Review of On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) by Alex K — 26 Nov 2008

For many James Bond fans and myself included, this is the BEST film of the entire series. However, those people who aren't as familiar with Bond tend to watch a few without ever getting to see this one. This is mostly due to the fact that Bond was not played by Sean Connery or Roger Moore or any of the other more well known actors. Australian-born George Lazenby won the role after beating 200 other auditioning actors for the role previously played by Sean Connery for five films, but left the role only after one film when audiences wouldn't accept the fact that Sean Connery had left (Connery returned for a couple more films in exchange for record sums of money). What makes this film particularly unlike many other Bond films is its place in history as really the first in the series (for the exception of From Russia With Love but in a much smaller measure) to explore heavily into Bond's human side and his vulnerabilities (unlike Goldfinger and Thunderball which delved more into his invincibility) supported by a really excellent script by Richard Maibaum. Peter Hunt, the editor of the first five Bond films, takes over the director's chair to create a wonderfully elegant, visually sophisticated --even within its action sequences, often lyrical film within the then still budding action film genre (Westerns and war films were the only things that really came close to Action before the 'hero in present time' idea came out with Bond). George Lazenby gives a very human and approachable interpretation of Bond supported by spunky yet delicate Diana Rigg as the suicidal Bond girl, Tracy (another interesting human element), and a devilishly charming and charismatic performance by Telly Savalas playing Bond's arch-nemesis Blofeld (yes, the bald guy with the cat that ended up spoofed by Mike Myers into Dr. Evil-- actually a shame that this recent image looms over the character of Blofeld which is probably one of the best developed villains in the history of cinema). This is a film where the lone hero actually falls in love, is rescued by a woman, and eventually marries her. It is that ending though that Bond fans will never forget and why it is so important in understanding the character's often vengeful side in the later films.

When all is said and done it is just what director Peter Hunt has said: "Who [makes it] James Bond? It's not Sean Connery. It's not Roger Moore. It's not any of the others. It's James Bond... and he [Lazenby] was James Bond." Not only is this an excellent Bond film, but one of the best crafted action films. The new Casino Royale draws a lot of its inspiration from this film.