Diamonds Are Forever
1971
Director: Guy
Hamilton
Starring: Sean
Connery, Jill St. John, Charles Gray, Bruce Glover, Putter Smith, Norman Burton
Rated PG
Go blow up your pants!
~Tiffany Case
STATS
Kills: 8
Bond Girls:
Tiffany Case, Plenty O’Toole
Car: 1971 Ford
Mustang Mach 1 "Fastback"
Locales:
Amesterdam, Las Vegas
Odd Villain
Trait: Mr. Kidd and Mr. Wint are the
original Ambiguously Gay Duo. Peter
Franks fits the Red Grant mold.
Song: “Diamonds Are Forever” performed by Shirley
Bassey.
Everyone breathe
a sigh of relief. Sean Connery is
back. The director of Goldfinger has returned. Shirley Bassey is singing the theme song again. We’re going to recapture that old magic that
was “apparently” lost with the previous film.
Following On Her Majesty’s Secret
Service, the 007 brass felt that
there was a drop off (especially in America ,
hence why this is set in Las Vegas )
with the Bond series and were willing to do anything they could to get it back
on track. Diamonds Are Forever may have been the financial success the studio
was looking for, but is a failure as a quality picture. In short, it's the first James Bond film that outright stinks.
Right from the
get-go this film just feels wrong. The
opening teaser is Bond going SPECTRE agent to SPECTRE agent hunting for
Blofeld, angry over Tracy ’s
death. But 007 comes off more like some
just lit a brown bag of poo and stuck it on his front porch more than being
upset over the murder of his wife. He
eventually confronts Blofeld. This just
doesn’t carry any weight whatsoever. We
are watching Sean Connery upset and trying to get revenge for something we just
saw happen to George Lazenby. It doesn’t
work at all. Who does he come
face-to-face with? Telly Savalas? NOPE, a new Blofeld actor, Charles Gray. So we have 2 new actors to this storyline
trying to bring this ultimate showdown to fruition, to conclude the conflict of
the previous film. As a viewer it’s
entirely weak and doesn’t feel at all worth our time or what we want following On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. It reminds me of the concluding chapter of The Stepfather series. Terry O’Quinn, in a memorable and cult iconic
performance, was THE stepfather in the first two films of the series. He is the guy everyone associates with those
films. He didn’t return for the third
and final film. So they put a new actor
in the role for the “ultimate finale.
It’s not earned because we want to see Terry O’Quinn finished off, not
this new guy who we have no prior connection with. It’s unearned and unsatisfying. And this is exactly what this opening
is.
Contrary to
popular belief, George Lazenby was not fired or shown the door following On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. They wanted him to come back for Diamonds Are Forever (and five more
after that), but he refused. Lazenby had
an agent that convinced him that Bond wouldn’t live much past 1970. Congratulations George, you’re now the answer
to a trivia question. John Gavin was
hired by producers to play 007 in this film, but United Artist didn’t care and
wanted Sean Connery back at ANY cost. He
was given the astronomical (at the time) pay of $1.25 million and the
guaranteed backing for 2 pictures of his choosing. This shows completely. Connery is at his worst playing 007. He pretty much just showed up for the
money. James Bond appeared bored and
completely uninterested throughout the runtime of the feature.
The film itself
is rather almost cartoony and pretty stupid for most of its two hours. We get Bond in a chase scene through the desert
in a moon buggy. He fights two ugly
acrobatic women named Bambi and Thumper.
Plenty O’Toole is a bumbling bimbo.
Blofeld is having henchman have plastic surgery and voice box implants
to double as him. Jimmy Dean takes you
completely out of the movie every scene he’s in. There’s so much groan-worthy voice disguising
by crappy dubbing. The fx budget was
severly trimmed due to Connery’s salary, and it shows.
The hired
assassins/main henchman, Mr. Kidd and Mr. Wint, seem to have walked on to Diamonds Are Forever from some other
film. They come off like two Scooby Doo characters come to life. They make more yucky quips than Connery did
in his first six 007 movies combined.
There are actually a couple good, dark humored lines hidden amongst all the
garbage they spew out. And while they
have no problem murdering some of these diamond smugglers, when it comes to
Bond they just leave him in a pipe in the desert. When they show up at the end it’s just the
icing on top of this shit cake of a movie with their undoing. Was it an attempt at humor that the obviously
gay couple goes out with one of them catching flames and the other having a
bomb pretty much shoved in his butt or just coincidence?
The acting in Diamonds Are Forever is atrocious. Sean Connery stinks. Blofeld comes off too campy. There is a dentist who gets bit by a scorpion
and has an outrageous reaction. I’ve
discussed Mr. Kidd and Mr. Wint and frankly most of the one liner supporting
cast is dreadful. The Bond girls are
lousy (perhaps a European commentary on American women?). Tiffany Case is the first American Bond Girl
and she’s pretty useless. Jill St. John
isn’t what you would call a fanastic performer, and her character doesn’t do a
whole lot. She just dresses in
suggestive clothing and holds Bond’s hand if he’s near.
Felix Leiter
returns for the first time since Thunderball. Funny enough, now that Guy Hamilton is back
directing, Leiter has reverted back to an older, more Goldfinger-esque character.
He’s helpful and useful this time around, on the same level of service
as he was in Goldfinger. I’m just surprised how much the producers
have allowed for Felix to fluctuate like this throughout the series. It’s almost as if he’s been two or four
completely different characters who just happen to have the same name and just
happen to work for the CIA.
My above-noted
issues with Diamonds Are Forever
notwithstanding, there is one scene in the film that warrants you to pop in
this film and skip to it. I’m talking
about the car chase through the Vegas strip.
Bond and Tiffany Case are being hunted by the cops and some slick
maneuvers are made, some ramping and a two-wheeled escape through a dead
end. Don’t watch the whole movie, just
skip to this. There’s a brief fist fight
in an elevator between Bond and Peter Franks that’s mildly entertaining too,
just to note.
Diamonds Are Forever broke the record
for the 3-day opening weekend when it was released. It was enormously successful on a global
scale, earning $116 million worldwide.
The producers wanted a lighter tone than the comparatively dark and
somber On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. And since the money was there, I’m sure they
felt they succeeded. In reality, what
they got was an over the top, cheap-looking, too campy (not of the fun kind),
shallow film that didn’t play well to critics then and doesn’t hold up
now. I don’t think this will end up
being the worst Bond film but it’s easily the worst so far and the first
qualifying as a truly bad film with nothing redeeming about it. I spent most of this film rolling my eyes and
just unhappy with what was transpiring on screen. If Sean Connery is conveying to me that he
doesn’t want to be there, then what’s my interest?
Diamonds Are Forever did make me a
bit more enthusiastic to switching James Bonds and going through what the
comparably unpopular run of Roger Moore films.
Thanks to this film, I’m going in open-minded and optimistic.
Brandon Peters
will return in LIVE AND LET DIE
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