Billy the Martian

I’m watching an old Bond movie tonight: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

Fun things I noticed:

Diana Riggs play the Bond Girl, who becomes the Bond Wife. Last time I saw this movie, circa 1978, I didn’t know who she was.

The cute comment at the beginning, where Lazenby as Bond watches Riggs run away from him after a tussle on the beach, and says “This never happened to the other fellow”, a clear reference to Connery, is DAMN FUNNY. Poor George. He did a fine job and wasn’t appreciated. Connery is a tough act to follow.

Later, Bond tries to resign. When he cleans out his desk, he toys with a bunch of things from earlier missions: the watch with the strangling cord from From Russia With Love, etc.

Pretending to be interested in his own heraldry, he learns the motto of the Bond family: The World is Not Enough. Always wondered where that movie title came from.

One of the girls Bond seduces watches him take off a kilt and says “So it’s TRUE!” Gotta wonder if he got a blue ribbon on it, too. Gotta wonder if the fact that so many people aren’t sure if the rumor is true means that the Scots aren’t getting laid.

The alert siren from Blofeld’s castle sounds EXACTLY like the alert in the game Half Life. What am I missing? Is that alert siren common somewhere, and I’m just late to the party?

Bond breaks a ski in the big skiing chase, and skis for a while on one ski. Never would have thought of the scene in “Better Off Dead” as a Bond homage. Very cool, both places.

Yum: Diana Riggs with her tongue sticking slightly out as she concentrates on her driving in the ice track race.

Amusement: the sound effect of tires screeching in the car chase scene as they slide around the ice track are the same as the ones you’d hear from a movie that has a chase on blacktop.

Shock: Her Majesty’s Government chooses appeasement of Blofeld as their approach to solving the problem. Don’t they know that appeasing terrorists is like throwing meat to the tiger while hoping that the tiger will convert to the lifestyle of the leaf-eater?

A freaking bobsled chase?  What could be better?

And the ending is such a downer!  This is a superb Bond movie.  Right now, I only prefer the new one, Casino Royale, to this one.  Wow.