James Bond Rewatch: 'Diamonds Are Forever'

Diamonds Are Forever has long been one of my favorite Bond movies. But, like many in the series, I hadn’t watched it in quite some time. I was curious how it would hold up for me. And while the quality wasn’t quite what I remembered it to be, it was still as fun as ever. And really, that’s mostly what I’m looking for out of these earlier entries.

Bond: Sean Connery (6th and final appearance, not including Never Say Never Again, which isn’t part of the official Eon Productions James Bond canon.)
M: Bernard Lee
Q: Desmond Llewelyn
Moneypenny: Lois Maxwell
Director: Guy Hamilton
Song: “Diamonds Are Forever” performed by Shirley Bassey

The Plot

Via IMDB

“A diamond smuggling investigation leads James Bond to Las Vegas, where he uncovers an evil plot involving a rich business tycoon.”

There’s nothing special about this plot. But it does get Bond to Vegas, which leads a lot of fun moments. The city itself is a naturally good back-drop, providing some great set pieces. I prefer the Bond movies where he gets to hit a variety of locations, but if we’re going to spend the majority of our time in one place, Vegas isn’t a bad choice, not at all.

The Girl

Jill St. John plays Tiffany Case, diamond smuggler turned Bond’s ally/lover. She actually has a fair amount of agency, she knows what she wants, and she holds onto that, even until the end. But she is played as such a ditz, lots of that is easily lost or missed throughout much of the movie. This scene, while funny, pretty much perfectly explains how the writers and director saw her character.

It’s too bad the writers went this route. It’s always better when there is a strong female character to play opposite Bond. Tiffany Case showed flashes that she could have been that character, but the writers took a hard left turn on that front.

The Henchmen

Ah, Mr. Kidd and Mr. Wint. These two are amazing. If you want evidence of what kind of mood Diamonds was going for, look no further than these two. They are so ridiculous, it’s almost too good to be true. I could go on, but these clips will do a better job than I ever could.

James Bond inspires…The Wolverine?

It’s a good scene so watch it all, but skip to about 2:40 if you must.

Car Chase

In all honesty, this is actually a fun and a pretty well put together scene…which is then ruined by the ridiculous “car drives on two side wheels” ending. Yes, it’s funny and plays into the flow of the rest of the film. But it would have been a nice touch to ease it back on at least one scene.

Bambi and Thumper

Lol, wut?

Score: A solid C movie, 66/100. It certainly has its faults, but the silliness and fun actually benefit it here, which helps bump it up to a perfectly average score. But it would rank higher if the score was based on how much I subjectively enjoy the movie.