“Like Sean Connery before him, George Lazenby had potency and dash, but his vulnerability was all new, and his scenes with Diana Rigg were Bond’s most richly textured romantic entanglements until the arrival of Vesper Lynd [Casino Royale] some 37 years later.” (The Telegraph)

The year 1969 was so transformative for film that it even changed the macho icon James Bond. It was the first time we realized that someone other than Sean Connery could play the character—and newcomer George Lazenby’s 007 is a little more human, too: He even falls in love with the wonderful Diana Rigg, who—having established a powerful, self-sufficient persona through her Avengers TV role—plays a different kind of Bond Girl. The plot, which revolves around Bond’s pursuit of the evil Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Telly Savalas), includes 12 beautiful (and brainwashed) “angels of death,” and exhilarating action sequences. While the movie wasn’t a huge hit upon its release (critics seem to have needed more time to reckon with the loss of Connery), it’s now widely considered to be one of the best in the franchise.

4K DCP courtesy of Park Circus.