On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)

Rewatched 10/14/24 (Prime Video)

I watched On Her Majesty’s Secret Service for the first time a few years ago, always putting it off per internet-speak of it being one of the more divisive Bond films. I thought that was code for weird—and the first time I watched it, I didn’t pay enough attention. Now, having watched it for a second time, without a doubt, I can confirm that this movie IS weird. But…in this case…weird is electrifying. Most of OHMSS’ plot is nothing to write home about, a greatest hits compilation of the various other Bond movies that you like or hate. But its differences are striking and aggressive and, although you could be turned off by them, I highly recommend giving this one another shot or, more likely, a shot for the first time.

I think people avoid this one because George Lazenby, its star, was only Bond once. I can honestly say it factored into my avoidance. He’s a good Bond, though, like a slightly stranger Connery, but highly believable during the brilliantly staged and executed action beats (more on those to come—they’re incredible). His flirting is awkward in an entertaining way, his outfits bring the crazy factor, and his ski skills are impeccable. It’s a pretty rock-solid combination for this outlier Bond movie.

More important is the female lead opposite him, played by Diana Rigg, who flexes a very special power throughout. Every time Rigg opens her mouth she turns on some sort of tractor beam. There are plenty of beautiful, striking women throughout the film, none of which, including Rigg, are given much good dialogue to work with. But for some reason, some unknowable x-factor, you can’t take your eyes off of Rigg’s Tracy every time she talks. The character has a cadence and subtlety that you can immediately recognize as magnetic and, as a result, it makes perfect sense when Bond falls for her.

This is the crazy Bond movie in which 007 gets married. See for yourself. That whole idea is introduced as clumsily as you would expect with late-‘60s gender politics and makes for one of the most unhinged and ultimately shocking character arcs in Bond history. Lazenby and Rigg have such an oddball chemistry that despite its wackiness you can’t really help but be a bit affected by the way it all wraps up.

Barring Skyfall, this is certainly the most visually impressive 007 film. Its arresting on-location Swiss mountaintops are the highlight, tantamount only to the instantly iconic research lair housing Blofeld and his goons located at their heights. This movie came out in 1969 but between the camera used, the color palette, and the movements it makes with such picture quality, this one feels like it could have come out in the last 10-15 years. Seriously, DP Michael Reed shoots the shit out of this with a variety of really ahead-of-their-time movements and stunts. His impact on OHMSS really can’t be undervalued and it’s too bad that this exact creative team didn’t unite because this feels like the closest Bond has ever gotten to an avante-garde, arthouse style. There’s a quiet, painterly quality to scenes and shots in this that none of its sister films have matched since.

What might be even more exciting than the Swiss Alps location itself is the action filmmaking taking place on its peaks. In fact, I would argue that it’s the peak for 007 action until Casino Royale, with first-time Bond director Peter R. Hunt having cut his teeth as an editor of the Connery films and finally making the most of his break to deliver ambitious destruction, violent choreography, and a breakneck pace to his action scenes. Between the energetic pace, dangerous stuntwork, and beautiful Swiss snowscapes, it’s a spectacle that doesn’t let up. Really, you have to see to believe the lengths to which OHMSS goes to use up every penny of its budget in these stunt scenes. Shit breaks everywhere, explosions abound, deaths seen through to the very last breaths—they really go for it.

OHMSS features multiple ski chases/shootouts/fights, a men-on-a-mission-style assault on a mountaintop compound featuring a flamethrower-wielding soldier, handsome European mountain village car chases and crashes, psychedelic brainwash sequences, a prison break via chairlift inner-mechanisms, and much more. And the art design of the sets on top of all the ice and snow is so textured and finely detailed that you can’t help but notice the work that must have gone into this production. The director and his allegedly very handpicked crew truly display a synchronicity.

What is much less in-sync is the tone, which could be described as fast and loose. It could also be described as inconsistent, odd, confused, etc. I choose to look at it as all over the place but in the best way. OHMSS seems just as interested in meta Bond jokes as it is in kick-ass action sequences and truly jarring, dark plot beats. It’s no secret at this point that somehow topping even Casino Royale, this is runner-up to No Time to Die as the biggest downer of an ending in the Bond franchise as a whole. OHMSS goes to some really extreme lengths to put an exclamation mark on an otherwise zippy adventure movie. Until its last five minutes, it usually leaves its more catastrophic elements in the background. To foreground such a strong choice in the last five minutes with no opportunity for vengeance for our hero is a pretty batshit but really respectable choice. It’s like the more realistic evil twin of Casino Royale’s thrilling, very convenient ending. These movies need some stakes every once in a while and the ending totally worked for me even beyond shock factor.

But the humor is there, as well, in a capacity dangerously close to Austin Powers territory. But it somehow plays? And it’s really, really funny? Bond even breaks the fourth wall arguably multiple times, but whoever came up with the jokes had a great dry sense of humor and wasn’t afraid to get pretty dirty with it. It’s a seemingly wild combination when stacked up against the movie’s many violent kills, but if you look at OHMSS as an all-in-one exploration of everything Bond movies can be, the humor somehow being snuck in, in such an effective way, is a really cool gamble that paid off for me in spades. If you can get on this movie’s offbeat wavelengths, it could concretize itself in your 007 top 5.

9/10