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| Theatrical Poster Source: Wikipedia |
Bond (Connery) follows a seemingly simple diamond smuggling operation under the pseudonym of Peter Franks. He teams up with Tiffany Case (Jill St. John) in order to join the smuggling operation from Amsterdam and the trail leads him to Las Vegas and his old nemesis Blofeld (Charles Gray).
He must try to find out Blofeld's plan and what it has to do with the missing diamonds, whilst avoiding his two hitmen - the bizarre Mr. Kidd and Mr. Wint.
What better way for the James Bond juggernaut to enter the 1970's than with Dame Shirley Bassey belting out her now infamous tune to introduce Diamonds Are Forever. Throw in a return for Connery (after his absence from On Her Majesty's Secret Service during George Lazenby's brief cameo) and arguably the greatest Bond villain in Blofeld and all the ingredients are there for a great outing for Ian Fleming's famous British Spy.
For Connery's final outing however, much of the charm of James Bond was lost. There is no mention of the Vodka Martini, no Bond... James Bond and a distinct lack of outrageous flirting with anything in a skirt. Even the action scenes have a feel of desperation about them as director Guy Hamilton struggled to reach the dizzy heights of the earlier Bond films.
It's not all bad though - there is still plenty to love. The two killers Kidd and Wint are as bizarre as they are entertaining as they portray a couple who appear to enjoy the pleasure of each other's company almost as much as they enjoy their job. Isn't that right, Mr Kidd? The setting of Las Vegas is about as James Bond as any place. Packed from top to bottom with casinos it is certainly the place you'd expect to find the man wooing the ladies while - to quote another Bond - keeping the British end up.
A decent final hurrah for the outstanding Connery, but it was probably time to let him go.
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