Binge-watching Bond part 10: 'The Spy Who Loved Me'

Agent XXX and Jaws

Now we're talking! The Spy Who Loved Me is not just one of my all-time favorite 007 adventures, it's the best Bond film of the 1970s, the best one with Roger Moore in the lead and it's the movie that kept the franchise alive and relevant for several more years.

As a kid this, along with Live and Let Die, was probably my personal favorite. My tastes have evolved since then, but the movie really holds up as an action classic. It's on par with Goldfinger, the movie has a go big or go home flavor from the stunts to the spectacular sets.

Moore gets to do what he does best, be charming and funny with just a hint of cold-hearted cruelty lurking beneath the surface.

He's aided tremendously by one of the most beautiful and resourceful Bond girls of all time, Barbara Bach, who plays his equal in many ways, KGB agent XXX.

What a contrast with Britt Eckland's bumbling Goodnight in The Man with the Golden Gun. Even though XXX does succumb to Bond's charms, she's much more his equal than any previous woman in the series and that makes this film a little more special.

Roger Moore and Barbara Bach

Also, in this film, we get perhaps the most memorable villain of the Moore era -- the terrifying Jaws. This character, which owes quite a lot to the Spielberg film from which he gets his name, was perfect for a Bond film. He's stronger than Bond and seemingly indestructible, which means 007 must constantly use his superior intellect to outsmart him. Although the character becomes more cartoonish in Moonraker, he is genuinely menacing here.

The main bad guy, Stromberg, isn't quite as strong and his grand scheme of some sort of underwater Utopia, is silly even by Bond standards, but these are minor quibbles for a film that has a great pace, does an incredible job of using its exotic locales (particularly Egypt) and never stops remembering to be fun.

The Spy Who Love Me also has sneaky depth though. There is a brief mention of Bond's dead wife, which forces Moore to drop his customary grin and a later scene where he and Bach have a confrontation over the murder of her former lover, also a spy, could have come straight out of a Daniel Craig film.

And I haven't even mentioned the car! The Lotus has to be the next greatest car in 007 history, after the iconic Aston Martin. It's neck and neck for me, but I think this one ranks right in between Connery's two greatest Bond outings, From Russia With Love and Goldfinger.

My rankings:

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

Liz's take: The Spy Who Love Me is really good and the budget shows. The main villain is pretty forgettable though. I don't remember his name. Jaws is cool but he's ultimately more of a henchman than a true bad guy. As much as the sets and certain sequences are impressive, the last act was a little bloated with too many pyrotechnics.

Agent XXX's reveal in the opening and overall storyline is very cool and they did effectively merge elements from On Her Majesty's Secret Service in this one, with the reference to the death of Tracy Bond and it was nice to see Roger Moore show more emotion than usual on that front.

I like a lot of the individual pieces in the movie but it didn't quite come together as a whole for me as well as some of the others.

Liz's rankings:

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