Diamonds are Forever

Rating:
Summary: AMAZING MOVIE!!
Review: Despite George Lazenby's failure to appeal to the movie-goers in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, producer Albert R. Broccoli decided to stick with him for two more Bond films. However, Lazenby felt that his Bond film did not exceed his own expectations and thought that the film's flop would tarnish his career. Given this, he opted to turn in his Licence to Kill and a new 007 had to be found. Broccoli and Saltzman looked at many new candidates such as Liam Neeson, Burt Reynolds (I'm still shaking that one off), Timothy Dalton, and Roger Moore. Moore was unable to take the part due to his commitment to his new TV series The Persuaders, and Timothy Dalton turned down the role because he felt he was too young to play 007. At first, Broccoli gave the role to an American named John Anderson but later was unhappy with this decision. By now, the producers were simply desperate to get somebody good. Therefore, they approached Sean Connery and offered him the most lucrative film contract ever received by an actor. So the stage was set: Sean Connery will return.

Diamonds are forever picks up where On Her Majesty's Secret Service left off. We last saw Bond as he was covering Tracy after she had been shot by Blofeld. Well, now Bond is mad and he begins the film by looking for Blofeld. He first hurls a guy through a paper glass panel. We hear Connery as he says, "Where is he? I shan't ask you politely next time." When Bond catches up with Blofeld, he beats up a couple of his henchmen and throws Blofeld into a hot, bubbling pool of plaster. Blofeld is supposedly dead and we are interrupted by the credits sequence, which is done very well. Diamonds are Forever's credits and title song are very catchy and well-recieved.

Somebody has been smuggling diamonds out of the diamond mines in South Africa at an alarming rate. A specialist named Sir Donald briefs Bond and "M" on the situation and James is sent to Amsterdam posing as a diamond smuggler named Peter Franks. He is to meet with the smuggler's contact, Tiffany Case, and infiltrate the operation and stop it. When he meets Tiffany, she is suspicious and takes his fingerprints. She has a copy of the real Peter Franks's fingerprints and compares them with those she took of 007. Miraculously for the viewer, the fingerprints match! By now the viewer is thinking, "How the heck did he do that!?" Enter Q. Q supplied 007 with a set of latex fingerprints of the real Peter Franks. This is a great gadget, I thought. Tiffany lets Bond in on the smuggling plan and Bond agrees. Unknown to Bond, however, the real Peter Franks has escaped capture and is intending to proceed with his assignment. Bond catches him and proceeds to beat him like a dog. They encounter in Tiffany's apartment elevator where they engage in a bouting brawl. Bond gets the best of him by spraying fire-retardant foam in his face, then knocking him down a loft. I really loved this scene.

Tiffany has the diamonds in her possession and gives them to 007 to smuggle into Los Angeles. Bond finds Peter Franks useful and hides them into his alimentary canal. When Bond arrives at LAX, he meets Felix Leiter, who asks, "I know the diamonds are in the body, but where?" Bond delivers a great one-liner here by replying, "Alimentary, my dear Watson." Now, I like the locations in this film. South Africa was a great site, as was Amsterdam, but I must admit that I like Las Vegas the finest. As Bond journey's through Vegas with Tiffany, we get to see some of the city's prime spots that we've all been to. In fact, this past summer I had the privilege to stand on the street where Connery drove his 1971 Ford Mustang Fastback as Bond was eluding the authorities. It was an awesome feeling. Also, I have been trying to figure out which of the Las Vegas hotels was the one where the Whyte House was located. In case you are wondering, it is currently the Las Vegas Hilton. The Mustang chase through downtown Las Vegas is one of the best parts of the movie. I love watching this as Bond thoroughly out-drives the cops in every way imagineable. The climax has Bond driving down a dead end alley. The cop behind him claims, "I've got you now." But James has other plans. He takes the Mustang through the narrow alley on its two side wheels. The cop tries to duplicate this maneuver but fails miserably. If you look closely in this scene, there is a faulty. Bond enters the narrow alley on the car's two right wheels, but when he exits out onto the other side, the car is on its two left wheels! Oops!

By now, in addition to finding the mastermind behind the diamonds smuggling operation, James Bond is also looking for a missing billionaire named Willard Whyte. Whyte's character was based on the real life Howard Hughes, according to Albert R. Broccoli. Whyte, played by Jimmy Dean, has been kidnapped by Blofeld and is incarcerated in a suburban Las Vegas neighborhood estate. James finds out where he is being held and rescues him. But not before being manhandled by Bambi and Thumper, Whyte's two muscular beauties.

With the aide of Willard Whyte, James and Tiffany (now working for the good guys) are onto Blofeld's trail. However, Tiffany becomes a bit too nosy and is captured by Blofeld as he is exiting the Whyte House casino. This scene is funny as we see Q testing his new casino slot machine decoder ring. He simply moves along every slot machine, pulling the levers and winning the jackpot on every one of them! He tells Tiffany, "...been aching to give it a try." Bond tracks Blofeld to an oil rig in the middle of the Pacific Ocean near Baja, California. He now knows that Blofeld is using those smuggled diamonds to build a space laser capable of destroying the world. Blofeld is provoking nuclear explosions with the satellite in many places around the world like Red China, North Dakota, and Russia. His plan is to demand a ransom from each of these countries. I liked Blofeld's remark to Bond as he is deciding upon a new site to destroy: "If we blew up Kansas the world may not hear of it for years." That was very funny to me.

As usual, Bond destroys the operation and proceeds to destroy the oil rig as well. However, Blofeld somehow manages to escape before the whole thing goes up. Bond and Tiffany embark on a ship cruise on their way back to London. But the action is not over because Blofeld's two hechmen, Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd are aboard the ship plotting to kill 007. I have yet to mention these two characters in the film review. They are two men who are inserted here and there throughout the movie to do some of Blofeld's dirtywork. I really, really liked these characters. They just had something about them that is very likeable. They are just one of the many features which make Diamonds are Forever so good. Anyway, the two pose as waiters to get the drop on Bond and Tiffany in their cabin. Bond's suspicion is aroused when he smells Mr. Wint's after shave which he recognizes from earlier in the film. Here comes an extremely weak attempt by the two men to eliminate James Bond. Mr. Kidd is set afire by Tiffany and Mr. Kidd goes out with a bang: a bomb tied between his legs, courtesy of James Bond. After he is sent flying overboard, he explodes and James says, "He certainly went with his tail between his legs."

I liked every aspect of Diamonds are Forever and think it is by far Sean Connery's best performance as James Bond. Many people will tell you that he looks way too old in this film. If you want to see old, simply pop Never Say Never Again in your VCR. You see that guy playing 007? That is old! And those same people have the nerve to claim that Never Say Never Again is a better film. Shame on them. Diamonds are Forever has an aura about it that if simply great. Perhaps it is because the Bond series is entering its greatest decade of all: the Seventies. Bond's Mustang Fastback is one of the best cars of the series; Tiffany Case was a fantastic Bond girl; the locations are among the best of the series; the plot was solid; and Connery had his best performance to date.

Rating:
Summary: The Funniest of the Bond Series, and an Entertaining Bond
Review: Diamonds are Forever is the funniest of the Bond movies, and thus gets a recommendation from me. The movie is absolutely outlandish, from the plot to the characters to the lines and jokes in the movie, it is all completely over the top. Let's begin with a quick run down of the plot.

The movie begins with Bond looking for his arch nemesis Blofeld in a quest to avenge his wife's assassination by said super-criminal in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Bond does just that and has as his next project the seemingly sedate task of investigating a diamond smuggling ring. After a brief time in Belgium, the trail leads Bond to Las Vegas, where the great majority of the film takes place. Eventually, Bond learns that the diamonds are being used to power a super-weapon and must foil a plot to hold the world hostage. The fact that he is successful can be safely assumed from the fact that 12 more Bond movies have followed this one. This is a very bare bones plot summary, but I don't want to give away too much, since most people who read reviews haven't seen the movie and don't want everything given away. I will say that it is a good, albeit outlandish, plot that keeps the movie going at a solid pace and should keep viewers entertained.

The characters and dialogue in this movie are also quite funny. Blofeld is played by Charles Gray (who has a bit part in the mediocre You Only Live Twice) and Gray does a good job, portraying Blofeld as a sort of menacing, evil british version of Franklin Roosevelt. The Bond girls are Tiffany Case and Plenty O'Toole and both are good looking women and mediocre actresses who have some funny moments in the movie. The evil henchmen, Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd, are among the most memorable in the series. I can't describe them for you because it would ruin the surprise of their characters, which is one of the funniest/shocking parts of the movie. All in all, it is a good cast that is given plenty of funny lines.

The DVD itself is worth owning. The documentary on the making of the movie is fascinating and the movie has been well restored. The "Christmas" preview is also a hoot. Diamonds Are Forever is recommended for Bond fans, especially fans of Roger Moore, since this is basically the ideal movie for you: the humor of a Moore flick, but with Connery acting. The same advice goes for novice Bond fans. If you enjoy Moore movies, you will like this one. If not, or are unsure, I would recommend watching the film before a purchase.

Rating:
Summary: Not the best, but certainly up there
Review: "Diamonds are Forever" qualifies as perhaps the most unusual and odd James Bond movie of them all. For this reason alone, it should be in your collection.

Sean Connery comes back for the "last" (see "Never Say Never Again") time as 007, chasing down Ernst Stavro Blofeld and his plot to use diamonds in his construction of a laser satellite capable of destroying any target. This conventional-sounding description actually lends no justice to the film. Connery is a particularly brutal (especially in the startling pre-title sequence) and abrasive 007 this time around, and he looks rather haggard at times to boot -- but then this makes the 007 character much more human and adds a sinister aspect that makes the portrayal more fascinating. Blofeld is portrayed by Charles Gray (the criminologist from the Rocky Horror Picture Show), who instead of the staid robotic diction of Joseph Wiseman opts for a smarmy, smug portrayal, grinning, cunning and lethal -- most irregular, but quite effective and entertaining. There's really just one Bond girl here (Jill St. John, at turns irritating) -- unless you count murderous vixens Bambi and Thumber, but James prefers to drown them rather than seduce them. However, the best characters are the lethal gay killers Mr. Wint (Bruce Glover) and Mr. Kidd (Putter Smith), who engage in their deadly art of eliminating all in Blofeld's way with panache, style and grim black humour. Their unsettling presence gives a real touch of menace to the movie that makes it luridly attractive.

The entire feel of the film is weird and hazy, which jibes well with the movie's date of release, especially from Maurice Binder's soft focus title sequence and throughout John Barry's haunting score (especially the somber, silvery sax tones of the Wint and Kidd theme, which will echo in your head endlessly), enhanced by the Vegas locale. Alas, the end of the movie becomes somewhat more conventional as Blofeld's plot is discovered and reliably countered, but it's certainly no worse for it.

In the annals of Bond movies, this is quirky, irregular and fascinating in its oddity. You'll enjoy it.

Rating:
Summary: GREATEST EVER!
Review: Diamonds are Forever is one of those movies that cannot be matched. The opening song is one of the best and Sean Connery cannot be matched! And Blofeld (Charles Gray) is the best ever! Trust my advice, get this movie.

Rating:
Summary: One of the Two Best Bond Movies Starring Sean Connery
Review: First came Goldfinger, then Diamonds Are Forever. These are the two greatest Bond movies with Connery in the title role. Both have great villians, and to be a great Bond movie, there must be a great villian. Connery has never been more comfortable in the role of Bond. He shows it all in this movie: charm, wit, luck, indifference to authority, grace under pressure, worldliness, weariness, and humility. Is this not one of the most fascinating characters ever portrayed on film? I've seen every Bond film again and again. Connery is the best Bond, because the more you think you understand about Bond, the more you feel that there is still more to know. None of the Bond actors communicates this better than Connery. It is what gives Bond his unpredictability, and makes you feel that you can't take your eyes off him even for a moment, because of what he might do to surprise you. If I could own only three Bond films with Connery in the lead role, then From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, and this one, would pretty well sum up the whole series. The rest are highly repetitive fair to poor copies.

Rating:
Summary: Possibly Worst Bond Film... But Still Entertaining!
Review: Diamonds are Forever has its share of problems: Connery's a bit too paunchy. The plot plummets into sheer idiocy. The villain appears in drag. The action is kinda slow. Jill St. John is the most annoying Bond girl. But, this being a Bond film, there is still fun to be had. Sean Connery is back, armed with a license to kill and a license to throw funny lines around Las Vegas. I won't even go into the ludicrous plot, which starts out good but becomes just plain stupid by the end. Really, there are only two things that really make this entry stand out in the series. This may be Connery's best performance as 007, as he is cool, ruthless and much funnier than usual. The other good thing is Shirley Bassey's wonderful title song. This is for fans of the series that don't mind the extremely humorous approach.

Rating:
Summary: I dont see whats so bad
Review: The First time i saw this movie was right after i saw Goldeneye a few years back. I thought it wasn't all that great. But then when i started getting into the older movies more than the new, i loved this. First of all, the acting could be a little better, but the settings and story made up for it. It has infact, a really good story, about Bond traveling to Las Vegas only to find out about a diamond scheme involving his old S.P.E.C.T.R.E friend, Blofeld, who he thought he killed in the beginning. I liked the other Blofeld in You Only Live Twice better, but this one was better than the one from On Her majestys secret service. There isnt much killing, but their is some good action, most are fist fights, or car chases. Like the chase scene through Las Vegas, which i actually thought, was pretty good, considering there wasnt any gun shots at all during the chase, but the end of it (the car enters with it tipped left, but leaves tipped right). The oil rig/helicopter battle, the fight with Peter Franks, fight with Blowfeld, chase through the desert. But it has lots of spying, bond goes undercover many times including as a link in the diamond smuggling pipeline, in the compounds of a space program, and going into his penthouse, and stuff. Overall its more of a spy movie than an action movie, but it has good action. If U like from russia with love, or goldfinger, you'll like this.

Rating:
Summary: Extras put DVD over the top
Review: Although Diamonds Are Forever is a fairly weak entry in the James Bond series, the special edition DVD of this movie must rank among the best of all the 007 releases. The half-hour Inside Diamonds Are Forever documentary is both outstanding and informative, featuring such items as the background story behind Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd (including recent interviews with actors Bruce Glover and Putter Smith), and a fascinating revelation by Jimmy Dean, who admitted to some discomfort in portraying a thinly-disguised Howard Hughes-type character when his real life boss at the time was, in fact, Howard Hughes. The 45-minute biography of Cubby Broccoli is almost worth the price of the DVD alone, and the inclusion of four deleted scenes nicely pieces together what was originally an editing nightmare for this film, especially Plenty's mysterious appearance in Tiffany's pool. One final note: the Bond filmmakers have always prided themselves in delivering sanitized sex scenes without resorting to gratuitous frontal nudity. However, when running the scene in which Bond helps Marie "get something off her chest" in slow motion, during the pre-titles sequence, her left breast, including full nipple, is clearly revealed. In real time, the scene plays so fast that nothing can be seen, but it's a much different story in slow motion.

Rating:
Summary: Funny Title, Awesome Movie!
Review: This was the first Bond movie I had ever recieved. It was given to me by my mom and by reading the title I thought it was all going to be about a bunch of kissin' and stuff. But as a matter of fact it wasn't! This is my favorite 007 movie and I reccomend to most fans.

Rating:
Summary: This is what Sean Connery is all about - Entertainment
Review: This is a Classic movie with sean connery matured and finally begin to show (I wasnt too excited about his early 60s movies) great Acting and Amazing Jill st. John (probably the most beautiful bond-girl ever seen) This is pure entertainment , dont search for explosions !!! great Humour , this is what James Bond is all about !