If you read the end of the credits for You Only Live Twice, it states that "James Bond will be back On Her Majesty's Secret Service". But after You Only Live Twice, Sean Connery made it clear that he would not return as 007. So an all out effort was launched to find an adequate replacement for Sean and christen a new James Bond. The producers considered many candidates such as John Richardson, Anthony Rogers, Robert Campbell, and Hans de Vries but Albert Broccoli finally made his decision on an unknown Australian model called George Lazenby, due to his excellence in fight scene screen tests. Lazenby had a Connery-like appearance and even got his hair cut to look like Sean's. Broccoli thought the similarity between the two would be good enough to keep the movie goers coming back. He wasn't exactly right on that assumption. On Her Majesty's Secret Service had the lowest number of U.S. admissions in the series' history with 16 million. Even Doctor No fared better with 23 million seven years earlier. Despite the outright flop at the boxoffice, many Bond fans consider On Her Majesty's Secret Service to be one of the series' best films.

One reason the admissions and worldwide gross for the films was so low was because fans were not open to the idea of a new 007. They figured that with the new actor, the movie would fail to compare with its predecessors. While George Lazenby is my least favorite of the actors who've played James Bond, he wasn't at all terrible in the role. I thought he brought a different attitude to the role which was kind of refreshing. On Her Majesty's Secret Service begins with 007 driving on a road in Portugal when he is passed by a good-looking woman in a red Cougar. Further up the road, he spots the car abandoned on the side of the road near a beach. He pulls up and takes a sniper scope out of the glove compartment. He notices that the girl is attempting to drown herself in the ocean and rushes to save her. We have yet to get a good look at the new 007 because of the dark lighting inside Bond's Aston Martin. The car screeches to a halt and Lazenby gets out of it and we see him for the first time. I think this was a good introduction of him as Bond. The music playing at this time is perfect. At any rate, it is a far better introduction that Roger Moore had. The James Bond theme during the scene is great. I think it is one of the better themes in the series and John Barry's score is fabulous. James runs into the ocean and saves the woman and introduces himself as "Bond, James Bond", which did not sound very good to me. Anyway, two brutal henchmen pull a gun on 007 and a knife to Tracy. Bond is forced to lie down in a sailboat and just as the man is about to pull the trigger, James hurls an anchor at his torso. Bond has to be pretty strong to chuck an anchor of that size over his head! This leads to an awesome fight scenario and Barry's music once again comes into full play. Lazenby was the best Bond when it came to fight scenes. The ones here in the ocean were downright brutal. The punches he lands look like they could knock your head off! 007 takes care of the two men and Tracy flees in her car down the road. Bond picks up her shoes on the sand as she drives off and utters, "this never happened to the other fellow [Connery]." The scene is then taken over by the credit sequence, which by the way, is the first one since Doctor No to feature a title track without lyrics.

Next Bond arrives at a hotel where Tracy is staying. He bails her out a huge jam at the Baccarat tables in the hotel's casino and she invites him up to her room. When he goes, however, there is a rather large black man in the room waiting to kick Bond's ass. But guess what? Doesn't happen. This has got to be one of the best fight scenes in the entire Bond series. I love the way Lazenby pounds this guy into the ground. I mean, he just slaughters him by decking him several times and hurling him through a wooden panel in the room. I can watch this scene a million times.

From here, Bond meets Tracy's father, Draco, and he offers Bond one million pounds to marry his daughter. In return, Bond asks that Draco track down Ernst Stavro Blofeld. So now we are taken on a ride of love and romance between Bond and Tracy which is kind of boring. Draco finds Blofeld in the Swiss Alps impersonating a French Count at an allergy clinic. But what Blofeld is really doing is manufacturing a pestacide to infest Britains's livestock and crops with in order to demand a ransom from the government. A professor from the College of Arms is scheduled to go up to Blofeld's hideaway and research his family history to find out if he is indeed a Count. Bond infiltrates the scheme by impersonating the professor, named Sir Hilary Bray, and going to the hideaway himself. His disguise works for a while but his cover is blown when he sleeps with one too many of the female patients there at the clinic.

007 now must flee the hideaway for his life. Blofeld confined him to the cablecar shaft but he climbs down one of the Tram cables in order to get into the hideaway again. While he is inside, he hears exactly what Blofeld is using the girls for. They are to be his "angels of death" and spread the pesticides for him by remote "brainwash" control. It is now that Bond decides to flee the hideaway. 007 takes a couple of skis from the ski closet after beating up the watchman. As he is exiting the building, he turns and says, "Merry Christmas" to the man he just knocked out. The ski chase is another one of my favorite scenes in the movie. Bond is trying to outduel Blofeld's henchmen on skis and eventually does. The music during this ski chase is excellent and if you have the soundtrack to On Her Majesty's Secret Service, it is track number 4. When James gets to the bottom of the mountain arriving at a small town, he finds henchmen all over the place and tries to hide from them, beating up a few along the way. There, on the ice-skating rink, he finds Tracy who has come looking for him. They get into her car and take off. A couple of henchmen follow them and they enter a demolition race at the edge of town. This is a great scene because everybody is banging in the race and eventually Irma Bunt and her goons are railroaded and their car explodes, leaving them in the flames. This race was a definate plus in the film!

Later on in the film, Bond and Tracy once again find themselves eluding Blofeld's goons on skis. This time, Blofeld is with them. As they are skiing downhill, Blofeld fires a flare into the air and the unstable snow is shatterd by the noise vibrations and a massive avalanche ensues. There is incredible use of visual media here as the avalanche looks so real! Bond and Tracy are trying to outrun the avalanche but to no avail. They catch part of it and are knocked unconscious. Tracy is kidnapped by Blofeld and taken to his hideaway at Piz Gloria. Back in London, James is devastated and becomes angry when "M" will do nothing to help him. So he enlists the help of Draco. The plan: to fly up to Piz Gloria, rescue Tracy, and demolish the clinic and the livestock virus with it. They meet some resistance along the way in the form of fighter planes but alas, they reach the top. The battle is great atop the mountain as Bond and Draco's men get in to rescue Tracy. Tracy is saved, but Bond is too late and must evacuate the building before it is destroyed. He and Blofeld barely make it out before the whole place goes up and they embark on a bobsled chase that has to be one of the best scenes in the entire James Bond series. They fight on the sled and Bond gets the upper hand on Blofeld by catching his neck in a tree branch while they are going 80 plus miles an hour! Yeah, that hurts. Interesting sidenote: This is why Blofeld is in a wheelchair in For Your Eyes Only, but why do they bring him back in Diamonds are Forever two years later and give him hair?

The next scene is the wedding ceremony for Bond and Tracy. Draco kept his end of the bargain by offering 007 one million pounds, but 007 refuses the money. Moments after they depart for their honeymoon Tracy is shot and killed by Irma Bunt and Blofeld driving by. In the most awkward finale in the James Bond movie history, Tracy lies there motionless and dead as James hangs onto her uttering, "We have all the time in the world."

I liked On Her Majesty's Secret Service for a variety of reasons. For one, the scenery was grade "A" because the Swiss Alps are absolutely stunning. Most of the film takes place there and skiing just happens to be one of my favorite sports. The fight scenes were excellent, the women were fine as usual, 007's Aston Martin is the second best car in the series, the pre-title sequence was great, John Barry's score was one of the best, the ending was unique in the series, the plot is wonderful, but Lazenby's performance was mediocre. Many fans say that if Connery did this film it would easily be the best of the series. I disagree. I think it would have been better, but I believe that if Roger Moore had done the film, it would definately be the best in the series.

Overall Rating: A-