# Which was the best George Lazenby Bond film? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 24, 2012, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-best-george-lazenby-bond-film/638731 "2012-10-24T14:42:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-best-george-lazenby-bond-film/638731/21 "2012-10-24T23:29:56Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I’ve actually never heard any hate for this film. In my experience, it’s usually judged as one of the better Bond films. It’s no Moonraker, that’s for sure. Out of curiosity, I googled “best bond films ranking” and this film usually ranked in the top 5 or 6 (lowest I could find is #8), with E!s ranking at #2. I’ve encountered plenty of it, including on this Board in years gone by. Maybe opinion is changing, but this film _used_ to be consistently rated among the _worst_ of the Bond films. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-best-george-lazenby-bond-film/638731/22 "2012-10-25T00:03:20Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I’ve encountered plenty of it, including on this Board in years gone by. Maybe opinion is changing, but this film _used_ to be consistently rated among the _worst_ of the Bond films. See, this is not my recollection at all. I know it’s anecdotal, but I remember it being well reviewed as long ago as the early 90s. (I had one of those massive books with summaries and reviews of pretty much all the major movies, and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was 4.5 out of 5 stars, IIRC.) ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-best-george-lazenby-bond-film/638731/23 "2012-10-25T00:57:50Z")
The movie was excellent in many ways (and I’ll add to the chorus of admiration for Diana Rigg, who I always liked in _The Avengers_. I think the reason the movie is criticized is that it has such an awful ending; not in the sense that it was truly awful (it actually is a great ending for a series entry), but in the sense that it wasn’t what you expect at the end of a Bond movie. You simply cannot SEE Sean Connery doing that ending in your mind, no matter how hard you try. ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-best-george-lazenby-bond-film/638731/24 "2012-10-25T01:07:06Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I’ve never understood the hate for this film. It has great action sequences, great locations, and Diana Rigg. It’s one of the most faithful to Fleming’s original novel. Lazenby even does some actual acting. If Connery had been in it, it would’ve been acclaimed as one of the best. Definitely. OHMSS was the last Bond film before they became decidedly silly. I thought Telly Savalas was a better Blofeld than Donald Pleasance, because Savalas had more charisma and athletecism. His Blofeld was more believable as a wealthy businessman attempting world dominance, similar to _Dr. No_ as a businessman cum villain and the SPECTRE of _Thunderball_ sitting around the board room making business reports. Diana Rigg was great as Tracy, too. After this one, \*Diamonds Are Forever \*looked like a drug-fueled romp, comparable to the original **Casino Royale**. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-best-george-lazenby-bond-film/638731/25 "2012-10-25T01:40:35Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > I think the reason the movie is criticized is that it has such an awful ending; not in the sense that it was truly awful (it actually is a great ending for a series entry), but in the sense that it wasn’t what you expect at the end of a Bond movie. You simply cannot SEE Sean Connery doing that ending in your mind, no matter how hard you try. '60s-era Sean Connery, no – but I can picture a bald-and-bearded Sean Connery doing it. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-best-george-lazenby-bond-film/638731/26 "2012-10-25T10:05:53Z")
I liked it. There was a minimum of silly gadgetry. The villain’s weapon (though not the delivery system) was actually plausible in the real world. It was more faithful to Fleming’s novel than most Bond movies. I liked his cameo in _The Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E._, too. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-best-george-lazenby-bond-film/638731/27 "2012-10-25T11:02:04Z")
The producers must have been kicking themselves when Connery showed up for\* Diamonds are Forever.\* ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2012, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-best-george-lazenby-bond-film/638731/28 "2012-10-27T21:41:58Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > One thing strange about those two films was using Charles Gray as separate characters; a back stabbed Mr. Henderson in YOLT and then returning as Blofeld in Diamonds Are Forever. This happened in several other Bond movies. Maud Adams in \* The Man With the Golden Gun \* and \* Octopussy \* and Joe Don Baker in \* The Living Daylights \* compared to his character in \* Goldeneye \* and \* Tomorrow Never Dies \*. Robert Brown was Admiral Hargreaves in \* The Spy Who Loved Me \* and was M in the next five Bond movies. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-best-george-lazenby-bond-film/638731/29 "2012-10-28T00:40:50Z")
I think one of the reasons OHMSS got a bad rap was that for years it was kind of hard to find. I don’t recall it ever popping up on ABC back when they used to regularly air the Bond films (though I have seen it cable marathons in recent years), and none of the video stores in my area had it back in the 80s and 90s, though they had pretty much all the other Bond movies. So people may have heard that Lazenby was bad in it, knew that he only did the one movie, and because they never got the chance to see it, just sort of wrote it off. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-best-george-lazenby-bond-film/638731/30 "2012-10-28T19:07:29Z")
Interestingly, it is now one of the few Bond films Netflix has on “Watch Instantly”. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Noel\_Prosequi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b19c9b/32.png) [@Noel\_Prosequi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noel_Prosequi)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-best-george-lazenby-bond-film/638731/31 "2012-10-30T08:45:54Z")
Somehow, I had it in the back of my mind that Lazenby got greedy in the expectation that being anointed a Bond meant he had the franchise producers by the short ones and demanded too much for subsequent outings. Broccoli’s response was to cut him loose and bad mouth his performance, and people figured if Cubby is running it down, Lazenby _must_ have been terrible. But as observed above, history is apparently being kinder than the buzz at the time. Does anyone know if there is any substance to this, or if it just propaganda from the Lazenby camp? ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-best-george-lazenby-bond-film/638731/32 "2012-10-30T16:35:18Z")
Lazenby’s best film was undoubtedly _ **That’s Armageddon** _ (A Samuel L. Bronkowitz production). ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-best-george-lazenby-bond-film/638731/33 "2012-10-30T16:39:14Z")
It stuck pretty close to the book. The situation, though plausible, might have been a bit over the top at the time, but nowadays it is definitely a possibility. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-best-george-lazenby-bond-film/638731/34 "2012-10-30T17:08:33Z")
I thought this would be a good place to put it A really well edited [James Bond 007: Movie Deathmatch](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=O9C7yYomVuo) Spoiler: Lazenby loses. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-best-george-lazenby-bond-film/638731/35 "2012-10-30T17:14:43Z")
That’s interesting, **Damfino** , thanks. I missed a good number of the Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan Bond flicks and wasn’t aware of that. > [@Noel\_Prosequi](#): > > Somehow, I had it in the back of my mind that Lazenby got greedy in the expectation that being anointed a Bond meant he had the franchise producers by the short ones and demanded too much for subsequent outings. I’d read the same thing, that notion courteous of his agent, and that’s was my jist in post 7. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-best-george-lazenby-bond-film/638731/36 "2012-10-31T03:56:19Z")
From what I’ve read, Lazenby never got around to signing a binding contract for future films and was advised against doing so by his agent, who thought the Bond franchise had run its course. Once it became clear that George was gone, EON managed to lure Connery back for one more movie (_Diamonds Are Forever_) by paying him a huge fee, which he promptly donated to a Scottish educational fund. IIRC, Roger Moore had been considered earlier for the role, but was busy at the time filming “The Persuaders.” After his contract with ITC expired, he was signed to do _Live and Let Die._ I quite liked Lazenby as Bond, and thought the movie was exceptionally well done. I remember watching _OHMSS_ on ABC several times, the first being the winter of '76–'77. It was also on the Sunday night before Labor Day 1983—which, for those who remember, was when the Russians shot down KAL flight 007 (an eerie coincidence, I’ve always thought). For me, Donald Pleasance will always be Blofeld, regardless of how much plastic surgery he had. Telly Savalas was far too American in the role for my tastes. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-best-george-lazenby-bond-film/638731/37 "2012-10-31T04:45:58Z")
[Here](http://books.google.com.au/books?id=TF3T8E83HDsC&pg=PT253&sa=X&ei=laSQUPdIy5qZBfnLgIgD&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAjgK#v=onepage&q&f=false) is an interesting account of events from a terrific book [One on One 101 True Encounters](http://www.amazon.com/One-Craig-Brown/dp/0007360649/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1351658098&sr=8-8&keywords=one+on+one#reader_B005H0NVWM) by humorist Craig Brown. Well worth a read as are most of the 1001 word pieces in it. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-best-george-lazenby-bond-film/638731/38 "2012-10-31T18:33:47Z")
In the IMDB “trivia” section for this film, it says that there are explanations (for Lazenby’s playing Bond only one time) in the DVD Commentary: [On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) - Trivia - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064757/trivia) 1. Cockiness (he rubbed Albert Broccoli wrong). 2. Harsh movie critics comparing Lazenby unfavorably to Connery, leading the studio to assume he had negatively impacted the film’s earnings. 3. Lazenby felt that the Bond franchise too “unsophisticated” and out of touch with the 70’s. He is said to have mentioned to his agent that he wasn’t sure he wanted to play Bond again, and word of this got back to the producers. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-best-george-lazenby-bond-film/638731/39 "2012-10-31T18:52:20Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I remember watching _OHMSS_ on ABC several times, the first being the winter of '76–'77. Correction: It was the winter of '75–'76, probably in January. Recommend this book for all your Bond references: > **[Kiss Kiss Bang! Bang!: The Unofficial James Bond Film Companion: Amazon.co.uk:...](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kiss-Bang-Unofficial-James-Companion/dp/0713486457)** > > Buy Kiss Kiss Bang! Bang!: The Unofficial James Bond Film Companion Updated by Barnes, Alan, Hearn, Marcus (ISBN: 9780713486452) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-best-george-lazenby-bond-film/638731.md?page=1)