On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Year: 1969
Country: UK
Tagline: James Bond 007 is back! »
Plot: The film opens with Miss Moneypenny and M at MI6 headquarters in London, under the shell corporation known as 'Universal Exports', discussing the whereabouts of MI6's best "00" agent, James Bond. Bond happens to be driving on a country coastal road in Portugal in his Aston-Martin when he's passed by a woman driving a Mercury Cougar. The woman drives to a nearby beach and tries to drown herself in the surf. When Bond drags her back, he is attacked by several thugs, whom he is able to beat in hand-to-hand combat. When he turns his attention back to the mysterious woman, he sees her driving off in her Cougar. Bond, puzzled by the turn of events, says "This never happened to the other fellow!", (presumably a reference to the departure of Sean Connery from the series).Later, at a casino, the same woman Bond found on the beach, Contessa Teresa "Tracy" di Vicenzo, is gambling and finds herself unable to pay her debt. Bond pays the tab for her and she invites him to her room to "repay" him. Bond is again attacked by another man, whom he beats. When he returns to his own room, Tracy is there waiting, steals Bond's pistol and threatens to kill him "for a thrill". Bond disarms her and demands to know about the man in her room; Tracy has no answer. Tracy leaves the hotel the next morning and when James tries to trail her, he is apprehended by several more men who take him to Tracy's father, Marc-Ange Draco, head of a powerful European crime organization which is called Union Course. The gangster offers Bond a sizable dowry if he'll marry his troubled daughter after he tells Bond about Tracy's suicial depression since her mother's death. Bond turns down the offer but agrees to continue dating Tracy if Draco will help him find SPECTRE's sinister leader, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, whom Bond has been unsuccessfully tracking for the past two years.When he returns to MI6 in London, M tells Bond that his obsession with finding Blofeld must end. Bitter, James gives Miss Moneypenny his resignation and cleans out his office. Moneypenny, however, subverts Bond's wishes and enters a request for two weeks leave, a change both James and M realize is for the better.Now able to pursue Blofeld on his own time, James first goes back to Portugal for a birthday party being thrown for Draco. While there, Tracy reveals that she knows about the deal her father struck with Bond; she does not want to be used this way and demands her father help Bond. Draco relents and tells Bond to check out a lead in Bern, Switzerland. Tracy and Bond officially begin their courtship.In Bern, Bond infiltrates the law firm of a man named Gebruder Gumbol and finds letters from Blofeld to the London College of Arms. Returning to London and meeting with an expert at the College (who shows the agent the Bond family coat-of-arms) he informs Bond that Blofeld is attempting to claim the title of the Comte Balthazar de Bleuchamp of Switzerland. Bond assumes the identity of an Arms delegate, Sir Hilary Bray, to investigate further. When he reports to M with his new leads, he is given permission to take up the case once again.Acting as Bray, Bond travels back to Switzerland to Blofeld's latest compound at the top of Piz Gloria, a peak in the Swiss Alps. The location is accessible only by cable car or helicopter. There he finds Blofeld who has taken up the identity of an epidemiologist who specializes in allergy research. Bond finds that Blofeld's guests are about 10 beautiful women, all allergy sufferers, whose illnesses have allegedly been cured. Though he is essentially imprisoned in his room at night, Bond figures a way to open the door and goes to the room of a woman, named Ruby, who surreptitiously gave him the number and has sex with her. While they lay together a strange light and sound treatment begins over the bed and the woman appears hypnotized. Blofeld's "treatment" involves cassette tapes that induce hypnotism. Bond leaves her room, returning to his own where he finds another one of the women, named Nancy, waiting. He seduces her as well. Bond later sneaks up on a meeting involving the girls; they are given Christmas presents that contain a communication device and a specialized deadly virus that each girl will release in a different region of the world unless Blofeld's demands are met that the United States gives him a pardon and recognizes him as a count.The next day Bond's cover is blown by Blofeld's assistant, Irma Bunt, when he sneaks out of his room to go into Ruby's room and finds Irma there. Bond is taken to Blofeld who identifies him (after Bond made a slip earlier to Blofeld that the real Bray wouldn't have made) and imprisons him in the cold gear room of the compound's cable-car. Bond is able to escape the room and steals a skiing uniform and skis rapidly down the mountain as Blofeld and several of his men give chase. Bond arrives in the village of Muren and meets Tracy and the two escape Bunt and several of Blofeld's henchmen in her car when they drive through a car race. Bond and Tracy find a secluded barn to hold up for the night; Bond proposes to Tracy and she accepts, but will not allow him to sleep together with her. She relents when Bond pulls her into his own bedding.In the morning, Tracy and Bond ski away from the barn, with Blofeld and a few of his men close behind. When it seems like Bond and Tracy will escape, Blofeld causes an avalanche that they are unable to stay ahead of and are buried. Blofeld has his men retrieve Tracy and leave Bond for dead. Bond returns to London, seeking a way to rescue Tracy and stop Blofeld's plan. M refuses to launch an assault on Piz Gloria for diplomatic reasons. Bond instead enlists the help of Draco, who provides helicopters and a strike team from Union Course.At the Piz Gloria, Blofeld keeps Tracy in his company and even proposes to her. Just then, Bond, Draco and their men attack the Piz Gloria and stop Blofeld from sending his orders to the women. Bond rescues Tracy and she flies off with her father. Bond finds Blofeld escaping in a bobsled and chases him in a second one, catching up and boarding Blofeld's sled. They tussle briefly until Bond is able to hold Blofeld up to catch a forked tree branch, leaving him there injured and unconscious. Bond gains control of the sled and stops it.A lavish wedding is thrown for Bond and Tracy and they are married. After the reception, Bond leaves with Tracy in his Aston-Martin. They travel a few miles and Bond stops to remove some of the flower chains decorating their car. Tracy reflects that Bond has given her more than a husband, she now has a future. Suddenly, a car driven by a very-much alive Blofeld (now wearing a neck brace) races by and Irma Bunt opens fire on Bond's car with an assault rifle. Bond survives the drive-by attack by ducking behind the car and recognizes Blofeld immediately and jumps back in the car with Tracy to give chase, but Tracy is dead; hit in the head by a bullet that went through the windshield killing her instantly. As Bond holds her, a policeman stops by after hearing the shooting. Bond tells him that there's "no hurry" and that they "have all the time in the world." On that sad note, 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' comes to a close.An organized crime group led by Blofeld unless his demands are met for an international amnesty for his previous crimes, recognition of his title as the Count De Bleuchamp (the French form of Blofeld) and to be allowed to retire into private life. James Bond is responsible for stopping that crazy ambition. Along the way to fulfill the mission, James Bond meets, falls in love and eventually gets married to Contessa Teresa di Vicenzo. This is the only movie Lazenby arranged an "accidental" encounter with Broccoli, the producer. Lazenby dressed the part, by sporting several sartorial Bond elements, such as a Rolex Submariner wristwatch and a Saville Row suit; Broccoli noticed him as a Bond-type man, because of physique and the characters elements, and offered him an audition. Lazenby even pretended hesitant to accept the invitation.
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