The Spy Who Loved Me is a James Bond novel by Ian Fleming first published in 1962. It is also the tenth James Bond film and the third to star Roger Moore as Commander James Bond, British Secret Service agent 007. The Spy Who Loved Me was made by Albert R. Broccoli's EON Productions and was released in 1977. It was the first official Bond film to not be produced by Harry Saltzman who had previously sold his shares of EON Productions to United Artists in 1975.
Fleming was never happy with the plot of the book and so only gave permission for the title to be used. Consequently the film tells a very different story, and was subsequently novelized by Christopher Wood. As such, it is considered the first wholly original Bond film and was the first Bond film to have a novelization.
The novel
The shortest and most sexually explicit of Fleming's novels, it was banned in some countries and was not released in a paperback edition in Britain until several years after Fleming's death (Fleming had, in fact, requested that no paperback ever be published of the text). As a result, for British readers who never purchased the 1962 hardcover edition, The Spy Who Loved Me, not The Man with the Golden Gun, was their final Fleming James Bond novel. In the United States, a condensed version of the novel was published in the men's magazine, Stag under the title, "Motel Nymph".
The Spy Who Loved Me is a clear departure from previous Bond novels by Ian Fleming, in that the novel is told in the first-person by a young woman named Vivienne Michel. James Bond actually doesn't appear until two-thirds of the way through the book. In order to maintain the fiction of the book's central character, Vivienne Michel (and, some critics suggest, distance himself from a book with which he was unsatisfied), Fleming gave "Michel" co-author credit and later claimed that he had found the manuscript "lying on his desk one morning" with a note signed by "Vivienne Michel". Fleming writes in his forward:
- "I was much interested in this view of James Bond, through the wrong end of the telescope, so to speak, and, after obtaining clearance for certain minor infringements of the Official Secrets Act, I have much pleasure in sponsoring its publication."
Plot summary
The central character and narrator of The Spy Who Loved Me is "Vivienne Michel," a young Canadian woman who ends up running a cheap motel in the Adirondack Mountains to pay for a trip through America. The novel is broken up into three parts.
The first section of the book deals with Michel's past love affairs, the first being Derek Mallaby who took her virginity in a field after being kicked out of a cinema for indecent exposure. The relationship ended that night and Michel was subsequently dumped later when Mallaby sent her a letter from the University of Oxford saying he had met someone else and had recently gotten engaged. Michel details her second love affair to her German boss, Kurt Rainer, whom would eventually get Michel pregnant. After learning of her pregnancy and informing Rainer, he subsequently dumps her and pays for her to go to Switzerland to have an abortion.
The second section of the book details Michel's journey through America and how she came to work at "The Dreamy Pines Motor Court" in the Adirondack Mountains for Jed and Mildred Phancey, the managers. After a while of working for them the Phancey's take a vacation and leave her in charge for one day until the owner, Mr. Sanguinetti arrives to resume business. In the meantime, however, two mobsters, "Sluggsy" Morant and Sol "Horror" Horowitz show up under the guise that they work for Sanguinetti and are there to look over the motel for insurance reasoning. In truth, the two were hired by Mr. Sanguinetti to burn down the The Dreamy Pines Motor Court so that Sanguinetti can make a profit on the insurance. The blame for the fire would fall on Michel, who would perish in the fire. The mobsters, specifically "Sluggsy" are very cruel to Michel, threatening to rape her later that night and when she attempts to escape she is captured and beaten.
The two mobsters are however stopped in the third part of the book when British secret service agent James Bond appears blaming his being there on a flat tire while passing by. He later details to Michel why he's actually in America saying that after Operation Thunderball was completed, S.P.E.C.T.R.E. was pretty much finished except that the allied nations were still searching for Ernst Stavro Blofeld who had gotten away. The book ends with Bond protecting Michel through the night and later killing Sluggsy and Horror in a gun battle.
Comic strip adaptation
Fleming's original novel was adapted as a daily comic strip which was published in the British Daily Express newspaper and syndicated around the world. The adaptation ran from December 18, 1967 to October 3, 1968. The adaptation was written by Jim Lawrence and illustrated by Yaroslav Horak . It was the last Ian Fleming work to be adapted as a comic strip, although the comic strip took great liberties with Fleming's novel, substituting a S.P.E.C.T.R.E.-related storyline involving Bond for the novel's autobiographical chapters involving Vivienne; the actual adaptation of the novel doesn't begin until the 2/3 point of the strip. The strip was reprinted by Titan Books in the early 1990s and again in 2004.
The film
Plot summary
Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.
A submarine from the Royal Navy and a submarine from the Soviet fleet are stolen by the villain, Karl Stromberg in an attempt to launch their nuclear weapons at targets around the globe. In this adventure, James Bond teams up with Major Anya Amasova or Agent Triple X from the Soviet Union to find out what happened and prevent a possible World War III.
The film was a hit in both the U.S. and abroad. It grossed over $185 million USD worldwide on a production budget of $14 million USD. Due to the success of this movie, subsequent to its release, Barbara Bach posed nude for the men's magazine Playboy.
The film is best known for the introduction of Jaws, a giant and indestructible assassin with steel teeth (played by Richard Kiel). Jaws is the only henchman of the James Bond villains privileged to appear in more than one film. He later appeared in Moonraker. Although Fleming had requested no elements from his original book be used, the novel features a thug named Sol Horror who is described as having steel capped teeth, although that is where the similarity between Horror and Jaws ends.
Cast & characters
Robert Brown also has a smaller role in The Spy Who Loved Me as Admiral Hargreaves. Brown would go on to replace Bernard Lee as M in Octopussy. It has never been established as to whether Brown was supposed to be still playing Lee's character, a promoted Hargreaves, or someone else.
Walter Gotell makes his first appearance as General Gogol of the KGB. Gogol would appear in all future Roger Moore Bond films and would make his final appearance in Timothy Dalton's The Living Daylights. While this was his first appearance as Gogol, this is Gotell's second appearance in a James Bond film. His first was in From Russia With Love where he played the villain Morzeny.
Crew
Soundtrack
The title song was performed by Carly Simon and unlike most opening songs for James Bond is not titled the same as the movie. However, the phrase "the spy who loved me" is in the lyrics. The song was titled "Nobody Does it Better" and became a hit that is still popular today. The soundtrack to the movie was composed by Marvin Hamlisch.
Track listing
- Nobody Does It Better — Carly Simon
- Bond 77 (James Bond Theme)
- Ride To Atlantis
- Mojave Club
- Nobody Does It Better (Instrumental)
- Anya
- The Tanker
- The Pyramids
- Eastern Lights
- Conclusion
- End Titles-Nobody Does It Better — Carly Simon
Vehicles & gadgets
- Main articles: List of James Bond vehicles, List of James Bond gadgets
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Lotus Esprit - Including all of the usual Q refinements, this car was equipped with surface to air missiles. The main feature of the car however was the ability to transform into a submarine. Once transformed it could unleash depth charges and smoke screens. The car was nicknamed Wet Nellie
- Wetbike - a hydrofoil "water motorcycle" used by Bond to travel from the US Submarine to Stromberg's Atlantis to save Triple X. Built by a subsidiary of Minnesota-based Arctic Enterprises.
- XXX's Cigarette - The cigarette used by Triple X contained knock-out powder.
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Seiko Quartzwatch - Basically working like a pager, it had a built-in telex that allowed MI6 to send important messages to Bond, printing them out like a miniature teletype. (It actually looked more like a label-maker tape.)
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Ski pole gun - Was used to fire a projectile at his pursuers. He uses it to kill Triple X's boyfriend while escaping from him in the pre-credits sequence.
Locations
Film locations
Shooting locations
Trivia
- At the end of the film, the credits announce that the next Bond film will be For Your Eyes Only. Ultimately, however, the producers chose instead to adapt Moonraker next in order to cash in on the science fantasy craze sparked by the success of Star Wars and Superman.
- This is the second film in the history of the Bond series (as of 2004) in which M refers to Bond by his first name, rather than simply 007 or Bond (the first time was at his wedding in OHMSS). We also hear M's real first name (Miles) for the first time on film. In addition, Q is referred to by his real name (Major Boothroyd) for the first time since From Russia with Love. But Miss Moneypenny is still left without a first name!
- The 007 Soundstage at Pinewood Studios, for many years the largest in the world, was specially constructed for this film.
- After the box-office disappointment of The Man with the Golden Gun EON Productions originally approached Steven Spielberg to direct the next film in the series, though after Jaws turned out to be such a huge success, the producers would not agree to Spielberg's demands for creative control and turned instead to Lewis Gilbert who had directed the similar You Only Live Twice. (It's not known if the character Jaws was so named as a reference to Spielberg.)
- Although, as mentioned above, Fleming forbade EON Productions from using any elements of his novel save the title, it has been noted that both books feature villains with steel teeth.
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Michael Billington, who plays Anya's ill-fated lover, Sergei, was considered a candidate for the role of Bond on several occasions in the 1970s and 1980s. He is best known for his role as Paul Foster in the science fiction series UFO.
- Demand for Lotus Esprits surged after the film was released. Many new customers were put on a three-year waiting list.
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Stanley Kubrick provided uncredited assistance in supervising the lighting of the tanker set due to cinematographer Claude Renoir 's failing eyesight.
Novelization
When Ian Fleming sold the film rights to the James Bond novels to Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli, he only gave permission for the title The Spy Who Loved Me to be used. Since the screenplay for the film had nothing to do with Fleming's original novel, Glidrose Publications, for the first time, authorized that a novelization be written based upon the script. This would also be the first regular Bond novel published since Colonel Sun nearly a decade earlier. Christopher Wood, who co-authored the screenplay with Richard Maibaum, was commissioned to write the book, which was given the title James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me. Wood would later adapt the screenplay for the next Bond film, Moonraker.
See also
External links
