Diamonds Are Forever (1971)

Not one of my favourite Bond films by a country mile but still so much fun. The recent complete-James-Bond-on-blu boxed set that was released has been my ONLY time seeing Sean Connery's last 'official' outing as 007 not edited for television and full screen, so it's basically my first-time REALLY seeing it. Decent. Even at his worst, horribly toupeed, and albatrossed with a script that's simply OUCH, it still oozes and smashes from the fact Connery's still the best Bond ever.

_**The series gets silly as James Bond goes to Las Vegas**_ Agent 007 (Sean Connery) is sent to Las Vegas to uncover a smuggling ring and suspects Blofeld (Charles Gray) is masterminding the nefarious operation; meanwhile a gay duo of assassins threatens the investigation. Jill St. John plays a smuggling contact while Lana Wood is on hand as a casino opportunist. "Diamonds are Forever" (1971) marks Connery’s return to the series after four years absence and missing out on the previous movie featuring George Lazenby. This one’s entertaining throughout, but it introduced a silly, cartoonish element more glaring than anything up to this point. Then there’s the fact that the storyline is almost impossible to follow unlike the previous installments which were easy to grasp, like “Dr. No,” “Goldfinger,” “Thunderball” and “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.” You just have to kick back and enjoy the madness of it all. Beautiful Lana Wood stands out on the female front, but her role is too brief (her apparel too, lol). Meanwhile Jill St. John is lots of fun, not to mention alluring. Needless to say, Vegas makes for a great setting for a James Bond flick. There are neon lights, highrise hotels, casinos, swimming pools, deserts, circuses, showgirls, tourists and thrills galore. The film runs 2 hours and was shot in Las Vegas & the Nevada desert; Netherlands; Pinewood Studios near London; Palm Springs, Ca (Willard Whyte's Desert House); French Riviera, France (pre-credits sequence); and the Pacific Ocean. GRADE: B-

MOST of the bad reviews on a lot of the Connery era 007 movies are... political. They don't like classic 60s 007 because of contemporary Woke six decades later politics. But.... this one just sucks. And, keep in mind, I say this with Connery being my favorite 007 and 4 out of his 5 (6 should NOT be counted) outings are my favorite 007 films. However, this is Connery playing a goofy Roger Moore era 007 and that doesn't work. This is Connery in a film that had all the coming Moore tropes. And that doesn't work. Had Diamonds are Forever been a Roger Moore 007, it wouldn't have been that bad. This was Moore's Bond film... only it had Connery in it, so it just didn't work.

007 follows a blood trail of diamond smuggling. Of course it leads to a dastardly villain. This one has a lot of the Bond elements. There is a lot of action, almost non stop, a lot of nice scenery, though not as great as the great Bond films. And there is wit. Also lacking, due to the women's lib era being at its height, is the beautiful women. There is one super hot babe who quickly drowns to appease the women's lib. The director seemed to want to make the point he was appeasing women's lib by presenting Jill St John (who isn't as homely as she appears in this movie) in a woman's lib fashion. A young boy even asks a mature man if Tiffany Case (Jill St. John) is his mother. Oops. There is also a major problem with the "non pro" character who is supposed to be likable. The tycoon who is kidnapped is not likable at all, and that's a major weakness. The saving grace is a very humorous (dark humor) pair of gay assassins. Their goofy quips are meant to be "groaners". They raise this a notch or two from me. Not the best Bond, but far from the worst, because later in the series, we really saw the hate pouring out from Hollywood.

Sean Connery returned as Ian Fleming's "007" in this caper about a megalomaniac with a fiendish plan to use diamonds to blackmail the world. Shirley Bassey belts out Don Black's lyrics as we set off on a fun, action adventure that, from the outset, makes your political correctness hairs stand to attention! Charles Gray is super as the malevolent "Blofeld"; Jill St. John a brassy "Tiffany Case" and the sexually ambiguous Messrs "Wint" and "Kidd" as the assassins all help to make this an engaging hour and a half with it's tongue firmly planted in it's cheek and a fun denouement from "Bambi" and "Thumper" that might make Walt Disney blush!

Diamonds Are Forever is a film I used to sight as one of the worst Bond films but on a recent watch I found it very funny and witty.