Diamonds Are Forever (1971)

This is my favorite from the series, if only because it’s the one I watched the most as a kid. Don’t ask me why.

One thing I noticed in my recent watch through is how uncharacteristically American it is. I think he pops of to a few exotic locales before the opening credits, then we spend like 20 min in Amsterdam, but the rest is all USA. And mostly in Las Begas, a hyper American city if there ever was one.

You know, i think of bond at a casino in monte carlo, surrounded by beautifully exotic european woman, not sipping on his free long island, and ogling a pair of breast implants on the strip.

Speaking of begas. The film came out in ‘71. Same year as HST’s acid jaunt. Wonder if they crossed paths.

I’m often thinking about good places to end the series, and this coulda been a good one. Good to cap it off with Connery retiring from the role. Still leaves us with the odd non-connery “majesty’s secret service” which also would have been a good place to end it because bond’s wife dies, etc

“You only live twice” may have also been a good ending, because we get to see blofelt’s face. And it can be explained that he died at the end. But it makes me think diamonds is the better ending, because bond finally kills blofelt for sure. Maybe it could be twice and the diamonds without her majesty’s.

Or maybe they shoulda just stopped with thunderball. There is a year between thunderball and twice, and before that all bond movies came out on a yearly basis.

It’s the one i watched the most as a kid, but not my first. My first was lisvence to kill, which in hindsight doesn’t seem like much of a bond film. Too much action. They were trying to update bond for the action 80’s, i get it. I remember being disappointed when i finally saw the older bond films, as they’re comparatively slow paced.

One of the few I've never bothered revisiting.