If
George Lazenby had re-upped with the James Bond franchise producers, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service would probably
be remembered as the best Bond movie ever. It featured Telly Savalas as
Blofeld, Diana Rigg from the Avengers and
Joanna Lumley from The New Avengers as
Bond Girls, and Louis Armstrong’s final chart-topping hurrah, “We Have All the
Time in the World” as the theme song. Yet, Lazenby didn’t, so now he is known
as the one-and-done Bond. Arguably, it was the worst case of career self-destruction
in movie history. However, Lazenby spins it as well as he can in Josh Greenbaum’s
documentary profile, Becoming Bond (trailer here), which releases
on Hulu this Saturday.
Lazenby
is happy to admit to Greenbaum he was just a working-class bloke in Australia,
who only came to England in pursuit of Belinda, the great love of his life.
After a bit of scuffling, he fell into a successful modeling career.
Unfortunately, he succumbed to the temptation represented by his female
counterparts, thereby sabotaging his relationship with Belinda yet again.
Frankly, the newly single Lazenby pursued a lifestyle that would make James
Bond look like a celibate Trappist. He managed to catch the eye of an agent who
arranged meetings with the director and co-producer of the first non-Connery
Bond film, Peter Hunt and Harry Saltzman, which turned out to be dates with
destiny.
So,
what happened? Contrary to popular belief, Majesty’s
Secret Service was a huge hit. Lazenby was offered a huge contract for six
more Bond pictures, but he turned it down, for reasons he still has trouble
explaining today. It is fair to say he chafed at some of the contractual
controls they wanted to exert over his career, but frankly he obviously could
have used their guidance.
Greenbaum’s
novel approach intersperses close-up interview segments of Lazenby dishing on
his notorious life with dramatized vignettes, in which actors play the Aussie
Bond and the major figures revolving around him. It keeps things rather lively
and certainly gives us a taste of the wild times. The only drawback is Josh
Lawson, who is far too sleight of stature for the broad shouldered Lazenby. In
contrast, Jeff Garlin and the ageless Jane Seymour are both quite
scene-stealing scenery-chewing riots as Saltzman and Lazenby’s vampy agent
Maggie.
Still,
it is rather striking (and ultimately quite poignant) how much time Lazenby and
Greenbaum devote to Belinda, the one who kept getting away. In fact, Becoming Bond starts out as an ironic
pop culture documentary and evolves into a bittersweet love story. Fear not
Bond fans, there are still plenty of juicy behind-the-scenes details.