Diamonds Are Forever

"One of nature's finest killers, Mr. Wint."

"One is never too old to learn from a master, Mr. Kidd."

After James Bond (Connery) kills Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Gray), the head of SPECTRE, he is given a new task: find out who is stockpiling diamonds.  He is sent undercover as smuggler Peter Franks, to recover the missing diamonds and shut down the operation.  He teams up with smuggler Tiffany Case (St. John) to move the diamonds.

After passing the diamonds along, each smuggler is murdered by Mr. Wint (Glover) and Mr. Kidd (Smith).  Bond and Tiffany end up Las Vegas at the mercy of reclusive businessman Willard Whyte (Dean).  Can Bond avoid the killers and save the world?


This is the seventh James Bond film (Dr. No, From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty's Secret Service), based on the character from Ian Fleming's novels.  This story is based on Fleming's novel Diamonds Are Forever, but the main villain and other details were changed.  The film, written by Richard Maibaum and Tom Mankiewicz, brings back Bond's nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld, this time played by Charles Gray.

Guy Hamilton returned as the director, he previously directed Goldfinger (he would later direct 2 more Bond films: Live and Let Die and The Man With the Golden Gun).  Sean Connery also returned for this film.  He left the franchise after You Only Live Twice and was replaced with George Lazenby, who declined to return to the franchise.  Connery received a sizeable salary for this film, which cut down on the special effects budget.  He left the franchise again after this film (he would play bond again in Never Say Never Again which was not produced by Eon films).  Connery maintains his suave persona, but also embraces the camp that would define the Bond of his successor, Roger Moore.

The villains come in pairs in this film.  Wint and Kidd are the most visible villains, but the film also throws out a set of female villains: Bambi (Lola Larson) and Thumper (Trina Parks).  The film also features a character that is based on Howard Hughes: Willard Whyte (Dean).  The character was created with Hughes' blessing.

Shirley Bassey performed the title song, "Diamonds Are Forever," making her the first artist (and to date the only artist) to perform more than one Bond theme song.

Not my favorite Bond film... but it's not terrible either.

Diamonds Are Forever (1971) 120 minutes
Director: Guy Hamilton
Starring: Sean Connery as James Bond
Jill St. John as Tiffany Case
Charles Gray as Ernst Stavro Blofeld
Lana Wood as Plenty O'Toole
Jimmy Dean as Willard Whyte
Bruce Cabot as Saxby
Bruce Glover as Mr. Wint
Putter Smith as Mr. Kidd
Norman Burton as Felix Leiter
Joseph Furst as Dr. Metz