James Bond George Lazenby;
Tracy (Contessa Teresa di Vicenzo) Diana Rigg; Ernst Stavro Blofeld Telly
Savalas; Marc Ange Draco Gabrielle Steppart; Irma Bunt Ilse
Steppat; Miss Moneypenny Lois Maxwell; Sir Hilary Bray George
Baker; M Bernard Lee; Shaun Campbell Bernard Horsfall; Q
Desmond Llewelyn; Grunther Yuri Borienko; Olympe Virginia
North; Tousaint Geoffrey Cheshire; Che Che Irvin Allen; Raphael
Terry Mountain; Gebruder Gumbold James Bree; Hammond John
Gay. The Girls Angela Scoular (Ruby Bartlett); Catherina Von Schell
(Nancy); Julie Ege (Scandanavian); Mona Chong (Chinese); Sylvana
Henriques (Jamaican); Dani Sheridan (American); Joanna Lumley (English);
Zara (Indian); Anoushka Hempel (Australian); Ingrit Back (German); Helena
Ronee (Israeli); Jenny Hanley (Irish).
After hearing nothing but horrible
things about this entry into the 007 series, I decided to rent it and watch it anyway
(back in 1986, when I didn't purchase any of them yet).
Boy... was I surprised.
This is probably my favorite Bond of
them all. It's up there with For Your Eyes Only, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger and
The Living Daylights (Not in that order). The story is great, with an excellent
ending. Lazenby would have been perfect if not for his "little boy lost" look in
various parts of the story. The fight scenes are great, direction is superb and the ski
chases are phenomenal. There are also lots of in-jokes refering to the previous films!
After another viewing of it, I
appreciate that Lazenby delivers the one-liners very well. He did a better job in
his first Bond appearance than Moore and Brosnan did in theirs. His acting was very
capable and, again, the fight scenes were fantastic.
The story sticks very closely to the
novel version. Bond is still chasing after Blofeld, who he finds as the
"director" of a allergy institute in the Alps. With the assistance of the
Union Corse, Bond eventually does away with the institute, from which Blofeld hopes to
spread a worldwide plague.
The wedding of Bond is also a
highlight that would play into other films. The short lived marriage would be
referred to in The Spy Who Loved Me, For Your Eyes Only and most significantly in Licence
to Kill.
Trivia
Maurice Binder's title sequence features clips from the five previous
films, although none feature Bond (Sean Connery) However, one can glimpse Connery's
nose and barely part of his face when Largo appeasr in the credits... look for it!
Also, the titles lead into the
flashbacks by showing a man (presumably Bond) hanging onto the minute hand a large clock.
The clock is running backwards, signifying the "going back in time"
aspect of the titles.
When Bond is clearing out his desk he is seen packing Honey's knife (from Dr No),
Grant's watch (from From Russia With Love) and the underwater rebreather (from Thunderball)
while the soundtrack switches to extracts from the scores to these films.
One result of the film sticking so closely to Fleming's novel is a major continuity error
for the film series; Bond infiltrates Piz Gloria disguised as Sir Hilary Bray and believes
that Blofeld will not recognize him despite the fact that they met in the previous film!
Granted, Bond now looks totally different, but I don't think this is intended in the film!
At the end of the pre-credits sequence, Tracy runs off from Bond leaving only her shoes
and Bond wryly comments "This never happened to the other feller" - this is a
sly reference to Sean Connery .
When Bond is
taken to Draco's headquarters he passes a janitor who is whistling the theme song to Goldfinger.
Piz Gloria is an actual restaurant in the Swiss Alps.
Lazenby was a prima donna and stated he
was not going to make anymore Bond films... a decision he regrets now that he's more
mature (a shame because he would have made a great Bond!)
This was the last "serious"
Bond film until 1981's For Your Eyes Only
The End Of On Her Majesty's
Secret Service But James Bond Will Be Back in
Diamonds
Are Forever
