Well, well... a British agent in love with a Russian agent. Détente, indeed.
— Stromberg
A pair of nuclear missile submarines go missing. Independently, our British secret agent and a Soviet agent are assigned to find them. Thing is, the former just shot the latter's boyfriend dead.This is the tenth James Bond film and is regarded by many as Moore's best and quite possibly one of the best in the series, as well as Moore's personal favourite of his own batch. Ian Fleming had written the novel much differently than the other Bond books, but was so embarassed by the results that he only sold the rights to the title, refusing to license the plot with it.Nobody expected The Spy Who Loved Me to do well after the rather poor The Man With the Golden Gun. Its three... four chief weapons were...
The Teaser. At the end of the sequence, Bond skis off a cliff. He falls for several heart-stopping seconds, then a parachute opens. In the colours of the Union Jack. As the Bond theme kicks in. There are several reported cases of audiences breaking into applause at this moment. This stunt was done for real and you can see one of the skis hit the stuntman's chute, which could have been pretty nasty.
The Lotus Esprit. Driving off a pier into the sea. Where it turns into a submarine.
The 007 Stage, built for the massive battle scene in a supertanker. It has been made available for filming other movies and remains the largest sound stage in the world*
Or rather, its successors do. The original stage burned down during the filming of Legend, and the second version was destroyed by an explosion shortly after filming of, ironically enough, Casino Royale
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Jaws. the 7'4" henchmen with the metal teeth who so unstoppable that he is only Dragon to survive fighting Bond and maybe the one who came closest to scaring him. That is partially due to the fact that Bond knows that no matter how hard he hits the giant, he WILL survive it and come back to challenge him again.
It also features the first appearance of a Wetbike- the actual prototype- in a work of fiction, before it came out.
Almost Dead Guy: Just before dying, the captain of the Liparus tells Bond that the submarines are on station and the missiles will be launched in four minutes.
Apocalypse How: Class 2 (Civilization Extinction). Stromberg's plan to start a global thermonuclear war.
Girl: What happened? Where are you going? Bond: Sorry. Something came up. Girl: But, James, I need you. Bond: So does England!
Continuity Nod: Reciting a list of Bond's biographical info to him at a bar Anya mentions: "Married only once. Wife killed-" Bond cuts her off, the events of On Her Majesty's Secret Service still a painful subject for him.
Cool Boat: Stromberg's Liparus. It eats submarines.
Distaff Counterpart: Anya Amasova to Bond. The scene where she is called on a mission while in bed with someone is in particular very reminiscent of Bond on numerous occasions (though unlike Bond most of the time, she clearly did love her bedmate at the time).
Dirty Old Man: Stromberg to Anya, while she's strapped to a couch.
M: Moneypenny, where's 007? Miss Moneypenny: He's on a mission, sir. In Austria. M: "Well, tell him to pull out. Immediately." [Cue Bond making love with a woman by a fireplace in Austria.]
An even better one at the end, and arguably one of the best Bond endings.
M: 007!
Gogol: Triple X!
Minister of Defence: Bond! What do you think you're doing?
Good-Looking Privates: Major Anya Amasova is in uniform in her first (clothed) appearance. Also, Bond cuts a rather dashing figure in a Royal Navy uniform.
Groin Attack: Bond to Jaws in the shark pool room.
Bond to Stromberg...with two bullets from his Walther.
High Altitude Interrogation: Bond does this to a mook and then lets the him plummet to his death when he hears everything he needs.
Last Request: Bond asks Anya if he can make one before she kills him. Of course, that was before a popping champagne cork broke the tension. It was unlikely from that point she was going to actually kill him.
Incidentally, this movie almost single-handedly changed Americans' views of Russian women. Before it came out, all Russian women were assumed by Americans to be outright Gonks, to the point that American comedians (and especially the hugely influential Johnny Carson) could count on getting cheap and easy laughs by poking fun at the purported hideousness of Russian women. Carson admitted during a visit by Roger Moore that the movie had ruined "half his jokes".
Made of Iron: Always true of Bond, but Jaws as well.
No More for Me: A bystander when Bond drives the Lotus Esprit out of the ocean onto the beach.
No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You To Dine: Actually subverted for once. Stromberg has a weapon hidden in his table that he intended to use to kill Bond. It backfires.
Non-Action Big Bad: Stromberg is by far the least physical of Bond villains, relying on push-button deathtraps and legions of Mooks to do his bidding.
A Nuclear Error: The "Impulse Conductor Circuit", which can detonate a nuclear warhead while it's being disassembled.
Pretty in Mink: A lady wears a white mink coat in the beginning. She's possibly Naked in Mink in it as well.
Recycled In Space: Inverted. Lewis Gilbert directed both You Only Live Twice and this movie, so while the previous movie dealt with a spaceship-eating spaceship, TSWLM deals with a submarine-eating ship.
Red Shirt: A young Royal Navy officer volunteers to lead the charge, something you'd expect Bond to do. It's no surprise when he and his men get killed.
Revenge Myopia: In the opening scene, Bond kills Anya's lover, who is trying to kill him at the time. When she finds out about it she vows to kill Bond.
Shower Scene: "What's wrong, sailor. Haven't you seen a Major taking a shower before?"
Sic 'Em: "Let them get to shore... and then kill them."
Slap-Slap-Kiss: Surprisingly, Bond and Anya only start liking each other after lots of arguments and fighting side-by-side multiple times.
And almost threw it away when Anya found out Bond killed her previous lover.
Sleep Cute: Played with. When Anya wakes up, she jerks away from Bond in anger.
Sliding Scale of Gender Inequality: This was the first Bond flick to reach Level 4 (a capable leading lady, albeit one who still needs occasional rescuing), which has held ever since. The older ones are Level 3 at best.
Soundtrack Dissonance: Stromberg feeding his assistant to the sharks while Bach's Air on the G-String plays.
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