Review of Diamonds Are Forever (1971) by Tom R — 17 Jan 2013

(4 Stars) It's a shame to see Connery go, but at least he went out on a good note. Diamonds Are Forever is a solid entry in the James Bond franchise. There is a remarkable car chase through Las Vegas with Bond at the wheel of a Mustang. I admit there are better action scenes in the Bond series, but this film had one heck of an opening and closing. I'm also enamored by Vegas in the 70's... it's retro with so much color.

It has a few comedic moments... there are (controversial for the time? not sure...) two possibly homosexual henchmen who are the murderous equivalent of the Goofy Gophers from Looney Tunes (their names are Mac and Tosh for those who want to check on Wikipedia). I love vintage Connery's dialogue exchange with Plenty O'Toole (Lana Wood): "I'm Plenty O'Toole." "Of course you are." And this is the sort-of final appearance of Blofeld and SPECTRE, so it's fitting with Connery's last (official) appearance. Diamonds Are Forever has all the elements you love of Bond. Farewell, Sean Connery: to a lot of people, you ARE James Bond.