Review of Diamonds Are Forever (1971) by Anthony J — 14 Jul 2013

The "Diamonds" script trades on British and American stereotypes to good effect. Bond survives the transition to the 1970s without abandoning his aristocratic bearing: he doubles down on the wine scenes in "Goldfinger" by identifying the year of a sherry.

The supporting cast, on the other hand, is dominated by plain-spoken, even hick-ish Americans, and the contrasting textures work. The CIA throws around American football terms, Grand Ole Opry performer Jimmy Dean plays a thickly-accented southern millionaire, and Jill St.

John is the first Bond girl to hail from the States. The Las Vegas setting doesn't click as well as the actors, lacking as it does the beauty and class of previous Bond locales like Venice, Istanbul, and the Swiss Alps.

Ken Adam's wide, low, modernistic sets are in especially fine form this time around, however. There is a lot of humor in the script, yet the plot is a low-stakes rehash of the one in "From Russia With Love," "Thunderball," and "You Only Live Twice.

" A pair of killer gymnasts, Bambi and Thumper, are strange and amusing, but the film's other assassin duo is the more remarkable. Bruce Glover and Putter Smith are charismatic as Mr. Wint and Mr.

Kidd, but unfortunately they minstrel as a gay couple, making them among the franchise's most fraught figures.