**YOU ARE NOW ENTERING SPOILERTOWN**
Plot: Someone has stolen nuclear submarines from both the US and USSR. Bond must recover them before their nukes are launched, WWIII starts and life ends on land.
Foiled by: Bond gets on board the sub-stealing ship, frees all the captured sailors, has a big shootout and then reassigns coordinates so the subs bomb each other, not New York and Moscow.
Intriguing Setting(s): Austria | Cairo | Atlantic Ocean
Bond: Roger Moore (who turned 50 on the set!)
Villain(s):
- Karl Stromberg – evil ocean enthusiast, hoping to end life on land and reemerge from his sea lair as a modern day King of Atlantis.
- Jaws!
- Sandor
- Naomi, Stromberg’s assistant and helicopter pilot
Bond Girl(s):
- Major Anya Amisova aka XXX – the eponymous Spy Who Loved Me, even after she finds out Bond killed her man!
- Also once posed for Playboy
- Anonymous Austrian Alpine lover/KGB honeypotter – “James, I need you!” // “So does England!”
HL’s Hot Take: It’s basically You Only Live Twice in the ocean instead of in space. Same director even. I’m not quite as high on this one as most critics, but it is probably Moore’s best performance as Bond. It also has a contender for best pun/closing lines in the franchise:
- As his superiors find 007 and Anya ‘discussing foreign relations’ in the escape pod….
“Bond! What do you think you’re doing?” “Keeping the British end up, sir.“
Head Librarian Rank: 14/24
Critical Rank: 7/24
TRIVIA SECTION!
Odds & Ends:
- Another shark tank death!! You don’t steal from Stromberg!
- And Jaws is dropped in there too, but actually kills the shark.
- Sick ski chase scene to start the movie (and subsequently, to thicken the plot later)
- The train ride with Amasova reflects the ride in From Russia With Love
- Long time founding producer Harry Saltzman was forced to sell his half of the franchise due to personal finance issues
6 Degrees Cameos: You’re eyes don’t deceive you, 90’s kids. Jaws (Richard Kiel) is the big fella in Happy Gilmore with a nail in his head.
Gadgets: ski-pole gun, the Lotus converts into a submarine, a hydrofoil Jet-ski
Cars: Lotus Esprit S1
Awards: Oscar nods for Art Direction, Original Song and Original Music Score
Release Order: 10/25 (1977)