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 1969 PG / Action Thriller Directed by: Starring: |
- Far up! Far out! Far more! James Bond 007 is back!
Summary Capsule
- James Bond, looking for Blofeld as well as the fabled “girl of his dreams,” just might find everything he needs as a result of a good deed. Too bad Bond’s world is a very dangerous one, indeed...
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Kyle's Rating: Quite possibly the best Bond film and the best spy film of all-time
Kyle's Review: For a wide variety of reasons, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is an odd anomaly among the rest of the series. Most significantly, it’s the only film to star George Lazenby, a male model who won the role Sean Connery tired of; a role Lazenby left after his one and only performance here as Bond (see: Bad Idea Jeans). In addition, the relationship between Bond and his main Bond girl gets farther than any before or since, Teri Hatcher and Sophie Marceau be damned. And time is spent on actual character development! A lot of time! Wait, is this a James Bond film or what? Crazy!
Aside from the pre-credits sequence wink at the audience, courtesy of a pleasant Lazenby quip and glance at the camera, OHMSS is that ultimate spy film that everyone seems to want yet doesn’t believe exists. It does exist. And it just so happens to be a James Bond film.
Did I mention the main Bond girl? Tracy is played by Diana Rigg, who is (in my opinion) the most beautiful woman ever born. It’s no wonder Bond falls rather hard, harder than any other girl in the series. How can I tell? Well, when the bells toll for thee, it’s fairly significant...
If not the ultimate spy film, could OHMSS be the ultimate Bond film? Maybe, actually. It’s in the details. The way Bond deals with the Contessa pulling his own gun on him rather perfectly captures the essence of the Bond character. The way he can go, quite believably, from anger to good humor to flirtatious, and back again, in a matter of moments. The actual spying he does, earning that “spy” moniker he carries around.
Best of all is the way you can always tell Bond is thinking about his next few moves. It’s always a mark of distinction in a professional review when they observe that the characters are always thinking, because that can help make a great movie. Half the time, if the characters were to think, the movie would be over in, well, half the time. So giving the characters enough depth that they seem capable of intelligent thought means creating a film that’s smart enough to hold them. OHMSS is a smart movie. Throw in violence, Lazenby’s charm and Rigg’s beauty, and you have one of the greatest films ever made. Yes!
OHMSS does require patience (it’s long!) and an appreciation for how the spy game used to be (see the safe-cracking sequence, where Bond allows the large photocopier-safe-cracker machine to do the bulk of the work while he sits back with a Playboy he finds tucked in a newspaper). It’s slightly dated, in other words, but just as relevant as it ever was. Don’t worry, though: it’s still pretty cool.
I think OHMSS’s albatross is how it’s so unlike the other Bond films. Die-hard Bond fans tend to dislike it because it’s so realistic and genuinely dangerous (where’s Bond’s raised eyebrow and seeming invulnerability to harm/death?), and non-Bond fans avoid it simply because it’s Bond. Such a shame, because a lot of people don’t know what they’re missing out on. If you’re looking for a quality spy film, OHMSS is just your bag. If you’re looking for a fresh take on the Bond formula, as well as the source of some of those darkly-themed lines in other Bond films (such as in The Spy Who Loved Me, when Anya gets under Bond’s skin momentarily with that one little personal tidbit about his past), you should definitely complete the Bond experience and see On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. If for nothing else than for the location shooting, too: now that’s some good skiing!
Al's Rating: The film that should have changed everything.
Al's Review: On Her Majesty's Secret Service nearly killed the James Bond franchise. I tell you this because context is important in a film, and, before I jump into my review, I'd like to provide some.
Connery, having hit a rough patch in his career, agrees to be paid a disgusting amount of money to suit back up and appear in Diamonds are Forever. Diamonds is goofy and gadget-laden, with cheap laughs and dumb bad guys, but grosses $116 million anyway and proves to the studios that no one is interested in character development so much as they are interested in fiery explosions and rappelling cummerbunds. With Diamonds considered a success, it opens the door for Roger Moore and the era of wacky faces, miracle-working gizmos, and women with names like Octopussy and Dr. Holly Goodhead (not that Pussy Galore was any better, but still...). After twelve years and seven progressively more painful films (sorry, Kyle!), Moore hands off the tux to Timothy Dalton, who is determined to return the series to it's literary roots — his Bond never quips, never stumbles and never misses a shot. He's also mopey, perpetually irritated and not any fun to watch. In fact, I'm pretty sure he doesn't smile for two entire films. Moviegoers agree and Dalton belly flops after the failure of Licence to Kill. At this point, thankfully, the Broccoli family figures out that their franchise is flatlining and retires it until Remington Steele is available to save the day, circa 1995.
The moral of the story? Audiences of the sixties were stupid and On Her Majesty's Secret Service is a great film. A lot of the studio's money and my time (especially that spent typing and retyping the last few paragraphs) could have been saved if only they had realized how good O.H.M.S.S. is and kept the Bond films on that track. Sadly, it is the mob that controls Rome. Or maybe it was France. I can't remember. Anyway, the people spoke, and they were pretty cheesed at Lazenby and his grown-up spy stories. So instead of James Bond the complex, three-dimensional secret agent, we wound up with James Bond the Vaudevillian Goof-off and James Bond the Manic-Depressive.
Now, the success or failure of any Bond film falls naturally on the man in the tux, and, in my estimation, George Lazenby does a more than respectable job of shouldering the burden . He is no Sir Sean, but shows a lot of promise in the trousers of the big B. Admittedly, his "charm" is more Jim Nabors than Cary Grant, but I?m willing to chalk that up to inexperience and write it off, as I feel he succeeds on so many other fronts. This Bond, for example, is imbued with a toughness that had been lacking in the last few outings. That may seem like a weak rebuttal, but watch him again. In the instances where Lazenby is allowed to drop that dopey Pyle smile and put on his game face, you can see the "blunt instrument" at work that Fleming always envisioned his 007 to be. His punches hurt and the pithy wisecracks that would so often drain the hits of their impact in the future are in short supply here. For the first time since From Russia With Love, and perhaps the last time until Casino Royale, there is appreciable danger in this film's violence and you can see real exertion on the part of our hero. Certainly, I won't proclaim Lazenby a perfect fit in this outing, but I do believe he had all the makings of a real successor to the mantle and it's a shame he did not have the time to become more comfortable in his skin.
In terms of story, O.H.M.S.S. is not quite as solid or interesting as what has come before, but it does it's job competently enough for my tastes. How many Bond plots to people actually retain, anyway? Remind me again what Aristotle Kristatos was after? Or Dr. Kananga and Baron Samedi? Exactly. Anyway, this time around, Bond is whisked from destination to destination, and, per usual, is conveniently supplied with all the exotic locales, beautiful women, and conveniently dangerous-looking hillocks and mountainsides needed to satisfy the necessary quotient of sex and violence that these films thrive on. The script even manages to leave room for a scene or two that doesn't exist solely for the purpose of pushing the plot along. Score one for character growth!
The villain, unfortunately, will tend to grind things to a screeching halt from time to time. Telly Savalas' turn as mastermind Ernst Stavro Blofeld is, in a word, lacking. The mysterious head of the terrorist organization SPECTRE, Blofeld has had a nasty habit of narrowly escaping Bond's clutches time and time again while keeping his face hidden behind smoke screens, frosted glass, or well-placed ceiling ornaments. You Only Live Twice finally saw the faceless villain revealed and defeated (though not captured), so in this latest outing, the filmmakers need no longer trouble themselves with that bit of intrigue and can use him a bit more freely. "Freely", however, was apparently translated to mean "treat him in the least threatening way possible because the hook that made him interesting for three films is now gone." Thunderball had him sitting aloof and secluded above his inferiors in a hidden control center with buttons specifically designed to murder his associates should they displease him in the slightest. O.H.M.S.S. has him pursuing Bond on skis wearing a leather cap and bright yellow aviator goggles. Do you know how difficult it is to be intimidated by a man who looks like Snoopy chasing the Red Baron?
Blofeld stupidity aside, On Her Majesty's Secret Service has some kick ass action, sophisticated characters, Bond actually spying for once in his career, and George Lazenby in a kilt. If that's not enough to make you want to check this out, it also has love, loss, betrayal, hypnotized supermodels, some short but memorable bits by Q and Moneypenny, fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles... wait, I think I got off track, there. Regardless of which of the preceding may or may not actually be present in O.H.M.S.S., it nevertheless remains a great Bond film, a great spy film, a great action film, and one of the best looks you will ever get into the pathos and the logos of 007. In short, go see it.
 Gee, why DOES Kyle admire this character?
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- Sir Hilary Bray looks into the Bond family name, and check out that family motto: the world is not enough. Guess Bond wasn’t lying when he was stuck in that chair in The World is Not Enough.
- The voiceover aspect of Bond’s impersonation of Sir Hilary Bray is odd at first, but works rather well overall, don’t you think? A simple trick to accomplish in film, but makes Bond seem like an even more skillful agent than you ever might have guessed!
- Almost all of the dialogue is not only witty but also cleverly layered in its implications and meanings. Bond verbal play with Bunt is especially laden with entendres and digs at Blofeld
- Everyone looks good in a kilt. I want one!
- Bond’s entry into the room of all the girls being treated for allergies is especially stirring... too bad Bond has to play the part of boring genealogist, eh? Though he does pretty well based on being the only attractive guy in the place.
- Bunt really does have good hearing, doesn’t she?
- Bond inflates the number of golden balls on his own coat of arms, although who among us can say they haven’t done that themselves?
- Bond and Blofeld have met face-to-face in You Only Live Twice. So, uh, even though these are two different actors (Lazenby and Telly Savalas), are we supposed to think there is plastic surgery or amnesia going on? Oh, wait, that’s right: it’s a Bond film, after all. Awesome!
- The little janitor that Bond walks by in Draco’s base of operations is whistling the theme to Goldfinger.
- At the wedding, Draco and M are seen discussing an occasion where M's department cost Draco three men. M says, "Ah, yes, November 1964--the bullion job." This may be a reference to the Fort Knox caper in Goldfinger, implying Draco was once in league with Auric Goldfinger.
- The search for a new Bond was compared with the search for Scarlett O'Hara, and 413 actors audition for the role. Lazenby was determined to get the role, he spent most of what money he had on a Saville Row suit and a Rolex watch, then while having a Bond type haircut Broccoli walked into the same salon, made the connection and later offered him the part.
- As Bond clears out his desk, we see Honeychile's knife from Dr. No, Grant's garrote/watch from From Russia with Love, and a re-breather from Thunderball. A bit of the theme music from each movie is played as we see the appropriate item.
- Features the only signature gun barrel sequence of all Bond films in which Bond drops down on one knee while shooting at the audience.
Is It Worth Staying Through End Credits?
If you want to hear the songs, sure. Bond songs are incredible!
Intermission! [some sources: IMDb]
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The role of Irma Bunt was the only English language role for German actress Ilse Steppat. It would also be her final role. She died less than a week after this film was released.
At 140 minutes, this is in the longest film in the Bond series
Joanna Lumley makes one of her first screen appearances in this movie. Unlike other "Avengers" actors and actresses (Patrick Macnee, Diana Rigg, Honor Blackman), she is the only one to have appeared in a Bond movie *before* starring in "The Avengers"
George Lazenby wanted to do as many of his own stunts in the film that the studio would allow him to. During the shooting of one of the stunt scenes he broke his arm and the filming of some of his scenes were delayed because of it. In the scene where Bond is taken into Blofeld's lab at Piz Gloria to meet Blofeld for the first time, Lazenby's broken arm in a cast is hidden by his coat which was draped over his arms because he could not get it over the cast. In this scene Blofeld's guard has to remove Bond's coat for him because Lazenby could not do so because he had just broken the arm. The guard that removes Bond's jacket was played by Yuri Borionko who had his nose broken by Lazenby during one of Lazenby's fight screen tests while he was auditioning for the role of Bond. After Lazenby broke Borionko's nose Bond co-producer Harry Saltzman told Lazenby, "We're going with you."
Timothy Dalton and Roger Moore were both offered the role of James Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, but both turned it down. Dalton felt he was too young at the time, and Moore was still under his contract in the TV series "The Saint".
George Baker provides the voice of Bond when 007 is pretending to be Sir Hilary Bray.
The film performed admirably, outgrossing its nearest competitor almost two to one at the U.S. box office where, according to Variety, it was the most popular film in the country for four solid weeks. It generated enough rentals at the box-office to claim ninth position on the box office chart for the year 1970. The persistent belief that it was a flop arises from its disappointing showing in comparison to the previous three Sean Connery Bond films, all of which made twice as much money.
Groovy Quotes
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James Bond: There's something formal about the point of a pistol.
[a bad guy chasing Bond skis into a snow blower, which then spews red snow]
James Bond: He had a lot of guts.
Tracy: You're hurting me.
James Bond: I thought that was the idea for tonight.
Q: I've been saying for years, sir, that our special equipment is obsolete. And now, computer analysis reveals an entirely new approach: miniaturization. For instance, radioactive lint. Well, placed in an opponent's pockets, the antipersonnel and location fix seems fairly obvious.
M: What we want is a location fix on 007.
Tracy: If you want to stay alive, you play it safe.
[after Blofeld hits a tree]
James Bond: He's branched off.
Draco: She likes you, I can see it.
James Bond: You must give me the name of your occultist.
Tracy: Why do you persist in rescuing me, Mr. Bond?
James Bond: It's becoming quite a habit, isn't it, Contessa Teresa?
Tracy: Teresa was a Saint; people call me Tracy.
Bond: I’ll get cracking on this appointment and then catch up with you.
Tracy: The story of our life, James?
Bond: Just keep my martini cool.
Soundtrack Review
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The theme song is incredible, just amazing music you can work out to, or save the world to. And Louis Armstrong’s “We Have All the Time in the World” is put to great use, in circumstances both heart-warming and heart-breaking. The rest of the soundtrack score is excellent, and quite effective at racing the heart or raising a smile. Fantastic.
DVD Review
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Two DVDs exist for this film. The Special Edition, released a few years back and now out of print, has a commentary with the director plus members of the cast and crew spliced together through interviews and narrated by John Cork of the Ian Fleming foundation. Like most of the commentaries on the Bond films prior to the 1990s, it's interesting, but can get a little dull as none of the participants are actually watching the film as they speak. There's also a making-of featurette, a retrospective featurette, and some trailers and posters. The Ultimate Edition is a 2-disc set that is part of the 4-volume 40-disc Ultimate Collection. It contains all of the above, plus a casting featurette, various interviews with George Lazenby about his time as Bond from different points in his career, the 1968 press junket where they revealed the new Bond, and a few promos from 1969 for the Swiss filming locations and the Ford cars they drive. They're all short and some are more interesting than others, but it's all good stuff and the a/v transfer of the film itself is superb.
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This review page was last updated on 4.3.07
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