Review of On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) by Kieran F — 02 Jul 2014

Okay...It took me almost 10 years till I saw this film again and..you know I wasn't EINTIRALLY disappointed.(I remember as a kid watching it and hatting it cause at the time I was more into Moore,who is my personal fav, then other bonds) Okay I'll start with the GOOD first that way people won't hate me and bash me too much for the film when I'm done.

1st off. The story is a decent and interesting story for a bond(especially considering that when compared to the other bonds based off the books it follows the book more closely then a lot of the others.) Bond is taken off the case of finding blowfeld and decides to resign so that he may go after him on his own,similar to L2K, while on his travel for vendetta he breaks the cardinal 'bond rule' of getting married BUT his wife is quickly killed and sets the ton for latter bonds. Similar to License to Kill but not played out as good. But at the same time it was interestingly enough to keep me involved but NOT interestingly enough for me to keep coming back. Maybe because the person bond was going out for vengeance for wasn't as..connected to him as the person in L2K(sure it was his wife in this one but this was THE ONLY film she was in and not for long) I don't know though.

2nd the Ski scenes in this film ARE AMAZING they're possibly some of the best ones done in the whole series of the films(The only ones that could be compared to it are the ski scenes For your eyes only) and where really exciting to watch and also kept me(personally) on the edge of my seat the whole time I watched them.

Now I have another 3rd part but I'll add that with my bad part too cause they're part of the same.

BUT I will start off with the bad's now(Which aren't a lot but are just enough to make me not like this film as much as some of the others) 1st off. That scene of where Lazenby goes through the stuff after he 'Resigned' was kinda weird and unnecessary. for starters if he's suppose to be the same bond wouldn't people already get that? like sure it's a different actor but he's the same bond. But when you see him go through the stuff that he collected from the past 4 films was kinda weird. It was almost as if they thought the people where dumb or something cause they wouldn't know this was bond. Sure Connery "Is bond" but he's not BOND in actuality. Bond is a figment of someones imagination. so anyone can act as him. So to say one person is him is just dumb. I know at the time it wasn't thought bond would be a continuing story and that a new actor taking over every few years was Sacrilegious or something. BUT at the same time to jump on a band wagon and knock him down before you see him is just dumb.

Now this isn't jumping on the bandwagon(Cause I'd hate to)but this next part IS about Lazenby. As I said before his fight scenes are well done and he's good at them but...his acting is something that needs work. He's not BAD but seeing as before the bonds he was a model doesn't really mean he'd be a great actor. BUT the interesting thing about him is he does a good job in his fight scenes. I thought his fight scenes where great. some of the best I've seen a bond actor do for a long time. and the fact too that he preformed a lot of his own stunts was great. I think it's interesting to that it wasn't till Timothy Dalton that we saw another bond do that.Also though I'd like to add that all though Lazenby didn't do that great a job of ACTING the part he didn't interally ruin the film for me. To be honest he's not the only downer to this film(as you can see) but he's not the biggest high point for me either...would've enjoyed this more with a different actor..maybe. Does Lazenby though ruin the film for me? no.

Another downer for me was the whole Hypnoses scene. It just seemed dumb and the whole time I watched it I was rolling my eyes. Like I don't know WHY they added that scene or where it came from(I know they where being brainwashed to distribute bacteriological warfare agents throughout various parts of the world but at the same time it was just eye rolling) Watching it I was thinking to my self Who came up with this idea??? and unlike other bond films with goofy ideas this one just went over the top and too long.

And finally the last downer for me was the theme song. It wasn't that great and the vocals got very annoying very fast for me.

All in all after watching this film I'll admit it is enjoying and that also the set's are pretty cool. Blowfelds mountain resort was def. a high point in the sets. It's not THE BEST but it's def. an underrated bond. It's worth watching and...it's also worth watching a couple of times.