On Her Majesty's Secret Service

Rating:
Summary: The grinch that Stole Christmas
Review: Ok, after reading the reviews, I'm going to be the Grinch that Stole Christmas. It has been a long time since I saw this film and waited in a long que on Netflix. I sat down and turned on the DVD. The transfer was very good: clean with decent sound. However, about half way through, the DVD quit playing; it got stuck and I couldn't get it clean enough to play through to the end. That was ok. I was about to quit watching anyway and return the disc when even the DVD agreed with me and quit playing. Lazenby's performance is wooden; it also sounds as though he was entirely "looped" (his dialog completely rerecorded) in post production. The sets looked cheap and the break-away furniture a little too cheesy and Hollywood-ish. It may be true that the film comes closest to the novelist's coception of Bond, but I will still take Connery or Moore; forget Dalton - his Bond was far too angry and bloodthirsty. Diane Rigg was beautiful and a good foil to Bond, but I thought their scenes lacked resonnance. They just didn't connect. Their "getting to know you" scenes were played as a far too itsy-cutsy music video. And Bond reading a Playboy magazine and admiring the centerfold was so '60's! I agree with all the other reviewers that the ending still has an emotional impact. Many think that ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE. is one of the best Bonds. I don't. Still, to each his own. My favorite remains FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE.

Rating:
Summary: Finally a good Bond!
Review: This is the 1st 5 star Bond since Goldfinger. They should have kept George Lazenby for a couple more movies in my opinion. The special effects are great (finally). This had one of the most strongest plots of any Bond (with him getting married and all). The was sort of sad (I don't cry when I watch movies, like u needed to know that) when his wife (of about 20 minutes) got killed by Blofeld's gunman.

Rating:
Summary: A little off
Review: "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" is not the best in the James Bond series, but it's close. Bond has been looking for Bloufeld for awhile now after "You Only Live Twice", so far unsuccessful. He then gets a tip that Bloufeld is in the Swiss Alps. Bond goes to investigate, and gets wind of a new plot to black mail world powers. Pretty much the same old stuff. George Lazenby plays Bond for the first and only time here, which is a shame because I thought he did better than most people give him credit for. His Bond is cold and manipulitive. OHMSS has the best supporting cast than any other. The beautiful Diana Rigg plays Tracy, a fierce but troubled spoiled brat that falls in love with James. As the enemy, Telly Savalas plays the darkest Bloufeld ever; you can almost see the evil ozing off him. There are fewer gadgets in this movie as in others, but thats ok. The action takes a while to get going, but once it dose, it's breath taking; sking away from the bad guys, a car chase going against the traffic in a stock car race, the final assalt on the mountain fortress. And it also has the strangest ending in Bond history. I am sure fans know it, but just in case some don't, I'll leave that as a suprise. One negitive note, however. It takes this movie a little (over an hour) to really get started, and the love story can start to wear on you. But like I said, it's worth the wait.

Rating:
Summary: Decent Bond film often forgotten
Review: It seems most people either really love or realy hate this film. Going back after not having seen this movie in years I find that I do Like George Lazenby as Bond. This is the only Bond film he ever appeared in. When the producers were able to get Connery back for one more film Lazenby was out. The film is about 10 minutes too long, most of which comes from the begining of the film when Bond is falling in love. It gets off to a sluggish start but improves as the film continues. I noticed that some fight scenes had been sped up, which gives it a rather "cheesy" look. My only other reservation is Telly Savales as Blofeld. I think Donald Pleasence from " You Only Live Twice" would have been a better Blofeld. Overall, the film is quite decent, but I was never really convinced that a playboy spy could settle down as he did in "Her Majesties Secret Service".

Rating:
Summary: One of The Worst Bonds Ever
Review: Great story ruined by the inclusion of Lazenby as the legendary spy. Even worst is the replacement of Donald Pleasance by Telly Savallas as Blomfeld. The cold sinister performance of Pleasance is now performed by the coarse New York persona of Kojak. All together one of the most forgetable Bond actors and films along with the Timothy Dalton series.

Rating:
Summary: good fun
Review: this one is dynomite and I think Lazenby did a better job then Dalton and Moore put together, though he should of did more damnit. the end is probably one of the best Bond endings of all time(remember when his wife is killed, that was shocking to me) considered the best also. Lazenby left and then Connery came back on

Rating:
Summary: The Most underrated Bond film Ever
Review: This is one of my 3 favorite Bond films along with The Spy Who Loved Me and Goldfinger. While Lazenby isn't as badass as Connery and Charming as Roger Moore, he does what no other Bond has done so far, made Bond human. Seeing this film, Lazenby is in this film the type of character Ian Fleming wanted Bond to be in the book series. He has emotion and real feelings for Diana Rigg, who in my opinion is the greatest Bond girl ever. Diana Rigg is absolutely beautiful in this film, but isn't the helpless victim so many of the Bond girls tend to be. She is certainly better than Denise Richards or Terry Hatcher ever thought of being. This film is really a high point in the series and its too bad beacuse so few have seen it due to the lack star power. Connery and Moore are now iconic with Brosnan now not far behind, but Lazenby brings a human element to Bond that has nearly been achieved (For Your Eyes Only, Die Another Day) but not to the point Lazenby could muster. The ending to this film the most heart-breaking in the entire franchise. If you haven't seen this entry, I implore you to do so. On Her Majesty's Secret Service is one of the best films in the whole series.

Rating:
Summary: THIS IS THE BEST OF THE SERIES..INDEED!
Review: It's been 34 years now since this film came out, and it has remained the epitome of the James Bond series. While I've always admired Sean Connery's finesse as Bond, George Lazenby did a very good job, given the footsteps he had to step in to, and in spite of some of his seemingly frozen deliveries, I think he gave Bond a tenderness and vulnerability. And who wouldn't fall for the luscious Diana Rigg, undoubtedly the best of any females in the Bond films. Rigg, who was absolutely wonderful in "The Avengers", was no mere cheesecake girl; she had guts, tenacity, and the most beautiful smile on earth. Her stage experience brought femme fatale to new heights. And oh lord, the music. It is by far the best John Barry score ever! And of course Oscar totally ignored it. Not only did it have the lovely "We Have All the Time in the World" and the whimsical "Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown," but every musical nuance was superb. Director Peter Hunt also gave us the best chase scenes, fights, and intensity of any of the preceding or following films. Telly Savalas was awesome as Blofeld and Ilse Steppat as Ilse Bunt, what a cruel vixenish b---. When watching the movie or listening to the awesome soundtrack, listen to what the music does when Bond is having his fight on the beach. It's called "This Never Happened to the Other Fella", and it's synchronicity with the action scene is jaw-dropping.
It is great to see so many other reviewers share my feelings on this.
IT IS BY FAR THE BEST BOND MOVIE AND I NEVER GET TIRED OF WATCHING IT!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Rating:
Summary: Spectacular!
Review: On Her Magesty's Secret Service was a spectacular bond film. George Lazenby is an awesome actor. The DVD quality is great, the extras are entertaining, and it's the most emotion you'll get from a bond film. The end left me in tears, and I'm not one of those people who cries during movies.

Rating:
Summary: The most underrated of the Bond films
Review: If the world were fair, 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' would be recognized as THE best of the Bond films. Unfortunately, prejudices have reduced this film to a mere anomaly, while i think it is the closest film, in spirit, to Ian Fleming's novels. Like everyone else says, if Connery was in this, it would be widely considered the top film in the series. George Lazenby did an incredible job for a first-time actor, especially considering the iconic status his character embodied in the 60's. They were some big shoes to fill and he did remarkebly well. Lazenby certainly had the charm and looks, as well as a rugged physical presence and a sinister underlying maliciousness central to the Bond personality. The story concerns Bond's continuing pursuit of Ernst Stavro Blofeld, leading villian of SPECTRE. Bond takes on the personage of a genealogist to infiltrate Blofeld's mountain hideaway only to find that Blofeld is attempting to poison the world's food supply through several young female "patients" that will carry the viruses back to their parts of the world. Pretty standard Bond fare, but the presence of a genuine love story, which I usually despise in action films, brings an emotional depth to the film that takes it above and beyond the rest of the series. Like every fool in love, Bond is willing to give it all up for a woman. What ties this film to the other Bond greats 'From Russia With Love' & 'Goldfinger' is the minimal use of high-tech gadgetry and the grand cosmopolitanism of all the great 60's films. From Monaco to London to Portugal to Switzerland, Bond's jet-setting, swinging bachelor lifestyle is represented here in all it's ideal glory. But the film is so much more than that. It's like Bond's coming-of-age story, a more introspective tale. Nowhere was character developed more finely than in this film. Draco, Bond's future father-in-law and amoral crime boss, was the most interesting figure since 'From Russia's' Karim Bey. His and Bond's negotiating over the future of his daughter is a great scene that realistically conveys how sometimes the 'good' must unite with lesser 'evils' to conquer greater evils, something highly unusual in most good guy/bad guy movies. It's also a humorous manifestation of the Draconian (no pun intended) attitudes of men in power towards women, using them as bargaining chips in their greater quest for more power. Diana Rigg plays perfectly as Bond's female foil, and proves to be more than her father's mere pawn. A "bad" girl looking for thrills in all the wrong places, who fights off Bond until finally succumbing to his wiles, she is absolutely perfect. She is no mere Bond girl and her re-appearance halfway through the film only confirms her importance to the story (and Bond) and ups the stakes of Bond's mission. She's entirely convincing as the lady Bond would fall for, and it's easy to see why. You try and not get a little mushy when they end up hiding from a storm in a cushy little Swiss barn. It'll make a sentimental sucker out of anyone. And Lazenby, poor Lazenby. HE should have been the successor to the series, not the prissy Roger Moore. I've read about his lack of emotional resonance, esp. in the final tragic scene, but I still think he was vastly underrated. the producers obviously tried to change the look of the Bond character and franchise with this film. Bond's outfits are varied leaning from tuxedos with ruffled shirt to tartan kilts. The action sequences were brilliant, especially the race from the avalanche during the ski chase sequence. The bobsled pursuit was an ingenious use of the surrounding terrain, as was the car chase on ice. The little trick where they speed up the action sequences add to the frenetic pace. The musical score is the best of all the Bond flicks, right up there with 'Dr.No'. The whole atmosphere of the film is just brilliant, very classy and European, in the best sense. The nicest touches were the nods to Bond's past, mainly in the title sequence and when Bond is clearing out his desk after resigning from MI5. All in all, the producers seemed to take deliberate care and planning to take Bond into a stunning new direction. Hopefully, one day, this film will take it's place in the upper echeolons of the James Bond pantheon of films.