On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is often a forgotten Bond film. It interrupts Sean Connery’s tenure with a single film starring George Lazenby, and was the victim of a bad reputation for quite a long time. The only thing that’s chipped away that bad reputation is time. Audiences have had time to view it in the context of the time it was released, and audiences today are much more accustomed to the changing nature of James Bond actors.
For others still, this film gains more and more ground, climbing the ranks of the “best of Bond” lists, finding its way near to the top.
The first thing that ought to be talked about is Lazenby himself as a replacement for Connery. So, without further ado, we’ll turn it over to the robots:
Swank-mo-tron: For me, Lazenby ranks right up there with Connery. He’s a much tougher Bond, and more dynamic. His upper-cut in the opening montage is nothing Connery was capable of. He’s at once like Connery, but somehow more smooth, more vulnerable, and tougher. I think he nailed the part and every time I watch the film I get increasingly angry that he only did one.
Shaz-Bot: This is actually the first time I’ve watched this particular Bond film. I really liked it, and a big part of that was because of Lazenby’s portrayal. He doesn’t play Bond as vulnerable, per se, but I think he definitely plays the part of a Bond who can fall in love a bit better than Connery. Don’t get me wrong, Connery is awesome, but he does have a kind of dickish swagger that makes it a little hard to believe he could love anyone in a real way.
Citizen-bot: What I love most about this film is how different it is from all others. It’s more grounded, more realistic, the characters and situations are more plausible and real. Beginning and ending with Bond. There’s a bit of world-weariness that he brings to Bond, though, and I think that’s what’s key. In no other film (except Casino Royale) does the character of Bond actually have any sort of character arc. He grows, and Lazenby’s Bond seems like he would be content to give it all up. Connery and Moore’s Bond just kind of glide through the movies and seem just as likely to keep womanizing and swilling martinis and foiling baddies until the end of time. When we hit that break with “We have all the time in the world”, Louis Armstrong’s voice is almost like a metaphorical record scratch. We’re kind of re-setting Bond. Of course, then he goes back to infiltrating Blofeld’s hideout and starts bedding every girl he can, but there’s some difference when he then runs into Tracy again.
Swank-mo-tron: Another thing that must be spoken of is Telly Savalas. When you tell people that Savalas was in a Bond film they get a curious look on their face, tell them he played Blofeld and you’ve just blown their mind. He’s fiendish, diabolical, but gleeful. Pleasance was much more menacing, but Savalas wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty in a physical sense.
Shaz-Bot: Telly Savalas as Blofeld. Who loves ya, baby? That would be me. This was just awesome. He kind of played Blofeld as a cultured thug. Yeah, he wants to hypnotize his angels to make him a lot of dosh, but he other motivating factor is to legitimise his heritage. It was kind of cool to see. As an aside, Bruce Timm was once quoted that his take on Lex Luthor in Superman: The Animated Series was based on Telly’s Blofeld. I can totally see it! His mannerisms, along with the tone and candor of his voice, are exactly what Clancy Brown ended up emulating in the show.
Citizen-Bot: I talked about Bond being world-weary. In this, Blofeld’s scheme is, quite literally, to get immunity for his previous crimes and have enough money and a landed estate to retire on. Of course, he’s willing to commit genocide to do it, but the point is he wants out as much as anyone. The fact that he and Bond foil each other propels them back to one another again and again after this altercation. But this somehow always seemed more plausible than, say, ransoming the world for millions of dollars with stolen nukes, or trying to start a war between American and the USSR. I guess the thing that really differentiates this film for me is it is so grounded. There’s nothing in here that seems so fantastical, and I think only From Russia With Love really compares in that sense: no ridiculous car chases, no hyper-reliance on crazy gadgets, or ninjas in volcanos. .
Swank-mo-tron: I think we need to speak of Diana Rigg. Everyone talks about how great Vesper Lynd was for 007, but the Contessa was absolutely perfect for Bond in every way. She was so much his opposite but so much like him. She was beautiful and strong willed, much different than the average Bond Girl fare.
Shaz-Bot: Diana Rigg… Ah in my pre-pubescent years she and Julie Newmar were it for me (I watched a lot of 60’s TV). She does admirably in this movie, and doesn’t suffer fools at all. She’s sharp, strong, and cool under fire. The way she handled herself as Blofeld’s guest cemented it for me. “This woman is definitely the one for Bond.” And it goes without saying, her Cougar XR-7 convertible is awesome.
Citizen-Bot: Shaz, you took the words right out of my mouth. Julie Newmar and Diana Rigg (and Donna Reed for me, too, but that’s another story), and so if I thought I liked her before this film, I fell in love with her as much as Bond did.
Swank-mo-tron: The thing I might love most about this movie, though, is the heart of it. It’s the most heartfelt of the James Bond movies. And the ending is gut-wrenching. Of every Bond film, this one has the most perfect ending. Period. It’s tragic. It hurts. And I love it. And they ended it where they needed to, with the hurt, instead of tacking on another act to the film… *cough*Casino Royale*cough*
Shaz-Bot: Yes, I knew the ending of the movie before I watched it. That didn’t lessen the impact of it. In this movie Bond is actually able to open his heart and let someone in, then it gets torn from his chest and drop-kicked into the waste bin, just when he thinks his life is going to be sunshine and rainbows.
Citizen-Bot: Swank, you and I were IM’ing about a writing project you were working on (I think it was an early draft of the first few chapters of Operation Montauk?) the first time I watched this. I don’t know if you remember my reaction. I was flabbergasted. I don’t know another time I’d ever seen a movie that made my jaw drop like that. I imagine it’s like what it would’ve been like to have seen Empire Strikes Back for the first time, or the way my wife reacted in Fellowship of the Rings when Gandalf and Boromir died. I did not believe what I had just seen. And it was so intensely emotional. I’ll plead the fifth as to whether I shed a tear or not. Again, only in Casino Royale (extra, unnecessary act notwithstanding) has there been a death that was that impactful in any of these films– or for me, among most films in general. I think the most tragic thing of all, though, is this didn’t reverberate into any of the other films. When Bond confronts Blofeld in Diamonds Are Forever, he doesn’t act like a man out for vengeance, he’s the same old Bond. Same old Connery Bond. Which, again, was why this was so tragic there couldn’t be more followup films to this.
And as heartfelt as this is, we forget how badass it is! A coordinated helicopter attack on a mountain lair? It’s no ninjas in a volcano, but on the upside it’s not as silly as ninjas in a volcano. Stuff blows up in this movie, and it’s a lot of fun. But yet, they don’t need to resort to ridiculous explosions to make the movie exciting.
The biggest problem this film has is its unfortunate and predictable comparisons to Connery’s Bond. I take the opposite view. You like Connery so much? Then why, when they tried to bring him back after Lazenby and this film, did Diamonds Are Forever suck so bad? How is it that On Her Majesty’s Secret Service did everything so well, that as I’m making my way through the first several Roger Moore movies, all I can say is, “Saw it done. It was better in OHMSS.” For instance: compare the ski chase in The Spy Who Loved Me to this (or better yet, the craptastic ski chase in A View To a Kill). This ski chase scene (and I should point out how great the score is at this point, as well) has some of my favorite henchmen deaths of all time. “He had lots of guts” and the guy who falls off the cliff for s-i-x-t-e-e-n s-e-c-o-n-d-s all the way to the bottom of the mountains. It’s ridiculous and awesome. Blofeld and Bond have a chase scene on bobsleds. Yes. Is it cheesy? Nowhere near as bad as driving a moon lander through the Nevada desert in Diamonds. “Oh, but the floozies he beds in Blofeld’s mountaintop retreat are so unrealistic.” Yeah? And “Bambi” and “Thumper” are your idea of good? I’ll take any action sequence in this film over any of them in any of the next several Connery/Moore films. Nobody Does It Better? Hardly. Lazenby does it better. So is there an unfair comparison to the previous 5 Connery Bond films? Yes. But an even more unfair comparison is this to the next 5 Connery/Moore films, none of which can stand up next to this.
Compare the relationships Bond has with Solitaire, with Agent XXX and the one with Tracy. Tracy is a true equal- the only person really worthy to marry Bond. Who else in the entire series was the driver in getting Bond out of a jam? And, as Shaz pointed out, her car kicked ass– probably my second or third favorite Bond car behind the Aston Martin in the entire series. She saved his ass! Compare that with the sexism of “Oh, the little woman can’t drive the big truck” in Spy Who Loved Me. What was so perfect–beginning the film with her suicide attempt–this is a broken woman. Bond is a broken man. Seriously. Bordering on sociopath. But somehow they seem to fix each other– like the way Sasha healed Raskolnikov’s soul in Crime and Punishment. Which is why her murder is so intensely tragic.
Swank-mo-tron: As I’m watching these movies over again, I think this film has, once and for all, eclipsed Goldfinger as my favorite James Bond film. Lazenby is perfect, Savalas is fiendish, Diana Rigg is incredible, the emotional core of the film is the strongest of any Bond film. Out of 4 martinis, this film gets 5. Or 6. Or maybe one giant martini that adds up to 8. In my opinion, at this point, unless Skyfall blows my mind, this is the best James Bond film ever made.
Shaz-Bot: I’m not sure if I can rate this one above Goldfinger, although I did very much enjoy it. I think some of the skiing action scenes went on too long, and I didn’t like how they had to dub over Lazenby’s voice when he was doing the impersonation thing. Those aside, the movie gets props from me for a lot of the little moments. The subtle nod to Connery’s performance at the beginning, as well as Ms. Moneypenny crying at the altar when Bond is married are icing on the cake to an excellent film. I’ll give it 3.75 out of four Martinis, but with an extra olive for good measure.
Citizen-Bot: I’m with Swank. I mentioned when we did Goldfinger the heresy that it might not be the best. I’m still waiting for a final viewing of Casino Royale so I can compare them more in context, but this has the potential to be the best of all of them. 4 Martinis, which makes the average above four: our cup runneth over of vodka and vermouth. As well it should.
That’s an average of 4.5 Martinis…