The Spy Who Loved Me

Our next entry is an amazing thriller known as “The Spy Who Loved Me,” released in 1977. The plot (whatever is in here) is about a villain and underwater fan Carl Stromberg, played by Curt Jurgens acting really relaxed here, who plans to extinguish the planet for no reason so everyone can live underwater, or something along those lines.

None of that really matters though. What’s exciting about this film are the set-pieces. PiersBeckley described in his review, “From the adrenaline-inducing pre-credits ski chase to the gun battle as the crew of two submarines attempt to take a hollowed-out supertanker from an army of bad guys, the action sequences soar.”

Marvin Hamlisch’s musical score also has to be mentioned for the power and, strangely, the limitation. Beckley mentioned, “During the bravura pre-credits sequence he holds with no sound at all for a full 18 seconds - a brave move, and one that emphasises the power of the James Bond theme when it finally kicks in.”

The emotional tension of the film is Bond’s relationship with Major Anya Amasova, played by Barbara Bach, his equal from Russia. What she doesn’t know is that Bond killed her boyfriend – so when she and Bond start to fall in love, we know there’s going to be tension long before they do.

Beckley mentioned, “Comic-book sensibility is much to the fore here,” which is seen with Stromberg’s indestructible man Jaws, played by the late Richard Kiel, surviving getting drowned, attacks from sharks, and buildings falling on him with silent grace. He was apparently so popular that he came back in “Moonraker” two years later.

“The Spy Who Loved Me” doesn’t have anything in common with the original Bond novel other than the title. Beckley said at the end of his review, “For this reason, the film makers were able to distil the essence of Bond-film as opposed to Bond-book.”Goldfinger" may well have been the template on which the Bond films were based; but it is here that we see its ultimate form.”

In the end, I say definitely don’t miss this one at all. This is a welcome return to making Bond so engaging.

How does it go from here? Well stay tuned tomorrow when I look at the next film in “James Bond Month.”