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The Spy Who Loved Me (Special Edition)

The Spy Who Loved Me (Special Edition)

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Roger Moore's Best Bond
Review: Roger Moore had a decent start as James Bond in "Live and Let Die," then faltered in "The Man with the Golden Gun." In "The Spy Who Loved Me" Bond roars back with one of his best and one of the best in the Bond series.

Karl Stromberg (Kurt Jürgens) is attempting to cause the superpowers to destroy each other so that he can become the controlling force in a world that will live on the ocean's floor. James Bond and Major Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach) play cat and mouse with Stromberg's henchmen as they try to find out who is stealing Soviet and American nuclear submarines, how they are being stolen, and why they are being stolen. In the course of their search they meet up with Richard Kiel as Jaws in his first Bond appearance, and the beautiful Caroline Munro as Naomi. Munro has played in a variety of B-movies such as "Dr. Phibes Rises Again!" and "At the Earth's Core."

Moore's previous two Bond films minimized gadgetry in an attempt to focus on Bond the spy, but in this movie the gadgets are back all around. The best gadget is the coolest Bond car since the Aston-Martin DB-5, a Lotus Esprit Turbo. This car can go underwater, is generally bullet proof, has underwater mines, missiles (poor Caroline Munro) and several other interesting gadgets. At the beginning of the movie Bond escapes from assorted Soviet assassins by skiing off a cliff and then parachuting to safety. Of course he is aided in that getaway by a ski pole gun. Bond also has a type of jet ski. In one of the more interesting scenes in the movie Bond uses an electromagnet in combat against Jaws. You would also have to include Stromberg's underwater fortress as part of the gadgets in the movie, along with a ship that eats submarines. I think you get the drift. There are a lot of gadgets in this movie.

The movie unfolds in a variety of exotic locations. The best are in Egypt where pyramids and excavations form a backdrop for several scenes. The locations also include a mountainous Mediterranean island along with the beautiful beaches of that island.

The score keeps up the tradition of having an outstanding theme song with Carly Simon's rendition of "The Spy Who Loved Me," one of the best theme songs to any Bond movie and a hit for Simon in the 70s.

This movie is quite interesting in that Stromberg in the central antagonist, and yet the majority of the action is between Bond and various Stromberg henchmen. Richard Kiel gets a lot of film time, including a rather interesting battle with Bond and Amasova in a desert excavation, and then another battle with Jaws on Stromberg's underwater fortress, ending with Jaws in a brief, ironic battle with a shark. The wimpy captain of the tanker also gets quite a bit of film time, unfortunately. The captain is one of the wimpiest Bond bad guys ever. Naomi, on the other hand, is in the tradition of the beautiful, strong and evil women that Bond has had to face often, particularly in newer Bond films.

The comedy in this movie was significantly subdued after the near parody of "The Man with the Golden Gun." Thank goodness. The humor had become overwhelming and distracting. Moore's Bond is relatively serious in this film, with the fewest one-liners and double entendre's of any of the previous several Bond films. The result is a much more serious and effective spy movie.

This movie succeeds with a solid plot that is a throw back to the earliest Connery films, a solid cast, excellent locations, and plausible gadgets. One of the best of the series and perhaps Moore's best.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Finally
Review: Finally after 3 years Rodger Moore finally experiences a good Bond movie. Harry Saltzman (co-producer of the previous 9 Bonds) left because of financal trouble leaving Albert R.(Cubby) Brocoli to produce by himself. The reason why this movie is called "The Spy Who Loved Me" was because James Bond fell in love with a Russian agent (at the time the two countries were at war).

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The spy who loved Moore
Review: This is truly one of the best Bond films off all time. The only Bond film that I like better than this is the Living Daylights. Roger Moore takes his third stab as the world's most debonair secret agent. He is sent to investigate missing Subs by her majestys secret service and is led to the extravagant headquarters of Karl Stromberg(Curt Jurgens)who immediately gets Jaws to stalk 007. Bond is teamed with the beautiful XXX(who could kick Vin Diesel's ass)to get the job done. This Bond entry is better than any of Sean Connery's lame entries. have you ever seen a man eat a shark in Sean's movies(did'nt think so). Stromberg(Jurgens) is a little old and out of shape to be a very menacing villian but is a great actor. I LOVE THIS FILM and is one of Roger Moore's two best films(the other is For Your Eyes Only for you clueless folks). Moonraker cam right after THE SPY. Moonraker is not as GREAT as this, but I still enjoy both very much because I think Roger Moore is a great actor and the only actor that is ATTRACTIVE enough to fill Bond's big shoes.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Without a doubt the best Bond film with Roger Moore
Review: I have always been a big fan of Both Connery and Moore. That being said I think that this is the one film in which you can make the argument that Moore is a better Bond than Connery. He seems to really own the role in this film. He is no longer looking over his shoulder to Connery. It has everything that a fan could ever want in a film. It has some of the best sets, action, and scenery of the series. Not to mention the character of Jaws. Watch the film and I think you will agree.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Bond at his best!
Review: Great movie.....nuff said!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "Observe, Mr. Bond, the instruments of Armageddon"
Review: Bond villains have a great way of delivering expansive threats. I've always wanted to be a guy like that. They also wear shiny tunics, and keep a couple hundred henchmen in matching brightly-colored polyester jumpsuits on the payroll. Stromberg, the thick-accented European baddie played with Alaskan wine relish by Curt Jurgens, is one of the better things about "The Spy Who Loved Me". He also has one of the cooler lairs in the Bond pantheon, with his octopoid home that rises into and out of the water accompanied by classical music.

Many rank TSWLM as one of the better Bond outings, and that's a good call. This was Cubby Broccoli's first time out as solo Bond producer, after buying out Harry Salzman, and he gets all the ingredients right. Spy is as much a template for the next 25 years' worth of Bond movies as was "Dr. No" and "Goldfinger" for the first 15. The opening stunt sequence, featuring Rick Sylvester's free-fall ski jump into the stratosphere, is certainly the defining moment for 007's current look, as much as Shirley Eaton's death-by-gold-paint launched the Bond phenomenon in the '60s. Even the most recent Bond movies follow "Spy"'s pacing and structure to a T.

Working with a lot of jumbled-up elements, "Spy" coalesces into a really satisfying whole: a nifty score by Marvin Hamlisch, Carly Simon's power-ballad opening song, a night-time set piece at the Pyramids, Richard Kiel's menacing metal-mouthed henchman in the improbably wide-lapeled powder-blue 1970s sports coat of death -- and Ken Adam's massive Supertanker set, complete with working elevators, lots of ramps and catwalks, and a control room blocked off by bulletproof steel shutters. This set catches fire and sinks into the Atlantic with impressive realism.

The DVD release features the usual movie trailers and TV ads, a pair of original documentaries (the 40-minute making-of, and a 20-minute feature on set designer Adam), and a well-organized photo gallery sorted by filming locations.

The highlight of the special features is the audio commentary. Earlier Bond movies featured a cut-and-paste commentary track, moderated by Bond experts. This track is a little more "standard", recorded all at once, and featuring Adam, director Lewis Gilbert, and series producer Michael G. Wilson ... with a little bit of help from screenwriter Christopher Wood. Adam and Wilson have terrific recall, and tell us about Cubby Broccoli's pasta-making adventure; which location restaurants got the crew sick; and reminds us that the nuclear missiles used in the movie were not actually fully armed. The DVD box promises commentary by "cast and crew", but that's only half right.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Roger is at his best!
Review: To be honest, I wasent that big of a Roger Moore fan. Live and Let Die was ok, it just didnt feel like bond to me. Then the man with the golden gun came out and that hurt my interest in Moore even more, but then i saw the spy who loved me. WOW. Finnaly, moore had got the fantasy script that he deserved. Great story and leading ladie Barbara Bach is in the top 5 of the best Bond ladies ever. A little weak in the main villin, but it makes up for it with Jaws, and the lotis chase. This movie saved Moores bond, and saved bond itself. Great movie, one of the best bonds of all time.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Where is Fekish!?
Review: Rank 16 of 23. Moore is terrific, I just didn't care for Barbara Bach. Also called Jaws one. Just never liked Triple X as a Bond girls, but loved Jaws!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: TSWLM, as Moore would say, has "such lovely lines"
Review: Third time is a charm for Roger Moore as all the pieces fit together finally to form arguably Moore's best Bond film in The Spy Who Loved Me. Moore hits his prime in this 1977 film as the quintessential playboy English gentleman agent and he makes it look so easy that he's flawless in this outing. While the Bond girl role had been a weakness in the previous film, The Man with the Golden Gun, Eon did its homework and chose a viable actress to complement Bond in Barbara Bach, who plays Russian sexy superspy, Anya Amasova, better known as XXX (not to be confused with the Vin Diesel). What is most impressive about The Spy Who Loved Me is the fact that the urgency that was lacking from The Man with the Golden Gun is balanced out perfectly with an adequate dose of over-the-top tongue-in-cheek humor.

This Bond flick starts off with a bang as a British submarine disappears without a trace. A Russian sub suffers the same fate as well. Simultaneously, the KGB calls up Amasova and M signals Bond to report. Just being called upon, in a thrilling ski chase from the Russians, Bond escapes successfully, not before 007 killed XXX's lover in defense. Later, Bond is assigned to Cairo where he must secure a microfilm crucial to the whereabouts of the submarine. Likewise, Amasova is also after the microfilm and she and Bond become entangled a few times. Eventually, Bond is forced to tag up with XXX, as their respected governments had aligned to find the culprit. Pulling their resources together, Bond and Amasova are on the pursuit of Karl Stromberg (Carl Jurgens), a marine biologist scheming to build an underwater utopia, via inducing World War III. In essence, Stromberg plans to launch nuclear missiles at New York City and Moscow to ignite the Cold War into an apocalyptic affair. Knowing that Bond and XXX are planning to thwart him, Stromberg hires a burly henchman with choppers of stainless steel, Jaws (Richard Kiel) to counter.

Echoing the success of Connery's Goldfinger, The Spy Who Loved Me scored on all fronts. As mentioned before, Moore is absolutely stellar and he proves emphatically that Bond is the role he was born to play. Barbara Bach is also superb as drop-dead gorgeous Anya Amasova, who is just as resourceful, smooth, charismatic, sophisticated as Bond. In short, she portrays a perfect female equivalent to Bond. If there's a weakness in the film it would probably be Stromberg, who is a so-so villain at best. Stromberg is rather stale in voice and in character and not as complex as say, Goldfinger or Scaramanga. However, Kiel plays the ideal henchman as Jaws, deadly, brooding, and seemingly just as invincible as Bond, although his flirtations with death are quite humorous, yet preposterous, more so in the next film, Moonraker. As far as gadgets go, The Spy Who Loved Me scored high marks with Bond's strikingly beautiful Lotus Esprit, which also serves as a submarine. How is that for luxury and efficiency? The film also takes advantage of breathtaking exotic locales, such as Egypt and Sardinia which were nice backdrops to develop a seriously competent storyline. For once, the storyline, which is unfairly cloned in some way shape or form in Moonraker, meshes extremely well with the non-stop action. The car chase down the curvy, scenic Italian highway is outstanding and the tanker gun fight is a true gem. Last but not least, The Spy Who Loved Me received major kudos for the Bond girls. Naturally, Barbara Bach has to be mentioned as one of the most beautiful and overall one of the best leading Bond ladies. The voluptuous Caroline Munro, who makes a brief appearance as Naomi, one of Stromberg's right-hand women, is as unbelievably sexy as her piloting a helicopter. Let's not forget the Russian cabin blonde (Sue Vanner) at the pre-title love sequence between her and Bond and yes, Eon scored more points with the dreamy Egyptian maids. From top to bottom, this is classic Moore, and without a shadow of a doubt, his best Bond flick, with Octopussy a close second.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Should Have Stayed at the Bottom of The Sea¿
Review: This is not one of my favorite Bond films in the series. Roger Moore does finally seem to fill the shoes of 007 with confidence for the first time in his third outing, but the film around him is rather lackluster. Major Anya Amasova, played by Barbara Bach, is the Russian agent assigned to the case by the KGB's General Gogol (seen here for what would be the first of several appearances in the Bond movie franchise) and she has a personal vendetta against 007. Bach puts in a good performance and works well against Roger Moore, but ultimately the conflict between them is resolved rather unconvincingly. Are we really expected to believe that Bond would place so much trust in a Russian agent that has sworn to kill him?

The villainous Karl Stromberg, a mad millionaire recluse with webbed hands who resides in his underwater city called Atlantis, is set on starting World War III by kidnapping nuclear submarines from both the U.S. Forces and the Russian Forces. He accomplishes this with his super tanker, the Liparus. He is underwhelmingly portrayed by Curt Jurgens, who brings little to no personality to the role what-so-ever. Of course, there was really nothing written in the script for him to work with from the start, but the least he could have done was put a little spark in his performance. Arbitrarily giving a character webbed hands does not count as any kind of motivation in my book! The required cold heart is there, but unfortunately so is the bland persona that ultimately robs each of his scenes of anything that would capture the interest of the viewer! I dare say that he is one of the worst villains in the entire Bond franchise.

The film does make up for the disappointing main villain by introducing us to what would become one of James Bonds most instantly recognized franchise baddies, Jaws, played by Richard Kiel. Sporting a pair of killer metal teeth that kill and an imposingly hulking body, Jaws is truly a frightening opponent. Though scripted to die in the original finale of the film, two versions were ultimately filmed in order to let the character survive if he proved popular in test screenings. As history would have it, fans loved Jaws and his survival was ensured, as well as his appearance in the next franchise installment, MOONRAKER.

One of the problems with this film for me is the comedy that is thrown in here and there. Overall, it just doesn't seem to work, feeling rather forced and out of place. The music provided by composer Marvin Hamlisch also adds to this level of forced comedy, as well as ruining well executed action sequences with nerve grating disco themes. As a matter of fact, the presence of John Barry's wonderful compositions is much needed in this film and would have definitely helped this particular installment to feel more like the Bond adventure it should have been!

The special effects are also a liability this time around. While the sets are impressive looking, the model work is very unconvincing. The underwater city of Atlantis is just plain silly looking in concept and poorly executed by special effects guru Derek Meddings. Even the Liparus submarine stealer looks more like a model than it should have for a 1977 film.

Overall, if you like James Bond movies but are seeking only the better installments, I would recommend skipping this particular entry all together! If curiosity gets the better of you, rent it first before buying because it just may not be what you are looking for!


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