Diamonds Are Forever (film)

Diamonds Are Forever
Theatrical release poster by Robert McGinnis
Directed by	Guy Hamilton
Produced by	Harry Saltzman Albert R. Broccoli
Screenplay by	Richard Maibaum Tom Mankiewicz
Story by	Ian Fleming
Starring	Sean Connery Jill St. John Charles Gray Lana Wood Jimmy Dean Bruce Glover Putter Smith Bernard Lee
Music by	John Barry "Diamonds Are Forever"
Cinematography	Ted Moore
Editing by	Bert Bates John Holmes
Studio	Danjaq EON Productions
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date(s)	14 December 1971 (1971-12-14) (West Germany)
Running time	120 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$7.2 million
Box office	$116 million

Diamonds Are Forever (1971) is the seventh spy film in the Eon Productions James Bond series, and the sixth and final Eon Productions film to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film is based on Ian Fleming's 1956 novel of the same name, and is the second of four James Bond films directed by Guy Hamilton. The story has Bond impersonating a diamond smuggler to infiltrate a smuggling ring, and soon uncovering a plot by his old nemesis Blofeld to use the diamonds and build a giant laser.

After George Lazenby quit the franchise, producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli tested other actors, but studio United Artists wanted Sean Connery back, paying a then-record $1.2 million salary for him to return. The producers were inspired by Goldfinger, eventually hiring that film's director, Guy Hamilton. Locations included Las Vegas, California, Amsterdam and Lufthansa's hangar in Germany. Diamonds Are Forever was a commercial and critical success, but received criticism for its humorous camp tone.

Plot

James Bond - agent 007 - pursues Ernst Stavro Blofeld and eventually finds him at an Egyptian facility, where Blofeld look-alikes are being created through surgery. Bond kills a test subject, and later the 'real' Blofeld, by drowning him in the pool of superheated mud.

While assassins Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd systematically kill several diamond smugglers, M suspects that South African diamonds may be being stockpiled to depress prices by dumping, and orders Bond to uncover the smuggling ring. Disguised as professional smuggler Peter Franks, Bond travels to Amsterdam to meet contact Tiffany Case. The real Franks shows up on the way, but Bond intercepts and kills him and switches IDs to make it seem like Franks is James Bond. Case and Bond then go to Los Angeles, smuggling the diamonds inside Franks' corpse.

At the airport Bond meets his CIA ally Felix Leiter and goes to a funeral home, where Franks' body is cremated and the diamonds passed onto the next smuggler, Shady Tree. Bond is nearly killed by Wint and Kidd when they put him in a cremation furnace, but Tree gets him out of the incinerator as he discovers that the diamonds in Franks' body were fakes, planted by Bond and the CIA.

Bond tells Leiter to ship the real diamonds as he goes to Las Vegas. There Bond goes to the Whyte House, a casino-hotel owned by the reclusive billionaire Willard Whyte, where Tree works as a stand-up comedian. Then Bond discovers Tree has been killed by Wint and Kidd, who do not know that the diamonds were fake. At the craps table, Bond meets the opportunistic Plenty O' Toole, and after gambling, brings her to his room. Smugglers are waiting there and throw O'Toole out the window. After they leave, Bond spends the rest of the night with Tiffany Case. Bond then tells Tiffany, who wants to steal the diamonds for herself, to retrieve the diamonds at the Circus Circus casino.

Tiffany picks up the diamonds, but reneges on her deal and flees, passing off the diamonds to the next smuggler. However, seeing that O'Toole was killed after being mistaken for her, Tiffany changes her mind and drives Bond to the airport, where the diamonds are given to Saxby. Following Saxby's van, Bond eventually enters the car which drives to a remote facility. Posing as a lab worker, Bond enters the apparent destination of the diamonds – a research laboratory owned by Willard Whyte, where he finds that a satellite is being built by a laser refraction specialist. When Bond's cover is blown, he escapes by stealing a moon buggy and then an ATV and reunites with Tiffany.

After a car chase back to Vegas, Bond and Tiffany return to the Whyte House. Bond scales the walls to the top floor to confront Willard Whyte. Inside, 007 is instead confronted by two identical Blofelds who use an electronic device to sound like Whyte. Bond kills one of the Blofelds, but it turns out to be a look-alike. Bond is then knocked out by Wint and Kidd and left in a pipeline to die. After Bond escapes, he calls Blofeld posing as Saxby. He finds out Whyte's location and rescues him, but in the meantime Blofeld abducts Case. With the help of Whyte, Bond raids the lab and uncovers Blofeld's plot to create a laser satellite using the diamonds, which by now is already in orbit. With the satellite, Blofeld destroys nuclear weapons in the United States, Soviet Union, and China, then proposes an international auction for global nuclear supremacy.

Whyte identifies an oil rig off the coast of Baja California as Blofeld's base of operations. After Bond's attempt to change the cassette containing the codes fails due to a mistake by Tiffany, Leiter and the CIA begin a helicopter attack on the oil rig. Blofeld tries to escape on a mini-sub, but Bond gains control of it, crashing it into the control room, causing the satellite control along with the rest of the base to be destroyed. Bond and Tiffany then head for Britain on a cruise ship, where Bond also defends Wint and Kidd's attempt to kill them with a hidden bomb.

Cast

Main articles: List of James Bond henchmen in Diamonds Are Forever and List of James Bond allies in Diamonds Are Forever

• Sean Connery as James Bond: MI6 agent 007.
• Jill St. John as Tiffany Case: A diamond smuggler.
• Charles Gray as Ernst Stavro Blofeld: Main antagonist, the megalomaniac head of SPECTRE. Gray was previously in the Bond film series when he played Dikko Henderson in 1967's You Only Live Twice.
• Jimmy Dean as Willard Whyte: An entrepreneur, based on Howard Hughes.
• Bruce Glover as Mr. Wint and Putter Smith as Mr. Kidd: Blofeld's henchmen.
• Norman Burton as Felix Leiter: CIA agent and Bond's ally in tracking Blofeld.
• Joseph Furst as Professor Doctor Metz: A brilliant scientist and world's leading expert on laser refraction.
• Lana Wood as Plenty O'Toole: Bond's opportunistic would-be girlfriend who is thrown out the window into the hotel swimming pool after being stripped of most of her clothing.
• Bruce Cabot as 'Bert' Saxby: Whyte's casino manager in cahoots with Blofeld.
• Bernard Lee as M: The strict head of MI6.
• Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny: M's secretary.
• Desmond Llewelyn as Q: Head of MI6's technical department.
• Joe Robinson as Peter Franks: Diamond smuggler whose identity is taken by Bond.
• Leonard Barr as Shady Tree: A Casino stand-up comedian and another smuggler.
• Laurence Naismith as Sir Donald Munger: Diamond expert who brings the case to MI6.
• David Bauer as Morton Slumber: President of Slumber Incorporated, a funeral home.
• Ed Bishop as Klaus Hergerscheimer: Health Physicist for WW Techtronics.
• David de Keyser as Doctor
• Lola Larson and Trina Parks (uncredited) as Bambi and Thumper

Production

The producers originally intended to have Diamonds Are Forever re-create commercially successful aspects of Goldfinger, including hiring its director, Guy Hamilton.^[1] Peter R. Hunt, who had directed On Her Majesty's Secret Service and worked in all previous Bond films as editor, was invited before Hamilton, but due to involvement with another project could only work in the film if the production date was postponed, which the producers declined to do.^[2]

Writing

This was the last Bond movie by Eon to use SPECTRE or Blofeld – elements that had not been featured in Ian Fleming's book, the content of which was largely eschewed in the adaptation. After this, writer Kevin McClory's legal claim against the Fleming estate that he, and not Ian Fleming, had created the organisation for the novel Thunderball was upheld by the courts. Blofeld is seen but not identified later in For Your Eyes Only (1981), as Eon's arrangements with the Fleming estate did not permit them to use McClory's works.

The original plot had as a villain Auric Goldfinger's twin, seeking revenge for the death of his brother. The plot was later changed after Albert R. Broccoli had a dream, where his close friend Howard Hughes was replaced by an imposter. So the character of Willard Whyte was created, and Tom Mankiewicz was chosen to rework the script.^[3] The adaptation eliminated the main villains from the source Ian Fleming novel, mobsters called Jack and Seraffimo Spang, but used the henchmen Shady Tree, Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd.^[3]

Richard Maibaum's original idea for the ending was a giant boat chase across Lake Mead with Blofeld being pursued by Bond and all the Las Vegas casino owners who would be sailing in their private yachts. Bond would rouse the allies into action with a spoof of Lord Nelson's famous cry, "Las Vegas expects every man to do his duty." Maibaum was misinformed; there were no Roman galleys or Chinese junks in Las Vegas, and the idea was too expensive to replicate, so it was dropped.^[4]

Maibaum may have thought the eventual oil rig finale a poor substitute, but it was originally intended to be much more spectacular. Armed frogmen would jump from the helicopters into the sea and attach limpet mines to the rig's legs (this explains why frogmen appear on the movie's poster). Blofeld would have escaped in his BathoSub and Bond would have pursued him hanging from a weather balloon.^[5] The chase would have then continued across a salt mine with the two mortal enemies scrambling over the pure white hills of salt before Blofeld would fall to his death in a salt granulator. Permission was not granted by the owners of the salt mine. It also made the sequence too long. Further problems followed when the explosives set up for the finale were set off too early; fortunately, a handful of cameras were ready and able to capture the footage.^[4]

Casting

George Lazenby originally was offered a contract for seven Bond films, but declined and left after just one, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, on the questionable advice of his agent.^[6] Producers contemplated replacing him with John Gavin (though Batman star Adam West was also considered),^[1] as well as Michael Gambon, who rejected the offer telling Broccoli that he was "in terrible shape".^[7] United Artists' chief David Picker was unhappy with this decision and made it clear that Sean Connery should be enticed back to the role and that money was, essentially, no object. When approached about resuming the role of Bond, Connery demanded the then astronomical fee of £1.2 million (then $2.9 million, now $15.9 million inflation-adjusted for 2011) and to entice the actor to play Bond one more time United Artists would back two films of his choice.^[8] When both sides had agreed to the deal Connery used the fee to establish the Scottish International Education Trust where Scottish artists could apply for funding without having to leave their country to pursue their careers. As John Gavin was no longer needed, his contract was paid in full by United Artists. The first film made under Connery's deal was The Offence directed by his friend Sidney Lumet.^[1] The second was to be an adaptation of Macbeth by William Shakespeare using only Scottish actors and in which Connery himself would play the title role. This project was abandoned due to the Roman Polanski film version that was also in production at the same time. Sean Connery never played Macbeth on film, although his son Jason Connery later did.

Charles Gray was cast as master villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld, after playing a Bond ally called Henderson in You Only Live Twice (1967).^[1] David Bauer who plays Morton Slumber previously appeared uncredited as an American Diplomat also in You Only Live Twice.

Jazz musician Putter Smith was invited by Harry Saltzman to play Mr. Kidd after a Thelonious Monk Band show. Musician Paul Williams was originally cast as Mr. Wint. But when he couldn't agree with the producers on money concerns, Bruce Glover replaced him. Glover said he was surprised for being chosen, because at first producers said he was too normal, that they wanted a deformed, Peter Lorre-like actor.^[1]

Jimmy Dean was cast as Willard Whyte after Saltzman saw a presentation of him. Dean was very worried about playing a Howard Hughes pastiche, because he was an employee of Hughes at the Desert Inn.^[1]

Actresses considered for the role of Tiffany Case included: Raquel Welch, Jane Fonda and Faye Dunaway. Jill St. John had originally been offered the part of Plenty O'Toole but landed the female lead after impressing director Guy Hamilton during screen tests. St. John became the first American Bond girl.^[9] Lana Wood was cast as Plenty O'Toole following a suggestion of screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz.^[1] The woman in the bikini named "Marie", who in the beginning of the film is convinced by Bond to give up the location of Blofeld, was Denise Perrier, Miss World 1953.^[3]

Filming

Filming began on 5 April 1971, with the South African scenes actually shot in the desert near Las Vegas, and finished in 13 August 1971.^[1] The film was shot primarily at the Los Angeles International Airport,^[10] Universal City Studios and eight hotels of Las Vegas.^[11] Besides the Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, other places in England were Dover and Southampton. The climactic oil rig sequence was shot off the shore of Oceanside, California. Other filming locations included Cap D'Antibes in France for the opening scenes, Amsterdam and Lufthansa's hangar in Germany.^[12]

Filming in Las Vegas took place mostly in hotels owned by Howard Hughes, since he was a friend of Cubby Broccoli.^[9] Getting the streets empty in order to shoot was achieved through the collaboration of Hughes, the Las Vegas police and shopkeepers association.^[4] The Las Vegas Hilton doubled for the Whyte House, and since the owner of the Circus Circus was a Bond fan, he allowed the Circus to be used on film and even made a cameo.^[3][4] The cinematographers said filming in Las Vegas at night had an advantage: no additional illumination was required due to the high number of neon lights.^[13] Sean Connery made the most of his time on location in Las Vegas. "I didn't get any sleep at all. We shot every night, I caught all the shows and played golf all day. On the weekend I collapsed - boy, did I collapse. Like a skull with legs." He also played the slot machines, and once delayed a scene because he was collecting his winnings. ^[14]

The site used for the Willard Whyte Space Labs (where Bond gets away in the Moon Buggy) was actually, at that time, a Johns-Manville gypsum plant located just outside of Las Vegas. The home of Kirk Douglas was used for the scene in Tiffany's house, while the Elrod House in Palm Springs, designed by John Lautner, became Willard Whyte's house. The exterior shots of the Slumber mortuary were of a real crematorium on the outskirts of Las Vegas. The interiors were a set constructed at Pinewood Studios, where Ken Adam imitated the real building's lozenge shaped stained glass window in its nave. During location filming, Adam visited several funeral homes in the Las Vegas area, the inspiration behind the gaudy design of the Slumber mortuary (the use of tasteless Art Deco furniture and Tiffany lamps) came from these experiences.^[12] Production wrapped with the crematorium sequence, on 13 August 1971.^[3]

Since the car chase in Las Vegas would have many car crashes, the filmmakers had an arrangement with Ford to use their vehicles. Ford's only demand was that Sean Connery had to drive the 1971 Mustang Mach 1 which serves as Tiffany Case's car.^[4] The Moon Buggy was inspired by the actual NASA vehicle, but with additions such as flaying arms since the producers didn't find the design "outrageous" enough. Built by custom car fabricator Dean Jeffries on a rear-engined Corvair chassis, it was capable of highway speeds. The fibreglass tires had to be replaced during the chase sequence because the heat and irregular desert soil ruined them.^[15]

Hamilton had the idea of making a fight scene inside an elevator, which was choreographed and done by Sean Connery and stuntman Joe Robinson.^[16] The car chase where the red Mustang comes outside of the narrow street on the opposite side in which it was rolled, was filmed over three nights on Fremont Street in Las Vegas. The alleyway car roll sequence is actually filmed in two locations. The entrance was at the car park at Universal Studios and the exit was at Fremont Street, Las Vegas. It eventually inspired a continuity mistake, as the car enters the alley on the right side tires and exits the street driving on the left side.^[1][17] While filming the scene of finding Plenty O´Toole drowned in Tiffany's swimming pool, Lana Wood actually had her feet loosely tied to a cement block on the bottom. Film crew members held a rope across the pool for her, with which she could lift her face out of the water to breathe between takes. The pool's sloping bottom made the block slip into deeper water with each take. Eventually, Wood was submerged but was noticed by on-lookers and rescued before drowning for real. Wood, being a certified diver, took some water but remained calm during the ordeal, although she later admitted to a few "very uncomfortable moments and quite some struggling until they pulled me out."^[18]

Music

Main article: Diamonds Are Forever (soundtrack)

"Diamonds Are Forever", the title song, was the second James Bond theme to be performed by Shirley Bassey, after "Goldfinger" in 1964. Producer Harry Saltzman reportedly hated the song, and only the insistence of co-producer Cubby Broccoli kept it in the film. Saltzman's major objection was to the sexual innuendo of the lyrics. Indeed, in an interview for the television programme James Bond's Greatest Hits composer John Barry revealed that he told Bassey to imagine she was singing about a penis. Bassey would later return for a third performance for 1979's Moonraker.

The original soundtrack was once again composed by John Barry, his sixth time composing for a Bond film.

With Connery back in the lead role, the "James Bond Theme" was played by an electric guitar in the somewhat unique, blued gunbarrel sequence accompanied with prismatic ripples of light, and pre-credits sequence, and in a full orchestral version during a hovercraft sequence in Amsterdam.

Release and reception

Diamonds are Forever was released on 30 December 1971. It grossed $43 million in the United States,^[19] and $116 million worldwide.^[20]

Reviews were positive but the camp tone had a mixed reaction, the film currently carrying a 67% rating at Rotten Tomatoes.^[21] Connery was applauded by Kevin A. Ranson of MovieCrypt and Michael A. Smith of Nolan's Pop Culture. Critic Roger Ebert criticised the complexity of the plot and "moments of silliness" such as Bond finding himself driving a moon buggy with antennae revolving and robot arms flapping. He praised the Las Vegas car chase scene particularly the Mustang up on two wheels.^[22] James Berardinelli criticised the concepts of a laser-shooting satellite and the performances of Jill St. John, Norman Burton and Jimmy Dean.^[23] Christopher Null called St. John "one of the least effective Bond girls — beautiful, but shrill and helpless".^[24] Steve Rhodes said, "looking and acting like a couple of pseudo-country bumpkins, they (Putter Smith and Bruce Glover) seem to have wandered by accident from the adjoining sound stage into the filming of this movie." But he also extolled the car chase as "classic".^[25] According to Danny Peary, Diamonds are Forever is “one of the most forgettable movies of the entire Bond series" and that "until Blofeld’s reappearance we must watch what is no better than a mundane diamond-smuggling melodrama, without the spectacle we associate with James Bond: the Las Vegas setting isn’t exotic enough, there’s little humour, assassins Mr. Kidd and Mr. Wint are similar to characters you’d find on The Avengers, but not nearly as amusing – and the trouble Bond gets into, even Maxwell Smart could escape.”^[26]

IGN chose it as the third worst James Bond film, over The Man with the Golden Gun and Die Another Day,^[27] while Norman Wilner of MSN chose it as the sixth worst.^[28] Total Film listed Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd, and Bambie and Thumper, as the first and second worst villains in the Bond series (respectively).^[29]

The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Sound (Gordon McCallum, John W. Mitchell and Al Overton)^[30] but lost to Fiddler on the Roof.^[31]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i} (NTSC, Widescreen, Closed-captioned) Inside Diamonds Are Forever: Diamonds Are Forever Ultimate Edition, Disc 2 (DVD). MGM/UA Home Video. 2000. ASIN: B000LY2L1Q. 
2. ^ Interview with Peter R. Hunt. Retrovision. 1997. http://web.archive.org/web/20090214005715/http://retrovisionmag.com/jamesbond.htm. 
3. ^ ^{a b c d e} John Cork. Commentary track: Diamonds Are Forever Ultimate Edition, Region 4 (DVD). MGM Home Entertainment. 
4. ^ ^{a b c d e} Guy Hamilton. Commentary track: Diamonds Are Forever Ultimate Edition, Region 4 (DVD). MGM Home Entertainment. 
5. ^ Oil Rig Attack: Diamonds Are Forever Ultimate Edition, Disc 2 (DVD). MGM Home Entertainment. 
6. ^ Inside On Her Majesty's Secret Service (DVD). OHMSS Ultimate Edition DVD: MGM Home Entertainment Inc. 2000. 
7. ^ David Walliams takes some acting tips from Michael Gambon, The Sunday Times
8. ^ Feeney Callan, Michael (2002). Sean Connery. Virgin Books. p. 217. ISBN 1852279923. 
9. ^ ^{a b} Album notes for Diamonds Are Forever Ultimate Edition DVD. MGM/UA Home Video (ASIN: B000LY2L1Q).
10. ^ "Los Angeles". Postcard Destinations. Voyager Channel, Mumbai. 2008-01-07. 8 minutes in.
11. ^ (PAL) Exotic Locations: Diamonds Are Forever Ultimate Edition, Disc 2 (DVD). MGM Home Entertainment. ASIN: B00004VUHC. 
12. ^ ^{a b} (NTSC, Widescreen, Closed-captioned) Exotic Locations: Diamonds Are Forever Ultimate Edition, Disc 2. ASIN: B000LY2L1Q. 
13. ^ Peter Lamont. Commentary track: Diamonds Are Forever Ultimate Edition, Region 4 (DVD). MGM Home Entertainment. 
14. ^ "Rare interview with Sean Connery on the set of Diamonds Are Forever in Las Vegas". MI6-HQ.com. http://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/articles/history_press_daf_sean_connery_las_vegas_interview.php3. Retrieved 2011-03-30. 
15. ^ Ken Adam. Commentary track: Diamonds Are Forever Ultimate Edition, Region 4 (DVD). MGM Home Entertainment. 
16. ^ Double-O Stuntmen. The Man with the Golden Gun Ultimate Edition, Disk 2: MGM Home Entertainment. 
17. ^ "Diamonds Are Forever". Turner Classic Movies. http://www.tcm.com/thismonth/article.jsp?cid=235282&mainArticleId=235259. Retrieved 2011-01-25. 
18. ^ Lana Wood. Commentary track: Diamonds Are Forever Ultimate Edition, Region 4 (DVD). MGM Home Entertainment. 
19. ^ "Diamonds Are Forever". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=diamondsareforever.htm. Retrieved 2007-12-09. 
20. ^ "Diamonds Are Forever". TheNumbers. http://the-numbers.com/movies/1971/0DAFE.php. Retrieved 2007-12-24. 
21. ^ "Diamonds Are Forever". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/diamonds_are_forever/. Retrieved 3 Mar 2010. 
22. ^ Roger Ebert (1971-12-01). "Diamond Are Forever review". Chicago Sun-Times. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19710101/REVIEWS/101010306/1023. Retrieved 2007-12-24. 
23. ^ Berardinelli, James (1996). "Diamonds Are Forever: A film review". Reelviews.net. http://www.reelviews.net/movies/d/diamonds.html. Retrieved 2008-02-05. 
24. ^ Null, Christopher. "Diamonds are Forever". Filmcritic.com. http://www.filmcritic.com/misc/emporium.nsf/reviews/Diamonds-Are-Forever. Retrieved 2008-02-05. 
25. ^ Rhodes, Steve (1998). "Diamonds are Forever". IMDb Reviews. http://www.imdb.com/Reviews/110/11069. Retrieved 2008-02-05. 
26. ^ Danny Peary, Guide for the Film Fanatic (Simon & Schuster, 1986) p.123
27. ^ "James Bond's Top 20". IGN. 2006-11-17. http://movies.ign.com/articles/746/746573p1.html. Retrieved 2007-12-21. 
28. ^ Norman Wilner. "Rating the Spy Game". MSN. http://movies.sympatico.msn.ca/features/ArticleNormanWilner.aspx?cp-documentid=436189. Retrieved 2007-12-21. 
29. ^ Chris Hicks (2008-10-13). "Bond Month: The crappest Bond villians (sic) of all time". Total Film. http://www.totalfilm.com/features/bond-month-the-crappest-bond-villians-of-all-time. Retrieved 2008-10-15. 
30. ^ "The 44th Academy Awards (1972) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/legacy/ceremony/44th-winners.html. Retrieved 2011-08-27. 
31. ^ "Academy Awards Database". AMPAS. http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/BasicSearch?action=searchLink&displayType=1&BSCategoryExact=1618&BSFromYear=44. Retrieved 2011-02-06. 

External links

James Bond portal

• Diamonds Are Forever at the Internet Movie Database
• Diamonds Are Forever at AllRovi
• Diamonds Are Forever at Rotten Tomatoes
• Diamonds Are Forever at Box Office Mojo
• MGM Official website
• Diamonds Are Forever coverage at MI6