Touches You

Thanks for the memories!

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

England, the Soviet Union and the U.S. join forces in this James Bond thriller to stop a maniac who's bent on destroying the earth. That is, the dry land earth, above the oceans. Of course, they don't know his plan at first. But James Bond and a Soviet secret agent are out to find out what happened to each country's nuclear submarine that disappeared. The Americans get in the picture with a third submarine as Bond and Agent XXX pursue the Stromberg behemoth of a ship. Roger Moore is in his third of seven roles as British secret agent 007, James Bond. Barbara Bach plays Soviet Major Anya Amasova. One wonders if the her agent ID wasn't a bit of a spoof of the Soviets, who often tried to have the biggest, best or last of something. Where Bond is agent doublte07, the Soviet Amasova is agent triple-x. The fiend in this Bond thriller is played by Curd Jürgens. Richard Kiel, a true giant of an actor at 7 feet, 2 inches, plays Jaws. He has a genuine steel trap for a mouth. This is the first Bond film in a while to receive any major film award nominations. It received three Oscar nominations and two each Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations. Apparently, "The Spy Who Loved Me" was Moore's favorite Bond film. The filming took place in Egypt, off the Emerald Coast of Sardinia, Italy, in the Bahamas, at Baffin Island in Canada, in Okinawa, at St. Moritz in Switzerland, the Bay of Biscay off the coast of France, and in England and Scotland. The plot has a good amount of intrigue, and the film has a variety of thrills. A ski-chase scene in the Alps gives way to a road-chase by a gun-ship helicopter, and finally undersea skirmishes. Some wonderful props for this film included the Atlantis city of Stromberg that rose like a giant steel octopus in the sea. And the specially made Lotus Esprit S1 car turned heads on the beach in the film and amazed moviegoers. The Wet Nellie, as it was called, converted to a mini submarine, and had various gadgets including a rocket launcher. This is a fun-filled, action-packed and enjoyable Bond film - one of the best of the series. Here are some favorite lines. For more dialog, see the Quotes section under this IMDb Web page of the movie. Log Cabin Girl, "But James, I need you." James Bond, "S does England."James Bond, "When one is in Egypt, one should delve deeply into its treasures."James Bond, "Still, you did save my life." Maj. Anya Amasova, "We all make mistakes, Mr. Bond."Maj. Anya Amasova, "You don't have to worry abut me, Mr. Bond. I went on a survival course in Siberia." James Bond, "Yes, I believe a great number of your countrymen do."

The James Bond franchise is one of those franchises that will never die. It has been going strong since the first movie rolled out in the early 1960's, and new James Bond movies are still produced today. What makes this series unique is they use multiple actors to play the titular character over the years. They all bring their own gravitas to the role, and each Bond is a different man when compared to each other (although the martini, shaken not stirred and the beautiful women among other things remain a constant.) So my first James Bond review for this blog is 1977's The Spy Who Loved Me. This wasn't my first look at the series, but it was my first look at the older movies. I really liked what I saw. This is an old-fashioned story that combines a spy drama and an action-packed war movie into one package. Like many of the older Bond movies, the story can get borderline preposterous. The cheesiness of the plot did come to grow on me after awhile, even if the main villain is Russian (remember, this came out during the Cold War) and wants to destroy the world. Also like older Bond (or 007 if you prefer) movies, this movie is invested in its gadgets. There is nothing quite like seeing Bond use these cool-looking devices that can do powerful things.James Bond (Roger Moore) is back for a new mission! This mission involves finding a Royal Navy submarine holding sixteen nuclear missiles that suddenly vanished without a trace. Bond must team up with Major Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach) to take down the mastermind of the plot named Karl Stromberg (Curd Jurgens) and his henchman named Jaws (Richard Kiel), whose biggest weapon is his metal teeth. The clock is ticking as Bond must find the nuclear weapons before they are fired.There are two questions to ask when watching a James Bond movie. Who are the villains? Who is the Bond girl? Both very essential to a Bond movie, as they can make or break the movie. In this case, we get two (mostly) effective villains, and a good-looking Bond lady. While Stromberg is the main villain with the plan, he is not too strong of a villain. I am more interested in Jaws. Jaws is actually labeled as one of the best villains in any Bond film, and I would wholeheartedly agree. He is quite a menace. He may be a little clumsy, but goodness once you see the teeth he has, you might rather face the shark that Jaws is named after. There are scenes here that can be quite gruesome when you see the teeth come into action. As for the girl, I think Major Anya is a good Bond lady. She is an undercover Russian agent, so the political side of that was an interesting concept given the time period.I think the film was well-acted. I believe Roger Moore is one of the weakest Bonds, but he does a solid job. He plays a little older Bond, but his sense of humor and savvy attitude fits this film very well. Richard Kiel is the man who brought Jaws to life (sorry, Spielberg) and well he was terrifying as the sharp-teethed villain. Barbara Bach does a good job as Major Anya, and I liked the rivalry she brought to Bond. Curd Jurgens was a good villain, but his goals are similar to other villains of essentially every other action movie, so his role did not move me in one way or the other.The Spy Who Loved Me is a fun, entertaining action flick and a worthy addition to the James Bond franchise. I liked the realistic tone the film was going for, given the tone of previous films. There is still cheesy parts, but what's a James Bond movie without the cheesiness. I am rather impressed with the visuals of the film. This was filmed on location in the ancient, majestic parts of Egypt and they had some really cool underwater sets and quite frankly, I loved the visuals of Stromberg's lair in the middle of the ocean. There is lots of action, although I feel the final act of the film chooses to do the obligatory action conclusions that many action movies do these days. However, the fights involving Jaws is just worth watching this movie for. If you are new to the franchise, this is a good beginning.My Grade: B+

The first Bond film I watched in the cinema and maybe one of the most audacious Bond movies made so far starting with a pre credit sequence where Bond skis off a cliff and then unfurls a Union Jack parachute. Nobody does it better even with a disco infused James Bond theme.In the spirit of detente Bond (Roger Moore) is teamed up with beautiful Russian agent Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach) to solve the mysterious disappearance of a British and Soviet nuclear submarines.Their adventures lead to the underwater lair of megalomaniac Karl Stromberg (Curt Jurgens) an elegant psychopath who wants to create an underwater empire with a much reduced world population.However Anya also has an agenda to kill Bond as he killed a fellow KGB agent who was also her boyfriend.Hot on their heels is the indestructible deadly henchman Jaws (Richard Kiel) with teeth of steel. There is also the beautiful Naomi, Stromberg's scantily clad assistant who pursues Bond in a helicopter.The film has it all. Director Lewis Gilbert added an element of fantasy to Bond and was also inspired by what was big in the cinema. None bigger at that time than the film Jaws, so why not have killer sharks and a killer assassin called Jaws.Gilbert also makes great use of international locations such as Egypt with allusions to Lawrence of Arabia. Then there are the gadgets such as the amphibious Lotus which can also fire a missile or the digital watch which transmits information by ticker tape.The art direction and the sets built for this film are magnificent which rightly deserved their Oscar nomination.More importantly, Moore feels comfortable in the role. He delivers action as well as the quips.

With "Diamonds Are Forever" and "The Man With The Golden Gun" the Bond franchise has taken some beating and was losing it's edge in the film industry and at the box office. So this was a important and critical Bond film, where the success of this film played a important part in keeping this franchise relevant. And also keeping it going with the back up it's been getting. So they were really banking on this movie to succeed, and you can clearly see it from the intro with a ski chase scene that ends with a parachute jump. The action in this is way better crafted while keeping the Bond essence going. They really tried to modernize and renovate the franchise, this could either work or fail and for the most part it worked for the better. They took certain elements from the previous Bond films and made a bigger and more action packed. The main drive of this film is of course the chemistry between a female spy Agent Triple X or Anya. She was a decently written female lead, well at least for a Bond film anyways. Unfortunately the actress that played her was very robotic and lacked any flare. She was suppose to a competent spy but came off more naive than anything else. If there was more build up between Bond and Anya during their escapade this film would surely have been classic Bond film. Don't get me wrong this is still a very good Bond film with Roger Moore in the lead role. Add in a kick as Bond intro song and you got yourself a noteworthy Bond movie. It even has one of Bond's most iconic villains Jaws (Richard Kiel) who also appears in the next installment.8/10