Thursday, May 21, 2020

ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE 1969 (MGM)

This is considered the "red headed stepchild" of James Bond films.

George Lazenby takes on the role of Bond when Sean Connery decided he no longer wanted to play the super spy.

In this outing Bond dates the daughter of a mob boss in order to infiltrate the highly secret headquarters of international crime lord Blofeld played by Telly Savalas.

The mob boss Draco (Gabriele Ferzetti) arranges for Bond to meet his daughter Tracy (Diana Rigg) and after a bit of a rocky start they begin to fall for each other in a much deeper way than was expected.

Meanwhile Bond has infiltrated the Blofeld headquarters located in the Swiss Alps and soon learns of the insidious plans Blofewld has for world domination.

This movie is usually dismissed by Bond fans as being the worst, but that simply isn't true. Lazenby does well with the role, and the plot is a little bit different than other films in the series. It also shows a more human side to Bond, the side we have never been shown in his love for Tracy.

Ilse Steppat in the role of Irma Bunt is not soon forgotten, and it is her character that forever changes Bond when she kills his wife. Savalas does an excellent job as Blofeld and the rest of the cast includes series regulars Desmond Llewelyn as "Q", Lois Maxwell as "Moneypenny" and Bernard Lee as "M".

The others in the cast are Virginia North, Yuri Borienko, Catherine Schell, Julie Ege and Sylvana Henriques. If you haven't seen this film and you are a James Bond fan, you really should check it out and see something a little bit different.

2 comments:

  1. I am so glad you wrote this, I totally agree. This is a top 10 Bond movie for me. The producers really pumped up the screenplay and the movie making for this since Connery was not returning as they feared they might lose some the audience.

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