I know exactly how you feel Flyers. This was my take on it in this thread
Rather chilling movie.
On Her Majesties Secret Service007 returns with Australian actor George Lazenby replacing Sean Connery for his one and only film before he himself was replaced by.... Sean Connery... This film for casual Bond fans might not be one of the best, but any true Bondies, or fans of film in general should be able to appreciate that this is one of the best of all time.
He may not be as cool as Connery, as funny as Moore/Brosnan nor as gritty as Dalton/Craig, but George does something with Bond better than any of the others and that is to make Bond human. Some say that this film would be even better if Sean was playing the role, but I'm not sure I would agree as George actually make Bond vulnerable. There is one scene where Lazenby genuinely looks scared before being saved by Diana Riggs' character.
Riggs is the true highlight of the film though. It's not hard to see why Bond would fall in love with her as she's strong, independent and self-confident in a way that many Bond girls try to go for but fail (that's you Halle Berry...) and the video montage with Louie Armstrong's 'We Have All The Time In The World' (a song he recorded for the film before shortly passing away) is brilliant, if a little sappy.
Then you have the most memorable ending to a 007 movie and perhaps the only sad scene in the series (though my heart does go out to that Lotus Esprit in For Your Eyes Only
), in which even "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" is reduced to tears. As George's character famously quips in the pre-title sequence "this never happened to the other fella" and that's what makes OHMSS one of the best.
*****
ThunderballOkay it's Connery Bond time and this is a film that gets better the more you watch it.... unlike the Tom Jones theme tune which does the opposite. The much maligned under-water battle scenes may be very long and drawn out, but they get better the more you watch them, perhaps the digitally restored DVD is what does it and we can get to witness the scenes the same way that the audience of the 60's did when they were wowed by them.
In fact I liked this so much that it might very well be my favourite Bond of all and that is in no small part to Sean Connery's performance. He's just a dick in this film and it's great fun to watch him be a massive prick to the bad guys and loving every second of it such as when he's skeet shooting with Largo:
Bond: This looks like a women's gun.
Largo: Do you know much about guns Mr. Bond?
Bond: No. But I know a little about women.
And then;
Bond: Okay I'll have a go at it, but it looks terribly difficult. [*He casually shoots a clay pigeon out of the sky and then says in a patronizing tone*] Oh no it isn't.
Plus the scene when he walks in on femme fatale Fiona Volpe in the bath and acts upon her request to "Hand me some clothes" by giving her only a pair of shoes and then taking a seat to watch her exit the tub is hilarious.
Fiona Volpe is the best thing in the film and in my opinion the sexiest Bond girl of them all and remains one of the only true bad girls in the series, who sleeps with Bond, but only as a means to an end like he does so often before insulting the usual Bond conquests.
Fiona: "But of course, I forgot your ego, Mr. Bond. James Bond, the one where he has to make love to a woman, and she starts to hear heavenly choirs singing. She repents, and turns to the side of right and virtue...
[she steps on Bond's foot]
Fiona: ... but not this one!"
Plus Domino, who may be one of the weakest Bond girls, is unquestionably one of the prettiest, who like Ursuala Andres from Dr. No was chosen for her looks rather than acting skills and had to have all her lines dubbed. But still..... what a looker!
While not as iconic as From Russia With Love or Goldfinger this may be better than both and adjusting for inflation is still the highest grossing 007 flick of all. I could rave about this forever but to end another review by quoting a line from the film- "I think you get the point!"
*****
Something's Gotta GiveVery amusing chick-flick with Jack Nicholson playing well himself.... a famous bachelor who sleeps with women half his age. Then one day while he winds up spending a weekend with his new girlfriend and her mother Diane Keaton, having a love induced heart-attack and meeting and meeting his doctor played plank of wood... or Keanu Reaves ..... I'm not sure. Anyway what follows is the usually mix comedy and romance you'd expect, but I enjoyed it. It did seem very long however.
***
I also just this second saw the new
Star Trek again.
I'll stand by my review here and think it was still a great film.
****
), in which even "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" is reduced to tears. As George's character famously quips in the pre-title sequence "this never happened to the other fella" and that's what makes OHMSS one of the best.