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And so:
Then - 4
Now - 1
Then
As with many of the early films, I have a hard time reflecting exactly when I first saw them. I remember thinking how many well known and iconic images the film possessed. It's film that many would not know the name of, but elements from the film your average joe would maybe know. Bald Blofeld. The piranhas. Hollowed out volcano and Little Nellie. These were all known to me before my first viewing. Yet I was never overly impressed. More of a mediocre entry really. Fantastic score by John Barry though.
Now
I watched YOLT this past week on blu-ray in order to keep up to date with this thread. Now I'm not usually a fan of this. As I said, mediocre film. Have never been a fan of the over use of back projection.
However, with this latest viewing I thoroughly got caught up in it all. The stunning location work. The ever beautiful score. The mind blowing sets from Ken Adam. Yes it's over the top. Yes it's nothing like the Fleming source novel. Yes it's really taking Bond away from the character we were introduced to in the first three to four films. But my word is it visually stunning. And a great fun ride along the way to boot. Whilst it has it's flaws and is far from perfect. I have found a new appreciation for YOLT. And I'm happy I did.
Then - 5
Now - 2
Really...well can you do something about....Wait, can I take a monetary wish if I liked?
:D
Cheers @royale65
@Benny I'm touched that you are watching the Bond films, in order to keep up with this thread. I noticed that you gave this thread a shout out in either the Bondathon thread or the Last Bond Movie thread. So cheers!
By doing a film a week and rating it then or now gives me time to watch each film with plenty of time to add to this thread.
I couldn't fully understand the Cold War tensions at such a tender age. Likewise, I'll never be able to look at a car being picked up by a giant magnet with such wide eyed amazement ever again. It really comes down to the age-old debate, innocence vs. experience. Which is better for a slice of YOLT? When the curtain is pulled back and the wizard is revealed, is the magic gone? I wouldn't go that far but I think the illusion is more powerful in this instance.
Mark me down for a THEN, fellas.
Then - 6
Now - 2
It was a middle of the road Bond film for me when I first saw it, and still is. Cannot choose.
THEN: 7
NOW: 2
Then –
I first remember seeing Majesty's at a friend's house. I had seen a few of Connery's movies, and a couple of Moore's, so I was intrigued to see how this one stacked up. As it was on, my friends and I decided to play James Bond – it was around the same time that “James Bond Jnr.”, the animated series was on T.V – and I wanted to be “Q”, just to stay in the front room, to watch the film. Unfortunately, the excitement of my friends playing was too hard for me to resist. I remember going to play our version of 007, when the real Bond (or at least Lazenby's Bond!) cracked the safe.
Next year, and the “007 Heaven” marathon reached Majesty's. I was still feeling guilty over having ditched that film in order to play with my friends. This time I got to the bit where Bond is strangling the SPECTRE goon with a ski. Then I got called down for tea (or supper if one's posh). I asked mum if we could watch it downstairs. When I informed her of what film I was watching, she declined. She was a Connery fan, and although she had an unhealthy attachment to Moonraker, she wasn't going to watch Majesty's.
Majesty's has a bit of a stigma, that it's only just now getting over. After seeing Majesty's on Xmas Day (the same day I watched Thunderball), I went to my family, stating how good Majesty's was, but they would not give it a chance - the stigma was that strong. "He only made one; it can't be that good. Yada yada yada". But finally it seems to be getting the recognition that it deserves. While, on the other hand, Diamonds Are Forever is going in the other direction - lauded when it was first released, but sliding downhill since. Curiously, it states in The Essential Bond, by Lee Pfeiffer and Dave Worrall, that Majesty's has done well in the VHS market, so at least certain fans recognized its greatness.
Now –
One film is preventing Majesty's from reaching the top spot. And that is From Russia With Love.
Indubitably Now
11 years later, and OHMSS is now firmly at the top of my ranking and Lazenby is a utter legend in my book. Barry's magnificient score and the lush cinematography is amongst the best I have ever seen.
Then - 0
Now - 2
The first time I saw the film - the very first time - I did not know what to expect. I was still rather young and struggled with the Lazenby as in: not Connery, Moore or Dalton. The 'different' tone at the end of the film left me a bit beaten too.
So I gave myself a full day...
... and two days after my virgin viewing of OHMSS, I saw the film again and SUDDENLY! it hit me: this is a truly marvellous movie! In fact, I spent the rest of the week - some five or six days if memory serves me - watching OHMSS on a daily basis. I suppose 14 year old me didn't quite make himself popular in school professing his love for this 'old' Bond film with that obscure guy no-one had ever heard of, but I had caught the bug and it's never left me.
Truthfully, OHMSS is in my top 5. I continue to watch, enjoy and praise this jewel of a film.
So if 'then' is my very first viewing of the film, it's certainly NOW.
THEN: 0
NOW: 2
Yes, he's a legend alright.
The movie is flawed. The score is top notch. Love Diana rigg as Tracy. Has a great cast.
The editing is all over the place in the fight scenes and the movie itself could stand to lose scenes, as Steven soderbergh recently pointed out. Lazenby was proof that you can't just make anyone James Bond, as Peter Hunt arrogantly tried to say.
Lazenby could fight. He was a brawler. He could screw. He was doing that even when the cameras weren't rolling. He probably has kids born in that era we don't know about. He could not act to save his life, though. He was too young to play bond in this story. Bond had been around at this point. At 29, lazenby was just a damned kid.
It's easily a 3 star movie in spite of lazenby
For very very many many years Bond films were only for rental here, they could not be purchased. When a local video rental shop went bankrupt, they sold all their fims rather cheap and I got hold of one Bond film-my favourite, OHMSS. For very very many many years it was the only Bond film I owned, on VHS. I later bought it on dvd as well as the VHS quality was not that good, and for the extra material.
I am torn when it comes to the vote. The cinematic experience as a teenager was very special, and I was just getting into this Bond world. There are also things that bother me now, that didn t then. Tires screeching on sand, the other fella line, panicky references to older films (not the janitor whistling Goldfinger,Love That!), Laz trying to be flippant and casual (as a serious, badass or frightened Bond he is the closest to Fleming ever).
...but know what? I had only seen two then, now I have seen them all and it still staying on top makes me vote
NOW-4
Then
I recall exactly the first time I saw Majesty's. It was my eleventh birthday and was the only Bond film (at the time) I had yet to see. Roger Moore was my preferred Bond at the time, but Connery was good too. Then came this new bloke. I knew Lazenby was a one off. However I loved the film the first time I saw it. Totally hooked. It had the best story of any of the Bonds I'd seen, and that ending just blew me away. Unforgettable.
Now
If I watch OHMSS now, I still get the same excitement from it, as I did the first time I watched it. No matter the countless times I've seen it, it still has great re-watchabilty and appeal. As with FRWL before it, it is a film I find hard to fault. Of course there are small things here and there, but none of them lower my enjoyment of this absolutely stunning film. Easily one of the best.
Then -0
Now -5
Tie -1
Love it now just as much as I did then.
It wasn't until I read Lee Pfeiffer's book years later that I realized that some people actually liked OHMSS. Not only that but he said it was one of the best Bond movies. I was baffled. My turning point was when I read the novel in my teens. I really enjoyed it and was now very intrigued by seeing the film again. Well, needless to say, I loved it. Lazenby is simultaneously the best and worst thing about it. Perhaps that's going a little overboard. Despite his erratic performance, everything else is amazing. Fleming's story remains mostly intact and the supporting cast does a superb job of bringing these characters to life. The score and the locations are beautiful. It's exhilarating to watch Bond's courage and desperateness in the face of danger. Finally, the love story and the fact that they had the balls to give us that ending. Sorry if I went on too long but I can't say enough good things about it! Obviously, it's a NOW.
Then -0
Now -6
Tie -1
Today, with the benefit of all the information available to the modern Bond fan, I realize that Lazenby’s acting was more interesting as Sir Hillary than as Bond because someone else is donating their vocal talents during Hilly’s scenes. And I’m distanced enough from Savalas as Kojak to judge him as one of the better Blofelds. But Diana Rigg is still incandescent as Tracy, and Louis Armstrong’s rendition of “We Have All the Time in the World” has a poignance today, forty years later, that it could never have had for the callow youth that saw that ABC Movie of the Week on a tiny Black and white TV set. Today, having seen so many Bond films that differed drastically from the original Fleming novels, I greatly appreciate the fidelity to the original source that is embodied in this movie. Give us a vote for NOW and we’ll briefly forget about the saccharine Christmas song that really has no place here. We STILL have all the time in the world…
THEN: 0
NOW: 7
TIE: 1
Accordingly to the magnificent James Bond: The Legacy, John Cork and Bruce Scivally, OHMSS made it's debut on ABC, on the 16th and 23rd February 1976, and it was butchered to hell, opening on the ski chase, with a voice over, no less.
Connery thing. It just wasn't what I had been used to.
But time, distance, and maturity have a way of changing perceptions. With each subsequent viewing, the film got better. After Moore, Dalton, and Brosnan, revisiting
OHMSS with GL no longer felt as if an impostor were playing Bond. SC was long gone and I had come to accept other actors took on the role.
Initially, I compared GL with SC, but after Moore the comparison begins to change.
Add in TD, PB, and DC, and GL is no longer hampered by the comparison to one actor.
And that I believe is the key to the growing admiration of GL--we no longer had one Bond to compare him with, but five.
For a long time this film has been in my top five. GL's performance is not bad, mostly it is different than SC's Bond. The film itself is one of the best written and filmed. Other than the silly screeching tires on the beach, the filmmakers don't make their usual editing, continuity, and sped up film gaffs.
Having watched SC's films too many times to number, I am convinced OHMSS would not have been a good vehicle for him. There is a vulnerability about GL's Bond that would have been uncharacteristic coming from SC. In the most intimate scenes, SC always seems to keep himself at a distance, whereas GL succumbs to the emotions of being with Tracy.
For me, there are a number of Bond films the series could have done without, but OHMSS and CR are indispensable.
Here are my original words:
OHMSS was the last of all Bond movies that I saw. That was in 1989.
I didn't know anything about it and was quite surprised to see it had another actor in it and not Connery or Moore.
But I didn't mind and just watched it.
I was completely and utterly blown away by its greatness!
I cried bitter tears at the end.
OHMSS was immediately my favourite Bond movie (besides TLD that I saw at the movie theatre) and still is my No 3 only because Goldeneye came along later to climb to the throne.
Adding:
The great thing about youth is you go into things without prejudice and are open to anything.
I was 15 in 1989 so quite young but still old enough to understand the Bond movies.
I never did mind Lazenby being in the role.
After seeing OHMSS I thought there must be more Bond movies (with him) that I don't know anything of. Of course in 1989 I couldn't just google it up...so I was for a couple of weeks unsure how many Bond movies there might be left for me to watch.
When my parents finally told me there are no others I was disappointed.
Today I rank Lazenby last if I have to give an actor ranking. Until QOS I even ranked him No 5 before Craig.
But with only one movie he has to finish last. That's the only reason really.
It was Christmas 1969 and I had just turned 8 yrs old. I'd never seen a Bond film up until that point, but was familiar with 007 through the toys in the playground, so when my father took us to see OHMSS I had no Connery baggage when I took my seat in the cinema. I recall the supporting feature first, the short on the making of OHMSS and the ski shoots which is I think now featured on the DVD. One thing that struck me watching the documentary was the pulsating music of John Barry everytime they showed a clip from the movie. When the actual feature began I was by that point totally captivated by the music, plus the action and the violence. And boy did that title theme music send a chill down my spine! When Lazenby broke the 4th wall with his immortal line I instantly thought he was referencing Cinderella's glass slipper and thought nothing of it. What wasn't to like here for a young kid growing up in the 60s? It had snow, Christmas, fighting, explosions, pretty girls and an uber cool actor in the lead. I really couldn't tell back then it was his first acting gig, he seemed totally right for the part to my young ears and eyes.
For me, OHMSS was my first adult feature I saw in the cinema, soon to be followed by Beneath the Planet of the Apes and The Omega Man a few year's later. It was my gateway movie, the moment I outgrew my liking for softer kid-friendly films. I'm being honest here when I say I loved everything about OHMSS and I loved GL in his role of Bond. From that point onwards I was enthralled which would begin my quest to see all the previous Bond pictures, which was easy as they were often double-billed before the release of DAF. I bought the official OHMSS bubble-gum cards, the Corgi cars, and even got hold of the press kit featuring b/w photos, which I still have to this day.
Then: 6
Now:
I still love it, and I'm also glad that others have come round to my way of thinking. OHMSS really is a special movie.
Now: 6
Then -
Again I first watched Diamonds Are Forever on ITV's “00 Heaven Marathon”. The T.V Guide said that Diamonds was the most witty of Sean Connery's films. I assumed it followed on from the events in You Only Live Twice – the PTS to Diamonds has Bond in Japan, so it would seem logical. Therefore, I saw it as a witty companion to Twice, thus I never saw Diamonds as a poor sequel to Majesty's – I never even heard of the Lazenby Bond, let alone saw it, at this stage.
Now –
Diamonds has fallen sharply, both in opinions and rankings. A fun, breezy and peculiar little film.
Then - 1
Now - 0
Then
As with many of the older Bond films, I don't recall exactly when I first saw DAF. Though I do recall loving the witty dialogue and locales.
I know I'd seen it before I saw Majesty's, so there was never any thought of a revenge movie. Connery was still well...Sean Connery. The man was, sorry IS cool!
For a couple of hours of entertainment DAF was very acceptable. Connery, Tiffany and Plenty, Wint & Kidd, Willard Whyte and a healthy dose of fights, chases and explosions. What's not to love.
Now
On viewing DAF now it's a film that doesn't quite thrill me like it did. For several years now it's ranked at the lower / lowest end of my personal ranking. However on my most recent viewing, I did enjoy it immensely.
The issue I have is it seems like a cheapened down version of a Bond film. The special effects are terrible at times, the story is all over the place, possibly due to the sloppy editing. Connery is clearly enjoying himself, but it's not enough to save this from being a mediocre entry at best.
Then -2
Now -0
In 1990 it didn't make much of an impression on me. Films like Thunderball, The Spy Who Loved Me or OHMSS blew me away.
It would be easy for me to criticise Diamonds Are Forever and say it's the worst of all Bond movies.
Because, it is my least favourite and stands at No 23 and soon at No 24, once Spectre is released.
But there is not such a thing as a bad or worst Bond movie. Out of 23 good to near perfect movies one still has to be the least good. And that is DAF.
It never escaped the bottom of my Bond ranking list. It is still there and will forever stay there.