The James Bond franchise is one of those franchises that will never die. It has been going strong since the first movie rolled out in the early 1960's, and new James Bond movies are still produced today. What makes this series unique is they use multiple actors to play the titular character over the years. They all bring their own gravitas to the role, and each Bond is a different man when compared to each other (although the martini, shaken not stirred and the beautiful women among other things remain a constant.) So my first James Bond review for this blog is 1977's The Spy Who Loved Me. This wasn't my first look at the series, but it was my first look at the older movies. I really liked what I saw. This is an old-fashioned story that combines a spy drama and an action-packed war movie into one package. Like many of the older Bond movies, the story can get borderline preposterous. The cheesiness of the plot did come to grow on me after awhile, even if the main villain is Russian (remember, this came out during the Cold War) and wants to destroy the world. Also like older Bond (or 007 if you prefer) movies, this movie is invested in its gadgets. There is nothing quite like seeing Bond use these cool-looking devices that can do powerful things.James Bond (Roger Moore) is back for a new mission! This mission involves finding a Royal Navy submarine holding sixteen nuclear missiles that suddenly vanished without a trace. Bond must team up with Major Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach) to take down the mastermind of the plot named Karl Stromberg (Curd Jurgens) and his henchman named Jaws (Richard Kiel), whose biggest weapon is his metal teeth. The clock is ticking as Bond must find the nuclear weapons before they are fired.There are two questions to ask when watching a James Bond movie. Who are the villains? Who is the Bond girl? Both very essential to a Bond movie, as they can make or break the movie. In this case, we get two (mostly) effective villains, and a good-looking Bond lady. While Stromberg is the main villain with the plan, he is not too strong of a villain. I am more interested in Jaws. Jaws is actually labeled as one of the best villains in any Bond film, and I would wholeheartedly agree. He is quite a menace. He may be a little clumsy, but goodness once you see the teeth he has, you might rather face the shark that Jaws is named after. There are scenes here that can be quite gruesome when you see the teeth come into action. As for the girl, I think Major Anya is a good Bond lady. She is an undercover Russian agent, so the political side of that was an interesting concept given the time period.I think the film was well-acted. I believe Roger Moore is one of the weakest Bonds, but he does a solid job. He plays a little older Bond, but his sense of humor and savvy attitude fits this film very well. Richard Kiel is the man who brought Jaws to life (sorry, Spielberg) and well he was terrifying as the sharp-teethed villain. Barbara Bach does a good job as Major Anya, and I liked the rivalry she brought to Bond. Curd Jurgens was a good villain, but his goals are similar to other villains of essentially every other action movie, so his role did not move me in one way or the other.The Spy Who Loved Me is a fun, entertaining action flick and a worthy addition to the James Bond franchise. I liked the realistic tone the film was going for, given the tone of previous films. There is still cheesy parts, but what's a James Bond movie without the cheesiness. I am rather impressed with the visuals of the film. This was filmed on location in the ancient, majestic parts of Egypt and they had some really cool underwater sets and quite frankly, I loved the visuals of Stromberg's lair in the middle of the ocean. There is lots of action, although I feel the final act of the film chooses to do the obligatory action conclusions that many action movies do these days. However, the fights involving Jaws is just worth watching this movie for. If you are new to the franchise, this is a good beginning.My Grade: B+

...And he's got some great help along the way!Meet Jaws, the extremely tall, tin-toothed assassin, able to rip apart a shark without the help of John Williams music. Richard Kiel made his first of two appearances in James Bond films, and he's a force to be reckoned with. In fact, he's even more fascinating than the main villain, played by Curd Jergens, the reclusive billionaire who lives in a spider shaped compound somewhere in the middle of the ocean. Once again, he wants to destroy mankind whom he blames for the destruction of civilization, determined to live at the bottom of the sea in harmony with marine life. It's up to the spies of the world to take this villain down, and of course, it will be England's James Bond (Roger Moore at his best) with the help of a beautiful agent from another country who gets to be the one to hopefully do it.With a backpack he wears skiing that can turn into a parachute just in case he happens to fly off a Swiss mountaintop, Bond escapes from his pursuers and lands in the middle of another wacky adventure. He's all over the world with a bevvy of beauties (most notably here the Russian spy Barbara Bach) who seems to be trying to dispose of him even when trying to seduce him. Jergens is first seen taking care of a beautiful employee whose carelessness threatened his mission, giving two horrified eye witnesses a front row seat to how he takes care of those who can't do their job, obviously quickly dispatching of them as well. Along comes Jaws who pursues Bond with his razor sharp teeth, seen literally becoming a daylight accessible vampire as he deals with those who step in his way. Bond and Bach quickly figure out how to deal with escaping from fancy cycle riders pursuing them, thanks to the special Chitty Chitty Bang Bang like automobile given to him by the agency. (Not a surprise, considering that Chitty was created by the same man who created Bond...) Down curvy European highways, into the water, and finally, onto a crowded beach, this adventure just gets more and more riveting and often hysterically funny.With a great theme song ("Nobody Does It Better") sung by Carly Simon over the very creative credits, this is one to be seen hopefully as part of a marathon with the over-the-top "Moonraker" (not even credited in the end) and the credited "For Your Eyes Only" which took four years to come out even though it got the "James Bond will return in...." reference. This is fun, non-stop from start to finish, and I'm sure would still play wonderfully on a big movie screen, accompanied by a ton of popcorn. "Moonraker" was a slight disappointment after this, but "For Your Eyes Only" managed to top even this. As usual, Moore has his tongue in his cheek, enjoying every minute of dropping clever wisecracks and acknowledging the goings on around him with an acerbic wit that for me makes him my favorite of all the Bonds.

Directed by Lewis Gilbert, and produced by Albert Broccoli (Harry Saltzman left the franchise after the collapse of their personal finances), has script Richard Maibaum and Christopher Wood and is the tenth film in the franchise.In this film, James Bond investigates the disappearance of American and Soviet submarines, a situation that is generating a great discomfort in the already strained relations between the two nuclear powers. In Egypt, after several setbacks, the secret services of both sides decide to join forces and Bond ends up collaborating without trust with Amasova Anya, the Soviet agent Triple X. The tracks drag the unlikely duo to Sardinia in order to investigate Stromberg, an industrial mysterious, passionate about the sea, living in a kind of underwater station in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea.Regarded by many as one of the best achieved movies during the Roger Moore as 007, he received a script that is completely different from the original book Fleming and gives the film so many similarities to "You Only Live Twice" and "Thunderball" that comes to be confused with them. Again, this film back to pick up the American and Soviet rivalry, still very current and already quite focused on previous films in the franchise. However, this time, and the style of "détente", both countries are aware that something is happening and want to avoid open war. And it's funny to see the distrustful relationship that arises between Bond and Amasova in which both seek to be one step ahead of rivals. One of the iconic scenes of the film is the sequence filmed in Luxor, where both seek to steal a microfilm and defeat Jaws for then if they steal and fight each other for the prize. Machines and inventions are also part of this film, with an amazing amphibious car and a hollow tanker, capable of containing inside an authentic naval base. A positive note also for the opening credits, with the song "Nobody Does It Better" sung by Carly Simon.In this film, apart from central casting inherited from the previous films, Barbara Bach gave life to the bond-girl Anya Amasova, Caroline Munro played Naomi, Curd Jürgens was the villain, Stromberg, Walter Gotell played the Russian General Gogol and Richard Kiel gave soul the ruthless killer Jaws.

With "Diamonds Are Forever" and "The Man With The Golden Gun" the Bond franchise has taken some beating and was losing it's edge in the film industry and at the box office. So this was a important and critical Bond film, where the success of this film played a important part in keeping this franchise relevant. And also keeping it going with the back up it's been getting. So they were really banking on this movie to succeed, and you can clearly see it from the intro with a ski chase scene that ends with a parachute jump. The action in this is way better crafted while keeping the Bond essence going. They really tried to modernize and renovate the franchise, this could either work or fail and for the most part it worked for the better. They took certain elements from the previous Bond films and made a bigger and more action packed. The main drive of this film is of course the chemistry between a female spy Agent Triple X or Anya. She was a decently written female lead, well at least for a Bond film anyways. Unfortunately the actress that played her was very robotic and lacked any flare. She was suppose to a competent spy but came off more naive than anything else. If there was more build up between Bond and Anya during their escapade this film would surely have been classic Bond film. Don't get me wrong this is still a very good Bond film with Roger Moore in the lead role. Add in a kick as Bond intro song and you got yourself a noteworthy Bond movie. It even has one of Bond's most iconic villains Jaws (Richard Kiel) who also appears in the next installment.8/10