Despite George Lazenby's failure to appeal to the movie-goers in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, producer Albert R. Broccoli decided to stick with him for two more Bond films. However, Lazenby felt that his Bond film did not exceed his own expectations and thought that the film's flop would tarnish his career. Given this, he opted to turn in his Licence to Kill and a new 007 had to be found. Broccoli and Saltzman looked at many new candidates such as Liam Neeson, Burt Reynolds (I'm still shaking that one off), Timothy Dalton, and Roger Moore. Moore was unable to take the part due to his commitment to his new TV series The Persuaders, and Timothy Dalton turned down the role because he felt he was too young to play 007. At first, Broccoli gave the role to an American named John Anderson but later was unhappy with this decision. By now, the producers were simply desperate to get somebody good. Therefore, they approached Sean Connery and offered him the most lucrative film contract ever received by an actor. So the stage was set: Sean Connery will return.

Diamonds are forever picks up where On Her Majesty's Secret Service left off. We last saw Bond as he was covering Tracy after she had been shot by Blofeld. Well, now Bond is pissed and he begins the film by looking for Blofeld. He first hurls a guy through a paper glass panel. We hear Connery as he says, "Where is he? I shan't ask you politely next time." When Bond catches up with Blofeld, he beats up a couple of his henchmen and throws Blofeld into a hot, bubbling pool of plaster. Blofeld is supposedly dead and we are interrupted by the credits sequence, which is done very well. Diamonds are Forever's credits and title song are very catchy and well-recieved.

Somebody has been smuggling diamonds out of the diamond mines in South Africa at an alarming rate. A specialist named Sir Donald briefs Bond and "M" on the situation and James is sent to Amsterdam posing as a diamond smuggler named Peter Franks. He is to meet with the smuggler's contact, Tiffany Case, and infiltrate the operation and stop it. When he meets Tiffany, she is suspicious and takes his fingerprints. She has a copy of the real Peter Franks's fingerprints and compares them with those she took of 007. Miraculously for the viewer, the fingerprints match! By now the viewer is thinking, "How the heck did he do that!?" Enter Q. Q supplied 007 with a set of latex fingerprints of the real Peter Franks. This is a great gadget, I thought. Tiffany lets Bond in on the smuggling plan and Bond agrees. Unknown to Bond, however, the real Peter Franks has escaped capture and is intending to proceed with his assignment. Bond catches him and proceeds to beat him like a dog. They encounter in Tiffany's apartment elevator where they engage in a bouting brawl. Bond gets the best of him by spraying fire-retardant foam in his face, then knocking him down a loft. I really loved this scene.

Tiffany has the diamonds in her possession and gives them to 007 to smuggle into Los Angeles. Bond finds Peter Franks useful and hides them into his alimentary canal. When Bond arrives at LAX, he meets Felix Leiter, who asks, "I know the diamonds are in the body, but where?" Bond delivers a great one-liner here by replying, "Alimentary, my dear Watson." Now, I like the locations in this film. South Africa was a great site, as was Amsterdam, but I must admit that I like Las Vegas the finest. As Bond journey's through Vegas with Tiffany, we get to see some of the city's prime spots that we've all been to. In fact, this past summer I had the privilege to stand on the street where Connery drove his 1971 Ford Mustang Fastback as Bond was eluding the authorities. It was an awesome feeling. Also, I have been trying to figure out which of the Las Vegas hotels was the one where the Whyte House was located. In case you are wondering, it is currently the Las Vegas Hilton. The Mustang chase through downtown Las Vegas is one of the best parts of the movie. I love watching this as Bond thoroughly out-drives the cops in every way imagineable. The climax has Bond driving down a dead end alley. The cop behind him claims, "I've got you now." But James has other plans. He takes the Mustang through the narrow alley on its two side wheels. The cop tries to duplicate this maneuver but fails miserably. If you look closely in this scene, there is a faulty. Bond enters the narrow alley on the car's two right wheels, but when he exits out onto the other side, the car is on its two left wheels! Oops!

By now, in addition to finding the mastermind behind the diamonds smuggling operation, James Bond is also looking for a missing billionaire named Willard Whyte. Whyte's character was based on the real life Howard Hughes, according to Albert R. Broccoli. Whyte, played by Jimmy Dean, has been kidnapped by Blofeld and is incarcerated in a suburban Las Vegas neighborhood estate. James finds out where he is being held and rescues him. But not before being manhandled by Bambi and Thumper, Whyte's two muscular beauties.

With the aide of Willard Whyte, James and Tiffany (now working for the good guys) are onto Blofeld's trail. However, Tiffany becomes a bit too nosy and is captured by Blofeld as he is exiting the Whyte House casino. This scene is funny as we see Q testing his new casino slot machine decoder ring. He simply moves along every slot machine, pulling the levers and winning the jackpot on every one of them! He tells Tiffany, "...been aching to give it a try." Bond tracks Blofeld to an oil rig in the middle of the Pacific Ocean near Baja, California. He now knows that Blofeld is using those smuggled diamonds to build a space laser capable of destroying the world. Blofeld is provoking nuclear explosions with the satellite in many places around the world like Red China, North Dakota, and Russia. His plan is to demand a ransom from each of these countries. I liked Blofeld's remark to Bond as he is deciding upon a new site to destroy: "If we blew up Kansas the world may not hear of it for years." That was very funny to me.

As usual, Bond destroys the operation and proceeds to destroy the oil rig as well. However, Blofeld somehow manages to escape before the whole thing goes up. Bond and Tiffany embark on a ship cruise on their way back to London. But the action is not over because Blofeld's two homosexual hechmen, Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd are aboard the ship plotting to kill 007. I have yet to mention these two characters in the film review. They are two men who are inserted here and there throughout the movie to do some of Blofeld's dirtywork. I really, really liked these characters. They just had something about them that is very likeable. They are just one of the many features which make Diamonds are Forever so good. Anyway, the two pose as waiters to get the drop on Bond and Tiffany in their cabin. Bond's suspicion is aroused when he smells Mr. Wint's after shave which he recognizes from earlier in the film. Here comes an extremely weak attempt by the two men to eliminate James Bond. Mr. Kidd is set afire by Tiffany and Mr. Kidd goes out with a bang: a bomb tied between his legs, courtesy of James Bond. After he is sent flying overboard, he explodes and James says, "He certainly went with his tail between his legs."

I liked every aspect of Diamonds are Forever and think it is by far Sean Connery's best performance as James Bond. Many people will tell you that he looks way too old in this film. If you want to see old, simply pop Never Say Never Again in your VCR. You see that guy playing 007? That is old! And those same people have the nerve to claim that Never Say Never Again is a better film. Shame on them. Diamonds are Forever has an aura about it that if simply great. Perhaps it is because the Bond series is entering its greatest decade of all: the Seventies. Bond's Mustang Fastback is one of the best cars of the series; Tiffany Case was a fantastic Bond girl; the locations are among the best of the series; the plot was solid; and Connery had his best performance to date. Yep, I think it is safe to say that Diamonds are Forever will remain atop of my Bond film list for quite some time.

Overall Rating: A

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