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5 Reasons George Lazenby Deserved More Movies As 007


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#1 quantumofsolace

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Posted 14 February 2013 - 10:26 PM

http://whatculture.c...vies-as-007.php



#2 THX-007

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Posted 15 February 2013 - 01:42 AM

Excellent article that brings a lot of great points. In my opinion George definitely would have grown into the role with more films and improved his acting skills. He did study drama at the College of St. Hild and St. Bede following OHMSS. Only downside is that the roles he got following his tenure of Bond weren't dramatically demanding and usually low budget. There are some emotional scenes in "Who Saw Her Die?" but the George's voice along with other cast members are overdubbed. 

As much as I love Roger in TSWLM and FYEO, I would take more edgier films with Lazenby than the over-the-top, tongue in cheek Moore films. 



#3 sharpshooter

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Posted 15 February 2013 - 09:05 AM

Excellent article that brings a lot of great points. 

I agree. Each point is logical. 



#4 Walecs

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Posted 15 February 2013 - 04:04 PM

1. Agree.

2. Agree.

3. Agree.

4. Agree.

5. Agree.



#5 Orion

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Posted 15 February 2013 - 04:42 PM

It is a shame, as all of Lazenby's shortfalls where purely down to inexperience, which would have ironed out if he'd continued.



#6 Mr_Wint

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Posted 15 February 2013 - 08:53 PM

It is not only about inexperience. He didn't connect with the audience. In retrospect, it is pretty obvious that one or two more films with Lazenby would have killed the series.



#7 delfloria

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Posted 15 February 2013 - 09:25 PM

It is not only about inexperience. He didn't connect with the audience. In retrospect, it is pretty obvious that one or two more films with Lazenby would have killed the series.

There was resistance because of Connery absence but not that he did not connect with audiences.



#8 Orion

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Posted 15 February 2013 - 09:28 PM

It is not only about inexperience. He didn't connect with the audience. In retrospect, it is pretty obvious that one or two more films with Lazenby would have killed the series.

Anyone who wasn't Connery wouldnt be liked in OHMSS the audience may well have accepted him when he did more, but the fact they went in when he said he wasnt doing another immediately played against him.



#9 THX-007

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Posted 15 February 2013 - 10:32 PM

It is not only about inexperience. He didn't connect with the audience. In retrospect, it is pretty obvious that one or two more films with Lazenby would have killed the series.

I disagree that Lazenby would've killed the series had he continued. He didn't connect with the audience because by the time the film was in theaters he had already said he wasn't gong to do another one. So for some people they didn't bother go see it since it was going to be his only one. I like to note at the premiere when George said the other fella line the audience laughed and when he was sliding across the ice firing his sten gun the audience cheered. Because he only did one, his film career after that wasn't exactly mainstream and that the film was treated as the black sheep of the series, George and the film were forgotten and those who weren't born at the time of its release never heard of it. 

I would also like to note that series didn't regain stability until TSWLM. DAF, despite having Connery and making money, wasn't look at fondly at the time. LALD received moderate reviews, had a popular theme song, and audiences excepted Roger Moore as the next Bond. The reception of TMWTGG was very mixed with more reviews leaning towards negative. Going by that third film theory, TSWLM brought success back to the series and cemented Moore in the role. 



#10 delfloria

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Posted 16 February 2013 - 07:47 AM

As someone who had his world totally changed after watching the premiere of "Goldfinger" and then the double release of Dr. No and FRWL I was completely sold, even as a Connery fan, on OHMSS in the first 10 minutes and thought Lazenby was great as James Bond. I was looking forward to more. 

 

Yes, it was SWLM that finally showed that Moore was Bond.



#11 Mr_Wint

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Posted 16 February 2013 - 09:26 AM

It is not only about inexperience. He didn't connect with the audience. In retrospect, it is pretty obvious that one or two more films with Lazenby would have killed the series.

I disagree that Lazenby would've killed the series had he continued. He didn't connect with the audience because by the time the film was in theaters he had already said he wasn't gong to do another one. So for some people they didn't bother go see it since it was going to be his only one. I like to note at the premiere when George said the other fella line the audience laughed and when he was sliding across the ice firing his sten gun the audience cheered. Because he only did one, his film career after that wasn't exactly mainstream and that the film was treated as the black sheep of the series, George and the film were forgotten and those who weren't born at the time of its release never heard of it. 

I would also like to note that series didn't regain stability until TSWLM. DAF, despite having Connery and making money, wasn't look at fondly at the time. LALD received moderate reviews, had a popular theme song, and audiences excepted Roger Moore as the next Bond. The reception of TMWTGG was very mixed with more reviews leaning towards negative. Going by that third film theory, TSWLM brought success back to the series and cemented Moore in the role. 

Not sure what you mean with stability. In any case, the bond series was going way past its best-before date at that time. Filmmakers, audiences and financers were looking for something else. The success with DAF and LALD was critical.



#12 Trevelyan 006

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Posted 18 February 2013 - 10:50 PM

It is not only about inexperience. He didn't connect with the audience. In retrospect, it is pretty obvious that one or two more films with Lazenby would have killed the series.

 

If you're serious, I almost take offense to that statement...


Edited by Trevelyan 006, 19 February 2013 - 02:58 AM.


#13 DamnCoffee

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Posted 18 February 2013 - 11:56 PM

Agreed on all points, brilliant article. 



#14 FlemingBondCraig

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Posted 19 February 2013 - 10:33 PM

I think the biggest loss with Lazenby not doing another one was that we didn't get a proper follow up to OHMSS with Bond seeking revenge against Blofeld :sad:

 

I also think the general audience would of accepted him had he done more.



#15 Mallory

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Posted 20 February 2013 - 03:59 AM

Lazenby would have been the Bond Connery wanted to be. He felt they couldn't top Thunderball in epic splendor, he wanted to do a back to the basics but EON and UA wanted to go bigger. Lazenby has been dismissed as a poor actor but I felt he was most convincing in action scenes and his interactions with Diana Rigg and Telly Savalas. His delivery wasn't perfect but it didn't matter. He was a great Bond. Would have been the best if he stuck around.

 

IMO Lazenby started what Dalton had done and what Craig is doing now. A shame it took the filmmakers so long to reach that conclusion.



#16 L4YRCAKE

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Posted 20 February 2013 - 11:43 AM

It is not only about inexperience. He didn't connect with the audience. In retrospect, it is pretty obvious that one or two more films with Lazenby would have killed the series.

 

If you're serious, I almost take offense to that statement...

 

And yet...  and I cannot believe I'm about to say this, but I think the case could be made that Lazenby very well could've killed the franchise.  

 

I say this as the biggest fan of OHMSS and Lazenby's performance in it, a fan of the human Bond, a fan of Bond's character hewing closer to the novels than not, and frankly a fan of Lazenby almost out-Connery-ing Sean Connery in just one lone film.   And yet...  there are a few warning signs that Lazenby continuing could've been a disaster as well.  His success as Bond would've hinged on what kind of a story Diamonds Are Forever would've been, and there's no guarantee that the producers wouldn't have face planted and followed up OHMSS with a safe, campy Bond.  I doubt it, but while Lazenby was perfect in OHMSS it's not like he had that much control over the scripts per se, correct?  Also, another trip up for Lazenby was that he didn't see Bond's place in culture after OHMSS and much to the producer's chagrin wanted to bring a more long haired, counter-culture vibe to the character that in the wrong hands could've been lethal to the film series.  It's possible that best case scenario Lazenby could've gone on to make two more films and the series would've died a critical success but commercial flop because it was seen as a relic of the 60's, and for all its pure awesome, OHMSS feels much more like the era of From Russia With Love than Bond keeping with the times.  Now it seems timeless, but back then I can totally understand why certain folks saw a character once the epitome of hipness only a few years before now a dinosaur refusing to find his place within the changing social climate.   Which is why I honestly am coming to the conclusion that Live And Let Die is the single most important Bond film ever made.  Roger Moore pulled a neat trick with that film, singlehandedly hauling Bond into the 70's and once again making him cool especially in the petri dish of showing him running around as a white square in Harlem, and with a rock and roll sound track that neither Connery or Lazenby could've pulled off.  I really do think that Moore showed producers that more than one actor could portray Bond, and that they could move forward with the times without compromising Bond's core qualities, his style, his coolness under extreme pressure, and his ability to win over an audience despite initial resistance.  In no way am I saying that Live And Let Die is better than OHMSS, nor a perfect Bond film, although it's obviously become one of my favorites.  But it was the right film at the right time with the right actor and I daresay it may very well have saved the series from mothballs and I'm not sure that Lazenby, had he continued, could've done the same.  

 

With that said, the mind reels at the possibilities that could've been had DAF been a direct follow up to OHMSS with Lazenby and Telly Savalas and the same tone and action as OHMSS, etc., etc.   Daniel Craig could very well give us the decade of Bond we near missed in the 70's...



#17 THX-007

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Posted 21 February 2013 - 01:25 AM

If we're going with the hypothetical that Lazenby continued than we have to assume that he ditch Ronan O'Rhally as a manager. If that's the case maybe Lazenby's identity with the counter culture movement. Personally I have to say I think he looks better with the long hair. And it could've been worked into the narrative of DAF just as Craig's gaunt appearance and stubble in Skyfall. 

Its entirely possible that for DAF it could've been just as campy, but bear in mind that had Laz not left the death scene in OHMSS would've been the opener for Peter Hunt's version of DAF. Not only would Hunt return as director but Richard Maibaum already had drafted a revenge story. Maibaum wasn't too pleased when Tom Mankiewicz was brought in to co-write the screenplay.

 It's possible that best case scenario Lazenby could've gone on to make two more films and the series would've died a critical success but commercial flop because it was seen as a relic of the 60's

I'd flip that around: critical flop, commercial success. No Bond has truly ever flopped, just didn't bring in a lot of money compared to the other films. Even LTK outgrossed its budget with its combined box office numbers. In the 1970s I think the only time the critics were with the series was for The Spy Who Loved Me. 



#18 L4YRCAKE

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Posted 21 February 2013 - 03:36 AM

Good point about the profitability of every single Bond film, the urban myth of both OHMSS and QoS not being a financial success is ingrained in me still, apparently.  :)

 

Has the Maibaum original draft of DAF ever surfaced anywhere?  It would speak volumes if that's the case; funny, in all my readings about OHMSS I don't recall there being a first draft that was more in tune with OHMSS.  Gonna have to brush up...  



#19 Major Tallon

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Posted 21 February 2013 - 12:14 PM

Maibaum's various scripts are in the library at the University of Iowa, and I've simply got to get there one of these days.



#20 doublenoughtspy

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Posted 21 February 2013 - 06:21 PM

Has the Maibaum original draft of DAF ever surfaced anywhere?  It would speak volumes if that's the case; funny, in all my readings about OHMSS I don't recall there being a first draft that was more in tune with OHMSS.  Gonna have to brush up...  

 

I'm guessing all your readings about OHMSS haven't included The Making of On Her Majesty's Secret Service, since I detail the early DAF drafts and how much they tie in and were in tune with OHMSS.



#21 Major Tallon

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Posted 21 February 2013 - 09:25 PM

Mea maxima culpa, Doublenoughtspy, I should have pointed that out.



#22 L4YRCAKE

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Posted 22 February 2013 - 04:18 AM

Has the Maibaum original draft of DAF ever surfaced anywhere?  It would speak volumes if that's the case; funny, in all my readings about OHMSS I don't recall there being a first draft that was more in tune with OHMSS.  Gonna have to brush up...  

 

I'm guessing all your readings about OHMSS haven't included The Making of On Her Majesty's Secret Service, since I detail the early DAF drafts and how much they tie in and were in tune with OHMSS.

 

I bought that book soon as it hit the shelves, apparently I didn't read it quite as carefully as I'd like to have thought.  Well, guess I know whose brain to pick after I re-read it tonight.  :)

 

Great book, incidentally; seems like all in the same year we had a good Iron Man movie, a bad Watchmen movie, a Batman movie that wins an Oscar, the return of Kirk and Spock, and a beautiful oversize book on the making of OHMSS;  I truly never thought I'd see the day for any of those...  



#23 Bucky

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Posted 01 March 2013 - 04:25 PM

I do wish that Lazenby had done more movies as 007. Thought he was good in OHMSS and he was young enough that he could have done many movies.

 

Was just thinking about the movie and thought it was funny that it was the first movie in the series where neither the main Bond girl or villain are dubbed but Bond was dubbed (for part of the movie).



#24 TheREAL008

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Posted 04 April 2013 - 05:46 PM

Wholeheartedly agree!

 

For only one film, Lazenby hit all the marks and made one of the best Bond films of all time. If he would have stayed DAF would have been a much different film. One is only left to speculate what could have been.



#25 WasteOfScotch

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Posted 05 April 2013 - 01:42 PM

The biggest loss to the Bond franchise is no more Lazenby uppercuts.



#26 Binyamin

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Posted 05 April 2013 - 07:16 PM

I think it's worth reminding ourselves that Lazenby arrogantly walked away from his second Bond film; He was not fired. He simply knew better than everyone.

At that moment, he stopped "deserving" more movies as 007. 

Feeling sorry for George Lazenby is a bit like feeling sorry for a lottery winner who squanders all of their winnings on strippers.



#27 Guy Haines

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Posted 06 April 2013 - 11:07 AM

1. Agree.

2. Agree.

3. Agree.

4. Agree.

5. Agree.

And so do I.George Lazenby was my first James Bond, and although not quite my favourite now, he did put in a performance which had the potential to grow into a convincing Bond in further films. Even Sean Connery, for all the Savile Row tailoring, looked a bit rough around the edges on occasion in Dr No.

 

Anyone would have had a hard time following that "hard act to follow", Sean Connery, in the wake of the "Bondmania" of the 1960s. It's interesting that after Connery quit the role a second time after DAF and was replaced by Roger Moore, there was no great clamour, as I recall, to have Connery back again. Partly because, as one of us pointed out above, Moore was the obvious Bond in waiting. But also, I think, because the idea that only Connery could play Bond had passed.

 

We might have got the continuation of the Bond of the 1960s into a new decade, or a harder edged, more human Bond years or even decades ahead of time. Or we might have got something else, as George Lazenby matured as an actor. The plain fact is, we'll never know.



#28 glidrose

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Posted 08 April 2013 - 07:26 PM

I would also like to note that series didn't regain stability until TSWLM. DAF, despite having Connery and making money, wasn't look at fondly at the time. LALD received moderate reviews, had a popular theme song, and audiences excepted Roger Moore as the next Bond. The reception of TMWTGG was very mixed with more reviews leaning towards negative. Going by that third film theory, TSWLM brought success back to the series and cemented Moore in the role. 

 

Um, revisionism, pal, revisionism. LALD may have only gotten moderate reviews - I seem to recall Vincent Canby of the New York Times loved it - and audiences certainly accepted Roger Moore as the new Bond (note the spelling), but LALD was also a big hit. Business may have been just good in North America but it went through the roof everywhere else. LALD was the biggest grossing Bond since TB.

 

And for those of you like me who are totally pissed off with websites that expect you to click through five or ten pages to read an article short enough to appear on the back of a postage stamp, here are the five reasons:

 

 

 

 

5. He Would Have Grown as an Actor

 

4. He Was a More Human Bond

 

3. He Would’ve Brought an Emotional Continuity to the Franchise

 

2. He Was Physically Convincing

 

1. He Was Young Enough to Play Bond For a While

 

I agree with four of the five reasons. #3 (emotional continuity) is stretching things too far and too wide. #2 is an excellent reason. Lazenby may even have been the most physically convincing Bond of them all. The article gets one thing wrong, tho'. Lazenby was actually 29 when he played Bond. He turned 30 in September 1969 long after production finished. Despite this he looks older, much older.



#29 ViperSRT87

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Posted 22 April 2013 - 05:24 PM

Honestly at the very least even if Moore still took the franchise with LALD I would have liked to see Lazenby in DAF and the way the article speaks of it. After experiencing his wife's death having a LTK style story would have had a heck of alot more impact than DAF in its current form did. As it stands DAF is a humorous Moore-esque film and I think it is decent, but falls short on a story that could have been emotionally charged and showing the more human side of Bond as Dalton and Craig did/do. Since it is hard to keep "emotional continuity" between multiple actors I think it would have been nice to at least attempt to have that between OHMSS and DAF. 



#30 jmarks4life

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Posted 25 May 2013 - 04:29 AM

All great points. I think GL would've made a great Bond