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The GEORGE LAZENBY Appreciation thread - Discuss His Life, His Career, His Bond Films
Aziz_Fekkesh
Royale-les-Eaux
For a guy with no acting experience filling the most iconic role in movie history up until that point, he gave a damned commendable performance. The scene with Bond proposing and the last scene alone cement him to me as a great Bond and I don't think Connery would've been able to pull off the vulnerability that Lazenby brought to the role in OHMSS. Besides, Connery had already checked out in YOLT and would've ruined OHMSS with a lazy performance ala DAF. Furthermore, Laz was great in the fight scenes and certainly had a good "look" for Bond. Given a few more films, he would've grown in to the role. Perhaps he was lousy with the one-liners, but he had the cruelty of Connery with some decent comedic timing.
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But I would like to correct your misinformed statement regarding Connery. Those of you who say this don't know he wouldn't have excelled throughout. You're just guessing based on YOLT and DAF that this would be so, and they are very different and simpler scripts that called for him to do very little he hadn't done before. Watch Sean when he's motivated by a script, especially a love story, you'll see how incredibly misinformed you really are. He wasn't interested in even reading this script because he didn't want to be Bond anyone, but if he had and wanted to do it, he would have been at his best and it would have truly made OHMSS the best of the series. Which it isn't for obvious reasons that go by the initials GL. Sean is a professional actor with many awards including an Oscar, and it's high time this whimsical theory from those with overactive imaginations was put to rest.
Time to lock this one up.
Exactly.
OHMSS with the Connery of DN and FRWL = awesome.
OHMSS with the Connery of YOLT and DAF = awful.
You are correct to state that Connery would have done a good job if he had been interested but given the choice between Sean in 1968 (with his antipathy towards Bond and EON) and Laz its George every time.
Not often the Wizard can applaud somebody on here for being absolutely bang on the money. I salute you Sandy.
However, Sean Connery in 1968-69, certainly would have been young enough and fit enough to have executed any psychical demands put on him. Check out the films he did right after completing YOLT. SHALAKO and THE MOLLY MAGUIRES. He certainly didn't look bored in either film, in fact, he gave two fine performances and they are both excellent films, but are hardly ever discussed.
On the other hand, if you had replaced Diana Rigg with another actress, I believe OHMSS would have been far less appealing. It seems to me that Diana demands the viewers attention whenever she is on the screen, much like she did when she starred in THE AVENGERS. Anyway, OHMSS will always be one of my all-time favorites along with DR. NO, FRWL, GOLDFINGER and THUNDERBALL.
Thank you Wizard. I think I should get this one framed...
No, this is not a fact as I've already stated. You're missing the point. My assessment of Sean as a professional actor however is a fact. History tells us that Sean was no longer interested in doing Bond at this point, so if he had still been contractually bound, then we would have seen what the results would have been and been able to give a proper assessment of his performance in these circumstances. That's the only fair way to see it, anything else is pure conjecture and not factual so since he wasn't, "what if" doesn't apply. It's the same as guessing if George would have been better than Sean in DAF. We'll never know that one either.
When you look at Sean's work in films such as "Robin And Marian" and "The Russia House", it's more than apparent that he was capable of giving a helluva performance in this film, with this script, one that would have ranked among his best as Bond.
That's the definition of cool right there.
That pretty much sums up my thoughts. Lazenby is probably my least favourite Bond actor but he did a good job and was the best option at the time.
@SirHenryLeeChaChing You bang on about facts but you haven't posted any. You can't prove that the script would've motivated Connery. He's given some great performances before when he was motivated by a good script but he hated Bond at this point. He hated the attention it'd given him with the press prying into his private life and he hated the producers for not paying him enough, so who's to say that all this wouldn't have stopped him from giving a toss about how good the script was?
If Sean had been motivated then yeah he would've been great but in 1969, I can't see anything motivating him apart from money. I think we likely would've just gotten another phoned in performance from a Bond who was only there because he was getting a million quid.
What does how good or bad an OHMSS starting Connery might have been have to do with Lazenby anyway?
http://www.mi6community.com/index.php?p=/discussion/7199/bond-polls-2013-every-bond-actor039s-1st-bond-film#Item_75
I know SirHenry won't stand for this but I think you're spot on Aziz_Fekkesh.
Even a committed and focused Connery would still be Sean Connery movie star. You would never really fear for him like you do George when he is strangling the guy on the cliff or sitting at the ice rink.
Perhaps the Connery of DN or FRWL might have sold it but even on the train with Grant when he is in quite a pickle you don't really have the same fears. I just think Connery is maybe too alpha male?
I am by no means Lazenby's biggest fan, but I am an OHMSS lover and I think you've both pointed out something very intrinsic to it's appeal. I have to say I completely agree.
Total agreement with this, that's all I have that's good to say and I haven't wavered from that opinion since 1969. And his rock star like manner as well with the ladies. The rest of OHMSS, completely different story.
I'm glad that GL gets a better rep these days, particularly from us within the Bond community because the level of vile that was aimed at him circa '69 was always completely overblown and out of order IMO. I often wonder whether the press in this country had in for him from the start because of the "Who is this Johnny Foreigner playing our beloved James Bond?" mentality, or whether they would have slaughtered any poor lamb that was going to take on that role after Sean left.
I suppose things hadn't changed a great deal given the initial amount of vitriol towards DC. How quick the press forget.
Apart from having not the faintest idea who GT is; well said Willy.
That's exactly what I was gesturing towards and thank you for being so articulate, Wizard. I'm not exactly sure what most critics of Lazenby's performance think that Connery would have rectified or improved on with the character as written for OHMSS, but Laz just works for this particular film. I think him in a YOLT style or even GF style film could not have worked because Bond is basically indestructible in those films. How he would've fared in later films or in a direct sequel is anyone's guess. I'm glad people are sharing their appreciation for the man and I really think that, like the rest of the actors, he was James Bond, at least for one film. What he could've brought to the series later on had he been given the chance is onlt now idle speculation.
And Gustav_Graves, I wanted to get my opinions known in a new thread rather than contribute to one and in which my points may not expanded upon.
I must disagree about the GF part. GF Connery in OHMSS would have been amazing. He's not entirely indestructible for the whole film. He gets captured and shows a great deal of nervousness when a certain laser is aiming for his center of Bond power. There's no gadget that saves him from that predicament.
Smart, and handsome, powerhouse fighter, and man, and actor. On Her Majesty's Secret Service, nobody does it better, or could have does it.
Bit of both I spose......YOLT posters didn't help either : "SC IS JB !" , many audiences were like "he ain't Bond , where's Connery ?"