On Her Majesty's Secret Service - Movie Review
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
GEORGE LAZENBY took Bond's reins from Sean Connery in this sixth 007 outing, an unfairly oft-maligned film that, while distinctively different than the rest of the series, is still quite fun to watch. Where to begin? The love story? Lazenby has an honest to god love montage with Diana Rigg, playing a mobster's daughter, who he later teams up (and actually marries) with to track down Blofeld (now played by Telly Savalas), who got away in You Only Live Twice. He finds Blofeld living on a mountaintop, running a clinic for women with allergies(!)... which is naturally just a front for nefarious ends to destroy the world's economy though mind control. Oddly, Blofeld no longer recognizes Bond, who's dressed in a kilt as a geneology researcher... which may all account for the film's lackluster reputation.
It's a big movie, with good stunts, virtually no gadgets, plenty of fisticuffs, and maybe more sex than any of the series' other installments. Even Lazenby is not half bad, though he pales in comparison to Connery, who would return for one more run as Bond in Diamonds Are Forever.
Bond #6.
Facts and Figures
Year: 1969
Run time: 142 mins
In Theaters: Thursday 18th December 1969
Box Office Worldwide: $82M
Budget: $7M
Distributed by: United Artists
Production compaines: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Eon Productions, Danjaq
Reviews
Contactmusic.com: 3.5 / 5
Rotten Tomatoes: 81%
Fresh: 35 Rotten: 8
IMDB: 6.8 / 10
Cast & Crew
Director: Peter R. Hunt
Producer: Albert R. Broccoli, Harry Saltzman
Screenwriter: Richard Maibaum
Starring: George Lazenby as James Bond, Diana Rigg as Tracy Di Vicenzo, Telly Savalas as Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Gabriele Ferzetti as Marc Ange Draco, Ilse Steppat as Irma Bunt, Angela Scoular as Ruby Bartlett, Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny, George Baker as Sir Hilary Bray, Bernard Lee as M, Desmond Llewelyn as Q, Catherine Schell as Nancy, Bernard Horsfall as Campbell, Virginia North as Olympe, Geoffrey Cheshire as Toussaint, Julie Ege as The Scandinavian Girl, Mona Chong as The Chinese Girl, Joanna Lumley as The English Girl, Jenny Hanley as The Irish Girl
Also starring: Harry Saltzman, Richard Maibaum