Critic Rating
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Director
Peter R. Hunt
Cast
George Lazenby,
Diana Rigg,
Telly Savalas,
Gabriele Ferzetti,
Ilse Steppat,
Angela Scoular
Genre
Action,
Adventure,
Thriller
James Bond tracks his arch-nemesis, Ernst Blofeld, to a mountaintop retreat in the Swiss Alps where he is training an army of beautiful, lethal women. Along the way, Bond falls for Italian contessa Tracy Di Vicenzo, and marries her in order to get closer to Blofeld and stop a devious scheme involving germ warfare that could kill millions.
The Telegraph by Marc Lee
Hunt, who served as editor on the first three Connery films, gives Lazenby’s fist fights a whipcrack intensity and the ski-jumping, stock car-racing, bobsled-sliding finale is one of the series’ best.
ReelViews by James Berardinelli
The film contains some of the most exhilarating action sequences ever to reach the screen, a touching love story, and a nice subplot that has agent 007 crossing (and even threatening to resign from) Her Majesty's Secret Service. The problem is with Bond himself. Following Sean Connery's departure after You Only Live Twice, the film makers had to come up with a replacement. The man they chose, a model named George Lazenby, is boring, and his ineffectualness lowers the picture's quality.
Salon by Charles Taylor
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is the only Bond film that gets beyond the dirty boy’s-book spirit of the series to a core of real emotion. It also has what are probably the best action sequences of any 007 adventure.
Empire by William Thomas
This is the Bond flick blessed with the best plot, a genuine sense of emotion and a spirit closest to Ian Fleming’s novels.
TV Guide Magazine by Staff (Not Credited)
Based on one of the best of Ian Fleming's Bond novels, On Her Majesty's Secret Service benefited from an extremely well-written script that finally revealed a bit more of Bond's character. Lazenby, however, had no previous acting experience, and his lackadaisical performance limits the whole production, yet it still manages to remain one of the more entertaining Bond films.
Village Voice
With On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Peter Hunt has directed what to my mind is the most engaging and exciting James Bond film.
Village Voice by Molly Haskell
With On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Peter Hunt has directed what to my mind is the most engaging and exciting James Bond film.
RogerEbert.com
A rather uneven Bond, one with a great story but a few too many problems, belonging somewhere in the middle section of the series' canon.
RogerEbert.com by Gerardo Valero
A rather uneven Bond, one with a great story but a few too many problems, belonging somewhere in the middle section of the series' canon.
The New York Times
He's tall, dark, handsome and has a dimpled chin. But Mr. Lazenby, if not a spurious Bond, is merely a casual, pleasant, satisfactory replacement. For the record, he plays a decidedly second fiddle to an overabundance of continuous action, a soundtrack as explosive as the London Blitz, and flip dialogue and characterizations set against some authentic, truly spectacular Portuguese and Swiss scenic backgrounds, caught in eyecatching colors.
The New Yorker by Pauline Kael
This Bond thriller-the sixth, and set mainly in Switzerland-introduces a new Bond, George Lazenby, who's quite a dull fellow, and the script, by Richard Maibaum, isn't much, either, but the movie is exciting, anyway.
The New York Times by A.H. Weiler
He's tall, dark, handsome and has a dimpled chin. But Mr. Lazenby, if not a spurious Bond, is merely a casual, pleasant, satisfactory replacement. For the record, he plays a decidedly second fiddle to an overabundance of continuous action, a soundtrack as explosive as the London Blitz, and flip dialogue and characterizations set against some authentic, truly spectacular Portuguese and Swiss scenic backgrounds, caught in eyecatching colors.
Chicago Reader
George Lazenby has so much reserve as James Bond that he makes Sean Connery seem almost frenetic by comparison. Director Peter Hunt manages to inject some life into this 1969 exercise with a wonderful ski chase, but otherwise the film is a bore.
Chicago Reader by Don Druker
George Lazenby has so much reserve as James Bond that he makes Sean Connery seem almost frenetic by comparison. Director Peter Hunt manages to inject some life into this 1969 exercise with a wonderful ski chase, but otherwise the film is a bore.
Variety by Peter Debruge
Is it an awful movie? Objectively speaking, no (although it does feature one of the worst endings ever inflicted on an audience). But as a Bond movie, it’s an abomination.
Time Out London by Geoff Andrew
The Bond films were bad enough even with the partially ironic performances of Connery. Here, featuring the stunning nonentity Lazenby, there are no redeeming features.
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