THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (FILM)

'''The Spy Who Loved Me''', released in 1977, is the 10th film in the James Bond series and the third to star Roger Moore as MI6 agent James Bond. It was directed by Lewis Gilbert and the screenplay was written by Christopher Wood and Richard Maibaum. The film takes its title from the tenth novel in Ian Fleming's James Bond series. Following a request by Ian Fleming when he sold the rights to the series that only the title of the novel be used, it is the first Bond film to be written with a wholly original plot line in its screenplay.^[1] The storyline involves a reclusive megolomaniac named Stromberg who plans to destroy the world and create a new civilisation under the sea. Bond teams up with a Russian agent Anya Amasova to stop Stromberg.
''The Spy Who Loved Me'' film was highly acclaimed by critics.^[2] The soundtrack, composed by Marvin Hamlisch also met tremendous success. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards amidst many other nominations and subsequently novelised in 1977 by Christopher Wood as ''James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me''.

Contents

Plot

Cast

Production

Script

Filming

Music

Release and reception

Novelisation

References

External links

Plot

Ballistic missile submarines from the Royal Navy and the Soviet fleet are stolen by Karl Stromberg, in an attempt to launch their nuclear weapons at targets around the globe. Elsewhere in Austria, Bond escapes an ambush by Soviet agents, killing one of them in a downhill ski race that concludes when he skis off a cliff and falls only to open a Union Jack parachute. On returning, Bond learns that someone is trying to sell the plans of a highly advanced submarine tracking system to the highest bidder. Bond then travels to Egypt, where he is supposed to contact the prospective seller near the pyramids. Here he first encounters a Soviet Army officer Major Anya Amasova, who becomes a rival in his search for the plans, but later a partner due to a truce supported by their respective superiors. They identify the person behind all the thefts as Karl Stromberg, a shipping tycoon.
Bond and Amasova to travel to Stromberg's base in Sardinia. In a train on their way, Bond saves Amasova as she is attacked by Stromberg's henchman, Jaws — finally, their rivalry changes into affection. Posing as a marine biologist and his wife, they visit Stromberg's base and discover that he has a mysterious new supertanker, the ''Liparus''. After they leave the base, Jaws and other armed men, including a helicopter pilot named Naomi, chase them, but all attempts fail due to Bond's driving skills and fact that his car – a Lotus Esprit from Q Branch – can convert into a submarine. Jaws retreats once again while Naomi and her other allies are killed. Some time later, Amasova learns Bond had killed her lover in Austria. She says that she will complete the mission with him, but kill him when it ends.

Assisted by American submarines, Bond and Amasova examine Stromberg's Atlantis base and confirm that he is operating the tracking system. But the submarine in which they then attempt to pursue the ''Liparus'' is captured by the supertanker. Stromberg begins to set his plan in motion — to launch nuclear missiles from the previously captured submarines to Moscow and New York City. This would trigger a global nuclear war, which Stromberg would outlive in his underwater hideout ''Atlantis'', and subsequently a new civilisation would be established. Accordingly, he sets off to Atlantis, taking Amasova with him.

Bond stealthily opens Stromberg's weapon store-room and in no time, a huge battle ensues within the ''Liparus'' between its crew and the captured naval crew. With the help of an allied officer Bond is able to reprogramme the British and Soviet submarines to launch their missiles on each other, thus saving Moscow and New York. The US Navy annihilates Stromberg's henchmen and then sinks the ''Liparus''. Bond then insists on a final confrontation with Stromberg and the rescue of Amasova before the navy has to follow its orders and destroy ''Atlantis''. Bond prevents himself from falling into a shark's tank inside Atlantis and finally confronts Stromberg in a dining room. He shoots Stromberg from beneath the table, but soon encounters Jaws. After a tough fight, Bond lifts Jaws using an electromagnet (which attracts Jaws' metal teeth) and then leaves him to be eaten by the shark. Bond then reunites with Amasova and they step into an escape pod as ''Atlantis'' is sunk. Amasova reminds Bond that she has vowed to kill him and draws her gun. But instead of shooting him, she fires at and opens a champagne bottle that he is holding. She admits having forgiven him and then, the two make love passionately. Nearby, Jaws gives the shark a lethal bite and swims out of ''Atlantis''.

Cast

★ 'Roger Moore' as 'James Bond' (007): A British Secret Service Agent assigned to investigate the theft of two submarines.

★ 'Barbara Bach' as 'Anya Amasova' (Agent Triple X): A Soviet army officer sent to assist Bond.

★ 'Curd Jürgens' as 'Karl Stromberg': A megalomaniac planning to trigger World War III and destroy the world, then recreate a human settlement underwater.

★ 'Richard Kiel' as 'Jaws': Stromberg's henchman, afflicted by giantism. He makes repeated attempts to kill Bond and Amasova by biting them with his metal teeth.

★ 'Caroline Munro' as 'Naomi': Stromberg's personal pilot.

★ 'Bernard Lee' as 'M': The head of MI6.

★ 'Lois Maxwell' as 'Miss Moneypenny': M's secretary.

★ 'Desmond Llewelyn' as 'Q': MI6's head of research and development. He supplies Bond with unique vehicles and gadgets, most notably the Lotus Esprit that converts into a submarine.

★ 'Geoffrey Keen' as 'Fredrick Gray': The British Minister of Defence.

★ 'Walter Gotell' as 'General Gogol': The head of KGB.

Production

''The Spy Who Loved Me'' in many ways was a pivotal film for the Bond franchise, and was plagued since its conception by many problems. The first was the departure of Bond producer Harry Saltzman, who was forced to sell his half of the Bond film franchise in 1975 for twenty million pounds. Saltzman had branched out into several other ventures of dubious promise and consequently was struggling through personal financial reversals unrelated to Bond. This was exacerbated by the twin personal tragedies of his wife's terminal cancer (who Roger Moore recalls passing during the filming phase of this film's production cycle) and many of the symptoms of clinical depression in himself.^[3]
Another troubling aspect to the production was the difficulty in obtaining a director. The producers approached Steven Spielberg, who was in post production of ''Jaws'', but ultimately decided to wait to see 'how the fish picture turns out'. The first director attached to the film was Guy Hamilton who directed the previous three Bond films as well as ''Goldfinger'', but he left after being offered the opportunity to direct the 1978 film ''Superman''. EON Productions would later turn to Lewis Gilbert, who had directed the earlier Bond film ''You Only Live Twice''.
With a director finally secured, the next hurdle was finishing the script, which had gone through several revisions by numerous writers. The initial villain of the film was Ernst Stavro Blofeld; however Kevin McClory who owns the film rights to ''Thunderball'' forced an injunction on EON Productions delaying the film further. The villain would later be changed from Blofeld to Karl Stromberg so that the injunction could be lifted. Christopher Wood was later brought in by Lewis Gilbert to complete the script. Although Fleming had requested no elements from his original book be used, the novel features a thug named Sol Horror who is described as having steel-capped teeth. This character would be the basis for the character of Jaws.

Script

Broccoli commissioned a number of writers to work on the script including Stirling Silliphant, John Landis, Ronald Hardy, Anthony Burgess, and Derek Marlowe. In the second volume of his autobiography, Burgess claims to have worked on an early treatment for the movie. Eventually, Richard Maibaum provided the screenplay and at first, he tried to incorporate ideas from all of the other writers into his script. Maibaum's original script featured an alliance of international terrorists attacking SPECTRE's headquarters and deposing Blofeld before trying to destroy the world for themselves to make way for a New World Order. However, this was shelved.
Meanwhile, Guy Hamilton who had overseen the previous three Bond films who was originally assigned to direct ''The Spy Who Loved Me'', decided he wanted to direct '' (1978). This left the way open for Lewis Gilbert to return for direction, a decade after his success with ''You Only Live Twice'' in 1967. When he read Maibaum's script he recommended Broccoli bring in another writer, Christopher Wood, to have a go at polishing it but keeping both the notion of a supertanker that captured other ships and a new metal-toothed villain Jaws.
Wood's proposed changes to Maibaum's draft script were agreed by Broccoli but before he could set to work there were more legal complications. In the years since ''Thunderball'' (1965), Kevin McClory had set up two film companies and collaborating with Sean Connery and novelist Len Deighton had been trying to make a new Bond film. McClory got wind of Broccoli's plans to use SPECTRE, an organisation that had first been created by Fleming while working with McClory and Jack Whittingham on the very first attempt to film ''Thunderball'', back even before it was a novel, in the late 1950s. McClory threatened to sue Broccoli for alleged copyright infringement, claiming that he had the sole right to include SPECTRE and its agents in all films. Not wishing to extend the already ongoing legal dispute that could have delayed the production of ''The Spy Who Loved Me'', Broccoli requested Wood to remove all references to SPECTRE from the script.^[1]

Filming

The film was shot at the Pinewood Studios in London, Porto Cervo in Sardinia, Egypt (Mosque of Ibn Tulun, Gayer-Anderson Museum), Malta, Scotland, Okinawa, Switzerland and Mount Asgard on Baffin Island.
In March 1976 construction began of a new sound stage at Pinewood, the 007 Stage. To complement this stage, EON also paid for the building a water tank in capable of storing approximately 1,200,000 gallons. The soundstage was in fact so enormous that celebrated director Stanley Kubrick visited the production, in secret, to advise on how to light the stage.^[5]

The main unit began its work in August 1976, travelling first to Sardinia and later to Egypt for some of the film's early scenes. While in Sardinia, Moore drove the first of two Lotus Esprits that were to feature in the film. The second specially modified model was unveiled by Ken Adam and Derek Meddings in October when the second unit, travelled to Nassau to film the underwater sequences.⁵ The main feature of the car was the ability to transform into a submarine. Once transformed it could unleash depth charges and smoke screens. Only two cars of the type were available, and so the production had to requisition the Esprit from Colin Chapman, the head of the Lotus Company."^[1] Next on the schedule was the filming of Richard Kiel's first scenes as Jaws from September 5, 1976 onwards.^[1]
While construction of the "Liparus" set continued, the second unit headed by John Glen departed for Asgard Peak where in July 1976 they staged the film's pre-credits sequence. Bond film veteran Willy Bogner captured the action staged by stuntman Rick Sylvester who earned $30,000 for the stunt.^[3]
The production team returned briefly to the UK to shoot at the Faslane submarine base before setting off to Spain, Portugal and the Bay of Biscay where the super tanker exteriors were filmed. On 5 December 1976, with principal photography finished, the 007 Stage was formally opened by the then Prime Minister Harold Wilson.⁵

Music

Main articles: The Spy Who Loved Me (soundtrack)

The theme song "Nobody Does it Better" composed by Marvin Hamlisch, written by Carole Bayer Sager, and performed by Carly Simon. It was the first theme song in the James Bond series to be titled differently than the name of the movie.^[1]
The song met immediate success and is featured in numerous movies including ''Mr. & Mrs. Smith'' (2005), ''Little Black Book'' (2004), ''Lost in Translation'' and '' (2004). In 2004, it was honoured by the American Film Institute as the 67th greatest song as part of their 100 Years Series.
The soundtrack to the movie was composed by Marvin Hamlisch, who filled in for veteran John Barry due to his being unavailable for work in the United Kingdom due to tax reasons. The soundtrack, in comparison to other Bond films of the time, is more disco-oriented and included a new disco rendition of The James Bond Theme entitled "Bond 77". In addition, Hamlisch incorporated into his score several pieces of classical music. For instance while feeding a duplicitous secretary to a shark, Stromberg plays Bach's ''Air on the G String'', that was famous for accompanying disaster-prone characters. He then plays the opening string section of the second movement, Andante, of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 'Elvira Madigan' as his hideout ''Atlantis'' rises from the sea.

Release and reception

''The Spy Who Loved Me'' opened with a Royal Premiere, attended by Princess Anne, at the Odeon Leicester Square in London on 13 July 1977. It grossed $185.4million worldwide,^[1] with $46 million in the United States alone.^[1] On August 25, 2006, the film was re-released at the Empire Leicester Square Cinema for one week.^[1]
The film was received positively by most critics and is considered by some the best James Bond film to star Roger Moore.² Christopher Null praised the gadgets, particularly the Lotus Esprit car.^[1] James Berardinelli of Reelviews said that the film is "suave and sophisticated", and Barbara Bach proves to be an ideal Bond girl — "attractive, smart, sexy, and dangerous".^[1] Brian Webster stated the special effects as "good for a 1979 film", and Marvin Hamlisch’s music, "memorable".^[1]
Marvin Hamlisch was nominated for several awards such as the Academy Award for Best Song, Original Music Score, the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score,Grammy Award for Best Score for a Motion Picture and the BAFTA Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music ("Nobody Does It Better") in 1978. Additionally, Ken Adam was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Art Direction and BAFTA for Best Production Design/Art Direction

Novelisation

Main articles: James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me


When Ian Fleming sold the film rights to the James Bond novels to Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli, he gave permission only for the title ''The Spy Who Loved Me'' to be used. Since the screenplay for the film had nothing to do with Fleming's original novel, Glidrose Publications, for the first time, authorised that a novelization be written based upon the script. This would also be the first regular Bond novel published since ''Colonel Sun'' nearly a decade earlier. Christopher Wood, who co-authored the screenplay, was commissioned to write the book titled ''James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me''. Fan reaction to the novelization has been largely positive with many fans claiming it to be one of the better James Bond continuation novels.
^[1]
The novelisation and the screenplay, although both written by Wood, are somewhat different. In the novelisation SMERSH is still active and after James Bond. Their role begins during the pre-title. After the mysterious death of Fekkish, SMERSH appears yet again, this time capturing and torturing Bond for the whereabouts of the microfilm that retains plans for a submarine tracking system (Bond escapes after killing two of the interrogators). The appearance of SMERSH conflicts with a number of Bond stories, including the film ''The Living Daylights'' (1987), in which a character remarks that SMERSH has been defunct for over 20 years. It also differs from the latter half of Fleming's Bond novels in which SMERSH is mentioned to have been put out of operation. Members of SMERSH from the novelization include Amasova and her lover Sergei Borzov as well as Colonel-General Niktin, a character from Fleming's novel ''From Russia with Love'' who has since become the head of SMERSH.

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External links

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★ The Spy Who Loved Me page on the Ultimate James Bond Community

★ MGM's official site for the film