Sean Connery's last go-round in the initial James Bond series is a quirky entry that I find one of the most enjoyable. It keeps all of the trappings and recurrent characters we had come to expect in a 007 film but adds a few novel twists which keep things from becoming stale. Connery's co-star and female lead this time is Jill St. John and forgive me while I drool on my keyboard a moment. The term 'drop dead gorgeous' must have been invented for her and maybe even specifically for this movie. Casual nudity in mainstream cinema was not yet commonplace, but some of Ms. St. John's 'costumes' come about as close as is possible. As Bond aptly puts it shortly after meeting her character, Tiffany Case, "that's a nice little nothing you're almost wearing." Bond has a number of great one-liners in 'Diamonds Are Forever,' and Connery delivers them in a breezy, laid-back performance. The diamonds in question are to be used on a satellite to focus a laser beam that will destroy nuclear weapons, allowing SPECTRE to blackmail various governments. Yeah, that old plot again. But it's just enough to hang a number of funny and exciting scenes on, starting in Holland and ending up in Las Vegas. Maybe the oddest aspect of 'Diamonds Are Forever' is the inclusion of two openly and sometimes outlandishly gay characters, Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd. They are operatives/assassins in the employ of SPECTRE and appear at crucial times throughout the film... always together. The plot sometimes veers off into extreme silliness (it's hard to recall a chase scene sillier than the one with Bond in the moon-buggy) and the special effects range from believable to incredibly cheesy (the shot of Chinese missiles being destroyed and a flaming Chinese soldier crossing the screen has to be seen to be believed) which, along with the above-mentioned aspects, seem to indicate the series was heading in a more comedic direction just as Connery was making his exit. Whether this was an improvement is debatable, but Connery was, and is, the definitive Bond and 'Diamonds Are Forever' stands as one of the best 007 films.
Review of Diamonds Are Forever
