Bond Films: The Spy Who Loved Me

The Spy Who Loved Me is Roger Moore's third outing as James Bond, and a return to form vis-a-vis the earlier Bond films. While it didn't completely amaze me - I doubt any 70s Bond will - within the earlier Moore canon it's very good. It takes the best of Bond and ups the ante in stunts, sex, and spectacle. Bond revisits the end of both Dr No and Thunderball, in that once again, naval forces recover him in a small vessel while canoodling with the girl.

The Plot of The Spy Who Loved Me is: After completing a mission in Austria wherein one Russian agent is killed,  Bond is put on the case of some missing submarines - a British sub, a Russian sub, and later, an American sub. Simultaneously, Russian agent XXX, a sexy young Barbara Bach, is set on the case. They follow clues to an encounter with Jaws, one of the villain's henchman, and later pose as scientists to board the villain's ginormous submersible lair-ship, Atlantis. A super-rich industrialist conspires to start World War Three by building a giant submarine-catching tanker, and then using the subs to fire ICBMs at Moscow and New York.After Bond and the girl are captured along with an American submarine, they reprogram the launch codes and fight their way out, eventually escaping in a posh escape pod stock with silk sheets and champagne.

I think I saw parts of this movie growing up, but never the entire thing. As a film, it works; as a Bond film, it's OK. An amazing stunt in the beginning puts it off to a good start, and then it kind of muddles through the early detective work, until Bond and the girl are assigned to work together. After that, the chemistry really picks up between the two of them - especially when XXX learns that Bond killed her lover in the opening sequence. The villain is truly Bond-worthy - wealthy, remorseless, and remote, with an awesome lair. The theme song, sung by Carly Simon, is pretty terrible, and unfortunately sticks in your head.

The Spy Who Loved Me is a workable entry in the series. It's not great, but it's not terrible. It introduces the Lotus-sub, and Jaws, and has a pretty epic ending. If you're diving into 70s Bond, it ought to be seen.