The Spy Who Loved Me
(UK, 1977)

Cast and Crew: Ah, bugger, far too large to mention in this short review. List’em all and you have more text than in my short overview, so go to IMDB and see for yourself

When discussing the Bond Film Franchise it has become popular to compare it with the original Bond novels by Ian Fleming. This actor is more appropriate, that adaptation is closer to its source material etc. Nothing wrong with that, however, I always find it is better to simply rate the films upon their own merit.

Truth of the matter is that not all the Bond novels are all that great. They’re all readable, but not all of them are truly good. The more Fleming started experimenting with the format, the more the books became hit and miss. And let’s not even get started me about the truly appaling overt racism he is displaying in his Live and Let Die.

In From Russia, With Love Bond doesn’t even appear until after the first third of the book. The initial chapters all deal with Tatiana Romanova’s life in Moscow and her involvement in SMERSH’ attempt to assassinate Bond. In this instance, the plot device works as the preceding chapters all deal with stuff that is of importance in the later part of the book and provide the framework for what is to come.

The novel The Spy Who Loved Me uses a similar narrative device and again uses a female viewpoint for the initial chapters. In this case, however, none of that really has anything at all to do with Bond’s eventual involvement and this time Bond doesn’t appear until two thirds of the book are over. Even worse, Vivienne Michel, the female protagonist, is nothing but a stupid little girl whose boring life centres around her dreary work, man trouble and – shock, gasp – an abortion in Switzerland. In order to run away from it all she ends up in a very exotic location: a run-down motel in the Adirondacks. Can it get any more lacklustre than that? When did Fleming start writing novels for Mills & Boon?

The action finally starts picking up when two strangers invade the motel, threaten the girl and start messing with the wrong guy – Guess who?  - in order to scam the motel’s insurance company.

It’s more than obvious that none of that really would entice the cinema going audience to watch a true-to-source adaptation on the silver screen. It was little wonder that this title was one of the last original Fleming books to be adapted for the cinema and practically nothing apart from the title survived the transfer from book to screen. Although some legal reasons are also quoted for this, it is hard to believe that a proper adaptation would ever have been possible. The only reference that can just about be recognised is the description of one of the villains:

“When he spoke there was a glint of grey silvery metal from his front teeth and I supposed they had been cheaply capped with steel, as I had heard was done in Russia and Japan.”

Of course, Richard Kiel’s Jaws ended up far more menacing and larger than life than his original inspiration in the book.

If The Spy Who Loved Me, the novel, ended up by far the weakest of the literary Bonds, the film, free to invent a new plot from scratch, soon became the best and most opulent Bond movie ever put on screen.

For me this was the first Bond movie I ever watched and it still is the one Bond film I have watched the most. This is Bond at his best and the film is practically flawless and perfect. Call me biased, but I can’t find any fault in it and it’s easily on top of my Top 3 Bond films. (Before you ask, Goldfinger and Licence to Kill are my respective #2 and 3.)

Much has already been written about it, so I am not going to rehash the plot, the most amazing stunts (Isn’t it fantastic what could be done pre-CGI?), the exotic scenery, the quibs or the assortment of great actors that grace this production, but will fast forward directly to the involvement of the two Hammer ladies in this production, Caroline Munro and Valerie Leon.

Caroline Munro’s Naomi character was clearly inspired by her famous Lambs Navy Rum adverts, or if not directly inspired then she certainly already had her homework done. Those advertisement posters of her always showed her strong, athletic body clad in revealing wet suits with a knife at hand. These are very similar images to beautiful, but deadly Naomi who enjoys flirting with Bond (much to the annoyance of Barbara Bach’s character) even when she chases him with a helicopter. Her screen wink in that scene has made Bond history and is regarded as the sexiest screen wink of all times.

Munro’s scenes were shot in Calabria’s Costa Smeralda and at the famous Cala Di Volpe Hotel that 30 years afterwards still looks the same and will happily accept your reservations should you have some cash to burn. Prior to shooting the scene in which she greets Bond for the first time, Munro had accidentally sat on a bee - what a tremendous way to die for that insect! - and was forced to grin and bear it for the subsequent shooting. 

For the actress this was already her second Bond outing. Her first was in Bond spoof Casino Royale, an obscure cameo where even if you don’t blink, you’ll miss her amongst a group of other unidentifiable Bond beauties. At the time of the Bond role, she was also offered the part of Ursa in Superman who was subsequently played by Sarah Douglas. Being only able to commit to one of the roles, she opted for the more tried and tested Bond franchise.

The initial script required her to swim with a dolphin while being ogled by Curt Jürgens. Jürgens objected to that sequence and it was never filmed. Pity.

A lot of Munro's appearances at conventions are often primarily because of her role in this movie and she later on also wrote an introduction to a comic adaptation of that novel.

The second Hammer Girl in Spy is Valerie Leon. Leon has a short part as a flirtatious hotel receptionist and would later star in another Bond film, the “unofficial” Never Say Never Again with Sean Connery. Leon looks nice in Spy, but is forced to wear a ridiculous, frilly top. She manages, however, to have Moore say one of the most memorable lines of the film when coming on to him in the line of her duty:

Receptionist: “I have a message for you.”
Bond: “I think you just delivered it.”

Also look out for Hammer actor Edward De Souza (The Phantom of the Opera, Kiss of the Vampire) in a short role as a Sheik.

Anyway, watch it. Enjoy it. Then watch it again. And again.

‘Nuff said.

Further Reading:

Read the original novel:

A comic adaptation with an introduction by Caroline Munro:

Wikipedia entry for this film

Buy: