July 7, 1977: The Spy Who Loved Me premieres, directed by Lewis Gilbert. Put aside the kowtowing at the altar of Sean Connery: Roger Moore stars in the best James Bond film of them all.
Why? There's the opening sequence as the resort in the Austrian Alps, with the skiing shootout and Bond's Union Jack parachute. Barbara Bach plays a Soviet agent who is every bit Mr. Bond's match, including in her messy private life. Carly Simon sings the theme song. She sings it over a great Maurice Binder opening title sequence.
We get the rare sight of Commander James Bond in his Royal Navy dress uniform. Caroline Munro is in it, and plays the 1st woman ever shown to be directly killed by Agent 007. She was billed as "The British Raquel Welch," and nobody objected, not even Raquel.
Curd Jürgens, who had been imprisoned for opposing the Nazi regime in his native Germany during World War II, plays megalomaniac villain Karl Stromberg. The 7-foot-1-1/2-inch Richard Dawson Kiel -- unlike the Family Feud host, his name really was Richard Dawson -- plays Jaws, a henchman tough enough to survive the movie, and proved to be popular enough to be the only henchman ever brought back for a second main villain in a second movie.
Need more reasons? The submersible Lotus Esprit was a much cooler car than Connery's Aston Martin DB5 or Pierce Brosnan's Mercedes-Benzes. We learn Q's real name and rank: Anya calls him "Major Boothroyd." And Moore delivers a classic closing line, better than any Connery ever gave.
The Spy Who Loved Me probably saved the Bond franchise, or at least Moore's place in it: His 1st 2 outings, Live and Let Die in 1973 and The Man with the Golden Gun in 1974, were very poorly regarded.
Barbara Bach is not related to Catherine Bach of The Dukes of Hazzard: Barbara's real name is Goldbach, and Catherine's is Bachman. Barbara later married ex-Beatle Ringo Starr -- and July 7 also happened to be his birthday.
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July 7, 1977 was a Thursday. Because 7 is regarded as a lucky number in Western culture, this day, 7/7/77, was called "The Day of the Century." Dan Ingram, the afternoon disc jockey on New York radio station WABC, 770 on the AM dial, spent the rest of his life complaining that the station did nothing to commemorate the day, missing a golden promotional opportunity.
WABC usually didn't miss tricks like that. They always made a big deal when the temperature in New York was 77 degrees (but not that week, it was during one of the nastiest heat waves of modern times), and would never say that it was 66 degrees, to avoid mentioning rivals WNBC: Always 65 or 67, never 66. Likewise, WNBC would say it was 76 or 78 degrees, but never 77.
Also on that day, Fan Yuanye, a pilot of China's People's Liberation Army Air Force, veered off course after taking off from Jinjiang, and became the first person to deliver Communist China's new Shenyang J-6 fighter to the West. Fan, the third Chinese PLAAF pilot to defect to Taiwan, and the first since 1965, brought secret documents with him, and was promised a reward of 5,000 ounces worth of gold, worth US$698,400 at that time. Six other pilots would defect while flying the J-6 between 1979 and 1990.
Also on that day, the Marxist nation of Albania, led by Communist Party Chief Enver Hoxha, criticized China, "its only friend in the world," as it worked on closer diplomatic ties with the United States. The official Communist Party newspaper, Zeri I Popullit (Voice of the People), featured an editorial, apparently authored by Hoxha, that said that "'My enemy's enemy is my friend' cannot be applied when it is a matter of the two imperialist powers, the Soviet Union and the United States," adding that "The present theories about the so-called Third World and nonaligned countries are intended to curb the revolution and defend capitalism.". Three weeks later, Albania asked China to remove its military advisers from the Balkan nation.
The reggae album Two Sevens Clash, by the Jamaican group Culture and its songwriter and lead vocalist Joseph Hill, was released to coincide with the date 7/7/77, in anticipation of a prediction by Pan-Africanist leader Marcus Garvey that the date would be a time when chaos would ensue and wrongs would be righted. Although the prediction caused great concern in Jamaica, no unusual incidents occurred.
Also on that day, the governing body of the San Diego chapter of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, the most famous (or infamous) motorcycle gang in the world, voted unanimously to declare war on the rival Mongols Motorcycle Club gang, in a dispute over territory in Southern California.
Over the summer, 4 Mongols members and a 15-year-old boy would be killed, and 6 others injured in shootings and bombings. In October, 32 members of the San Diego Hells Angels chapter would be arrested.
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These games were played in Major League Baseball:
* The New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians, 8-2 at Yankee Stadium. Rick Waits often gave the Yankees trouble, but, this time, he was outpitched by Jim "Catfish" Hunter. Lou Piniella went 2-for-4 with a home run and 2 RBIs. Reggie Jackson went 2-for-4 with 1 RBI.
* The New York Mets lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-4 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Mike Schmidt hit a 3-run home run.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-2 at Fenway Park in Boston. Carlton Fisk and Jim Rice hit home runs. Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-2 with a walk and an RBI.
* The Chicago Cubs beat their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, 2-0 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Rick Reuschel outpitched Larry Dierker. Larry Biittner -- that's right, 2 I's and 2 T's -- hit a home run. Lou Brock went 1-for-4.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the California Angels, 8-6 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of
Bloomington, Minnesota. Rod Carew only appeared as a pinch-hitter, and drew a walk.
* The Texas Rangers beat the Oakland Athletics, 8-3 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Houston Astros, 7-4 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Ken Forsch was injured, and had to leave the game after pitching to 2 batters. Emergency reliever Mark Lemongello then allowed 5 runs in the 1st inning, including home runs to Dusty Baker and Steve Yeager.
* And the San Francisco Giants beat the San Diego Padres, 5-1 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Willie McCovey went 0-for-3 with a walk. Dave Winfield went 0-for-4.
