On Her Majesty's Secret Service

On Her Majesty's Secret Service has a great screenplay, which sticks very closely to the original Ian Fleming novel. Beautiful Technicolor cinematography. Spectacular locations. Truly exciting action sequences. Excellent performances from the entire cast. One of John Barry's best music scores. Tightly edited, yet leisurely paced -- almost novelistic in its approach to storytelling. A youthfully brash, dashing James Bond.

George Lazenby's portrayal of 007 has its stiff moments. Although he gives an enthusiastic, honest, and serious effort, sometimes (not often) his complete lack of prior acting experience shows.

One of the best, if not THE best, James Bond movies ever made. 'Nuff said.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service - Although I do find myself quite biased as to the best Bond in my opinion, Sean Connery that is. I feel that George Lazenby got a raw deal with the bad reviews on his portrayal of the legendary character, and that he definitely had potential, but it seemed it was ended before it started.

But the film most certainly has managed to perfectly fit as part of the classic Bond genre.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service - I have heard numerous times about how George Lazenby had 'ruined' a great Bond film, and I would partially agree with that assessment. During the first third of the film, Lazenby has a chance to fit into the role, but misses his opportunity by underplaying both the humor and the action. He seems stiff and uncomfortable, even when he is supposed to be flirting with Rigg. This first part dooms him to failure during the most crucial parts of the film, when we learn who Blofeld is, where he is based, and what he is planning.

After encountering Blofeld, the film really gets much better despite Lazenby's weaknesses. When Bond is introduced to all of Blofeld's hypnotic women, things get a bit silly and childish, unlike any other Bond movie, but the film gets back on track. Action sequence after action sequence set up a superb ending, which is what makes up for the slow beginning. The end merely is the icing on the cake because it is truly moving, and Lazenby's best effort.

It is entirely fair to say that had Sean Connery or Roger Moore played Bond in this film, it would have been considered to be a TOP THREE Bond film. In its present form, however, it is slightly above average, and that is quite a shame.