The Spy Who Loved Me (Lewis Gilbert, 1977, UK)

The Spy Who Loved Me is generally one of the better-regarded entries in the Roger Moore era of the Bond franchise. On a commercial level, it certainly represented a comeback after the underperforming Man with the Golden Gun. Films of the Moore era would largely look to outside cultural influences, and Spy was no exception. While Live and Let Die looked to blaxploitation and The Man with the Golden Gun looked to the kung fu genre, The Spy Who Loved Me looked to the Poseidon Adventure and the golden age of the ocean disaster film. Notably, the film also was influenced by Spielberg's Jaws - the film not only has a literal Landshark henchman named Jaws (Richard Kiel) but also killer sharks.

The money is definitely on screen in The Spy Who Loved Me, and we also see here Bond going disco, with Marvin Hamlisch bringing electronic beats to the Bond score for the first time. "Nobody Does it Better" is a great Bond theme, although unfortunately, the Bond girl here (and there is only one) is not memorable enough or well-acted enough to carry the film. Shifting away from Blofeld, the film's villain Karl Stromberg - as played by Curt Jurgens - is not so memorable.

 

Many people rank The Spy Who Loved Me as the best Bond film of the franchise, although we here don't find this one all that exceptional. True, it is the first film where Roger Moore does not feel like he is auditioning for the real. This time, the script was written for his interpretation of Bond. And yes, the film does have one of the best Bond opening stunts (the ski jump). Yet somehow overall the film feels somewhat less memorable than other entries in the franchise, including Moore's previous two outings. 

6/10