Viewed in
2014
Formats
HDTV
Premise
James Bond (George Lazenby, replacing Sean Connery) woos a mob boss's daughter and goes undercover to uncover the true reason for Blofeld's allergy research in the Swiss Alps that involves beautiful women from around the world.
Disliked
Stiff lead acting, badly-outdated action scenes, constant shout outs to the Connery era.
Hated
Disjointed story.
Thoughts
Stepping into Sean Connery's iconic shoes was pretty much doomed to fail, but even with that lenience, this was a weak movie.
Looking back, pretty much every new actor who took over as 007 had some kinks to work out. But Lazenby truly lacked any good looks or promise of special quality. Lacking in charm, he made up for it in stiffness. Wait. D'oh!
It didn't help that film had not-so-subtle reminders about the Connery era, from familiar props and weapons, to his "This never happens to the other guy" quip. The only silver lining was that this was the first meta-James Bond of the franchise, so congrats!
For 007 nerds, it was interesting to see the hero's Scottish heritage, family shield, and "The World Is Not Enough" motto introduced here.
I guess I should point out the good stuff. The toboggan chase climax was pretty good, given the technology. And it was fun to see more Austin Powers inspiration in the form of Blofeld, his cat, and Fraulein Bunt.
Sadly, this wasn't enough to hide the warts, and the bad film-making of the 1960's era. There was laughably dumb plots involving hypnosis and perfume dirty-bombs. The first half was a creepy Taming of the Shrew tale revolving around a SPECTRE official's daughter. And the ending was just plain lame, as it attempted a shock ending that kept the Bond mythos at status quo.
All this made the technical shortcomings abundant. The movie was littered with bad coverage, editing and continuity. The Benny Hill-like sped up action shots had me chortling the whole way. And not to mention the 30 minute long downhill ski chase "at night" that went on forever.
I tried to give this title a pass; replacing a legend was nearly impossible, and film-making was far from perfect back in the day. But On Her Majesty's Secret Service was forgettable, stiff, and awkward. It ain't Moonraker, but even 007 completionists would find this hard to enjoy.
