KMC Forums - If Connery was in On Her Majesty's Secret Service

I didn't mind OHMSS, it was a nice twist to the usual Bond story, and the storyline at least fit into what had been previously established and was still ongoing, almost serialized...

Connery may have brought a whole different vibe to the role, as he did when he was brought back for Diamonds are Forever, but Lazenby did OK for what he had to work with.

Hard for him to come in after Connery's 5 successful flicks, and to pick up the strings of storyline that run thru those first 6 or 7 films, not easy when we're used to seeing Connery up there, but the groundwork that was laid in the earlier films still flows thru OHMSS;

Bond is asked/forced to resign because of his apparent obsession with toppling SPECTRE and bringing Ernst Stavros Blofeld down, and Bond won't focus on the new mission M offers. On leave, he gets hooked up with the mafia dude, because the mafia dude has connections to Blofeld; Bond is again asked/forced to do the bidding of the mafia dude to get the information on Blofeld, but in this case, since his task is to woo the daughter of the mafia boss, Bond shrugs and begrudgingly agrees. He's Bond, James Bond, wooing babes is what he does when he's not tracking Blofeld or cracking SPECTRE! In this case, he gets to woo the babe in the process of tracking Blofeld and bringing SPECTRE down! it's still win-win, just like the past Bond bombshells!!

Only now, Bond is rogue, doesn't have to answer to HMSS, but still in his heart, he's OHMSS. Ya, Lazenby kinda sucked bringing the level of depth and character and internal struggle Bond should have been facing, but the story was there, strong/weak as the previous chapters.

there are things to love/hate about each Bond film really... the trouble with Dr No's hands?? why?? WTF?? the cassette tape that rules the world in Diamonds are Forever? the ninjas and Bond becoming Japanese in You Only Live Twice?? the mystery of Stromberg's exploding lair and why Agent XXX didn't kill Bond for killing her lover, in Spy Who Loved Me??

but, there is also a nice progression of storyline there, thru the SPECTRE story, and the Cold War tie-in, and the space-race and all that stuff... OHMSS even actually introduced us to the original Fembots (not robots, but mind-controlled babes with lethal perfume atomizers!!) which was a pretty good twist, having the unwitting army of unsuspected housewives be Blofeld's playthings, just as so many women had been playthings for Bond over the years; a nice twist!

seems things took a turn into fantastical and nonsensical once Blofeld died (for like the 4th time, I think) in Live and Let Die, once Bond started having dealings with Sheriff DR Pepper from N'Orleans, then met him again, completely at random, in... India or where ever that was in Man with the Golden Gun, I think...

and, of course, once SPECTRE was dealt with, that opened the door for the story to go anywhere and everywhere, even including a Bond-in-Space in Moonraker which was forced upon the public during the days of Star Wars... after Spy Who Loved Me, when fans were eagerly awaiting For Your Eyes Only!

I think OHMSS tried something different, in a way tried to go back to the beginning, as it was less hi-tech, more character-driven like Dr No, just that we were getting used to the gadgets and such, and used to Connery too, and Lazenby came off a bit dry, dull and flat behind the weaker low-tech story...

maybe better with Connery, but then again, Connery came back once more after his return for Diamonds are Forever (and Diamonds did have that lame-cassette tape that rules the world scenario!!)... does anyone remember Never Say Never Again?? you should remember it, since you saw it the first time they filmed Connery as Bond using that script, but they called it Thunderball...

think Lazenby would have found his place, if he had wanted to do the next 5 or 6 Bond films. And, when I watched them in order OHMSS really didn't seem so god awful bad, Bond getting married and all!!!

far better than the go-go-gadgets, special effects, non-stop stunt-fests that Brosnan-Bonds had become!

haven't seen Casino Royale yet (either version) so don't know where it all began, or how it all turned out, but Lazenby and OHMSS 'fits' for me! Of course, nobody does it better than Connery, except that was the song from Moore's installment, Spy Who Loved Me, so... oh well!

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