HAPPY 50TH, 'O.H.M.S.S.'!........."THIS NEVER HAPPENED TO THE OTHER FELLOW"

On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)     Since we were way late with a 50th Anniversary post on "Once Upon A Time In The West", we might as well arrive a about a month early
with a 50th greeting for our favorite Bond movie........

                 It stands apart from all other Bond films in multiple regards...... it's the only one directed by Peter Hunt, who as the film editor of the previous Bonds, created the visually unique rapid cutting style that set the films apart from any other action movie......

                 'OHMSS', is the absolute pinnacle of Hunt's 'cut-to-the-chase' cutting techniques which turn all of the film's fights and chases in unforgettable, bravura sequences.........for anyone who doesn't think there's a difference, compare the action scenes in this film to the exhausted, lame oil rig battle in the next in the series, "Diamonds Are Forever".....

                 The other singularity, of course, is the one-shot Bond.....George Lazenby.  The young Australian model earned the role because he looked good beating up people.  So in a bizarre casting decision that could only take place in the unpredictable 1960's, he ends up inheriting a role that the entire moviegoing world associates only with Sean Connery........

                 And herein lies the deepest irony........Connery abandoned the series, weary and unhappy with the tinker-toy, special effects, gadget-happy direction the films were taking.........and leaves the role to an amateur who gets exactly the kind of Bond movie Connery would have excelled in, with minimal gadgets, no sci-fi hardware and a stunning dramatic arc involving Bond's encounters with true love.marriage and gut-wrenching tragedy. Go figure........

                .......and even better, the film provided the rookie Bond with the series most awesome leading lady, Diana Rigg, fresh off 'The Avengers' TV series.......and also one its most implacable, intimidating villains ina Ilsa Steppat's Fraulein Irma Bunt.........(another star-crossed part of 'OHMSS', since Steppat, due to return in 'Diamonds Are Forever', died a few weeks after her one and only English language role hit the theaters.......

                     We know many other Bond-0-maniacs would differ, but we always thought Lazenby did just fine as 007 and the film took full advantage of his youth and muscularity........and he proved a perfect match for Telly Savalas's thuggish and equally physical Ernst Blofeld......making it the only film in the series where Bond and Blofeld engage in an all-out brawl.......(on a speeding bobsled, no less...)

                       Another reason we so love the film.......it's richly steeped in the glamorous, dangerous international world that Ian Fleming created for James Bond, evoking the flavor and atmosphere of the books........(and it's the last of the Bond films that made any attempt to stick the source material of Fleming, until the Daniel Craig version of "Casino Royale" in 2006.

                      So BQ wishes a happy, Piz Glorious 50th to "On Her Majesty's Secret Service".....(only hardcore fans of the film know the pun reference we just dropped...).....and no question, a perfect
5 star (*****)  FIND OF FINDS........(and it's Christmas-y......so enjoy it for the holidays.....)