TV SERIES REVIEW
Diamonds Are Forever
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Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller
Year Released: 1971
Runtime: 2h
Director(s): Guy Hamilton
Writer(s): Richard Maibaum (screenplay by,) Tom Mankiewicz (screenplay by,) Ian Fleming (novel)
Cast: Sean Connery, Jill St. John, Charles Gray, Lana Wood, Jimmy Dean, Bruce Cabot, Putter Smith, Bruce Glover, Norman Burton, Joseph Fürst, Bernard Lee, Desmond Llewelyn, Leonard Barr, Lois Maxwell
Where To Watch: Available to stream on most major streaming platforms

RAVING REVIEW: This franchise was all over the place, especially early on! I didn’t know what to expect and was ultimately surprised.

Even though this was one of my bottom-tier Bond films so far, there was still plenty to enjoy. I was shocked to see Sean Connery back again; while I think in my head, I knew that Connery was Bond in the film, I forgot that ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE took place before this. This is only the eighth Bond film; we’ve already had three different versions. Conney started it all, and then it was Peter Sellers in the non-Eon film CASINO ROYAL (1967), then George Lazenby got to step into the role, and now Connery was back for this film (future notice, he leaves and kind of comes back again.)

Could you imagine Robert Downey Jr. leaving the role of Iron Man, only to return after another actor took up the part and then going again? It’s fascinating to see what audiences were tolerant of back in the day. Producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli hoped to capture lighting in a bottle. They not only brought back Connery but also director Guy Hamilton and singer Shirley Bassey to hopefully repeat the success of GOLDFINGER.

While I enjoyed the film, it made me realize that even though I’ve thought Connery was my favorite Bond all these years, that may not be the case. It probably was due to him being in the role first and for so many films. I’ll be curious where Connery ends when all is said and done.  I think that Sellers has last place pretty much locked down, with Lazenby being in second as we stand currently. Now it’s up to the rest of the Bonds to take their respective places.

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