Three films into his tenure as Bond and Roger Moore really proves he is the right man for the job. After the slightly silly Golden Gun, serious time was spent on making this movie as special as possible, not least because it was the tenth film in the series but also because it would be the first film that Albert R. Broccoli would produce without partner Harry Saltzman. The result is that you can say the time has been well spent...well partly.

With The Spy Who Loved Me, James Bond is taken back to his roots slightly and the film as a whole feels simular in style to some of the better Sean Connery outings, while at the same time it is very different. Moore delves further into his incarnation of Bond this time, more so than he had done in his previous two outings, while the stakes are set high with fantastic set pieces - the opening ski chase will forever remain in your memory after you have seen this -and a brilliant score ("Nobody Does It Better") by Carly Simons. Also taking… more »

Three films into his tenure as Bond and Roger Moore really proves he is the right man for the job. After the slightly silly Golden Gun, serious time was spent on making this movie as special as possible, not least because it was the tenth film in the series but also because it would be the first film that Albert R. Broccoli would produce without partner Harry Saltzman. The result is that you can say the time has been well spent...well partly.

With The Spy Who Loved Me, James Bond is taken back to his roots slightly and the film as a whole feels simular in style to some of the better Sean Connery outings, while at the same time it is very different. Moore delves further into his incarnation of Bond this time, more so than he had done in his previous two outings, while the stakes are set high with fantastic set pieces - the opening ski chase will forever remain in your memory after you have seen this -and a brilliant score ("Nobody Does It Better") by Carly Simons. Also taking the direction away from Fleming's novel (which is completely different to the film) the writers and producers allow further development of the franchise. For starters we have Jaws, a villain so popular he would later return in Moore's next and slightly camp outing Moonraker, as well as appearing in several different types of spin-off media. This film also allows Moore's Bond to get his first car from Q-Branch further establishing gadgets in the series and a star role by Curt Jurgens as villain Karl Stomberg, in my opinion the most deadly villain the old Bond faced since Blofeld.

However; no matter how good this film is or the money that is poured into the action, the time they spent putting it together, you can't help but feel that the story is a retread of You Only Live Twice, especially in terms of the finale on board the tanker where all the submarine men that have been held captive are freed and join the fight against the villains henchmen - This scene echoes the ninjas entering the volcano in YOLT. In all; this is certainly Moore's best film as James Bond, closely followed by Live and Let Die. It boasts a great cast, score and some fantastic action pieces but at times it can feel like a retread of what has gone before. It certainly was one of the biggest, and Moore's best, but let's face it; as others have said, it was You Only Live Twice!