Written by James M. Tate / 11/08/2015 / 1 Comment / espionage , franchise , james bond , richard kiel , roger moore , seventies , spy
MOORE BOND THREE: 'THE SPY WHO LOVED ME' W/ RICHARD KIEL
Spider-like Under Water City in Spy Who Loved Me 1977 |
The windswept theme of LAWRENCE OF ARABIA brings Roger Moore's James Bond from one desert location to another, and that's just the beginning... Actually, the middle... The middle of the beginning of a motion picture that takes us all over the place...
Signed Laserdisc by Caroline Munro and the late Richard Kiel |
And one separate scene includes an actual shark attacking a helpless woman: What's trying to be said here is that SPY is downright epic on all counts. And yet, there's still a very personal touch throughout. The man, Bond, seems more alone and maverick than ever, despite having a gorgeous ingenue/sidekick in Barbara Bach's Agent XXX, keeping a secret grudge/vendetta that, despite her monotone delivery, makes her one of the more complicated and mysterious "Bond Girls," which doesn't mean Caroline Munro's Naomi (bitten by Chris Lee's Dracula in 1972) can't hold her own as the stock "bad Bond girl," an important part of one of many action sequences...
year: 1977 cast: Roger Moore, Curd Jürgens, Barbara Bach, |
And with all the intriguing, creative reasons for the ground and water to be covered in the first place, SPY makes for the first Moore outing to lean on espionage over genre-driven action. And on the lighter side, gadget wizard Q gets a bigger, better chance to show his worth after being somewhat neglected in the first two Moore vehicles, and even exceeds what he accomplished in the Connery films: back then, mostly complaining about his doomed hot rods.
Roger and Richard |
According to Kiel in a Cult Film Freak interview, explaining the train bout: "They used a mini-trampoline for Roger Moore to bounce up in the air as I picked him up seemingly with little effort and attached him to a cable so I could bang him against the ceiling of the train." Well that's behind the scenes... but what we get on screen, right before our very eyes, is perhaps the most solidly entertaining Bond feature of any decade... That is, if you can forgive some of the dated disco music and an overlong third act military battle finale, where it's hard if impossible to keep score on who's winning or losing with so many soldiers firing guns at each other, this SPY is one to not only LOVE, but could possibly give even the most rabid Moore haters a reason to sit back, relax, and enjoy.
RATING: ****1/2
TRIVIA: One year later, SPY WHO LOVED ME director Guy Hamilton would direct Barbara Bach and Richard Kiel, as well as former FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE Bond heavy Robert Shaw, in FORCE 10 FROM NAVARONE that also starred Harrison Ford, the maverick hero in STAR WARS in which the next Bond vehicle, MOONRAKER (review coming soon), was obviously banking on. Also, Kiel's Bond name, JAWS, connects with Robert Shaw, who got a short-lived second-wind career after downright stealing the summer blockbuster.
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Labels:
espionage,
franchise,
james bond,
richard kiel,
roger moore,
seventies,
spy
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Jaws was such a great villain.
ReplyDeleteGreat article and website.