The George Lazenby Saga

Above, an autographed photo of George Lazenby.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) and George Lazenby, the "fella" who took over the role of James Bond following Sean Connery's departure, are getting much attention these days. 

This is due to the major nods given by Daniel Craig's swan song 007 flick, No Time To Die, wherein John Barry's OHMSS main theme and its love song, "We Have All The Time In The World" are used (to great effect, I might add). Lazenby himself noted the use of the music from his Bond outing.

Personally, although he was no Sean Connery (who was, except for Connery?), I feel Lazenby did a creditable job considering his limited acting experience when he took on the role. Today, many Bond fans consider OHMSS to be one of the best in the Bond series.

Lazenby only made one James Bond movie and was dismissed by the producers and/or he quit. Some of it was his fault and some belonged to producer Albert Broccoli. What exactly went wrong?

A new article in the Express (U.K.) spells it all out.

It starts with:

JAMES BOND actor George Lazenby only ever made one 007 movie, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, but why? He later released a statement admitting he had been "a total fool" but also blamed his agent. Sean Connery called him a "prize s**t' and Bond producers said he was the "biggest mistake we ever made." How did it all go so wrong?

An Aussie model famous for a chocolate commercial may seem a strange choice to take over as a suave upper-class British spy in the biggest franchise in Hollywood – but then Sean Connery was a Scottish former boxer and bodybuilder (and part-time male nanny) before he slipped into the tuxedo. The critics and public barely had time to take it all in before Lazenby sensationally left the role. Was he really that bad? Looking back, it is clear he was a forerunner for the more textured Bonds that were to come, and even had a realistic and emotionally-charged relationship with Diana Rigg's Tracy di Vicenzo. It was Lazenby himself who "blew it" but where does the blame actually lie?

To read more, go here.

"On Her Majesty's Secret Service" and "Reanimator"

On the way back from some business in Chatsworth today, I stopped off at Best Buy in Northridge and picked up a couple of Blu-ray movies.

The first was 1969's James Bond outing, On Her Majesty's Secret Service.  In this movie, George Lazenby plays Bond for his first and only time after Sean Connery called it quits after You Only Live Twice (1967).  He does a good job, considering his limited acting experience.  Diana Rigg and Telly Savalas co-star.  It is one of the best of the Bond movies and it is pretty close to the Ian Fleming novel, which is a rarity of the Eon Productions Bond series.

The other movie I bought was 1985's Reanimator.  An odd new student arrives at a medical college and some strange experiments on re-animating dead tissue ensues.  This is a classic horror flick that has a big cult following.  I have an old VHS copy, but it needed replacement.  With Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott and Barbara Crampton. 

"On Her Majesty's Secret Service"

Above, Diana Rigg and George Lazenby.

One of my favorite movie genres is the James Bond series.

I was first introduced to James Bond in the persona of Sean Connery back in 1963 when my parents took me to see a double bill of From Russia With Love and Dr. No. I was hooked!

My family and I made it a point to see each subsequent Bond movie on its initial release in theaters.

I was disappointed when Sean Connery announced that he no longer wanted to play the role following You Only Live Twice. After all, he was James Bond!

Then, I saw a Life magazine article on the men Eon Productions had in consideration to be Connery's replacement. Of all of them, I thought Lazenby had the right look. Sure enough, Eon picked him to be the new James Bond.

The Bond movie scheduled for release, and featuring Lazenby's debut, was On Her Majesty's Secret Service in 1969. This was one of Ian Flemming's best Bond novels and it tells of Bond's tragic marriage. The screenplay by Richard Maibaum was written with Connery in mind, but Connery had other plans. What an amazing movie it would have been if Connery were paired with Diana Rigg instead of Lazenby! Rigg was already a favorite of mine with her role as Emma Peel in The Avengers. Plus, it had one of the best, if not the best, John Barry Bond scores.

As it was, On Her Majesty's Secret Service is one of the best of the Bond movies and I thought Lazenby, despite his limited acting experience, did well. I certainly would have preferred him to Roger Moore in later movies. But he had a falling out with producers Harry Saltzman and Albert Broccoli and he never starred as Bond again.

Connery was coaxed back to Bond in the following movie, Diamonds Are Forever. He had a pet charity in Scotland and Eon offered a sizable donation if he returned. This was an offer he could not refuse! Unfortunately, the movie itself was a bit of a letdown after On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Still, it was good to see Connery back. After this, he hung up his Walther PPK and turned the role over to Roger Moore.

What prompted this blog post was a retrospective article on On Her Majesty's Secret Service at Big Hollywood I just finished reading. I am in agreement with the reviewer's opinions. To read it, go here.

The Avengers

An old favorite from the 1960s, The Avengers with Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg: