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Diamonds Are Forever |
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Director GUY HAMILTON Producers ALBERT R BROCCOLI & HARRY SALTZMAN
Screenplay RICHARD MAIBAUM & TOM MANKIEWICZ
Director of Photography TED MOORE
Editor BERT BAITS & JOHN W. HOLMES Production designer KEN ADAM
Music JOHN BARRY
Starring SEAN CONNERY James Bond CHARLES GRAY Ernst Stavro Blofeld
JILL ST. JOHN Tiffany Case LANA WOOD Plenty O' Toole JIMMY DEAN Willard Whyte
BRUCE GLOVER Kidd PUTTER SMITH Windt JOE ROBINSON Peter Franks
NORMAN BURTON Felix Leiter
With BERNARD LEE As M, DESMOND LLEWELYN As Q & LOIS MAXWELL As Miss Moneypenny
Release Date: UK 30 December 1971, USA 17 December 1971
Running time: 119Minutes |
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Sean Connery returns as James Bond for his sixth and final "official" bond movie (He returned for 1983s Never Say Never Again, made by Warner Bros. not EON). His return is in a fairly lackluster movie (And fairly lackluster performance) Diamonds Are Forever. The producers wished to leave behind the realistic edge of OHMSS in favour of returning to the light-heartedness of Goldfinger. It shows, as this is surely the least serious Bond movie to date and one of the most in all 19 films. Another change made was an Americanized style in favour of the Brit style of the earlier films (Why on earth they wanted to do this, we'll never know). And that could be one of the big flaws of the movie. The whole thing has a cheap and sleazy feel to it, though in fairness that could be due to the fact its primarily set in Las Vegas :-). |
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This film follows the route You Only Live Twice started of using only the smallest details from Fleming's novel. While the novel is far from Fleming's best work, it is has its charm and much of that is missing from the film. But there are some areas where Maibaum and Mankiewicz improve on the original source. For example, the elimination of the Spang brothers in favour of Blofeld working behind the Howard Hughes based character, Willard Whyte, is terrific. Another good change is the elimination of the Saratoga horse race section of the story, instead Bond travels to Amsterdam which a vast improvement. But the overuse of Wint & Kidd and the overall sillyness of the script is unforgivable. |
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The acting in the film is very much fit and miss. Connery does a better job than in YOLT, but still doesn't seem to like playing the role (Which he didn't). But his delivery of some of his lines is priceless.. "That's Quit a nice little nothing your almost wearing" being one of the most memorable. Then there is Charles Grey as Blofeld. This is miscasting at |
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its worst! Grey seems as if he'd be happier having a cup of tea and cookies than take over the world. Also, it was only four years ago that he played Diko Henderson in YOLT, so there can be some confusion to the audience at first. Not to mention he looks NOTHING like previous Blofelds. Jill St. John, as Tiffany Case, starts out pretty memorable but throughout the course of the movie her character seems to get dumber and dumber. Thing's get so bad that at the climax of the film Bond calls her a "Stupid Bitch". Politically correct? nope. Acurrate statement? Yes. |
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Bruce Glover and Putter Smith are pretty good as the homosexual duo, Wint & Kidd. But the writing of their character's is far too weak and they are really only there for comic relief. Jimmy Dean is quite good as the Hughes inspired, Willard Whyte. Overall, not many good performances, but Connery seems to shine every once and a while, despite not wanting to be there. |
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John Barry's score is exellent. Tracks such as Blofelds Laser and the Wint and Kidd theme are terrific. Unfortunetly much of the soundtrack is filled with his Vegas styled music and leaves out the really good stuff. *The CD, Bond: Back In Action, contains the tracks missing from this and many other Barry scores. The theme song, sung by Shirley Bassey is a bit slow and dreary but Barry's use of it's theme throughout the film is good. |
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Guy Hamilton returns for his second of four Bond films. The movie tries to match Goldfinger's style and feel but can't match the 1964 film. Diamonds Are Forever is one of Connery's worst 007 films but manages to entertain and has many exellent scenes. The car chase through the infamous Freemont Avenue in downtown Las Vegas and the brutal fight in an Amsterdam hotel elevator are good examples. But the problem is that the film has good parts but overall isn't very consistent. Some really weak scenes are the end climax on the oil rig in Baja and the space buggy chase through the Nevada desert. These scenes could be suspenseful but they need to be tightened up. The overuse of lame jokes and silly gadgets hurt the film, which does show alot of potential. Overall it's not as bad as it's made out to be, but not as good as it could have been. |
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Rating
Teaser: Sorta throws the viewer off as to what the film will be. In the teaser, Bond hunts Blofeld all over the world (Presumably because of the death of Tracy) but after the credits it seems Bond hasn't a care where Blofeld is or does.
6/10
Credits: Decent enough. Basically middle of the road, not great but not bad.
6/10
Theme Song: One Of Barry's weaker ones but manages to hold the listener
6.5/10
Plot: The plot is good, when the movie sticks to it
7/10
Location: Las Vegas is bright, loud and tacky. But that's ok. Plus, Amsterdam is a good addition
7.5/10
Bond Girls: Both are pretty ditsy. Not bad looking, but not too bright
6/10
Villian: Blofeld is back and weaker than ever! Ugh
1/10
Overall: Not great and not bad. Hit and miss
5.5/10 |
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Foriegn Names:
Germany: Diamond Fever
France: The Diamonds Are Forever
Italy: A Diamond Cascade
Spain: Diamonds For Eternity |
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James Bond Films |
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