This was the first film in the Bond collection to star someone other than Sean Connery. This time out it starred George Lazenby a relative newcomer to acting at the time. I read a lot of reviews critical of him, but I thought he did a very respectable job playing Bond. He carried on the tradition of funny one-liners, the notable one I recall was during a skiing chase scene on of the bad guys ends up going through a snowblower and all you see is blood coming out, he quips, “He Had Guts”.
The first half of this film was a little bit rough with the corny fight scenes and weird cuts. The brought back the villain Blofeld this time played by Telly Savalas instead of Donald Pleasence. Although I really like Telly Savalas, it’s too bad they did not bring back Donald Pleasence, he seemed like a much more believable villain and he was in the previous Bond film, “You Only Live Twice”. I did find the plot of this film a bit difficult to follow, but in general, this one relied more on the storyline and less on Bonds Gadgets to get the job done. The second half of this film brought it home with the beautiful scenery of the snow mountains and snowy chase scenes.
In this film Bond had a love interest, and actually fell in love and got married, a Bond first. We all know that can only end one way. I did not like how the film ended with something very tragic happening and the credits rolling shortly thereafter.
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