The 007 Project: The Spy Who Loved Me

Synopsis in 3 sentences or less:
When British and Soviet nuclear subs mysteriously disappear, Bond teams up with Russian agent Anya Amasova (aka Triple-X) to investigate. 

Memorable Quote:
The answer to the question is yes, I did kill him.  ~Bond

Then, when this mission is over, I will kill you.  ~Anya

Highlight:

The Lotus Esprit emerging from the water onto the beach, to the shock of the beachgoers. 

Lowlight:

At the 26:00 mark, Bond is about to seduce the lovely assistant to Mr. Fekkesh, when she gets shot in the back. It's not clear to me whether Bond turned her into the path of the shot or if it was just bad luck on her part, but either way, it bothers me that Bond just left her to die without even checking on her to see if she was still alive. I mean, I know he's a misogynistic dinosaur and all, but it still would be nice to see at least a little bit of empathy. 

Most interesting piece of IMDB trivia:

Richard Kiel (Jaws) could only keep the metal teeth in his mouth for about half a minute at a time, due to the excessive pain and discomfort. He often had to show comic expressions, which was quite contradictory to the way he was feeling, wearing the extremely uncomfortable braces. 

Other thoughts, observations, and questions I didn’t ask when I was in fourth grade:

• I've read all the Ian Fleming books once upon a time, and I remember thinking that The Spy Who Loved Me was my favorite, although Fleming hated it. The book is completely different from the movie. I don't remember a lot about it, but I remember that it's different from all the other books in that it's told from a woman's point of view, and the first part of the story is about her life. Then she meets Bond at a motel in rural New England and he saves her from some two-bit mobster villains. I liked how Fleming told her story in great detail before bringing Bond into it, so that as the reader we are very curious to see where the story is going and how Bond is going to fit in. 
• This is the first out of six appearances by Walter Gotell as General Gogol, though he did appear in a different role in From Russia With Love. Gotell appeared in two MacGyver episodes: GX-1 and Gold Rush. 
• Fantastic opening to the movie culminating with Bond skiing off a mountain and opening a Union Jack parachute (which was originally George Lazenby's idea). The dangerous stunt was performed in the Canadian arctic and had never been done before. 
• Also, the opening ski scene features some great music, which segues into Carly Simon's Nobody Does It Better, which I'm a big fan of and is going to the top of the song rankings (for now).  The composer for this film was Marvin Hamlisch, who also scored The Sting. 
• The design of the Stromberg Atlantis set is very cool, both inside and out. 
• We get a rare sight of Bond in his navy blue commander uniform -- the only other times are in You Only Live Twice and Tomorrow Never Dies.
• We also get to hear the real names of M (Miles) and Q (Major Boothroyd). 
• Bond and Anya take a train to Sardinia, which doesn't make sense because Sardinia is an island. Then, they meet Q who gets off a boat with their Lotus car. So instead of Q meeting them with the car, why not just take the car themselves and travel the way that Q did? I guess the writers really wanted to get the train scene in. At least it leads to some fun Bond/Q dialogue:
• Q, have I ever let you down?  ~Bond
• Frequently.  ~Q
• 1:31:47 -- great moment when Bond when looks over at the helicopter attacking them and Naomi responds with a wink and a smile. 
• Barbara Bach, an American actress, does a nice job portraying a Russian. In real life she's married to Ringo Starr. 
• They kind of gloss over the fact that two nuclear bombs go off in the ocean. Better that than going off in major cities, but there would still be some significant environmental ramifications. 

Final Analysis:

This is a good movie with a strong cast, music, and sets. It also has enough serious moments to outweigh the humor that was common in the Roger Moore era. The movie does feel too long -- the submarine battle in particular drags on a bit -- but the rest of it moves nicely. Ranking it 5th out of 10.