya leave, Stromberg reveals that he knows who they both are, and he tells Jaws to let them get ashore and then kill them. Jaws persues them on land but fails to kill Bond or Anya, who escape in Bond's fancy Q gadget loaded, Lotus Esprit, which Bond drives into the ocean and he takes out some bad guys underwater as well, before rising to the surface and driving back onto shore.
Later on Anya confronts Bond over the death of her former lover, as Bond reveals the coincidence that he was in the same place and same time as her boyfriend was. Bond admits that he did kill Anya's lover, who then coldly tells him that after the mission she will kill him. Bond and Anya soon make their way onto a US submarine, where they travel to Stromberg's underwater base, and they confirm that he is operating the tracking system. The submarine however is soon captured by a supertanker called the Liparus, which captured the other submarines aswell. Bond, Anya and the submarine crew are taken onboard the supertanker, where Stromberg tells Bond of his plan to create a new Atlantis under the water, as he plans to launch missiles at New York and Moscow, which would pre-empt nuclear war, so Stromberg can rebuild his new world under the sea.
And at this point its up to the world's greatest secret agent (although the word secret is debatable!) to stop the megalomaniac from carrying out his nefarious plan....
THOUGHTS
There is little doubt that The Spy Who Loved Me is Roger Moore's best Bond film, as it has the perfect mixture of laughs, suspense, action and pure fun. Even though the film takes the name of the novel by Ian Fleming, it is not based on the plot of the book in any way. However the film is also notable for introducing one of the series most memorable villains with Jaws, the 7 foot steel toothed henchman.
The film is also packed with impressive action scenes and also features one of the most ambitious stunts seen on screen up to this point in the scene where Bond skis off a cliff and he opens his Union Jack parachute (the stunt itself was performed by stuntman, Ricky Sylvester, who was paid $30,000 for it). And visually speaking it remains one of the most stunning films in the series with its exotic locations aswell as its use of special gadgets (e.g Bond's Lotus Esprit that can move underwater) and superb miniature effects work by Derek Meddings for Stromberg's hideout, Atlantis. So overall its safe to say that the film is easily one of the most cinematic and epic looking Bond films up to that point.
PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning this section will contain spoilers!!)
Performance wise you could definitely argue that things here are a bit of a mixed bag but nonetheless the cast overall do a pretty good job.
Starting with Roger Moore, while he isn't the greatest actor of all time, he was still for me one of the best Jame Bonds, as he brought a great mix of charisma, dry humour and a smooth physicality to the role (at least I think so, but you can all disagree!).
Roger Moore himself here I think got Bond just right, as he said himself after making The Man With The Golden Gun that he felt the filmmakers were still trying to make him more like the gritty Sean Connery type of band, wich Moore felt uncomfortable about. But here we do get Moore's Bond played just right in the tone, with a cheeky dry sense of humour, but also with right amount of seriousness.
And Moore has his share of highlights such as his first scene where he is in bed with the log cabin girl and as they kiss, she says to him "Oh, James I can't find the words!" and Bond says "Well let my try and enlarge your vocabulary!". And as Bond receives a messasge from M he get's up and dresses up in his ski outfit to leave as the girl says to him "But James I need you!" and Bond replies "So does England".
Then there is the scene where Bond fights with Jaws at the building site in Egypt, as the big fella takes a swing with a piece of wood and brings down half the worksite on himself. Bond afterwards wipes his hands of dust and walks away saying "Egyptian builders!". And this is followed by the scene where Bond and Anya try and escape Jaws in the big man's van but Jaws tries to stop them. And as Anya desparately tries to start the van, Bond says to her as the van makes alot of noise in starting up "Can you play any other tune?!".
Another good scene is when Bond and Anya are chased on the roads by Stromberg's henchmen (including Jaws) and one of them is a motorcyclist who Bond rams off a cliff as it just had crashed into a truck and feathers fly out and the biker falls to his death with feathers surrounding him. And Bond says to Anya "All those feathers and he still can't fly!". And as Stromberg's personal pilot, Naomi (Caroline Munro) tries kill Bond by shooting at him with machines attached to her chopper, Bond says to Anya "You ever get the feeling that somebody doesn't like you?!".
And one of the Moore's best moments in the film comes in a more serious scene when Anya confronts Bond over the death of her former lover. And Bond reveals to Anya that he was the one that killed him saying "When someone's behind you on skis at 40 miles per hour trying to put a bullet in your back, you don't always have time to remember a face. In our business, Anya, people get killed. We both know that. So did he. It was either him or me. The answer to the question is yes. I did kill him".
And last of all there is the scene where Bond fights against Jaws onboard Stromberg's Atlantis up above the shark pool. And in the scene Bond uses a large magnet to clamp onto Jaws's metal teeth which lifts him up and Bond smiles saying "How does that grab you?!" just before he moves the magnet right over the pool and he releases the magnet's grip and drops Jaws right in the pool.
Then there is Barbara Bach who is the real weak link here, as despite the fact she is undeniably beautiful as Major Anya Amasova, her performance is almost totally robotic. Bach delivers pretty much all her lines in a monotone, and quite a few of them are delivered in such a naff way, if it wasn't for her great looks, it makes you wonder why else she was cast. Regardless of her flaws however, Bach does a good job as showing Anya to be a tough and resourceful agent, and it is a good reveal when we see that the KGB's best man (so to speak) is a woman, and while she isn't as physically strong, mentally she is very much Bond's equal.
Bach also has some good moments in the film that include the scene when Anya properly meets Bond at the Kalba club and she reveals what she knows about him. And Anya gives Bond's quick bio to him and she says "Commander James Bond, recruited to the British Secret Service from the Royal Navy. License to kill and has done so on numerous occasions. Many lady friends but married only once. Wife killed...". And Bond for once is quite sensitive about someone bringing up the death of his wife and he says to her "Alright you made your point" and Anya says to him "You're sensitive, Mr Bond?" and Bond says "About some things, yes".
Another good scene is when Anya and Bond try to escape Jaws in the big guy's electrical repair van (Jaws's front for accessing the Kalba club to kill Kalba himself) but Jaws attempts to stop them by punching and ripping his way into the van. And in the scene as Jaws stands at the back of the van and uses his superior strength to prevent it from getting away, Anya says to Bond "Watch this!" and she reverses the van right into a wall, stunning Jaws and Anya quips to Bond "Shaken, not stirred!".
And then there is the scene when Anya confronts Bond over the death of her lover, who Bond killed at the start of the film. And Anya shows a photo of the man to Bond and says to him "Have you seen this man?" and Bond says "No, who is he?" and Anyay says "The man I loved. He was in Austria 3 weeks ago. Did you kill him?". And as Bond admits that he did kill him, Anya coldly says to him "Then, when this mission is over, I will kill you!".
And lastly there is the scene onboard Stromberg's Atlantis (SPOILER!!!) when Bond and Anya escape the hideout as it is blown up by the American submarine's torpedos. And as Bond finds a bottle of champagne in the small escape pod, Anya picks up Bond's gun and points it at him saying "The mission is over, commander". And Bond looks nervous as Anya pulls the trigger and instead of killing Bond, she shoots the top off the bottle and she smiles.
Curd Jurgens however as the main villain, Karl Stromberg is excellent, as his grandiose voice really lends to the dramatic villanous qualities that Stromberg requires.
Jurgens also has some good scenes such as the one where he ejects his assistant from a lift into a watery grave where she is killed by a shark and he says over an intercom "It was you who betrayed me, and now you will pay the penalty!". Stromberg then after kills off two scientists who worked for him, as he let's them board a helicopter and detonates the helicopter they are on. And as Stromberg watches the helicopter explode on a small video screen he hits his intercom and says "Cancel transfer of 20 million dollars. Inform next of kin that a tragic accident has resulted in the deaths of Professor Markovitz and Dr Bechmann. The funeral was at sea!".
Then there is the scene where Bond, posing as a marine expert visits Atlantis and meets with Stromberg who refuses to shake Bond's hand most probably due to Stromberg having webbed hands, a strong deformity he had at birth (although this is never really mentioned in the film but you do see his hands at one point are webbed). And in the scene as Bond asks him "Don't you miss the outside world?" Stromberg says to Bond pointing his various aquatic animals in their tanks "For me, this is all the world. There is beauty... there is ugliness... and there is death".
And later after Bond and Anya leave to head back to the inland, Jaws comes into Stromberg's aquarium room and he asks Jaws "Were they the two on the train?" (referring to Jaws's attempt to kill Anya and Bond on a train journey to Sardinia) and Jaws nods. And Stromberg, while eating says "James Bond. And the woman is Major Amasova, a Russian agent. Let them get to shore... and then kill them!".
And last of all (SPOILER!!) is Stromberg's final scene where Bond turns up again at Stromberg's Atlantis to rescue Anya, who Stromberg has taken captive. And Bond asks Stromberg "Where's Anya?" and Stromberg says to him "Well, well... a British agent in love with a Russian agent. Détente, indeed!". And Bond says to Stromberg "Your time is running out, Stromberg" and we see Stromberg sitting at a massive dining table at the far end, underneath take hold of what appears to be a trigger for a projectile weapon and Stromberg says to him "Yours too, Mr Bond and faster than you think!". And Stromberg fires the weapon which travels through a tube and Bond dives out the way just in time as an explosion impacts on the other side and Bond get's up and says to the villain "You've shot your bolts, Stromberg, now its my turn!" and he shoots Stromberg dead.
And then we have Richard Kiel, who plays Jaws, Stromberg's 7 foot tall metal toothed henchmark, who is seemingly indestructable throughout the film. Jaws's character was in fact partly based on a villain from one of Ian Fleming's books called Horror, who wore metal braces on his teeth. Kiel however plays the part as mute so he has no dialogue in the film at all and everything he does come down to a series of threatening looks.
And Keil has a remarkably imposing presence in the fim, and for the first half he really is quite intimidating, particularly in the scene where he kills Fekkesh at the Pyramids, by viciously throwing him against a pillar and biting his neck. However after that Jaws does become a bit comical, as he fights with Bond at the Egyptian building site, and as they flee, he picks up a big boulder which he clumsily drops on his foot!
Also rather amusingly Jaws's name is clearly a piss-take from Steven Spielberg's same named film, and this is reflected in the scene near the end where Bond drops Jaws into Stromberg's water tank with the sharks, and Jaws kills the shark with his metal teeth. Regardless, Jaws still remains one of the most memorable villains in the Bond films, and Kiel does a great job here, and his character was such a hit that he was brought back for the next Bond film, Moonraker.
And the last few cast members I will mention include Walter Gotell as General Gogol, Anya's superior and equivalent of MI6's M. And Gotell only has a few scenes but his main one that springs to mind is where Bond meets up with M and also General Gogol in Egypt. And as Bond and Anya impress Gogol with their knowledge, Gogol laughs and says "That's brilliant! I'm certain that two such perceptive
talents will enjoy working together in Sardinia, and that it will help to make Anglo-Soviet
cooperation a reality". Gotell would then also go on to appear in several more Bond films up until Timothy Dalton's debut in The Living Daylights.
Caroline Munro also makes a notable appearance in the film as Naomi, Stromberg's personal pilot and assassin who later attempts to kill Bond while chasing him in her helicopter armed with side machine guns and she even winks at Bond while she does it! And Munro's most noteworthy line is when Bond is about to take the lift onboard the Atlantis to meet Stromberg and she says to him "Oh and Mr Stromberg prefers not to shake hands, its the third button".
And last of all Bernard Lee, Lois Maxwell both reprise their roles as M and Moneypenny respectively but they hardly have any lines and only appear briefly so I won't mention any. Although last of all it is worth mentioning Desmond Llewellyn as Q who has a memorable line where he drops off Bond's Lotus Esprit and as Bond and Anya get in, Q is about to instruct Bond on on its features. And as Q says to Bond "Right. Now pay attention, 007. I want you to take great care of this
equipment. There are one or two rather special accessories.." Bond interrupts and says "Q, have I ever let you down?" and drives off speedily leaving Q very annoyed and to say to himself "Frequently!".
DIRECTOR, DESIGN AND EFFECTS
As for the film's director, Lewis Gilbert was hired back to direct the film, who had already worked on the Sean Connery Bond film, You Only Live Twice
And Gilbert does a terrific job with TSWLM (film's title for short!) as he impeccably handles the film's action scenes and keeps the tone light hearted through it and creates the perfect mix of action, drama and fun. The film itself took roughly four months to shoot as production started in August 1976 and ended in December of that year. Gilbert also makes great use of the locations in the film that include Porto Cevo in Sardinia, Egypt, Malta, Switzerland and also Scotland where the British naval base scenes where shot at Faslane naval base.
The film's production design is also superb as Ken Adam, the production designer, who famously worked on previous Bond films, and some of Stanely Kubrick's films such as Dr Strangelove, created a stunning set for Stromberg's supertanker, the Liparus, which was built at Pinewood Studios as well as the interiors of the Atlantis. And also as I previously mentioned, Derek Meddings, one of the most acclaimed and reknowned miniature effects designers (some of his screen credits include Superman and Alien), also designed some brilliant miniatures for the supertanker as well, particularly in the scenes where Bond and the others escape from it.
As for the film's music instead of the regular composer, John Barry, the score was composed by the American composer, Marvin Hamlisch which is excellent and has a refreshingly different sound to it as it is a mixture of orchrestral tracks and 70's disco type stuff. The most notable use of the disco type music is during the scenes where Bond is persued by the Russian agents at the start of the film and later when Jaws and Naomi try and kill Bond on the roads in Sardinia. It sounds a bit cheesy in a way but it does a cool new sound to the series giving it more a 70s feel of the period. Hamlisch also makes use of a track from Maurice Jarre's score for Lawrence of Arabia during the desert scenes where Bond and Anya walk through the desert. So all in all its a fine score and one of the more unique ones in the series.
And last of all I can't forget to mention the film's Bond theme, "Nobody does it better" sung by Carly Simon, which remains one of the most memorable theme's in the series and its pretty good and even has a poignant sound to it, which makes it stand out as one of the best in the series.
FLAWS
As for the flaws.....well it has to be said that yes The Spy Who Loved Me it isn't quite perfect.
And to kick some of the film's problems lie with Christopher Wood's script, which while it is quite witty and entertaining, it also features some cringeworthy dialogue as well, and it also definitely reflects the rather old fashioned and sexist views of the time. One such scene I cringe at is when Bond meets his contact in Egypt, as he delivers a steely line and a stern look and then says "James Bond, how are you after all these years, my dear fellow!".
Another example of this is when Bond and Anya first travel to Stromberg's hideout, the Atlantis, and Bond eyes up Stromberg's pilot, the sexy Naomi, which causes a bit of jealousy with Anya. And in the scene Naomi gives them a quick tour guide and she shows them the model of a tanker and she walks away and Bond admiringly looks at her and says to Anya "What a handsome craft, such lovely lines".
Some of Bond's dialogue while it is really amusing its also a bit cringeworthy at times, especially in the scene where he meets the woman who is at Fekkesh's place, and she comes onto Bond and says "is there anything you would like?" and Bond replies "well I had lunch, but I seemed to have skipped desert!". Another line is when Bond and Anya are at the Kalba club, and Kalba says regarding Anya's dress "seems you have competition, Mr Bond, and judging by the lady's figure, you will find it hard to match!".
Another thing that slightly troubled me is the scene where Bond drives his Lotus into the water and Anya screams as he does it, yet she knows what the car can do, and studied the blueprints of it two years ago, as she even later activates a button that produces a small disc bomb to kill off one of the underwater baddies. So on the basis surely she knows its no surprise that it can go underwater (I guess its just her surprised reaction at the time maybe).
There are also some silly illogical moments especially in the scene, where Bond uses the nuclear warhead to blast open Stromberg's control room onboard the Liparus. In the scene Bond sets the timer on the warhead for 10 seconds, he starts the timer and tries to push away from the warhead (which is strapped to a large silver globe Bond travelled on) using an automatic metal rail, which is not turned on, and he is stuck dangling in the air, but then the baddies in the control room turn the rail back on, and Bond jumps back onto the stairwell just in time. But given the time it took for the bomb to complete its countdown and the rail to switch on and get him back far enough safely to the stairs, Bond would have been killed in the blast, but again its just silly, how in the Bond films how they continue to cheat time!
Anyway that's about it for the flaws.
SUM UP
So to sum up, The Spy Who Loved Me is easily Roger Moore's best Bond film, it has a great mixture of action, thrills, humour and suspense and it also features one of the most memorable Bond villains of the franchise with Jaws. And any of its flaws can easily be forgiven as it remains one of the real highlights on the Bond series.
So that's it for now and I will be back on here with another post sometime soon.
Till the next one bye for now.
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