Review of The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) by Steve G — 21 Apr 2009

I just watched this movie for the first time although I knew a lot of the plot because I read the Mad Magazine satire "The Spy Who Glubbed Me" when I was a kid. What a great movie. I have seen several of Roger Moore's Bond movies and I think this was his best portrayal. He had his trademark one-liners but overall played a more serious Bond than usual. Barbara Bach was gorgeous and held her own as Russia's top spy who first competes with Bond then gets paired up with him on a joint mission. Curd Jurgens is excellent as the evil villain and Richard Kiel is introduced as the indestructible assassin "Jaws" - I remember him from a later film, "Moonraker".

The film features many Bond favorites - a great opening scene featuring a mountainside chase on skis, motorcycles, helicopters, tricked-out sports cars, and of course, personally owned sharks used to kill. There is a really fine battle toward the end of the movie featuring hundreds of combatants that in my opinion eclipses the famous volcano battle in "You Only Live Twice".

If you are a Bond snob that thinks only Sean Connery will do, you should give this one a chance. I have not yet seen any of the later installments featuring Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, or Daniel Craig as 007 but of the 14 Bond movies I've seen this ranks right at the top with "Goldfinger", "From Russia With Love", and "On Her Majesty's Secret Service".