40th Anniversary of The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

By: Anders Frejdh

Published:
2017-07-07

On this day in Bond history, the 1977 film The Spy Who Loved Me premiered at cinemas. The film was first released in the UK on 7th July 1977 and then in USA on 13th July. The Swedish premiere took place on 17th September 1977.

Megalomaniac Karl Stromberg plans to obliterate mankind from the surface of the Earth and build a new undersea kingdom of which he will be supreme ruler. After destroying New York and Moscow with missiles from captured American and Russian submarines, Stromberg is assured global destruction will follow.

Production notes (Source: MGM / EON Productions)
• 8 Jan 1976: Christopher Wood and Richard Maibaum finished the script
• 5 Aug 1976: Production began - the first thing done was Richard Kiel trying out Jaws’ teeth
• 31 Aug 1976: Principal photography began - the first scene was of Anya and Gogol in Gogol’s office
• 2 Sep 1976: Roger Moore began filming - his first scene was between Bond and Moneypenny
• 15 Sep 1976: The film crew shot underwater sequences in Nassau
• 1 Oct 1976: Richard Kiel began filming his role as Jaws
• 6 Oct 1976: Lewis Gilbert shot Bond driving out of the sea in his amphibious Lotus
• 12 Oct 1976: Lewis Gilbert began shooting the sequence with Jaws chasing Bond through the pyramids
• 28 Oct 1976: Last day of filming in Cairo with Bond pursuing Jaws through Karnak ruins
• 2 Nov 1976: Shooting began at Pinewood Studios. The first scene shot was in the Atlantis boardroom
• 25 Nov 1976: Richard Kiel completed his scenes as Jaws - the last scene was him being thrown off a train
• 5 Dec 1976: The 007 Stage at Pinewood Studios was officially opened with TSWLM being the first Bond film to use it
• 13 Jan 1977: The crew sank a model of Atlantis, Stromberg’s base, ready for shooting near Goulding Cay
• 7 Jul 1977: The film had its world premiere at the Odeon Leicester Square, London

A selection of filming locations for The Spy Who Loved Me:
• Abu Simbel Temple, Abu Simbel, Egypt (MI6 HQ in Egypt - exteriors)
• Albert R. Broccoli 007 Stage, Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England (Liparus Tanker set aka Jonah set)
• Banana Island, Luxor, Egypt (Bond wakes up at boat landing amidst a large crowd of peasants and camels)
• Bay of Biscay, Atlantic Ocean (oil tanker - exteriors)
• Cala de Volpe Hotel, Costa Smeralda, Sassari, Sardinia, Italy (James Bond and Anya Amasova stay at hotel)
• Cala di Volpe Bay, Costa Smeralda, Sassari, Sardinia, Italy (car chase)
• Capriccioli Beach East, Sardinia, Italy (Submarine car emerges onto beach)
• Coral Harbour, New Providence Island, Bahamas (underwater scenes/aerial shots - model work - tanker swallows submarine)
• Emerald Coast, Sardinia, Italy Gare Loch, Argyll and Bute, Scotland (Royal Naval base)
• Faslane Naval Base, Her Majesty's Naval Base Clyde, Gare Loch, Argyll and Bute, Scotland, UK (Royal Naval Base)
• Gayer-Anderson Museum - 4 Maydan Ibn Tulun, Cairo, Egypt (James Bond fight with henchman Sandor)
• Great Hypostyle Hall, Temple of Amun, Karnak Temple, Luxor, Egypt (Bond and Amasova follow Jaws through the giant columns)
• Her Majesty's Naval Base Clyde, Gare Loch, Argyll and Bute, Scotland (Royal Naval base)
• Ibn Tulun Mosque, Al-Basatin, Ibn Tulun, Cairo, Egypt (Silhouette shot of James Bond arriving in Egypt)
• Kanton Graubünden, Switzerland (opening ski sequence but not jump off mountain)
• Malta (final scene in the film where the escape pod drifts into a British warship)
• Medinet Habu Temple, Thebes, Egypt (Medinet Habu)
• Mount Asgard, Auyuittuq National Park, Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada (Opening Sequence Jump)
• Nile River, Luxor, Egypt
• Nunavut, Canada (opening ski jump sequence)
• Okinawa, Japan (shots of exotic fish)
• Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England (studio)
• Porto Cervo, Sardinia, Italy (Lotus car goes off pier into water, near Hotel Pitrizza)
• Porto Palau, Sardinia, Italy (Q arrives by ferry boat with Lotus car for Bond)
• Pyramid of Khufu, The Great Pyramids, Giza Plateau, Giza, Egypt
• Sakkara Oasis, Sakkara, Giza, Egypt
• Santa Teresa di Gallura, Sardinia, Italy (car falls into village cottage)
• Spice Market, El-Muizz Street, Cairo, Egypt
• St. Moritz, Kanton Graubünden, Switzerland (opening ski sequence but not jump off mountain)
• The Sphinx, Giza Plateau, Giza, Egypt
• Vista Point, SP94, Sardinia, Italy (Copter chase, car spin-around)

Vehicles used during the filming: (Source: BMT 216A: The James Bond Vehicle Library)
• Bell 206 Jet Ranger
• Ford Taunus
• HMS Fearless
• Intermarine 40
• Kawasaki Z900 with sidecar
• Liparus monorail
• Lotus Esprit
• Shark Hunter II
• Sherpa Van
• Speargun sledge
• Submarine 'USS Wayne'
• Tanker Liparus
• Westland HH-3 Sea King
• Westland Wessex HC Mk2
• Wetbike

Over the years, FSWL has been fortunate to meet, and written articles about some of the cast and crew on TSWLM, below is a list with some of them:

>Albert Moses (actor)
>Derek Meddings (special effects)
>Caroline Munro (actor)
>Christopher Muncke (actor)
>Christopher Wood (screenwriter)
>Colin Miller (dubbing editor)
>Desmond Llewelyn (actor)
>Doug Robinson (stuntman)
>Edward de Souza (actor)
>Garrick Hagon (actor)
>Geoffrey Keen (actor)
>George Baker (actor)
>George Leech (stuntman)
>Jeremy Bulloch (actor)
>Jim Dowdall (stuntman)
>John Glen (2nd unit director)
>Ken Adam (production designer)
>Lewis Gilbert (director)
>Lois Maxwell (actress)
>Marilyn Galsworthy (actor)
>Martin Grace (stunts)
>Marvin Hamlish (music)
>Michael Billington (actor)
>Michael G. Wilson (producer)
>Monty Norman (Composer of 'The James Bond theme')
>Nosher Powell (stuntman)
>Paul Weston (stuntman)
>Richard Kiel (actor)
>Richard Maibaum (screenwriter)
>Rick Sylvester (ski jump in the pre-title-sequence)
>Roger Moore (actor)
>Shane Rimmer (actor)
>Valerie Leon (actor)
>Vernon Dobtcheff (actor)

United Artists - an MGM company Harry Saltzman & Albert R. Broccoli present Roger Moore as James Bond - 007 in Ian Fleming's The Spy Who Loved Me:

Photo above:
The original Swedish film poster for The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) from the FSWL collection.

Read more about the film The Spy Who Loved Me on MGM's official website.

Tags:

#on_the_tracks_of_007

#roger_moore_james_bond_films

#the_spy_who_loved_me

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40th Anniversary of The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

United Artists - an MGM company Harry Saltzman & Albert R. Broccoli present Roger Moore as James Bond - 007 in Ian Fleming's The Spy Who Loved Me:

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