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The Spy Who Loved Me (film)
Encyclopedia
The Spy Who Loved Me is a spy film
, the tenth film in the James Bond
series, and the third to star Roger Moore
as the fictional
secret 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 Ian Fleming
's novel The Spy Who Loved Me, the tenth book in the James Bond series, though it does not contain any elements of the novel's plot. The storyline involves a reclusive megalomaniac 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 film also stars Curd Jürgens
and Barbara Bach
.
The film was shot on location in Egypt
and Italy
, with underwater scenes filmed at the Bahamas
, and a whole new soundstage
being built at Pinewood Studios
for a massive set which depicted the interior of a supertanker. The Spy Who Loved Me was highly acclaimed by critics, being widely considered Roger Moore's best Bond film. The soundtrack, composed by Marvin Hamlisch
, also met with 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.
and Soviet
ballistic-missile submarines
mysteriously disappear. James Bond (agent 007) is summoned to investigate. On the way he escapes an ambush by Soviet agents in Austria
, killing one during a downhill ski chase and escaping via a Union Flag
parachute. Bond learns that the plans for a highly advanced submarine tracking system are on the market in Egypt
. There he encounters Major Anya Amasova (codename "Triple X") of the KGB
, his rival for the plans. They travel across Egypt tracking the microfilm plans, meeting Jaws – an unnaturally tall assassin with steel teeth – along the way. Bond and Amasova partner due to a truce supported by their respective superiors and identify the person responsible for the thefts as shipping tycoon, scientist, and anarchist Karl Stromberg
.
While travelling to Stromberg's base in Sardinia
, Bond saves Amasova from Jaws and their rivalry changes into affection. They visit Stromberg's base and learn of his mysterious new supertanker, the Liparus, which Bond had previously found has never visited any known port or harbour. Jaws and other henchmen chase them, but they survive due to Bond's driving skills and his Q Branch Lotus Esprit sports car/submarine, which enables the spies to perform a further underwater reconnaissance of Stromberg's facilities. Amasova learns Bond killed her lover in Austria; she warns that she will kill him when their mission ends.
Aboard an American submarine, Bond and Amasova examine Stromberg's underwater Atlantis base and confirm that he is operating the tracking system, but the Liparus captures the submarine as it captured the others. Stromberg sets his plan in motion: The launching of nuclear missiles from the ballistic-missile submarines to destroy Moscow and New York City. This would trigger a global nuclear war, which Stromberg would survive in Atlantis, and subsequently a new civilisation would be established. He leaves for Atlantis with Amasova. Bond frees the captured British, Russian, and American submariners and they battle the Liparuss crew. Bond reprograms the British and Soviet submarines to destroy each other, saving Moscow and New York. The victorious submariners escape the sinking Liparus on the American submarine.
Bond insists on rescuing Amasova before the submarine has to follow its orders and destroy Atlantis. Bond confronts and kills Stromberg but again encounters Jaws, whom he drops into a shark tank. Bond and Amasova flee in an escape pod
as Atlantis is sunk. In the pod Amasova reminds Bond that she has vowed to kill him and picks up Bond's gun, but admits to having forgiven him and the two make love. The Royal Navy finds the pod and opens it in front of everyone, much to the consternation of Bond and Amasova's superiors. Meanwhile, Jaws escapes from the shark tank (after fatally biting the shark) and swims off into the sunset
.
The assistant director for the Italian locations, Victor Tourjansky, had a cameo as a man drinking his wine as Bond's Lotus emerges from the beach. As an in-joke, he would return in similar appearances in another two Bond films shot in Italy, Moonraker and For Your Eyes Only
.
, 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 (whom Roger Moore recalls passing during the filming phase of this film's production cycle) and many of the symptoms of clinical depression in himself.
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 (he was ultimately passed up for Richard Donner
). 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 owned the film rights to Thunderball
forced an injunction
on Eon Productions against using the character of Blofeld, or his international criminal organisation, SPECTRE
, which delayed production of the film further. The villain would later be changed from Blofeld to Karl Stromberg
so that the injunction would not interfere with the production. 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 two thugs named Sol Horror and Sluggsy Morent. Horror is described as having steel-capped teeth, while Sluggsy had a clear bald head. These characters would be the basis for the characters of Jaws and Sandor.
Since Ian Fleming
only permitted Eon to use the name of his novel and not the actual novel, Fleming's name was moved for the first time from above the film's title to above "James Bond 007". His name reverted to the traditional location for Moonraker
, the last Eon Bond film based on a Fleming novel before 2006's Casino Royale
. However, the credit style first used in The Spy Who Loved Me has been used on all Eon Bond films since For Your Eyes Only
, including Casino Royale.
, 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. British sci-fi TV producer Gerry Anderson
also stated that he provided a film treatment
(although originally planned to be Moonraker
) much similar to what ended up as The Spy Who Loved Me. 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.
After Gilbert was reinstated as director, he decided to bring in another writer, Christopher Wood
, whom he knew was a fan of the Bond novels. Gilbert also decided to fix what he felt the previous Roger Moore films were doing wrong, which was writing the Bond character too much like how Sean Connery
played him, and instead do Bond closer to the books - "very English, very smooth, good sense of humour". Broccoli asked Wood to create a villain with metal teeth, Jaws, inspired by a brace-wearing henchman in Fleming's novel named Horror.
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
, Kevin McClory
had set up two film companies and was trying to make a new Bond film in collaboration with Sean Connery
and novelist Len Deighton
. 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 Blofeld and SPECTRE from the script.
In the film, Stromberg's scheme to destroy civilisation by capturing Soviet and British nuclear submarines and have them fire intercontinental ballistic missiles at two major cities is actually a recycled plot from a previous Bond film, You Only Live Twice
, which involved stealing space capsules to start a war between the Soviets and the Americans. The similarity was apparent in the climax; both films involved an assault on a heavily fortified enemy that had taken refuge behind steel shutters.
The scheme in which the villain wishes to destroy mankind to create a new race or new civilisation was also used in Moonraker
, the next film after The Spy Who Loved Me. In Moonraker, the villain Hugo Drax
had an obsession with starting human civilisation over again on Earth, using specially chosen "superior human specimens" based in space. The film Moonraker was also written by Christopher Wood.
The film was shot at the Pinewood Studios
in London
, Porto Cervo
in Sardinia
(Hotel Cala di Volpe), Egypt (Karnak
, Mosque of Ibn Tulun
, Gayer-Anderson Museum
, Abu Simbel temples), Malta
, Scotland, Okinawa, Switzerland
and Mount Asgard
on Baffin Island
in the then northern Canadian territory of Northwest Territories
(now located in Nunavut
).
As no studio was big enough for the interior of Stromberg's supertanker, and set designer Ken Adam
did not want to repeat what he had done with SPECTRE's volcano base in You Only Live Twice - "a workable but ultimately wasteful set" - in March 1976, construction began of a new sound stage at Pinewood, the 007 Stage
, at the cost of $1.8 million. To complement this stage, Eon also paid for building a water tank capable of storing approximately 1,200,000 gallons (4,500,000 litres). 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. For the exterior, while Shell
was willing to lend an abandoned tanker to the production, the elevated insurance and safety risks caused it to be replaced with miniatures built by Derek Meddings
' team and shot at the Bahamas. Stromberg's shark tank was also filmed in the Bahamas, using a live shark in a saltwater swimming pool. Adam decided to do experiments with curved shapes for the scenery, as he felt all his previous setpieces were "too linear". This was demonstrated with the Atlantis, which is a dome and curved surfaces outside, and many curved objects in Stromberg's office inside. For Gogol's offices, Adam wanted an open space to contrast M's enclosed headquarters, and drew inspiration from Sergei Eisenstein
to do a "Russian crypt-like" set.
The main unit began its work in August 1976 in Sardinia
. While in Sardinia, Moore drove the first of two Lotus Esprits that were to feature in the film. As only two cars of the type were available, production had to request the Esprit from Colin Chapman
, the head of the Lotus Company. In October, the second unit travelled to Nassau
to film the underwater sequences. To perform the car becoming a submarine, seven different models were used, one for each step of the transformation. One of the models was a fully mobile submarine equipped with an engine built by Miami-based Perry Submarines. The car seen entering the sea was a mock-up shell, propelled off the jetty by a compressed air cannon.
In September, production moved to Egypt
. While the Great Sphinx of Giza
was shot on the location, lighting problems caused the pyramids to be replaced with miniatures. While construction of the Liparus set continued, the second unit headed by John Glen departed for Mount Asgard
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. This stunt cost $500,000 - the most expensive single movie stunt at that time.
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 former Prime Minister Harold Wilson
.
" was 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 from the name of the movie, although the title is in the lyrics.
The song met immediate success and is featured in numerous movies including Mr. & Mrs. Smith
(2005), Little Black Book
, Lost in Translation
and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (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
, who was unavailable to work in the United Kingdom because of 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
as his hideout Atlantis rises from the sea. The score also includes a piece of popular film music, as Maurice Jarre
's theme from Lawrence of Arabia
is played during a desert sequence.
at the Odeon Leicester Square
in London on 7 July 1977. It grossed $185.4 million worldwide, with $46 million in the United States alone. After watching the opening scene of Bond opening a Union Jack parachute to save himself from death, the reaction from the audience was like that of fans at a football game. On 25 August, 2006, the film was re-released at the Empire Leicester Square Cinema for one week. It was again shown at the Empire Leicester Square 20 April 2008 when Director Lewis Gilbert attended the first digital screening of the film.
The film was received positively by most critics, with a 79% "Fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes
, and 66% approval among its select notable "Top Critics". It is Roger Moore's favourite Bond film, and many reviewers consider it the best instalment to star the actor. Christopher Null praised the gadgets, particularly the Lotus Esprit car. 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". Brian Webster stated the special effects as "good for a 1979 [sic] film", and Marvin Hamlisch's music, "memorable". Danny Peary
described The Spy Who Loved Me as "exceptional... For once, the big budget was not wasted. Interestingly, while the sets and gimmicks were the most spectacular to date, Bond and the other characters are toned down (there's a minimum of slapstick humour) so that they are more realistic than in other Roger Moore films. Moore gives his best performance in the series... [Bond and Anya Amasova] are an appealing couple, equal in every way. Film is a real treat - a well acted, smartly cast, sexy, visually impressive, lavishly produced, powerfully directed mix of a spy romance and a war-mission film." Janet Maslin of The New York Times
considered the film formulaic and "half an hour too long, thanks to the obligatory shoot-'em-up conclusion, (...), nevertheless the dullest sequence here" but praised Moore's performance and the film's "share of self-mockery" which she found refreshing.
The Times
placed Jaws and Stromberg as the sixth and seventh best Bond villains (respectively) in the series in 2008, and also named the Esprit as the second best car in the series (behind the Aston Martin DB5
).
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. The film was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Art Direction
(Ken Adam
, Peter Lamont
and Hugh Scaife
) and a BAFTA for Best Production Design/Art Direction
The end credits state "James Bond Will Return in For Your Eyes Only", but following the success of Star Wars, the originally planned For Your Eyes Only was dropped in favour of the space themed Moonraker for the next film.
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 novelisation 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.
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 novelisation 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. In the book, Jaws remains attached to the magnet that Bond dips into the tank, as opposed to the film where Bond releases Jaws into the water.
Spy film
The spy film genre deals with the subject of fictional espionage, either in a realistic way or as a basis for fantasy . Many novels in the spy fiction genre have been adapted as films, including works by John Buchan, John Le Carré, Ian Fleming and Len Deighton...
, the tenth film in the James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
series, and the third to star Roger Moore
Roger Moore
Sir Roger George Moore KBE , is an English actor, perhaps best known for portraying British secret agent James Bond in seven films from 1973 to 1985. He also portrayed Simon Templar in the long-running British television series The Saint.-Early life:Moore was born in Stockwell, London...
as the fictional
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
secret agent James Bond
James Bond (character)
Royal Navy Commander James Bond, CMG, RNVR is a fictional character created by journalist and novelist Ian Fleming in 1953. He is the main protagonist of the James Bond series of novels, films, comics and video games...
. It was directed by Lewis Gilbert
Lewis Gilbert
Lewis Gilbert CBE is an English film director, producer and screenwriter.-Early life:He was the son of music hall performers, and spent his early years travelling with his parents, and watching the shows from the side of the stage. He first performed on-stage at the age of 5, when asked to drive a...
and the screenplay was written by Christopher Wood and Richard Maibaum
Richard Maibaum
Richard Maibaum was an American film producer, playwright and screenwriter best known for his adaptations of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels....
. The film takes its title from Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming
Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British author, journalist and Naval Intelligence Officer.Fleming is best known for creating the fictional British spy James Bond and for a series of twelve novels and nine short stories about the character, one of the biggest-selling series of fictional books of...
's novel The Spy Who Loved Me, the tenth book in the James Bond series, though it does not contain any elements of the novel's plot. The storyline involves a reclusive megalomaniac named Stromberg
Karl Stromberg
Karl Sigmund Stromberg is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me. Stromberg was portrayed by the late German-born, Austrian actor Curt Jurgens. The character Stromberg was created specifically for the film by writer Christopher Wood...
who plans to destroy the world and create a new civilisation under the sea. Bond teams up with a Russian
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
agent Anya Amasova
Anya Amasova
Major Anya Amasova is a fictional character and the deuteragonist in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me, portrayed by Barbara Bach...
to stop Stromberg. The film also stars Curd Jürgens
Curd Jürgens
Curd Gustav Andreas Gottlieb Franz Jürgens was a German-Austrian stage and film actor. He was usually billed in English-speaking films as Curt Jurgens.-Early life:...
and Barbara Bach
Barbara Bach
Barbara Bach is an American actress and model known as the Bond girl from the James Bond movie The Spy Who Loved Me . She is married to former Beatle Ringo Starr.-Early life:...
.
The film was shot on location in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, with underwater scenes filmed at the Bahamas
The Bahamas
The Bahamas , officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is a nation consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets . It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola , northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States...
, and a whole new soundstage
007 Stage
The Albert R. Broccoli 007 Stage is one of the largest silent stages in the world. It is located at Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, and named after the famous James Bond film producer Albert R...
being built at Pinewood Studios
Pinewood Studios
Pinewood Studios is a major British film studio situated in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, approximately west of central London. The studios have played host to many productions over the years from huge blockbuster films to television shows to commercials to pop promos.The purchase of Shepperton...
for a massive set which depicted the interior of a supertanker. The Spy Who Loved Me was highly acclaimed by critics, being widely considered Roger Moore's best Bond film. The soundtrack, composed by Marvin Hamlisch
Marvin Hamlisch
Marvin Frederick Hamlisch is an American composer. He is one of only thirteen people to have been awarded Emmys, Grammys, Oscars, and a Tony . He is also one of only two people to EGOT and also win a Pulitzer Prize...
, also met with success. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
amidst many other nominations and subsequently novelised in 1977 by Christopher Wood as James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me.
Plot
BritishRoyal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
and Soviet
Soviet Navy
The Soviet Navy was the naval arm of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy would have played an instrumental role in a Warsaw Pact war with NATO, where it would have attempted to prevent naval convoys from bringing reinforcements across the Atlantic Ocean...
ballistic-missile submarines
Ballistic missile submarine
A ballistic missile submarine is a submarine equipped to launch ballistic missiles .-Description:Ballistic missile submarines are larger than any other type of submarine, in order to accommodate SLBMs such as the Russian R-29 or the American Trident...
mysteriously disappear. James Bond (agent 007) is summoned to investigate. On the way he escapes an ambush by Soviet agents in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, killing one during a downhill ski chase and escaping via a Union Flag
Union Flag
The Union Flag, also known as the Union Jack, is the flag of the United Kingdom. It retains an official or semi-official status in some Commonwealth Realms; for example, it is known as the Royal Union Flag in Canada. It is also used as an official flag in some of the smaller British overseas...
parachute. Bond learns that the plans for a highly advanced submarine tracking system are on the market in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. There he encounters Major Anya Amasova (codename "Triple X") of the KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
, his rival for the plans. They travel across Egypt tracking the microfilm plans, meeting Jaws – an unnaturally tall assassin with steel teeth – along the way. Bond and Amasova partner due to a truce supported by their respective superiors and identify the person responsible for the thefts as shipping tycoon, scientist, and anarchist Karl Stromberg
Karl Stromberg
Karl Sigmund Stromberg is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me. Stromberg was portrayed by the late German-born, Austrian actor Curt Jurgens. The character Stromberg was created specifically for the film by writer Christopher Wood...
.
While travelling to Stromberg's base in Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
, Bond saves Amasova from Jaws and their rivalry changes into affection. They visit Stromberg's base and learn of his mysterious new supertanker, the Liparus, which Bond had previously found has never visited any known port or harbour. Jaws and other henchmen chase them, but they survive due to Bond's driving skills and his Q Branch Lotus Esprit sports car/submarine, which enables the spies to perform a further underwater reconnaissance of Stromberg's facilities. Amasova learns Bond killed her lover in Austria; she warns that she will kill him when their mission ends.
Bond insists on rescuing Amasova before the submarine has to follow its orders and destroy Atlantis. Bond confronts and kills Stromberg but again encounters Jaws, whom he drops into a shark tank. Bond and Amasova flee in an escape pod
Escape pod
An escape pod is a capsule or craft used to escape a vessel in an emergency, usually only big enough for one person. An escape ship is a larger, more complete craft also used for the same purpose...
as Atlantis is sunk. In the pod Amasova reminds Bond that she has vowed to kill him and picks up Bond's gun, but admits to having forgiven him and the two make love. The Royal Navy finds the pod and opens it in front of everyone, much to the consternation of Bond and Amasova's superiors. Meanwhile, Jaws escapes from the shark tank (after fatally biting the shark) and swims off into the sunset
Moonraker (film)
Moonraker is the eleventh spy film in the James Bond series, and the fourth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The third and final film in the series to be directed by Lewis Gilbert, it co-stars Lois Chiles, Michael Lonsdale, Corinne Clery, and Richard Kiel...
.
Cast
- Roger MooreRoger MooreSir Roger George Moore KBE , is an English actor, perhaps best known for portraying British secret agent James Bond in seven films from 1973 to 1985. He also portrayed Simon Templar in the long-running British television series The Saint.-Early life:Moore was born in Stockwell, London...
as James BondJames Bond (character)Royal Navy Commander James Bond, CMG, RNVR is a fictional character created by journalist and novelist Ian Fleming in 1953. He is the main protagonist of the James Bond series of novels, films, comics and video games...
007: A British MI6 agent assigned to investigate the theft of two submarines. - Barbara BachBarbara BachBarbara Bach is an American actress and model known as the Bond girl from the James Bond movie The Spy Who Loved Me . She is married to former Beatle Ringo Starr.-Early life:...
as Anya AmasovaAnya AmasovaMajor Anya Amasova is a fictional character and the deuteragonist in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me, portrayed by Barbara Bach...
Agent Triple X: A Soviet KGB agent also investigating the theft. Her attraction to Bond is cut short when she learns he killed her lover. Bach was cast only four days before principal photographyPrincipal photographythumb|300px|Film production on location in [[Newark, New Jersey]].Principal photography is the phase of film production in which the movie is filmed, with actors on set and cameras rolling, as distinct from pre-production and post-production....
begun, and performed her audition expecting just a role in the film, not the one of the protagonist. - Curd JürgensCurd JürgensCurd Gustav Andreas Gottlieb Franz Jürgens was a German-Austrian stage and film actor. He was usually billed in English-speaking films as Curt Jurgens.-Early life:...
(billed as "Curt" in the credits) as Karl StrombergKarl StrombergKarl Sigmund Stromberg is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me. Stromberg was portrayed by the late German-born, Austrian actor Curt Jurgens. The character Stromberg was created specifically for the film by writer Christopher Wood...
: The main villain, a megalomaniac planning to trigger World War III and destroy the world, then recreate a new civilisation underwater. Jürgens was cast on a suggestion of director Lewis Gilbert, who had worked with him before. - Richard KielRichard KielRichard Dawson Kiel is an American actor best known for his role as the steel-toothed Jaws in the James Bond movies The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker as well as the video game Everything or Nothing, and Mr. Larson in Happy Gilmore...
as Jaws: Stromberg's seemingly indestructible juggernaut of a henchman, affected with gigantismGigantismGigantism, also known as giantism , is a condition characterized by excessive growth and height significantly above average...
and having a set of metal teeth. He would reprise the role in the subsequent MoonrakerMoonraker (film)Moonraker is the eleventh spy film in the James Bond series, and the fourth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The third and final film in the series to be directed by Lewis Gilbert, it co-stars Lois Chiles, Michael Lonsdale, Corinne Clery, and Richard Kiel...
. - Caroline MunroCaroline MunroCaroline Munro is an English actress and model known for her many appearances in horror, science fiction and action films of the 1970s and 1980s.-Early career:...
as Naomi: Stromberg's personal pilot and a would-be assassin. Munro's casting was inspired by an advertisement campaign she had made. - Walter GotellWalter GotellWalter Gotell was a German actor, known for his role as General Gogol, head of the KGB, in the James Bond film series.Gotell was born in Bonn, Germany; his family emigrated to the United Kingdom after the Nazis came to power...
as General Gogol: The head of KGBKGBThe KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
and Anya's boss. Gotell's debut in the role; he had previously appeared in From Russia with LoveFrom Russia with Love (film)From Russia with Love is the second in the James Bond spy film series, and the second to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Released in 1963, the film was produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, and directed by Terence Young. It is based on the 1957 novel of the...
and would reprise the role of Gogol in the subsequent five films. - Bernard LeeBernard LeeJohn Bernard Lee was an English actor, best known for his role as M in the first eleven James Bond films.-Life and career:...
as MM (James Bond)M is a fictional character in Ian Fleming's James Bond series, as well as the films in the Bond franchise. The head of MI6 and Bond's superior, M has been portrayed by three actors in the official Bond film series: Bernard Lee, Robert Brown and since 1995 by Judi Dench. Background =Ian Fleming...
: The head of MI6. - Desmond LlewelynDesmond LlewelynDesmond Wilkinson Llewelyn was a Welsh actor, famous for playing Q in 17 of the James Bond films between 1963 and 1999.-Early life:...
as QQ (James Bond)Q is a fictional character in the James Bond novels and films. Q , like M, is a job title rather than a name. He is the head of Q Branch , the fictional research and development division of the British Secret Service...
: 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. - Lois MaxwellLois MaxwellLois Maxwell was a Canadian actress.Maxwell began her film career in the late 1940s, and won a Golden Globe Award for the New Actress of the Year for her performance in That Hagen Girl...
as Miss MoneypennyMiss MoneypennyJane Moneypenny, better known as Miss Moneypenny, is a fictional character in the James Bond novels and films. She is secretary to M, who is Bond's boss and head of the British Secret Service...
: M's secretary. - Geoffrey KeenGeoffrey KeenGeoffrey Keen was an English actor who appeared in supporting roles in many famous films.-Early life:Keen was born in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, England, the son of stage actor Malcolm Keen. He was educated at Bristol Grammar School. He then joined the Little Repertory Theatre in Bristol for whom...
as Fredrick Gray: The British Minister of Defence. Keen's debut; he would appear in the role in the subsequent five films. - George BakerGeorge Baker (actor)George Baker, MBE was an English actor and writer. He was best-known for portraying Tiberius in I, Claudius, and Inspector Wexford in The Ruth Rendell Mysteries.-Personal life:...
as Captain Benson: A British naval officer stationed at the Royal NavyRoyal NavyThe Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
's Faslane Naval Base in ScotlandScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. Baker had previously appeared in On Her Majesty's Secret ServiceOn Her Majesty's Secret Service (film)On Her Majesty's Secret Service is the sixth spy film in the James Bond series, based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. Following the decision of Sean Connery to retire from the role after You Only Live Twice, Eon Productions selected an unknown actor and model, George Lazenby...
. - Edward de SouzaEdward de SouzaEdward James de Souza is a British character actor and graduate of RADA with ethnic Portuguese Indian and English origins.-Early life:...
as Sheikh Hosein: Bond's contact in Egypt, who was at Cambridge with 007.
The assistant director for the Italian locations, Victor Tourjansky, had a cameo as a man drinking his wine as Bond's Lotus emerges from the beach. As an in-joke, he would return in similar appearances in another two Bond films shot in Italy, Moonraker and For Your Eyes Only
For Your Eyes Only (film)
For Your Eyes Only is the twelfth spy film in the James Bond series and the fifth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It marked the directorial debut of John Glen, who had worked as editor and second unit director in three other Bond films. The screenplay by Richard Maibaum...
.
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 SaltzmanHarry Saltzman
Harry Saltzman was a Canadian theatre and film producer best known for his mega-gamble which resulted in his co-producing the James Bond film series with Albert R...
, who was forced to sell his half of the Bond film franchise in 1975 for twenty million pounds
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
. 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 (whom Roger Moore recalls passing during the filming phase of this film's production cycle) and many of the symptoms of clinical depression in himself.
Another troubling aspect to the production was the difficulty in obtaining a director. The producers approached Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
, who was in post production of Jaws
Jaws (film)
Jaws is a 1975 American horror-thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name. In the story, the police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a giant man-eating great white shark by closing the beach,...
, but ultimately decided to wait to see 'how the fish picture turns out'. The first director attached to the film was Guy Hamilton
Guy Hamilton
Guy Hamilton is an English film director.Hamilton was born in Paris, France where his English parents were living. Remaining in France during the Nazi occupation, he was active in the French Resistance...
, who directed the previous three Bond films as well as Goldfinger
Goldfinger (film)
Goldfinger is the third spy film in the James Bond series and the third to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Released in 1964, it is based on the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. The film also stars Honor Blackman as Bond girl Pussy Galore and Gert Fröbe as the title...
, but he left after being offered the opportunity to direct the 1978 film Superman (he was ultimately passed up for Richard Donner
Richard Donner
Richard Donner is an American film director, film producer, and comic book writer.The production company The Donners' Company is owned by Donner and his wife, producer Lauren Shuler Donner. After directing the horror film The Omen, Donner became famous for the hailed creation of the first modern...
). Eon Productions would later turn to Lewis Gilbert
Lewis Gilbert
Lewis Gilbert CBE is an English film director, producer and screenwriter.-Early life:He was the son of music hall performers, and spent his early years travelling with his parents, and watching the shows from the side of the stage. He first performed on-stage at the age of 5, when asked to drive a...
, who had directed the earlier Bond film You Only Live Twice
You Only Live Twice (film)
You Only Live Twice is the fifth spy film in the James Bond series, and the fifth to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film's screenplay was written by Roald Dahl, and loosely based on Ian Fleming's 1964 novel of the same name...
.
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
Ernst Stavro Blofeld
Ernst Stavro Blofeld is a fictional character and a supervillain from the James Bond series of novels and films, who was created by Ian Fleming and Kevin McClory. An evil genius with aspirations of world domination, he is the archenemy of the British Secret Service agent James Bond and is arguably...
; however Kevin McClory
Kevin McClory
Kevin O'Donovan McClory was an Irish screenwriter, producer, and director. McClory was best known for the 1983 James Bond film Never Say Never Again, which was the result of a long legal battle between McClory and Ian Fleming over the writing credits and later the film rights to...
, who owned the film rights to Thunderball
Thunderball (film)
Thunderball is the fourth spy film in the James Bond series starring Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, which in turn was based on an original screenplay by Jack Whittingham...
forced an injunction
Injunction
An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a court order that requires a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. A party that fails to comply with an injunction faces criminal or civil penalties and may have to pay damages or accept sanctions...
on Eon Productions against using the character of Blofeld, or his international criminal organisation, SPECTRE
SPECTRE
SPECTRE is a fictional global terrorist organisation featured in the James Bond novels by Ian Fleming, the films based on those novels, and James Bond video games...
, which delayed production of the film further. The villain would later be changed from Blofeld to Karl Stromberg
Karl Stromberg
Karl Sigmund Stromberg is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me. Stromberg was portrayed by the late German-born, Austrian actor Curt Jurgens. The character Stromberg was created specifically for the film by writer Christopher Wood...
so that the injunction would not interfere with the production. Christopher Wood
Christopher Wood (writer)
Christopher Wood is an English screenwriter and novelist best known under the pseudonym 'Timothy Lea' for the Confessions series of novels and films. Under his own name, he adapted two James Bond novels for the screen: The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker .Wood has written many novels...
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 two thugs named Sol Horror and Sluggsy Morent. Horror is described as having steel-capped teeth, while Sluggsy had a clear bald head. These characters would be the basis for the characters of Jaws and Sandor.
Since Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming
Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British author, journalist and Naval Intelligence Officer.Fleming is best known for creating the fictional British spy James Bond and for a series of twelve novels and nine short stories about the character, one of the biggest-selling series of fictional books of...
only permitted Eon to use the name of his novel and not the actual novel, Fleming's name was moved for the first time from above the film's title to above "James Bond 007". His name reverted to the traditional location for Moonraker
Moonraker (film)
Moonraker is the eleventh spy film in the James Bond series, and the fourth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The third and final film in the series to be directed by Lewis Gilbert, it co-stars Lois Chiles, Michael Lonsdale, Corinne Clery, and Richard Kiel...
, the last Eon Bond film based on a Fleming novel before 2006's Casino Royale
Casino Royale (2006 film)
Casino Royale is the twenty-first film in the James Bond film series and the first to star Daniel Craig as fictional MI6 agent James Bond...
. However, the credit style first used in The Spy Who Loved Me has been used on all Eon Bond films since For Your Eyes Only
For Your Eyes Only (film)
For Your Eyes Only is the twelfth spy film in the James Bond series and the fifth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It marked the directorial debut of John Glen, who had worked as editor and second unit director in three other Bond films. The screenplay by Richard Maibaum...
, including Casino Royale.
Script
Broccoli commissioned a number of writers to work on the script, including Stirling SilliphantStirling Silliphant
Stirling Dale Silliphant was an American screenwriter and producer. He was born in Detroit, Michigan, moved to Glendale, California as a child, graduated from Hoover High School, and was educated at the University of Southern California...
, John Landis
John Landis
John David Landis is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and producer. He is known for his comedies, his horror films, and his music videos with singer Michael Jackson.-Early life and career:...
, Ronald Hardy, Anthony Burgess
Anthony Burgess
John Burgess Wilson – who published under the pen name Anthony Burgess – was an English author, poet, playwright, composer, linguist, translator and critic. The dystopian satire A Clockwork Orange is Burgess's most famous novel, though he dismissed it as one of his lesser works...
, and Derek Marlowe. In the second volume of his autobiography, Burgess claims to have worked on an early treatment for the movie. British sci-fi TV producer Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson MBE is a British publisher, producer, director and writer, famous for his futuristic television programmes, particularly those involving specially modified marionettes, a process called "Supermarionation"....
also stated that he provided a film treatment
Film treatment
A film treatment is a piece of prose, typically the step between scene cards and the first draft of a screenplay for a motion picture, television program, or radio play. It is generally longer and more detailed than an outline , and it may include details of directorial style that an outline omits...
(although originally planned to be Moonraker
Moonraker (film)
Moonraker is the eleventh spy film in the James Bond series, and the fourth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The third and final film in the series to be directed by Lewis Gilbert, it co-stars Lois Chiles, Michael Lonsdale, Corinne Clery, and Richard Kiel...
) much similar to what ended up as The Spy Who Loved Me. Eventually, Richard Maibaum
Richard Maibaum
Richard Maibaum was an American film producer, playwright and screenwriter best known for his adaptations of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels....
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.
After Gilbert was reinstated as director, he decided to bring in another writer, Christopher Wood
Christopher Wood (writer)
Christopher Wood is an English screenwriter and novelist best known under the pseudonym 'Timothy Lea' for the Confessions series of novels and films. Under his own name, he adapted two James Bond novels for the screen: The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker .Wood has written many novels...
, whom he knew was a fan of the Bond novels. Gilbert also decided to fix what he felt the previous Roger Moore films were doing wrong, which was writing the Bond character too much like how Sean Connery
Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
played him, and instead do Bond closer to the books - "very English, very smooth, good sense of humour". Broccoli asked Wood to create a villain with metal teeth, Jaws, inspired by a brace-wearing henchman in Fleming's novel named Horror.
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
Thunderball (film)
Thunderball is the fourth spy film in the James Bond series starring Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, which in turn was based on an original screenplay by Jack Whittingham...
, Kevin McClory
Kevin McClory
Kevin O'Donovan McClory was an Irish screenwriter, producer, and director. McClory was best known for the 1983 James Bond film Never Say Never Again, which was the result of a long legal battle between McClory and Ian Fleming over the writing credits and later the film rights to...
had set up two film companies and was trying to make a new Bond film in collaboration with Sean Connery
Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
and novelist Len Deighton
Len Deighton
Leonard Cyril Deighton is a British military historian, cookery writer, and novelist. He is perhaps most famous for his spy novel The IPCRESS File, which was made into a film starring Michael Caine....
. 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 Blofeld and SPECTRE from the script.
In the film, Stromberg's scheme to destroy civilisation by capturing Soviet and British nuclear submarines and have them fire intercontinental ballistic missiles at two major cities is actually a recycled plot from a previous Bond film, You Only Live Twice
You Only Live Twice (film)
You Only Live Twice is the fifth spy film in the James Bond series, and the fifth to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film's screenplay was written by Roald Dahl, and loosely based on Ian Fleming's 1964 novel of the same name...
, which involved stealing space capsules to start a war between the Soviets and the Americans. The similarity was apparent in the climax; both films involved an assault on a heavily fortified enemy that had taken refuge behind steel shutters.
The scheme in which the villain wishes to destroy mankind to create a new race or new civilisation was also used in Moonraker
Moonraker (film)
Moonraker is the eleventh spy film in the James Bond series, and the fourth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The third and final film in the series to be directed by Lewis Gilbert, it co-stars Lois Chiles, Michael Lonsdale, Corinne Clery, and Richard Kiel...
, the next film after The Spy Who Loved Me. In Moonraker, the villain Hugo Drax
Hugo Drax
Sir Hugo Drax is a fictional character created by author Ian Fleming for the James Bond novel Moonraker. Fleming named him after his friend, Sir Reginald Drax. For the later film and its novelization, Drax was largely transformed by screenwriter Christopher Wood. In the film, Drax is portrayed by...
had an obsession with starting human civilisation over again on Earth, using specially chosen "superior human specimens" based in space. The film Moonraker was also written by Christopher Wood.
Filming
Pinewood Studios
Pinewood Studios is a major British film studio situated in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, approximately west of central London. The studios have played host to many productions over the years from huge blockbuster films to television shows to commercials to pop promos.The purchase of Shepperton...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Porto Cervo
Porto Cervo
Porto Cervo is an Italian seaside resort in northern Sardinia. It is a frazione of the comune of Arzachena, in the province of Olbia-Tempio. The village is the main centre of the Costa Smeralda, on the gulf of the same name. It was created by Prince Karim Aga Khan...
in Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
(Hotel Cala di Volpe), Egypt (Karnak
Karnak
The Karnak Temple Complex—usually called Karnak—comprises a vast mix of decayed temples, chapels, pylons, and other buildings, notably the Great Temple of Amun and a massive structure begun by Pharaoh Ramses II . Sacred Lake is part of the site as well. It is located near Luxor, some...
, Mosque of Ibn Tulun
Mosque of Ibn Tulun
The Mosque of Ahmad Ibn Ţūlūn is located in Cairo, Egypt. It is arguably the oldest mosque in the city surviving in its original form, and is the largest mosque in Cairo in terms of land area....
, Gayer-Anderson Museum
Gayer-Anderson Museum
The Gayer-Anderson Museum is located in Cairo, Egypt, adjacent to the Mosque of Ahmad ibn Tulun in the Sayyida Zeinab neighborhood. The museum takes its name from Major R.G. Gayer-Anderson Pasha, who resided in the house between 1935 and 1942 with special permission from the Egyptian Government...
, Abu Simbel temples), Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
, Scotland, Okinawa, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
and Mount Asgard
Mount Asgard
Mount Asgard is a twin peaked mountain with two flat-topped cylindrical rock towers, separated by a saddle. It is located in Auyuittuq National Park, on the Cumberland Peninsula of Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. The peak is named after Asgard, the realm of the gods in Norse mythology...
on Baffin Island
Baffin Island
Baffin Island in the Canadian territory of Nunavut is the largest island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, the largest island in Canada and the fifth largest island in the world. Its area is and its population is about 11,000...
in the then northern Canadian territory of Northwest Territories
Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...
(now located in Nunavut
Nunavut
Nunavut is the largest and newest federal territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the actual boundaries had been established in 1993...
).
As no studio was big enough for the interior of Stromberg's supertanker, and set designer Ken Adam
Ken Adam
Sir Kenneth Adam, OBE, born Klaus Hugo Adam , is a motion picture production designer most famous for his set designs for the James Bond films of the 1960s and 1970s.-Childhood in Germany:...
did not want to repeat what he had done with SPECTRE's volcano base in You Only Live Twice - "a workable but ultimately wasteful set" - in March 1976, construction began of a new sound stage at Pinewood, the 007 Stage
007 Stage
The Albert R. Broccoli 007 Stage is one of the largest silent stages in the world. It is located at Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, and named after the famous James Bond film producer Albert R...
, at the cost of $1.8 million. To complement this stage, Eon also paid for building a water tank capable of storing approximately 1,200,000 gallons (4,500,000 litres). The soundstage was in fact so enormous that celebrated director Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
visited the production, in secret, to advise on how to light the stage. For the exterior, while Shell
Royal Dutch Shell
Royal Dutch Shell plc , commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the fifth-largest company in the world according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine and one of the six...
was willing to lend an abandoned tanker to the production, the elevated insurance and safety risks caused it to be replaced with miniatures built by Derek Meddings
Derek Meddings
Derek Meddings was a British television and cinema special effects expert, initially noted for his work on the "Supermarionation" television puppet series produced by Gerry Anderson, and later for the 1970s James Bond films and the Superman film series.-Early years:Both Meddings' parents had...
' team and shot at the Bahamas. Stromberg's shark tank was also filmed in the Bahamas, using a live shark in a saltwater swimming pool. Adam decided to do experiments with curved shapes for the scenery, as he felt all his previous setpieces were "too linear". This was demonstrated with the Atlantis, which is a dome and curved surfaces outside, and many curved objects in Stromberg's office inside. For Gogol's offices, Adam wanted an open space to contrast M's enclosed headquarters, and drew inspiration from Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein , né Eizenshtein, was a pioneering Soviet Russian film director and film theorist, often considered to be the "Father of Montage"...
to do a "Russian crypt-like" set.
The main unit began its work in August 1976 in Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
. While in Sardinia, Moore drove the first of two Lotus Esprits that were to feature in the film. As only two cars of the type were available, production had to request the Esprit from Colin Chapman
Colin Chapman
Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman CBE was an influential British designer, inventor, and builder in the automotive industry, and founder of Lotus Cars....
, the head of the Lotus Company. In October, the second unit travelled to Nassau
Nassau, Bahamas
Nassau is the capital, largest city, and commercial centre of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The city has a population of 248,948 , 70 percent of the entire population of The Bahamas...
to film the underwater sequences. To perform the car becoming a submarine, seven different models were used, one for each step of the transformation. One of the models was a fully mobile submarine equipped with an engine built by Miami-based Perry Submarines. The car seen entering the sea was a mock-up shell, propelled off the jetty by a compressed air cannon.
In September, production moved to Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. While the Great Sphinx of Giza
Great Sphinx of Giza
The Great Sphinx of Giza , commonly referred to as the Sphinx, is a limestone statue of a reclining or couchant sphinx that stands on the Giza Plateau on the west bank of the Nile in Giza, Egypt....
was shot on the location, lighting problems caused the pyramids to be replaced with miniatures. While construction of the Liparus set continued, the second unit headed by John Glen departed for Mount Asgard
Mount Asgard
Mount Asgard is a twin peaked mountain with two flat-topped cylindrical rock towers, separated by a saddle. It is located in Auyuittuq National Park, on the Cumberland Peninsula of Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. The peak is named after Asgard, the realm of the gods in Norse mythology...
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
Rick Sylvester
Rick Sylvester is a Hollywood stuntman, most famous for his BASE jump using skis and a Union Flag parachute from Canada's Mount Asgard for the James Bond movie The Spy Who Loved Me in July 1976. In 1973, he skied off the top of El Capitan and descended approximately 914 metres by parachute. This...
who earned $30,000 for the stunt. This stunt cost $500,000 - the most expensive single movie stunt at that time.
The production team returned briefly to the UK to shoot at the Faslane
HMNB Clyde
Her Majesty's Naval Base Clyde is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy...
submarine base before setting off to Spain, Portugal and the Bay of Biscay
Bay of Biscay
The Bay of Biscay is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Brest south to the Spanish border, and the northern coast of Spain west to Cape Ortegal, and is named in English after the province of Biscay, in the Spanish...
where the super tanker exteriors were filmed. On 5 December 1976, with principal photography finished, the 007 Stage was formally opened by the former Prime Minister Harold Wilson
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, FSS, PC was a British Labour Member of Parliament, Leader of the Labour Party. He was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s, winning four general elections, including a minority government after the...
.
Music
The theme song "Nobody Does it BetterNobody Does It Better
"Nobody Does It Better" is a power ballad composed by Marvin Hamlisch with lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager. It was recorded by Carly Simon as the theme song for the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me. It was the first Bond theme song to be titled differently from the name of the film, although...
" was composed by Marvin Hamlisch
Marvin Hamlisch
Marvin Frederick Hamlisch is an American composer. He is one of only thirteen people to have been awarded Emmys, Grammys, Oscars, and a Tony . He is also one of only two people to EGOT and also win a Pulitzer Prize...
, written by Carole Bayer Sager
Carole Bayer Sager
Carole Bayer Sager is an American lyricist, songwriter, singer, and painter.-Introduction:Born in New York City, Sager graduated from New York University, where she majored in English, dramatic arts and speech...
, and performed by Carly Simon
Carly Simon
Carly Elisabeth Simon is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and children's author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records, and has since been the recipient of two Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe Award for her work...
. It was the first theme song in the James Bond series to be titled differently from the name of the movie, although the title is in the lyrics.
The song met immediate success and is featured in numerous movies including Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005 film)
Mr. & Mrs. Smith is a 2005 American romantic comedy action film directed by Doug Liman and written by Simon Kinberg. The original music score was composed by John Powell...
(2005), Little Black Book
Little Black Book
Little Black Book is a 2004 satirical comedy film directed by Nick Hurran.-Plot:Stacy Holt , an associate producer on a daytime talk show , is convinced that her boyfriend Derek is the right man for her, though he has an apparent phobia of commitment, and he's vague about his past relationships...
, Lost in Translation
Lost in Translation (film)
Lost in Translation is a 2003 American film written and directed by Sofia Coppola; her second feature film after The Virgin Suicides and it stars Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson...
and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004). In 2004, it was honoured by the American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
as the 67th greatest song as part of their 100 Years Series.
The soundtrack to the movie was composed by Marvin Hamlisch
Marvin Hamlisch
Marvin Frederick Hamlisch is an American composer. He is one of only thirteen people to have been awarded Emmys, Grammys, Oscars, and a Tony . He is also one of only two people to EGOT and also win a Pulitzer Prize...
, who filled in for veteran John Barry
John Barry (composer)
John Barry Prendergast, OBE was an English conductor and composer of film music. He is best known for composing the soundtracks for 12 of the James Bond films between 1962 and 1987...
, who was unavailable to work in the United Kingdom because of tax reasons. The soundtrack, in comparison to other Bond films of the time, is more disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
-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
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
's "Air on the G String
Air on the G String
The "Air on the G String" is an adaptation by August Wilhelmj of the Air, the second movement from Johann Sebastian Bach's Orchestral Suite No...
", that was famous for accompanying disaster-prone characters. He then plays the opening string section of the second movement, Andante, of Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
's Piano Concerto No. 21
Piano Concerto No. 21 (Mozart)
The Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467, was completed on March 9, 1785 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, four weeks after the completion of the previous D minor concerto.- Structure :There are three movements....
as his hideout Atlantis rises from the sea. The score also includes a piece of popular film music, as Maurice Jarre
Maurice Jarre
Maurice-Alexis Jarre was a French composer and conductor.Although he composed several concert works, he is best known for his film scores, and is particularly known for his collaborations with film director David Lean. Jarre composed the scores to all of Lean's films since Lawrence of Arabia...
's theme from Lawrence of Arabia
Lawrence of Arabia (film)
Lawrence of Arabia is a 1962 British film based on the life of T. E. Lawrence. It was directed by David Lean and produced by Sam Spiegel through his British company, Horizon Pictures, with the screenplay by Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson. The film stars Peter O'Toole in the title role. It is widely...
is played during a desert sequence.
Release and reception
The Spy Who Loved Me opened with a Royal Premiere attended by Princess AnneAnne, Princess Royal
Princess Anne, Princess Royal , is the only daughter of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
at the Odeon Leicester Square
Leicester Square
Leicester Square is a pedestrianised square in the West End of London, England. The Square lies within an area bound by Lisle Street, to the north; Charing Cross Road, to the east; Orange Street, to the south; and Whitcomb Street, to the west...
in London on 7 July 1977. It grossed $185.4 million worldwide, with $46 million in the United States alone. After watching the opening scene of Bond opening a Union Jack parachute to save himself from death, the reaction from the audience was like that of fans at a football game. On 25 August, 2006, the film was re-released at the Empire Leicester Square Cinema for one week. It was again shown at the Empire Leicester Square 20 April 2008 when Director Lewis Gilbert attended the first digital screening of the film.
The film was received positively by most critics, with a 79% "Fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, and 66% approval among its select notable "Top Critics". It is Roger Moore's favourite Bond film, and many reviewers consider it the best instalment to star the actor. Christopher Null praised the gadgets, particularly the Lotus Esprit car. James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli is an American online film critic.-Personal life:Berardinelli was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey and spent his early childhood in Morristown, New Jersey. At the age of nine years, he relocated to the township of Cherry Hill, New Jersey...
of Reelviews said that the film is "suave and sophisticated", and Barbara Bach proves to be an ideal Bond girl
Bond girl
A Bond girl is a character or actress portraying a love interest, of James Bond in a film, novel, or video game. They occasionally have names that are double entendres or puns, such as "Pussy Galore", "Plenty O'Toole", "Xenia Onatopp", or "Holly Goodhead"...
- "attractive, smart, sexy, and dangerous". Brian Webster stated the special effects as "good for a 1979 [sic] film", and Marvin Hamlisch's music, "memorable". Danny Peary
Danny Peary
Danny Peary is an American film critic and sports writer. He has written many books on cinema and sports-related topics.-Biography:...
described The Spy Who Loved Me as "exceptional... For once, the big budget was not wasted. Interestingly, while the sets and gimmicks were the most spectacular to date, Bond and the other characters are toned down (there's a minimum of slapstick humour) so that they are more realistic than in other Roger Moore films. Moore gives his best performance in the series... [Bond and Anya Amasova] are an appealing couple, equal in every way. Film is a real treat - a well acted, smartly cast, sexy, visually impressive, lavishly produced, powerfully directed mix of a spy romance and a war-mission film." Janet Maslin of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
considered the film formulaic and "half an hour too long, thanks to the obligatory shoot-'em-up conclusion, (...), nevertheless the dullest sequence here" but praised Moore's performance and the film's "share of self-mockery" which she found refreshing.
The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
placed Jaws and Stromberg as the sixth and seventh best Bond villains (respectively) in the series in 2008, and also named the Esprit as the second best car in the series (behind the Aston Martin DB5
Aston Martin DB5
The Aston Martin DB5 is a luxury grand tourer that was made by Aston Martin. Released in 1963, it was an evolution of the final series of DB4. The DB series was named honouring David Brown ....
).
Marvin Hamlisch was nominated for several awards such as the Academy Award for Best Song, Original Music Score
Academy Award for Original Music Score
The Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
, the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score
Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score
The Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score is one of several categories presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association , an organization of journalists who cover the United States film industry, but are affiliated with publications outside North America, since its institution in 1947...
, Grammy Award for Best Score for a Motion Picture
Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media
The Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media has been awarded since 1960. Until 2001 the award was presented to the composer of the music alone. From 2001 to 2006, the producer and engineers shared in this award...
and the BAFTA Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music
British Academy of Film and Television Arts
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...
("Nobody Does It Better
Nobody Does It Better
"Nobody Does It Better" is a power ballad composed by Marvin Hamlisch with lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager. It was recorded by Carly Simon as the theme song for the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me. It was the first Bond theme song to be titled differently from the name of the film, although...
") in 1978. The film was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Art Direction
Academy Award for Best Art Direction
The Academy Awards are the oldest awards ceremony for achievements in motion pictures. The Academy Award for Best Art Direction recognizes achievement in art direction on a film. The films below are listed with their production year, so the Oscar 2000 for best art direction went to a film from 1999...
(Ken Adam
Ken Adam
Sir Kenneth Adam, OBE, born Klaus Hugo Adam , is a motion picture production designer most famous for his set designs for the James Bond films of the 1960s and 1970s.-Childhood in Germany:...
, Peter Lamont
Peter Lamont
Peter Lamont is a noted set decorator, script editor, art director, and production designer most famous for working on eighteen James Bond films. The only four Bond films that he did not work on are Dr...
and Hugh Scaife
Hugh Scaife
Hugh Scaife was a British set decorator. He was nominated for three Academy Awards in the category Best Art Direction.-Selected filmography:Scaife was nominated for three Academy Awards for Best Art Direction:...
) and a BAFTA for Best Production Design/Art Direction
British Academy of Film and Television Arts
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...
The end credits state "James Bond Will Return in For Your Eyes Only", but following the success of Star Wars, the originally planned For Your Eyes Only was dropped in favour of the space themed Moonraker for the next film.
Novelisation
Colonel Sun
Colonel Sun , by Kingsley Amis, is the first James Bond continuation novel published after Ian Fleming's death in 1964; Glidrose Productions used the collective pseudonym "Robert Markham", for British novelist Kingsley Amis, with the intent of so publishing other novels by different writers...
nearly a decade earlier. Christopher Wood
Christopher Wood (writer)
Christopher Wood is an English screenwriter and novelist best known under the pseudonym 'Timothy Lea' for the Confessions series of novels and films. Under his own name, he adapted two James Bond novels for the screen: The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker .Wood has written many novels...
, who co-authored the screenplay, was commissioned to write the book titled James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me.
The novelisation and the screenplay, although both written by Wood, are somewhat different. In the novelisation SMERSH
SMERSH (James Bond)
SMERSH is a Soviet counterintelligence agency featured in Ian Fleming's early James Bond novels as agent 007's nemesis. СМЕРШ is an acronym from two Russian words: "SMERt' SHpionam" meaning "Death to Spies"...
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
The Living Daylights
The Living Daylights is the fifteenth entry in the James Bond series and the first to star Timothy Dalton as the fictional MI6 agent 007. The film's title is taken from Ian Fleming's short story, "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 novelisation 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. In the book, Jaws remains attached to the magnet that Bond dips into the tank, as opposed to the film where Bond releases Jaws into the water.
See also
- 007: Nightfire, a 2002 video game featuring the Liparus and Atlantis settings from this film, which also includes a submarine-car not unlike the Lotus Espirit.
- sQubaSQubaThe sQuba, developed by Swiss company Rinspeed, is the world's first car that can be driven both on land and under water. The original idea by Rinspeed founder and CEO Frank M. Rinderknecht was inspired by the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me...
, a submersible car inspired by the movie. - "Our Man Bashir", a 1995 episode of the television series Star Trek: Deep Space NineStar Trek: Deep Space NineStar Trek: Deep Space Nine is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe...
was largely based on this film.