This film is definitely the most unique of the James Bond films. It was the first non-Sean Connery Bond film. Bond actually has a serious relationship in the film. For the most part the film plays the material straight. And the ending is quite unexpectedly sad.
George Lazenby (THE KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE) plays James Bond and after a rough outing at the start of the film, he gets to utter the line, “This never happened to the other fella,” which has spurred fans to assume that James Bond is more of a persona that various spies don over the years. However, this reading of the line discounts his interaction with Miss Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell, THE HAUNTING), but I digress.
The film starts with Bond following the daughter of a crime boss named Contessa “Tracy” Di Vicenzo (Diana Rigg, TV’s THE AVENGERS), whose attempt at killing herself is thwarted by 007. Later, Tracy’s father Marc Ange Draco (Gabriele Ferzetti, 1977’s THE PSYCHIC) offers Bond one million pounds to marry Tracy, but the secret agent isn’t keen on the money, but offers to romance the girl for information leading to his archrival Blofeld (Telly Savalas, TV’s KOJAK), who he tracks to a remote hideaway disguising itself as a research center studying allergies.
The typical Bond film doesn’t have much emotional resonance for the lady’s man spy, however here, the film develops a real love for James, which adds emotionally to the action and develops the Bond character in an interesting way. The story shows Bond’s rebellious side, disobeying orders and teaming with criminals. It also makes Blofeld more than just the bad guy du jour, giving Bond an emotional reason for Blofeld to be his hated enemy.
As for Lazenby, he isn’t Connery, but he slips into the role with ease. Roger Moore took a few films to get use to the part, but Lazenby’s one-off performance is very solid, even garnering him a most promising newcomer nomination at the Golden Globes. And he also looks the part too. The beautiful Diana Rigg is a wonderful Bond girl, taking what happens she is the ultimate Bond girl per se. The action is very well done and retains a visceral feel even today in the age when action scenes are composed of shots not even a second long. I haven’t seen all the Bond films yet, but I can say this one ranks up there with the best of the lot thus far.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
