On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)

James Bond woos a mob boss's daughter and goes undercover to uncover the true reason for Blofeld's allergy research in the Swiss Alps that involves beautiful women from around the world.

Director:

Peter R. Hunt

Writers:

Simon Raven (additional dialogue), Richard Maibaum (screenplay),

Stars:

George Lazenby, Diana Rigg, Telly Savalas

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
George Lazenby	...	James Bond
Diana Rigg	...	Tracy
Telly Savalas	...	Blofeld
Gabriele Ferzetti	...	Draco
Ilse Steppat	...	Irma Bunt
Lois Maxwell	...	Moneypenny
George Baker	...	Sir Hilary Bray
Bernard Lee	...	'M'
Bernard Horsfall	...	Campbell
Desmond Llewelyn	...	'Q'
Yuri Borionko	...	Grunther (as Yuri Borienko)
Virginia North	...	Olympe
Geoffrey Cheshire	...	Toussaint
Irvin Allen	...	Che Che
Terence Mountain	...	Raphael (as Terry Mountain)

Storyline

George Lazenby steps into the role of James Bond and is sent on his first mission. For help with Draco, he must becomes very close friends with her daughter, Tracy, and heads off to hunt down Ernst Stavro Blofeld one more time. This takes him to Switzerland, where he must pose as Sir Hilary Bray to find out the secret plan of Blofeld. The facility is covered with Blofeld's guards and well as his hench-woman, Irma Bunt. What has Blofeld got in mind this time? Bond keep up this act for much longer? and are ALL Bond girls safe?

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Plot Keywords:

switzerland | mission | virus | british | agent | 

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Taglines:

The New Bond. 007 and Bride. [Advance artwork]

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Crime | Romance | Thriller

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Certificate:

M

Details

Official Sites:

MGM Official Site

Country:

UK

Language:

English German

Release Date:

18 December 1969 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ian Fleming's On Her Majesty's Secret Service

Filming Locations:

St. Moritz, Kanton Graubünden, Switzerland

Box Office

Budget:

$7,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$22,800,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Danjaq, Eon Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

142 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System) (uncredited)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Certain film techniques appear in the James Bond series for the first time in this picture: slow motion (when Bond is knocked out in his bedroom), flashback (Bond remembering Tracy being captured), and "breaking the fourth wall" (Lazenby looking into the camera briefly, immediately after his line "This never happened to the other fella"). Though it seems to be a self referential remark (Lazenby replaced Sean Connery as Bond) it also has a meaning in the context of the story.

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Goofs

At one point, Tracy kisses her father goodbye, yet we hear her voice continue to speak clearly.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Q: I've been saying for years, sir, that our special equipment is obsolete. And now, computer analysis reveals an entirely new approach: miniaturization. For instance, radioactive lint. When placed in an opponent's pockets, the anti-personnel and location fix seems fairly obvious.
M: What we want is a location fix on 007.

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Crazy Credits

During the opening credits, images are shown of Bond girls and villains. (This is the first Bond movie since Goldfinger to feature previous movies' footage in its credits.) Specifics are as follows. *First Set. *Honey Ryder from Dr. No, standing on the beach. *Dr. No from the same, in front of his underground aquarium. *Tatiana Romanova from From Russia with Love, messing around with her hair. *Pussy Galore from Goldfinger, in the barn scene. *Second Set. *The title character from Goldfinger. *Assorted Bond girls from the Goldfinger (1964) / Thunderball (1965) era. *The "Flaming Car Crash" scene from Thunderball. *Third set. *Emilio Largo, the main villain from Thunderball. *Aki, Kissy Suzuki, and a swordsman from You Only Live Twice. *Blofeld's volcano lair exploding from the end of the same. Note the strategic absence of Blofeld from You Only Live Twice, as Blofeld is played by a different actor in this film.

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Connections

Followed by Skyfall (2012)

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Soundtracks

"We have all the time in the world"
Written by John Barry and Hal David
Sung by Louis Armstrong

User Reviews

One of the best

Giving the series a radical twist after the glorious Connery's farewell to 007 movies in You Only Live Twice, the producers intended for the first time to introduce a new take on Bond, returning to the literary roots of the character, as originally described in Fleming's novels and short stories. So Maibaum this time faithfully adapted one of Fleming's most successful and appreciated works: On Her Majesty's Secret Service. The screenplay is so close to the book that actually the movie is somewhat contradictory with previous Bond installments: Bloefeld and Bond don't know each other (???), and, in order to make the plot line look more logical, by changing the physical appearance of the villain, the part was given to Telly Savallas, who looks too amiable to be the bad guy, instead of the scarred and terrific Donald Pleasance. The plot is also very different from what the usual fans expect from Bond movies, being mainly focused on the romance between Bond and Tracy during the first half, then moving to Bloefeld's stronghold in Switzerland, and ending with 45 minutes of extremely exciting, non stop action.

The film's pacing is pretty irregular. The romance is probably the best part, at the best of Bond tradition, mainly thanks to Diana Rigg's inspired performance as Tracy, perfectly depicting an emotionally unbalanced, yet appealing and glamorous, woman. Lazenby's OK (at least at this part of the movie), but he lacks the masculinity and roughness Connery showed, what ultimately damages the movie, specially during the disastrous sequences which take place in Bloefeld's research facility in the Swiss Alps, which are laughable). There's nothing remarkable about them. (what a silly conspiracy!!), but 45 minutes spent, which make the movie overlong. When everything seems ruined, the film revives and takes us on a wild ride on an action packed roller-coaster (ski chase, Bond and Draco raid on Bloefeld's base), with a brief romantic rest as Bond and Tracy talk about their future life in common (Bond a journalist?),a very touching scene.

The ending remains as one of the top Bond moments, tragical and romantic. The stylish pre-credit sequence is equally brilliant,showing the natural elegance and "joie de vivre" we all associate with Bond.

A question: what if Connery had accepted to play Bond this time? I think this could be the best Bond movie ever made. But the producers came up with a martial arts expert with no experience in acting, which sadly overshadows many good points(on Lazenby's defense, it was his first performance), but this film still intensely shines as an interesting, strange gem in the Bond canon.