On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Director: Peter R. Hunt
Year Released: 1969
Rating: 2.0
Lame Bond film with George Lazenby taking the place of Sean Connery - whose charisma is sorely needed here. Has the usual Bond stunts and women (Diana Rigg of The Avengers) - the one sequence on skis is particularly well shot and expertly edited - but is poorly written and plotted, with the actual "purpose" of the film coming in much later than expected. The dialogue, while minimal, tries too cute to generate one-liners only Sean-the-Man would pull off, and there's zero sexual chemistry (or a "real" sense of fun) between wooden Lazenby and any of the females he seduces. The stunts, tossed out with no let-up, grow old ("Oh swell, more helicopters and machine guns and natural disasters...."). Sean returned - whew - in Diamonds Are Forever, armed with a good screenplay.
