Good morning everyone! Hope you all are having a wonderful Sunday morning either going to a cool church service, bike riding in the sun, or whatever else you might be doing on this fine Sunday morning! Today, we review the sixth installment of 007 films at least in the Eon film series (8th if you count the two non-eon films, which I may get to later). This time around, Sean Connery is not the actor who is playing the role of James Bond. Instead, we have someone who was said to be a newcomer to the Hollywood business at the time that this film was released by the name of George Lazenby. I’m guessing this must have been because Connery either got tired of playing Bond, or had other prior commitments? You got me! Anyway, without further ado, let’s review 1969’s 007: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
Plot: The story takes the famous fictional hero to the Swiss Alps. Here, Bond (George Lazenby), with the help of new friends such as Marc-Ange Draco (Gabriele Ferzetti), and his daughter Tracy di Vincenzo (Diana Rigg), he must stop a SPECTRE agent named Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Telly Savalas) from releasing some kind of biological warfare throughout the world.
Wow, okay, if some of you have felt rather annoyed by some of the previous 007 James Bond movies possibly being filled with certain cliches, and things like that, then fear not this time around. This 1969 007 movie really steps up it’s game this time around. In fact, besides many of the later 007 films being much more darker and violent than the other films, 007: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service seems to act as one of the mature, and more adult films than the other 007 films that came before it. Why is that, so e of us may wonder? Could it be because some people in the audience didn’t like how some of the previous ones ended, and the next installments beginning differently, and leaving some of us confused to a degree? Is it because of the fact that Lazenby would become the new Bond, and people wanted to step it up as a result? One can only speculate the reasons why MGM seemed to make it as great, and/or even better than the other films in the franchise before it. All one can say is that there is plenty of heart, and depth to this story that can make this movie even more recommended to the audience, most notably people who like these types of films. First of all, as mentioned before, the movie breaks away from certain cliches that the other films seemed to have. So much so that it almost may inspire some to maybe watch this one more than once. Okay, that’s not to say that the prior 007 films aren’t worth being rewatched as well. Still, because of there seeming to be so much fiber and substance for this particular film, it’s almost like a lot of people may yet find themselves watching this one the most. That is at least as far as the older films in this series go. In addition to this, people will be glad about the fact that certain relationships seem to act much better than the ones before. Not only that, but the writing seems to be much smarter, and more clever this time around as well. Honestly, you might find yourselves surprised by the outcome of most, of nearly every aspect of how things were written up for this 007 story. It’s also really cool how the line of “sparing the rod, and spoiling the child” (which is brought up in Proverbs 13:24) is brought up briefly in this film as well. It seems to beg the question, “Did even Hollywood have good Christian morals with their films back in these days?” Well, considering that God, or anything having to do with God got banned from public schools, and films like that come out somewhat shortly after that, it’s safe to say that Hollywood most likely did. I mean you can probably see that with not only something like the Scripture line in this film, but like with The Jungle Book (the 1967 animated version, that is) with the whole “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friend), and and probably other films of this time period that I’m unaware of. It’s just too bad that Hollywood, and people in other companies in this nation have seemed to lose many of their moral values since then, you know? Anyway, an additional thing to note is that 007: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service will teach people that there will be times, probably more than one would like, where things will not go the way that they expect. When things are going well, don’t take those good moments for granted, since you never when things could take a turn for the worst. That’s also a really great lessons to learn from this film. Finally, be aware that the ending, let’s just say that it will be different than what you expect. That’s as far as I’ll go with that, as I’m sure that some of you might be curious to know how so if you haven’t seen this film yet.
And that’s my review for 007: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. It is a very clever film with excellent writing, and the main character being much more mature and manly than before. You can really tell that the makers of this film were trying to be much more different than they were before. As a result, they did a fantastic job with what they did in the end. Sure, George Lazenby would never be Sean Connery. Still, he does a superb job with putting life in this character, and this movie overall. Thus far, I would say that if you were only to pick one of the older James Bond movies to see, definitely make this one your top priority of all between the older 007 films. I was surprised with the result, and I’m sure you all most likely will be too.
Final Grade: A+
Matthew’s Animated & Live-Action Movie Reviews 