The Spy Who Loved Me is a 1977 spy film, the tenth in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions. It is the third to star Roger Moore as the fictional secret agent James Bond and the second to be directed by Lewis Gilbert. The film co-stars Barbara Bach and Curt Jurgens. The screenplay was by Christopher Wood and Richard Maibaum, with an uncredited rewrite by Tom Mankiewicz. It is the first Bond film not to be co-produced by Harry Saltzman, who sold his 50% stake in Danjaq, LLC, the parent company of Eon Productions, following the release of the previous film The Man with the Golden Gun.

The film takes its title from Ian Fleming's 1962 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 Soviet agent Anya Amasova to stop Stromberg all while being hunted by Stromberg’s powerful henchman Jaws.

It was shot from August to December 1976 on location in Egypt (Cairo and Luxor) and Italy (Costa Smeralda, Sardinia), with underwater scenes filmed at the Bahamas (Nassau), and a new soundstage built at Pinewood Studios for a massive set which depicted the interior of a supertanker. The Spy Who Loved Me was well received by critics, who saw the film as a return to form for the franchise and praised Moore's performance. Moore himself called the film his personal favourite of his tenure as Bond. The soundtrack composed by Marvin Hamlisch also met with success. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards amid many other nominations and novelised in 1977 by Christopher Wood as James Bond, the Spy Who Loved Me.

The Spy Who Loved Me was followed by Moonraker in 1979.

Plot Two ballistic missile submarines—one British and one Soviet—suddenly vanish, prompting MI6 agent James Bond (007) to investigate. En route to his briefing, Bond is ambushed during a downhill ski chase in Austria by Soviet agents led by Sergei Barsov. Bond escapes but kills Barsov. The plans for an advanced submarine tracking system are being offered for sale in Egypt, where Bond encounters KGB agent Major Anya Amasova (Triple X), who is also pursuing the microfilm plans. They travel across Egypt and encounter Jaws, a tall assassin with razor-sharp steel teeth. After their British and Soviet superiors agree to a truce, Bond and Amasova reluctantly join forces. They discover evidence linking the plans to Swedish shipping tycoon and reclusive scientist Karl Stromberg.

Travelling by train to Stromberg's base in Sardinia, Bond saves Amasova from Jaws, and their rivalry develops into affection. Posing as a marine biologist and his wife, they visit Stromberg's base and learn that he launched a mysterious supertanker, Liparus, nine months earlier. As they leave, Stromberg's henchmen pursue them by motorcycle, car and helicopter. Bond and Amasova escape underwater in Bond's Lotus Esprit from Q Branch, which converts into a submarine. Jaws survives a spectacular crash, while Bond destroys the helicopter piloted by Stromberg's assistant Naomi with a sea-air missile. Examining Stromberg's underwater Atlantis base, they confirm that he operates the submarine tracking system and evade an attack by his minisubs. Bond later learns that Liparus has never visited any port or harbour. Amasova discovers that Bond killed Barsov, her lover, and vows to kill him once their mission is complete.

Bond and Amasova board the American submarine, USS Wayne, to investigate Liparus. The tanker captures Wayne and is revealed to be a floating submarine dock containing the missing British and Soviet submarines. Stromberg then launches his plan: nuclear missiles fired simultaneously from the captured submarines will destroy Moscow and New York City, triggering a global nuclear war. Stromberg intends to survive in Atlantis and establish a new underwater civilisation.

Stromberg takes Amasova to Atlantis, but Bond retreats and frees the British, Russian and American sailors. They fight the Liparus crew, suffering heavy casualties, and seize the control room. The dying captain reveals that the British and Soviet submarines are primed to launch their missiles within minutes. Bond tricks the submarines into firing at each other, destroying both vessels and Stromberg's crews. The surviving submariners escape the sinking Liparus aboard Wayne.

The Pentagon orders Wayne to destroy Atlantis, but Bond insists on rescuing Amasova first. He confronts and kills Stromberg, then battles Jaws and drops him into a shark tank. Jaws kills the tiger shark and escapes. Bond and Amasova flee Atlantis in an escape pod as it is destroyed by torpedoes. Amasova points Bond's gun at him but ultimately spares him, and they embrace. The Royal Navy recovers the pod, while their superiors watch the two spies' intimate embrace through its porthole.

Cast

Roger Moore as James Bond, British MI6 agent 007, assigned to investigate the theft of two submarines Barbara Bach as Anya Amasova, a Soviet KGB agent XXX, also investigating the theft. Bach was cast only four days before principal photography began, and performed her audition expecting a supporting role. Curt Jurgens as Karl Stromberg, a megalomaniac planning to trigger World War III and destroy the world, then recreate a new civilisation underwater. Jurgens's casting was a suggestion of director Lewis Gilbert, who had worked with him before. Richard Kiel as Jaws, Stromberg's seemingly indestructible juggernaut of a henchman, afflicted with gigantism and having a set of metal teeth Caroline Munro as Naomi, Stromberg's personal pilot and a would-be assassin. Munro's casting was inspired by an advertisement campaign she had made. Her voice was dubbed by an uncredited Barbara Jefford, who had previously dubbed Daniela Bianchi in From Russia with Love. Geoffrey Keen as Sir Frederick Gray (credited as Minister of Defence). Keen would reprise the role in five more Bond films. Edward de Souza as Sheikh Hosein, an Arab sheikh and old friend of Bond; they were students at the University of Cambridge George Baker as Captain Benson, a British naval officer stationed at the Royal Navy's Faslane Naval Base in Scotland Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny, M's secretary Walter Gotell as General Gogol, the head of the KGB and Amasova's boss. Gotell previously played Morzeny in From Russia with Love. Gotell would also reprise this role for five more Bond films. Vernon Dobtcheff as Max Kalba, an Egyptian nightclub owner and black market racketeer who possesses the microfilm and tries to encourage Bond and Amasova to bid for it Desmond Llewelyn as Q, MI6's head of research and development. He supplies Bond with unique vehicles and gadgets. Amasova refers to him as Major Boothroyd, the name of the armourer in Dr. No who becomes the head of Q Branch in From Russia With Love. Michael Billington as Sergei Barsov, Soviet agent and Anya Amasova's lover. Billington had previously screentested for the role of Bond. Bernard Lee as M, the head of MI6 Shane Rimmer as Commander Carter, commanding officer of USS Wayne Bryan Marshall as Commander Talbott, commanding officer of HMS Ranger Nadim Sawalha as Aziz Fekkesh, a middle-man on the trail of the stolen microfilm Robert Brown as Admiral Hargraves, a British Royal Navy official. Brown would later play M in four films from Octopussy to Licence to Kill. Sue Vanner as Log Cabin Girl, a Soviet agent who sets a trap for 007 in the pre-credit sequence

Other actors in smaller roles include Sydney Tafler as the Captain of the Liparus, Eva Rueber-Staier as Rubelvitch, General Gogol's secretary; Milton Reid as Sandor, one of Stromberg's thugs; Olga Bisera as Felicca, Fekkesh's glamorous associate; Valerie Leon as the hotel receptionist in Sardinia, Cyril Shaps as Professor Bechmann, Milo Sperber as Dr. Markovitz, Albert Moses as an Egyptian bartender, and Marilyn Galsworthy as Stromberg's secretary.

Nicholas Campbell, Bob Sherman, Murray Salem, John Truscott, Vincent Marzello, Garrick Hagon, Ray Jewers, and George Mallaby appear as USS Wayne crewmen. Kevin McNally, Jeremy Bulloch, Sean Bury, David Auker, Keith Buckley, and John Salthouse appear as HMS Ranger crewmen.

The assistant director for the Italian locations, Victor Tourjansky, had a cameo as a man drinking his wine as Bond's Lotus emerges from the beach. As an in-joke, he returned in similar appearances in another two Bond films shot in Italy, Moonraker (the Venice gondola sequence) and For Your Eyes Only (during the ski chase).

Production Given the relatively poor financial returns and generally unfavourable response of critics to its predecessor, The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), The Spy Who Loved Me was a pivotal film for the Bond franchise. The project was plagued with difficulties from the outset, the first being the departure of Bond producer Harry Saltzman, who was forced to sell his half of the Bond film franchise in 1975 for £20 million. Saltzman had branched out into several other unsuccessful business ventures, including an unfilmed biopic about Cuthbert Grant starring Sean Connery, and consequently was struggling through personal financial reversals unrelated to Bond. Saltzman offered his shares in the company as collateral for his loans, and UBS attempted to foreclose on them. When Saltzman's attempted hostile takeover of Technicolor led to a lawsuit, Broccoli refused to allow him to use Danjaq funds, leading to a deadlock in the company as Saltzman refused to allow another Bond film to go forward. This was exacerbated by the twin personal tragedies of his wife's terminal cancer and many of the symptoms of clinical depression in himself.

Danjaq's distribution agreement with United Artists required it to produce a Bond adaptation every 18 months or run the risk of losing the rights to the series to United Artists if it did not. However, Saltzman continued blocking production on another Bond film and refused to allow Broccoli to buy his shares. Maurice Binder and Broccoli held negotiations about selling Saltzman's shares to Adnan Khashoggi, David Frost, Lord Hanson, and Lord Harlech. Saltzman finally agreed to sell his shares directly to United Artists so that another Bond film could go forward. Although Broccoli initially objected to the deal, he acquiesced after Saltzman received a counter-offer to sell his rights to the rival studio Columbia Pictures.

Another troubling aspect of the production was the difficulty in obtaining a director. Guy Hamilton, who had directed the previous three Bond films as well as Goldfinger (1964), was initially set to direct. However, in November 1975, he left after being offered the opportunity to direct the 1978 film Superman, although Richard Donner subsequently took over the project. Steven Spielberg, who had finished Jaws (1975) months earlier, approached Broccoli about wanting to direct the next Bond film, but Broccoli declined his offer. By December of that year, Broccoli hired Lewis Gilbert, who had directed the earlier Bond film You Only Live Twice (1967), after screening his then-latest film, Operation Daybreak (1975).

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