A Portuguese beach where the opening fight sequence between Bond (George Lazenby) and some Union Corse thugs was filmed for On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Shot in May 1969, the sequence was prepared carefully by the movie’s stunt coordinator, George Leech. Remembered Leech, “It was one of the most enjoyable fights in the film, but it worried me at first. It looked okay in the script, but when we actually got down to that empty beach, we realized there weren’t any props of any kind.

“I wondered how we could create a spectacular fight on a plain beach. So I got a few fishing boats lined up near the waterline, and these had some oars and nets lying around—props we could use. We were always looking for something different in the Bond fights, and this time I thought we would take the fight into the water, where just before sundown, it would photograph well.

“So with the water, the boats, the nets, the oars, and a few anchors, we were able to work up a good fight. It wasn’t easy. Terry Mountain, Takis Emmanuel, and I sat on that beach for days trying to plan the fight.”[1]

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[1] George Leech, interview by Steven Jay Rubin, London, June 23, 1977.