The Spy Who Loved Me (film)

The Spy Who Loved Me
Theatrical release poster by Bob Peak
Directed byLewis Gilbert
Screenplay by
Based onJames Bond
by Ian Fleming
Produced byAlbert R. Broccoli
Starring
CinematographyClaude Renoir
Edited byJohn Glen
Music byMarvin Hamlisch
Production
company
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release dates
  • 7 July 1977 (1977-07-07) (London, premiere)
  • 8 July 1977 (1977-07-08) (United Kingdom)
  • 3 August 1977 (1977-08-03) (United States)
Running time
125 minutes
CountriesUnited Kingdom[1][2]
United States[3]
LanguageEnglish
Budget$13.5 million[4]
Box office$185.4 million

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. The film co-stars Barbara Bach and Curt Jürgens and was directed by Lewis Gilbert. The screenplay was by Christopher Wood and Richard Maibaum, with an uncredited rewrite by Tom Mankiewicz.

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.

  1. ^ "The Spy Who Loved Me". Lumiere. European Audiovisual Observatory. Archived from the original on 13 August 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  2. ^ "The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)". BFI. Archived from the original on 24 March 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
  3. ^ "The Spy Who Loved Me". AFI Catalog.
  4. ^ The Spy Who Loved Me at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films