The Spy Who Loved Me

(Lewis Gilbert, UK 1977, 125 min., 35mm)

Celebrating James Bond. Considered by many to be the best of the Roger Moore era, The Spy Who Loved Me was the tenth Bond film to be produced. It is largely a mirror that reflects many elements from other Bond films: Thunderball’s underwater action sequences, a megalomaniacal business mogul similar to the titular villain from Goldfinger (and anticipating the villain from 1997’s Tomorrow Never Dies), From Russia with Love’s globe-trotting escapades with a sexy rival spy, and You Only Live Twice’s plot in which an evildoer tries to play Eastern and Western powers against one another to bring about global chaos. The Spy Who Loved Me lies at the heart of what Bond really is: a pastiche of spy and action tropes with a focus on audience satisfaction.