To me, the James Bond movies have always been rather Christmassy. Maybe it was the fact that, when I was growing up, whenever a new 007 movie would be released, it would be in November or December. Or the fact that the James Bond movies tended to be marathoned on TBS and other cable channels around the holidays. In the UK, apparently, James Bond movies are a staple of holiday programming. Yet, to date, there’s only one James Bond movie that takes place at Christmas, and it happens to be the most unusual, obscure, but maybe the best one of them all — On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, starring that household name every one of you surely knows, George Lazenby, in his one and only outing as James Bond 007.
The Film Bond Producers Tried to Forget
Now, for many years On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was the bastard stepchild of the series. When Lazenby either quit or was fired, depending on who you ask, its existence wasn’t exactly celebrated by EON Productions. While they never buried it, the next 007 film, Diamonds Are Forever, pretended like it never existed, and it wasn’t until a bit later in the Roger Moore era that the idea that 007 had a wife and was widowed — which all takes place in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service — was acknowledged.
In the Daniel Craig era, thanks mainly to the influence of Barbara Broccoli and some of the directors — particularly Cary Fukunaga — On Her Majesty’s Secret Service really started to get celebrated, with its theme song, “We Have All the Time in the World” by Louis Armstrong, used in No Time to Die.
Why On Her Majesty’s Secret Service Is Still Overlooked
Yet, it still feels like On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is unfairly overlooked, mainly due to the fact that it doesn’t star one of the Bonds who became a household name. That’s too bad, because for my money it’s one of the best Bond movies, and the Christmas setting is unique.
It’s a little different than the other James Bond movies of the era in that it’s an epic, with a running time of 140 minutes, which was pretty long for the era. Most Bond movies follow 007 on a mission, but this is a more personal journey for our hero, following him on leave as he comes into the orbit of a suicidal gambler named Tracy di Vincenzo, played by Diana Rigg, who was famous at the time for playing Emma Peel in the very Bond-like series The Avengers.
Tracy’s father, Marc-Ange Draco, happens to be a gangster in charge of the Union Corse syndicate, who’s had dealings with Ernst Stavro Blofeld and SPECTRE, and he dangles Blofeld’s whereabouts as a carrot to encourage Bond to marry Tracy, as he believes Bond is the only man who could make her happy. When Tracy finds out about it, in a pretty modern twist, she resents being traded, forces her father to give Bond the info he needs, and as such, this is when Bond truly begins to fall for her.
Blofeld, Switzerland, and a Christmas Eve Showdown
He takes off on a mission to infiltrate an allergy clinic Blofeld has set himself up in by posing as a genealogist. He discovers that Blofeld is using his clinic full of gorgeous young women to spread a deadly germ that will render all livestock on the planet infertile.
It all culminates in an amazing sequence set on Christmas Eve in Switzerland, where Bond is rescued by Tracy, who’s been following him, a Christmas proposal, and then a massive action set piece/rescue set on New Year’s Eve.
The Movie’s Biggest Plot Hole
Now, this is an amazing movie — but it has some huge plot holes. Some point to the fact that Bond, despite being in love, seemingly sleeps with every woman he encounters in the allergy clinic as a knock against it — but hey baby, this was the sixties, and free love was the name of the game.
For me, the huge issue is that Bond is able to pose as a genealogist named Hilary Bray, undercover at Blofeld’s clinic, despite the fact that he’d already come face to face with Blofeld in You Only Live Twice, the movie before this one.
This is the weirdest thing about the movie, and it seems like a leftover from an older script for the film which explained the change in James Bond actors by having the spy undergo plastic surgery. The whole movie is built around the fact that a new actor is playing James Bond, with Lazenby even turning to the camera early on, saying, “This never happened to the other fellow.” In the future, they would never acknowledge that a new actor was Bond.
How George Lazenby Became James Bond
So, how did Lazenby end up as 007? By now, many know the story, but Sean Connery had had it with the franchise around the time he did You Only Live Twice in 1967. He had a financial disagreement with the producers, Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli, over his compensation, and as such quit the series.
Not wanting to deal with a big star, they opted to cast an unknown and opened up the casting process to a massive cattle call, seeing actors from all over, as well as models, athletes, and military types. Lazenby was a model, and apparently his arrogance helped land him the role, as did his finesse in the fight scenes, which is why On Her Majesty’s Secret Servicehas Bond at his most physical until the Pierce Brosnan era.
Cast, Crew, and a Lush John Barry Score
As I said before, the biggest star in the cast was Diana Rigg from The Avengers, but Telly Savalas, who replaced Donald Pleasance as a distinctly American Blofeld, was also well known. The movie was directed by Peter Hunt, who started with the series as an editor and whose style helped define the action design and pacing of the franchise.
He would make it a gorgeous film, shooting on location in Piz Gloria, Switzerland. John Barry would return to supply his most lush score, although his attempt at crafting a Christmas standard, “Do You Know How Santa Gets Around” by Nina van Pallandt, didn’t really go anywhere — although it’s well used in the sequence where, on Christmas Eve, Bond tries to escape SPECTRE goons.
Why the Christmas Setting Matters
The Christmas setting really does make On Her Majesty’s Secret Service feel different for a Bond movie. Most Bond movies emphasize sunshine and bikinis; this one all takes place in wintry, cozy locations — and while it’s not the last Bond movie to have some skiing, it’s still rare for the majority of a film to take place in a non-sunny location.
Box Office Performance and the Lazenby Myth
Naturally, the movie is somewhat infamous as it was Lazenby’s only time playing 007. The common consensus seems to be that he botched the job so badly that the producers fired him, but that’s not the case. Lazenby’s performance was actually fairly well received by critics at the time, even if many acknowledged that stepping into the iconic Sean Connery’s shoes was a tough nut to crack.
The movie also wasn’t a box office bomb. It was the 11th highest-grossing film of the year in the United States and the top-grossing film of the year in England. It made a huge profit for EON, earning over $82 million worldwide — in 1969 dollars. That translates to about half a billion dollars nowadays.
Why George Lazenby Really Left the Role
The box office performance was good enough that the producers would have stuck with Lazenby had he not quit. You see, even before the film wrapped, there was trouble with Lazenby, whose ego ran amok during the shooting of the film.
There’s an infamous story about how Cubby Broccoli threw a party for the cast and crew at Piz Gloria, and Lazenby, sulking, only showed up several hours into the party. When asked what was wrong, Lazenby said he was angry he had not been invited. To that, Cubby replied that a notice had been posted inviting everyone, to which Lazenby replied, “Yes, but I’m the STAR.” Broccoli famously responded, “You’re not a star because you say you’re a star — you’re a star when the public says you’re a star, and they haven’t yet.”
By the time the film premiered, Lazenby had already more or less decided he was done with the role. He took some really bad advice from his agent, who told him the series was past its prime. He was also scuttled from the international press tour because he refused to cut his hair and shave his hippie-like beard.
Yet, they would have stuck with Lazenby had he shown some humility, and the actor found that the many offers he had to do films after On Her Majesty’s Secret Service evaporated. He would go on to appear in a few exploitation films in Italy and a couple of Hong Kong action flicks after an initial plan to co-star with Bruce Lee in Game of Death evaporated following the star’s death.
A Reputation That Keeps Growing
For better or worse, Lazenby has been known as “The Man Who Would Be Bond” ever since, and has embraced that notoriety somewhat, even being welcomed back into the fold when he started going to official Bond events around the fortieth anniversary of the series.
As for the movie itself, it’s grown and grown in reputation, with Steven Soderbergh such a fan that he once uploaded a re-edit on his website. Christopher Nolan has always said it’s his favorite Bond movie, and its fingerprints are pretty noticeable on a few of his films, particularly Inception, with its snowbound scenes and James Bond–like score by Hans Zimmer.
So, this Christmas, when you’ve exhausted your list of the usual Christmas action classics like Die Hard 1 & 2, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Lethal Weapon, and others, throw on On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and prepare yourself for a great time.
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