The Spy Who Loved Me

The first two James Bond films with Roger Moore proved to be more than convincing for its leading man but neither were really matching the peak of the franchise with Connery or Lazenby's best work until 1977 when Albert R. Broccoli set his sights on taking the name of Ian Fleming's weakest Bond novel to create an entirely original story with The Spy Who Loved Me. 

Directed by Lewis Gilbert who was also behind You Only Live Twice, TSWLM follows Bond on an investigation to locate the whereabouts of two missing nuclear submarines with the assistance of a female K.G.B. agent, whose lover his killed in a recent mission. The story here is entirely original and does not carry any themes or similarities to the novel, thank God, which was truly the worst in the series and I pity anyone who has to make a faithful adaptation out of that dreary mess. This gives Gilbert and the writers complete free rein to tell their own story and it proves to be a huge success, financially and critically. 

TSWLM contains all the best ingredients a Bond film needs with a high stakes plot, a maniacal villain with an iconic henchmen, a few witty jokes, beautiful locations, exciting gadgets that play into the action, great music and, a glamorous Bond girl or two. The best thing about the latter is how Barbara Bach's K.G.B. agent is a key player in the story who has many great scenes with Moore, who is also fantastic here, and their interplay creates some genuinely good drama as the story progresses. Unfortunately, the film does run out of ideas with what to do with Bach at the very end but for the most part she is a great character, ranking among the very best of all the Bond girls.

As for the rest of the film, Gilbert's directing and Claude Renoir's wonderful visuals behind the camera keep the this fun, fast and exciting all the way through until the explosive climax. There is a familiar Bond storyline formula running along just out of sight, as previously seen in You Only Live Twice, but Gilbert keeps everything feeling fresh by rearranging the briefing with M, Q's overview on the gadgets and just teaming Bond with a Russian agent during the Cold War also lends the film an interesting angle. My only real criticism would just fall with Curt Jürgens' villain, Stromberg, who is played perfectly but lacks a memorable edge besides his ludicrous plans, and is outshone by the great Richard Kiel as his henchmen known only as Jaws.

The Spy Who Loved Me is one of the best James Bond films in my opinion and I'd argue the best of Roger Moore's collection as 007. It has all the right elements with its leading man on top form and is still a joy to watch today making it an easy recommendation for fans and newcomers. Moonraker would follow two years later that would seek to raise the stakes even further but was that a step too far? I look forward to finding out soon.