1969's On Her Majesty's Secret Service was the only Bond film to feature former model George Lazenby, who ironically accepted the part after a twenty two year old Timothy Dalton (who was destined to eventually play Bond in the late 1980's, more on this later) passed on the role and . . . it's a rather odd film. Right off the bat, it openly recognizes that the character of James Bond is no longer being played by Sean Connery with the line, "This never happened to the other fellow." The line is a direct reference to the fact that the main love interest of the film, played by Diana Rigg, has run off from her would be rescuer rather than fallen into his arms- one of the film's other main oddities, and something that, indeed, would have been strange in the Sean Connery era, but I feel that it greatly weakens Lazenby's portrayal to so bluntly draw attention to that fact.
To put it even more bluntly, this film's main strength is undoubtably the incredible performance delivered by Diana Rigg as Tracy di Vicenzo, the woman who eventually captures Bond's heart- quite a feat given the characters previous philandering ways. She is by far one of the most engaging and intelligent of all of Bond's love interests, and ultimately she's a far more interesting character than Bond, with real sense of depth and personal loss. Unfortunately, all of this is clouded by the regrettably misogynistic tone of the film, which suggests that all she needs to be made right is a strong man to make love to her . . . yeah, that fixes everything, right?
That said, Lazenby isn't bad- he's touchingly vulnerable at times, and makes us feel legitimately scared for him- something Connery often seemed incapable of doing. And, for once, Bond FINALLY decides to go undercover in order to track down Ernst Stavro Blofeld, and assumes the role of Sir Hilary Bray- a somewhat bumbling genealogist whom Blofeld hopes will legitimize his claim to a noble title. Still, this is rather strange, given that in the last film, You Only Live Twice, Bond and Blofeld met face to face, and thus would certainly recognize each other. Part of the explanation for this lies in the fact that the novel of On Her Majesty's Secret Service directly followed Thunderball, and the novel of You Only Live Twice completed the so-called Blofeld trilogy. Whatever the case, the filmmakers decided to ignore this incongruous series of events, and just forged on ahead as if this were a standalone Bond adventure.
There are some great action sequences in this film, the most stunning of which is a prolonged ski chase in which Bond loses one of his skis- the stunt work here really is stupendous. Also notable is the fact that both primary villains escape from this film alive- a rarity in Bond history. And the heartbreaking ending truly is one the great moments of honest pathos in the Bond series. But for all of its high points, On Her Majesty's Secret Service also suffers from its lows. For one thing, the plot is utterly ludicrous: supermodels are being brainwashed into becoming Blofeld's "angels of death", who will spread biological agents designed to destroy agriculture throughout the world. Um, hey, Blofeld, you know you could send out some goons with vials, right? No need for supermodels, and no need for brainwashing. Oh, wait, I guess this movie needed more sexy women for Bond to sleep with . . . sigh. Also, did I mention the whole, all Diana Rigg needs is a man to fix her up plot line? I did? Well it's still crap.
Stay tuned for Roger Moore. Lots and lots of Roger Moore.
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