*Warning: contains spoilers*
It wasn’t so much far up, far out, or far more as the 1969 poster states, but it was rather good as James Bond romps go. We had another round of film roulette on Saturday night (the rules are simple; all our film titles are scribbled down on paper, folded up and then picked at random) and as it was an 007 picture that came out on top, I favoured George Lazenby’s one and only outing. Why? I’d been told that it was set around Christmastime (it’s not that long after) and it also had an early appearance of then model and fledgling actress Joanna Lumley.
The second in the ‘Blofeld Trilogy’ between You Only Live Twice and Diamonds Are Forever, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service features Blofeld about to release a fatal and widespread global plague through a bevy of ‘angels of death’ unless a claim to a title and other demands are met. As an aside, Bond meets, falls in love, and marries Contessa Teresa ‘Tracy’ di Vincenzo, played by The Avengers actress Diana Rigg. Filmed at the legendary Pinewood, Portugal and Switzerland – largely at the now infamous Piz Gloria revolving restaurant – the movie did well, grossing $87m at the time, although Lazenby’s reception was both more shaken and stirred.
I’m not a Bond afficionado, but I think Lazenby deserves more credit than he received back in 1969 and since. And , although I’ve not seen many Connery Bonds either, I think the Australian actor that replaced the suave Scot did as good a job, if not better, job of playing the MI6 agent. Yes, there is a little awkwardness (Lazenby had never acted on such an epic scale before) and some scenes are a little clumsy, but overall, he should have stayed on for the seven films he originally signed up for. Thinking that the 007 franchise might be archaic in the forthcoming and more liberated 1970s he put away his Walther-PPK after just one movie.
It’s a shame. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service has many of the ‘right’ ingredients for a classic Bond movie. A strong cast (Kojak’s Telly Savalas played Blofeld), a script that reportedly stayed close to Ian Fleming’s novel, an exciting car chase with Ford Escorts on ice and stunning Swiss scenery all add up to a diverting couple of hours. The only real departure is the ending.
With Tracy lying dead in his arms, we see a hitherto unseen emotional side of Bond, which was built on for the recent blockbusters Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace (which rebooted the franchise) starring Daniel Craig. It’s non the worse for that, though, and with the lack of gadgets, it’s a stripped back Bond, again rather similar to today’s. If only Lazenby knew that 007 would still be doing his action man stuff some 40 years later; who knows how the series would have developed?