One of my favorite James Bond films is On Her Majesty's Secret Service. This 1969 movie was the only one to star George Lazenby as 007. I've seen so much mixed reaction over the years about Lazenby and this film in general. Personally I love it. I think it would have been hard for any man to step into the shoes of Sean Connery. It didn't matter who the actor would have been. I thought Lazenby did a good job though. I loved the chemistry between him and Diana Rigg (who played Tracy, the woman Bond fell in love with and married). Telly Savalas is my favorite actor to have played archvillain Blofeld. The setting for the movie was so beautiful. I really enjoyed both the ski chase and car chase sequeneces. I also loved the music for the movie, whether it was the instrumental theme song or the love theme by Louis Armstrong. Here are some photos from this Bond movie. Have any of you ever seen it? If so, do you like it or not? Let me know what you think.
P.S. The James Bond poll is now closed. And the winner is ...? Sean Connery! I don't think that would be any surprise to anybody. It sure wasn't to me.
Here are the results:
Sean Connery (53% with 24 votes), Daniel Craig (15% with 7 votes), Roger Moore (11% with 5 votes), Pierce Brosnan (11% with 5 votes), Timothy Dalton (4% with 2 votes) & George Lazenby (4% with 2 votes).
Sean Connery was an overwhelming winner. Daniel Craig as in second place. Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan tied. Timothy Dalton and George Lazenby tied for last place.
Pierce Brosnan has been keeping quite busy since his time as James Bond ended. He has appeared in The Ghost Writer, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and Remember Me in 2010. Here are some photos of the former 007 from GQ. I hope you enjoy these photos (by Ben Watts). Pierce Brosnan looks like one of those men born to wear a suit.
P.S. I thought I would do a new poll on the blog. Vote for your favorite actor who played James Bond. You have one week to make your choice. I will reveal the results in next Thursday's post. The poll is on the upper right side of the blog. Below are your candidates. Thanks for voting.
1. Sean Connery: Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, Diamonds Are Forever & Never Say Never Again.
2. George Lazenby: On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
3. Roger Moore: Live And Let Die, The Man With the Golden Gun, The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy & A View To A Kill.
4. Timothy Dalton: The Living Daylights & Licence To Kill.
5. Pierce Brosnan: GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough & Die Another Day.
6. Daniel Craig: Casino Royale & Quantum Of Solace.
Every well dressed man needs at least one suit. Many guys today don't even own a suit at all. We live in a very casual society. There were places that men once wore suits pretty much all the time, whether it was at the office or at church. Now unless it's required, many men would rather not have to dress up. It's not just men though because there are plenty of women as well who dress down these days. It is wonderful though to be able to dress up whenever you want or need to do it.
I know we aren't going back to the days of the Rat Pack, but it's still a good thing to dress well. While you aren't going to need or want to wear a suit all the time, it is nice to have at least one in your closet. You're going to look better in the eyes of both men and women if you don't look like a bum all the time.
You never know when you'll need a suit. It might be something you don't generally think about. A suit might not be practical or feasible to wear at your job. I have a blue collar job, so it wouldn't make a lot of sense for me to wear a suit to work. There probably will be, however, special times in your life when it's necessary to have a suit. It will be better to have one handy than to try to run out to get one at the last minute.
Now the ideal thing would be to have a suit tailor made for you, but that's probably highly unlikely. Whether due to cost, time, availability, etc., most men will be buying a ready to wear suit. That means most men will be visiting their local department store or men's store. You don't want to look like you're wearing a cheap suit that doesn't really fit you. You want to look like a million bucks even if you didn't pay an arm or a leg for your suit.
There are a few things you need to know when buying a suit off the rack. Check out this video (embedding was disabled) from GQ on buying a suit. It gives a lot of great tips. Also, please read this article from The New York Times. It also offers helpful suggestions on what goes into picking out the right suit for you. Please check out those links after you finish reading this post. Thanks.
I know I could use all this advice myself. I enjoy throwing on a t-shirt and sweat pants as much as the next person. There are times though, whether it's a date, job interview, church service, dinner party, etc, when a suit is either needed or at least wanted. Even when you are wearing more casual clothing, it's still a good thing to look nice. The Rat Pack still looked sharp even when dressed more casually. Distinguish yourself from the unwashed masses out there today.
If you're a guy who wants to be treated like a gentleman, then you need to dress and act like one. You need to dress and act like one if you expect others to treat you that way. While our modern society has many advantages, we've also declined in so many ways. We have become sloppy in our clothes, manners & so much more.
Not all of us men are going to look as good as Sean Connery as James Bond in Goldfinger, but we can do the best with what Mother Nature gave us. There are no excuses for all of us to look like bums. We'll respect ourselves more if we try to look better. Plus we'll gain the respect and admiration of others as well. I'd love to hear your feedback on this post. Let me know what you think.
One of my favorite actors of all time is Telly Savalas. I'm been a fan of him since I was a young boy. I first remember watching him on the television series Kojak (1973-1978). My mom actually went into labor with my younger brother when we were watching an episode of the show. Telly is most remembered for that classic show of the 1970's. He would even go on to play the role again in a series of television movies during the 1980's.
Some of his other credits throughout the years are The Young Savages (1961), Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), Battle of the Bulge (1965), The Dirty Dozen (1967), etc. He also played the part of the Bond supervillain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in On Her Majesty's Secret Service in 1969. His portrayal of Blofeld is actually my favorite in the Bond franchise. Telly recorded quite a few albums. He also did some print and commercial ads over the years. He even has a connection with members of the Rat Pack because he played the villain in Cannonball Run II in 1984.
Telly always had this masculine coolness about him that I've always admired. Even as a young boy, I found myself idolizing him. There was just something about him that drew me in. I knew that this was the type of man I'd love to be more like. Telly was his own man. He was comfortable in his own skin. He's one of the first bald actors I can remember ever seeing. He also had a voice that was very memorable. It could be soothing, humorous, threatening, etc. Plus Telly definitely had a style of his own. Telly passed away from cancer at the age of 72 in 1994. He's been sorely missed ever since.
Here are a few clips of Telly for your viewing pleasure. I hope you enjoy them.
Telly's spoken word version of If:
The fight scene between Telly's Blofeld and George Lazenby's Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service:
Tribute video to Telly:
P.S. I do hope all my fellow Americans had a great Thanksgiving weekend. Mine was fantastic. I hate to see it come to an end. I also hope that all my international friends had a great week and weekend. I'm trying to head around to all of your blogs now. I did miss checking you guys out this week. I wish you all the best. I hope you will all have a great week as December is almost upon us.
I did want to let everybody know that I'm making some changes here at the blog. I've talked with some friends about this before I made this decision. I will more than likely not be leaving comments anymore here at my blog in response to the comments you leave.
When I was only getting a couple of comments, it was easy to leave comments here and then visit the blogs of others to leave comments there as well. Now that I'm getting a lot more comments at both my blogs, it's gotten to where it's taking so much time that I don't really have. I love doing it, but it's very time consuming. I know that a lot of people who get lots of comments don't leave responses in their own comment section, so I'm definitely not alone in this. I will be visiting each of your blogs and leaving comments there like I always have. If there's a reason to leave feedback in my own comment section, then I'll do it. Otherwise I just won't be usually doing that much anymore.
I hope you all understand. I don't think it should be a problem with anybody. I had been mulling this for quite some time, but had put it off. This is my first week of trying it out. I did want to let all of you know. I'm not sure if any of you had really been checking back to see if I leave comments in my comment section or not. That way you will know what's going on. Plus obviously this will make the amount of comments in my comment section go down, but I never wanted it to look like I was inflating my comment section with my own comments. Thank you for your support. Take care.
Now it's time to come to the latest actor to play James Bond. That man is Daniel Craig. There was a lot of controversy over the hiring of Craig to play 007. Many were upset over the way that Pierce Brosnan had left the role. There was heated debate over the fact that Craig had blond hair. Also many thought he looked too rugged and was not handsome enough. The list of criticisms goes on and on.
Most of those who were not thrilled by the idea of Daniel Craig as Bond were relieved when they actually saw Casino Royale in 2006. There are still those who are not happy with his take on the role, plus the lack of gadgets and characters from the Bond universe. Craig would return to the role again in 2008's Quantum of Solace.
I'm a bigger fan of Casino Royale than Quantum of Solace. I do think there were quite a few weaknesses in the latter film. Probably an additional 20 minutes or so could have put more meat into some of the characters and the storyline. The film still was very successful. It's reported that the next Bond film starring Craig will be released in 2011. So what do you guys think of Daniel Craig as James Bond? Which Bond film of his do you like the best? Which of these theme songs do you prefer? Do you want them to return aspects of the previous films to the franchise or leave them in the past? Let me know what you think.
Pierce Brosnan played the role of James Bond in four films: GoldenEye (1995), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), The World Is Not Enough (1999) & Die Another Day (2002). Brosnan almost played the role earlier than he did. He was approached by the Bond producers when Timothy Dalton was going to be unavailable to take over the role, after the retirement of Roger Moore, due to another movie commitment.
Brosnan was finishing up his role on the NBC series Remington Steele at the time. The publicity, however, created a buzz to revive the series from cancellation. That was unfortunate because it meant that Brosnan was not going to be able to play 007. Dalton ended up playing Bond after all. He went on to do The Living Daylights (1987) and Licence To Kill (1989). Legal issues delayed the filming of any more Bond films for years. Frustrated with it all, Dalton stepped down from the role.
When things were finally resolved, Pierce Brosnan was now free to play the role of James Bond. Many had wondered whether the franchise could survive and thrive in the post-Cold War world. Brosnan's 007 showed that it definitely could. Each of his Bond films was very successful. He would be succeeded in the role by Daniel Craig. I've heard varying stories over whether Brosnan stepped down from the role or he was let go to make room for a younger Bond. So are you a fan of Pierce Brosnan's take on Bond? Which is your favorite Bond film of his? Which of the theme songs do you like the best? Let me know what you think?
GoldenEye (1995):
Tomorrow Never Dies (1997):
The World Is Not Enough (1999):
Die Another Day (2002):
P.S. Anybody here use Digg at all? If so, what do you think of it? I've been curious about it, but what's sure what others around here thought of it. Any feedback would be well appreciated. Thanks.
I love these pictures of George Lazenby and Diana Rigg during the filming of the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service. I hope you enjoy these photos as well. All the photos feature George and Diana. The last one also features director Peter Hunt and producer Albert "Cubby" Broccoli. Let me know what you think of these photos.
I mean no copyright infringement by the posting of pictures, videos, etc. on this blog. I do not in any way claim the rights of ownership to any of them. They totally remain the property of their respective owners. I have posted them purely for entertainment purposes only. All written content, unless otherwise noted as being quotes, has been written and copyrighted by me.
