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I agree.
The filmmakers clearly made an effort to bring the character back to earth (i.e. back to Fleming) and to provide their script with some character development, something that not even the early greats ("From Russia with Love", "Goldfinger") had considered. The resulting entry has a unique feel among the early Bonds that wasn't to be found again until the recent ones starring Daniel Craig.
It's brilliant and the OHMSS instrumental title song is the best of the series.
I agree wholeheartedly and have been saying this for years. I mean, the guy had the confidence and swagger to walk unknown into the offices of the biggest movie producers in the world at that time and tell them "I'm your guy"...and get the part. Only James Bond could have pulled that off. The fact that we didn't get a properly toned, Peter Hunt directed revenge driven DAF as a followup is one of the greatest tragedies of this series imho...and I happen to love the DAF we got for its own strengths. In my ideal timeline Laz and Hunt would have done DAF, LALD and TMWTGG-- all of those films would have benefited from a more serious tone and a more physical Bond.
Very true. Lazenby and Connery forever convinced me that Bond needs to be cast more on personality than on acting ability. Connery had plenty of both but it was really his personality that came through in his Bond films, so much so that EoN tested hundreds of actors as his replacement, but send them all home over a cocky, overconfident guy from australia who never acted in his life.
Exactly. Fleming hated Connery when he was cast as James Bond, but by the end of his tenure warmed to him in the role. I feel that had Fleming lived he would've loved Lazenby's portrayal of Bond and the more human element that he subconsciously brought to the character, which was right from the pages of Fleming's books. I'd argue that On Her Majesty's Secret Service would've been Fleming's favourite film too. People are often hired for professional positions based upon personality so why can't actors too? If Lazenby and Hunt had returned for DAF, LALD and TMWTGG it would've been amazing. I also feel that it would've relinquished the stigma that Lazenby wasn't an actor and a mediocre Bond at best with the public. You get a sense when Bond is in Piz Gloria seducing 'The Angels of Death' that Lazenby is just behaving as he would in real life. George is James Bond as far as I'm concerned and every time I watch OHMSS I'm reminded of what could've been.
I agree with everything you are saying, but..
The fact that Bond was bedding and planning more, (8pm...9pm...10pm...) with women that he knew were being mind-controlled, manipulated, and imprisoned in the midst of his great budding "true" romance takes a slight edge off the potential impact at the end. It would have been a perfect time for 60's cinema to show a tad bit of restraint, but they just couldn't help themselves. :)
Agreed that the lack of revenge-based follow-up was the biggest mistake of the franchise so far. And yes - I am considering Brothergate.
Overall, a great film. The first and 3rd acts are among the best of the franchise.
Seeing MR in the summer of '79 made me a Bond fan again and I slowly began to build the interest, mostly through reruns of the films on the ABC network in the U.S. Getting the TV Guide was always a weekly highlight for pop culture fans as for many of us it was still the only way to know what was coming up as I didn't yet have cable. I was thrilled to find OHMSS was being broadcast the upcoming Friday, March 7, 1980 with the poster art of Bond and Tracy on skis.
My uncle had many of the Bond LP soundtracks and I pulled out OHMSS and the title theme threw me for a loop, it was almost a psychedelic experience and I anticipated the showing for several days. It was a good week as my middle school basketball team had its end-of-season party the night before and that Friday I had a good report card and the weekend started. As my annoying kid brother was shipped off to my grandparents for the night, it was 3 hours of me and Bond, one I wasn't real familiar with.
I had first seen OHMSS the first time on a double feature with DAF in the summer of '74. It threw me for a loop as the guy wasn't Connery or Moore and why was Kojak in the film? The ending threw me again. I never forgot it. As my same uncle as above had the Fleming novels, I scanned the last chapter and found it was the same sad result. Mind I was only 7 at the time, but a rather advanced reader.
I also caught the infamous 1976 ABC network showing and didn't remember it having the narration and all that. But it was still good. Flash forward four years and OHMSS was ripe for rediscovery. At the time, OHMSS was the series' red-headed stepchild. The Bonds were being shown on HBO and other cable movie channels at the time and it was never in the mix. You never heard about it and this may have been the first time it was shown as it was on ABC.
As MR and its gadgetry is what caught my interest, it was a revelation to discover how OHMSS, the film as far from that direction as it could be, captivated me so much. By 11 p.m. that night, it was one of my firm favorites and remains so to this day.
But the fun didn't end at 11. At that time on the CBS network, long before their 11:30 talk shows, they would show old TV series and movies and Fridays was the night of color Emma Peel Avengers followed by Return of the Saint. My Bond fandom also boosted my interest in other spy-related movies and shows. I'd caught a couple of Avengers prior to that night, but having just come off OHMSS it only boosted my eagerness in seeing more Diana Rigg and that night I also became a confirmed fan of The Avengers, which also continues to this day.
Happy March 7, OHMSS day for this Bond fan.
It's funny how they keep emphasising different in the original trailer.
I have always felt that this part of the film is one of the highlights – not just for how thrilling it is, but also for how Lazenby moves and acts throughout. It brings out the best of his performance as Bond.
I honestly feel that the moment Tracy skates up to Bond and he looks up to see her, and she says "James?" is one of the best moments in Bond movie history.
One of the aspects that has always stood out is the feel of how in danger Bond is in this film. I've seen OHMSS countless times over the years and yet I was still caught up in the suspense as SPECTRE relentlessly pursues him. There's no 7-foot goons with steel teeth or martial arts experts with razor-brimmed hats, just Blofeld, Bunt, Gruenther and a bunch of faceless goons, yet they make it more frightening just by this.
The current idea of how well Lazenby plays Bond's fear and fatigue really stands out and I can't think of any of the other Bonds, particularly Connery, playing this up. It's very unlike Bond, but that only adds to the suspense. There was a similar moment to running into the bear guy in TB during the Junkanoo when Connery runs into a guy who startles him.
It may have been brought up before, but Campbell is a really bad agent. Could he make it easier to blow Bond's cover?
I also found a bunch of new details I am adding to the I Never Noticed That Before thread. Maybe not news to a lot of you OHMSS aficionados, but fun discoveries for me.
It's such a heartwarming moment. Bond looks genuinely terrified leading up to it, which is also what makes it truly great. It also emphasises the tragedy that Lazenby didn't return for a proper Diamonds Are Forever with a revenge driven plot. He only would've gotten better by each film and I still regard what we got in On Her Majesty's Secret Service to be the best in the franchise.
I can’t remember ever feeling so relieved to see someone in a film. +1, great scene.
I understand that perspective but I'll give the film some slack as it was, after all, the "swinging 60s". Further I've always imagined that it wasn't until Tracy met found him in Switzerland, totally alone and vulnerable, and saved his bacon that he truly knew he'd found his one and only.
Thanks for sharing that @BT3366.
You’re totally correct in stating that OHMSS was not part of most early Bond-a-thons on Cable TV, and if it was included at all, it was usually shown at an odd hour when few could watch. Thankfully that has changed in recent years, and I was thrilled when OHMSS got one of the prime 8:00 EST slots on Turner Movie Classics last year.
The first time I saw OHMSS was at a Bond double feature in 1983 (w/YOLT), at one of those “cheapie” movie houses that used to populate New York City’s (Manhattan) West Side. After all of these years I still laugh at the memory of the guy seated behind me shouting: “No You’re NOT”, when Lazenby said “Bond, James Bond” (see end note).
What I remember even more, however, was walking out of the theater thinking that while I enjoyed both films (I had seen YOLT on TV before), there was “something” about OHMSS that I liked more. At that stage of my Bond fandom I couldn’t put my finger on exactly why I thought it was the better film, but it certainly made a unique impression. Exactly, why and what that was took a bit longer to figure out.
After all of these years – beyond the great action, Barry’s musical score, Michael Reed’s cinematography, and, of course the lovely Diana Rigg (a major teenage crush!)– I’ve concluded that - for me at least - its appeal is its very uniqueness. Unlike, most Bond movies of this period, where 007 is presented as a sort of human Superman, in OHMSS Bond experiences a range of normal emotions – fear, joy, triumph and finally loss and grief. And as I get older, that range reflects real life.
I could talk about OHMSS forever……
Note: That same guy that said: “No You’re NOT” earlier, was cheering madly later as Lazenby slide along the ice with gun firing during the attack on Piz Gloria.
Right - he may not have been truly in love with her until she saved him. I get that.
As shown in the dialogue before the safe-cracking scene:
Tracy: "But what can be better than being in love?"
Draco: "Mr Bond, he's in love with you?"
Tracy: "That may come too... some day."
That is also the last scene with Tracy before her reappearance at the ice rink. Bond's dalliances with the girls at Piz Gloria were part of his mission--if he didn't get to know them intimately, he wouldn't have discovered Blofeld's scheme.
Right. Then we have to believe that Bond, who has major adverse reactions to love, turned from not-love to unadulterated love with one skate-and-smile from Tracy. I guess. There really wasn't tons of time available to develop the relationship beyond what we saw.
I still think the film would have been better and more impactful without the boning of the mind-controlled, imprisoned Angels of Death. Still an AMAZING film - but one of the few things I don't LOVE about it. The other two being breaking the 4th wall and Bond looking at a Playboy mag. Bond is way to fricking cool to waste his time looking at porno. Could you imagine Bond making a weekly Friday night visit here to check-out the pics of the girls on the Bond Girld Friday thread? LOL
BTW - he learned crux of the scheme after his first rendezvous in Room 8. Saw the mind-controlling and everything. Didn't need three planned extracurricular adventures the next night.
I view it more that Bond was very close to being in love, and his experience with Tracy in Switzerland--her rescue of him, resourceful actions, and grace under fire--sealed the deal by the time they found refuge in the farmhouse. In contrast to the idle beauties of Piz Gloria, Tracy showed herself to be unlike anyone else Bond had met. And Bond's affairs with the angels confirm this--those affairs were purely sexual, whereas the relationship with Tracy brings out Bond's affinities to her. It can be argued that the Bond's purely sexual and "work-related" relations with the angels formed an effective dramatic contrast to his genuine love for Tracy.
I remember reading somewhere, that the “Playboy” reference in OHMSS was a tip of the hat to the magazine in that they ran Fleming’s novel ran as a three-part story in 1963. A similar thing happened in DAF, when we discover that Bond is a Playboy Club member. Even as late as the Pierce Brosnan era, Playboy and Bond were sort of tied together, in that the magazine would often publish a 007 related pictorial around the time of a new film’s release (of course, I know very little of this first-hand😊).
BTW: Knowing Laz, he probably tried to date Miss February (Lorrie Menconi) at some point. But, alas, she was married at the time.
(some adult content warning) https://www.thebondbulletin.com/the-ohmss-playboy/
I love OHMSS and like Lazenby as Bond but undoubtedly his strength was his physicality and the way he performed in the action scenes. He was brilliant in the fights, really sold it.
He weakness was clearly his voice acting, he wasn't a natural actor. Not awful, but not good, George Baker however was.
I've always felt giving Lazenby Baker's voice for a large chunk of the film, particular the part with the most dialogue, was a great way of disguising his shortcomings.
From a technical point of view it would have been easier for the Bond actor to do a Hilary Bray voice and then dub that voice onto the actor playing the real Hilary Bray for only the short scene in his office. I suspect the film makers felt Laz couldn't do that.
I could be completely wrong but that's my feeling n it.
Well, consider Nancy, the one who came to his room did so on her own. It's only implied about the Chinese girl, not that he actually did anything or really planned it. It just may have been Bond having fun. It was a risky proposition, though and got his cover blown.
I've always agreed with what Revelator said about Bond being rescued by Tracy being the moment he confirmed his love and commitment to her. Who knows if he was serious before on keeping the commitment to her. So it makes the escapes at Piz Gloria easier to take.
Piz Gloria is essentially Bond's bachelor party before the engagement. Give him a break!
I don't think it is customary for men to actually screw people at their bachelor parties. :)
This would be true.