Universal Soldier (1971)

"Universal Soldier" (1971) was the movie George Lazenby made after "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", anyone seen it?

I found it on You Tube the other day and watched it

The film was a lot better than I thought it was going to be and a lot better than its given credit for in my opinion. After leaving the Bond franchise George Lazenby was looking for a project that had personal meaning for him, rather than just a paycheque. It was the late 60s early ‘70s and he was sincerely inspired by the “make love not war” sentiment which defined those times for many. Enough to put his career on the line in order to try and get this message across. His comments at the time indicate that he put his heart and soul into it, but, for whatever reason, the movie critics and the ticket buying public remained unmoved. Looking back, a disheartened and disillusioned Lazenby has been dismissive and disparaging about the project, but I see it as, if not actually a great movie, at least a very worthy attempt to make one.
Black listed Cy Enfield does a good job of directing, in the less stage-bound, semi documentary style of the 60s and 70s, when outdoor shooting became much more common, finding plenty of interesting and imaginative camera angles. I didn’t find the plot at all hard to follow, the dialogue is spare, containing little in the way of exposition, and the story is often advanced via musical montage sequences, which I’m not always a fan of, but in this case worked well enough. I particularly enjoyed the music, by a fellow called Phillip Goodhand-Tait, a talented songwriter in his own right who released a number of albums and has been covered by several well-known artists, which I found was nicely representative of the “Hippy folk rock” sound of those times. Lazenby’s own performance is very good, understated and natural, as are those of the other performers involved (including the infamous Germaine Greer and also Lazenby’s future wife in real life, who plays his girlfriend in the movie).
The Story is about a former mercenary who has tried to retire, but is reluctantly drawn back into “the life” as he is running out of money. His heart is not in it and, part way through, an unfortunate incident triggers him to abruptly abandon his involvement without completing his contract. He finds comfort among the more bohemian elements of London and hopes to live quietly among them, learning yoga and searching for spiritual peace. However his former associates and employers have other ideas and he is forced into taking counter measures.  I won’t say any more in order not to spoil it for anyone planning to watch the film.

George Lazenby is the only Bond actor whom I've never seen in a non-Bond movie (besides Barry Nelson).

I'll check the movie one of these days.

Certainly sounds somewhat different to the Van-Damme/Lundgren sci-fi actioner with which it shares a title.

Walecs wrote:

George Lazenby is the only Bond actor whom I've never seen in a non-Bond movie (besides Barry Nelson).

If you've ever seen Airport, the Shining or Twilight Zone: Stopover in a Quiet town, then you've seen him.

Seve wrote:

"Universal Soldier" (1971) was the movie George Lazenby made after "On Her Majesties Secret Service", anyone seen it?

I found it on You Tube the other day and watched it

The film was a lot better than I thought it was going to be and a lot better than its given credit for in my opinion. After leaving the Bond franchise George Lazenby was looking for a project that had personal meaning for him, rather than just a paycheque. It was the late 60s early ‘70s and he was sincerely inspired by the “make love not war” sentiment which defined those times for many. Enough to put his career on the line in order to try and get this message across. His comments at the time indicate that he put his heart and soul into it, but, for whatever reason, the movie critics and the ticket buying public remained unmoved. Looking back, a disheartened and disillusioned Lazenby has been dismissive and disparaging about the project, but I see it as, if not actually a great movie, at least a very worthy attempt to make one.
Black listed Cy Enfield does a good job of directing, in the less stage-bound, semi documentary style of the 60s and 70s, when outdoor shooting became much more common, finding plenty of interesting and imaginative camera angles. I didn’t find the plot at all hard to follow, the dialogue is spare, containing little in the way of exposition, and the story is often advanced via musical montage sequences, which I’m not always a fan of, but in this case worked well enough. I particularly enjoyed the music, by a fellow called Phillip Goodhand-Tait, a talented songwriter in his own right who released a number of albums and has been covered by several well-known artists, which I found was nicely representative of the “Hippy folk rock” sound of those times. Lazenby’s own performance is very good, understated and natural, as are those of the other performers involved (including the infamous Germaine Greer and also Lazenby’s future wife in real life, who plays his girlfriend in the movie).
The Story is about a former mercenary who has tried to retire, but is reluctantly drawn back into “the life” as he is running out of money. His heart is not in it and, part way through, an unfortunate incident triggers him to abruptly abandon his involvement without completing his contract. He finds comfort among the more bohemian elements of London and hopes to live quietly among them, learning yoga and searching for spiritual peace. However his former associates and employers have other ideas and he is forced into taking counter measures.  I won’t say any more in order not to spoil it for anyone planning to watch the film.

I'll have to check it out! Thanks Seve. And welcome back! What a blast from the past!

Walecs wrote:

George Lazenby is the only Bond actor whom I've never seen in a non-Bond movie (besides Barry Nelson).

I'll check the movie one of these days.

Get your hands on The Man From Hong Kong if you like martial arts films and want to see 1970s Australia. Some genuinely thrilling action scenes from hand-to-hand combat to an excellent car chase towards the end. Lazenby plays a rather colourful villain in it. The score is very good, too! I give it a watch once a year.

I also recently saw him in a movie with Jim Kelly (of Enter The Dragon fame) called "Death Dimension" where he played a supporting role. That movie was also better than I expected, very much a B or C grade film, but with a number of redeeming features which made it rather entertaining and George put in a decent performace.

I'm also interested to see a couple of other movies he starred in, one in Italy, the other in Hong Kong, before being relegated to the status of "foreign co-star for hire"

"Who Saw Her Die" is what is referred to as a "Giallo" (mystery-thriller-horror)

"Stoner" (aka The Shrine of Ultimate Bliss) is the one where he was going to work with Bruce Lee before his untimely death

For what it's worth, here's my assessment of Death Dimension

Death Dimension

Despite the ratings I found this to be the second best “Jim Kelly” movie I have watched. (And by that I mean one where he is top of the bill, so not the likes of “Enter The Dragon” or “Three The Hard Way”). In other words better than “Black Belt Jones”, “Hot Potato” or “Black Samurai”. Why? Mainly because the action is for the most part competently choreographed and shot when compared with the others. The cutting and camera angles make for better movie action viewing.

The second thing which makes this more fun is the novelty cast, which include, George “James Bond” Lazenby, Harold “Odd Job” Sakata, Aldo Ray, the ever reliable Bob Minor and Myron “Bruce” Lee” (Myron? Really?).

Lazenby, contrary to his reputation, can act quite adequately, but he can’t fight convincingly in this company, which is where the competent use of cutting and camera angles come in.

Sakata can’t act, but he is the most iconic Bond villain of the Connery era, “Odd Job”, so it doesn’t really matter. Turns out he can’t fight convincingly either and in his case the Director doesn’t come to his rescue for some reason, which is unfortunate.

Aldo Ray’s career peaked early, around 1955 when he was in “We’re No Angels” with Bogart and Ustinov, and his acting channels all the grumpy frustration that he must have been feeling by this time;- finding himself down among the B movie bottom feeders.

Meanwhile Jim himself is in as good form as I’ve ever seen him.

The plot premise is ridiculous but barely explored, used merely as a “McGuffen” to set the ball rolling, the plot structure is routine but serviceable and the dialogue banal, but in the World of Jim Kelly movies that is all par for the course. The only spark of originality is when Sakata’s character threatens to torture a female captive by letting his pet snapping turtle bite her tit! I certainly didn’t see that coming!

So more than one dimension, possibly two dimensions, but not quite three

Where did you watch Death Dimension? I've dedicated June to Asian-- or Asian-set-- cinema so this is quite the timely post, Seve.

If you're referring to The Man From Hong Kong, it's developed quite the cult following these days. As mentioned in my post above, the action sequences are very good in that! Perhaps unlike Lazenby in Death Dimension, Lazenby holds his own physically in the fight scenes in The Man From Hong Kong.

Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang wrote:

I'll have to check it out! Thanks Seve. And welcome back! What a blast from the past! .

Thanks, nice to be back

Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang wrote:

Get your hands on The Man From Hong Kong if you like martial arts films and want to see 1970s Australia. Some genuinely thrilling action scenes from hand-to-hand combat to an excellent car chase towards the end. Lazenby plays a rather colourful villain in it. The score is very good, too! I give it a watch once a year.

Yes, I'd like to see that too, but haven't had any luck finding it yet

Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang wrote:

Where did you watch Death Dimension? I've dedicated June to Asian-- or Asian-set-- cinema so this is quite the timely post, Seve.

I found "Death Dimension" on You Tube as well

Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang wrote:

If you're referring to The Man From Hong Kong, it's developed quite the cult following these days. As mentioned in my post above, the action sequences are very good in that! Perhaps unlike Lazenby in Death Dimension, Lazenby holds his own physically in the fight scenes in The Man From Hong Kong.

Wikipedia lists Stoner, The Man From Hong Kong and Queen's Ransom as his "Hong Kong Trilogy"
He's the hero in the first one and the villain in the other two.

By the way, I'm wasn't meaning to demean George's general fight scene ability, I'd make the same remark about Connery or Moore if they were appearing in a Kung Fu movie which included some actual martial artists. He was far more convincing than Harold Sakata!

That's a relief Seve, I was about to say 'But, but ... his ability in 'test fights' was a major factor in his Bond casting!' (breaking the stuntman's nose and all that).

Blunt Instrument wrote:

That's a relief Seve, I was about to say 'But, but ... his ability in 'test fights' was a major factor in his Bond casting!' (breaking the stuntman's nose and all that).    

And he did look very good in the fight senes in OHMS

I mean, I thought that in in DD Jim Kelly also looked better than he did most of his other movies. It's one thing to have fighting skills and another to understand camera angles and how to cut the film in order to show off those skills to best effect.

Peter Hunt on OHMSS is a good example of someone who understood how to film action. He learned the trade as an editor and second unit director in the days when directing action was not considered a priority by the lead director.

Bruce Lee was also great at it, and was always deeply involved in filmng the action in his movies. The difference between how his action sequences look and those of old school Hong Kong movie makers was revolutionary in my opinion. I don't think Jim Kelly had the same feel for how things should be shot and edited, so he needed the Director to help him out.

However, I fear I'm in grave danger of over selling "Death Dimension" at this point, which by no means a good movie, but an entertaining bad one, with a sprinkling of interesting curiositys.

Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang wrote:

I've dedicated June to Asian-- or Asian-set-- cinema so this is quite the timely post, Seve.  

Regarding Asian films, as a fan of Action movies, I can recomend a few by Sonny Chiba

He is famous for "The Steet Fighter" but "The Killing Machine" and "Karate Warriors" are my other favourites of his. I think they are both available on youtube. The American titles of Japanese movies are often very misleading, just as the direct transaltion of the Japanese titles are often mundane and uninformative. "The Killing Machine" is actually quite a deep movie in many ways, looking at how unthinkable defeat in WW2 disoriented Japanese society, not just about some bad-ass wreaking havoc, as the title might suggest.

I like Chow Yun Fat in "Hard Boiled"and "Full Contact"

Tony Jaa in "Tom-Yum-Goong" (The Protector) and "Ong Bak"

Iko Uwais in "The Raid" and "Merantau"

And, of course, the ever reliable Jack Chan and his team in "Police Story", in my opinion action doesn't get any better than the opening scene on the hillside or the mall scene at the end, plus the fight outside the girls apartment is action poetry in motion. "Wheels On Meals" and "Dragons Forever" are also alot of fun.

Seve wrote:

Yes, I'd like to see that too, but haven't had any luck finding it yet

It also goes under the name The Dragon Flies in some territories. You should be able to find a blu-ray somewhere (that's what I have, and if we have that in Oz it's generally available worldwide!) but it's also on Amazon Prime too I believe.

Seve wrote:

I found "Death Dimension" on You Tube as well

Thanks!

Seve wrote:

Wikipedia lists Stoner, The Man From Hong Kong and Queen's Ransom as his "Hong Kong Trilogy"
He's the hero in the first one and the villain in the other two.

By the way, I'm wasn't meaning to demean George's general fight scene ability, I'd make the same remark about Connery or Moore if they were appearing in a Kung Fu movie which included some actual martial artists. He was far more convincing than Harold Sakata!

I've been wanting to see Stoner and Queen's Ransom for some time, but I'm finding those hard to find.

Oh not at all! As BI alludes to, it's usually Lazenby's physical prowess that is celebrated above all else.

Seve wrote:

Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang wrote:

I've dedicated June to Asian-- or Asian-set-- cinema so this is quite the timely post, Seve.  

Regarding Asian films, as a fan of Action movies, I can recomend a few by Sonny Chiba

He is famous for "The Steet Fighter" but "The Killing Machine" and "Karate Warriors" are my other favourites of his. I think they are both available on youtube

I like Chow Yun Fat in "Hard Boiled"and "Full Contact"

Tony Jaa in "Tom-Yum-Goong" (The Protector) and "Ong Bak"

Iko Uwais in "The Raid" and "Merantau"

And, of course, the ever reliable Jack Chan and his team in "Police Story", in my opinion action doesn't get any better than the opening scene on the hillside or the mall scene at the end, plus the fight outside the girls apartment is action poetry in motion. "Meals On Wheels" and "Dragons Forever" are also alot of fun.

Thanks for the recommendations! The Street Fighters I've seen but not Chiba's others. I just watched Chan's Police Story 1/2 for the first time but I've seen Supercop with our very own Michelle Yeoh a few times. I'll have to check out the others you suggest. I've definitely seen Meals on Wheels available on our streaming services here in Oz so that and the aforementioned Chiba's might be my first go-to!

As mentioned in another thread, Lau's The 36th Chamber of Shaolin is one I'd recommend, and of course Lee's Enter The Dragon, which felt like DN/TMWTGG meets a martial arts film. Chan's Shinjiku Incident was somewhat flawed but otherwise very engaging. And of course the Ip Man series (including the Master Z spinoff with Dave Bautista and Michelle Yeoh, who in her late 50s still moves like a panther!).

Martial arts aside, I just watched Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains last night. Meditative but some genuinely brilliant sequences, including a 10 minute tracking shot that includes swimming, walking and dialogue. Apparently the 1st of 4 planned instalments.

Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang wrote:

Seve wrote:

I found "Death Dimension" on You Tube as well

Thanks!

Lol, you're welcome, we see if you still feel thankful after you've watched it...

Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang wrote:

It also goes under the name The Dragon Flies in some territories. You should be able to find a blu-ray somewhere (that's what I have, and if we have that in Oz it's generally available worldwide!) but it's also on Amazon Prime too I believe.

My turn to say thanks

I can see it on Youtube for rent

I've yet to see this but I might do one day. So far all I've seen Lazenby in beyond OHMSS is an episode of Diagnosis Murder.

Interesting Hilly. I'd have thought you'd have consumed many a Lazenby production!

You gots to see The Master: Hostage, Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Diamonds aren't Forever and The Return of the Man From Uncle (a few minutes near the beginning, anyway). All mid-eighties, when Sirs Sean and Rog were competing onscreen.

Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang wrote:

Interesting Hilly. I'd have thought you'd have consumed many a Lazenby production!

Sadly not. Lazenby looms large in my consciousness via OHMSS. Part of me doesn't want to check out other films because they might be lacking in comparison though I do want to see The Man from Hong Kong one day.

Just went a-lookin', and Return Of The Man From UNCLE is on YouTube in what looks like fairly decent quality. Have never seen it, must give it a go some evening.

Can you link it here, BI? Might save it for a rainy day.

There you go!

Much obliged, sir!