When I did my Absent Friends tribute to Dianna Rigg last month, I made mention that while she was a Bond Girl, she did it in 1969's "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", the Bond movie that starred George Lazenby, which probably made it the least viewed film in the entire Bond Franchise. This comment caused one of my movie maven pals, Bob Cassinelli, to comment that OHMSS gets a bad rap because Lazenby had the nerve to not be Sean Connery. This was the first Bond movie made without Connery, and the Aussie Lazenby was relatively - completely? - unknown to American audiences. Bob told me that the the production values were high, Telly Savalas was great as the villain Blofeld, and that Rigg's performance was spectacular. Also, in light of the fact that several actors have now played the role, Lazenby's performance deserves a second look and a re-evaluation.
I got around to getting hold of a DVD of the movie, watched it last night, and Bob was right on all counts.
The plot.....an evil villain has a plot that will destroy humans' ability to procreate....unless his demands are met, he will unleash it...Bond has to stop him...Bond falls in love....you pretty much get the idea. In the end, though, who cares about PLOT in a James Bond movie? The people are handsome and beautiful, the wardrobes are extravagant, the scenery is gorgeous. There are explosions, fights, lovemaking, and chase scenes. What more do you need? There was even one perfectly meta moment, before anyone even know that "meta" would one day become a thing, when Bond/Lazenby looks into the camera and says "This never happened to the other guy."
Did I mention chase scenes? The movie opens with a mini-chase between two cars that ends on a beach. Throughout the rest of the movie we see a chase scene on skis going down the Alps (pretty spectacular), a chase on a stock car race track, a chase between two bobsleds, and, just because that wasn't enough, we get another chase scene on skis with an avalanche thrown into the mix.
As for Diana Rigg, she was indeed terrific in the role, and absolutely gorgeous.
See what I mean?
As an aside, in some of the stuff I read after Rigg's death, some speculated that, in another era, Diana Rigg would have been absolutely perfect to be the first woman to play "James Bond." Couldn't agree more.
She also pulls off what no other Bond Girl before or since ever managed to do. She married James Bond......
We all know that that didn't last, but why didn't it? Well, even in a 51 year old movie, The Grandstander is not about to give any spoilers, but he will give "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" Three Stars. Well worth tracking down and watching.
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