L'espion qui m'aimait

This is not the best overall Bond, but it is for me Roger Moore's best as the character. Moore does a very good job here, displaying adeptly his trademark smoothness, while he is superbly supported by Barbara Bach as the alluring Anya and especially Richard Kiel as the unforgettable Jaws(not the shark mind you, see the film for yourself and you'll see). The plot may be a tad far-fetched but it actually does work, and the script has less reliance on slapstick humour but is more sophisticated and a little more cleverer than normal. The set pieces are spectacular of course, and Lewis Gilbert directs lavishly. I also liked it that this entry had an effective use of character realism too. Overall, a great entry, not one of the best Bonds for me but it is Moore's best. 9/10 Bethany Cox

The first Bond film I watched in the cinema and maybe one of the most audacious Bond movies made so far starting with a pre credit sequence where Bond skis off a cliff and then unfurls a Union Jack parachute. Nobody does it better even with a disco infused James Bond theme. In the spirit of detente Bond (Roger Moore) is teamed up with beautiful Russian agent Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach) to solve the mysterious disappearance of a British and Soviet nuclear submarines. Their adventures lead to the underwater lair of megalomaniac Karl Stromberg (Curt Jurgens) an elegant psychopath who wants to create an underwater empire with a much reduced world population. However Anya also has an agenda to kill Bond as he killed a fellow KGB agent who was also her boyfriend. Hot on their heels is the indestructible deadly henchman Jaws (Richard Kiel) with teeth of steel. There is also the beautiful Naomi, Stromberg's scantily clad assistant who pursues Bond in a helicopter. The film has it all. Director Lewis Gilbert added an element of fantasy to Bond and was also inspired by what was big in the cinema. None bigger at that time than the film Jaws, so why not have killer sharks and a killer assassin called Jaws. Gilbert also makes great use of international locations such as Egypt with allusions to Lawrence of Arabia. Then there are the gadgets such as the amphibious Lotus which can also fire a missile or the digital watch which transmits information by ticker tape. The art direction and the sets built for this film are magnificent which rightly deserved their Oscar nomination. More importantly, Moore feels comfortable in the role. He delivers action as well as the quips.