1969 | Dir. Peter R. Hunt | 140 Minutes
"People who want to stay alive play it safe."
After James Bond saves the self-destructive Countess Tracy di Vicenzo on two separate occasions, Tracy's crime lord father offers Bond one million pounds to court and marry her. Bond refuses the money but instead requests the whereabouts of SPECTRE leader Ernst Stavro Blofeld. To infiltrate Blofeld's latest operation, secretly developing biological weapons in the Swiss Alps under the guise of a French count, Bond assumes the identity of the renowned genealogist invited to Blofeld's research facility to verify his claim to nobility.
Peter R. Hunt, who served as second unit director on Goldfinger, Thunderball, and You Only Live Twice, makes his directorial debut delivering a stylish and action-packed adventure that is objectively one of the best James Bond films despite the evidently inexperienced new actor occupying the lead role. A decent love story with a devastating conclusion bookends and elevates one of Bond's more inspired missions taking place in a secluded mountain-top clinic full of beautiful women of nearly every nationality. Frames are strategically cut out of fight sequences to literally give each blow an extra jolt, and the set pieces in Switzerland are fun and unique. A thrilling car chase leads to an all-out demolition derby, the climatic raid on Blofeld's compound ends in an intense bobsled chase, and extended skiing sequences - which go on to become an occasional Bond film staple - lead to some wildly entertaining fatalities for Blofeld's henchmen.
The worst moments of the film are the ones that distractingly remind the audience that the leading man has been replaced. Bond's goofy fourth-wall-breaking one-liner at the end of the cold open action sequence is simply groan-inducing. The scene of 007 emptying his desk of tokens collected from previous adventures, accompanied by soundtrack references to Dr. No, From Russia with Love, and Thunderball, goes out of the way to reassure viewers that they are watching the same Bond from those films. It's cute but completely unnecessary, and if anything a disservice to George Lazenby, as if openly and unfairly inviting comparisons between his take on Bond and Sean Connery's. Though he lacks a certain charisma, considering his youth and inexperience as an actor, Lazenby is a fun and snappy 007 on his one and only outing as the super spy. Lazenby particularly shines playing Bond disguised as the genealogist Sir Hilary Bray, complete with poncy accent. His performance is particularly affecting in the film's final heartbreaking scene.
Diana Rigg is magnetic as the headstrong Tracy and a large part of why the film works as well as it does. Not just an evil mastermind behind the curtain, Telly Savalas even participates in a fair share of action playing a decidedly smarmier and more directly threatening Blofeld. In her only English language role, German actress Ilse Steppat is formidable as Blofeld's cruel minion Irma Bunt. Prolific Italian actor Gabriele Ferzetti gives off an air of regal charm as Tracy's father and crime syndicate leader Marc-Ange Draco. Once again returning as Miss Moneypenny and M, Lois Maxwell and Bernard Lee both have fun interactions with Lazenby's Bond, though Desmond Llewelyn only appears as Q for a brief cameo.
Though no one would claim George Lazenby is their favorite James Bond, On Her Majesty's Secret Service is objectively one of the best Bond films. Offering all of the adventure and excitement one would expect from the series, phenomenal set pieces, and genuine drama, there's a great action movie to be enjoyed for those willing to look past the shortcomings attributed to the picture's one-and-done leading man.
THE COLD OPEN
One of the weaker cold opens featuring a dark and choppily edited uninspired brawl on a beach and one of the worst self-referential one-liners ever.
THE THEME SONG AND OPENING TITLES
The theme tune by John Barry for On Her Majesty's Secret Service is one of the most memorable pieces of music composed for a Bond movie, though the opening sequence designed by Maurice Binder relies too heavily on stills from the five preceding films, cheapening the entire experience. While it doesn't play over the opening titles, Louis Armstrong's "We Have All The Time In The World" is a fine love theme for Bond and Tracy, its tune recurring throughout the film seamlessly incorporated into John Barry's score.
THE BOND GIRL
Tracy is bright, capable, and deeply troubled in the nonsense way that only serves to appeal to men with a savior complex. Her father believes she needs a loving man more than a psychiatrist to relieve her of her self-destructive tendencies, and since she exists in an old-fashioned Bond film, her father's backwards assessment turns out to be right. She is written to be the only woman that could convince Bond to settle down, and she promptly meets a tragic end. At least she gets to show a decent amount of agency, managing to outsmart Bond on a few occasions and out-drive Blofeld's underlings in a demolition derby.
THE BOND VILLAIN
On Her Majesty's Secret Service features Blofeld at his best and most active. The SPECTRE head brainwashes, skis, bobsleds, and even nearly ends Bond in the final scene despite a broken neck. His evil scheme this time around to hold the world hostage under the threat of global famine and infertility with beautiful sleeper agents doing the dirty work is classic Blofeld, fantastically ambitious and logistically impractical as most of his designs.
FEATURED HENCHMAN
Irma Bunt is the archetypal Blofeld hench, a hyper competent and severely efficient taskmaster who does not mince her words, perhaps most remembered for firing the machine gun in the fateful climatic drive-by.
FEATURED GADGET
The clunky safe-cracking device is a true relic, and one of the least efficient devices appearing in a Bond film. However, it's amusing to watch Bond gawk at a Playboy centerfold while the machine does its thing.
FLEMING FIDELITY
Based on Ian Fleming's tenth James Bond novel of the same name published in 1963, the film is remarkably faithful to the source material. Only a few notable additions for the movie are worth mentioning. The car chase and demolition derby sequence after Bond's escape from Blofeld's clinic were invented for the film, and Blofeld does not capture Tracy in the novel. These changes were wisely made in order for Tracy to play a more active role in the story.
FRAGMENTS
- Though he would play James Bond nearly two decades later, twenty-two year old Timothy Dalton turned down the offer to play the part after Sean Connery's departure following You Only Live Twice, citing his youth and inexperience
- At twenty-nine years old, George Lazenby was the youngest actor to play James Bond
- Despite signing a seven-picture deal, Lazenby quit the role after filming On Her Majesty's Secret Service, believing that the Bond movie franchise wouldn't last, out-of-touch in the wake of more sophisticated and socially relevant films of the time
- At the bottom of the end credits, the film advertises that "James Bond 007 will return in Diamonds Are Forever"
