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CBn Reviews Diamonds Are Forever
Forum members review the seventh James Bond film

I see DAF being in the TMWTGG category. a lighter bond film.

DAF is just a bad movie after the great OHMSS. It also has the worst Felix Leither ever.

I'd say The Living Daylights's Felix Leiter might just barely have him beat for the worst though.

DAF was actually one of my favorite Connery Bond movies next to FRWL and GF. I thought this was a solid outing for Sean to end his "official" Bond career with. I also liked the Felix in this movie, I thought he was fine.

Considered as a separate 007 film as opposed to a follow-up to the particularly excellent, OHMSS, DAF is one of my favourites due to the relaxed 'feel' engendered by witty dialogue and good characterisations.

Connery definitely brought something new to his portrayal of Bond in DAF - as if he was playing Bond for the first time as he wished to. Connery looks comfortable, appearing to actually enjoy the character.

Charles Gray is terrific as Blofeld, different of course from the previous incarnations but played in much less of a single-dimensioned aspect. In DAF, Blofeld has wit, charm and menace.

Tiffany Case is a standout Bond 'girl'. Unlike the majority of Bond girls who all claim their characters were not the, "oh, James..." type, Jill St John's character simply didn't take any manure from 007. And unlike the patronising, sterotypical characterisations of the 'modern' 007 heroine, where the girl merely behaves like a man ('seriously' kicking buttock with near-obligatory, 'You go, girl' cries from the audience), Tiffany conveyed her 100% independence of the male species without making a single compromise to her femininity. She's a woman to be respected, to be fancied and to be not taken for granted. Even at the end of the film, it was clear that Tiffany cared less about Bond than about getting the diamonds out of space.

Story? Right then, moving on...

Yeah, no Bond film is perfect (even OHMSS) but Diamonds Are Forever is among the best of the bunch.

Finally I find someone with the same opinion about Tiffany Case. Diamonds Are Forever is as almost everyone knows is my favorite Bond film and IMO nailed every aspect.The action,theme,score,girl,villian,Bond performance etc..... and some of the best diologue and the best bond/bond girl chemistry.

DAF is in many ways a very impressive James Bond film with larger than life characters, outrageous plot, sharp dialog, and some sensational set pieces. I like it better than any of the Pierce Brosnan films, but I agree with some of the criticism that it was not an appropriate follow up to the far more serious ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE. If not for the continuety provided by Bernard Lee, the two films would not be recognizable as from the same film series. It would appear that Broccoli and Salzman wanted audiences to forget that the previous film with its disappointing box office receipts had ever happened, and to some extent they succeeded. The film begins in Japan as if taking up where YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE ends and Tracy is not even so much as aluded to in the script. I think Cubby and Harry, perceptive veterans of a changing industry as they were, perceived that the 1960s Bond would be out of place in the 70s and a new Bond persona and style would have to be created for the times. They effectively reinvented the franchise as Cubby would do again six years later with THE SPY WHO LOVED ME and 24 years later with GOLDENEYE.

It is ironic, however, that as all of the campy playboy spies of the 1960s, notably Flint and Matt Helm, faded away, James Bond would be transformed in the 1970s into a similar incarnation. One can easily imagine Dean Martin in all of Connery's scenes in DAF with Bernard Lee replaced by James Gregory and Lois Maxwell by Beverly Adams. Sean Connery was no longer Ian Fleming's Bond, but the iconic Bond of incomparable charm, impeccable taste and superman abilities that would become the image the general public would accept as James Bond.

I am probably the sole person who regrets to this day that John Gavin did not get the chance to play Bond in DAF. Gavin was a highly underrated actor who would have brought some real energy to the film that was missing in Connery's relaxed performance. Unlike Lazenby, Gavin was a film veteran who really could act and had the looks and physique to match. I do not believe that the film would have been quite so campy with Gavin as light comedy was not his forte. Although an American, John Gavin could have passed with only slight suspension of disbelief as a British spy much as Gregory Peck played Captain Horatio Hornblower and Marlon Brando and Clark Gable played Fletcher Christian.

Doubtless, it was Connery's strong presence as Bond that made DAF such a major hit at the box office, and he is quite effective in many scenes. There is much to like about DAF and the flaws, while unnecessary and glaring, are not enough to ruin the glossy finish on this EON epic. It was exactly what was needed for the time it was made and for all its flaws, DAF ensured that the James bond franchise would contine for many more decades. I only hope that CASINO ROYALE in 2006 succeeds as well.

Read my and others views on this film on my 'O O 7' Thread. This film is probably my fav of the series. The 'feel good' - 'holiday' mood of it is smashing. The script is perfect and diverting and Diamonds looks gorgeous. We needed this after the mistake of OHMSS.

How so? Are each of the pages trimmed with delicate french lace and the words set in gold inlay or something?

Error

This post has been edited by ACE: 10 September 2005 - 03:04

OLD PRO'S GRACE
A "Diamonds Are Forever" Opinion by ACE

The Jewel
I think Sean Connery gives a hugely satisfying performance - I agree totally with Manckiewicz's view of an aging Connery having an "old pro's grace". It's far from a perfect Bond performance but at least he seems interested in what he's doing (unlike in YOLT and parts of TB). Only Bond would have the erotic panache to choke a girl with her own bikini! The Sir Donald Munger scene may explain, injokingly why - Bond's response as to whether his holiday has been relaxing: “Hardly relaxing but most satisfying”. Connery, throughout, moves so well – note his jaunty walk with M after the titles, see the scene when he enters Tiffany's hotel room in Vegas, opening the door with outstretched leg, he sniffs the air! The complete sensualist.

The Case
Jill St John is a feisty, foxily feline Tiffany Case, invoking the chutzpah of the character from the novel. The fact St John is slightly more mature and experienced than the usual ingénue and that she was rumoured to have off screen chemistry with Connery, (whose marriage was falling apart at the time) obviously helps the performance. The scene where Bond meets her in Amsterdam is very well-written. I love the way they fence with each other both sexually and professionally. The "collars and cuffs" line is my favourite in any Bond movie! She does go downhill but she is fun.

The Idea
Most of the underrated novel was junked depriving us of some excellent, still unfilmed scenes/characers (the execution of Tingaling Bell, the Bond-Leiter buddy relationship, the downing of the helicopter, the Wild West setting, lovely names and characters - Seraffino Spang, Ernie Cureo).

The Design
However, the film story (with the Howard Hughes is Willard Whyte subplot) is very Bondian although it does not stand up to scrutiny. It is a good thing they dumped the unimaginative Goldfinger-twin- brother-as-villain-out-for-revenge idea. The film is filled with quirky, bizarre moments, studding the film with memorable eccentricity: the ironic South African smuggling overview, the plastic surgery doubles, the Vegas side show, the-Blofeld-complicit-in-faked-Moon-landing notion, the surreal balloon-walk-on-water. The dialogue is the wittiest, most deliciously enjoyable and quotable of any of the Bonds.

The Carats
There are many great moments: interview with M and Sir Donald Munger, Wint and Kidd (their comic, sinister malevolence is effective), Moneypenny scene, lift fight, Slumber Inc, Bond meets Blofeld, Willard Whyte, entrance to Whyte's desert hideaway, rogue satellite sequence (made potent with that beautiful, Bondian John Barry cue).

The Cut
Technically, the film looks wonderful - Ted Moore re-established a rich colour palette and captured Vegas in it's glittering glory. Amsterdam comes out fairy tale pretty too although South Africa does look like Nevada! Maurice Binder's wonderful titles (a favourite sequence of Spielberg's) are ticklish to watch! John Barry's easy, jazzy score with trickling piano is relaxed and in keeping with the Vegas vibe. The wonderful Bond Meets Bambi and Thumper cue is a thrilling synthesized Bond Theme counterpointed with the Diamonds Are Forever theme. Ken Adam lends gun-metal glamour to the proceedings less ostentatiously than he did in his personal Everest that was YOLT. The standout set is Whyte's billionaire engineer's penthouse (Whyte is Hughes, remember) although I love the poetic simplicity of the laser satellite. Disappointingly, the oil rig base did not get the full Ken Adam treatment. Whilst a good setting, it was wasted - these are cities on giant stilts in raging seas. Imagine what Ken Adam could have really done! The special effects are even worse than those of YOLT and are equally embarrassing.

The Flaws
IMO, there are two major problems with the film:

1) a misjudged interpretation of Blofeld by Charles Gray. Why did they have to change the actor? (Hunt apparently didn't like the way Pleasance walked, setting a precedent Hamilton was allowed to follow - that's what happens when three different directors direct three consecutive Bond films!). Gray's Blofeld is easily the least satisfying take despite his excellent dialogue. DAF emasculated what had become an iconic character.

2) The lift fight aside, the action sequences which are neither tight nor pacey. The chases (Moonbuggy and Mustang) are unexciting and boring. They initiated the puerile fascination with the pointless destruction of US (and Thai!) police automobiles! Bambi and Thumper - right idea, wrong...stunt co-ordinators! The dialogue prior to the cruise fight finale is more thrilling than the resultant action ("Mouton Rothschild is a claret" - brilliant!). The editing in these scenes may be part of the problem but the basic premises do not work.

The Theory
DAF also scores, intriguingly, as a satire of