The Spy Who Loved Me

Great Globe-Trotting, Spectacular Locations, thrilling action and fun vibe

Roger Moore did more official James Bond films as secret agent 007 than any other actor. He started the role when he was almost 45 years-old and ended his 7-film stint at 57. His third Bond film was “The Spy Who Loved Me” released in 1977 and it’s one of the most entertaining movies in the series.

The plot revolves around 007 teaming up with female Russian agent XXX (yeah right) to prevent world-hating Karl Stromberg (Curd Jürgens) from starting World War III by stealing nuclear subs. Stromberg doesn't care if the world kills itself because he lives as a mad recluse on a crab-like submersible dream home called "Atlantis." The giant steel-toothed Jaws assists Stromberg along with the beautiful raven-haired Naomi.

The top item I demand in any Bond flick is exciting globe-trotting and, consequently, great locations. “The Spy Who Loved Me” delivers on this front in spades. Right out of the gate there’s a rousing ski chase that culminates in a spectacular jump from Baffin Island's Mt. Asgard (Canada), substituting for the Austrian Alps. It’s an incredible stunt and easily one of the best openings in the franchise. From there we get the Sahara desert, Cairo, the Nile River and the great pyramids of Giza, as well as the Italian Mediterranean island of Sardinia, Scotland (Royal Naval base) and the waters of the Bahamas. These are all fabulous locations to say the least.

Richard Kiel as the 7’2” Jaws is both intimidating and amusing. The on-going joke is that NOTHING can stop or kill him.

Barbara Bach is good as Agent XXX and certainly possesses an exotic beauty, similar to Britt Ekland from the previous movie, but watch her get blown out of the water by the stunning Caroline Munro when she’s introduced as Naomi. Many cite Ursula Andress' coming out of the water in a white bikini in “Dr. No” (1962) as the ultimate ‘Bond girl’ moment but Caroline's introduction here is a serious rival;...

Commander James Bond, recruited to the British Secret Service from the Royal Navy. License to kill and has done so on numerous occasions.

The Spy Who Loved Me is directed by Lewis Gilbert and adapted to screenplay by Christopher Wood and Richard Maibaum from the novel written by Ian Fleming. It stars Roger Moore, Barbara Bach, Curt Jurgens, Richard Kiel and Walter Gotell. Music is scored by Marvin Hamlisch and cinematography by Claude Renoir.

Bond 10. Allied and Soviet nuclear submarines are mysteriously disappearing from the waters and causing friction between the nations. MI6 and the KGB have a notion that a third party is responsible and stirring up trouble for their own nefarious means. 007 is partnered with Soviet spy Major Anya Amasova (Agent XXX) and the pair are tasked with getting to the bottom of the plot before the crisis escalates.

During the whole run of the James Bond franchise there have been a few occasions when it was felt it had run out of steam. 1977 and on the back of the mediocre reception and by Bond standards the poor box office return of The Man with the Golden Gun, now was one such time. With producer Albert Broccoli striking out on his own, the stakes were high, but with a determined vision forming in his head and a near $14 million budget to work from courtesy of United Artists, Broccoli went big, and it worked magnificently. The Spy Who Loved Me is Moore's best Bond film, not necessarily his best Bond performance, but as a movie it's near faultless, it gets all the main ingredients right. Gadgets and humour were previously uneasy accompaniments to James Bond as a man, but here they serve to enhance his persona, never taking away his tough bastard edge. The suspense and high drama is back, for the first time in a Roger Moore Bond film things are played right, we don't think we are watching an action comedy, but an action adventure movie, what little lines of humour are here are subtle, not overt and taking away from the dramatic...

Not my favourite outing for "James Bond" this one, perhaps because the opening snow-scape scenes rely too heavily on green screen - maybe Roger Moore didn't like skiing, or just couldn't get insured - but in any case he certainly never left Pinewood for the first ten minutes here. It then leads into one of the more preposterous stories in which he must team up with the glamorous Soviet agent "Amasova" (Barbara Bach) to track down what has happened to two nuclear submarines that have vanished. It's got the usual travelogue elements - we go via Austria, to Egypt before the high seas where we encounter a sort of ecological megalomaniac in "Stromberg" (Curt Jürgens) who is trying to initiate global armageddon so he can live in his city under the sea. To help him achieve his goals, he has engaged the services of toothy strongman "Jaws" (Richard Kiel) who soon presents the couple with some perilous scenarios as they, of course, start to fall for each other. There is a distinct paucity of gadgets in this film, save for the submersible Lotus; the humour is a bit on the tacky side and I felt that the whole thing dragged a bit towards the end. Jürgens does just enough to get by but is hardly menacing; quite how Bach remains contained in her frock towards the end is astonishing and the denouement, though offering plenty of pyrotechnics, was rather rushed and a bit flat. It's OK, this film - but, sadly, nothing more than that.

Now, I am 100% in the "Sean Connery was the greatest Bond and had the greatest 007 movies ever made" camp...

... so take it to heart when I say that this is Roger Moore's greatest outing as 007 and one of the best 007 movies (with one of the best 007 introductory songs) ever made.

This is Roger Moore at his absolute finest in a games bond movie with Barbra Bach being a great female spy with one of the best, most suggestive, Bond Girl names since Honor Blackman's (this review probably won't make it past the censors if I wrote her character's name)... and that, of course, would be Agent Triple X... AKA Anya Amasova.

Anya Amasova.... yeah, we all like calling her Agent Triple X so much more don't we? Honey Ryder is still the quintessential Bond Girl, Honor Blackman still plays the Bond Girl with the best name, but Bach comes in third and we can actually write her joke name.

Anyway, the locations are amazing, and Moore has moments in this where we see the Connery Era cold blooded assassin come out of him, meanwhile the plot is still amazing and over-the-top, we have Jaws, and one of my all time favorite 007 cars ever featured.

The Spy Who Loved Me is one of the epic Bond movies, it is the Best Roger Moore Era 007, and one of the films that should be on everyone's Top 10 007 film lists.

The Spy Who Loved Me gives Roger Moore the perfect formula to show off his goofy Bond charm with exotic locations, extravagant gadgets, big battle scenes, and a great supporting cast.

The Spy Who Loved Me is my favorite Roger Moore and one of the best classic Bond films. Live and Let Die was his first and a less conventional Bond movie. Man with the Gold Gun was ok, but The Spy Who Loved Me finally fired on all cylinders for Moore. Beautiful locations, exciting villains, a catastrophic nuclear threat, a strong, capable Bond girl, and a dangerous romance give Moore’s third outing as Bond the edge over his other films. The final battle with various submarine crews fighting an army of villains made for an exciting backdrop as Bond battled to save the world once again. Add to it all some of the coolest gadgets and vehicles of the franchise, one of the most iconic henchmen in Richard Keil’s Jaws, and Barbara Bach’s gorgeous Russian agent Major Amasova and you have one of the best classic spy films ever made.

We have here the ultimate 007 film. This one not only has the aspects that make 007 films great: beautiful scenery, exotic settings, beautiful women, wit, non stop action, adventure, gadgets, etc., but it also has an epic story, the best of all the Bond films. The story is a woman, who is quite capable, finds out her lover has been killed, and she vows to kill the man who killed her lover, but as the story progresses, she finds out that this man was not the devil she believed. There is, of course, the other story, of a maniac who murders his employees, and this time it's not the head of Specter. A lot of the spy work makes little sense, as does the motivation of "Jaws" (Richard Kiel), who became a fan favorite henchman. But the main story is still the first one, and that holds this together, along with all the non stop action. There is also a memorable scene where Bond thinks he is going to meet his boss, only to find someone else at the chair. This is the ultimate Bond film, and I don't believe I am alone in claiming this is the best Bond film ever made, at least up to 2023.

I love The Spy Who Loved Me. This film is one I can never get enough of, overtime I think of it or hear of it I want to watch it, it's just that damn good. This is my brothers favourite Bond film and a number 4 spot on my ranking, The Spy Who Loved Me is nothing but a cinematic masterpiece.