[FILM] Diamonds Are Forever (1971)

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Meh...

After the relative box office disappointment of OHMSS (relative because it still made loads of money) United Artists payed through the nose to get Connery back.

And indeed he is once again a joy to behold, and unlike YOLT doesnt seem to be bored (for 1.25 million, I'm not surprised).

But despite Connery, this film never really worked for me. It's the start of the campy Bond films that would persist till well into the 80's with Roger Moore. And it's really not that interesting a film. The plot is quite complicated, but in many ways resembles Goldfinger in style and tone. Hardly surprising since Guy Hamilton is back in the directing chair.

There seems to have been a deliberate effort to play it safe with this film and lean on the elements that made Goldfinger a succes. But while that film had a lighter tone, it did have a lot of real suspense, and a fantastic villain. Something DAF lacks.

Charles Gray plays the last of the Blofelds and I suppose his performance is as good as that of Pleasance or Savalas. But again, he's a rather boring villain with not much of an interesting motivation. (the film doesnt even really specify how much ransom he wants this time). The film kills him of in the teaser, only to bring him back later. For reasons I've never understood. The plastic surgery double doesn't make any sense either.

Jill St. John plays the first American lead Bond girl. She's good looking, but sets a bad example. So far all the American Bond girls have been given rather annoying character traits. Very abrasive.

The henchman are Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd. Portayed as 2 gay assassins, like in the book. But unlike the book they are totally devoid of any menace and are essentially campy comic foils. They loom throughout much of the film like Red Grant in FRWL, but are really dull villains. Poorly acted as well.....

The film does look good. Unlike the next two films directed by Hamilton, this one was shot in 2.35 : 1 (LALD and TMWTGG would be shot in 1.66 : 1 for some reason...)

The stunts are as solid as ever. There's a good car chase and an impressive fight inside an Amsterdam elevator. The helicopter gunship attack is a tad underwhelming though.

John Barry does his 6th full Bond score, and while it's a perfectly fine and fun score, it doesnt hold a candle to his previous ones. The first autopilot Bond score. The song is good though.

I had not seen it for years, and tried to watch it with an open mind. But in the end I just wasnt all that interested in it. The plot is pretty bare bones and confusing at the same time. The mighty organization of SPECTRE seems at this point to have been reduced to a small band. (the name SPECTRE isnt actually mentioned if I recall correctly)

Also, the film takes mostly place around Las Vegas, which really isnt all that interesting.

Though part of it takes place in Amsterdam, which looks pretty much the same now as it did in 71. Ive stood on the famous "skinny bridge" with former MB member Hitch.

But even here there is a problem. Connery, passing himself of as Dutch uses the words "Guten abend" and "bitte" ......Which german for "Good evening" and "please"...not Dutch.

So just for that it loses half a star

** out of ****

[Jay 37,287]

Former member? You think he'll never return?

It does seem like social media sites, especially ones that can aggregate the news you are interested into a newsfeed like Facebook, seem to have replaced web forums for a lot of people....

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Hitch has not posted here for a few years now. He seems content to spew his Star trek quotes with me and Jerry Drax on Facebook.

[Jay 37,287]

A few years???

His last posts where only 9 months ago!

http://www.jwfan.com/forums/index.php?app=core&module=search&do=user_activity&search_app=forums&mid=83&sid=ea54d6aff9162d60dea6266adec05ed7&search_app_filters[forums][searchInKey]=&userMode=content

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Yes yes. Hitch has occasional bouts that he visits. But really, he hasnt been a serious contributor for years.

[Jay 37,287]

Agreed.

[King Mark 3,625]

In a few years everyone will ditch their Facebook and go back to the old style internet.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Sure KM

[BloodBoal 7,538]

This thread should be retitled: "O Hitch, Where Art Thou?"

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

This is one of my favourite Bond films. A terrific thriller-farce courtesy of the series's greatest scribe (bar Fleming) - Tom Mankeicicz. Dark, seedy, and hilarious.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

You must be joking!

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

This is one of my favourite Bonds.

"That'sh a nishe piesh of nothing you're almosht not wearing."

[King Mark 3,625]

I like this Bond film more than any post Moonraker one

[Ludwig 1,120]

John Barry does his 6th full Bond score, and while it's a perfectly fine and fun score, it doesnt hold a candle to his previous ones. The first autopilot Bond score. The song is good though.

It's not really fair to say it's an autopilot score. Barry was shackled by a couple of major changes the filmmakers first implemented in a Bond film with this particular installment. One is the heavy increase in the use of diegetic jazz music, which squeezed out what would surely have been a larger non-diegetic score. Nearly a third of the roughly one-hour of music in the film is this jazzy material.

Second, and more important, is something you already mentioned - the tendency toward camp and humour. The moon buggy chase is a perfect example. The filmmakers wanted a cue that was comical to play up the idea that the moon landing was a staged event. But Barry (rightly so, IMHO) wanted to score the scene in much the same style as previous Bond films in order to provide a strong contrast between a serious music and a farcical action, and thereby heighten the effectiveness of the "joke".

This tendency toward levity often appears at oddly forced moments, like when Bond takes control of Blofeld's escape pod and thrashes it around, to which we hear the "007 theme", a cue that seems to hit us over the head with the comedy and render the joke unfunny. I don't know if this was Barry's idea or not, but something tells me it was the result of being told to score something funny for the scene, just like the buggy chase. After all, you don't see this kind of too-obvious scoring in the previous Bond films.

BTW, the best cue in the film is the beautifully haunting "007 and Counting":

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

That is a good cue. Recalling the YOLT space march without actually copying it. The Wint and Kidd theme is also excellent.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,498]

One critic called "DAF" "nasty and manipulative". I would not disagree.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

True