Telly is a great Blofeld and his confrontation with Bond as he cheerfully decorates his Xmas tree is one of the best in the series. I particularly like the way he declares that he means what he says and will do as he claims.
Now THAT is a Bond supervillian. Pure swagger. Anything less for Bond villians is unacceptable.
Telly Savalas was the only one of the visible Blofeld's who carried any real menace. It was easy to believe he posed a real threat to Bond. And his confrontation with Bond is very good. For me, this is one of the few acting (as opposed to action) scenes where George Lazenby performs well and he portrays real vulnerability when Bond is being held by Blofeld's goons after the struggle in the corridor after looking out at the body of Campbell hanging upside down.
Moore Not Less 4371 posts (2002 - 2007) Moore Than (2012 - 2016)
In my opinion OHMSS is one of the three best Bond movies next to FRWL And CR. It is hard to chose one moment. The ski escape from Piz Gloria, the cable escape, the office break-in and the very last scene are good candidates.
As I've written before it's the Murren ice rink when Bond is totally beaten and on the verge of a complete breakdown when Tracy magically skates up out of nowhere like an angel.
But there are many other moments not often given their due.
For me, I adore the safecracking sequence That score cue has become stuck in my head in numerous crucial moments in life.
But the opening sequence is easily the most Bondian moment in the entire film series. No dialogue, nothing needs to be said...just mmmmm'ed. A man chafing within the confines of HMSS regulations and yearning to break free out of rebellion just as much as his squealing tires rebel against the turn.
A case of what might have been. In 1967 photographer Loomis Dean was sent to casting sessions for On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Click on the link below and you will see a gallery of photo's (some rare and unpublished) featuring the five top candidates, John Richardson, Anthony Rogers, Robert Campbell, Hand de Vries, and George Lazenby.
On that picture, I think only Lazenby looks like Bond but on the article itself, I think that Robert Campbell looks good in the role. He looks like the Bond I picture when reading the books, particularly in this picture.
1- On Her Majesty's Secret Service 2- Casino Royale 3- Licence To Kill 4- Goldeneye 5- From Russia With Love
As my name and avatar give away, OHMSS is my favorite Bond film, so it's tough for me to narrow it down...
That said, I will go with the safecracking scene in Gumbold's office. This is a beautifully constructed vignette, full of tension as the clock ticks down and Gumbold returns from lunch to John Barry's increasingly urgent score, and even with a bit of slightly rakish humor as Bond ogles the Playboy centerfold with bemusement. And all without a word of dialogue. A great example of the filmmakers adding something to what was already a great novel to make an even better film.
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I tried to have this as my user name (sorry) seen this film at least 300 times.
Love it all.
Christopher Nolands fav film, the end of Inception is based on the snow sequences and attack on Piz Gloria
The begining when Bond races across the beach, saves Tracy, she drives off , he says "this never happened to the other fella" then the best ever James Bond score kicks in.
The begining when Bond races across the beach, saves Tracy, she drives off , he says "this never happened to the other fella" then the best ever James Bond score kicks in.
Probably the car chase...although I've admittedly always been one for car chases, they actually did a pretty good job regarding the special effects for the car crashes when you consider when the film was made. The whole film is good, I think, and while I never particularly liked Telly Savalas as Blofeld, it's simply based on my own experiences growing up watching Kojak re-runs and I can see why others tend to overwhelmingly like the Savalas Blofeld.
However, there have always been two relatively minor things that bugged me about the film...
1) "This never happened to the other fellow" combined with Blofeld doesn't recognize Bond (which was a continuity error, obviously, though it didn't help) starting up the "Multiple Bonds" theory and, much more importantly...
2) Why does Irma Bunt shoot Tracy instead of Blofeld? Blofeld kills her in the novel. Would it really have been THAT hard to have Irma Bunt, who we never see again in either Fleming or the films, to drive the Mercedes-Benz 600 while Blofeld is thrown clear in the sled chase and isn't wearing the neck brace so he can fire the M16 at Tracy? Not only is that truer to Fleming, but it also makes Blofeld's character exponentially darker.
I thought Blofeld was aiming for Bond in the novel, and they were trying to get Bond in the film too. Makes more sense, but they missed and got Tracy instead.
I thought Blofeld was aiming for Bond in the novel, and they were trying to get Bond in the film too. Makes more sense, but they missed and got Tracy instead.
I suppose I worded my response poorly. Yes, he was going for Bond (and hit and killed Tracy instead) in the novel, but my point is why didn't they do that in the film as opposed to putting Irma Bunt behind the trigger? Regardless of Blofeld's intent, it makes him an exponentially darker character. And as I think of it, the very fact that Blofeld has her try and kill Bond (as opposed to doing it himself not only when he has all the opportunity in the world, but also a motive to make it personal...and regardless of the nature of his injuries, he seems to drive a Mercedes-Benz 600, a short wheelbase limousine, pretty well...) is sort of odd.
I am not sure they were aiming for Bond in either the novel or the film.
In the novel Irma Bunt spots Bond by chance and pretends to be a reporter of a German newspaper to inform about his marriage. After the ceremony Bond and Tracy are in her car taking it easy and seeing a maserati at a petrol station.
(...)
Tracy sees the maserati in her mirror and asks Bond if he wants her to lose it. Bond says "No, let him go. We have all the time in the world." That said, I think Blofeld had a clean shot an choose to shoot Tracy and not Bond. Blofeld could have killed both if he wanted to. The car crashes and Bond gets knocked out when his head hits the windshield frame. He wakes up some time later. But other than a bump on the head, he isn't injured. Fleming mentions Bond seeing an automatic gun just before the car crashes.
In the movie Irma Bunt (what a great performance by Ilse Steppat by the way, as a kid I really hated her) Shoots at the car with a machine gun; she could have easily killed Bond and Tracy just by emptying a clip on the car. Instead we see a single bullet hole and Tracy as the end credits roll.
The novel You Only Live Twice clinches it for me.
James Malony says: "Here's this agent of yours (...) then he suddenly falls in love (...) So he marries her and within a few hours she is shot death by this super gangster chap. What was his name?"
Blofeld to Irma Bunt: "You forget mein Liebchen, since last January, he has ceased to be an animal. By a simple stroke of surgery on the women he loved, I reduced him to human dimensions."
a little scene I love from OHMSS, is the shot of Bond looking out of
M's window with the image of Tracy being dragged away by Blofeld's
guards reflected on the glass. Nicely done. -{
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
Yeah, that's a good one. Also the scene nearby when Bond toasts the portrait of the Queen while he's about to disobey Her Majesty's Govt and go rescue Tracy.
It would be good, I'd have thought, to show OHMSS on Christmas morning in the run-up to the Queen's speech. Then follow it aptly with TWINE, both have a strong London feel.
Napoleon, not sure the Queen would appreciate it.
Thunderpussy, one of my fav bits of Bond OHMSS: a little jest at the snobbery everyone's talking about!
But I still love the snippet with the Playboy magazine at Gumbold's office.... Bond a connoisseur of pornography and a toe-raggin' thief: brilliant!
In fairness, there are too many good bits to OHMSS for me to list.
Comments
Telly Savalas was the only one of the visible Blofeld's who carried any real menace. It was easy to believe he posed a real threat to Bond. And his confrontation with Bond is very good. For me, this is one of the few acting (as opposed to action) scenes where George Lazenby performs well and he portrays real vulnerability when Bond is being held by Blofeld's goons after the struggle in the corridor after looking out at the body of Campbell hanging upside down.
I'll try not to let it happen again
forgive my ignorance, which one you mean?
I have seen OHMSS > 30 times but never recognized a slippage ;%
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
But there are many other moments not often given their due.
For me, I adore the safecracking sequence That score cue has become stuck in my head in numerous crucial moments in life.
But the opening sequence is easily the most Bondian moment in the entire film series. No dialogue, nothing needs to be said...just mmmmm'ed. A man chafing within the confines of HMSS regulations and yearning to break free out of rebellion just as much as his squealing tires rebel against the turn.
BEHIND THE SCENES AT JAMES BOND AUDITIONS
http://life.time.com/culture/behind-the-scenes-at-james-bond-auditions/?iid=lb-gal-viewagn#1
A composite image of the top five candidates.
I tried to have this as my user name (sorry) seen this film at least 300 times.
Love it all.
Christopher Nolands fav film, the end of Inception is based on the snow sequences and attack on Piz Gloria
Pure class.
However, there have always been two relatively minor things that bugged me about the film...
1) "This never happened to the other fellow" combined with Blofeld doesn't recognize Bond (which was a continuity error, obviously, though it didn't help) starting up the "Multiple Bonds" theory and, much more importantly...
2) Why does Irma Bunt shoot Tracy instead of Blofeld? Blofeld kills her in the novel. Would it really have been THAT hard to have Irma Bunt, who we never see again in either Fleming or the films, to drive the Mercedes-Benz 600 while Blofeld is thrown clear in the sled chase and isn't wearing the neck brace so he can fire the M16 at Tracy? Not only is that truer to Fleming, but it also makes Blofeld's character exponentially darker.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
I suppose I worded my response poorly. Yes, he was going for Bond (and hit and killed Tracy instead) in the novel, but my point is why didn't they do that in the film as opposed to putting Irma Bunt behind the trigger? Regardless of Blofeld's intent, it makes him an exponentially darker character. And as I think of it, the very fact that Blofeld has her try and kill Bond (as opposed to doing it himself not only when he has all the opportunity in the world, but also a motive to make it personal...and regardless of the nature of his injuries, he seems to drive a Mercedes-Benz 600, a short wheelbase limousine, pretty well...) is sort of odd.
In the novel Irma Bunt spots Bond by chance and pretends to be a reporter of a German newspaper to inform about his marriage. After the ceremony Bond and Tracy are in her car taking it easy and seeing a maserati at a petrol station.
(...)
Tracy sees the maserati in her mirror and asks Bond if he wants her to lose it. Bond says "No, let him go. We have all the time in the world." That said, I think Blofeld had a clean shot an choose to shoot Tracy and not Bond. Blofeld could have killed both if he wanted to. The car crashes and Bond gets knocked out when his head hits the windshield frame. He wakes up some time later. But other than a bump on the head, he isn't injured. Fleming mentions Bond seeing an automatic gun just before the car crashes.
In the movie Irma Bunt (what a great performance by Ilse Steppat by the way, as a kid I really hated her) Shoots at the car with a machine gun; she could have easily killed Bond and Tracy just by emptying a clip on the car. Instead we see a single bullet hole and Tracy as the end credits roll.
The novel You Only Live Twice clinches it for me.
James Malony says: "Here's this agent of yours (...) then he suddenly falls in love (...) So he marries her and within a few hours she is shot death by this super gangster chap. What was his name?"
Blofeld to Irma Bunt: "You forget mein Liebchen, since last January, he has ceased to be an animal. By a simple stroke of surgery on the women he loved, I reduced him to human dimensions."
On topic:
Too many great scenes to pick one.
M's window with the image of Tracy being dragged away by Blofeld's
guards reflected on the glass. Nicely done. -{
It would be good, I'd have thought, to show OHMSS on Christmas morning in the run-up to the Queen's speech. Then follow it aptly with TWINE, both have a strong London feel.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Thunderpussy, one of my fav bits of Bond OHMSS: a little jest at the snobbery everyone's talking about!
But I still love the snippet with the Playboy magazine at Gumbold's office.... Bond a connoisseur of pornography and a toe-raggin' thief: brilliant!
In fairness, there are too many good bits to OHMSS for me to list.
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
By taking Tracy from him.
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS