Undeniably one of the finest James Bond films to star Roger Moore, the film has plenty of excess, top notch special effects (for 1977) anyway, the humor less overt and left over for puns and one liners, and one of the first strong and independent Bond women.
One of the ones I like the most from the Roger Moore stage, that joint work between 007 and triple X. That "I stole the plans 2 years ago". That Lawrence of Arabia music in the desert. that shark. Assaulting the base is a lot like you only live twice.
Finally, a return to form for the Bond series. High-action drama with some spice of comedy. Lame main villain and a plotline involving this film's Bond girl's husband going nowhere aside, this was a suprise how good this 007 outing was.
The best film in the series so far... Narrowly beating out From Russia With Love as a quintessential Bond film. Connery's most potent outing is FRWL.
Moore's Bond has humour, bad guys and amazing stunts. This film excels... The Lotus is infamous. The ski to parachute scene. Jaws.
This film plays like a proper action adventure movie rather than the slapstick that Moore's Bonds were headed until now.
The one area that was weakening across the series was the strong independent women of the early few movies. Here that is rectified as Bond is given an equal in the form of Triple X, the Russian superspy. And she is excellent in the role.
I enjoyed watching this again immensely.
8.25/10
This film flew by so fast. It's probably the Bond film with the quicket pace that I have watched so far, has a fantastic Bond girl in Major Anya Amasova and an amazing villain in Stromberg. I LOVE Jaws; he's so unnerving with his metal teeth and the way they can chew through things, also his sheer strength too like when he's got a hold of the telephone van James Bond and Anya are in.
Oh, and that car Q provides that turns into a submarine is sublime.
The best Roger Moore Bond movie so far. Barbara Bach is great. Jaws is a cool henchman.
The James Bond Films
1 Eon films
1.1 Dr. No (1962) https://trakt.tv/movies/dr-no-1962
1.2 From Russia with Love (1963) https://trakt.tv/movies/from-russia-with-love-1963
1.3 Goldfinger (1964) https://trakt.tv/movies/goldfinger-1964
1.4 Thunderball (1965) https://trakt.tv/movies/thunderball-1965
1.5 You Only Live Twice (1967) https://trakt.tv/movies/you-only-live-twice-1967
1.6 On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) https://trakt.tv/movies/on-her-majesty-s-secret-service-1969
1.7 Diamonds Are Forever (1971) https://trakt.tv/movies/diamonds-are-forever-1971
1.8 Live and Let Die (1973) https://trakt.tv/movies/live-and-let-die-1973
1.9 The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) https://trakt.tv/movies/the-man-with-the-golden-gun-1974
1.10 The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) https://trakt.tv/movies/the-spy-who-loved-me-1977
1.11 Moonraker (1979) https://trakt.tv/movies/moonraker-1979
1.12 For Your Eyes Only (1981) https://trakt.tv/movies/for-your-eyes-only-1981
1.13 Octopussy (1983) https://trakt.tv/movies/octopussy-1983
1.14 A View to a Kill (1985) https://trakt.tv/movies/a-view-to-a-kill-1985
1.15 The Living Daylights (1987) https://trakt.tv/movies/the-living-daylights-1987
1.16 Licence to Kill (1989) https://trakt.tv/movies/licence-to-kill-1989
1.17 GoldenEye (1995) https://trakt.tv/movies/goldeneye-1995
1.18 Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) https://trakt.tv/movies/tomorrow-never-dies-1997
1.19 The World Is Not Enough (1999) https://trakt.tv/movies/the-world-is-not-enough-1999
1.20 Die Another Day (2002) https://trakt.tv/movies/die-another-day-2002
1.21 Casino Royale (2006) https://trakt.tv/movies/casino-royale-2006
1.22 Quantum of Solace (2008) https://trakt.tv/movies/quantum-of-solace-2008
1.23 Skyfall (2012) https://trakt.tv/movies/skyfall-2012
1.24 Spectre (2015) https://trakt.tv/movies/spectre-2015
1.25 No Time to Die (2021) https://trakt.tv/movies/no-time-to-die-2021
2 Non-Eon films
2.1 Casino Royale (1967) https://trakt.tv/movies/casino-royale-1967
2.2 Never Say Never Again (1983) https://trakt.tv/movies/never-say-never-again-1983
I want to add something else the cops who loved us a memory pretty young chaps thanks you for the love you showed us.will remember:heart:
Why is Jaws considered to be one of the best villains in the franchise?.
He is not even in my top 10.
A very well performed Bond from Roger Moore. I advise you to not compare the old Bond movies with the new ones. Just enjoy. Was a blast on the theaters at the time it was launched.
One of the best Bond films yet, and easily my favorite of the Roger Moore batch. I will likely revisit this one in the future!
Rating: 3.5/5 - 80% - Would Recommend
One of my personal favorites and the best of the Roger Moore Bond movies so far.
Bears some similarities to YOLT. Here it's a tanker swallowing subs and the finale inside the tanker is similar. But it works, looks great. I actually like the story of a villain (played by the great Curd Jurgens) not looking for money. He's not completely wrong in his assesment of humans, you know. Also the first time we see the unforgetable Richard Kiel as Jaws.
I like that we get kind of the Russian counterpart of 007, female, of course. Had an interesting setup with Bond killing Anya's lover on a mission before. Not that it mattered concerning the eventual outcome between the two of them. But it was something new. Interestingly it was the first time they mentioned Bond's marriage here.
The parachute stunt was another highlight of movie history and the Bond movies. They always try to top themselves it seems. I also like the Bond car, I remember having it as a toy way back and I actually took in with me in the tub. :laughing:
Like I said, one of my personal favs.
East and West collide in The Spy Who Loved Me, a most disappointing and uninspiring Bond film. This time the disappearances of British and Soviet nuclear submarines necessitates that the two countries work together, and they assign their top spies, 007 and XXX, to uncover the culprits. The acting is especially poor as Roger Moore and Barbara Bach have no chemistry, and the villains have no personality; especially Jaws, who’s a cartoonish buffoon. And the ‘70s disco soundtrack does nothing to help the film. The only saving grace is the exceptional theme song by Carly Simon, “Nobody Does It Better.” The Spy Who Loved Me is a pitiful entry into the Bond franchise, and shows a lack of effort and a deficit of ideas.
Roger Moore stares down a cooperative Russian spy with a faint British-American accent and an evil mastermind so unimportant, he merely makes a cameo in his own finale. Barbara Bach, who plays the aforementioned Russian, is easy on the eyes but thoroughly grating as an actress. It's a shame the subplot involving her ex-lover, who Bond unceremoniously ends with a rocket-propelled ski pole in the pre-credits sequence, is brushed aside so casually - I was looking forward to the tricky questions that situation seemed destined to explore as the two, naturally, grew close.
Loosed from that more serious-hinted stake in the ground, the film seems free to sail as far from reason as it pleases. There really isn't all that much to the plot, nor even anything particularly incriminating about the web-fingered evil genius Stromberg, but such shortcomings are somewhat propped up by another set of fresh locations (Bond in Egypt is an appealing prospect as a standalone), an appropriate number of nasty hired hands (steel-toothed tweener Jaws debuts in this film) and a welcome return to the gizmo-enhanced trickery of earlier chapters.
The series is beginning to show its age at this point, though: I think this is the fourth such adversary to dispense with his human trash by way of a shark tank. Brisk and spirited, but not especially memorable.
The best James Bond while Roger Moore donned the role. Jaws is probably one of the creepiest villains out there. The quips are on point and there are some really cool shots, especially with the Lotus and the helicopter in Sardinia.
Despite a few issues, I really enjoy this Bond film. What you see here is what a lot of people consider the 007 plot mold. The villain is trying to do something major from their giant, well staffed hub. The bond girl is going along with him for the trip, where he's running into the villains henchmen at different locations. You get a car race, a few fist fights and gun fights. And in the end... well you get it.
The thing is, this one does it all very well. The mission unfolds in a fun way. The henchman is Jaws, so that's pretty awesome. You've got some great direction and cinematography. The car chase is done unique. The opening ski action is shockingly dangerous. Most importantly though, is that this Bond girl is very well developed. I put her up there as one of my favorites because she actually influences the plot more than being a person he can enjoy during a mission.
Yea, the villain is kinda boring, and the score is poorly done, and blah blah blah. At the end of the film, all of this is pretty minor for me. I'd certainly say this is the best of the Roger Moore 007 movies.
The movie features one of the most beautiful Bond Girls, but the plot is only mediocre and the stunts and the fighting scenes are obvious fakes!
Legal issues and licensing problems meant there was a three year gap between films in the Bond franchise. This was an unusually long break considering the current rate was about one a year. Frankly, after the joyless snooze-fest that was The Man with the Golden Gun, this break was probably welcome relief for audiences.
The producers called You Only Live Twice director Lewis Gilbert back in to direct the film, and of course Roger Moore resumes his long stint as 007.
Right off the bat it’s clear that the break has done the franchise a world of good.
For starters the plot is simple; two nuclear submarines have been stolen (a British one and a Soviet one) and Bond is sent to find out what happened. Along the way he teams up with a Russian spy, Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach) to solve the mystery.
Yes, this is just a seafaring version of You Only Live Twice but I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, 80% of these Bond films are about the execution. It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.
The opening scene is a fantastic ski chase. It’s frenetic, high-speed excitement and on top of that Gilbert manages to make it funny without trying. Bond shoots from a ski pole that doubles as a gun. He goes off a cliff and deploys a Union Jack parachute. It’s silly but in the moment one can’t help but grin.
The writers have stopped trying to shape Moore into a Connery-type character and instead let him expand on the promising work he did in Live and Let Die. He’s at ease, confident and charming. Yes, he’s starting to show his age a bit (he’s older than Connery!), but it doesn’t matter.
They also went back to the winning formula of having the leading lady be a strong, smart character critical to the plot. It’s in stark contrast to Brit Ekland’s hapless idiot from three years ago. Barbara Bach has the same alluring quality on screen, but she’s just so much more memorable.
Bond’s relationship with Amasova is novel. They are colleagues and lovers, and it’s evident that the two are genuine equals. Bond killed a lover of hers on a previous mission which provides tension between the two. It’s back story, but it’s plausible and doesn’t feel like a hasty afterthought.
Moving on, the set design and technical direction is fantastic. The villain’s base looks like a giant black spider, rising up out of the ocean. They haven’t put this much work into how the film looks since the 60s days. Again this borrows from You Only Live Twice in its scale and scope. They spent $1.8m on a new sound stage to make the décor look good and although I’m not usually a fan of spending for the sake of it, the result here is a true spectacle.
The submarine car provides a genuine ‘holy shit’ moment, and it’s capitalised upon by some beautiful underwater imagery.
The only dull moment is the inevitable climax, a shoot out on a ship. This is also reminiscent of You Only Live Twice, and it’s equally boring. There are too many people in a scene with too little going on. Like almost every single Bond film so far, we could probably have lost 20 minutes from the end.
It’s hard to understand the insistence on these scenes, but they need to go. It didn’t work in the 60s and it’s not working now.
The Spy Who Loved Me provides a much needed kick up the arse to a franchise on its knees. It’s funny, exciting and made with panache. This is one of the best films we have seen so far.
http://benoliver999.com/film/2015/06/12/thespywholovedme/
I didn't watched a Bond in a while, after this one I still need to see six more and I've seen all James Bond's films.
I've seen Roger Moore in Live and Let Die and The Man With The Golden Gun and for me this third is his best film so far. With this he convinced me that he could be a great Bond as Sean Connery was.
Humor, suspense and great action scenes specially the fights with the villian Jaws with his horrible steel teeth. Oh and very cool gadgets too!
Overall it's great fun, one of my favorite Bond films seen so far.
Shout by whitsbrainVIP 6BlockedParent2022-01-15T16:38:35Z— updated 2023-11-05T16:04:09Z
Bond has his hands full, not only with the evil Stromberg, but also with a beautiful Soviet agent. Barbara Bach plays Major Amasova, who teams with Bond to locate and recover a missing nuclear submarine. The submarine has disappeared in similar fashion to the spacecrafts in "You Only Live Twice".
Roger Moore was never as physical in the Bond role as Connery, but he manages to do a nice job of standing up to "Jaws", a huge metal-toothed henchman. The fights that they have are memorable, particularly the incident on the passenger train. Check out the deadly pre-title ski chase which ends in truly breathtaking fashion. "The Spy Who Loved Me" is one of the brightest moments of Moore's run as Bond.