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File 007 | The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) – Roger Moore makes big breakthrough as James Bond in 10th film

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3 years ago

August 7, 2021

007 – No Time to Die, the twenty-fifth official film in the longest-running film franchise, is slated for release on October 7, 2021 – after being pushed back from last year due to the pandemic. In order to heat up the engines of this new blockbuster which, as we said, is part of one of the biggest, most traditional and beloved film franchises in the history of the seventh art, we have decided to create a new series of stories dissecting a bit of all the previous films, bringing you a lot of curiosities and a lot of information.

After a, say, timid debut in Live and Let It Die, Roger Moore choked on the following year on the man in a hurry with the golden gun. This time it was a decisive ‘go or go’ for the actor in the role – and the producers knew it. The effort was appreciated and in his third feature film as James Bond, Roger Moore ultimately chose the role, discovering a unique way to play it and break it down by not only offering his best foray into a film in the series. , but also one of the best productions of the franchise. Check out the production details of 007’s tenth film – James Bond in theaters below.

File 007 | The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) – Roger Moore vs. Christopher Lee in the 9th film

Production

As noted, Roger Moore didn’t make his debut making much noise as the biggest spy in cinema. Partly because of the “go, don’t go” with Sean Connery and George Lazenby. So when the third actor was chosen to play James Bond, apparently no one was paying attention anymore. It didn’t help that the two films he had starred in weren’t received in the most positive way. The Man with the Golden Gun in particular does not fare well with critics or audiences.

To make matters worse, producers and franchise owners Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli were constantly arguing, to the point that they started shooting movies, each responsible for a particular production. In 1975, Saltzman began to venture into the production of other works, leaving his larger franchise relatively aside. The situation worsened, and after The Man with the Golden Gun failed, Saltzman opted out of production company EON, which he had helped start. The producer sold his share for £ 20million, leaving Broccoli alone to star in future films.

So Broccoli and the rest of the squad were on their toes, under the greatest pressure of their professional lives. It was literally a “go or go”. Deciding a story (i.e. choosing one of Ian Fleming’s books to adapt) has proven to be the franchise’s most thankless task so far. As little misfortune is nonsense, Kevin McClory, one of the producers who had bought the rights to one of Fleming’s books in the past and who had co-produced with EON The Atomic Blackmail (1965), began to report all over the place that he would make a new film of his own, titled James Bond of the Secret Service. This fact prohibited EON from using SPECTER in their films again. By choice, the terrorist organization had relied on the Moore era until now, but Broccoli intended to bring it back in this film in order to strengthen it even more with fans.

The first step was to choose a director for the new feature film. Guy Hamilton, the director of Moore’s films in the franchise so far, had again been the top pick. But the filmmaker was not available, having chosen to order Superman – The Movie (1978), finally replaced by Richard Donner in this project. Then came Lewis Gilbert, another franchise veteran director straight out of Only If You Live Twice (1967).

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Roger Moore returned to star in his third film as James Bond. Unfortunately, so far the actor hasn’t left his mark on the role, largely because of the script in those films, which always seemed to write for a character like Sean Connery’s – not a good match for Moore’s type. This time around, director Lewis Gilbert and screenwriter Christopher Wood have chosen to mold Moore in their own character style. Unlike Connery who was hard and soft on paper, the text would emphasize softness to suit Moore’s character, creating a more playful James Bond – and thus giving rise to a more “playful” era of the world. ‘agent.

secret mission

Fleming’s book chosen as the basis for the new film was The Spy Who Loved Me. Unlike all of the other adaptations in the franchise, even the ones that tweaked many parts of the author’s story, this was a feature that didn’t take advantage of anything from the plot except the title. Fleming’s work showed a Canadian tourist meeting James Bond on the road (007 was only a supporting role in the narrative here), who later saves her from a kidnapping.

The story of the film, on the other hand, uses the Cold War as the backdrop for a love story. A megalomaniac terrorist plans to start a war between England and the Soviet Union in order to create a new global society from scratch (he wouldn’t be a Bond villain without such characteristics). Discovering the plot and wanting to stop it, the British Secret Service sends 007, and the Soviet Union throws its best spy – who would be the equivalent of Bond: Major Anya Amasova, known as Agent Triple X (and no, he’s not the bald man played by Vin Diesel in the eponymous film). Initially enemies coming from different sides of the cause, to share a common goal, 007 and Triple X eventually unite and fall in love.

Bondgirls and allies

New Yorker Barbara Bach would be called the best Roger Moore-era Bondgirl in the franchise and one of the best of all movies. Bach was chosen to bring Soviet spy Anya Amasova to life – for the first time in the series, a Bondgirl who was much more than a “damsel in distress”. Even in previous films which featured strong female protagonists, or even secret agents like goofy Britt Ekland in The Man with the Golden Gun, they never lived up to James Bond’s talents on the pitch. . Bach’s character set precedents for all to come, like the characters of Michelle Yeoh, Halle Berry, and the future Lashana Lynch.

Apart from that, Bernard Lee (M), Lois Maxwell (Moneypenny) and Desmond Llewelyn (Q) were present for the tenth time in the franchise. In particular, Q delivers one of the most memorable gadgets in the entire series: the white Lotus Espirit car which, among other things, has been transformed into a submarine.

Bad guys

Since they and their leader Blofeld couldn’t use SPECTER in their narrative as they wanted, EON set out to create their own “clone” of the character: the genocidal millionaire Stromberg (Curd Jürgens). His actions are very much derived from Blofeld, being basically a criminal boss of his own terrorist organization. Here, Stromberg’s nuclear plans aim to destroy the world and create a new aquatic society. Like A Chantagem Atômica, O Espião that Me Amava has a strong underwater context in its narrative, reaching the point of presenting the big villain of the plot like mini fins in the hands, between the fingers.

More memorable than Stromberg himself, the tenth film introduced Bond’s enemy who would be one of the hallmarks of the franchise. The large metal toothed jaws (the jaws, which still fit into the underwater theme) are the main henchman here. The jaws, of course, would be immortalized in the forms of the “giant” Richard Kiel. It wouldn’t be the last time we saw the character in the franchise.

Reportage

In the words of Roger Moore himself, The Spy Who Loved Me was his favorite movie of those in the franchise. And I’m sure nine out of ten fans agree with the late actor. It was the movie he was most relaxed in and would set the tone for Moore’s personality as Bond. Apart from that, the prestige of the tenth film in the franchise extended beyond its plot and behind the scenes, the climactic scene, having been shot on one of the biggest sets of the time, had to ask for the help from Stanley Kubrick to advise on lighting for the large studio. The film’s artistic direction ended up receiving a well-deserved Oscar nomination.

Another category that ended up being nominated for the highest honor in the seventh art was Carly Simon’s theme song, “Nobody Does it Better,” in addition to the soundtrack this time composed by Marvin Hamlisch, replacing John Barry. . The expected success materialized and O Espião that Amava doubled at the box office that achieved by its predecessor, in addition to garnering mostly positive reviews. The most significant success he achieved, however, was defining Roger Moore once and for all as “the” 007 of the 70s. Interestingly, the film’s end credits promised the sequel to Only for Your Eyes, but all film’s biggest contender for the year 1977, a small production called Star Wars, would change the factor order for the next film. But that’s a topic for the next article.

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