The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
is the tenth spy 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 Karl 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. Curd Jürgens and Barbara
Bach co-star.
It 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. The soundtrack, composed by
Marvin Hamlisch, also met with success. The film was nominated for
three Academy Awards amidst many other nominations and novelized in
1977 by Christopher Wood as James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me.
The novel, The Spy Who
Loved Me, was the ninth book in Ian Fleming's James Bond series,
first published by Jonathan Cape on April 16th 1962. It is the
shortest and most sexually explicit of Fleming's novels, as well as a
clear departure from previous Bond novels in that the story is told
in the first person by a young Canadian woman, Vivienne Michel. Bond
himself does not appear until two thirds of the way through the book.
Fleming wrote a prologue to the novel giving Michel credit as a
co-author. Due to the reactions by critics and fans, Fleming was not
happy with the book and attempted to suppress elements of it where he
could: he blocked a paperback edition in the UK and only gave
permission for the title to be used when he sold the film rights to
Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli, rather than any aspects of the
plots. However, the character of Jaws is loosely based on one of the
characters in the book and the paperback edition was published in the
UK after his death. A heavily adapted version of The Spy Who Loved Me
appeared in the Daily Express newspaper in daily comic strip format
in 1967–1968.
The
Spy Who Loved Me film 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 Saltzman, 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 and many of the
symptoms of clinical depression in himself.
Another troubling aspect of
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 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 that
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 permitted
Eon to use only 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.
Broccoli
commissioned a number of writers to work on the script, including
Stirling Silliphant, 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.
Gilbert wanted to fix what
he felt the previous Roger Moore films were doing wrong, which was
writing the Bond character too much the way Sean Connery played him,
and instead portray Bond closer to the books, "very English,
very smooth, good sense of humour".
Christopher 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.
Untitled
AV
CLUB FEATURETTE DEPARTMENT
Untitled
Nobody does it better than
Bond, and he proves it once more in this explosively entertaining
adventure that takes him from the Egyptian pyramids to the ocean
floor to a gravity-defying mountaintop ski chase! Roger Moore brings
inimitable style to Agent 007 as he teams with beautiful Russian
Agent Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach) to stop the megalomaniac Stromberg
(Curt Jurgens) from unleashing a horrific scheme for world
domination. But as the countdown to nuclear armageddon begins, Bond
must first battle Jaws (Richard Kiel), a seemingly indestructible
steel-toothed giant! Add
The Spy Who Love Me to your DVD collection.
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, Hayling Island UK, 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" – construction began in March 1976 of a new
sound stage at Pinewood, the 007 Stage, at a 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 in 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. Don McLaughlan, then head of public
relations at Lotus Cars, heard that Eon were shopping for a new Bond
car. He drove a prototype Lotus Esprit with all Lotus branding taped
over, and parked it outside the Eon offices at Pinewood studios; on
seeing the car Eon asked Lotus to borrow both of the prototypes for
filming. 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. During the model
sequences, the air bubbles seen appearing from the vehicle were
created by Alka-Seltzer tablets. 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 December 5th 1976, with
principal photography finished, the 007 Stage was formally opened by
former Prime Minister Harold Wilson.
The
theme song "Nobody Does it Better" 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 several pieces of classical music
into his score. For instance, while feeding a duplicitous secretary
to a shark, Stromberg plays Bach's "Air on the G String",
which 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.
The Spy Who Loved Me opened
with a Royal Premiere attended by Princess Anne at the Odeon
Leicester Square in London on July 7th 1977. It grossed $185.4
million worldwide, with $46 million in the United States alone. 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 and is Roger Moore's favourite Bond film,
and many reviewers consider it the best instalment to star the actor.
Good news for Moore who's first two Bond films were not that well
received. 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". Danny Peary described The Spy Who Loved Me as
"exceptional ... For once, the big budget was not wasted."
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, Eon Productions, for the first time,
authorised that a novelization 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 novelization and the
screenplay, although both written by Wood, are somewhat different. In
the novelization, 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 novelization 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.
AV
CLUB SLIDESHOW DEPARTMENT
My Neat Stuff Slideshow - Jssor Slider, Slideshow with Javascript Source Code
The
Spy Who Loved Me film 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 Saltzman, 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 and many of the
symptoms of clinical depression in himself.
Broccoli
commissioned a number of writers to work on the script, including
Stirling Silliphant, 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.
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.
