Review of The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) by Michael Y — 05 Apr 2009

"The Spy Who Loved Me" is easily Roger Moore's best outing as 007. After doing two absurd (but still fun) entries, we are thrown into a classic Bond involving world domination and instigating war between the east and west, while at the same time having two spies at opposite ends working (and being romantically tangled with) each other, while at the same time showing a vulnerable edge to Moore's suave, gentleman Bond.

Karl Stromberg has developed a way to track and capture ballistic missile submarines, successfully capturing British and Soviet nuclear submarines and their armament of ICBMs. Meanwhile, James Bond goes to Egypt to find his equal in the Soviet KGB, Anya Amasova, aka Agent XXX, trying to buy the microfilm for the submarine tracking system. The two establish a shaky truce while they battle Stromberg and his metal-jawed henchman Jaws. They battle through Italy and eventually onto an American nuclear submarine as they infiltrate Stromberg's base and discover his plan to blow up New York and Moscow, so that Stromberg can create settlements under the sea.

This is easily one of the best Bonds. It has a Lotus sports car that not only has all the nifty gadgets a Bond car should have--it also turns into a submarine! Anya Amasova is beautiful and tough as nails, and proves to be a valuable ally to 007. Of course, one of the best Bond henchmen in history, Jaws, makes his debut here. Stromberg is a classic Bond villain. Classy, but terrifying, just like many of his predecessors. Locales such as Egypt and Italy are used very well, as we see tombs, pyramids, Egyptian nightclubs, and the Italian countryside.

If you are to see one Roger Moore Bond film, this has to be the one.