Ricky Church continues his countdown to Spectre with a review of Diamonds Are Forever…
After On Her Majesty’s Secret Service producers Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman sought Sean Connery to come back to the role he made famous one last time (officially at least) in Diamonds Are Forever, the conclusion to the SPECTRE era of Bond films (until next month that is). After the death of his wife, Bond attempts to move on and is investigating a diamond smuggling operation that is far more sinister than the typical smuggling ring when he discovers his arch-nemesis Blofeld is behind it.
After George Lazenby decided to drop out of the Bond franchise for fear of being typecast (on advice from his agent no less) production had to work fast to recast the role. Despite looking at new actors, they thought it would be best to gain Connery back one last time and offered him a lucrative deal of £1.25 million and financial backing for two films of his choice, a deal unheard of for actors at the time.
Perhaps because of this huge incentive, Connery is much more energetic in the role than he was in his previous Bond film, You Only Live Twice. The charm is back as is his ruthlessness, but there is much more of the former here than before. This might be due to Lazenby’s performance or just the fact that Diamonds Are Forever is a much lighter Bond film. There’s a lot of camp present in this movie, a rather drastic departure from the series thus far that does more harm than good. Connery’s performance, even if it is campy, is one of the film’s few saving graces.
Charles Gray replaced Telly Savalas as Blofeld and he may be one of the biggest problems with the film. Gray’s Blofeld is much less intimidating than Salavas’ or even Pleasence’s was, relying on camp by making the villain too cheery. There are several awkward moments with Gray, particularly a scene where there are two Blofelds and Bond has to figure out which is the imposter. It relied too much on silly ideas for Blofeld’s character rather than sticking with the intimidating characteristics the leader of SPECTRE was known for.
Just as bad was main Bond girl Tiffany Case, as played by Jill St. John. Case starts out a smart Bond girl, capable of handling herself, but by the end of the film she devolves into an idiot fretting about useless things. Her role in the third act of the film is particularly frustrating as she messes up Bond’s plan more than once whenever she tries to help. It’s a shame after St. John started fairly strong in the role and even more so after Diana Rigg’s Tracy in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Unfortunately Tiffany Case is one of the worst Bond girls in the whole franchise.
The film had plenty of other campy elements as well that just didn’t quite work, such as assassins Mr. Kidd and Mr. Wint (the franchise’s first gay characters, though not explicitly stated) who were too silly with their constant puns and witticisms. Equally silly was Jimmy Dean in his role as the Howard Hughes-like Willard Whyte or the female duo Bambi and Thumper. The overall plot of Diamonds Are Forever was a bit slapstick too, using diamonds as the main tool for Blofeld’s space laser. It sounds more like something viewers would see in an Austin Powers movie rather than James Bond. The only real outstanding piece of this film was the locations as much of the film was actually shot in Las Vegas, utilizing many of the casinos and hotels along the Vegas strip.
As entertaining as some bits are, overall Diamonds Are Forever is a lackluster Bond film, especially considering its Connery’s and SPECTRE’s last. This is particularly upsetting when its considered that Guy Hamilton, director of Goldfinger and arguably the best Bond film, directed Diamonds. Though Connery provides more energy to the role, he’s much too campy along with nearly everything else in the film, making a noticeable difference from the earlier ones. This marks the starting point in Bond’s era where he and the films become more lighthearted in tone, ignoring the darker elements of the character and source material for a time.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Ricky Church
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=C_zu6XuI_g4
Originally published October 9, 2015. Updated April 14, 2018.
