Year Released: 1977
Movie Rating: **** (stars of four)
Movie Notes -
What can I say? How do you describe the best James Bond film of the entire series? In one word noless. ..Fantastic,... Amazing,... Marvelous,... Awesome? Take your pick. Either of those words will do. The Spy Who Loved Me features so many of the best things of the Bond series that it can't help but be number 1. After the minimal successes of Live and Let Die and The Man With the Golden Gun, the Bond series was in desperate need of a surefire winner. The Spy Who Loved Me delivers.
The film starts off with the first 'best' thing: The pretitle sequence. James is gettin' down around with an Austrian woman when a call comes in on his class-A Casio watch to report to HQ. He gets up and leaves the cabin atop a majestic mountain peak. After he leaves, several men pursue him on skis for one of the finest ski-chase sequences since On Her Majesty's Secret Service. In fact it is the first ski-chase sequence since OHMSS. Bond pulls off some mesmerizing moguls and ski-stunts while eluding these goons that would make Johnny Moesley proud. Before the grand escape, 007 flips around, skis backwards, and fires off a fire dart at a member of the goonsquad from his ski-pole. And after a spectacular back-flip off of a snowhill, 007 ramps down the tremendous hill and coasts right off of the 20,000 ft alpine ledge. ...Then his chute opens. This sequence didn't have a dull moment and was an edge-of-your-seat thriller. A perfect opening to the number 1 Bond film of all time.
Two nuclear submarines have been hijacked by someone from both Russia and Great Britain. M sends James Bond to investigate the disappearances and sends him to locate a contact in the Egyptian desert. It is here where he encounters Triple-X and Jaws. He makes quick work out of a short, bald loser and proceeds to the pyramids where the Mr. Fekkesh is supposed to be. However, Jaws gets to him first and aquires the microfilm which contains the nuclear submarine tracking system. If that wasn't bad enough, Triple-X throws two commy sparring partners at 007 hoping to detain him. Bond whips their asses like it was a walk in the park. Ultimately, Bond joins Triple-X on the search for the microfilm which they encounter in the Egyptian desert. Here, Bond topples Jaws with a load of bricks and then makes Triple-X look like a complete sap by snatching the microfilm from her. Good stuff.
In this sequence of events, and many others, Marvin Hamlisch works, easily, one of the best musical scores in Bond history. The theme of "Nobody Does it Better" instrumental is excellent.
On a boat to Cairo, Bond looks at the microfilm and finds that it is useless, and merely a decoy containing no real data. Unfortunately, Bond lets his other head do the thinking and he gets gassed by Major Amasova (XXX). The two end up pooling their resources, collectively, and travel in search of the real microfilm. They travel to Sardinia and Atlantis (the home of sub hijacker and millionaire Carl Stromberg). Another great thing about this movie is the locations. Egypt, the Austrian Alps, Sardinia, and the Atlantic Ocean are fabulous locales that 
definitely rank among the top when it comes to the series' best. Another great thing: the gadgets. In Sardinia, Bond showcases the 1977 Lotus Esprit. A white mini-sub/supercar, the Lotus was so spectacular that fans were special ordering the car which placed them on a year-long waiting list. Unbelievable. This car is incredible. Just watch the helicopter chase and underwater scenes and you'll see why.
Bond goes to Atlantis, smells a rat, and proceeds to blow up Stromberg's entire operation. And, of course, toys a little with Jaws along the way. "How does that grab you?" In classic Bond style, 007 rescues XXX, who was kidnapped by Stromberg, and escapes in the nick of time with Amasova in the escape chamber. What the two don't know is that their superiors are just outside the escape module. So, making the most out of an otherwise 
embarassing situation, 007 lays Triple-X and closes the curtains on M and Gen. Gogol after saying that he's just "...keeping the British end up."
Great locations, fine women, and a great score easily make this the best Bond film of all-time. Sure, many say that it is basically a carbon copy of You Only Live Twice but this one was far better made. Bests: James Bond (Moore), Pre-title sequence, Henchman (Jaws), Gadgets, Decade (1970s). Way to go 007. Bravo, Mr. Broccoli, for reviving the finest film series of all time with a slam-dunk, high-throttle, phenomenal motion picture. Code name: The Spy Who Loved Me.
Overall Rating: A+
The amazing ski stunt at the beginning of the film was shot in July of 1976, one month before main filming began. Stuntman Rick Sylvester and a camera crew waited for the perfect conditions to perform the stunt. Suring a small window of opportunity, Sylvester skied down the loft and off the cliff. The main camera that was supposed to catch the stunt did not capture the jump because of safety reasons. Luckily for the producers, a second camera unit was ready and filmed the spectacular stunt.
An earlier draft of the script had a group of international terrorists taking over SPECTRE and plotting the overthrow of the civilized world. Broccoli thought the angle was too political for a Bond film and the current script was written.
Jaws was originally scripted to be killed when Atlantis is destroyed, but they sensed the character may have audience appeal. As a result, two different scenes were shot; one having Jaws killed off, and the other which appears in the film.