BECOMING BOND (2017)

Studio:       Hulu
Director:    Josh Greenbaum
Writer:       Josh Greenbaum
Producer:  Josh Greenbaum, Christopher Leggett, Rafael Marmor
Stars:     George Lazenby, Josh Lawson, Kassandra Clementi, Jane Seymour, Jeff Garlin, Jake Johnson, Dana Carvey

Review Score:

---

Summary:

Over comedic recreations, George Lazenby recalls the unusual circumstances leading to his one-time appearance as James Bond.

---

Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Chapter 1 – You Only Live Once – George Lazenby recalls his early childhood as a mischievous larrikin in Goulburn, Australia in 1946.

Chapter 2 – The Road to Pussy Galore – At age 15, George’s interests mature from classroom pranks to sex.

Chapter 3 – Try Another Day – After failing out of school in 1954, George works as an underpaid auto mechanic until becoming a used car salesman in Queanbeyan in 1962.

Chapter 4 – For Her Eyes Only – George meets a high society woman named Belinda at a formal party and falls in love.

Chapter 5 – From Australia with Love – George follows Belinda to Tilbury, England only to find Belinda in a relationship with the captain of the Oxford cricket club. However, George and Belinda rekindle their romance and eventually move in together.

Chapter 6 – The Guy Who Loved Me – An encounter with photographer Charles Jenkins while selling cars leads to a lucrative career in male modeling. George’s affair with the model Gundel leads to the end of his relationship with Belinda.

Chapter 7 – Single Oh Seven – Three years later, George indulges in a swinging single life with his modeling friend Ken Gaherity.

Chapter 8 – The Man with the Golden Tongue – As a favor for Ken, George attends a film screening with agent Maggie Abbott. Intrigued by George’s arrogance, Maggie directs George to casting director Dyson Lovell for the role of James Bond. George is forced to sneak past the receptionist to get to Lovell, but Lovell, intrigued by George’s look, immediately takes him to meet producer Harry Saltzman. George lies about his experience and uses an assertive attitude to sway Saltzman. In his first meeting with director Peter Hunt, George confesses that he has never acted a day in his life. Hunt is impressed that George was able to fool Lovell and Saltzman.

Chapter 9 – Unlicensed to Kill – George undergoes four months of screen tests before finally landing the James Bond job.

Chapter 10 – Tomorrow Sometimes Dies – George calls Belinda to tell her the news. Belinda agrees to meet George in St. Tropez, France. However, Saltzman calls George back to London immediately, forcing George to leave Belinda behind.

Chapter 11 – Shaken, Not Deterred – Through training and determination, George eventually warms up to acting.

Chapter 12 – The World Is Never Enough – George’s confidence and growing infatuation with fame leads to excessive partying and an inflated ego.

Chapter 13 – Decisions Are Forever – George finishes shooting “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” without ever signing a contract. George irks Harry Saltzman by ignoring instructions and attending the premiere sporting a beard and long hair. Anxious to live life on his own terms, George turns down a seven-film slave contract with a $1 million bonus and steps away from the opportunity to continue playing 007.

---

Review:

Unusual tales often need to be told in unusual ways.  To follow the domino line of unexpected events leading George Lazenby from an Australian used car lot to his one-and-done appearance as cinema’s greatest superspy, filmmaker Josh Greenbaum employs a cleverly creative conceit.

Instead of a traditional talking head tell-all, the horse’s mouth narrates affectionately humorous recreations for a movie best described as a docudramedy.  Lazenby’s life leading up to and during his time with “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” overflowed with swinging 60s swagger and salaciousness, peppered by dashes of slapstick and sweetness.  It’s fitting that “Becoming Bond” opts for an unconventional approach echoing the same teases of mischievous silliness and larger-than-life style that essentially defines Lazenby himself.

“Becoming Bond” edges further toward “-tainment” than it does toward “info-.”  With the tip of its tongue perpetually touching its cheek, the film has noted comedic actors like Jeff Garlin and Dana Carvey playing real-life personalities as somewhat comic caricatures.  No one would peg actor Josh Lawson to play James Bond.  But Lawson has the quirk and the smirk to aptly embody Lazenby’s affable appeal through a sarcastic smarminess in keeping with the dramatized doc’s likably laid back tone.

The film’s focus is also more on the “Becoming” than it is on the “Bond.”  Outside of initial introductions, the words “James Bond” aren’t even spoken aloud until the 53-minute mark in what is a 92-minute movie.  007 fans might scrunch noses at news that behind-the-scenes dirt on their favorite franchise composes barely a breadcrumb on Lazenby’s trail toward fleeting superstardom.  Though they’d be remiss to dismiss a nonetheless enjoyable biography on the grounds that there is little backstage muckraking to be done.

Emerging instead is an often heartwarming, sometimes heartbreaking story of an ordinary man surfing a wave of extraordinary circumstances with only a “devil may care” attitude to maintain his balance.  Lazenby comes across as cockily cavalier, yet not without abundantly charismatic charm, as he dares anyone to expose his true identity at every turn, and gets away with the gamble each time.  Until crapping out on the final dice roll that would drastically alter his life a second time, that is.

Greenbaum roots out a fascinating throughline via Lazenby’s doomed “on again off again” romance with the one who got away, Belinda.  Despite two wives during his post-Bond days, Belinda is depicted as the clear love of Lazenby’s life, still capable of bringing true tears of regret to a 77-year-old man.  Not only does Greenbaum recognize this woman’s role in steering Lazenby’s course, Greenbaum clues into the less obvious part she plays in Lazenby’s ongoing evolution from overconfident tomcat, ironically the attitude that got him the Bond gig, to introspective man of maturity.  Their ill-fated romance anchors “Becoming Bond” with a surprisingly bittersweet moral that losing true love was the biggest price Lazenby paid to take, and ultimately spurn, the opportunity of a lifetime.

In fairness to the absence of Lazenby’s two wives and five children, none of whom are acknowledged with so much as a mention, “Becoming Bond” effectively ends, almost abruptly, with Lazenby’s 007 divorce circa 1970.  At the time, Lazenby had little idea he was signing up for the blacklist, as well as to be a pop culture punchline, by not signing a deal worth several more Bond films and a $1 million bonus.

Was it arrogance or ignorance that led to George Lazenby’s willful refusal to jump on set-for-life wealth and fame?  While admitting in retrospect that he made a mistake, George’s side of the story is that living life on his own terms was more important.  The movie doesn’t go deep enough to get into the real nit and grit of the why or full scope of his decision’s subsequent consequences.  Yet his “que sera, sera” sigh of contentment concludes Lazenby’s recollections on a satisfying sentiment for the small segment of his life story told here.

“Becoming Bond” can be accused, and swiftly found guilty, of being too casually romanticized.  It may be fluffily fictionalized for the documentary half of its DNA.  But the storytelling is so smartly entertaining for the dramedy quotient that the takeaway upholds the adage, “if it ain’t true, it ought to be.”

Review Score:  85

---