CommanderBond.net

Now on the CBn main page...

07/07/007 - 30 Years Of 'The Spy Who Loved Me'

CBn Forum members on seeing Roger Moore's third Bond film for the first time

With the 30th anniversary of The Spy Who Loved Me this month, I thought it would be interesting to ask CBn members about the first time they saw Roger Moore's third James Bond film.

Where was it? Were you at the premiere? Was it your first Bond film? ...are just some of the questions to consider. If you can't remember your very first time in seeing the film, then perhaps your most memorable experience.

Members are encouraged to write a few paragraphs describing the event and your thoughts. If we get a few replies in, this may make its way to the CBn main page.

I loved this movie. It's still among my all-time favorites of all movies. I saw it in Aiken, South Carolina, USA. The PTS was ingeneous...and has never been topped, though tried. Carly Simon's song is still adapted to many events today. Roger was at the top of his game. Barbara Bach was a "yummy" Bond babe. Jaws and the Lotus became legendary in this movie. The last line by Rog is the most underrated line in all cinema..."Just keeping the British end up." I saw this movie 4 months after starting my professional work career. Now that I'm a retiree, it sure brings back special memories. I never tire of watching it...watched it last... 11 days ago.

TSWLM was my first exposure to Bond. I was about six, it was playing on TV, and I wandered in on the underwater sequence with the Lotus, which had me hooked immediately. I'd never seen anything like it, and asked my father what we were watching. "A James Bond film," he replied. "Wow," I said, "Are there any other ones?"

My father chuckled.

I shortly afterwards wrote to JIM'LL FIX IT, asking if my dad could have an amazing car like James Bond's. Didn't get a response.

I was born three years after the film's release, so my first exposure to the film was most likely on television at some point during the mid to late 1980s. I have no idea of the exact year. Incidentally, the above response is the same I would give to any Pre-TLD Bond film. I watched them all on T.V when I was a kid and I can't remember in what order.

TSWLM was the first Bond film I ever laid eyes on, at the age of seven.


...and it terrified me! All I could remember were the scenes where Jaws was in the mix, particularly the train fight. The vision of Barbara Bach opening the closet to find Jaws waiting inside is permanently embedded in my memory.

I also remember her knocking out Bond with the cigarette smoke, and I thought she'd killed him. (It was on TBS, and it wet straight to commercial there...)

After that trauma, I swore off Bond, because that's all I knew it to be. For four years, I'd avoid the TBS marathons, until hearing something about a new Bond film in development. At that point, my dad sat me down and we watched Goldfinger, and I was introduced to Bond good and proper! The rest is history (for me, anyhow!). And yes, I did finally get back to TSWLM, and still love it.

Saw this one opening weekend with my Dad and little brother when I was 15 and he was 8. I was already a big Bond fan, thanks to my Dad having taken me to the double bills of DN/FRWL and TB/YOLT when I was younger. I'm happy to say I've seen all of the Bond movies except for Goldfinger in the theater, although not always on their initial release (after all, I was born the year that Dr No was released!).

The first time i saw TSWLM i was 6 years old, my grandparents brought it back for me when they were at Blackpool, the really old MGM Video Cassettes , that's what started it all. October 29th 1996 - i even remember the date. Happy Anniversary Spy!

I first saw this on TV a few years after its release.
What I do remember 30 yrs ago, was seeing clips of the film on all the kids programs (Blue Peter and SwapShop, i think), they all showed the underwater sequence with the Lotus. I remember being so excited by this and pestering my mum to go and see the film at the cinema. But to no avail as I was only 8 yrs old and not allowed (she ended up shouting NO as I did go on a bit).

Happy 30th anniversary TSWLM.

Yup,

007.007.0077

IT'S THE BIGGEST
IT'S THE BEST
IT'S BOND
AND BEYOND...

I became a Bond fan on holiday in Carnarveon, North Wales in August 1977. A trip to the cinema (it was a rainy day) resulted in me seeing The Spy Who Loved Me. From the ski-chase to the Lotus to the Liparus to the Pyramids, I was hooked. From women with smoke-jet cigarettes to the underwater emergence of Atlantis, I was enthralled. Jaws' first appearance, cloaked in shadow, was genuinely terrifying. And, to cap it all, Roger Moore as James Bond finally gave me a hero I could respond to; cool, daring, adventurous, funny, assured, sophisticated and, uniquely, British.

Of course, other things struck me too; Ken Adam's giant, gleaming sets, Marvin Hamlisch's shimmering, exciting score and the compact and ingenious gadgets (I have never looked at ordinary objects the same way since!). I was too young to appreciate the libidinous quality to the film - that came later - but I did enjoy the humour. The little knowledge I had informed me that there were such things as Polaris submarines and Lotus cars and Pyramids and so the story actually seemed scarily possible to my young mind!

Remember, this was 1977, and in the next few years I was to be bombarded by Star Wars, Star Trek and Superman, all of which I would love. But Bond held me and the damage had been done!

CUT TO:

007.007.007

This Saturday, a friend of mine is getting married. In January, he appeared on national TV to try to win sum of money for a James Bond themed wedding. Alas, he did not win but he got:

Author and ex-con, Jeffrey Archer's signed First Edition of a Fleming novel
The use of an Aston Martin for the day
And other goodies!

Way to go, J!

Alas, I cannot go to the wedding because I had already booked to celebrate the Seventies in a different manner: I'm going to see Steely Dan play live!

Nobody Does It Better

I remember more about not seeing TSWLM the first time rather than seeing it. I was supposed to see the film on August 28, 1977 after going to church that morning with my family. Instead, my uncle had an extra ticket to go see the World Champion Cincinnati Reds play the Philadelphia Phillies.

I remember being torn as sports were becoming very important to me back then, but at the same time I was into comics and fantasy films and wanted to see the film also. I was persuaded I could see a movie anytime and going to a baseball game was a better choice, so I went and the Reds won 9-0 and I had a good time. The closest I came to TSWLM was hearing the theme song over and over.

Although I always liked Bond, it would be two more years until I became a huge fan after seeing MR. I didn't see TSWLM until November 1980 when it premiered on ABC. Despite all I'd heard about it, I was kind of underwhelmed. I came close that summer to seeing it on the big screen when it was the second feature at a drive-in, but I was just a kid and couldn't get there without an adult driving me.

I am still not a huge fan of TSWLM and it makes me wonder if I had made the choice to see the film instead of going to that baseball game 30 years ago if I'd have been hooked on Bond sooner and count it as one of my favorites.

Also, TSWLM and TMWTGG are the only two Bonds I have never seen on the big screen (save for CR '67 if you count that).

I saw it when it premiered on British television in the early 1980s. I remember I was visiting with family at Berwick-Upon-Tweed and watching it on their TV in the living room. I loved it and to this day it regularly vies with On Her Majesty's Secret Service as my favorite EON-produced James Bond 007 movie.
I had seen Moonraker on the big screen in 1979 and loved it. The thing I remember most about the movie is how amazing Barbara Bach looked and of course the Lotus Esprit rising from the sea bed.

TSWLM was one of the first three Bonds I saw, around the time FYEO came out. Can´t remember in which order I saw TSWLM, FYEO and TB - in that respect they´re still an entity to me.
And what can I say...Jaws scared the hell out of me too - especially his first kill (ok, I was around 12). And although this character stands for the more...well, ridiculous moments of the franchise I really wouldn´t want to miss him. Only thing I didn´t like at the time (and still don´t) is the casting of Barbara Bach - her "I will kill you" comment is just as believable to me as would be a rabbit threatening a snake ;-).

"Moonraker" was my first official Bond movie in 1979, which I watched in the cinema.
The hunt on older 007-movies began. "The spy who loved me" was on No. 5. I saw the movie in the summer holidays in Austria in a small cinema in Gröbming (07/26/80) Unforgetable!

It was a BIG summer for me. I was 10, Spy Who Loved Me was my first Bond film, and a certain SciFi movie also came out. Both movies