Actor: Roger Moore
US Release Date: 13 July 1977
US gross, $ [adjusted]:46,838,673 [124,570,939]
Worldwide gross, $ [adjusted]: 185,400,000 [493,085,106]
World Premier - 7th July 1977, Odeon Leicester Square, London
Locations: Moscow, Austria, London, Scotland, Egypt, Sardinia,
Atlantic Ocean.
Source for above info: The " mother " of all James Bond books - James Bond: The Legacy.
Happenstance
Roger Moore was supposed to work with director Guy Hamilton,
but early in production Hamilton left and was replaced by
Lewis Gilbert, who injected crackling humor in the movie. The
movie starts with the teaser, which stands almost next to
Goldfinger
's teaser as the best of the series. A massive underwater
craft engulfs British and Russian submarines, and global
tensions are heightened to the brink of war. Cut to our
incorrigible agent who is in the arms of a beautiful babe
(Sue Vanner) in a log cabin. Bond's log cabin babe is
actually a Soviet double agent with orders to seduce Bond
(isn't that easy). When she can no longer keep him otherwise
occupied, the girl radios her KGB allies to inform them of
Bond's whereabouts.
Double Agent: James, I need you.
Bond: So does England.
Bond puts on a yellow ski-suit and skis off from the KGB
agents. Finally he manages to leap off a very large cliff and
a Union Jack parachute breaks his fall.
Stuntman Rick Sylvester skied off the Asgard Peak for the
stunt. He received $30,000 for the stunt and spent 10 days in
remote Northern Canada waiting for the wind to die down. The
stunt was almost in vain as every camera but one lost sight of
him shortly after he plunged off the ledge.
Later as the titles roll, we are shown the sight of Moore
bouncing around on a trampoline. More sights of delectable
Russian Babes follow with the Carly Simon’s international
smash, "Nobody Does It Better." Teaser over, it is time for
the real movie to begin. Bond rushes to Egypt to find out the
truth behind the missing submarine.
Coincidence
Here he meets Major Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach, the second wife
of Ringo Starr) of the Russian Army codenamed XXX (and aptly so,
after looking at her! Much better looking than Vin Diesel.)
Bond: The lady will have a Bacardi on the rocks.
Agent Triple X: For the gentleman, Vodka Martini, shaken not
stirred!
On a vist ot the Egyptian pyramids, Bond comes face to face with
probably the most recognized evil henchman of all, Jaws (Richard
Kiel), a seemingly indestructible steel-toothed giant. After a
brief fight with Jaws, Bond and Anya run off in a boat to Cairo
with the microfilm of the secret submarine-tracking device.
Anya: It's getting cold....
Bond: Is there anything I can do to warm you up?
Anya: When necessary, share bodily warmth.
Bond: That's the part I like!
After being drugged by Anya, Bond wakes up and lands at MI6
Egyptian headquarters, where surprise, he comes face to face with
General Gogol of the KGB and Anya. It seems that for the moment,
the Cold War rivals have set aside their differences to fight a
common evil.
Enemy Action
Hence after tracing the microfilm to Karl Stromberg (Curt
Jurgens), a powerful shipping magnate they decide to pay a visit
to him, disguised as husband and wife. Bond and XXX, enter
Stomberg's secret submarine base (which required the construction
of the world's largest soundstage) and while Anya checks out the
base, Bond is busy checking out Stromberg's beautiful assistant,
Naomi (Caroline Munro).
Bond: What a handsome craft. Such lovely lines.
When Bond and XXX leave Stromberg's Atlantis headquarters, she
tries to gun them down from a helicopter in their Lotus Esprit.
The famous automobile designer Giugiaro produced the stunning
Lotus Esprit as a concept car in 1972, but it wasn't until 1977
that it became a dream sports car when James Bond drove it. Bond
takes the car under water and converts it into a submarine. Bond
tries to enter Stromberg's Atlantis headquarters, from under the
sea but is thwarted when Stromberg’s frogmen attack him. After
making fish - food out of the Stromberg goons, Bond resurfaces
to lead a final assault on Stromberg. Interestingly there is a
sub-plot, that one of those KGB agents that Bond bumped off in
the teaser was Anya's lover. Hence when she learns of this Anya
decides to avenge her lover's death at the hands of 007.
On a US submarine, Bond and Anya intercept a Stromberg ship,
which engulfs the entire submarine. Later Bond and Anya are
caught and then Stromberg divulges his plan to destroy the world
by nuclear warfare and to create a world under the sea.
Helped by the Submarine crew, Bond dismantles the nuclear
missiles and prevents Armageddon. But to save Anya, he goes to
Stromberg's Atlantis headquarters again. After dispatching off
Stromberg, Bond has a fight with Jaws, who is dropped off in a
shark pool. And surprise, Jaws eats up the shark and hence
returns again with Roger Moore in
Moonraker
. But not before Bond and XXX, escape in Stromberg's escape pod
and they are brought on board a British ship. Everybody sees them
through the window, in bed together:
M: Bond!! What on earth do you think you're doing?
Bond: Keeping the British end up, Sir.
Nobody does it better.
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