On Her Majesty's Secret Service

In On Her Majesty's Secret Service, 007 leaves the Service to privately pursue his SPECTRE nemesis Blofeld (played this time by Telly Savalas), whose latest master plan involves a threat to the world's crops by agricultural sterilization. Bond teams up with suave international crime lord Draco (Gabriele Ferzetti) and falls in love with--and marries--his elegant daughter, Tracy (Diana Rigg). Bond goes monogamous? Not at first; after all he has Blofeld's harem to seduce. Lazenby hasn't the intensity of Connery but he has fun with his quips and even lampoons the Bond image in a playful pre-credits sequence, and Rigg, fresh from playing sexy Emma Peel in The Avengers, matches 007 in every way. Former editor Peter Hunt makes a strong directorial debut, deftly handling the elaborate action sequences--including a car chase turned road rally through the icy snow--with a kinetic finesse and a dash of humor. Though not a hit on its original release, On Her Majesty's Secret Service has become a fan favorite and the closest the series has come to capturing the spirit of Ian Fleming's books. --Sean Axmaker

Let me just say this: from the opening credits I was transported to a wonderland of excitement and delight. The music, the villain, the fights, the women, and especially George Lazenby made it a great, great, great Bond movie. To this day, I regard it as possibly the film I have enjoyed more than any other I have seen. Briefly, let me dissect what made it such a great 007 film:

1.The Villain-Telly Savalas should have been Blofeld many more times. He is menacing and a good physical opponent for Bond. Savalas was doing many villains at this time in his career (Dirty Dozen, etc.) mainly because he was so good at it. Telly's Blofeld is very true to Ian Fleming. Along with Robert Shaw and Gert Frobe, I rate him among the best of the Bond villains.

2. The fights-the editing is outstanding, creating fast, violent brawls. Lazenby is quite formidable and believably dangerous-the way Bond should be and hasn't been since. The best Bond fight scene that stands alone is certainly with Oddjob, but the numerous fights in OHMSS are the most realistic and violent.

3.The Women-Diana Rigg (need we say more)-a real actress and the fantasy of every pubescent boy watching The Avengers. Also plenty of eye-candy in the chalet of Blofeld. And throw in Frau Bunt who seems resurrected in the Austin Power movies-she's a pure Fleming character: an evil sexless matron.

4.The music-definitely high-style John Barry. It is a departure from his earlier Connery films and very original. It's just great adventure music and the main title is damn dangerous to be listening to when driving your car. For fun, my kids and I have synchronized it to driving the mountain route in Sega Gt 2002-it's the perfect soundtrack. As an Album alone OHMSS is a proud possesion in my record collection.

5.Finally, (and ladies and gentlemen, I could go on and on about this) dear Mr. Lazenby. How anyone could be at the top, with the highest profile movie persona in the world, and then drop to almost total obscurity is lamentable to the most Shakespearean proportions. George was so young (stil in his twenties!) during OHMSS, he could have been Bond into the mid-nineties. I saw him playing a Bond-like character in some cheap John Stamos movie and he was still exciting to watch-too bad Stamos was the star. Bond must provoke intrigue, sophistication, sex, and violence. George Lazenby had it all. To you, Mr. Lazenby, wherever you are, I lift my glass in a toast to your James Bond of OHMSS.

I promised to be brief and so I end with so much unsaid about this terrific movie. New Year's Eve 1969 was an unforgettable movie experience. How many films can you remember the exact date you first saw them?


The weakest ending for any Bond film   June 10, 2004
Ardeal (Atlanta, GA United States)
It's no surprise there were no other Lazenby Bond movies. This one almost makes you root for the bad guys. The ending is idiotic and displays a total lack of creativity on side of the producers.


Best or Worst??   June 9, 2004
jbn 63
Some say it's the worst of the Bond's, some say it's the best. What's the truth? Well, here's my take: Lazenby is more human, more boyish and more vulnerable than Connery, which makes him less exciting to watch but probably closer to the original character as authored by Ian Fleming; his acting has frequently been called "wooden" but strangely enough the real Bond from the books is sort of wooden himself. Although the film is relatively slow and action free in its first hour, that's not so different from other early Bond's; the difference here is that the script is less tight, frankly more amateur and needed a good pruning. Diana Rigg is one of the few Bond girls who can really act, and gives a fabulous performance. Savalas is also very good. The plot is solid and strong, and the business of Bond getting married to Tracy and the tragic ending is unusual and interesting - I personally find it moving too. The witty throwaway lines in this film are rather less witty than in the previous Bond's, and if you look carefully you have the impression they may have been overdubbed in post-production by a team desperate to give the film a bit more panache. But what I love most about this film is the extraordinary mountain scenes, the night skiing, the helicopter attack on Piz Gloria and the cable car action. Boosted by John Barry's marvellous score (one of his best, and surely the Barry Bonds must take five of the top ten of all time) this is the bedrock of the film and represents some of the finest Bond action anywhere, anytime. Watch it on a (very) big screen if you can, and for this alone it rises (for me) from a 3-star movie to a 4.5.


One of the Best of the Bonds   June 2, 2004
The JuRK (Our Vast, Cultural Desert)
A lot of 007 fans argue over this one to this day, but I still think this is one of the best James Bond films ever made. The directing is first-rate, the action scenes electric, the snazzy soundtrack felt organic and still feels very 60's, and you had Emma Peel from THE AVENGERS as one of the best of all Bond girls.

It sounds like Diana Rigg is a bit dismissive about her action babe roles in the 60's (she complains that THE AVENGERS was not "the sum of my career") and I've seen her in some serious roles (she was great and chilling in a Brit mini-series called
MOTHER LOVE) but--come on, Ms. Rigg--you were just too smart and way too sexy for us to ever forget as Mrs. Peel and Traci!

George Lazenby had impossible shoes to fill, but I'm glad they went with a new actor (John Gavin and Adam West had been named as possible Connery successors). Lazenby's face has moments of Bond's cold killer side that hasn't been seen since (Brosnan came close a couple times in GOLDENEYE and when he kills Sophie Marceau in THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH) and you believe him in the action scenes. No, he wasn't Sean Connery, but he was James Bond--especially in the final haunting scene.

Telly Savalas makes a physically-threatening Blofeld and his thuggish bid at a "legitimate heritage" reveals how nutty his supervillian really is (in the other films, they're insane only through their crimes or Bond just proclaiming, "You're insane").

I'm not sure if Director Peter Hunt was jettisoned when this film failed to perform as well as previous Bonds at the box office, but the producers should have really given him another film to do. He'd been an editor on previous Bonds and he really brought an exciting energy to the fights and chases.

OHMSS is right up there with FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, GOLDFINGER, and THE SPY WHO LOVED ME as far as my favorites go (I include SPY because it was so darn fun).