Directed by Lewis Gilbert
Written by Christopher Wood and Richard Maibaum from characters created by Ian Fleming
1977/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental
Stromberg: Well, well… a British agent in love with a Russian agent. Détente, indeed.
Perfect movie for when you need a break from thinking.
James Bond (Roger Moore) is assigned to investigate the highjacking of U.S. and Soviet nuclear submarines. Relations with the Soviets are good for the moment and Major Anya Amasova from the KGB is assigned as his partner. They are a match made in heaven except for the fact that James killed Anya’s husband. It should not be too much of a spoiler to say that SPECTRE is behind the plot, this time under the direction of Stromberg (Curt Jurgens).
Everything plays out just exactly like you would think it would. The action is fairly stirring and this episode’s enforcer is Jaws (Richard Kiehl).
The Bond franchise lost its luster for me when Roger Moore took over the character. Barbara Bach made a beautiful Bond girl but her acting leaves something to be desired. I needed some light entertainment yesterday and the movie has my all-time favorite Bond title tune and all worked out well.
Carly Simon sings “Nobody Does It Better” (The Spy Who Loved Me)
We all missed Sean. . . . “Nobody Does It Better” remains a terrific song!
Moore just lacked that certain something necessary to make all the girls swoon and hop into bed. I love Carly Simon. One other favorite movie theme of hers is “Let the River Run” from Working Girl.
Love “Let the River Run.” Carly remains a favorite with me too.
The biggest problem with Roger Moore as Bond is that Bond has to be dangerous. I’m a huge fan of Roger Moore but he lacked that dangerous quality and that meant that the Bond movies he made lacked any real bite. There’s only ever been one movie James Bond and that’s Sean Connery.
And Bond has to be a man that women find sexy because he’s dangerous.
Some of Roger Moore’s non-Bond thrillers of the 70s are truly excellent. SHOUT AT THE DEVIL and FFOLKES are particularly good. I think he was a better actor than Connery, but he wasn’t Bond.
Bond has to be so sexy the women meet him and within five minutes are making love on a bed. Moore just didn’t have it,
Those James Bond movies of the seventies are such a blur for me. I cannot remember one from the next although I know I have watched them all. The were in a downward trend and bottomed out with Moonrakers. Still, Kiel was always good or at least fearsome.
It’s hard to tell one from the other for sure!