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Securing Diana Rigg for the role of Tracy was a major coup-her acting chops and beguiling persona really lent a sense of gravitas to OHMSS. She was vulnerable yet both mentally and physically capable-and intellectual to boot. The scene where she recites poetry to Blofeld is pure magic.

This film was the first to be based on a short story and ironically comes across that way. Basically a series of interchangeable vignettes with vanilla characters. The pre title sequence with Blofeld, coupled with Bill Conti’s horribly dated lighthearted music is a terrible affront to all the prior scenes with Blofeld that were scored by John Barry…”jaunty and trivializing” as scored by Conti-completely agree! And I hate the very non-Bond sounding title theme, worse than “Nobody Does it Better”. It also doesn’t help matters that Carole Bouquet’s acting is plain awful. Conti’s music score for the body of the film is rather deplorable as well and places the film in the realm of a tv movie of the week for me.

I don't love Thunderball either. Fiona on the other hand..........

Dennis Dugan directs James Bond! Or maybe Uwe Boll.

Eon only has one property and that's Bond. And when they decide to go into production, they can get to the screen in about a year, getting all the special units (alpine, aviation, driving, etc) up and running. First unit work doesn't take that long on Bond.

True. In NTTD the openning scene was pretty scary movie like

A best kept secret in the Bond fandom: no one really likes Thunderball if they're below the age of 45. It's rubbish. Connery looks bored, the underwater scenes are impressively shot but boring, and it's a bit of a dull story anyway. The end has some of the worst editing of the great Peter Hunt (only because Terrence Young didn't get adequate footage).

You are not alone in heralding Fleming’s “You Only Live Twice”. It’s very wistful and poignant. The passages where Bond engages with Tanaka is exceptionally well done-it touches on the ephemeral nature of things as it relates to geopolitics and the enigma of life itself.

Before even getting to the mid video, i gotta say, She was great in the OHMSS, beautiful , acting so good, showing emotions, romantic , and so much more, as someone down in comments said every year i just get OHMSS up on my list , its DIFFERENT movie than any other 007.. Emotional rollercoaster 😁

Best Bond film. Best Bond girl/wife & best score!

I had bought the Living Daylights soundtrack on tape back then. I was very excited for Dalton as he was the first new Bond in my lifetime as I was born in 1974 and I was already a card carrying member of the James Bond fan club and already had read many of the novels. Also, Dalton was billed as the closest to the literary Bond, so that made me extra excited. Plus we were getting back to some good old Cold War shenanigans with SMERSH. I mean how much more did a book Bond fan want?

Great analysis. It’s been a while since I did a Bond marathon. Just finished YOLT and it’s become my favorite Connery film for most of the reasons you described. YOLT basically has everything I want in a Bond film. I also think it’s augmented by current geopolitical tensions with Russia, which made the finale feel extremely tense and exciting.

Like many have said, a return to the literary Bond would be refreshing. He's been missing for awhile.

He was a model not an actor. It showed.

I love Licence To Kill and the negatives were never a problem with me! Also, as someone who absolutely ADORES the series Miami Vice, this was nothing like it in my opinion, if anything, Never Say Never Again is the definitive Bond Miami Vice episode that sucked 😂

I love Tracy but I could spend all of my days with Emma Peal. That said, Tracy was one of best written Bond girls in one of the best Bond movies. It’s hard to believe they went from the grace of Tracy to Tiffany Case in one film.

Loved this film as a kid. Loved Moore too his films were more outrageous and Fantastical.

This movie is one of the best. It is so unique in the underwater sequences. I can’t think of too many movies that have such a big battle in the ocean. Every time I visit a tropical ocean I think about Thunderball. much like Moonraker is to space Thunderball is to water

I always view DAF following on from OHMSS as in the opening, Bond is clearly after Blofeld's blood, it is personal desire fror revenge after the death of Tracey in OHMSS

I HATED the re-boot and I HATE Daniel Craig’ s Bond. They killed the character!! 😖😖😖😖

Energy, ethos…. I’m sorry but I say BULLSHIT!! The Daniel Craig Bonds SUCK and I’m sure most dyed in the wool 007 fans agree 👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻

While it doesn't come from a movie the back story Ian Fleming gave to Red Grant is beyond chilling. He was basically a serial killer back in Ireland who defected to the Russians because he heard they would probably could use his "talents". The Russians were almost going to just off him until they found out that he was very good at assassinations and torture so let him live. But Fleming also added in that once a month during the full moon Grant would go totally crazy because of it so the KGB would take Grant to different gulags and prisons during this time and just let him loose on the unarmed prisoner and let him fulfill his manic blood lust. Really horrific stuff!

You’re so cool. I can’t give you enough credit. So I’ll just say that I love your take on Bond. With ONE exception. But even that was pretty good. Thanks for the joy!

Really love this video my friend. Bond and horror certainly make for interesting bedfellows

Your point about Dalton being very much the assassin Bond helps me realize why I dislike Roger Moore's version. He doesn't feel like an assassin, despite being such an agent for Her Majesty's secret service. I know they used "Bond doesn't like to kill" from the books, but the ways that Moore and Dalton portray this aspect of the character showcase why Dalton was more believable in the role. Moore's Bond tries to do everything else BUT kill (with an apparent attitude of being a lover, not a fighter), and yet he just quips whenever he DOES kill. Dalton's Bond, on the other hand, you can tell in the sniper scene from TLD that he doesn't like to kill. Not necessarily because he deliberately missed, but because of his attitude during the entire scene as he sets up and takes aim with the rifle. You really get the idea of "he doesn't like this, but it's his job."

The lacklustre payoff in the movie always bothered me but your idea with Severine is a stroke of genius. Upon repeat viewings of Skfall I felt Silva really could have been more menacing

Holy crap I just realized she's the Queen of Thorns.

I will always believe "The Spy Who Loved Me" is Roger Moore's best Bond movie -- it's the movie that made me a Bond fan! -- but he gives his best performance as Bond in "Octopussy." Roger has such an easy, total mastery of the character in this film. Nobody else, not even Connnery, could have pulled off the "double sixes" moment.

What, Die Another Day at 25! That movie has so much fun, devil may care exuberance and goes from darkest depths to blinding light. It's great. What, QOS at 24! The editing is panicky, but thematically, it is the most balanced and least indulgent of Craig's films and Dominic Greene may be the nastiest villain of all. What, Licence to Kill at 23! That movie has balls; some edge; some great action; a very horrific death; and a badass villain, Sanchez. What, Spectre at 22! I know people don't like this, but I think James Bond being the adoptive brother of Blofeld was one of the most creative decisions Eon have come up with. But I get irked by the helicopter forever flying in circles above the crowded plaza in Mexico City

Lol, I always thought of this rendition of a Bond villian as a mountain troll from European mythology.

Great discussion guys

In the book, when Honey (short for Honeychile, although that's not mentioned in the film) comes out of the water, she is totally nude, and then when Bond sings to her to get her attention she immediately covers her pubic area and nose because it was broken. It's just interesting that she would be more concerned with hiding her nose from a strange man than her breasts.

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Ryan, I have more thoughts and I will write a longer response to you later. However, the idea of this film being fantastical is an interesting one. For example, Bond claims to Moneypenny that he took a first in Oriental Languages at Cambridge. The literary Bond never attended university, and it seems incredibly unlikely that of all firsts (majors in the US) he would have chosen Oriental Languages. Later on in Japan, a country with which he should have been very familiar having supposedly studied Japanese, he seems very much a foreigner despite appearing to understand at least some Japanese. It's all very odd.

It is obviously not a novel point at all to indicate that The Spy Who Loved Me is almost a beat for beat copy of You Only Live Twice.

In my opinion, I really liked on her Majesty Secret Service but here’s my question the movies are great in their own right, but they verge so much from the books and that is the problem with the franchise as a whole. When you watch a movie, you should get a depiction on who this character James Bond is and what world he lives in and sometimes you can verge from the lore, but you have to stick to it, so your audience will understand about what eon Fleming was trying to portray in these books he wrote, and it’s just sad that the books do not follow the movies in my opinion, and in my opinion, Tracy, she is a very damaged individual because of her losing her baby and other things that have happened in her life and here’s a contradiction with the movie and the novel. Why would somebody and this is coming from a woman’s perspective and knowing what bond is going to have to do when he’s out doing a mission that sometimes he would have to have sex with another woman, it would have to take a very strong willed woman to take that knowing that your husband will be having sex with other women, knowing that other wives would say no, and you were going to quit and that is a problem with these movies and with the novels they do not follow each other and it gets very confusing to an audience who does not read the books so that is just my opinion you have to follow your lore. It doesn’t mean that you can tweak it a little bit here and there for the audience, but you have to follow it. It is a blueprint of what you need to do and they verged from Ian Fleming’s determination of the movies

Another interesting point, perhaps apropos of nothing other than Fleming's personal preferences, but in the novels several girls are blonde, such as Solitaire and Tracy, but are cast as non-blonde in the films.

It's also interesting to note that in the novels, Blofeld changes appearance dramatically from book to book. Blofeld was never bald in the books, but Savalas looked the most like the stocky, physically imposing look that Blofeld had in Thunderball.

The other thing about Tracy that is relatively unusual is that she's played, and is certainly suggested, as being older. She has some mileage, a lot of baggage, relationships. I think the better Bond girls are the older ones. Both Honey and Tania are very young, while Pussy is the only other girl who is clearly meant to be older. Domino is clearly meant to be very young, possibly 21-22, and Aki and Kissy are just purely functional Bond girls. Aki is probably older given her higher rank, but who knows.

- I would say that "Teresa" provides that unique quality to this instalment of the Bond series (replicated to some degree by No Time to Die decades later). - Would Dame Diana Rigg have continued with her Emma Peel role had it not been for this iconic role? (Without her Tracy role, Dame Rigg might not have been in Game of Throne or other notable 'later works'; who knows?) - "Best"? Assuredly _one_ of the best, alongside Vesper Lynd and Electra King.

To borrow a phrase, the Bond series, James Bond, George Lazenby however you want to say it, certainly "outkicked their coverage" when it came to the casting and performance of Diana Rigg. She was really a league apart from previous Bond girls, especially the previous two films. She's clearly the most talented actress since Honor Blackman, and coincidentally, or perhaps not, both actresses starred in The Avengers. It seems like the producers of that series knew something when they cast both of them. Part of the mystique of OHMSS is that question of what-if. Or perhaps many questions. Is it a standalone? Is it part of the canon? What even does that mean? What if Connery had stayed? Would this film even be as loved today if that happened? Perhaps everything about the production of this film in the peculiar and unique way it came about, unlike any other official Bond film with a one-off actor, led to what we have today.

Intelligent , funny and attractive .... gotta be Ms Rigg

I'm in complete agreeance for the great ensemble cast in this film. It really helps to make it one of the greats. Diana Rigg is certainly a powerhouse in this film, and is nearly my #1 Bond woman, only getting beaten out by Eva Green in CR. I'm looking forward to the director analysis. This is a franchise with a lot of esoteric & interesting directors, so I'd love to see your take on that. Thanks for the excellent video Ryan. I don't think I mentioned it in the last one, but I'm digging the new intro that you've got. Short and effective, hard to beat.

I do not think you’re just blinded by your love of the movie, the ensemble is terrific. Tracy is the series leading lady who is most interesting in and of herself. If James Bond was never involved with her, she would still be a compelling character. Even Blofeld is impressed by her! And Savalas’ Blofeld does not have the instantly iconic and strange presentation that the Pleasence version of the character has (which is fun, certainly), but he’s extremely credible, competent, and threatening as the head of a global terrorist organization.

Shout out to a favorite Bond girl of mine. I think Angela Scoular as Ruby Bartlett may be the most unsung Bond girl. Of course Tracy gets the spotlight in this film and Ruby is pitched VERY differently, but I think Scoular is legitimately great in her portrayal. I think she’d stand out in any other Bond film.

Have to watch the rest later because work, but I was listening to your thoughts on Tracy. I’ll throw this in: one key difference I see between Novel Tracy and Film Tracy is that I believe the marriage with Novel Tracy would have been doomed to fail while one with Film Tracy could have worked. I see Literary Bond coming to resent Novel Tracy after the days of wine and roses wears off. That might be a controversial opinion. I think the movie gave us a Tracy that could have been a true partner for Bond.

I knew Diana Rigg's work too before I saw her in this film. Watched PBS reruns of The Avengers as a kid too. Also remembered her as Mrs. Hardbroom in The Worst Witch TV movie, a role which clearly influenced Alan Rickman's Prof. Snape from Harry Potter (well, The Worst Witch books clearly influenced the Potter books, overall 😏). Rigg is very formidable in the role; she truly dominates over all the Bond Girls before and after her. She definitely portrays the "Bird with a broken Wing" character with a lot of nuance; you can tell that she's extremely unhappy with life, but masks it with an icy bravado that slowly chips away when she encounters Bond. And it balances Bond out too; a carefree spirit killer who reconnects to his humanity when with Tracy. That's why it's so heartbreaking when Tracy is killed. They both had a chance to strip away from their troubled pasts and it's taken away from them in a violent instant. I love Pleasence's Blofeld too, but I can't help but admire Savalas' portayal slightly more. He feels real and gritty; a physically intimidating, cultured thug that I can believe is commanding an international crime syndicate. And I enjoy the fact that the 90s animated Superman series used this interpretation as a template for Lex Luthor. It is a huge shame his version and Bunt were just a one-off.

I wouldn't have guessed that my deep appreciation for this movie could be enhanced further, and yet here we are. Over the years, this one has gradually become my favorite Bond film. And the two videos that you have devoted to extemporizing on it go a long way to encapsulating why. There are several worthy online Bond reviewers out there, but you have really carved a space for yourself, Ryan.

I too was introduced to Diana Ring as a young boy whenI would watch reruns of The Avengers on TV in the 1970's (I saw this series even before I ever watched a Bond film) and I too had Emma Peel as one of my first boyhood crushes. So when I saw her in OHMSS as an adult I immediately fell in love with her all over again. Yes, Tracy is one of the best if not the best Bond women of the entire series for all the reasons you have stated so well! This was a fantastic assessment of this film and unfortunately I can't offer anything else interesting because you pretty much nailed it!

Your love for the cast and the film in general come across really well, Ryan, and reflect my own for On Her Majesty's Secret Service.