Diamonds Are Forever (1971)

Sean Connery Returns....
Sean Connery put on his tuxedo again as James Bond, after a one film hiatus, in 1971's "Diamonds Are Forever", which confirmed the long term trend of the franchise toward tougue-in-check humor and over-the-top action sequences.

The movie opens with a nice action sequence as Bond ruthlessly hunts down and seemingly kills his old SPECTRE nemesis Blofeld. The movie proper concerns a plot by SPECTRE to steal diamonds for an unknown but diabolical purpose. Bond's efforts to insinuate himself inside the plot involve the cooperation of smuggler Tiffany Case (a fine performance by Jill St. John). The action shifts from Europe to Las Vegas and finally to an offshore oil rig for a spectacular climax as Bond races to save the world from a high capacity laser built by Blofeld (in a nicely urbane performance by Charles Gray). In an final sequence, Bond confronts Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd, two pesky and offbeat assassins who have trailed him throughout the movie.

"Diamonds Are Forever" moves briskly enough to create a suspensful storyline punctuated with witty one-liners delivered with deadpan timing by Bond. Connerly retired from the role after this movie, turning it over to Roger Moore, who tended to emphasize humor over menace in his characterization of Bond.

Sean Connery forever.
As Connery's Bond movies progress they became less a spy movie and more a special effects and gadgets extravaganza. I still think this is a decent movie, but probably just because Sean is my favorite Bond and I've never seen a Bond movie I didn't like, but this is not one of my favorites. Still it has some very interesting characters and it lets us know that Bond is not infallible, and though clever and fierce he mostly gets by on luck and determination in this film.

One thing that is great is seeing Vegas back in the day. Wow has it changed. I'm glad Connery decided to make another and this is his last official Bond movie (though of course he came back for one more with different producers). Still even the worst Sean Connery Bond movie is better than a lot of other films out there.

DIAMONDS ARE FOR BASEBALL
Connery returns as agent 007 in this convoluted finale to his James Bond career in 1971. Matt Damon/Jason Bourne he ain't, there's a distinct carelessness to his work, which often allows others to master him.albeit not for long. And he's constantly putting himself and his girlfriends in jeopardy of death, something Damon avoids like the plague. In this film, it's practically all sight over substance. Still, scenes of Bond's lab breakout,the final major scene at an oil rig, and especially a wild chase scene through Las Vegas more than holds one's attention. The beautiful St.John does some impresssive work here as well, when she can fathom what's really going on around her, at a breakneck pace.What we have here finally is a fond farewell to Connery,perhaps a little rusty, yet leaving this reviewer with fond memories of 1963 adolescence.