34 replies to this topic

[Jaelle]

OHMSS is in a three-way battle for my favorite Bond film (tied with FRWL and TLD).

First, I just think Lazenby looks incredibly *magnificent*, especially after watching YOLT where Sean looks just terrible. He walks and moves beautifully. He just looks great! And I love him in that kilt! He's the only Bond actor who could pull it off. Yes, he was an inexperienced actor. A stronger actor could've done the role even greater justice. But he would have had to have looked just as good as Lazenby did. No, I wouldn't want Sean in OHMSS, because I don't think Sean at that point was interested in giving a really poignant performance in as Bond. And he simply didn't look very good. (Sean was beautiful as a young man, didn't look good at all in his mid years and then started blossoming all over again in his later years).

One of the weakest parts of the film is with Bond and all those allergy girls, but that's just in comparison with the rest of the film. For me, the *real* weakness of the film is Blofeld's motive---GETTING A TITLE??? Whatever.

As for Telly, it's true he does come off more like a gangster or a NY cop but I always liked Telly's screen presence and voice. I prefer him to the other Blofelds. For me OHMSS is a rare opportunity to see Bond as more than a man with an impenetrable hard shell. And I love that moment when Bond looks so vulnerable at the skating rink---he's being chased, he sits down, afraid, tired, doesn't know what to do, and then he looks up and there's Tracy. Gets me every time.

It's also one of the few times that a Bond film actually brings tears to my eyes, and not just because of Tracy's death. Also because of Moneypenny at the wedding. I just think it's a lovely film.

[Kingdom Come]

For me OHMSS is probably along with TND and LTK, the bombs of the series. Hunt's usual editing is on display and boy is it an example of how NOT to edit. He ruins almost all the action scenes by too fast a cuts and it looks phoney, as if his direction didn't work and he was trying very hard to hide the fact. Particulary so in the action sequences of which there are too few. The dubbing is beyond a joke. Rigg looks terrible and plays the character as if she is high on something. Why do they get that actors voice to dub Tracy's father, on top of someone dubbing Bond's voice!!!! Don't the sound people have hearing? Effects are the worst of the series and only the snow sequences have grace and imagination.

When Bond arrives in Piz Gloria the film does generate excitment and arouse. Reed's flat cinematography is the weakest of the series - big deal we can now see ceilings!!! After Young's stunning camera/lighting/composition for YOLT boy was this a come down.
It deserved the low box office.

Still it's a Bond film and I have to find love somewhere for it and I have.

[1q2w3e4r]

Originally posted by doublenoughtspy
OHMSS is a masterpiece, the artistic pinnacle of the James Bond series.

To the people who say Savalas isn't right for Blofeld - I'd ask you to re-read the books, because Fleming describes a hybrid Greek heritage for the character - something Savalas had and which the other Blofeld actors did not have - nor did they have his physicality.

To the people who say "It would have been the best had Connery done it" - I have to ask: would he have been better in the action scenes? No.  Would he have been better in the love scenes? No.  Whould he have been better at the straight dialog scenes? Yes.  But that isn't enough to make me want to see the fat, bored Connery of YOLT or Diamonds in this movie.

It is the best written script of the entire series.  Maibaum said so.  Pierce Brosnan recently commented on how well written the film is.

It has the best music.

It has the best direction and cinematography.  As the authors of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang point out - it has a visual gloss unequaled by other entries.  As James Chapman points out - each scene is composed well - like a painting.

Diana Rigg is the only woman in the world that could bring James Bond to the altar.  30 years later TV Guide is still saying she is the sexiest woman ever on the screen.

The action is mind blowing, and as Hardy Boy pointed out - at least a decade ahead of its time.

The scenery and locations are magnificent.

Lazenby's performance is stunning considering he had never uttered a word of dialog in front a camera before.  Yes, the dubbing doesn't help him any, but that goes away soon enough.

I could talk FOREVER about this film but I'll stop here.

I was gonna say all of this, but you've already said it!

Lazenby also doesn't really get the credit he deserves. The idea people who take him and OHMSS as fav's to be "alternative" doesn't hold any water. It's arguably the best film in the series and the only rival for tenson, realism and all star cast and a well thought out and executed plot is From Russia With Love.

Lazenby is a lot like Fleming's Bond. Sure he doesn't have the accent, but he perfectly embodies the spirit of the character. Fleming's 007 thought he was better than everyone he went up against. He's a guy that likes action, and when he's on a case he can't wait until something's happening. See Diamond's are Forever and OHMSS and LALD. Fleming's Bond was cocky. So was Connery's Bond, but so to is George's.

The only negative thing about the film is that theirs not alternate cut of Peter Hunt's first cut, something like an additional 20-25 minutes.

[JimmyBob]

I'm afraid I'm going to have to agree with Kingdom Come, OHMSS is a low point in the series.

George Lazenby - (I have taken into account that he had never acted before in his life!) Is a very poor Bond, not only is his English accent annoying but he tries to portray Bond too much like Sean Connery, i.e. he tries to be too cool.

Diana Rigg - Not sure if she was the right choice for Tracy, some much more attractive ladies in the series.

John Barry's score of On Her Majesty's Secret Service is used too often in the ski sequences and so has little effect to the action. Another thing - too much skiing.

At the end of the film when Piz Gloria is taken by Draco and Bond, the James Bond Theme is used to little effect again.

There is not much to save the film apart from its locations and soundtrack, Louis Armstrong's "We Have All The Time In The World" is a true classic.

[The Next Bond]

I was just re-watching OHMSS today and personally I love it. Connery may have been "cooler" as it were, but I honestly don't see that Lazenby is a weaker actor. If anything I'd say, in terms of acting ability, Lazenby was better than Connery, who basically cruised his way through the role. Not that I don't enjoy Connery's films, but he hardly looks like he's stretching his acting chops playing Bond, does he? Lazenby, on the other hand, really acts his socks off, especially in the final scene...