Bond Is Forever... As Are “Diamonds”

MI6 agent James Bond (Sean Connery) tracks the diabolical Blofeld (Charles Gray) to Cairo, where the villain is producing duplicates of himself. A physical confrontation ends with Blofeld sliding into a pool of boiling mud. MI6 later assigns 007 to investigate the smuggling of African diamonds, which continues in spite of tight security measures. Bond poses as a smuggler, one of numerous people who pass misappropriated diamonds down an assembly line of smugglers, most of whom are killed upon completion of his/her task by Mr. Wint (Bruce Glover) and Mr. Kidd (Putter Smith). Bond finds an ally in Tiffany Case (Jill St. John), and the two follow the diamonds to Las Vegas and a man named Willard Whyte, a reclusive casino owner. Sneaking into Whyte’s high rise casino, The Whyte House, Bond exposes the true culprit as Blofeld -- posing as Whyte by electronically replicating his voice -- standing in an office with one of his doubles. Blofeld plans to use the pilfered diamonds in a weaponized form and hold the world hostage.


After Connery departed from the series following You Only Live Twice (1967) and George Lazenby made his sole effort as 007 in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969), it seems that EON Productions wanted a return to form for Connery’s homecoming in 1971’s Diamonds Are Forever. Director Guy Hamilton had previously helmed the hugely successful Goldfinger (1964) with Connery, the film’s title song sung by Shirley Bassey, who also lent her voice for Diamonds Are Forever. Hamilton would additionally direct the subsequent two 007 movies, Live and Let Die (1973) and The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), and Bassey would sing a third theme with Moonraker in 1979. Even Charles Gray as Blofeld makes a return from his appearance in You Only Live Twice -- though, despite the 1967 movie featuring Blofeld, said villain is portrayed by Donald Pleasence while Gray plays an MI6 agent working in Japan.

Diamonds Are Forever was the final film in the cinematic Blofeld Trilogy and the final film for Sean Connery, who would reprise the role in an “unofficial” entry, Never Say Never Again (1983). Blofeld is a minor character in the pre-credits sequence of For Your Eyes Only (1981), but his face is never shown. Never Say Never Again is a second adaptation of Thunderball and was made after a lengthy legal squabble (see Thunderball for more on its bumpy road to the big screen).

Though not as remarkable as previous Connery/Bond films, Diamonds Are Forever is a worthy movie with strong qualities. Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd are notable foes, very respectful and formal as they assassinate smugglers who are no longer necessary, and the men are made all the more intriguing by the implication that they’re lovers (an idea taken from Ian Fleming’s source text). Sprightly and physically adept Bambi (Lola Larson) and Thumper (Trina Parks) are irrefutably farcical, but they’re likewise memorable, if for no other reason than their monikers. And though some action scenes fall flat, such as 007 in a moon buggy pursued by men on minuscule ATVs and the concluding sequence atop an oil rig, they are overshadowed by superior moments, including Bond’s scuffle with the man he’s impersonating while crammed inside an elevator and a chase on the luminous streets of Vegas in Tiffany’s handsome Mustang Mach 1.

So while the villains are noteworthy, it’s disappointing that the Bond advocates are far less diverting. Tiffany Case is a mediocre Bond character. An introduction to Tiffany as a smuggler initially piques interest, but she loses credibility when learning that she was tricked into helping and is completely unaware as to what will happen to her when her employers feel she’s served her purpose. She even proves detrimental to the mission near the end of the film. Similarly, the genuine Willard Whyte (Jimmy Dean) is a superfluous addition to the story, Norman Burton is an unexceptional Felix Leiter, and Lana Wood as Plenty O’Toole has very little to do, other than latch onto Bond and remove her dress when they make it to his hotel room. The “good guys” are highlighted by appearances from Q (Desmond Llewelyn), who breaks the bank at the slot machines simply to test a new device, and Miss Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell), looking rather fetching in full uniform at the customs office.

In 2009-10, following MGM’s financial turmoil and the threat of bankruptcy, the James Bond series was in danger of expiring. But MGM recovered, and production for a new Bond film recommenced. Daniel Craig will return for a tentative release date of 2012. It will be the 23rd movie of the EON Productions series.

Diamonds Are Forever has its faults, but I cannot rightly disapprove of a movie that maintains tradition and keeps its feet in familiar terrain. Here’s a Bond who first appears with his celebrated introduction to a woman but who actually speaks it to the camera and the audience; a Bond whose assignment takes him to Las Vegas for a reasonably good excuse to gamble and wear a tuxedo; a Bond who, when asked if the man he’s just fought is dead, answers slyly, “I sincerely hope so.” The film does occasionally slip into camp, but it’s undeniably grounded in the world of James Bond, a world which I’ll happily visit time and time again.

This is the final Bond Is Forever entry, as I have now covered every 007 film with the exception of the latest in the series, Quantum of Solace (2008). But since James Bond will be returning to theatres, I’ll end this with an optimistic disclaimer: Bond Is Forever will return.