Now pay attention, 007. Back in 2022, when the re-release of all the James Bond movies took place as part of the 60th Anniversary of the 007 movie franchise, Bond fans both old and new were provided with the fantastic opportunity to see the Bond films on the big screen, where they well and truly belong.
The third Roger Moore Bond film, The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), proved to be especially busy where it was screened in cinemas in the UK, with some screenings packed out. And, clearly, a whole new generation of 007 aficionados were able to see Roger Moore in action in a movie that, in a sense, had defied all the odds.
In fact, various critics back in 1975-76 had predicted that the EON franchise faced inevitable decline, and they had been keen to write the series off as ‘old hat’. Indeed, while it is now viewed by many as one of the late Roger Moore’s best performances as James Bond, the 10th EON 007 movie had faced what had seemed to be considerable challenges.
It was the first to be produced solo by Albert R. ‘Cubby’ Broccoli after his partnership with Harry Saltzman came to an end, and (to its critics) Bond seemed to be in the doldrums. After mixed reviews for The Man With The Golden Gun (1974), there was thus considerable pressure on Cubby to deliver something big in scale and spectacular in plot. He certainly delivered!
The JBIFC takes the opportunity to offer (00)7 bullet-points on some of the better known and less familar aspects of the 1977 film, which was directed by Lewis Gilbert.
007 and Counting…
001: Early publicity for the film during production tended to focus on Cubby Broccoli, and included shots of him standing beside a pyramid in Egypt looking alone but determined. After the ‘legal tangle’ with Harry Saltzman had been resolved, Cubby Broccoli felt he now had a clean sheet. As he put it later, ‘I felt good about it. Stand or fall, I was on my own, in full control of operations’. He clearly relished the challenge. And all the hard work paid off – it became a smash-hit film, and often features as a firm favourite in Bond movie polls.
002: The third Roger Moore Bond movie had originally been due to be directed by Guy Hamilton, who had even carried out some pre-production development work on the film, but as it had been delayed somewhat by the Broccoli/Saltzman split and also a legal situation concerning the claims of Kevin McClory, Hamilton had left.
Broccoli turned instead to the ever-reliable Lewis Gilbert, who had directed You Only Live Twice (1967). In press pre-publicity for the film, Broccoli had also made it clear that, although The Spy Who Loved Me marked the end of Roger’s three-film contract, the EON producer remained keen to retain his star’s services and had every faith in Moore’s role as Bond. In hindsight, it was also an early indication of the famous cat-and-mouse games that would later develop between Broccoli and Moore over his contract negotiations.
003: An early screen treatment for the new movie had envisaged the return of Bond’s old enemy SP.E.C.T.R.E., led by a new head chair, named Stavros, but – with Irish producer Kevin McClory claiming ownership of the concept, and seemingly planning to try and make a rival Bond movie – Broccoli and his son Michael Wilson (a trained lawyer) decided to have a brand new villain in the shape of shipping magnate Carl Stromberg (who was played in the film by the well-known German stage and screen actor Curt Jurgens). True to Bond tradition, which owed much to science fiction, a sci-fi ‘feel’ was also added: if you look closely, Stromberg, who is obsessed with building an undersea Oceanic empire, also has webbed fingers. And his hi-tech dwellings located under the sea could have been straight out of a Stanley Kubrick sci-fi film.
004: Production on The Spy Who Loved Me began in 1976, and set designer Ken Adam (who had created the iconic volcano set for You Only Live Twice) was brought back to work his magic on the new movie. He did not disappoint.
The sci-fi style set designs were very much down to Adam’s amazing talent for modernist and dramatic ‘visuals’. Similarly, villain Carl Stromberg’s supertanker, the Liparus, would have huge bows to swallow nuclear submarines, with a monorail, metal walkways and an operations room. Adam oversaw the design and construction of the new 336 feet long ‘007 Stage’ at Pinewood, built especially to accommodate all this.
Interestingly, it emerged some years later that Ken Adam had received some unofficial advice on lighting the supertanker set from none other than… Stanley Kubrick! The new 007 stage was officially opened by Prime Minister Harold Wilson, who was something of a keen movie buff himself.
005: The decision to have a Lotus Esprit as the new Bond car of the 1970s proved an inspired choice. Nicknamed ‘Wet Nellie’ by the film crew as a kind of tribute to the autogyro ‘Little Nellie’ in Lewis Gilbert’s You Only Live Twice, the Lotus was equipped in the film’s plot with a range of Q-created gadgets and special features, and could even go under the water. At one point, as the Lotus emerges from the waves on to a beach, Roger’s 007 drops a small fish from the car! This was a joke put in by Roger himself. It was classic Roger. Audiences also loved the new car, which also featured heavily in all the publicity for the movie. Unsurprisingly, a Corgi diecast model of the Lotus proved to be very popular when it was launched.
006: In his memoirs, All My Flashbacks (2010), director Lewis Gilbert commented: ‘Of the three Bond pictures I made, I think this one was the best… Bond purists were a bit nervous about it because of the comedy and lightness of touch. They hadn’t been used to it in the Connery Bond films. However, it was a big hit at the box office right round the world, so I suppose the risk had been worth it’.
007: The late Sir Roger Moore, when asked in subsequent years about his favourite Bond movie, often pointed to The Spy Who Loved Me as the one he had enjoyed making the most. Moreover, when recalling the movie in his book Bond on Bond (2012), Roger noted that when the film premiered on 7th July, 1977, Cubby Broccoli – as this was his first solo Bond production – was ‘obviously anxious’. But this anxiety was soon eased: ‘After Rick Sylvester… launched himself off the snowy cliff top to reveal a Union Jack parachute [in the pre-credits], the audience leapt to their feet and cheered – and Cubby smiled widely. 007 was back!’
Did You Know?
British-Indian wrestler and actor Milton Reid (1917-1987), who played the bald-headed toughman Sandor in The Spy Who Loved Me and is killed by Bond after a rooftop fight, had appeared as one of Dr. Julius No’s henchmen in the very first EON Bond film, Dr. No (1962). He also tried to obtain the role of Oddjob in Goldfinger, but the producers chose rival wrestler Harold Sakata instead. Interestingly, Reid also played a temple guard in the unofficial non-EON version of Casino Royale (1967), produced by Charles K. Feldman.

Sandor, Stromberg and Jaws: One of the first publicity photos released to the press to wet their appetites.