Rating: 
Summary: It doesn't seem to be a real Bond movie
Review: "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" is, in my opinion, something of an unclaimed stepchild in the Bond family. It seems to have even less in common with the series than the independently-produced "Never Say Never Again", which at least had the familiar presence of Sean Connery.
Sure, the traditional supporting characters are here (Bernard Lee, Desmond Llewellyn, and Lois Maxwell), but OHMSS is such a departure from the norm they just don't quite fit in.
The main difference is with George Lazenby taking over the role of James Bond. His performance is neither exceptionally bad or good, just different. When I was younger and saw this movie on TV, I thought that Lazenby was just substituting for Connery, who was either sick or needed a break. Recently I learned the circumstances for Lazenby's hiring and departure from the series. Now I think of Lazenby as an inexperienced actor who had an incredible stroke of good luck but found himself in a role too difficult to handle. His subsequent acting career in B-movies seems to vindicate those who criticized his performance in OHMSS.
Another difference with the movie is that it was the first Bond adventure to feature actors already familiar to American audiences, Telly Savalas and Diana Rigg. Savalas's role as Blofeld was all right, but he struggled to maintain a "European" accent. Ms. Rigg looked good, but her role was something of a waste of her talent. It was definitely different seeing her play someone so vulnerable as Tracy Draco, compared to the steeliness and pluck she demonstrated as Emma Peel in "The Avengers". I thought she cried "James!" a few times too many. Ilse Steppat had a memorable performance as henchwoman Irma Bunt. Sadly, she died shortly after making OHMSS.
One scene I thought out-of-place was when one of Blofeld's henchmen got ground up in the snow-blowing machine, which proceeded to blow out pink snow. That seemed to belong in a "Friday the 13th" or some other slasher-movie series.
OHMSS's sad ending was another definite break from the Bond genre.
Just before going to sleep after watching "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" last night, I thought it wouldn't have been surprising to have the last scene showing Sean Connery waking up, thus revealing the preceding events as one of James Bond's dreams. The movie does seem like a dream to me.
Rating: 
Summary: Give me some - George?
Review: George had short changed himself if he walked away from Bond. Yes Sean would have been nice in the Role;But isn't refreshing to have an actor replace an icon and not imatate? Good work Gearge! The fight sences next to YOLT the best in the series. Top rate acting brought this to a unique level. Bond is at his best except Y O L T with out the Fancy smacy gizmo's. Bottom line the Picture was very clear and sharp concidering this is 1969 the sound efects well another issue. One of the 5 best Bond Movies.
Rating:
Summary: Speed Film Action!
Review: There are over 150 reviews for this, a below average Bond installment, over 150! Goldfinger, considered by many to be the best Bond installment only has 135 reviews. There seems to be a lot of George Lazenby apologist's out in the world, for this is one bad Bond flick. I rank the Bonds based on their whole works as follows #1 (best) Connery, #2 Moore, #3 tied Brosnan-Dalton, #5 Niven (LOL), then the lowly last place Lazenby. If your into long, drawn out snoozers with speed film action fight scenes than this is your Bond. Oh did I forget to mention the great gagets in this one, it's because there are none. If your looking for non-gaget spy thrillers watch Danger Man, oops sorry that has more thrills than this high budget dog.
Rating: 
Summary: So-so Service
Review: People who don't like James Bond movies often rate OHMSS as the best of the lot.
For fans, though, this is better described as the most off-beat Bond movie. It's a too-long but at times thrilling adventure and a deeply flawed love story, with stunning visuals at times making up for lackluster casting.
Ironically, OHMSS's strength are the traditional virtues of the series: good action scenes, great settings and an over-the-top plot.
It fails in an honorabe try to interject a note of emotional depth into the proceedings. While somewhat more adult than a typical Bond flick, no one could confuse this with `Anna Karenina.'
Of course, producers Saltzman and Broccoli deserve blame for casting the game but wooden George Lazenby as Bond. While the story is supposed to show a more human side of the killer agent as he falls in love, Lazenby is leaden in his early scenes with Diana Rigg as Tracy.
Their lack of chemistry is not a tabloid invention, it's apparent on screen. And 25 years later, George was still defending himself as `not as paranoid and mean-spirited as Diana claimed.'
Although Rigg is an accomplished actress with a lovely face, first choice Brigitte Bardot would have been better as Tracy. More curvaceous than the cleavage-challenged Diana Rigg, Bardot also could have conveyed Tracy's sex kitten ennui better than the cool, arch Diana. As underplayed by Rigg, there is no possibility that Tracy is half Corsican, or that she's in any way related to Gabriele Ferzetti, dubbed in as her father, the crime boss Draco.
Add Telly Savalas's protrayal of Blofeld as a Tony Soprano concerned about his standing in the social registry, and you have a cocktail of bad acting and casting.
As for Bond's supposed emotional growth, the character spends the middle third of the movie Tomcatting after every woman in Blofeld's lair, all while supposedly in love with Tracy. Of course, this apparently followed the course of George Lazenby's relationship with Diana Rigg, accounting for their eventual frostiness.
But it undercuts any impact of the `shock' ending, clearly written simply to put Bond back in business on the trail of the world's super-villains and swingin' chicks. Paging Austin Powers.
Of course, there are basic plot flaws, such as Blofeld unaccountably not recognizing Bond. But these are just quibbles for fans of action films or Bond films.
OHMSS remains a watchable adventure story and an interesting sidetrip in the James Bond story. Neither the best nor the worst of anything, it's well worth renting.
Rating:
Summary: The best Bond adventure
Review: This has everything that makes a good Bond film; exotic locales, great chases, an appealing partner, and the three most critical elements; a John Barry score, a threatening villian, and a great Bond girl. In this case, the BEST Bond girl of all - Diana Rigg. No wonder 007 marries her - who wouldn't? Enjoy; it'll never be this good again.
Rating: 
Summary: the worst bond movie ever
Review: what is wrong with the world when lazenby can be a bond? he doesnt even order the right drink in this movie...what kind of bond orders a gin and tonic instead of a martini shaken not stirred? If you want a real bond movie get goldfinger or diamonds are forever...this movie should have never happened.i dont think it deserves the 1 star i gave it
Rating: 
Summary: James Bond In His Most Emotional Adventure
Review: On Her Majesty's Secret Service was something of the forgotten child of the Bond film series, the 1969 film being the only Bond film whose star never returned to the role. The passage of time has been good to the film, though, as the strength of the script and the performances has made it what it is - a highlight of the series.Following Sean Connery's departure from the series, Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman decided to take a risk with a generally-unknown actor in the lead role, having already done so when casting the then-obscure Connery as 007 in Dr. No, and felt they could strike oil again. They settled on George Lazenby, and to establish a continuity in the series they included several bits within to remind the audience that while the man portraying him had changed, the lead character was still James Bond. These little reminders include the Maurice Binder title sequence featuring footage from the five Connery Bonds to that point, and also musical clips when James enters his office at HMSS headquarters (this is the very first time we ever see James' office) and in rummaging through his desk finds a few items that remind him - and the audience - of adventures past, complete with appropriate John Barry cues - including the original version of the instrumental theme of "From Russia With Love," which is slower than the cue used in the original film. Despite this establishment of continuity, the film also delights in its famed in-joke in the prologue - James finds a woman on a beach trying to drown herself, saves her, and for his trouble is attacked by two toughs who are beaten up while the woman escapes. Upon seeing the woman's escape, James quips, "That never happened to the other fella." Unlike a lot of Bond fans, I dislike the "who is the best Bond?" squabbles that periodically arise, and find that all five actors in the role added something strong to the character. In George Lazenby's case, the quality he adds is an earnestness somewhat lacking in Connery's performances - Connery's persona had a discomfortingly bullying quality to it, while Lazenby and also Roger Moore show more humanity - and also a mildly boyish charm, notably after a harrowing sled chase ends in a crash and a rescue dog arrives, and James shoos him off to get the brandy. There is also the scene with the Playboy magazine - the scene is quite funny in that, for all the suggestiveness within the films, there is never any real nudity or gratuitous sex seen, and the sight of a Playboy magazine betrays the joke's inventive self-parody. Lazenby also adds earnestness when James' professional relationship with Sir Miles Meservy breaks down - it of course lacks the venom of Timothy Dalton's relational meltdown with M in License To Kill, in large part because of the intervention of Lois Maxwell's Moneypenny, an intervention both men show genuine gratitude for. The source of the friction between James and M is the pursuit of fugitive crimelord Ernst Stavro Blofeld (here the film botches its casting; Telly Savalas simply lacks the menace to be a real villian here, despite his strong portrayal in The Dirty Dozen). As part of his pursuit, James enlists the aid of another crime figure, Marc Ange Draco of the Sicilian mob, who has worked with Blofeld in the past. Draco, in exchange for information on Blofeld, wants James to marry his rebellious daughter - the woman James encountered on the beach with the two toughs being her bodyguards - Teresa aka Tracy (Diana Rigg, best known as Emma Peel in The Avengers). James initially is reluctant, but as he and Tracy spend time together, their relationship grows, and the pivotal time comes when, pursued by Blofeld and his gunmen, they escape, but become trapped in a farmhouse during a blizzard - and realize how much they do love each other. But Blofeld, who is in Switzerland preparing a deadly germ warfare smuggling attempt to the West, gets his pound of flesh in capturing Tracy, and James must enlist some help on his own to get her back, leading to a mounttaintop helicopter assault and back-breaking mountain chase that is among the series' most spectacular pursuits. But the real emotional punch of the film comes at the very end, as the romance between James and Tracy takes a shocking turn - and adds great poignancy to Lazenby's catchphrase, "We have all the time in the world."
Rating:
Summary: James Bond 007 in On Her Majesty`s Secret Service
Review: Well the first time I saw this film I didn`t like it, because I thought that there wasn`t enough action in it and that it was too long (Ieven fell asleep and missed the ending)! But you know the way things are, and after watching 2 more times I began to love this film, it`s just SO cool and extraordinary, and there`s not a single Bond film like (thanks to George Lazenby). I`m glad Lazenby was cast as James Bond because I really can`t imagine Connery, or Moore crying over Contesa Teresa de Vinci`s dead body
Every time I watch it, it seems like a renude pleasure, there`s only 2 things wrong with the (atleast in my opinion): first of all, Blofeld should have recognised Bond and second of all, Donald Pleasence should have returned, but no, Telly Savalas was cast. Telly Savalas is still a wonderful Blofeld. The film is incredible one, buy it now and you won`t be disappointed, unless you HATE Lazenby of course............Good film, I rate it 5-Stars out of 5.
Rating:
Summary: ....LISTEN TO ME!
Review: listen to me...i happen to be James Bond freak. I used to have the Sean Connery's poster in my room along with all the others, and have seen the all the James Bond films over a billion times over. On her Majesty's secret service is HORRIBLE. After Sean's departure, and the series was at its peak, they had to find someone quickly to take over the role of James Bond..They came across this unknown fool with no acting experience (he was a model) and asked him to play the role...the movie turned out to be the absolute worst in the series...it drags for a long long long time.. he has no gadgets, has HORRIBLE acting. trust me...dont be fooled by people who have given this movie 5 stars...if u dont believe me rent it first...it will just dirty your James Bond collection. NO wonder this guy is nowhere to be found today, occasionally comes has a cameo on some TV show..it has horrible direction, horrible acting. The Beginning looks so tasty when James Bond arrives in his Aston Martin and lights his cigarrete, but suddenly when he says, "My naimme is Boand..Jaimes Bond (in a pathetic Austrailian accent) you know that is gonna be depressing. Later on when this movie flopped, Broccoli's knew that they couldnt take a chance again by bringin an unknown actor to play such an important role. That is why they hired Roger Moore who was well known in the entertainment world with his hit TV series THE SAINT. Please, honestly, I wouldnt be wasting my time writing indecent stuff about some actor..BUT I REALLY MEAN IT>...dont torture yourself, rent in on DVD if you really need to.!
Rating:
Summary: George Lazenby Is James Bond in Widescreen
Review: My initial reaction to seeing this extraordinary film on its first release was summed up in one indelible question that I kept repeating over and over again to myself. If Sean Connery decided not to appear in a Bond film, why did it have to be this one? This film brought the series to a culmination of emotional fervor. It was the first film to address James Bond, the man. It seemed to have been made for Connery. This is the one we had been waiting for. I thought it was an excellent film, but Connery wasn't in it. Yet, I also could not get the image of George Lazenby out of my head. He looked the part and there was something very unique about his facial features. Many critics said his performance was bland. Even if they were right Lazenby still possessed the physique and physical attributes that really fit the part and again his unique looks just added to the wordily and masculine aura he exuded. I went to see the film three more times. I really liked it. I missed Connery, but I still couldn't get the screen image of Lazenby out of my head. I did some real self-analysis of this film over the next two years. I started to read the Fleming books. To my amazement they were very dry yet very interesting and appealing at the same time. Fleming single-handedly drew the reader into the world of James Bond whereas the filmmakers achieved the same result in a collective effort of talents. When I read "Dr. No" and "Thunderball" I visualized Sean Connery or someone vaguely familiar to him yet not with his sardonic humor. When I read "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" I could visualize no one other than George Lazenby. As it turned out ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE is the one film closest to any Fleming novel of the same name. I began to see the merits of Lazenby. The filmmakers had gone out of their way to make this the epic Bond film. The introduction of Lazenby as Bond was a well thought out and well crafted piece of pure cinema. There is no dialogue and only the strains of the James Bond Theme in another innovative interpretation by John Barry are heard. Less dialogue is better. Let the images tell the story. In the case of George Lazenby that's what worked best for him. Early on in the film he is having a bad night at the tables and you can see the disgust on his face as he deals out another loosing hand. He breaks into Gumpolt's office and penetrates his safe with assuredness and conviction while under the clock. This well directed scene is nerve racking and suspenseful again played without dialogue. The editing, music and Lazenby's presence make this another tour de force of pure cinema. It wasn't until the release of DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER that I realized that ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE was the best Bond film for me. The combined efforts of all the filmmakers and Lazenby's performance of a James Bond with conviction, assuredness and determination made this the definitive James Bond film. The film had a sense of real drive behind it accentuated by Lazenby's no-nonsense approach and the urgency of John Barry's instrumental theme used repeatedly to never let up the pace. If James Bond was ever the dedicated civil servant it was in this film. I can't even imagine Sean Connery in this film any more. The filmmakers traded in Connery's worldliness for Lazenby's energetic determination. It seems apparent that Lazenby probably looked to DR. NO for inspiration. FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE is considered to be one of the better Bond films in the series. It follows the directorial style of DR. NO. Sean Connery in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE continued his portrayal of the character in the Fleming literary mold, but refined his performance adding more depth to the character's worldliness, intellect, social graces and wry humor. Lazenby reverts back to the James Bond we saw in DR. NO concentrating on his resoluteness and tenacity as the man with a mission who will not be deterred until the opposition is completely vanquished. Lazenby's scenes with Diana Rigg as Tracy, his bride to be, showed genuine compassion and depth. This was Bond's only true love interest up to that point in the series. Connery had showed genuine subdued sorrow tinged with anger at the death of Jill Masterson and her sister Tilly Masterson in GOLDFINGER and again with Aki in YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE. However, I don't see how any actor could have given a better reaction as George Lazenby as James Bond did to the death of his wife slumped over into his lap. George looked like he was really hurt as he buried his head onto the Tracy's lifeless body. This Letterbox VHS version of ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE is excellent and does real justice to this epic film.
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