Sean Connery returns to the role of James Bond in Diamonds Are Forever, the seventh film in the Eon series and his final outing as 007. The film sends Bond on a smuggling trail across Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Amsterdam, chasing Blofeld’s scheme to sell stolen diamonds and fund a space-based laser weapon aimed at Washington, D.C.
Connery plays Bond with his usual cool, and Jill St. John adds some heat as Tiffany Case, the smuggler he impersonates. Charles Gray returns as Blofeld, and Lana Wood appears as Plenty O’Toole, a woman Bond meets at a casino.
The film is built around a smuggling chase, a funeral home double-cross, and a stand-up comedian named Shady Tree who runs the Whyte House casino. Plenty of action, plenty of comedy, plenty of death.
The man who made 007 a household number.
Trailer, via HD Retro Trailers.
The Smuggling Chase
Bond pretends to be a smuggler named Peter Franks, kills the real Franks, and ships his corpse full of diamonds across the country. Wint and Kidd, Blofeld’s henchmen, kill everyone involved in the operation while M suspects South African diamonds are being stockpiled to push prices down.
At the Whyte House, Tree is killed by Wint and Kidd, who don’t know the diamonds inside Franks’ body are fakes planted by Bond and the CIA. Tiffany Case flees with the real diamonds, passing them to the next smuggler in the chain.
The plot moves fast and stays mostly clear, though the sheer amount of killing and double-crossing can start to blur together by the end.
The Las Vegas Stretch
The Las Vegas stretch, where Bond meets his CIA contact Felix Leiter, is the weakest part of the film. The funeral home scene drags, and the plot twist about the fake diamonds feels rushed rather than earned.
The film leans on its stars more than its story. Connery carries the weight, and the supporting cast — including Bruce Glover and Putter Smith as Wint and Kidd — delivers solid menace.
Comparing the Two Ends
| Part | Setting | Tone |
|---|---|---|
| First half | Amsterdam, Los Angeles | Tense, smuggling |
| Second half | Las Vegas, Whyte House | Comedic, over-the-top |
The film is a mixed bag. The smuggling setup is sharp, the action sequences are fun, and the ending ties everything together with a space laser threat. But the middle stretch drags, and the comedy scenes feel forced rather than funny.
Diamonds Are Forever is a solid entry in the series, not a great one. It’s worth watching for Connery’s performance and the spectacle of the smuggling chase, but the middle section drags and the plot twist about the fake diamonds feels rushed rather than earned.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.
