A few lines about ZULU (apologies to Mr Harris!) (1 Viewer)

[Jon Hertzberg]

Thanks, Richard. Knew about Lazenby's modeling career, but not about his military experience. There is a story about Schwarzenegger and Lazenby having a confrontation in a hotel elevator when Lazenby was filming LAST HAREM and Arnold, CONAN THE BARBARIAN in Spain. IIRC, Lazenby wisely ran rather than engage Arnold physically. Lazenby was later married to (and divorced from) Pam Shriver, cousin of Maria Shriver, the former Mrs. Schwarzenegger.

Jon, Cy Endfield's decision to cast George Lazenby as a soldier who trains a mercenary army was no accident. Before Lazenby became a male model and was cast as James Bond, he served as a Sergeant in the Australian Army and taught hand-to-hand combat to the Special Forces. He had more than one black belt in martial arts. His arrogance and unshakable self-confidence were no act. He developed into a fine actor very quickly, and it's tragic how his career turned out. I have a hunch, though, that UNIVERSAL SOLDIER, if it is ever rescued from obscurity, will show some his best work as an actor.

 

[davidHartzog]

Personally, I think Lazenby's take on JB in OHMSS was underrated, that he and Diana Rigg showed some real chemistry, and OHMSS was one fine flick.

 

[Richard--W]

Now you're talking my language. OHMSS is exceptional and true blue authentic Bond. Lazenby is one of its strongest virtues. I'm tempted to use adjectives to praise the film. Scriptwriter Richard Maibaum and director Peter Hunt were part of the core group that originated the series, creatively, in 1962. They cared very much about the Bond character and concept and wanted to continue their collaboration with Lazenby into the 1970s. Unfortunately for the franchise, the producers had other ideas.

It's a shame Lazenby didn't get an action-adventure film franchise in the 1970s, something like Bond. It would have been a hit, I'm sure, because he was a natural in the role.

 

[Jon Hertzberg]

I think he, OHMSS, and director Peter Hunt are getting a lot more well-deserved credit for their work in recent years. Can't think of a more moving, dramatically potent Bond entry, an example I think the Daniel Craig films are clearly indebted to. Also, boasts one of John Barry's very best scores for the series. For a guy who supposedly couldn't act, Lazenby kills it here. It's too bad his agent convinced him not to sign an long-term deal to play 007, on the basis that Bond would be an antique in the '70s.

Personally, I think Lazenby's take on JB in OHMSS was underrated, that he and Diana Rigg showed some real chemistry, and OHMSS was one fine flick.

 

[Jon Hertzberg]

Now you're talking my language. OHMSS is exceptional and true blue authentic Bond. Lazenby is one of its strongest virtues. I'm tempted to use adjectives to praise the film. Scriptwriter Richard Maibaum and director Peter Hunt were part of the core group that originated the series, creatively, in 1962. They cared very much about the Bond character and concept and wanted to continue their collaboration with Lazenby into the 1970s. Unfortunately for the franchise, the producers had other ideas.

It's a shame Lazenby didn't get an action-adventure film franchise in the 1970s, something like Bond. It would have been a hit, I'm sure, because he was a natural in the role.

It was Lazenby, though, who foolishly (on the advice of his badly miscalculating agent) walked away from the franchise. The producers then, of course, took a major step backwards--all on their own--with the directly ensuing films. Lazenby, even though he was a model, has a roughness contrasted with real vulnerability--a side Connery never really revealed. Again, I think Craig's Bond owes a lot to Lazenby in this regard.

 

[Richard--W]

It's a good thing Lazenby got out of the franchise when he did. He carried OHMSS on his shoulders. Not only was it one of the best films of the year, it's a really well-made film. More importantly, it set an example the Bond series should have followed into the next decade. But the films that followed got progressively worse, not better. After OHMSS Hunt was ousted, and Maibaum demoted. Under the creative vision of director Guy Hamilton and writer Tom Mankiewicz the Bond films deteriorated into farce, self-ridicule and rank slapstick. So thefilms would not have stayed on an even keel if Lazenby had remained. He simply would have been required to do what Roger Moore did in exactly the same films. Better to be remembered as James Bond in one of the best films than the worst.

I disagree with your statement about Sean Connery. He showed vulnerability and compassion throughout his Bond films without making a point of doing so. Also, there is no analogy between Lazenby and Daniel Craig. None. Zero. The character of James Bond has been so debased and deconstructed since 2006 that he's no longer present in the films. Just because Craig uses the name and wears the suit doesn't mean he's playing the character. There is more to James Bond internally as a character than the name and the suit. Craig doesn't have a clue. He's playing somebody else.

That having been said, let's stay on topic and not derail Nick Redman's announcement about the forthcoming ZULU blu-ray from Twilight Time.

 

[Jon Hertzberg]

I disagree with your statement about Sean Connery. He showed vulnerability and compassion throughout his Bond films without making a point of doing so.

I don't think I said anything about Connery lacking compassion or that he was competely invulnerable...obvously that's not the case. That said, I don't think there's an analogous scene in the Connery Bonds for the ice rink chase in OHMSS, in which Lazenby's Bond is truly in peril and shows fear before

Spoiler

he is rescued by Tracy.

It's a great moment.

 

[Jon Hertzberg]

I don't think I said anything about Connery lacking compassion or that he was competely invulnerable...obvously that's not the case. That said, I don't think there's an analogous scene in the Connery Bonds for the ice rink chase in OHMSS, in which Lazenby's Bond is truly in peril and shows fear before...

Just to add a bit to that...that moment, along with Lazenby's Bond's true love and respect for Tracy and the way that whole relationship plays out, makes him a little more human than Bond was usually allowed to be. That's not to say other Bonds didn't go there at different points.

There's also something to be said for Lazenby's green-ness going in, as there is an uncertainty and goofiness in parts of his performance, whether intentional or not, that, in hindsight, work quite well for him. And, as you say, perhaps if he'd stayed on with the franchise, he'd be locked into mediocre entries like DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER and most of Moore's outings.

 

[Keith Cobby]

I am very pleased with the UK blu-ray and doubt that, for me, it will be worth buying the TT edition. However I look forward to a comparative review of both discs.

On the other matter - Bond - just a personal view but Patrick McGoohan would have been the best of them all.

 

[AnthonyClarke]

Yes, McGoohan would have been oki -- but Rod Taylor would have fittted the bill too!

 

[Richard--W]

 

[davidHartzog]

While I will be ordering several TT titles in Jan./Feb inc. The Blue Max, Khartoum, and Man in the Dark, though not for the 3D nonsense, I am happy with the UK Zulu BD.

 

[JohnMor]

I have never seen Zulu, but based on the love for it here, I may have to (blind) buy the TT disc.

 

[davidHartzog]

I saw Zulu at the theatre, and a dozen or more times since. I think its a great, intelligent adventure flick right up there with Kwai and Lawrence and Lord Jim.

 

[Jon Hertzberg]

Soderbergh makes the case for OHMSS and mirrors my thoughts on Lazenby's unique vulnerability in the part.

[color=rgb(51,51,51);font-size:13px;]Also, Lazenby has a vulnerability that Connery never had—there are scenes in which he looks legitimately terrified and others in which he convinces us that he is in love with Tracy (particularly in the final scene), which brings us to another reason OHMSS is so distinctive—it’s the only Bond film with a female character that isn’t a cartoon, and the only film in which Bond is so completely frustrated with his bosses he wants and tries to quit. In fact, everything about the film suggests a reboot before the idea of rebooting was even in the air, much less fashionable (especially the ending, which you could never get away with today). - See more at: http://extension765.com/sdr/2-most-irrelevant-no-1#sthash.sL84I76p.dpuf[/color]

.

Just to add a bit to that...that moment, along with Lazenby's Bond's true love and respect for Tracy and the way that whole relationship plays out, makes him a little more human than Bond was usually allowed to be. That's not to say other Bonds didn't go there at different points.

There's also something to be said for Lazenby's green-ness going in, as there is an uncertainty and goofiness in parts of his performance, whether intentional or not, that, in hindsight, work quite well for him. And, as you say, perhaps if he'd stayed on with the franchise, he'd be locked into mediocre entries like DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER and most of Moore's outings.