George Lazenby plays James Bond in the Swiss Alps
Agent 007 falls for a mob boss's daughter (Diana Rigg) and investigates a Swiss mountain-top lair where Blofeld (Telly Savalas) schemes to brainwash an assortment of women from around the world for his nefarious purposes.
"On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (1969) was the sixth James Bond film and the first without Sean Connery in the starring role. Australian George Lazenby took over the part for this ONE AND ONLY time.
Many Bond fans point out that this picture is the most faithful to Ian Fleming's character and book series. The story is taken from the novel of the same name.
People usually have two problems with this episode in the Bond series: (1) Lazenby as Bond and (2) After the first 20 minutes the story lacks any real action for the next hour or so wherein Bond goes undercover to investigate Blofeld's lair.
Concerning the second issue: Because the story involves at least one full hour (probably longer) of action-less spy investigation, those with ADD probably won't like this film. Personally, I enjoyed it; I can't stand when films have an explosion every two minutes to supposedly keep things "happening" and maintain the interest of the audience. Bond masquerading as Sir Hillary at the "allergy clinic" is both interesting and amusing. Besides, the last 40 minutes or so feature numerous thrilling action sequences: ski chases, a car chase, a bobsled chase and the final assault on Blofeld's mountain stronghold.
Needless to say, if you're a fan of winter sports, you'll want to see this film. By the way, George Lazenby was a very accomplished skier and had won two contests in Australia before taking on the role of Bond at the age of 29, the youngest Bond as of this writing.
Speaking of Lazenby as 007, he looks and acts like James Bond to me. Maybe he doesn't have the same charismatic flare as Connery in the 60s (Who does?), but he certainly has his own unique appeal.
Lazenby, incidentally, was a martial arts expert, which he taught during his stint in the Australian army. He even studied under Bruce Lee and later stated that it was Lee's philosophical teachings that enabled him to go on to have such a successful business career and personal life. In fact, George was actually going to have dinner with Bruce the night he died (!) and even replaced him in what was supposed to be Lee's next film "The Shrine of Ultimate Bliss" (1974).
He amusingly commented on Pierce Brosnan as the new Bond in 1995's "Goldeneye": "... this is the 90s and women want a different man, a man who shows his feminine side. Pierce definitely has that." He also reflected on the character of Bond himself: "He's a ruthless bastard, really."
As for the women in this movie, Diana Rigg is undeniably good-looking but she doesn't do anything for me personally (too tall and thin), but there are numerous other beauties to behold throughout the picture.
Because of Lazenby and the film's literary faithfulness, this is a very unique and worthwhile Bond adventure. It's also a must for those who love winter sports and spectacular Swiss winter locales.
It is the longest Bond film at 2 hours, 22 minutes, up until Daniel Craig era; and was filmed in Portugal, Switzerland and Pinewood Studios, England.
GRADE: B+