Review of On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) by Patrick L — 03 Sep 2008

This is the first Bond movie with a new actor. Sean Connery had announced that You Only Live Twice would be his last Bond movie. So for this one, a relatively unknown actor was chosen - George Lazenby.

The result: a new direction for the Bond movies. George Lazenby is really not too bad as James Bond. He has the look and is good in the action scenes. The area he lacks is in acting, where Sean Connery was excellent.

Telly Savalas was a good choice to play Blofeld, and he almost outdoes Donald Pleasance. Diana Rigg is also a great choice to play Tracy. This plot is different - cool idea, and there are several firsts for Bond here, and this one takes a different but interesting turn.

This is also the ONLY Bond movie that does not have a happy ending. In fact, it's downright sad, but I won't ruin it for you. There are a few touching moments in the last 10 minutes or so as well.

All in all, this was a good change of pace for the Bond movies, and even though Sean Connery isn't involved, it's still pretty good.