One of the most frequently quoted statistics concerning 'Diamonds Are Forever' is that it was outperformed in the U.K. in 1971 by the feature film version of 'On The Buses'. This is in fact untrue. 'Forever' premiered in London on 30 December; it did not go on general release until the following day when it went on to outperform every other film in Britain in 1972. But I digress; the seventh 007 epic saw a brief return to the role for Sean Connery, who'd vacated Bond's shoes for 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' ( 1969 ), now ( rightly ) regarded as one of the all-time great Bond films, but at the time it was deemed to have been a failure. David Picker, head of United Artists, lured the recalcitrant actor back with the offer of a huge pay cheque and the promise of funding for three movies of his choice. The new decade saw a change in style for the Bond movies. The 60's ones were tongue-in-cheek but mock-serious. The only one to adopt a lighter tone was 'Goldfinger' ( 1964 ). It was to recapture that tone that producers Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman brought back director Guy Hamilton. This is no more apparent than in the scene in Slumber's Funeral Parlour - 'Morton Slumber' ( the late David Bauer ) could have wandered out of an episode of 'The Avengers'. The Fleming novel had Bond going undercover ( impersonating one 'Peter Franks', whom British Intelligence have captured ) to infiltrate a gang of diamond smugglers, one of whom is the beautiful 'Tiffany Case'. Much action is centred around Las Vegas. Tom Mankiewicz and Richard Maibaum's script retained the early part of the novel, but then deviated from it with 'Ernst Stavro Blofeld' ( Charles Gray ) yet again planning to hold the world to ransom, this time with a laser-satellite ( full of diamonds ) orbiting the Earth.
Connery gives one of his best performances as Bond, certainly better than the one he gave in 'You Only Live Twice' in which he was virtually on auto-pilot throughout. No wonder audiences cheered when he once again said that famous line " My name is Bond...James Bond!". Charles Gray makes for an elegantly caddish 'Blofeld', delivering wry quips through cigarette smoke like an evil Noel Coward. Before anyone says 'Blofeld should not be British!', look at it this way - would not a man on the run from the intelligence services try to throw them off the scent in some imaginative way? Pretending to be another nationality makes perfect sense. The pre-credits sequence has Bond hunting the world for Blofeld ( presumably to get revenge for wife Tracy's death, its never made clear ). In South America, he finds him experimenting with clones. After a fight, Blofeld is sent hurtling face-first into a mud pool, but of course, it isn't really him. Maurice Binder's title sequence kicks in to the welcome return of Shirley Bassey's vocals.
'Forever' features Bond's first gay characters ( not counting 'Rosa Klebb' ) in the shape of killers 'Mr.Kidd' ( Putter Smith ) and 'Mr.Wint' ( Bruce Glover ), while 'Tiffany' ( the stunning Jill St.John ) is far more brash than previous Bond girls. Lana Wood shines briefly as the ill-fated 'Plenty O'Toole'. Those who dismiss the Roger Moore era for its wacky humour need to realise that the trend towards self parody in fact began here. The action sequences are a mixed bag; the fight in the lift between Bond and Peter Franks ( Joe Robinson ) is one of the very best to grace a 007 film, ditto the bruising encounter with 'Bambi' ( Lola Larson ) and 'Thumper' ( Trina Parks ), the moon buggy chase and Les Vegas car chase stunning ( remember Bond's car being driven on two wheels? ), but best of all is the scene where Bond ascends the Whyte House to break into reclusive millionaire Willard Whyte ( Jimmy Dean )'s sumptuous apartment. Some gorgeous sets by Ken Adam here. John Barry's score is one of his best ( my favourite track is '007 & Counting', heard as Blofeld's satellite goes about the globe causing havoc ). On the down side, the final helicopter assault on Blofeld's oil rig headquarters is flat and uninspired, like something out of a made-for-television film.
'Forever' is far from being classic Bond, but manages to be watchable and has some wonderful moments; for instance, when 'Felix Leiter' ( Normann Burton ) asks Bond where on Franks' corpse the diamonds have been hidden, he gets the reply: "Alimentary, Dr.Leiter!". It silenced critics who had claimed that Bond was washed-up and set the standard for the Moore 007 movies to follow. Connery would play the role only one more time, in 1983's 'Never Say Never Again'.
Connery gives one of his best performances as Bond, certainly better than the one he gave in 'You Only Live Twice' in which he was virtually on auto-pilot throughout. No wonder audiences cheered when he once again said that famous line " My name is Bond...James Bond!". Charles Gray makes for an elegantly caddish 'Blofeld', delivering wry quips through cigarette smoke like an evil Noel Coward. Before anyone says 'Blofeld should not be British!', look at it this way - would not a man on the run from the intelligence services try to throw them off the scent in some imaginative way? Pretending to be another nationality makes perfect sense. The pre-credits sequence has Bond hunting the world for Blofeld ( presumably to get revenge for wife Tracy's death, its never made clear ). In South America, he finds him experimenting with clones. After a fight, Blofeld is sent hurtling face-first into a mud pool, but of course, it isn't really him. Maurice Binder's title sequence kicks in to the welcome return of Shirley Bassey's vocals.
'Forever' features Bond's first gay characters ( not counting 'Rosa Klebb' ) in the shape of killers 'Mr.Kidd' ( Putter Smith ) and 'Mr.Wint' ( Bruce Glover ), while 'Tiffany' ( the stunning Jill St.John ) is far more brash than previous Bond girls. Lana Wood shines briefly as the ill-fated 'Plenty O'Toole'. Those who dismiss the Roger Moore era for its wacky humour need to realise that the trend towards self parody in fact began here. The action sequences are a mixed bag; the fight in the lift between Bond and Peter Franks ( Joe Robinson ) is one of the very best to grace a 007 film, ditto the bruising encounter with 'Bambi' ( Lola Larson ) and 'Thumper' ( Trina Parks ), the moon buggy chase and Les Vegas car chase stunning ( remember Bond's car being driven on two wheels? ), but best of all is the scene where Bond ascends the Whyte House to break into reclusive millionaire Willard Whyte ( Jimmy Dean )'s sumptuous apartment. Some gorgeous sets by Ken Adam here. John Barry's score is one of his best ( my favourite track is '007 & Counting', heard as Blofeld's satellite goes about the globe causing havoc ). On the down side, the final helicopter assault on Blofeld's oil rig headquarters is flat and uninspired, like something out of a made-for-television film.
'Forever' is far from being classic Bond, but manages to be watchable and has some wonderful moments; for instance, when 'Felix Leiter' ( Normann Burton ) asks Bond where on Franks' corpse the diamonds have been hidden, he gets the reply: "Alimentary, Dr.Leiter!". It silenced critics who had claimed that Bond was washed-up and set the standard for the Moore 007 movies to follow. Connery would play the role only one more time, in 1983's 'Never Say Never Again'.