Review of On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) by Daniel D — 10 Oct 2015

On Her Majesty's Secret Service is often the forgotten Bond because it was in between Connery outings. Of course, this was a one off for George Lazenby, who wished to only play 007 once. The studio was able to get pretty much everyone else back, with the exception of Blofeld, for the film. I will say that this film with Connery probably would have been better, but this is by no means a bad film. It just has several problems that could have been fixed.

Lazenby isn't as good at pulling off the womanizing or bada** side of Bond, but his chemistry with Tracy, played by Diana Rigg, was great. Knowing that Rigg has a big part in Game of Thrones 50 years later was interesting to watch as well. But I'm not sure Bond has had as close of a relationship to a woman in any of the other films, which makes this film pretty unique. One of the biggest issues with this film though is the pacing. It's 2 and a half hours long, and you feel the length. There is a good 45-50 minutes or little to no action at all, and this is a Bond film. I can't say I wasn't at least on the verge of falling asleep at that time. But the film picks up in its last act for a semi-decent action film. I don't know why we continue to take our favorite spy in strange places ie; space, underwater, and now in snowy mountains, but it made for some fun ski chases.

Speaking of the action, this film has a huge issue in its editing. I know the 60's loved exaggerating the punches and fight scenes, but the fast paced and sped up editing here is obnoxious to say the least. To go along with that, the one liners were noticably bad, and the film is just not James Bond-y enough. Blofeld had a change of actor, which did change the character and the feel of the movie, but it wasn't necessarily a bad change. This film is really full of good and bad things to end up being yet another medicore Bond film.

+Rigg & Lazenby's chemistry.

+Gutsy second half.

-Boring middle act.

-Terrible editing.

6.1/10.