Bond Films: On Her Majesty's Secret Service

One day, I was channel surfing and I came across an old action movie, clearly of the late sixties or early seventies. "This looks like a Bond movie," I thought, but the main actor wasn't Sean Connery or Roger Moore. Someone called him James, and then someone called him Bond, and then the theme song kicked in. I had stumbled upon the one Bond film starring George Lazenby, On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

The basic plot of On Her Majesty's Secret Service is: Bond meets a troubled young woman (the girl) and is later kidnapped by goons who work for her father, a major crime figure. He basically wants Bond to woo his daughter and keep her safe, and he offers Bond information on SPECTRE in exchange. Bond agrees but is later pulled back by MI6, and taken of the Blofeld case since he hasn't made progress in two years. Protesting, Bond returns to the continent to follow the leads he's generated, leading ultimately to a health spa in the Swiss Alps that is actually Blofeld's base for his latest plan for global extortion. Bond comes across the girl and actualy falls in love with her, and later leads an assault on the base to rescue her and stop Blofeld. After apparently defeating Blofeld, Bond marries the girl. SPOILER ALERT -- -- -- Unfortunately, on the way to their honeymoon, Blofeld performs a drive-by shooting that leaves her dead and Bond holding her lifeless body.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service is pretty epic for a Bond film. Especially as a followup to You Only Live Twice, it's bizarrely engaging on an emotional level. While the one-time switch-up in actors is a little jarring, Lazenby works well for a Bond. In many reviews, gets some knocks, but the rost complaint I can make is that he's good, but not great. Otherwise, this is a great Bond film. It goes back to having great characters, and a more-or-less believable (for a Bond film) story. I cared about these characters; previously, the only time I'd seen Bond lose someone he loved was in the Daniel Craig version of Casino Royale. Telly Savalas deserves credit as a much more threatening Blofeld; unlike Donald Pleasance's scarred, simpering lap-cat aficionado, his Blofeld is athletic, engaged, and pretty much living the high-class thug life.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service is a must-see Bond film. The story, the characters, the actors, all come together. This is what a Bond film should be.