Yet Another OHMSS thread
onemonk909
Posts: 65MI6 Agent
I recently rewatched OHMSS for the first time in several years and was again blown away by how great it really is. And this time I watched it on blu so it was a revelation seeing it -- all that mod design!!
I hope none of you mind but I'd like to share how I became acquainted with this movie...as a kid in the '80s, the first Bond movie I recall seeing was FYEO, when it debuted on HBO -- my parents, before they divorced, were apparently trendsetters, and we were the only people on my street who had that original wooden box that sat on the tv. You turned the switch to the left and it was HBO. To the right and it was "Superstation," aka TBS. Anyway when was this, '82? I watched that movie many times and recall playing out scenes with my Fisher Price action figures, in particular the motorcyle chase. I was 7, I guess. When Octopussy came on HBO a few years later I watched it a bunch, too. And I saw AVTAK in the theater with my brother.
But I didn't get bitten by the Bond bug until the summer of 1986, when suddenly all that mattered to me was the world of James Bond. I read all the books I could find -- Fleming originals and new Gardners -- but I really wanted to see a vintage Sean Connery movie. Back then, all you'd ever hear was that Sean Connery was the best and only James Bond. But this was the pre-internet world and I had no idea what he looked like as Bond.
So one day I was at the Paperback Exchange, a used bookstore in Lavale, Maryland, where I got all my action paperbacks, and I found the movie tie-in for OHMSS on the shelves. The Signet edition with the black cover and a pinup photo of Lazenby surrounded by girls. I grabbed it, ran over to my mom, and asked -- "Is THIS Sean Connery?" She took a look and said, "No...I don't know WHO that is."
This tells me that OHMSS hadn't made much of an impact upon release, but I read the book and, though I'd read other Bonds, it was this one that really took me for a loop. I read a lot then and read a lot now but I recall OHMSS being the first novel that had me on the edge of my seat, just totally caught up in it, in particular the climactic raid on Piz Gloria. I recall having the same experience with YOLT.
But, and again this was the pre-Web world, from the cover of this book I deduced that the film version of OHMSS must've starred some guy other than Sean Connery.
Speaking of which, I finally did see a Connery Bond, around this time -- a nearby mom and pop video store had DAF, and I rented it. Folks I kid you not, I'd read a bunch of Flemings and Gardners, and often tried to picture Bond in my head. This was summer '86 and I admit, sometimes I tried to picture Pierce Brosnan, because that's who everyone wanted to be Bond at the time, but as we all know it didn't work out -- though at the time it was practically a given that he'd be Bond.
But no joke, within SECONDS of Connery appearing onscreen in DAF, it hit me with a jolt: "Now THIS guy is James Bond." And DAF isn't even considered one of his best! When I later saw FRWL, also rented, I understood without question why all those "old people" still rated Connery as best.
Then sometime later OHMSS came on -- well, on TBS, to be exact. Back then they'd play Bond marathons in the summer, and that summer I recall TSWLM, OHMSS, TB, and YOLT all being played. Well, I loved OHMSS, particularly how it was so close to the novel, and I was such a geek for fidelity that I recall being pissed off that Bond had sex with Tracy after proposing to her. "That didn't happen in the book!!"
I know I claimed OHMSS as my favorite Bond movie, because I recall in college, sometime in my freshman or soph year (ie 92 or 93) telling a fellow Bond fan that it was my favorite of the movies, and he ridiculed me for it. Flashforward several years after that, and I received an email from that guy acknowledging that OHMSS was indeed one of the best if not THE best Bond film, and further the soundtrack was the best of them all, too. Well, that's vindication for you.
Watching it this time, a few things occurred to me. Obviously, it's too bad neither Lazenby nor Hunt returned. But also it is a shame that Connery didn't do it. To see his Bond finally get married would have a lot more impact with the viewer. I know we're to understand that this is the same James Bond, but come on. It's a bit much to expect viewers to accept a new guy AND see him get married all in the same picture. It would've made more sense to do DAF or something else, maybe even two or 3 films with the new guy, and then OHMSS. That way there'd be more resonance with this new Bond getting married. Hell it would've even been more impactful if Moore had starred in the film, after LALD, MWTGG, and even TSPWLM. I think the producers sort of shot themselves in the foot in this regard.
Otherwise the movie I think is just phenomenal, the way it's shot and staged and just the look of it. However I'd say this is like an alternate reality Bond, having nothing to do with the Connerys despite what the producers want us to believe.
I hope none of you mind but I'd like to share how I became acquainted with this movie...as a kid in the '80s, the first Bond movie I recall seeing was FYEO, when it debuted on HBO -- my parents, before they divorced, were apparently trendsetters, and we were the only people on my street who had that original wooden box that sat on the tv. You turned the switch to the left and it was HBO. To the right and it was "Superstation," aka TBS. Anyway when was this, '82? I watched that movie many times and recall playing out scenes with my Fisher Price action figures, in particular the motorcyle chase. I was 7, I guess. When Octopussy came on HBO a few years later I watched it a bunch, too. And I saw AVTAK in the theater with my brother.
But I didn't get bitten by the Bond bug until the summer of 1986, when suddenly all that mattered to me was the world of James Bond. I read all the books I could find -- Fleming originals and new Gardners -- but I really wanted to see a vintage Sean Connery movie. Back then, all you'd ever hear was that Sean Connery was the best and only James Bond. But this was the pre-internet world and I had no idea what he looked like as Bond.
So one day I was at the Paperback Exchange, a used bookstore in Lavale, Maryland, where I got all my action paperbacks, and I found the movie tie-in for OHMSS on the shelves. The Signet edition with the black cover and a pinup photo of Lazenby surrounded by girls. I grabbed it, ran over to my mom, and asked -- "Is THIS Sean Connery?" She took a look and said, "No...I don't know WHO that is."
This tells me that OHMSS hadn't made much of an impact upon release, but I read the book and, though I'd read other Bonds, it was this one that really took me for a loop. I read a lot then and read a lot now but I recall OHMSS being the first novel that had me on the edge of my seat, just totally caught up in it, in particular the climactic raid on Piz Gloria. I recall having the same experience with YOLT.
But, and again this was the pre-Web world, from the cover of this book I deduced that the film version of OHMSS must've starred some guy other than Sean Connery.
Speaking of which, I finally did see a Connery Bond, around this time -- a nearby mom and pop video store had DAF, and I rented it. Folks I kid you not, I'd read a bunch of Flemings and Gardners, and often tried to picture Bond in my head. This was summer '86 and I admit, sometimes I tried to picture Pierce Brosnan, because that's who everyone wanted to be Bond at the time, but as we all know it didn't work out -- though at the time it was practically a given that he'd be Bond.
But no joke, within SECONDS of Connery appearing onscreen in DAF, it hit me with a jolt: "Now THIS guy is James Bond." And DAF isn't even considered one of his best! When I later saw FRWL, also rented, I understood without question why all those "old people" still rated Connery as best.
Then sometime later OHMSS came on -- well, on TBS, to be exact. Back then they'd play Bond marathons in the summer, and that summer I recall TSWLM, OHMSS, TB, and YOLT all being played. Well, I loved OHMSS, particularly how it was so close to the novel, and I was such a geek for fidelity that I recall being pissed off that Bond had sex with Tracy after proposing to her. "That didn't happen in the book!!"
I know I claimed OHMSS as my favorite Bond movie, because I recall in college, sometime in my freshman or soph year (ie 92 or 93) telling a fellow Bond fan that it was my favorite of the movies, and he ridiculed me for it. Flashforward several years after that, and I received an email from that guy acknowledging that OHMSS was indeed one of the best if not THE best Bond film, and further the soundtrack was the best of them all, too. Well, that's vindication for you.
Watching it this time, a few things occurred to me. Obviously, it's too bad neither Lazenby nor Hunt returned. But also it is a shame that Connery didn't do it. To see his Bond finally get married would have a lot more impact with the viewer. I know we're to understand that this is the same James Bond, but come on. It's a bit much to expect viewers to accept a new guy AND see him get married all in the same picture. It would've made more sense to do DAF or something else, maybe even two or 3 films with the new guy, and then OHMSS. That way there'd be more resonance with this new Bond getting married. Hell it would've even been more impactful if Moore had starred in the film, after LALD, MWTGG, and even TSPWLM. I think the producers sort of shot themselves in the foot in this regard.
Otherwise the movie I think is just phenomenal, the way it's shot and staged and just the look of it. However I'd say this is like an alternate reality Bond, having nothing to do with the Connerys despite what the producers want us to believe.
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
https://www.ajb007.co.uk/topic/50500/another-look-at-ohmss/
https://www.ajb007.co.uk/topic/43481/ohmss/
https://www.ajb007.co.uk/topic/39704/the-ultimate-ohmss-appreciation-thread/
Though that's a good post, onemonk909!