Written by Richard Maibaum And Tom Mankiewicz
Directed by Guy Hamilton
Blofeld: "Right idea, Mr. Bond..."
James Bond: "...But wrong pussy."
After a taste of a different Bond, we're back to Sean Connery for his penultimate take in the role and it's a rather vengeful version of the character.
Already I love the fact that the events of On Her Majesty's Secret Service formed the spine of this film. Tracy's death did a number on James and he was determined to make Blofeld (Charles Gray) pay for it.
Of course given the title of this movie, diamonds were also a big thing here. There's a mission that involved Bond impersonating a diamond smuggler to infiltrate a smuggling ring. Blofeld also wanted diamond to build a space based laser weapon.
There's a genuinely funny in the film where Bond managed to convince others that he himself had killed James Bond. It's one of the best moments. There's also a plot involving Blofeld lookalikes in which James killed one of them. That was also particularly daft to watch.
Blofeld in these movies has increasingly become a great thorn in James's side and their confrontation here had a nice sense of finality. Was this genuinely the end for Blofeld? It certainly appeared to be. As a villain he had a good run of film and multiple actors playing him. This was probably the best time to take the character out of the equation.
As for the Bond girls, there's diamond smuggler Tiffany Case (Jill St. John) and Plenty O'Toole (Lana Wood). The latter's only memorable moments was landing in the pool while the former was a bad girl that sort of reformed while having to ally herself with Bond. After Tracy, I don't think either stood out as well as they could've.
- Again there's some good supporting moments from both Felix and Moneypenny in this movie. Bond also got his backside handed to him by Bambi and Thumper.
- Charles Gray previously played Henderson in You Only Live Twice.
- Standout music: Shirley Bassey's Diamonds Are Forever.
- Chronology: Las Vegas and California for most of the film.
Diamonds Are Forever was an enjoyable follow up to the previous film and marked a good ending to one of his most enduring enemies. It's also got one of the best theme tunes from the entire franchise.
Rating: 8 out of 10
