Do you think The Spy Who Loved Me is the film where Roger Moore truly became James Bond?

And if you had to choose between this and You Only Live Twice—two enormous Lewis Gilbert adventures with plenty in common—which one wins?

I’d love to hear where it sits in your Bond ranking. Next stop: Moonraker… and that could be interesting! 😬

I worked in a movie theater from 1977 to 1984 so this was the first Bond that I saw many many many times.  And you nailed it.  This movie saved the franchise and Barbara remains one of my favorite Bond girls of all time.  Maybe THE favorite.  Lucky Ringo.

The Lawrence of Arabia theme was apparently a joke. It was added in the rough cut but keot in because they thought it was fiun. It probably inspired them to use the Magnificent Seven theme in Moonraker.

Great stuff as always! I can still remember the audience cheering and clapping at the opening union jack parachute reveal (probably offend some Guardian readers today). This film saved the franchise and for me, as I´ve said before, I´d love to go back to the ridculously entertaining Bond that this film so brilliantly portrays.

I still have the first 18 James Bond films on VHS

3:11.  Correction:  Bond discovers that he killed Anya’s partner long after we have already been shown that fact.  (The audience doesn’t come to the realization at the same time as Bond).

I was moved to write an epitaph for Stromberg's PA - an excerpt:

Said villain is receiving two
distinguished academics who
of late, for their financial backer,
built a nuclear u-boat tracker.

Says Stromberg to his doomed assistant,
who is seated at the distant
reaches of the dining table,
"leave us" so that he is able
with the doc and prof to seal
in privacy their business deal.

In accordance with his wish she
leaves, although there's something fishy:
as she gets into the lift,
his webbed hands to a keypad shift.
A bell dings with the closing doors.
Next level, marine carnivores!

This was an exhilarating departure from the scaled down cheesiness of the previous three Hamilton - Manckiewitz contributions to the franchise. I went back for multiple viewings in the summer of 1977.  And at each viewing, the audience broke out in applause when that parachute bearing the Union Jack opened opened during the teaser. Ah yes, Bond was definitely back -- and so, it seemed, was Bond mania. All that is lacking is a John Barry sound track, although the title song is one of the best in the series.

Second Unit Director John Glen wanted Rick Sylvester to do the stunt from Lauterbrunnen,Switzerland but Rick Sylvester said no way as it’s only a 200 ‘foot drop. So Mount Asgard Canada 🇨🇦 was used with a 3,000 foot drop. Sylvester was only paid $30 K for the stunt “ plus a bonus” not sure what that was? The film crew was held up 10 days because of bad weather and despite massive preparations only one camera caught the stunt!!
Michael Wilson saw an advertisement for Canadian club whiskey in Playboy with Rick Sylvester fake jumping off of Asgard. That’s where the idea came from,if Wilson doesn’t see that ad no Skijump!

I love the novel as well! Weird connection: Virginia Gentlemen, Vivienne Michel's bourbon of choice was distilled in my hometown.

Very good review. Bond actors usually make the character their own in their third film and Roger certainly did that. As I mentioned before, in the 70's Bond started to become a follower not a trend setter e.g. Live and Let Die followed the Blacksploitation films like Shaft, The Man With The Golden Gun followed the Bruce Lee Kung Fu films like Enter The Dragon and Moonraker followed the massive hit of Star Wars. The only thing this film nicked was following off the 1975 hit of Jaws by calling the henchman Jaws even having him beat a Great White shark. But this theft doesn't put me off the movie. I grew up watching Roger Moore on TV so this has to be my favourite James Bond film of all time. I'm biased because I really love films like Skyfall, From Russia With Love, Casino Royale and Licence To Kill. It's very interesting reviewing these films after a number of years because when I was a child the only two Sean Connery Bond films I knew were Goldfinger and Dr No. I first saw From Russia With Love in 1982 when I was 10 and I thought it was boring. Today as an adult it's one of the greatest Bond films ever made! Going back to The Spy Who Loved Me, the reason why I really love this film is because it's so much fun. Everybody can love it. The reason for the Lawrence of Arabia music is because Lewis Gilbert was a big David Lean fan and loved that film. He wanted to pay homage to it. Loved your review. Once again, very fair and precise.

17:16 Severn estuary would be cool for filming on, but jokes aside I think bond could have something filmed in Bristol, would be cool seeing my hometown in a bond film

I never really liked this film, i found it boring the last time i watched it. To be completely honest, last time i watched this, i thought it was the worst Bond film in the first 10. Maybe ill give it a rewatch at some point. I am planning to rewatch all the bond films soon. I will not be going into this one thinking it will be bad. I will try to remain neutral. Another great video!

I thought this film was much better than You Only Live Twice. I always thought Roger had the best films. Maybe because I grew up watching his first. I suspect Moonraker will be a fun video. Keep a lookout for the cross eyed woman that Roger mentioned in an interview once.

After not enjoying the last four films as much, The Spy Who Loved Me is finally a really fun Bond movie again. The pre-title sequence is definitely up there as one of the best. Anya is a cool character and I enjoy her dynamic with Bond. And speaking of him, again, I really enjoy Roger Moore in this one. Jaws is one of my favourite henchmen. The movie itself also has quite a few highlights for me. I really like all the scenes in egypt, the Lotus car chase is hands down one of my favourite car chases I have seen so far (and a car that can turn into a submarine is like, one of the coolest things ever) and the big shootout is at least on par with the one in You Only Live Twice. The only real criticism I have is the villain. I couldn't care less about Stromberg. He's not my least favourite Bond villain, but he's just such a nothing character for me. Overall, I'd give TSWLM a solid 7/10 because me not liking Stromberg drags it down a bit and there just are movies I enjoy more. Still, a very solid Bond movie.

My ranking up to this point:

1. Goldfinger 9/10
2. From Russia with Love 8/10
3. You Only Live Twice 7/10
4. The Spy Who Loved Me 7/10
5. The Man with the Golden Gun 6/10
6. Thunderball 5/10
7. Live and Let Die 5/10
8. Dr. No 4/10
9. On Her Majesty's Secret Service 4/10
10. Diamonds Are Forever 2/10

And my ranking of all theme songs:

1. Dr. No (James Bond Theme)
2. You Only Live Twice
3. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
4. Live and Let Die
5. From Russia With Love
6. Thunderball
7. Diamonds are Forever
8. Goldfinger
9. Nobody Does It Better - I have nothing against this song, but it's one of many that I enjoy while watching the movie, but don't actively seek out outside of it.
10. The Man with the Golden Gun

Fleming gave them the novel BUT stipulated that only the name be used, hence Lewis Gilbert basically remade You Only Live Twice, same plot even down to the 'indistructable shutter blinds'....
But it was brilliantly done ❤

The movie is so different from the novel that they released a novelisation of the film written by  Christopher Wood.  The same think wpuld happen two years later with Moonraker.

I love this film. In some respects, this is the archetypal Bond film, the perfect execution of the Bond film.

Jaws is awesome. Richard Kiel had a very interesting film career, with guest appearances on virtually every TV show of the 1970's as well as several interesting, if not good, B-movies.

Stromberg is probably the film's biggest weak link, though it's never bothered me.

The Lotus is my favorite Bond car/gadget.

This film also has my favorite pre-title sequence. It still takes my breath away,  even though I've watched this movie well north of 100 times.

And the beautiful ladies. This film made me a fan of Caroline Munro.

My apologies for writing a dissertation-length comment.

Although, like you, I wasn't a huge fan of Moore's Bond, this movie is by far his best in my eyes, closely followed by 'For your eyes only'.  Neither of which I feel beat the best of Connery's time in the role, but still :)  Oddly, or perhaps not, Moore stated that this movie was the one he liked best.

The difference between the book and the movie is down to a clause in Ian Flemings agreement with Broccoli on adapting this particular story.  No part of the book could be adapted into a screenplay, they had to come up with something original on there own, though, of course, they had the title.  Supposedly Fleming had this stipulation made because in the original book Bond is hardly in it till over half way in and he didn't think it would work as a movie.

Jaws is just wonderful and played so well by 7'2" Richard Kiel.  Of course the metal teeth were so painful for Kiel to wear he could only deal with it for short periods of time before having to take them out.  That train fight scene has an interesting quirk to it.  The famous part of Bond kicking Jaws through the window?  The person going through a real plate glass window was stunt coordinator Bob Simmons, not Richard Kiel :)

As for the Lotus, the film crew had several shells, not cars, to play with.  There was only one drivable car.  All shots underwater of the Lotus were either miniature or these fibreglass shells made to do certain functions such as the wheels sliding up inside, or the stabiliser fins coming out of the side.  Each one was a different shell.  The inside of course wasn't air tight, it was filled with water (which was why the windows are blacked out while its underwater), so when we see the car moving around with its propellers going its actually two divers inside with breathing regulators.

The Egypt scenes were trying it seems as they couldn't actually light the real pyramids, so the ones you see in the film are actually models.  The food was so bad that the crew complained they would rather shoot right through without a day off.  But Cubby Broccoli stepped in and found pasta, tomatoes and meat and personally cooked a huge pasta dinner for the entire crew.  There is film of him in hat and apron spooning it out in the kitchens :)

They realised the couldn't find a stage big enough to house the three submarines they had in the plot, so they built one.  This is the movie that introduced the biggest stage in the world I believe at the time, the 007 Stage at Pinewood in the UK.

I think the end fight inside the tanker suffers from bad timing.  I won't go as far as to say bad editing, but someone, possibly the director, thought it would be a good idea after the initial rush of combat to slow things down to a crawl as they try to figure out how to get into the command center.  The crater fight in 'You only live twice' doesn't have this cool down so its balls to the wall right through, lol.  But they were originally going to film the fight scene on a real tanker.  Shell offered to lend them one if they insured it while they were filming on it.  However the cost came to around £50,000 a DAY.  So that idea was thrown out.

This is a great Bond film. Alright, it wouldn't do to watch it immediately after You only live Twice, as in many ways it is the same, but it's still fantastic.

For me my favorite Bond Woman from the Roger Moore era of films is agent XXX Barbara Back Many Bondphiles have criticized her as being” wooden “ I wholeheartedly disagree. When Anya walks over to the Lotus she greets Q with a “Good Morning Major Boothroyd” the first time Boothroyd has been mentioned since Peter Burton in DR No. You didn’t mention who did the Score Marvin Hamlisch I think the Ride To Atlantis sounds eerily similar to a theme that John Barry used 8 years earlier for the film Midnight Cowboy.
Legendary director Stanley Kubrick visited the set at Pinewood just to say hello to I think Ken Adam  The submarines were looking too much like miniatures , so Kubrick suggested placing the camera much higher to give the illusion of full length submarines which worked but told everyone there that day don’t give me a mention in the credits or he would sue. WEIRD!!Should be Barbara Bach not Back that’s why I hate AI. Good night Major Boothroyd. Bond was a commander in the Royal Navy not Admiral.