The Spy Who Loved Me
1977
Director: Lewis
Gilbert
Starring: Roger
Moore, Barbara Bach, Richard Kiel, Curt Jurgens, Desmond Llewelyn
Rated: PG
All those feathers and
he still can’t fly.
~James Bond
STATS
Kills: 18 + unconfirmed amount in the control room bombing
Girls: Anya Amasova,
“Log Cabin Girl”, random “Arab Beauty”
Car: Lotus Esprit
Locales: Egypt,
Sardinia
Odd Villain Trait:
Jaws is a giant with a set of metal teeth
Song: “Nobody Does It
Better” performed by Carly Simon
The Spy Who Loved Me delivers one of, if not the, ultimate James Bond films. Plot driven with big scale action scenes,
memorable villains, a fantastic song, cool gadgets, stunts, a highly
complimentary score, Bond heroics and a beautiful female who can go toe-to-toe
with 007 all come gelling together in this fun and exciting 70s spy
thriller. While the previous three entries
were rather tame and almost like elongated television episodes in spectacle, The Spy Who Loved Me isn’t afraid to be ambitious and completely go for it. The production team really doesn’t hold back
on what is one of the highest points in the 007 series.
This is also the first Bond film where the teaser scene is based around
a death-defying stunt (which would be the big selling point of these from here
out). In this case, there’s a ski scene
(#2 if you’re keeping score) where Bond is hunted by Soviet agents. In just a few minutes, this scene outdoes all
3 ski/bobsled scenes from On Her
Majesty’s Secret Service. The rear
projection on the close-ups of Roger Moore is still obvious, but who cares, pay
attention to the stunt work at hand instead.
Bond’s got a really cool gadget ski pole that serves as a rifle. The big breath taking moment is when 007 just
goes jumping straight off the cliff of a very high mountain, falling to the
depths until its revealed he’s got a parachute.
The chase, the musical accompaniment and the stunt are just perfectly
paced and timed for this sequence.
Of
all 10 films, this one completely blows away any previous opener. And right away, you know this film is going
to be much better than the previous few we’ve sat through to get to here. The opening credits even wow. It’s a nice little sequence that compliments
the film. The silhouetted women are quite
a bit more risqué, but it comes off more avante garde and “artsy”. The song is fantastic. Carly Simon’s “Nobody Does It Better” is one
of the most iconic songs from any of the Bond films. It not only works for the film, but it works
even for regular listening. Simon’s song
is an absolutely great tune that I’ve been a fan of for years. Fun fact on my
007 geekiness; I had this song played during my wedding ceremony as the exiting
procession music.
Carly Simon isn’t the only one getting it right with the
music this time around; the score is quite good too. Marvin Hamlisch makes his only appearance in
the role of composer for the 007 series.
His scored features a disco’ized rendition of the Bond theme. More importantly his score comes very complimentary
to the film itself. The stunt in the
opener is a very good example of building up the suspense through his score. Roger Moore finally looks 100% comfortable in the James Bond
role for his third turn. The script builds around
his strengths. He’s got a stockpile of
one-liners, but one moment in the film acknowledges without winking to the
audience that the writers are well aware.
This time around, Moore comes less of the brute.
The portrayal of Bond in this film is sly, cunning and charming. It’s one of the absolute best on-screen
performances of the secret agent we've seen.
Opposite the British secret agent is Anya Amasova. Amasova is, for the most part, well written
and given far more depth than to just be the girl who holds Bond’s hand while
running from explosions. A lot of the
film has her few steps ahead of 007 in regards to the chase for the submarine
tracker. She also is able to resist his
charm and fool him early on. Bach and
Moore’s chemistry bring a lot of the enjoyment to the film. We are actually given scenes to let them grow
and build affection/trust toward one another through more than just action. And it’s not in the ole “this is how the
British do it” – “Oh but we Soviets do it like this” getting-to-know-each-other
piss poor writing convention. She does
become a damsel in distress, but Bond is also captured in that same moment,
too. Plus I’ll give her the benefit that
she is being held hostage with Jaws on watch.
She’s also somewhat of a wild card after discovering Bond disposed of
her lover during the opening ski chase.
But in the end, after Bond has rescued her, she is unable to keep her
promise to put a bullet in him. Because
in the end, she falls For Bond’s One-eye Only.
The primary menace of the film comes in the form of hired assassin,
the scene-stealing Jaws. Richard Kiel is
already a hulking presence, but he is shot and scored in such a way that there
is an added level of terror. Every time
there is a hand-to-hand combat scene with him you are clenching your fists
wondering how in the hell are Bond and Amasova going to get out of this
one. Some of his strength may be over
the top, but Kiel and director Lewis Gilbert manage to make it almost
unquestionable. Jaws is a relentless
pursuer and amps up the level of intensity with every scene he’s in. While getting a few good moments played for
laughs, he is still quite scary. Jaws
made such an impact with this film that he was brought back in to the next
film, Moonraker, making him the only
baddie not named Blofeld to show up in multiple films.
While we don’t get a whole lot of him (most comes toward the
end), Stromberg works greatly as the head of the operation. Jurgens plays it sinister and straight,
coming off rather threatening. Stromberg
kind of looks like an old man Kelsey Grammar.
He has no need to overdo it as there are already Jaws and his
forgettable bald henchman to fill that void.
I like that he’s not in it for money like Blofeld was. I mean, why do you need money if you
obviously continually having funds for these elaborate bases? While the master plan may seem silly,
Stromberg doesn’t care what you think and that all the more makes him
work. There’s a great moment after Bond
visits him as “Sterling”. You find that
he knew the whole time it was Bond. Stromberg is eating some nuts, and says to
Jaws “Let them get to shore…and then kill them”. It’s a great line delivery. Originally, the character was supposed to be
Blofeld (we’ll talk about the legalities that prevented this in a later
article). Had this guy been actually
Blofeld, he could have been my favorite.
But I’m glad he’s not.
Guy Hamilton left Eon with the prospect of directing Superman (later lost out to Richard
Donner). After passing on Steven
Spielberg (”wait to see how the fish picture turns out”), You Only Live Twice director Lewis Gilbert was brought back. With him, he brought the most ambitious and
big 007 picture since his last outing.
Instead of rendering 007 into a popular genre again, Bond gets to go
back and play in his own sandbox. This
time, while going all out, Gilbert is able to harness and tighten these scenes
into a less goofy and laughable affair. The Spy Who Loved Me
contains some of the best pacing and action to progress the story in the
series. There’s a lot of ‘greatest hits’
type Bond action done bigger and better too.
As mentioned, we get skiing, but also a car/helicopter chase, a train
fight and an underwater scuba/car battle.
To top it off, the end conflict on the battleship serves as a better
version of the volcanic base fight at the end of You Only Live Twice. It’s much more believable and gives us better
stakes and people to care for instead of faceless ninjas and confusion. It may contain a few things we’ve seen
before, but it’s ramped up and done at such a high level that it bests its predecessor’s
scenes. Bond’s heroics are a lot bigger
and more breathtaking than ever before.
Gilbert puts the stunt players to work and it pays off.
The Spy Who Loved Me marks one of the very high points of the series. It’s a terrific action/adventure/love
story/thriller. After a 3 year hiatus
following one of its dullest films, The Spy Who Loved Me breathed a whole new life into the 007
canon and completely reenergized and rejuvenated it. And it needed to, this was kind of a “let’s
give it one more shot” effort. When I
think of “ultimate” James Bond or a film that can completely give a new viewer
a good idea of this series at its best, I always think of The Spy Who Loved Me. Time
and time again, I have always enjoyed going back to this one. The Spy
Who Loved Me, nobody does it quite the way you do. Why’d you have to be so good?
Brandon Peters will return in For Your Eyes Only…
…unless Star Wars
does well at the box office…
…then we’ll do Moonraker
Follow me on Twitter – www.twitter.com/@btpeters
E-mail – naptownnerd@gmail.com
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3 comments:
Easily one of my favorite Bond pictures period.
I've never really liked the Roger Moore films, but it's been ages since I've seen any of them and your write up makes me want to go back and reconsider at least this entry. Again, fantastic job on this series
No mention of Caroline Munro as the showstopping jawdropping bikini-clad Naomi?
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