On Her Majesty's Secret Service

I was inspired to watch this by the James Bond blogathon -Licensed To Blog: The James Blog-A-Thon.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) is the sole George Lazenby entry in the world of James Bond. I've read several sites that claim this film is acknowledged as one of the best in the series, but I found it slow and Lazenby unengaging. Sean Connery is so charming; Lazenby doesn't appeal to me in the same way. [Interesting note: this new article on the franchise doesn't even mention Lazenby.]

By the time the Diana Rigg character showed back up later in the film I had forgotten all about her. It certainly seemed like Bond had. The skiing scenes went on forever. I found Moneypenny's teary scene at Bond's wedding pathetic. (Get hold of yourself, woman!) The whole thing just went on too long, and then poof! it was over.

We do, on the other hand, get one exploding car. That's one in each film so far.

The BBC review concludes by saying, "By no means the premium Bond, but an intriguing one."

Salon.com says it is "the only Bond film that gets beyond the dirty boy's-book spirit of the series to a core of real emotion."

trailer:


11/14/2008:
Tom the Dog defends this Bond film as part of the blogathon.