Lets all take some time away from our busy lives and consider the vitally important issue of James Bond movies. Its odd how these things endure- the longest running series in the history of movies has never had the cultural or cinematic impact that Star Wars had in six films or The Godfather in three. No really noteworthy filmmaker has ever directed an official entry into the series, even the best of the films never end up on 100 Greatest Movie lists, and the best actor to play Bond, Sean Connery, disliked the series and tried to distance himself from it. But somehow every few years theres a Bond movie, and they always seem to make enough money to guarantee another.
I think the appeal lies in the same reason people watch TV shows: the films repetitive in a good way. You know you aregoing to get basically the same thing in every Bond movie, and the pleasure comes from seeing slight variations on the theme, such as the different villain or leading lady. Diamonds are Forever is the seventh Bond film that I have seen (Ive seen them in order, so it is also the seventh made), and it is the best so far. It is the only one that is never boring at any point, and the movie takes itself less seriously than the previous films. The humor is actually one of the films strongest points, as it manages to understand its own silliness without going into super-camp territory. A particularly pleasure is watching Connery impersonate different people, such as a Dutch businessman or a mourner at a funeral.
Beyond saying that the movie involves a ring of diamond thieves, summarizing the plot is pointless, as you know whats going to happen if youve seen any other Bond movie. What makes the film so watchable is that the boring parts of the previous movies- long, long expository scenes, unexciting romances are treated in a more exciting and verbose manner here. This films Bond girl, Tiffany Case (Jill St. John) is more quirky then the others, and she has good chemistry with the star. This is Connerys last performance as Bond in an official entry, and its also his best- hes finally allowed to have fun with the character, and do some comedy scenes.
Despite the improvements, the movie still has one of the series drawbacks- hardcore sexism. St. John spends the last half hour of the movie in a bikini for no reasons, and she is shown to be nearly incompetent in helping Bond. Adding to this is some ugly homophobia- two of the villains are gay for no reason other than the fact that they are villains, and say things like Shes good looking- for a woman.
As I said earlier, this is the best Bond Ive seen so far and fans of this sort of movie will want to take a look. Its also a great introduction to the series if youve never seen an installment. Since they made twenty one films of essentially the same thing, you might as well see the best.
Diamonds Are Forever (1971)