Guincho Beach, also known as Praia do Guincho, is a wide Atlantic beach located northwest of Cascais, Portugal, on the western edge of the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park. The beach is known for its exposed position, strong winds, powerful waves and extensive sand dunes, making it a popular location for surfing, windsurfing and kitesurfing. Its open coastline and dramatic landscape have also made it a filming location for Portuguese and international productions.
Guincho Beach has appeared in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) and This Side of Resurrection (2011). In both films, the beach itself plays a prominent role, appearing as the actual coastal setting rather than standing in for another location.
In On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969), Guincho Beach appears during the film’s pre-title sequence. James Bond follows Tracy di Vicenzo to the beach after seeing her drive towards the coast and finds her walking into the sea in an apparent suicide attempt. Bond enters the water and rescues her, but is then attacked by two men on the beach and fights them in the surf and on the sand. Tracy escapes while the fight is taking place, leaving Bond alone on the beach, where he delivers the line, “This never happened to the other fellow.” The sequence introduces both George Lazenby’s James Bond and Tracy, who becomes central to the story.
In This Side of Resurrection (2011), Guincho Beach is one of the film’s central locations. Inês runs away from home in search of her estranged brother Rafael and finds him at Guincho, where he has returned to surfing. Rafael is a former surf champion who repeatedly challenges himself in the dangerous waves, and the beach becomes the setting for his surfing scenes and the reunion between the two siblings. Guincho also has a personal significance to them, as it was the last place where their family had lived together happily before their parents separated. The film moves between the beach, the nearby Serra de Sintra and the Convent of the Capuchos as Rafael struggles with his past and his crisis of faith.
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was filmed mainly in Switzerland and Portugal, with additional work in London and at Pinewood Studios in England.
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