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We don't even see the FYEO Blofeld's face, and he's only there for the PTS. How could anyone possibly prefer him to Savalas?
Best Blofeld ever is a tough choice for me, we can readily take Charles Gray out of the equation, I think it's either Pleasance, Savalas or the unknown one from FRWL we never get to see, he had a certain menace and although unseen, just had that ominous presence..
Erm, why? Gray was an amazing Blofeld. Menacing, calculated, something of the night about him
For the record I much prefer Savalas' take on Blofeld over the others. At least he carried himself better and had an air of actual menace about him which Pleasance struggled to carry off, even with the fake facial scar. Savalas' Blofeld is tougher than previous versions and joins his troops searching the Alps for Bond - something one can't imagine the Pleasence incarnation doing. The main problem can be found in the fact that Pleasance was a last minute replacement for Czechoslovakian actor Jan Werich... and it shows.
As for Charles Gray, he should never have been recast as Blofeld. The one thing I dislike about some of the Bonds is the recycling of past actors into different roles. Another misfire from Cubby who was holding the reins on DAF.
The whole topic of whether OHMSS is overrated is far too premature, especially when the film has only recently been reevaluated. If anything, it's still only valued by the Bond connoisseurs and is yet to please the soufflé Bond fans who like their movies sugary and light and have yet to come on board.
It's all a matter of taste and whether you have the right palate for it.
He has ingenious lines, like "Good afternoon, Mr. Bond, don't concern yourself with the pilot. One of my less useful people" and "I've looked forward to this moment, Mr. Bond. I intend to enjoy it to the full".
And about OHMSS, I would have liked a DAF-like version of it with Moore as Bond and Pleasence or Gray as Blofeld. The love story would be scrapped and it would remind us of a Moore Bond movie.
What makes me laugh are there are far more preposterous OTT entries out there but these people bitch about it when it all gets too serious, you've had your share of the series now it's someone else's turn.
PB maybe the worst Bond and have the poorest entries but Moore's ridiculous portrayal was where all the carry on nonsense started save DAF which really was a RM film with an over weight over the hill Connery making a fool of himself.
As I get older I get more and more less tolerable of Moore's films, I can't watch the majority of them without cringing.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this discussion and was going to chime in myself, but I don't think I can add anything at this point. This review above describes pretty much how I feel about OHMSS fantastically almost word for word, especially that last paragraph.
@slyfox: you get my vote for post of the year!
@00Beast: My only hope is that you take this to heart and one day you may enjoy the grandeur of OHMSS.
I'd love to see the memos that surely flew between Eon and their lawyers about just how much "Blofeld" they could show ("white cat OK, name not OK, bald OK, face not OK?"). I'm sure MGW was very involved in those discussions.
Why do Pierce Brosnan and Roger Moore always seem to get the short straw for worst Bonds? In my opinion, they are the two best, and their Bond movies make for my favorites in the series because they are so undeniably entertaining and edge-of-your-seat thrilling. They're colorful, exotic, wild, explosive, large-scale, and pure 007.
For the interest of the serie, I wished as others, Connery did it, as we would have felt it more concerned in the character, particularly at the ending scene...
His performance is wooden as hell though.
1.) Lazenby is the worst Bond out of all 6. He is a bad Connery rip off. His delivery of "My name is Bond, James Bond" makes me cringe every time.
2.) I do not like Kojak as Blofeld. Why couldn't they have hired back Donald Pleasence?
Fix those two problems and I'd probably rank it higher on my list. If you do not respect the man in the role of Bond, it really ruins the film.
Would OHMSS be a better Bond movie with Connery in the role? I don't know. I don't think we'll ever know. Yes, Connery was the better actor. But I have doubts over whether he would have been able to portray Bond in such a personal way. And to be honest, I was so satisfied with the movie and Lazenby's performance that in the end, I didn't miss Connery one bit.
Can you imagine the short and stocky Pleasence skiing around?
Has always been my No. 2 Bond film - and probably always will. Can't really see any modern Bond overtaking it. Solid story from Fleming which Peter Hunt kept as close to as possible in film terms. Never tire of watching this classic Bond movie.
TheWizardOfice nails it. The complete lack of taste omnipresent in "such ludicrous points of view" are a sure indication that the authors are extremely short of those little grey cells!
OHMSS is a phenomenal novel that was made into a good movie!
First time I watched it, I hated it. When I saw it on Blue-Ray, I liked it, though it's still not one of the best imo.
So much works in this movies. Faithful to Fleming, great ideas, fantastic locations and the cast and crew is magnificent.... well, with the exception of George Lazenby.
Let me say this, for his first acting gig, he does better that one would have thought. But overall I just have such a hard time accepting him as Bond.
Besides, the time was wrong. He was too young and OHMSS the worst movie he could have started with. OHMSS, for me, is about an older Bond, who after many adventures and women, finally finds the girl of his life and is ready to settle down. It really is about an aging man who finally is about to find his peace after a dangerous life.
And that just does not work with Lazenby imo.
Besides, the plot with hypnosis just dated really bad (but that's minor criticism which can be used for many Bond films).
I however find the editing sometimes distracting and annoying and I do think that this movie has pacing issues.
Furthermore I think chemistry between Laz and Rigg could have been better and the Bond/Tracy story could have been told better.
The truth is, we have two scenes that really should convince us that they are in love. And while it works, the love montage still is a bit cheesy (even with that amazing song!).
That said, there is so much to love in this movies. The M/Moneypenny scenes belongs to one of the best in the franchise, the ending is fantastic and touching, Piz Gloria amazing, the score fantastic and truly makes some scenes work.
Overall it is a good Bond movie, but imo very overrated and ridiculously adored by some of us around here. Though I don't mean to offend anyone with that statement!
I think it's mainly because it was dismissed for so long the adoration is borne out of that sense of realisation that in fact, it's so bloody good. It was re-evaluated in a sense, the series drifted so far away from what OHMSS was, that it's only in hindsight you can look back and go 'actually, this is something really special'. It's also more in keeping with the trend of modern blockbusters so feels fresh when compared to something like DAF, which while being great fun is rather kitsch.
@RC7 I agree with that.