Bondathon: On Her Majesty's Secret Service

How do you replace an already established and well-known actor in a well-known titular movie character? It's next to impossible for most without wide media and crowd backlash. Little did people know in 1969, this was not the last time they'd see a role change in the James Bond franchise.

Connery was done, there was no other way of putting it. The producers at EON were in a position that left them without a lead actor for their smash hit series. Many different actors were tried for the role, including Roger Moore (a name we will return to later), who ended up being taken by his TV show, "The Saint." But then, EON stumbled upon George Lazenby.

Before his one outing as Bond, Lazenby was merely a commercial actor. Bond producer Cubby Broccoli met George at his barber's one day, and soon after, saw him in a commercial for Fry's Chocolate Cream, and saw potential in him being Bond. After screen tests (and some work to make himself look the part) Lazenby was chosen as the next James Bond in the 1969 movie On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

So, let's talk about Majesty's. The plot is actually quite different for a Bond film, and I quite like it a lot. Bond is driving along a beach when he gets passed by a beautiful girl in a Mercury Cougar. He pulls over with the Cougar at a lookout point when he notices she's attempting suicide by walking into the ocean. He quickly saves her, fights some baddies, delivers a failure of a 4th wall breaking joke, and we cut to the theme song. Over the course of the movie, Bond discovers that this girl is known as the Contessa Teresa di Vicenzo, or Tracy, played by the fantastic Dame Diana Rigg. Rigg and Lazenby have a little chemistry together, as it's seen that they hit it off immediately as acquaintances. After a night in bed, Bond finds Tracy gone, and is taken to meet her father, Marc Ange Draco. Draco proposes that Bond should date his daughter, and in return, he will give all the information he knows about Blofeld, played this time by Telly Savalas. Bond does so, falls in love with Tracy, and eventually ends up posing as a genealogist to learn more about Blofeld's plans, which include announcing himself as the new Count de Bleauchamp.

After being caught, he learns that Blofeld pretty much intends to sicken the world with his, "Angels of Death," (patients at his clinic in Switzerland), and hold it at ransom. Tracy helps Bond escape and he proposes, but shortly after, Tracy is captured by Blofeld herself. At the end of the film, Bond and Draco bust Tracy out, and her and Bond get married, only to have it cut short with Blofeld and his henchwoman driving by and killing Tracy.

It is a fantastic story, and I honestly wish more Bonds would go down this route. It's gripping and entertaining, with tons of new and exciting actors in the role who actually knew what they were doing. But with every gem in the production, there's one runt...Lazenby.

Lazenby is a very wooden actor, to say the least. Most of the time when you listen and see him act, he just looks and acts like he just doesn't belong there. This was one of the reasons he didn't come back, another being that he was always constantly being compared to Connery. Even in the film, that fourth wall joke, "This never happened to the other fella," only reminded fans that Connery was better at Bond than it did make them laugh.

I guess the only way that I could sum it up is that Lazenby was the least bit good. But we wouldn't have to sit through his wooding acting again, because he quit before OHMSS even hit theaters.

Lazenby aside, OHMSS gets 4 out of 5 stars. It's a great premise with great actors and proves how you can revamp a series after a few blunders. Next week, Connery's back for his final film in the official EON series.