Diamonds Are Forever: Review By slysnide

Praise the casting gods! We'll finally be allowed to wrap up SPECTRE the way it was meant to be wrapped up: By Sean Connery! With the poorly received performance of George Lazenby contributing against him, and his intentions to depart the franchise made official when filming the sixth outing, United Artists knew what had to be done. Get Sean Connery back pronto! However, the two producers Broccoli & Saltzman first tried to get future American Ambassador to Mexico John Gavin for the role, with the popular Adam West even getting an offer. Brit Michael Gambon declined the role telling Broccoli that he was "in terrible shape." But when the producers got Gavin underway as the new Bond, United Artists' Chief David Picker was displeased and agreed to pay Gavin's full fee to get him to go away, while enticing Connery with whichever salary he desired, as to Picker, money was no object. And so, Connery requested $2,900,000 (fifteen million dollars in 2011) and for United Artists to finance two of his future film projects. The deal was made with no quarrels, and the first of Connery's two films was "The Offence" (1972) directed by Connery's friend Sidney Lumet, but the second project was to be "Macbeth," but Polanski's version was already in production and the project was cancelled. Instead, Connery founded a fund for Scottish Artists to apply for funds so they didn't have to leave the country for employment. Needless to say, these steep demands for the time demonstrated Connery's necessity to the franchise, and Connery's own fears of being typecast if he returned to the role.

Believing that "Goldfinger" (1964) was their most successful and well received Bond film, the producers turned to its director Guy Hamilton for this film, and he accepted. Though the job was first offered to Peter R. Hunt, but his request for the project to be delayed till he finished another film he was tied up in was rejected. Veteran Bond screenwriter Richard Maibaum returned to the franchise, though with old enemies to deal with. The first enemy was ego. The producers so much believed that recreating "Goldfinger" was essential, and that they couldn't go wrong with this idea, that they wanted to incorporate the non-existent twin brother of Auric Goldfinger into the plot in an attempt to seek revenge against Bond. Although that element fortunately was dropped when Broccoli had a dream that Howard Hughes was replaced by an imposter. How this factors into not going with the idea is beyond me, but thankfully he had that dream. The novel itself was the fourth by Ian Fleming, and was far less outlandish or campy than the final film was, as it involved Bond trying to shut down a mob diamond smuggling ring from Sierra Leone to Las Vegas. It was very realistic and real world based, as Sierra Leone would continue to be a hotbed for conflict diamond trade for decades to come. However, Connery & Classic Bond would alleviate any worries about the 'enhancements' to the script. To do this, Maibaum's script was rewritten by newcomer Tom Mankiewicz, whom included the henchmen from the novel, but threw out the main villains as the producers saw a chance to frame a fitting end to the SPECTRE saga. The other enemy to deal with was Kevin McClory who was still seeking from Fleming's estate the full credit for the creation of SPECTRE, which would grant him film rights to SPECTRE related plots. Fortunately, McClory wouldn't take legal action seeking that credit during the production of the film.

Once again, the casting gods would not shine brightly on Ernst Stavro Blofeld. It was once again decided to recast the role. This time they chose Charles Gray, whom previously played an ally to Bond in "You Only Live Twice" (1967), and would go on to achieve wider fame as the Narrator in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" (1975). He wasn't creepy like Pleasance, nor elegant like Savalas; he was just loud and somewhat obnoxious. Sometimes it was like he was reading the lines in a booming voice rather than acting along with them. In regards to continuity, the character doesn't jive well as his performance was too different from Pleasance's, and the events of "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (1969) apparently aren't referenced or even regarded as cannon in the Connery Era. So in short, they should've looked harder for a replacement if they couldn't get Pleasance or Savalas to reprise the role.

Kept from the novel were the two gay & sadistic assassins Mr. Wint (Bruce Glover) and Mr. Kidd (Putter). Fleming didn't play up their flamboyancy as much as Mankiewicz did in the script, though the creepy sadism is retained as they find overly elaborate ways to axe their enemies, which would include James Bond on two separate attempts. Though the flamboyancy is clearly played up for laughs here, and it wasn't some anti-gay thing as the seventies would see more openly gay citizens, which could prompt some excessive critics to think the filmmakers purposely sought some agenda. You'd be surprised what some idiots out there choose to believe without reason. But anyhow, Glover & Smith portrayed the characters in a very memorable way. Their mannerisms in contrast to the sadistic things they do is just hilarious, and they're chronologically the second most colorful henchmen in the saga. Second to Oddjob of course.

To play up the camp aspect, other characters included Bambi & Thumper, who use their gymnastic skills against an overconfident Bond in what has become a very memorable sequence in the Connery Era. And lets not forget Bond's fairweather Vegas girlfriend Plenty O'Toole, portrayed by Lana Wood who nearly died during filming. The lead Bond girl this time however is diamond smuggler Tiffany Case (Jill Saint John). Whether the pun was intended is--yeah it was probably intended. She's very unique among the Bond women, as she's a rogue rather than an innocent or villain. She likes to ditch Bond when she can for her own advantage, as making a profit off conflict diamonds is more interesting than handing them over to a misogynist brit who claims to be a secret agent cause he's got a Walther PPK and a Universal Exports card. Not as cool as P*ssy Galore, but better than all the others.

In his seventh outing, MI6 secret agent 007 James Bond (Sean Connery) goes undercover as a diamond smuggler to uncover an international smuggling ring, only to come across his nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Charles Gray) who happens to be at the center of the conflict. Along the way Bond must avoid two sadistic assassins (Bruce Glover/Putter Smith), and outwit a clever diamond smuggler (Jill Saint John) just to keep up with the case. The story mostly takes place in Las Vegas, though not the quieter, more reserved Vegas that Bugsy Segal first began decades earlier which would've fit the image of James Bond to perfection. But real world titans make appearances under new names in a showcase of Vegas' secrets, a la entrepreneur Willard Whyte (Jimmy Dean).

Production began in Las Vegas on 5 April 1971, and wrapped there on 13 August 1971 with a vast majority of the film being shot on location. LAX, Universal City Studios, and eight Vegas Hotels served as the on location shoots. Pinewood stood in for certain interiors like a crematorium. White's desert lab facility where Bond acquires an ATV & Moon Buggy to make good an escape in one of the more unique chase sequences was shot at a John-Manvile gypsum plant outside Vegas, while the home of Krik Douglas and the Elrod House stood in for the homes of Tiffany Case & Willard Whyte respectively. Thanks to the neon lights that are the Vegas strip, virtually no additional lighting was required for night shoots. And because the owner of 'Circus Circus' was a Bond fan, he allowed his casino to be used and even made a cameo. Connery barely got any sleep on the shoot as he'd be going to all the shows, casinos, and various roadside attractions Vegas had to offer, as well as playing golf in the daytime. He even delayed a scene while he collected his slot machine winnings.

As for the chase sequences, a deal was made with Ford to use their vehicles due to the shear number required. Ford's only request was that Connery would drive the '71 Mustang Mach 1 which was used as Tiffany's car. The filmmakers of course felt the need to soup up the moon buggy as it didn't appear outrageous enough for producers, so a rear engine Corvair chassis stood in for the superstructure at the advice of custom car fabricator Dean Jeffries who made it capable of highway speeds. Though the fiberglass tires needed replacing due to damages caused by the coarse desert soil. And the greatest assistant to all of these Vegas sequences involving high speed chases on the Vegas Strip were made possible by a friend Cubby met when he first came out to Los Angeles from New York to stay with his cousin Pat who was probably a mobster. Cubby wasn't interested, but befriended Cary Grant and applied for a job at Twentieth Century Fox's office. And one night when waiting around for Pat at a bar, a man came up to the barstool beside him and they were fiddling with coin tricks. After small talk, Cubby introduced himself, to which the stranger replied: "Hello. I'm Howard Hughes." The eccentric billionaire loved Bond, and was among the first to receive prints of the films in his casino penthouse for his viewing pleasure. When news came that Bond was coming to Vegas, Hughes saw to it that they had no trouble securing streets along the strip for late night shooting of car chases under the ocean of neon lights.

The major oil rig action sequence was shot at a real oil rig in Oceanside, California. And when a major accident involving cameras not rolling in an intense explosive chain of dominoes aboard the rig occurred, Mankiewicz was surprised at director Guy Hamilton's calmness about the whole thing. When the apologies from the pyrotechnic team rolled in, Guy just calmly said: "I'll handle it." Despite the expense of rerigging the explosives and resetting the whole scene, plus the amount of time to clean up of the effects, Guy just stayed calm. Clearly it was one of the more pristine examples of a professional at work. Don't panic when it hits the fan. Just stay calm.

John Barry would return to the franchise for the sixth time to compose music for the film, and he recruited Shirley Bassey to sing the title song after her rousing success with "Goldfinger." However, Harry Saltzman was in strong opposition to the song due to the sexual innuendo, but Cubby pressed the issue enough for her version of the song to stay in the final film. As for the soundtrack, the theme music is still there, but a lot of tune ups were done to match the whimsical Vegas atmosphere. It was different for a Bond film, but still good.

When released, the film made $116,000,000 at the worldwide box office, but received some criticism for the campy elements, and the lack of a classy grounded story akin to Connery's better Bond films. I somewhat agree with this opinion, but I vastly enjoyed it more than they did. It was more american that's for sure, but didn't feel like "James Bond Goes To Vegas." The plot was still SPECTRE oriented and conclusively ended the Blofeld Saga, but not in a preferable way. It did indeed seem like a bizarre climax as opposed to the sword duel Fleming wrote in his novelization of "You Only Live Twice" where Bond ended up strangling Blofeld after their duel. Something along those lines would've been great, as it would've been more personal given the long lasting reputation of Blofeld, and his impact on Bond's missions. However, this didn't detract from the overall viewing pleasure to me. It was back to Bond, with Q (Desmond Llewelyn) once again showcasing his gadgets and hitting the one armed bandits too. Okay, so the fact that such a scene is there may seem like "James Bond Goes To Vegas," but trust me, it isn't THAT campy.

The only certainty besides the end of the SPECTRE saga--which was handled rather haphazardly given only Blofeld was played up here--to come out of this film was that Connery swore off the series for good. But of course, after returning for this film, then you should learn to never say never again Mister Connery...for I think you'll be back before you knew you left.