On a whim, I rented “On Her Majesties’ Secret Service” last night. I’ve always heard that George Lazenby was a disaster as OO7, but I didn’t think he was that bad in the part. Sure, he’s no Sean Connery, but then again neither were/are Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton or Pierce Brosnan. In fact, I thought Lazenby was at least as good as Moore, and definitely better than Dalton (I haven’t seen any of the Brosnan films.)
Okay, the film had some flaws: the plot was ridiculous even for the level of Bond films, showing Blofeld’s face makes him less interesting (even if he was played by Telly Savalas), and the kilt…well let us never speak of it again.
But on the bright side, Diana Rigg was by far the best “Bond girl” ever, and her death did add a bit of pathos to OO7’s character. Add to that a one-line cameo by a then-unknown Joanna Lumley and I’d say it was worth the price of a rental. Any thoughts?
I don’t think there was anything wrong with him. I like that movie. I suspect that either the producers caught flak for replacing Connery and weren’t ready to go with another Bond long term (until Moore came along) or Lazenby wasn’t able to commit to future movies.
I thought he was the victim of bad scriptwriting. He was telling Moore-style puns badly, and seemed to smirk all through the action sequences. I also disagree about Rigg being the best Bond girl, but then again this thread is all about personal opinions.
There’s also the fact that the particular movie he was in , OHMSS, was perhaps the most emotional of all bond movies. Bond breaks down and cries. Most folks wanted that to be the Sean Bond they knew and loved, rather than a noname substitute.
The director pulls a good performance out of Lazenby, despite the fact that Lazenby had never acted before (he was a model for commercials, that’s it).
Then again, Timothy Dalton never wanted to be Bond, from all I could see onscreen.
I blame the ending to the movie. Not that there’s anything wrong with showing that Bond is capable of experiencing the same emotional devistation that mortals can feel, but to do it on an actor’s first film out was setting him up for a bad reaction from the public.
I recently saw OHMSS for the first time last week, and it seemed that Lazenby didn’t quite sink into the role until about fifteen minutes into the film. After that he was, IMO, superb.
I watched Diamonds are Forever afterwards, and the transistion back to Sean Connery was jarring. A blasphemous part of me wishes that Lazenby had appeared in Diamonds as well.
OK, I admit it. I am one of the anti-Lazenby faction. And yes, I have seen OHMSS. My great dislike of Lazenby as Bond (and everthing since also) is that he does not “act” at any time in the film. He stops and poses, says a line, then moves, stops and poses again and says another line, etc. When you see Connery, let us say get out of a car, you are drawn to the man because of his shear power of personality. When you see Moore, you are drawn to him because there is an aura of fun and warmth. When you see Brosnon, you say, “nice, carm” and with Dalton maybe it’s intensity, but with Lazenby, you say, “Why is that man dressed in a kilt (tux, ski outfit, whatever) posing next to that car?”
Watch it again and watch how he does this. It has almost a claymation quality about it.