This used to be my favorite Moore Bond film when I was a teenager. That distinction now belongs to “For Your Eyes Only,” which is not only my favorite Bond film with Moore, but also one of my favorite action films in general.

In retrospect “The Spy Who Loved Me” was just what the 007 series needed after the tepid “The Man with the Golden Gun.” It’s great fun, even if some of the movie didn’t hold up to my 15 or 16 year old memory. I had trouble accepting Major Amasova as the USSR’s “best” agent. The script tells us that she is the equal to 007, unfortunately there’s never any action to confirm this. She does knock out Bond and steal the microfilm, but only after he has looked at it, and deemed it unworthy. She has some technical knowledge that Bond doesn’t have, but in the end she becomes the standard damsel in distress. “Tomorrow Never Dies” also teams 007 up with a communist agent, but Wai Lin is a much more believable as a secret agent, and she participated equally in the assault on the stealth ship which parallels the battle 007 and the submarine crews have with Stromberg’s private army.

Usually the main villains die an exotic or particularly unpleasant death. Bond kills Stromberg in a relatively pedestrian manner, with several well placed shots from the Walther PPK. However, Stromberg is so ice cold and has so much blood on his hands that it was emotionally satisfying to watch Bond gun him down like a common criminal.

Jaws is an excellent henchman, and he is used well in this film. When he returns in “Moonraker” he becomes a farcical character

So it’s a good Bond film, but not a great one; a crowd pleaser. Fantastic stunts, great chases (some of the music has a definite “disco” flavor, but hey it’s 1977), exotic locations, the submarine Lotus, and a great theme song. What’s not to like?

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