Diamonds Are Forever (1971): 7th Bond Movie
Diamonds Are Forever is the seventh official Bond film. After the critical acclaim of the previous Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service with George Lazenby, Sean Connery returned to the role of James Bond for the last time (excluding the unofficial Bond film Never Say Never Again from 1983). One of the convincing factors was an unprecedented fee of $1.25 million at that time.
Plot
Agent 007 James Bond continues to pursue Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the number 1 of the criminal organization SPECTRE, and finds him in a facility where his doubles are produced by plastic surgery. Bond kills one of the doubles and then drowns the presumed real Blofeld in a vat of hot mud.
The head of the British Secret Service, M, suspects that someone is quietly accumulating stocks of diamonds to artificially depress their price by releasing them on the market. Therefore, he sends Bond to infiltrate a network of diamond smugglers and uncover the true situation. Two eccentric negative characters, Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd (Mr. Wint, Mr. Kidd), who primarily kill diamond smugglers from South Africa and seize their goods, appear in the film.
James Bond, disguised as a professional smuggler and murderer Peter Franks, travels to Amsterdam to meet his contact Tiffany Case. Shortly after arriving at her residence, the real Franks appears, whom Bond kills in a fight in the elevator and exchanges personal documents with. He is also equipped with Franks' fake fingerprints. This convinces Case that the killed man is James Bond.
James Bond and Tiffany Case smuggle diamonds in the body of the deceased to Los Angeles. At the airport, Bond meets his loyal ally Felix Leiter, a colleague from the CIA. Bond then goes to the funeral home, where Franks' body and the diamonds, which withstand cremation, are to be handed over to a smuggler named Shady Tree. However, inconspicuous killers Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd are also present, who stun Bond and momentarily place him in a coffin in the furnace. Bond's live cremation is fortunately stopped by the merchant Tree after he discovers that the diamonds in Franks' body were fake; Bond arranged their exchange in cooperation with the CIA.
Bond entrusts the transport of the diamonds to Felix Leiter and himself goes to Las Vegas to the hotel and casino complex Whyte House, owned by the reclusive billionaire Willard Whyte, where smuggler Tree performs as an entertainer. Later, Bond discovers that Tree was killed by Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd, who were unaware that the diamonds were fake.
In the casino at the craps table Craps, Bond meets Plenty O'Toole, who hunts wealthy players. After the game, they go to Bond's room, where gang members are waiting and throw Plenty out of the window. Bond rushes to the window, where to his relief he sees that Plenty landed in the pool. He comments on this with the words "Nice shot," to which he receives the reply "I didn't know there was a pool down there."
After they leave, Bond spends the rest of the night with Tiffany Case and asks her to pick up the diamonds at the Circus Circus casino. However, she intends to keep the diamonds and hands them over to another smuggler. But after witnessing the killing of Plenty O'Toole instead of her, she gets scared and changes her mind. She drives Bond to the airport, where the diamonds are handed over to Bert Saxby. Bond jumps into his van, which takes him to a remote factory serving as Whyte's research laboratory, where a laser refraction specialist, Professor Metz, is developing a satellite.
Bond goes to the top floors of Whyte's residence, where he is confronted with two identical Blofelds. Bond kills one of them, but it turns out it wasn't the real one. Bond is again knocked out by Mr. Wint and Kidd, who leave him to die in a pipeline. Bond manages to escape and with Whyte's help, he gets to the laboratory, where he reveals Blofeld's plan to create a super-strong laser satellite using diamonds, with which Blofeld plans to destroy nuclear weapons in the United States, Russia, and China and then auction off the position of a global nuclear power.
Whyte designates an oil platform off the coast of Baja California as Blofeld's base. Bond manages to swap the cartridge containing the satellite operation codes, but due to Tiffany's mistake, the correct cartridge falls into the hands of the criminals. The CIA, led by Agent Leiter, launches an attack on the platform by helicopter. Blofeld tries to escape using a mini-submarine. However, Bond thwarts his plans, and the submarine crashes into the control room, from which the satellite is controlled, leading to the destruction of the entire base. After completing the mission, Bond and Tiffany sail to Britain...
Bond Song
Diamonds Are Forever is a captivating and iconic Bond song that perfectly encapsulates the essence of the James Bond franchise. Sung by Shirley Bassey, the song exudes a sense of glamour, intrigue, and sophistication, mirroring the allure of the spy world. With its memorable melody and powerful vocals, Diamonds Are Forever has become synonymous with the Bond series, standing as a timeless classic that continues to enchant audiences to this day.
Cast
| Role | Actor | Role Description |
|---|---|---|
| James Bond | Sean Connery | Main character, British MI6 secret agent. |
| M | Bernard Lee | Head of British MI6 Secret Service. |
| Moneypenny | Lois Maxwell | Assistant to M. |
| Q | Desmond Llewelyn | Technical expert who provides Bond with special equipment. |
| Tiffany Case | Jill St. John | Diamond expert and Bond's lover. |
| Plenty O'Toole | Lana Wood | Woman Bond meets at the casino. |
| Felix Leiter | Norman Burton | CIA agent and James Bond's friend. |
| Ernst Stavro Blofeld | Charles Gray | Head of the terrorist organization SPECTRE. |
| Mr. Wint | Bruce Glover | SPECTRE member forming a murderous pair with Mr. Kidd. |
| Mr. Kidd | Putter Smith | SPECTRE member forming a murderous pair with Mr. Wint. |
| Willard Whyte | Jimmy Dean | American industrialist and diamond trader. |
| Bert Saxby | Bruce Cabot | Subordinate of Willard Whyte. |
| Sir Donald Munger | Laurence Naismith | British diplomat and member of the nuclear weapons control commission. |
You Might Be Also Interested
- 6th Bond Movie: On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) ← → 8th Bond Movie: Live and Let Die (1973);
- Bond Films: Stories of James Bond, Agent 007;
- All Bond Songs: Iconic Title Songs From Bond Films
- Movies With Casino Themes and Betting.
Based on the original Czech article: Diamanty jsou věčné (1971) – 7. bondovka.