'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' is much maligned by many, along with the replacement of Sean Connery with George Lazenby, but I don't think they deserve the bad rap. Lazenby was in a tough position replacing Connery, try replacing Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones or in comedy, Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau(which will sadly be attempted by Steve Martin, after Alan Arkin failed years ago). It's tough to replace an actor that has become so identified with a role, but Lazenby did pretty well. Bond is not King Lear, and Lazenby had the looks and presence to pull it off. For me, what really killed the Bond films was the aging and eventual departure of all the supporting Bond extras in the later Bond films, such as Lois Maxwell as Moneypenny and Bernard Lee as M. This film still had the ingredients that made the early Bond films successful, and the story was plausible as well.
As one that loved the classic Bonds, anything after the early Roger Moore films just didn't have that Bond film 'look', and the video game era Bond of Brosnan makes Bond have the depth of an empty Martini shaker. My main criticism of this film however, is in many of the fight scenes and their editing. They really were choppy and mixed up, and attempted to show action by dazzling viewers with quick, confusing cuts from all angles. Lazenby could have grown into his role as 007, but has now been relegated to the list of failed Bonds.
As one that loved the classic Bonds, anything after the early Roger Moore films just didn't have that Bond film 'look', and the video game era Bond of Brosnan makes Bond have the depth of an empty Martini shaker. My main criticism of this film however, is in many of the fight scenes and their editing. They really were choppy and mixed up, and attempted to show action by dazzling viewers with quick, confusing cuts from all angles. Lazenby could have grown into his role as 007, but has now been relegated to the list of failed Bonds.