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Would love that they could find what was filmed of that chase and the taxi chase/smash from FRWL which was completed and put in the first cut until someone pointed out that the Bulgarian operative had been killed in an earlier scene. Come on EON give the punters what they want!
OHMSS! Never get tired of it! Best Bond movie. Everytime i watch its like watching it for the first time! High praise for everyone involved, but especially for Director Peter Hunt. Its a shame Cubby didn't give him another shot at a Bond film!
Good story, good characters, well written and Directed, excellent score,great locations and exciting action!
Not the best Bond actor, by a long shot, but Lazenby is not the disaster he was made out to be! What flaws it has are minor, and for me its just near perfect Bond film!
I would say early 90's.
In the 80s it was all about availability. ITV used to show Sean and Rog films frequently so I had seen most of them but because OHMSS was the alleged runt of the litter they didn't bother so often and as the received wisdom was it was shit I don't think I saw it until around 1985. Bring only 10 at this point I loved the fights, skiing and bobsleigh but found the Tracy stuff rather dull. Nonetheless I liked it overall but thought it would be better with Sean or Rog (so naive in those days)
As a member of the JBBFC back then I remember around 1992 they uncovered the scene at the cable car station between Campbell and Grunther which was a big thing and it was the the first time I'd read people saying that the film was a classic, which was the conclusion I had come to myself in the intervening 7 years (it was this film and to a lesser degree FYEO that prompted me to take up skiing lessons at Telford dry ski slope!).
The 25th in 1994 and the release of the sumptuous box set widescreen edition with restored scenes (the high point of Bond box sets, although the GE and TND ones were pretty close) cemented it as a bona fide classic in the eyes of the fans and perhaps some of the critics got on board at this point too.
I think the Guiness advert using WHATTITW at around the same time also helped give it a boost and something of a reappraisal in the eyes of the public and the critics.
But I imagine there is still a majority amongst the public who, because George only did one, consider it a flop.
It's a bit of a myth that OHMSS was screened less by ITV than any of the other films - it was actually on 4 times in the 80's and most of the others available at the time were screened either 4 or 5 times each. Actually I have Goldfinger down for only 2 transmissions in the 80's (in 85 and 87) but perhaps I'm missing some data there.
Incidentally, I don't see how the JBBFC can have managed to uncover the Campbell and Grunther scene in 1992 when it had been on all the US CED, VHS and Laserdisc releases since 1982...
That's never going to happen, unfortunately. Just stills and storyboards.
As I had no access to the US versions I'm just reporting what Graham Rye claimed. I had no reason to disbelieve him. Maybe yanks had that scene but it was never aired in the UK screenings, nor on UK VHS versions I believe.
Similarly the whole safecracking scene was cut from some versions.
In the final cut that we have now the scene where the Angels of Death get their gift is also longer than it used to be.
I thought Helfenstein would be able to shed some light on this but all his book can contribute is that there were numerous different versions of the film and that the RCA CED was incomplete, although he doesn't specify what scenes are missing.
He also states that the UK TV premiere was 1983 which sounds rather late to me and conflicts with this:
https://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/articles/history_bond_on_tv.php3
which states a more credible 1977.
Kids today don't know they're born. Remember the days when once a film was gone from cinemas it would be two years till you could buy it on video and 5 before it was on telly?
Pretty sure you could have tracked down a cinema still showing SP the day it was released on DVD.
I managed to track a fairly decent original pressing down over a decade ago as my Dad's by then was unplayable.
As I would have been around 6 when OHMSS was originally shown on TV in 1978 I think this would most likely been my first time I saw it. The below link might throw some light on the broadcasts here in the UK.
http://www.espmag.co.uk/james-bond-on-the-box-an-esp-ionage-tribute/
I also found this link that would back up my memory of seeing both OHMSS & DAF as double bill in the 80's at the cinema.
http://www.espmag.co.uk/james-bond-on-the-box-an-esp-ionage-tribute/
As I said from the moment I saw it I loved it, the music was obviously familiar to me by this time as I would have heard it countless times and it still remains from then to this day to be my favourite score of all time.
As as kid Lazenby as Bond would have been no great shakes to me, I came to Bond on the screen with SWLM anyway and most likely would have possibly caught a Connery sometime after that.
I do remember thinking YOLT was defintely a favourite but whereas I find that now middle tier or so OHMSS continues to be my favourite of the series and even in the light of being a big DC fan I don't see that changing.
It would be a lie to say that the music does not factor into this in a big way but despite GL's inexperience he completely sells the role to me and the production values, the standard of cinematography, the action sequences and the supporting cast. Only CR in my view has given it a run for it's money but then Royale's score is nowhere in the same class and Barry's effort will no doubt make it continue to be king for me.
I think any following entry however good in all the other departments are never going to approach Barry's masterpiece.
I don't remember it being broadcast much on TV here, infact when we got our first video recorder when I was around 12 which would have been 1984 I do remember a friend of mine and I who was a Bond fan waiting for OHMSS to be broadcast again so we could tape it.
I think it was round when the the widescreen presentations on VHS were made available that the film started to grow in stature but I always thought it was one of the best and I can say that genuinely.
As Wiz said kids don't know they are born today, the idea of Bond film being on telly was an event and 1 or 2 at a time a year if you were lucky.
In the advent of VHS it was still a good year or more even when the sell through market kicked in you'd be waiting for them to appear. For me the appeal of Bond being on TV went out the window by the time sell through was upon us and remember collecting some of them when the silver anniversary releases appeared £15 then when they were reissued again for £10 in the rather cheap looking blue design, I think I got them all up to LTK as that was the latest at the time.
Loving those TV Times Bond covers. I definitely had the one with MP on but I don think it has survived.
This gave me a chuckle though:
'In the build up to Christmas 2015 TV, dominated with atrocities, airstrikes and Mrs Brown’s Boys getting another Christmas special'
As perfect an example of tautology as I've ever seen.
Cheering to see the simply staggering (in this day and age) viewing figures for LALD and TSWLM.
Bond is certainly an Xmas tradition with me. Doesnt matter where I am in the world there has to be a Bond film on at some point.
It was a really good mag actually !
I still buy a TV guide,in paper format - none of that digital rubbish !
I grew up with VHS then DVD, though I do remember when it took considerably longer for a film to come out on video after it had left the cinema.
Too right! You can shove your Twitter and your Huffington Post up your arse! Look In was where the cool kids hung out.
Interviews with Nik Kershaw and The A Team comic strip. What's not to like?
Although I do remember a Cannon & Ball comic strip too so perhaps we are viewing this through the deceptive prism of nostalgia that makes MR a better film than SP?
Hahaha that's a very good point!
"Eeee I could crush a grape - rock on Wizard !!" ;)
Surely that's Stu Francis?
Come on Sir please get your shitty 80s kids telly references right!
Terrifying to think that if Look In existed these days it would be feature a 'Mrs Brown's Boys' comic strip!*
*OK pedants I know it wouldn't because, of course, Look In was a magazine only featuring ITV programmes. But you take my point at the degradation of both TV comedy and children's publications featuring comic strips based on TV shows in the intervening three decades.
No unfortunately he did say it....I saw them at the theatre twice ..*hangs head in embarassment..*