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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kobold Stew" data-source="post: 9602076" data-attributes="member: 23484">I did a re-watch of the series in the fall.For me, The Spy Who Loved Me solidly holds its place in my top three (OHMSS and Goldfinger being stronger). Moore was my first Bond, and so I forgive him his acting, but I think The Spy Who Loved Me gets the formula right. You say it's straight comedy; I don't think that's  true. It's certainly lighter than some other films, but it  checks all the boxes of the Bond formula, and consistently does them better than the rest (as it were). Unlike many films, though, it doesn't do gags (which begin with Diamonds are Forever), except arguably when Jaws is pulling the van apart.For my money, though, Spy Who Loved Me has<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">easiest the best pretitle sequence of the whole series (until Casino Royale)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">the second most substantial Bond girl in the series (Tracey in OHMSS is tops, obv) -- won't say that makes her "best", but in terms of someone who is there for more than eye-candy, who has a story that is at least mildly interesting and who is a competent adult professional., she excells (Moonraker scores high in this respect too).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I agree that Stromberg is Blofeld-lite, and the scheme is a rehash of that from YOLT, but in terms of the acting he's more menacing than Donald Pleasance was (but less than Telly Savalas)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">and the cinematography is the best in the series so far. It's the same guy as YOLT, so we'll say it's Claude Renoir is responsible. But the raid of the tanker at the end is narratively the clearest group fight in the first 20 years.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Finally, I'll come to the defense of Jaws. In my mind there's a difference between the Villain (the big bad driving the plot) and the Assassin (the often gimmicky killer Bond needs to fight). It's the distinction between Goldfinger and Oddjob, say. And Jaws certainly holds his own against Oddjob. Wandering through the pillars in the Egyptian ruins is genuinely tense (again, great cinematography helps) and he gets to return in the next film (with a redemption arc). No other assassin in the series has any narrative development. Rosa Krebs or Kidd and Wint are great, but Jaws easily fits in amongst them (as opposed to Tee Hee, Vargas and Yannis, and the Three Blind Mice -- all definitely second-string.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">a much better story than the novel from which it takes its name.</li> </ul>For the past few years, I think this is the film I've put on most often to pass an afternoon, and it represents a high point before the depths that will come post-Moonraker.We all have different tastes, and are looking for different things. For me though, The Spy Who Loved Me remains a personal favorite.</blockquote>

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