Was George Lazenby's James Bond a casualty of the Hippy Revolution?
Silhouette Man
The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,871MI6 Agent
Was George Lazenby's James Bond a casualty of the Hippy Revolution? - he said as much in an interview in a 1996 television broadcast - that he was advised that the conservative character of James Bond had no future in the counter-culture movement of the 1960s Hippy Revolution - flower power, The Summer of Love and flowers in guns, "Peace, Man" etc. He was told that he was going down with a sinking ship, that he had made his big name as James Bond and that was all that mattered - something that he later regretted, of course! He stated that he wished he had went on to make another Bond film (presumably DAF). If only he hadn't heeded this very bad advice!
Sebastian Faulks' Devil May Care (2008) references this anti-Bond background - drugs/Rolling Stones/heroin/long hair/1967 etc.
The Harpies 1960s Daily Express cartoon strip also references this hippy scene.
See this article here for more details on George Lazenby and the Hippy Revolution:
http://movies.yahoo....-220348935.html
As someone wrote (Philip Larkin?) - it was a blessing in disguise that Ian Fleming didn't live to write about Bond in the post-1964 world of the Beatles, The Stones, Charles Manson's Helter Skelter gang, drugs, mass immigration from the colonies, Rastafarians in London, race wars, drugs, The Summer of Love, free love, Carnaby Street, the progressive Harold Wilson Labour Govt. etc. - abortion, homosexuality decriminalised, divorce made easier etc.
Wonder what Old Ian would have made of this type of Britain of the late 1960s and early 1970s?
What is the George Lazenby fan consensus on this one?
I consider OHMSS the best James Bond film ever made, so y'all know where I stand on this one.
Sebastian Faulks' Devil May Care (2008) references this anti-Bond background - drugs/Rolling Stones/heroin/long hair/1967 etc.
The Harpies 1960s Daily Express cartoon strip also references this hippy scene.
See this article here for more details on George Lazenby and the Hippy Revolution:
http://movies.yahoo....-220348935.html
As someone wrote (Philip Larkin?) - it was a blessing in disguise that Ian Fleming didn't live to write about Bond in the post-1964 world of the Beatles, The Stones, Charles Manson's Helter Skelter gang, drugs, mass immigration from the colonies, Rastafarians in London, race wars, drugs, The Summer of Love, free love, Carnaby Street, the progressive Harold Wilson Labour Govt. etc. - abortion, homosexuality decriminalised, divorce made easier etc.
Wonder what Old Ian would have made of this type of Britain of the late 1960s and early 1970s?
What is the George Lazenby fan consensus on this one?
I consider OHMSS the best James Bond film ever made, so y'all know where I stand on this one.
"The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
Comments
YouTube channel Support my channel on Patreon Twitter Facebook fanpage
Look how EON reacted with the reboot; in the early 70's it would have been inconceivable to have a Get Carter-like Bond and yet that's what we have now to satiate today's appetite for video games and gangster culture.
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
Second of all, the rumor is that when he left, Cubby Broccoli basically told him he'd never be successful again. I'm not sure if that's true, but I do know that I wouldn't consider him a movie star. So in addition to making the boneheaded move of abandoning the role, he pissed off one of the biggest franchise heads in Britain, and even if Cubby didn't do anything, I'm sure future casting directors would remember that this is the guy who signed a seven picture deal to be James Bond, then walked after one film. I don't know if I'd take the risk.
Lazenby's an alright Bond. My least favorite, but I like him. However, I just can't fathom his decision making process. If someone thrust the role of James Bond on me, with no acting experience, I'd play the farking role for free. It was a terrible move on his part, and he's paid the price for it for the last 44 years.
Dana Broccoliy spoke about that party where he felt insulted, because nobody explicitely invited him - "the star" - to it and Cubbys reply to this.
I have also met people in Asia who did not say many good things about him when he was there with Bruce Lee - so it seems a bit, that he tended to make the wrong decisions pretty stubborn.
And yes, he paid for it and still is!
However he was Bond in my favorite movie and I'd have loved to see him in one or 2 more -{
As for Cubby using his influence in the industry against him - I doubt that that's true.
He may have told him, that after turning down the role his professional future was not bright but threatenting someone who refuses a good offer does not sound very much like him
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
I say, "yes," but you make it sound like a bad thing
The horrible clothing - turtlenecks, a frilly tux and a kilt? Being dubbed in a third of the film .... being sent girls, to see if he was gay? Not to mention a title sequence full of clips from SC films, it seems to me that someone had it in for ol' George.
In the end though, I'm sure Lazenby sunk his own boat with a combination of hubris and very bad advice. Too bad as I'm sure he could have pulled it off in future films.
Bond’s Beretta
The Handguns of Ian Fleming's James Bond
That's pretty much the bottom line. He'd tell you as much.
"You must give me the name of your oculist."
Now suppose he'd walked away from DAF - with the script as it would turn out to be with Connery? Would you still say, wow, what a douchebag?
Roger Moore 1927-2017
If he walked away from DAF like he did for OHMSS, unlike what happened to Dalton whose contract expired, I still would have thought he was a douchebag. However, it would be interesting to see how they would have done DAF, like, would they have kept Hunt or at least build up on OHMSS' tone with a new director? I think the script for DAF became what it was not only to accommodate Connery's return, but for that life-cycle stage of his portrayal and of course, his age. In a strange way, all those changes compounded with the fact that he was going to Vegas, determined that lighter and funner rendition he did, coming home to the Rat Pack crowd. Otherwise, had Lazenby continued I don't think the script would have remotely resembled what it became and for the matter, they probably would not have hired Tom Mankiewicz to help out with the script and hence, less camp.
As for OHMSS's perceived failure in financial terms, we shouldn't view it in isolation of other large films of the period. Poor old George got the brunt of it but in truth the age of the blockbuster was dwindling with several big budget affairs failing to find audiences between 1968 & 1970. This passion for low budget pictures seemed to even out by 1971, coinciding with the Bond camp's decision to ditch Fleming's thrills in favour of more light-hearted Bond fare. That's my view anyway.
However, after reading and seeing a lot about Lazenby throughout the years he certainly, at least at the time, came across as big headed, smug, stubborn and generally just a nuisance - however much we can appreciate his performance. All the stories about him thinking he was a bigger star than he actually was are solely down to him not managing the situation properly himself. There are so many actors out there who, if given the honour of playing Bond would take it as a great compliment and act at the very least somewhat grateful - as opposed to just going off the rails. Lazenby came across as though when he got the job he WAS Bond, not just an actor playing Bond. The complete opposite of Cubby's view that Bond is bigger than the actor who plays him and I can only assume that when Cubby was looking at Lazenby acting this way about his position, he was somewhat annoyed with his attitude.
Despite this, Lazenby was almost 100% new to the business and being told at such a stage in his career that he was making a bad decision to stay with Bond must have been a very serious thing to him. Obviously being new the business and getting advice from someone with much more experience and knowledge couldn't go ignored. This in conjuction with the hippy movement must have injected fear into Lazenby as to what to do. On top of that, turning up to the premiere with a beard was frowned upon by Cubby - which IMO is stupid. Cubby really didn't have any say in what George looked like while he wasnt working and, with a man as self confident as Lazenby, wasn't a good move.
I'd have loved to have seen Lazenby in a few more Bond movies but I must admit that being in just the one really makes it even more special. I feel the same way about Daltons 2. They are the only 2 bonds in my view who have a 100% record in Bond films that are actually really good.
Yep, I've always seen that as a tragic, momentarily slip into stupidity. For regular people like me, past mistakes and missteps become clear only in hindsight, like estimating which grocery queue to get into, but with George, all the things in play, all the things that would guarantee professional success and personal security were all there staring him in the face and he forks it up! It's like tearing up a winning a 10-mil lottery ticket thinking, "na, I'll get a better one soon... "
I can understand it if you were a sleazy casting agent trying to parlay the nature of your work to get some action, but to do that as the star of the current hottest movie franchise, with the willingness to chuck even that because you think that's holding you back from better fulfilling your full potential? I sometimes wish for his sake I can time travel and give him some sobering slaps and can feel for him for how that mistake must still be haunting and gnawing at his throughts for all these years.
Australian in other words!
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Maybe not being british was the curse. It would be interesting if another non-brit became Bond for 1 movie too. New theory perhaps!
Barbara B, I'm waiting for your call. I'll be more than happy to screen test.
Not very complicated.
As for his decisions. I'd say at the time the advice from his agent was good advice. He was offered a 7 movie deal but imagine if Lazenby does sign for 7 movies (About 14 years) and the Bond series dies in 1973 because nobody thinks Bond is cool anymore and he's stuck doing low budget Bond films for the next 10 years of his life making no money and watching the twilight of his career go down the toilet.
Obviously it didn't go down that way but from the outside looking in it could have. His Agent was probably receiving offers worldwide for big projects because Lazenby was James Bond at the time. His Agent probably said something like "I can get you 3 million dollars for a movie in China plus 5% of the gross" and when the Bond franchise is offering half that it's easy to walk.
The wise thing would of been to of signed to the next 2 in the series which would of been Diamonds Are Forever (Which wouldn't of been good with Lazenby) and Live and Let Die (Which probably would of been at least above average) but who knows if a 2 picture deal was on offer? They probably wanted to lock him into 7 films and not many people would take a chance on the series.
As for his arrogance that has to be understandable. He's this young guy who has been an international model for years and then receives the role of James Bond in arguably the best film they had available (At least at the time) of course he's going to get a huge head over that.
Lazenby's story is amazing though if you read into it. He finishes up with Bond buys an expensive boat and goes sailing for 14 months or whatever it was. Comes back does the film Universal Soldier which bombs (His second mistake) he then get the lead in a decent film called "Who Saw Her Die?" but it had a 1 million dollar budget and that was it. From there his career crashes and he's doing TV Shows and has to move back to Australia and in with mum. He then turns it all around later and saves his finances but his career was done basically after Universal Soldier (At least as a leading man)
I think people in general are rough on him though. As he always says "I didn't know what it would become" and there was the massive chance that Lazenby could of signed on for 7 films and killed the series completely and be known as the guy that killed the series.
It is an interesting "What if?" though. If he had done 7 after OHMSS he would of got Diamonds Are Forever, Live And Let Die, The Man With The Golden Gun, The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy. At that point he probably would of been young enough still to do A View To A Kill and maybe even The Living Daylights and License To Kill and could of retired at 50 for either Brosnan or Dalton to take over. Surely if this had happened he would of been a massive star and maybe just as big as Connery.
that's what we've got now.
I think Lazenby was sabotaged, too. Audiences weren't ready for that movie. It was too much change at once. New Bond, getting married, less action, Sir Hillary. It was too much for the fans to accept at the time.
Yes, poor George was a victim of the times - a prototype Daniel Craig, only even moreso.