Bond Appreciation

In the NaturalBlog's early months, I got a lot of mileage out of criticizing the moribund James Bond franchise and its choice of Daniel Craig as the new Bond. I'm ready to now admit that these criticisms, however founded they seemed at the time, were misplaced given Craig's success in the role.

As long as I'm doing Bond-related mea culpas, I wanted to say I was wrong for never giving George Lazenby a chance. He played Bond in just one film, 1969's On Her Majesty's Secret Service, in the brief interregnum of Sean Connery's reign as Bond.

I finally caught On Her Majesty's Secret Service on cable a few weeks back, and it was worth the wait.

It's kind of fitting that it was Lazenby's only turn as Bond, because the film stands on its own. It has a conventional story arc, a twist at the end, and no wink about what's to follow in the next film in the series.

The biggest change from the typical Bond film is the strong female lead, Diana Rigg as Contessa Teresa di Vicenzo (left). She was smart but almost disaffected at times, and she didn't fall for Bond right away. She held her own in a fight, drove Bond in a getaway car instead of vice versa, and even did some of her own stunts.

I wasn't the only one who was taken with her -- she and Bond were married in the film, though she quickly met her end. I suppose that's the way it had to be, since a married Bond pretty much undercuts the entire Bond franchise.