The Spy Who Loved Me

The Spy Who Loved Me
Directed by	Lewis Gilbert
Produced by	Albert R. Broccoli
Screenplay by	Christopher Wood Richard Maibaum
Starring	Roger Moore Barbara Bach Curd Jürgens
Music by	Marvin Hamlisch
Cinematography	Claude Renoir
Editing by	John Glen
Distributed by	United Artists
Release	7 July 1977
Running time	125 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$14 million
Gross revenue	$185.4 million
Preceded by	The Man with the Golden Gun
Followed by	Moonraker

The Spy Who Loved Me is the tenth spy film in the James Bond series, and the third to star Roger Moore as the fictional secret agent James Bond. It was directed by Lewis Gilbert and the screenplay was written by Christopher Wood and Richard Maibaum.

The film takes its title from Ian Fleming's novel The Spy Who Loved Me, the tenth book in the James Bond series, though it does not contain any elements of the novel's plot. The storyline involves a reclusive megalomaniac named Karl Stromberg, who plans to destroy the world and create a new civilisation under the sea. Bond teams up with a Russian agent, Anya Amasova, to stop Stromberg. Curd Jürgens and Barbara Bach co-star.

It was shot on location in Egypt and Italy, with underwater scenes filmed at the Bahamas, and a new soundstage being built at Pinewood Studios for a massive set which depicted the interior of a supertanker. The Spy Who Loved Me was well-received by critics. The soundtrack composed by Marvin Hamlisch also met with success. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards amid many other nominations and novelized in 1977 by Christopher Wood as James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me.

Plot

British and Soviet ballistic-missile submarines mysteriously disappear. James Bond—MI6 agent 007—is summoned to investigate. On the way he escapes an ambush by Soviet agents in Austria, killing one during a downhill ski chase, and escaping via a Union Jack parachute. Bond learns that the plans for a highly advanced submarine tracking system are on the market in Egypt. There, he encounters Major Anya Amasova—KGB agent Triple X—his rival for the plans. They travel across Egypt together, tracking the microfilm plans, meeting Jaws—a tall assassin with steel teeth—along the way. Bond and Amasova later team up through a truce agreed by their respective superiors and identify the person responsible for the thefts as the shipping tycoon, scientist, and anarchist Karl Stromberg.

While travelling by train to Stromberg's base in Sardinia, Bond saves Amasova from being killed by Jaws, and their cooling rivalry becomes affection. Posing as a marine biologist and his wife, they visit Stromberg's base and discover that he launched a mysterious new supertanker, the Liparus, nine months previously. After they leave the base, Jaws and other armed personnel, including a helicopter pilot named Naomi, chase them, but all attempts fail due to Bond's driving skills and the fact that his car – a Lotus Esprit from Q Branch – can convert into a submarine. Jaws retreats once again while Naomi and her other allies are killed. Bond later finds out that the Liparus has never visited any known port or harbour. Amasova discovers that Bond killed her lover in Austria and she vows to Bond that she will kill him once their mission ends.

Later, while aboard an American submarine, Bond and Amasova examine Stromberg's underwater Atlantis base and confirm that he is operating the tracking system. The Liparus then captures the submarine, just as it captured the others. Stromberg sets his plan in motion: the launching of nuclear missiles from the submarines, to destroy Moscow and New York City. This would trigger a global nuclear war, which Stromberg would survive in Atlantis, and subsequently a new civilisation would be established. He leaves for Atlantis with Amasova. Bond frees the captured British, Russian and American submariners and they battle the Liparus‍ '​s crew. Bond reprograms the British and Soviet submarines to destroy each other, saving Moscow and New York. The victorious submariners escape the sinking Liparus on the American submarine.

Bond insists on rescuing Amasova before the submarine has to follow its orders and destroy Atlantis. Bond confronts and kills Stromberg but again encounters Jaws, whom he drops into a shark tank. Jaws fatally bites the shark and swims to freedom. Bond and Amasova flee in an escape pod as Atlantis is sunk. In the pod Amasova reminds Bond that she has vowed to kill him and picks up Bond's gun, but admits to having forgiven him and the two embrace within the pod. The Royal Navy recovers the pod, and the two spies are seen in intimate embrace through its large window, much to the consternation of Bond and Amasova's superiors.

Cast

James Bond
(Roger Moore)

M
(Bernard Lee]

Miss Moneypenny
(Lois Maxwell)

Q
(Desmond Llewelyn)

Karl Stromberg
(Curt Jürgens)

Anya Amasova
(Barbara Bach)

Jaws
(Richard Kiel)

Naomi
(Caroline Munro)

Sir Fredrick Gray
(Geoffrey Keen)

General Anatol Gogol
(Walter Gotell)

Admiral Hargreaves
(Robert Brown)

Sandor
(Milton Reid)

Felicca
(Olga Bisera)

Sergei Barsov
(Michael Billington)

CMDR Talbot
(Bryan Marshall)

Sheik Hosein
(Edward de Souza)

Aziz Fekkesh
(Nadim Sawalha)

Professor Markovitz
(Milo Sperber)

• Roger Moore as James Bond 007: A British MI6 agent assigned to investigate the theft of two submarines.
• Barbara Bach as Anya Amasova/Agent Triple X: A Soviet KGB agent also investigating the theft. Her attraction to Bond is cut short when she learns he killed her lover. Bach was cast only four days before principal photography began, and performed her audition expecting just a role in the film, not the one of the protagonist.
• Curd Jürgens (billed as "Curt Jurgens" in the credits) as Karl Stromberg: The main villain, a megalomaniac planning to trigger World War III and destroy the world, then recreate a new civilisation underwater. Jürgens' casting was a suggestion of director Lewis Gilbert, who had worked with him before.
• Richard Kiel as Jaws: Stromberg's seemingly indestructible juggernaut of a henchman, afflicted with gigantism and having a set of metal teeth. He would reprise the role in the subsequent Bond film, Moonraker.
• Caroline Munro as Naomi: Stromberg's personal pilot and a would-be assassin. Munro's casting was inspired by an advertisement campaign she had made.
• Walter Gotell as General Gogol: The head of the KGB and Anya's boss. Gotell's debut in the role; he had previously appeared as Morzeny in From Russia with Love and would reprise the role of Gogol in the next five films.
• Bernard Lee as M: The head of MI6.
• Desmond Llewelyn as Q/Major Boothroyd: MI6's head of research and development. He supplies Bond with unique vehicles and gadgets, most notably the Lotus Esprit that converts into a submarine.
• Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny: M's secretary.
• Geoffrey Keen as Frederick Gray: The British Minister of Defence. Keen's Bond debut; he would appear in the role in the next five films.
• Milton Reid as Sandor: Stromberg's henchman.
• Robert Brown as Vice-Admiral Hargreaves: Flag Officer, Submarines of Royal Navy; Brown would later play M in Octopussy, A View to a Kill, The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill.
• George Baker as Captain Benson: A British naval officer stationed at the Royal Navy's Faslane Naval Base in Scotland. Baker had previously appeared in On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

The assistant director for the Italian locations, Victor Tourjansky, had a cameo as a man drinking his wine as Bond's Lotus emerges from the beach. As an in-joke, he would return in similar appearances in another two Bond films shot in Italy, Moonraker and For Your Eyes Only.

External links

• The Spy Who Loved Me at the Internet Movie Database

Richard Kiel films

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)  · Moonraker (1979)  ·

Barbara Bach films

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)  ·

Caroline Munro films

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)  ·