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On Her Majesty's Secret Service- Very overrated?

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  • ThomasCrown76ThomasCrown76 Augusta, ks
    Posts: 757
    Back on topic, OHMSS has great scenery, music, and some great acting...but, it also has that idiot used car salesman the producers arrogantly thought they could make a star out of . Yes, he can throw a punch, but he cannot act to save his own life. He looks downright bored listening to Draco during their first scene together. Yeah, Connery wasn't at his most inspired with You Only Live Twice, but not many actors could do wonders with that material. He also was so pissed at the producers during that film, he would just suddenly stop acting in a scene once Harry Saltzman came onto the set. That's hatred, folks, and from what I have heard of Saltzman, it was earned.
    Would Connery have done OHMSS better? I'd love to say yes, because the material is better, but with the delays in the schedule brought on by the bad weather in Switzerland, Connery would have been kept waiting in the snow and not able to play a whole lot of golf, meaning he would have been pissed in this one, too. But, then again, Bond really was pissed off and frustrated in this movie, anyway. Chasing Blofeld for two years with no real victory, and then being told by M he was being taken off the assignment finally...yeah, Connery could have summoned that anger, alright!
    But, this would have been his absolute last EON Bond, for sure. This was the way it was supposed to go per his contract, anyway. I could have done without him in Diamonds are Forever and the pointless remake that was Never Say Never Again. Seeing the mighty Sean Connery James Bond broken and defeated at the end of the decade with OHMSS would have been more memorable.
  • doubleohdaddoubleohdad
    Posts: 1,146
    Yeah I don't agree with any of the Lazenby comments. I thought he did a fine job.
    It's not Hamlet.
  • ThomasCrown76ThomasCrown76 Augusta, ks
    Posts: 757
    Not just anyone could play Bond. Roger Moore and George Lazenby proved that
  • ThomasCrown76ThomasCrown76 Augusta, ks
    Posts: 757
    He was too much of a pussycat. He was as believable as bond as Adam sandler would be as mike hammer
  • SirHilaryBraySirHilaryBray Scotland
    Posts: 2,138
    Play nice. You dont need to agree, but respect others opinions without the need for childish name calling. Some people like certain Actors as Bonds some do not. As someone who has read the Fleming novels I dont agree that Moores portrayal was the most accurate. Although not the best actor Lazenby in OHMSS and Connery in FRWL were far closer to Flemings Bond. In my opinion.
  • doubleohdaddoubleohdad
    Posts: 1,146
    ThomasCrown76 wrote: »
    He was too much of a pussycat. He was as believable as bond as Adam sandler would be as mike hammer

    I agree with this.

    The only guy that could pull off the 'Bond wearing a clown suit' idea.
  • doubleohdaddoubleohdad
    Posts: 1,146
    Birdleson wrote: »
    Moore's Bond, when played straight, was closest to Fleming's Bond

    You've got to be kidding me. He's closer to Clouseau than Fleming's Bond.
  • LudovicoLudovico
    Posts: 14,831
    ThomasCrown76 wrote: »
    Back on topic, OHMSS has great scenery, music, and some great acting...but, it also has that idiot used car salesman the producers arrogantly thought they could make a star out of . Yes, he can throw a punch, but he cannot act to save his own life. He looks downright bored listening to Draco during their first scene together. Yeah, Connery wasn't at his most inspired with You Only Live Twice, but not many actors could do wonders with that material. He also was so pissed at the producers during that film, he would just suddenly stop acting in a scene once Harry Saltzman came onto the set. That's hatred, folks, and from what I have heard of Saltzman, it was earned.
    Would Connery have done OHMSS better? I'd love to say yes, because the material is better, but with the delays in the schedule brought on by the bad weather in Switzerland, Connery would have been kept waiting in the snow and not able to play a whole lot of golf, meaning he would have been pissed in this one, too. But, then again, Bond really was pissed off and frustrated in this movie, anyway. Chasing Blofeld for two years with no real victory, and then being told by M he was being taken off the assignment finally...yeah, Connery could have summoned that anger, alright!
    But, this would have been his absolute last EON Bond, for sure. This was the way it was supposed to go per his contract, anyway. I could have done without him in Diamonds are Forever and the pointless remake that was Never Say Never Again. Seeing the mighty Sean Connery James Bond broken and defeated at the end of the decade with OHMSS would have been more memorable.

    There is a difference between being pissed off and acting pissed off. If being angry at some producers or directors was all that was needed to channel anger in a role, then many troubled productions would have ended up masterpieces. Not that some did not end up being masterpieces when actors, producers and directors did not get along, but it is no guarantee. Connery may have spoiled the movie willingly.
  • ThomasCrown76ThomasCrown76 Augusta, ks
    Posts: 757
    My first day posting on this site and I'm already being called names. Good for me. Yes, this movie is overrated, but it's still so much better than the twelve years of roger Moore we were consigned to
  • doubleohdaddoubleohdad
    Posts: 1,146
    ThomasCrown76 wrote: »
    My first day posting on this site and I'm already being called names. Good for me. Yes, this movie is overrated, but it's still so much better than the twelve years of roger Moore we were consigned to

    Hey man, I'm right there with you, though I like OHMSS more than you did. It certainly rounds anything by the tickle/pinch/giggle/wink/wink softness of the moore, who has not one memorable fight in his Bond 'legacy'.
  • patbpatb
    edited December 2014 Posts: 4,600
    I am new to these discussions so sorry if this has been asked before but can anyone point to Connery scene in any movie where he plays a character who cries? IMHO OHMSS is all about building up to that iconic and unique (up to the end of Skyfall) scene with Tracy's death. Considering his lack of experience, I think GL does a remarkable job and shows great potential for the next movie (if only). Its always interesting to place other actors in the seat of that car. RM? no way IMHO TD? very much so DC? very much so PB? no way. Only certain movie fans like sad endings. If you fall into that bracket, OHMSS is a jewel.
  • doubleohdaddoubleohdad
    Posts: 1,146
    patb wrote: »
    I am new to these discussions so sorry if this has been asked before but can anyone point to Connery scene in any movie where he plays a character who cries? IMHO OHMSS is all about building up to that iconic and unique (up to the end of Skyfall) scene with Tracy's death. Considering his lack of experience, I think GL does a remarkable job and shows great potential for the next movie (if only). Its always interesting to place other actors in the seat of that car. RM? no way IMHO TD? very much so DC? very much so PB? no way. Only certain movie fans like sad endings. If you fall into that bracket, OHMSS is a jewel.

    Totally agree with you, man. One of the best of the Bond films. Easy.
  • ThomasCrown76ThomasCrown76 Augusta, ks
    Posts: 757
    Look at him in the presidio. Robin and Marian is also good. Also try the offense when he breaks down, or even the hill. A terrific actor who could have done wonders with ohmss
  • patbpatb
    Posts: 4,600
    Thanks I will check those out. Perhaps its also that the Bond that SC had created was a cold hearted, unemotional version of Bond that did not fit in with Peter Hunt's more sensitive vision. The scene in the hayloft, the montage of park walks and shopping plus the death scene. Its a side of Bond that we had not seen before and sometimes (as with the change from PB to DC) you need a different actor to see new and unseen dimensions of Bond rather than ask the existing actor to stretch the character that they have already been playing for years.
  • GetafixGetafix
    Posts: 11,425
    ThomasCrown76 wrote: »
    Look at him in the presidio. Robin and Marian is also good. Also try the offense when he breaks down, or even the hill. A terrific actor who could have done wonders with ohmss


    it would have been amazing to see Sean in OHMSS. but would he have played it straight and vulnerable like Laz mostly did or would he already have been in DAF mode?

    one other thing - would they have cast Rigg or just some ditzy model?

    all in all we should be glad for what we got, which is a great movie. and laz takes credit for that as much as anyone IMO.

  • RC7RC7
    Posts: 10,512
    Birdleson wrote: »
    MayDayDiVicenzo wrote: »
    I much prefer the Scaramanga we see on film than the one I read in the novel, which I thought was one of Fleming's weakest, if not the weakest.

    However, neither novel nor film are anything to shout about.

    I've heard that novel trashed from the time I first read it in the early '70s. I don't get it, I love it. I think it is a wonderful follow-up to The Blofeld Trilogy (it's actually a necessary element) and a fine ending to the entire Bond saga. There are moments of tension in tension in that book (the final showdown, for instance) that rival anything that Fleming has written. My only complaint would be the conclusion. After seeing Bond tortured and pushed to the brink mentally for eleven novels, after seeing him lose the two greatest loves of his life, mentally collapse, lose his memory, live a false life under the impression that he is a Japanese fisherman (where he leaves a pregnant Kissy behind), after being brainwashed by the Soviets and attempting to assassinate M, and after almost getting killed by Scaramanga in the final Act due to his own doubt, weariness and insecurities…within a few pages all is forgiven, he's fine and fit, he's got his 00 back and M is kissing his ass. That just felt very pasted on and false.

    Sorry to go off topic, but I agree with all of this.

  • SirHilaryBraySirHilaryBray Scotland
    Posts: 2,138
    Getafix wrote: »
    ThomasCrown76 wrote: »
    Look at him in the presidio. Robin and Marian is also good. Also try the offense when he breaks down, or even the hill. A terrific actor who could have done wonders with ohmss


    it would have been amazing to see Sean in OHMSS. but would he have played it straight and vulnerable like Laz mostly did or would he already have been in DAF mode?

    one other thing - would they have cast Rigg or just some ditzy model?

    all in all we should be glad for what we got, which is a great movie. and laz takes credit for that as much as anyone IMO.


    Sean and Cubby agreed to bypass OHMSS and to proceed to YOLT which was the next novel. YOLT was heavily edited for the big screen cutting out Bond in mourning and M inventing a mission for Bond in Japan instead of firing him for not being of the mental state to carry out his duty. Perhaps the prior films success was based on Bond the action man womanizer and they thought OHMSS would have been to much of a change for what Seans portrayal was.
  • ThomasCrown76ThomasCrown76 Augusta, ks
    Posts: 757
    They'd been wanting to do ohmss since the end of goldfinger, then they were going to do it after thunderball, even having to chop off the last few seconds of the end credits when it originally said bond will be back in ohmss.
  • doubleohdaddoubleohdad
    Posts: 1,146
    I liked Peter Hunt's idea, as he stated in the OHMSS commentary, to put off the killing until the next film, and open diamonds are forever with that death.

    I sure would have loved to have seen Lazenby in those 70's films, no way there would have been all the tickle/pinch/driving gondola garbage from those films.

    Eeesh,
  • ThomasCrown76ThomasCrown76 Augusta, ks
    Posts: 757
    They just didn't have to go down that road post ohmss. They simply chose to. Still upsets me and I barely lived through the 70s
  • pachazopachazo Make Your Choice
    Posts: 7,314
    doubleohdad wrote: »
    I liked Peter Hunt's idea, as he stated in the OHMSS commentary, to put off the killing until the next film, and open diamonds are forever with that death.

    I sure would have loved to have seen Lazenby in those 70's films, no way there would have been all the tickle/pinch/driving gondola garbage from those films.

    Eeesh,
    That's a terrible idea. If Fleming had wanted Tracy to die later then he would have put it in the next novel. The story is meant to end in tragedy. I am grateful that George quit so that we were not robbed of the proper ending.
  • doubleohdaddoubleohdad
    Posts: 1,146
    ThomasCrown76 wrote: »
    They just didn't have to go down that road post ohmss. They simply chose to. Still upsets me and I barely lived through the 70s

    I agree. Turned into a tickle/giggle fest.

    Ugh.
  • ThomasCrown76ThomasCrown76 Augusta, ks
    Posts: 757
    They should have capitalized on the success of their 60s films and had the balls to charge ahead, rather than going the goldfinger route again and again
  • doubleohdaddoubleohdad
    Posts: 1,146
    ThomasCrown76 wrote: »
    They should have capitalized on the success of their 60s films and had the balls to charge ahead, rather than going the goldfinger route again and again

    Yep agree.

    I know you don't like OHMSS, but to me that was really the way to go, and would have loved to have seen Lazenby in those 70's films. Or another tough brit, not that uber-softness of the entire decade.
  • ThomasCrown76ThomasCrown76 Augusta, ks
    Posts: 757
    Lol, I like ohmss, just not the actor;) I know that's a weird feeling;)
  • doubleohdaddoubleohdad
    Posts: 1,146
    I've always been impressed as to how much that film has been references in the other Bond films. I liked Lazanby, especially comparatively next to Moore. And his fight scenes are terrific.
  • ThomasCrown76ThomasCrown76 Augusta, ks
    Posts: 757
    Lol, of course his fight scenes were terrific, he really was going for it;)
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    edited December 2014 Posts: 12,459
    Birdleson wrote: »
    Moore's Bond, when played straight, was closest to Fleming's Bond
    I think I rather agree with this. The key words are "when played straight" and I think Moore is a very good Bond indeed.

    People who bash and say juvenile things about any of the Bond actors are few here, thank goodness. I do find some of the previous remarks against Moore to be far too overboard, just ridiculous. At least for the most part, we can discuss our differences in a civil way, agreeing to disagree about interpretations.

    I don't care much for the film OHMSS, as I have stated before. And Lazenby in particular. The film does have some merit at times. But I respect that others really like the film a lot and that some find enjoyment in Lazenby.


  • ThomasCrown76ThomasCrown76 Augusta, ks
    Posts: 757
    That's a lot to base 6 minutes on;)
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    HAHA!
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