The Spy Who Loved Me

The Spy Who Loved Me; action, UK, 1977; D: Lewis Gilbert, S: Roger Moore, Barbara Bach, Curd Jürgens, Richard Kiel, Caroline Munro

British and Soviet ballistic-missile submarines mysteriously disappear in the sea, thus both governments decide to jump over their shadow and cooperate. The English call their agent 007, James Bond, who on his way down the mountain kills a Soviet agent - a close friend of Soviet agent Anya who now has to cooperate with Bond. In Egypt, they manage get a hold of a secret microfilm which indicates the way of the submarines, but are persecuted by Jaws, the villain with metal teeth. Bond and Anya discover Stromberg on a platform on the sea, who plans to destroy Moscow and New York. Bond kills him and diverts the fired rockets on submarines, causing them to self-destruct.

It is strange that Roger Moore once stated that "The Spy Who Loved Me" is his favorite James Bond film, since it is one of his weaker products and in reality his best Bond is "For Your Eyes Only." The opening is quite fun: a love couple lies on a bed, but just then the spy device rings - ironically, not the man, but the woman is the one who answers the call, whereby the story gives a neat satirical jab at a "female Bond" who also enjoys seducing. The opening credits are creative whereas one of the main bad guys is "Jaws", the giant with metal teeth. But the main story is boring, standard and naive (when the submarine crew spots that a giant platform is about to swallow them, why don't they simply dive?; "Jaws" destroys a van with agents with his bare hands (!)...) despite the chemistry in the British/Soviet joint cooperation between Bond and Anya and a good box office result. As a whole, the movie is unusually clumsy and anemic due to a too serious tone and wooden characters, which is why the initial fun spark already disappears some 60 minutes into this 2-hour movie. Though, it is still a solid spy flick.

Grade:++