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Exactly this. Not bad for someone who started out as a used car salesman.
Hear hear.
My late mother suffered with it, my wife's father has Alzheimers currently. My wife also works for the Alzheimers Society here in the UK, So we know how cruel this condition is for the service user and their family and friends.
Love and thoughts to George.
https://hmssweblog.wordpress.com/2025/09/05/happy-birthday-george-lazenby-and-a-mystery/
You may or may not already know (but I just found out)
Lazenby's "Hong Kong Trilogy" is currently available for free viewing via
Youtube - "The Man Fron Hong Kong" aka "The Dragon Files" (1975)
&
The Internet Archive - "Stoner" aka "The Shrine of Ultimate Bliss" aka "Hong Kong Hitman" aka "A Man Called Stoner" (1974)
https://archive.org/details/stoner-1974
The Internet Archive - "A Queens Ransom" aka "International Assassin" (1976)
https://archive.org/details/e-tan-qun-ying-hui-1976-dvd-xvid
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jan/17/the-man-from-hong-kong-rewatched-chopsocky-fun-at-a-cracking-pace
Thanks, I'm looking forward to watching them over the next week to find out for myself
"Stoner" is the only one where George is the good guy, although he was originally down to play the villain, with Bruce Lee as the good guy and Sonny Chiba also involved
In the other two he plays the villain, as he would also do in the Jim Kelly film "Death Dimension"
Also thanks for the link to the article, which says that the theme song was "Sky High" by a UK band called Jigsaw, which I remember hearing frequently when I was a kid but haven't thought of since. It's a decent slice of mid-1970s pop which I am happy to rediscover.
"Who Saw Her Die?" (1972)
Who Saw Her Die? is a 1972 Italian "giallo" film directed by Aldo Lado and Vittorio De Sisti, starring George Lazenby and Anita Strindberg. Lazenby and Strindberg play the parents of a murdered girl, who pursue her black-veiled killer throughout Venice. Who Saw Her Die? features music by Ennio Morricone, and has seen positive reviews for Lazenby's performance.
NB a "giallo" is a genre that attempts the style of Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" or "Frenzy"
I recently learned to pay more attention to the TV Movie section of peoples careers, while looking for additional Pierce Brosnan films I might enjoy
In Lazenby's case I've found these two nuggets, which might well turn out to be of better quality, writing wise, than most of the things he appeared in on the big screen
"The Newman Shame" (1977)
George plays John Brandy, an ex cop who turned in his badge when he inherited money, lives a hedonistic lifestyle, but his pleasures come to an end when his friend, a respectable Perth bank manager, Frank Newman, commits suicide. Brandy and his babe Ginger travel to Perth to investigate, and become the hunted as they get too close to a blackmail scheme involving pornographic movies.
Available on Youtube
"Play For Today - The Operation", Series 03 Episode 18 (1973)
David Adler (George) is an operator. He strips assets, other men's wives, and his oldest friend's soul - anything for a cool million.
Available on Internet Archive
https://archive.org/details/play-for-today/Play+for+Today+-+S03E18+-+The+Operation+(26+February+1973).avi
NB the link takes you to page one of the episode list, but you'll need to go onto page two to find this particular episode
Someone in Hong Kong has developed a new drug and pays over the odds for an old freighter in Taiwan, to use for shipping the product to Australia. Taiwanese authorities suspect an illegal smuggling operation and assign a female agent to investigate. Meanwhile, back in Sydney, local cop George Lazenby’s voluptuous sister gets hooked, so Lazenby sets out on a one man mission to seek retribution.
As mentioned before, it was originally intended to be "It's Lee! It's Lazenby! It's Bruce Versus Bond!” but sadly Bruce wasn’t around to make it, so Lazenby gets promoted to hero instead of villain, alongside ass-kicking actress Angela Mao, from Taiwan, who takes the place of Sonny Chiba.
The plot is very broad brush, with some scenes that don’t make a lot of sense and inadequate, banal dialogue, but that is all as to be expected in a Hong Kong movie of this period. However the director does a pretty decent job of framing shots, which helps lift proceedings.
The best thing the movie has going for it is Sammo Hung (Jackie Chan’s chubby right hand man) who may have contributed significantly to the fight choreography, although he is not officially credited for it. He also plays a henchman who has several confrontations with Lazenby.
Those who were impressed by Lazenby’s physical fight scenes in OHMSS will be in heaven here, as there is 10 times as much action in this film and George acquits himself well, contributing many enthusiastic haymakers, high kicks and back hand swipes while Hong Kong stuntmen tumble all around him. The camera work and editing is also better than the typical old school Kung Fu films, more like the Japanese style (or Jackie Chan style).
Sammo Hung recalled Lazenby "wasn't a martial artist as such but he moved pretty well. I'd seen On Her Majesty's Secret Service. I thought he handled the fight scenes there okay, but of course they were very different from what we do."
There’s also nothing wrong with George’s acting in this either, working hard to provide plenty of nuanced facial expressions, in order to try and make up for gaps in the insufficient dialogue.
There’s also a nice little “mini Ken Adam” style set in the villain’s underground lair beneath the temple, with a curved desk on a revolving platform, a round tunnel like entrance with sliding doors, and a lab visible behind a glass wall to one side. The overhead shots of Lazenby on the revolving platform, battling a horde of henchmen, are a memorable image from the film. (Plus the waitress costumes at the party, which are something Maurice Binder could only dream about.)
Angela Mao gets as much screen time and ass kicking time as George, but they never get romantic. However George does get to bed the villain’s main henchwoman.
Overall this was about as good as I’d hoped for, and surpassed my expectations in terms of the quantity kung-fu action.
Lazenby is a villain in this one. Angela Mao tops the bill, with George and someone called Judith Brown joint second, but it’s really an ensemble cast and the likes of Jimmy Wang, Tien-Ni (Jenny), Charles Heung and Dean Shek, get just as much face time and dialogue, if not more, than the three imported headliners (Angela Mao is from Taiwan, not Hong Kong). The giant pectoral muscles of perennial Hong Kong henchman Bolo Yeung also feature.
The plot is very ambitious and elaborate, but has an internal logic which works, which is to be applauded, even if their reach exceeds their grasp. The copy I watched was in Chinese with subtitles, which were full of amusing errors, which didn’t help me to take the film seriously, but added considerably to the entertainment. (e.g. “go over these (files) amongst your calves” (selves), “For we must protest her” (protect), “cheets” and "chasts" for chests and crates etc.)
Queen Elizabeth II is making Royal visit to Hong Kong and a man called Miyamoto (Pei-shan Chan) wants her assassinated, so he hires George to organise a Dirty Dozen-esque crew of specialised villains to carry out the job. One of the movies highlights is the frequent use of archive footage of 1960s Hong Kong, showcasing the pomp and ceremony of the tour.
Meanwhile Angela is a Cambodian Princess overseeing the evacuation of the national gold reserve to Hong Kong, after the fall of Cambodia to the Communists. Jimmy is an ex-Vietcong explosives expert. Jenny is a refugee who has become a bar girl, who overhears a criminal conversation and goes to the police. Charles is the police officer assigned to deal with her case and Dean notices strange goings on around some disused buildings, near his Uncles rural dwelling.
Lazenby is planning to blow up a tunnel between Hong Kong and Kowloon as the Queen passes through it, but, thanks to Jenny, the police find out about the tunnel plan, so George proposes a new plan that involves several simultaneous assassination attempts, in the hope that one will succeed while the others serve as effective diversions. The main one being to blow up a floating restaurant where the Queen is scheduled to dine.
Jimmy is being a demanding and disruptive influence within the group. George has already despatched one troublemaking henchman (“Blackie”) and has to balance a desire to dispose of Jimmy against the need for his explosives expertise. He deploys Judith to use her womanly wiles to keep Jimmy onside. Meanwhile Dean is romancing Angela and Charles is romancing Jenny.
(Spoiler alert!)
Then the twists start unwinding and everything is turned on its head, but in a good way, without undermining the fabric of what has gone before (Many modern Hollywood productions could learn something here)
Jimmy and Jenny get together, and she (and we) learn that they are actually brother and sister. He gives her the money he has been paid so far and also tells her about the plan to blow up the floating restaurant. However they have been followed. George and co catch up with them first and shoot Jimmy, who falls off a small bridge into the river, but Charles manages to rescue Jenny, with the assistance of some other undercover cops.
Next, as Dean is picking Angela up for a date, they are hassled by the head of the Cambodian security men who is keeping an eye on the gold, and doesn’t want her wandering off. Angela has been playing the sweet harmless girly-girl up until this point, but when the thug gets rough with Dean, she reveals her true nature as an Ass-Kicker! (Of course those who have seen her before in “Stoner” will have suspected that this would happen at some point). More ass kicking follows after she and Dean stumble into the middle of one of the assassination attempts. As the police move in to shut down the snipers, they are caught up in the action. Henchman “Mango” (Ching Po Chang) and Bolo Yeung each try to grab her for a human shield and come off second best.
Jenny tells Charles about the bomb, so that plan is foiled, but by then we have already learned that George and Judith never intended to kill the Queen at all, the sniper rifle was disabled, the bomb was never armed, and that the whole assassination plan was a diversion to distract the authorities while Georges gang highjack the Cambodian gold. Also Jimmy and “Blackie” are not actually dead and form part of Georges heist team. On the flip side we learn that Dean is really an undercover cop who has been monitoring the gold on behalf of the HK authorities.
Onward to the all action finale, with Lazenby’s gang arriving by truck to attack the Cambodians, followed by the HK authorities arriving in a fleet of choppers to attack George.
Because the whole scenario is rather complicated, it takes time to set up, so the first half of the film is heavy on plot and light on action compared with most Hong Kong action movies of the period, which may be frustrating for those who only watch HK movies for the fight scenes, rather than intellectual stimulation (!!!). Such action as there is also seems rather contrived, as if the Director knew they needed to shoehorn a fight in now and then, even though it doesn’t fit smoothly into the flow of the story. But rest assured, things pick up in the second half, and overall there is enough of shoot’em up and chop socky action for anyone to enjoy, particularly during the finale.
Lazenby throws himself into the fray as enthusiastically as ever, and surprisingly ends up getting the better of Angela in their climactic confrontation. She gets the better of him with her superior martial arts high kicking skills, but, as he sprawls on the ground, he spots a suitable rock nearby and throws it at her, hitting her a glancing blow to the head. As she staggers backward he runs up and lands a stabbing front kick to her face. She goes down and he then gets on top and finishes her off with several punches in the face (mercifully all from a POV that only shows Lazenby).
George also gets to participate in a rather disturbing and extensive rough sex scene with Judith. To set the mood, their bedroom is decorated with wallpaper of a pattern that consists of black and white drawings of long haired, bare breasted women. She playfully provokes him and, after giving her a big back hand slap, panties fly and he gets down to business, her on the bed, he standing up, she writhing with ecstasy, he looking determined (there is even a hint of strangulation). Plus George gets to demonstrate that men are capable of multitasking, as the “lovemaking” is interrupted by a phone-call and Lazenby carry’s on pumping, even while discussing business.
Now that never happened to the other fellow!
It appears Angela was punched to death, as the last shot we see of her, she is still lying on the ground with a poetic view overlooking mountain and sea behind, and no-one is ever shown attempting to help or revive her. Jenny, Judith and Jimmy also meet with violent ends, so Charles and Dean miss-out on getting the girls.
Meanwhile Lazenby escapes, but only as far as the Airport, where he gets to watch the Queen and the Duke waving goodbye as they board the plane, while he is taken into custody. Those seeking a happy ending will have to look elsewhere then…