"Diamonds are Forever" 4K UHD Movie Review

Diamonds are Forever

Director: Guy Hamilton
Starring: Sean Connery, Jill St. John, Charles Gray, Jimmy Dean, Bruce Glover, Lana Wood, Bernard Lee, Lois Maxwell, Desmond Llewelyn
Running Time: 2 hours, 00 minutes
Theatrical Release Date: December 17, 1971
4K Ultra HD 6-Film Release Date: June 10, 2025 (Amazon.com)

READER RATING:

Plot Summary

A diamond smuggling investigation leads James Bond to Las Vegas where he uncovers an evil plot involving a rich business tycoon. (from IMDB)

Film Review

Four years after he left the franchise behind, Connery returns for one last (official) time as James Bond in 1971's Diamonds are Forever. It's a shame, too, because this one is kind of a mess. While Bond thrived in the 60's, it feels like an awkward transition into the 70's. And aside from the fact that Connery seems to have aged 20 years in less than 10, everything feels outdated and tired at this point. Connery does his best with the material, but it just doesn't feel cool or sophisticated anymore at this point.

Although Connery's last outing was 1967's You Only Live Twice, 1969 still saw the release of a new James Bond film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service - but with George Lazenby as 007 instead of Connery. As puzzling as this may be, a little Googling reveals that Lazenby didn't want to return for another film, and the movie studio wanted Connery back - who got paid a record amount for the time.

Whether it's the dawn of the 70's or a budding franchise showing signs of fatigue with its seventh installment, Diamonds are Forever feels like one of those sequels that exists for the sole purpose of being able to tell people there's a new James Bond movie. Everyone seems to be trying here, but there's also a been-there, done-that feel to it that makes you wonder why you're even watching. It just doesn't feel inspired at this point. After all, the plot involves diamonds and the pursuit of them... it really feels like very little effort was put into the story this time around. While You Only Live Twice went out with a pretty big bang, Diamonds are Forever feels like it's just going through the motions.

One of the weirdest things about Diamonds are Forever, too, is seeing an actor who played a very small, and short-lived, role in You Only Live Twice be cast as the new Big Bad, Blofeld. Charles Gray played a contact for Bond named Henderson in You Only Live Twice, who was quickly dismissed with a surprise knife in the back. Here, he replaces Donald Pleasence's eye-scarred and bald appearance with a fairly plain look. While it gives the movie less of a cartoony looking villain, the antics throughout the film still feel cartoony, including the way some of the characters die throughout the movie. Diamonds... gets little glimpses of a spy thriller here and there, but ultimately feels like a live action Saturday morning cartoon made for adults.

Jill St. John is the main romantic interest in this movie, a kind of thief who is also interested in the diamonds that Bond is looking for. But her acting is atrocious, and it only further dogs the film. Lana Wood's brief stint as Plenty O'Toole isn't any better, either, and you have to wonder what the casting director was thinking. Sure, they're nice to look at, but at this point they're just glorified set dressing.

Diamonds are Forever
There's plenty of violent content here, but it's seldom graphic. However, the sexual content reaches new heights this time. As Bond interrogates a woman in a bikini, he literally undoes it behind her back and we see topless nudity for a second before she can cover herself up and Bond proceeds to choke her with it. Another scene shows some brief side nudity as a woman is seen walking topless into her bathroom. A later sequence shows Bond unzipping a woman's dress and we see her bare back as she walks to another room. A couple men apprehend her and she's seen covering up any chest nudity as she's pushed towards, and tossed out, a window. From a distance, we see her falling topless into a pool below, but no further detailed nudity is visible. Another scene shows a woman in bed with Bond, and as he rolls over on her a little bit, we can briefly see a partial view of a pasty covering one side of her chest. The opening sequence also has the usual naked female silhouettes, but one of them shows partial actual nudity as some of the shadows don't completely cover her up. Finally, two bad guys who are seen throughout the film working together hold hands as they walk away in their introduction scene, and later one comments on how pretty a woman is - "for a lady" - while the other man gives him a dirty look. Those are the only references made, but it's pretty clear the two are gay. (Fun bit of trivia - one of them happens to be played by Bruce Glover, the father of Crispin Glover, who is most known for his role as George McFly in 1985's Back to the Future. They look strikingly similar, too!) Regarding profanity, this film hits new heights as well, with a franchise first use of "g*dd*mn," "S.O.B," and "b*tch," as well as other colorful cuss words.

Diamonds are Forever completes the collection of Sean Connery James Bond films included in this 2025 4K UHD set. It's been fun revisiting these movies, but I have to admit it ends with quite a thud with this movie.

Diamonds are Forever in 4K UHD: Like the others in this set, Diamonds are Forever is excellent in 4K UHD. Again, fans of these movies should be pretty happy with how they look in Ultra HD.

- John DiBiase (reviewed: 6/18/25)

Parental Guide: Content Summary

Sex/Nudity: We see a woman in a bikini. Bond rips off her bikini top and strangles her with it. We see a very quick shot of her bare breasts and nipples; During the opening title sequence, we see topless silhouettes. At one point, you can actually kind of see actual topless nudity of one of the women; Two men hold hands as they walk away, implying they're gay; Bond walks into an apartment as a woman is seen walking away topless. We see her bare back and ever-so-briefly a sideview of her chest; A woman is seen wearing lingerie and a sheer robe over it; In the same sequence, the woman changes into a dress that is cut very low in the front; Bond hugs himself and runs his arms up and down his sides as he pretends to be kissing someone; Case shows cleavage in the top she's wearing; We see a Playboy Club card pulled from a man's jacket; One of the men who were implied to be gay says to his partner that a woman is quite attractive, "for a lady." His male partner stares at him with a dirty look; In Vegas, we see girls dancing on stage in bikini type outfits. We see two showgirls wearing small outfits on stage with pasties over their nipples in sheer open bikini style tops; A woman's name is Plenty O'Toole. We see her in a very cleavage-heavy dress. When she meets Bond, she introduces herself, "I'm Plenty!" and he looks her over and says "Of course you are;" Plenty and Bond kiss. He unzips her dress and it drops to the floor. We see her bare back then and as she walks away; Some bad guys hustle Plenty across the room, while she's covering her bare chest with her arms. They then throw her out a window and we see her flailing at a distance as she falls into a pool below; Case sits on bed in a nightgown. Bond removes his shirt and lowers the lights. The scene cuts immediately to them together the covers after they slept together. They talk and then kiss more; We see a woman in bikini/lingerie behind a cage gate at a carnival; We see a woman dead in a pool, anchored down. You can see her nipples through her wet top; We see Case and Bond in bed together again. He rolls over on her and says he's "on top of the situation," as we get a glimpse of a pasty on part of her chest before the scene cuts away; We see Case reclining, draped in a large fur blanket; We see a woman in a bikini before and during a fight with Bond; We see Bond in form-fitting wet pants as he gets out of the pool; Case in seen in a bikini sunning on a lounge chair. In the next scene, she reclines on a couch in the same bikini. We briefly see the top of her butt crack in the bottoms after she stands up; Case changes into another bikini style outfit; Bond slips a cassette into Case's bikini bottoms and the camera focuses on her butt in a couple shots.

Vulgarity/Language: 1 "g*dd*mn," 1 "S.O.B," 1 "b*tch," 10 "h*ll", 6 "d*mn," 1 "For G-d's sakes," 1 "My G-d," 1 incomplete "b*stard"

Alcohol/Drugs: Some miscellaneous drinks in a casino; Wine and such is shown on a food cart and then poured for Bond and Case. Bond sips it.

Blood/Gore: A man has a bruise on his face while Bond threatens him; A man frisks Bond and his gets hand caught in a mouse trap style trap. We see his fingers trapped in it with blood all over his hand; Bond throws scalpels at another man and we see them sticking out of him with a little blood on his clothes around their entry points; We see blood on Blofeld's head; Bond shoots a man in the forehead and we see something sticking out of it with blood around it as the man falls backward; A man is shot with some blood on his shirt;

Violence: During the opening credits, a man shoots at the screen and red comes down; A man is thrown through a Japanese paper wall. His unseen attacker then picks him up by the color and threatens him up against the wall; A man in Cairo is punched in the face and then his head is held near a spinning roulette wheel; Bond rips off a woman's bikini top and strangles her with it; A man in a mud bath draws a gun. Bond dives and pulls a lever, causing more mud to dump on him till he's buried and smothered to death; A man frisks Bond and his gets hand caught in a mouse trap style trap. We see his fingers trapped in it with blood all over his hand; Bond throws scalpels at another man and we see them sticking out of him with a little blood on his clothes around their entry points; Bond straps a man to a table and slides him into a hot pool that he sinks into and presumably dies; A man puts a scorpion down thje back of another man's shirt. He reacts to sudden pain and collapses dead; A helicopter explodes mid-air and crashes; A dead woman is pulled out of the canal; Bond and a man punch each other inside a small elevator. Bond smashes him into a glass pane. They fight over a gun. The man holds Bond over the side as a floor approaches his head, almost taking his head off, but Bond kicks a button to stop the elevator. The man then fights with broken piece of glass. They struggle for a long time. Bond slams the elevator gate on the attacker's hand till he drops the glass shard. Bond uses a fire extinguisher in the man's face and then knocks him off a railing to the floor below, ending the fight; Bond is struck on the shoulder and knocked out; Bond is in put into a coffin unconscious and rolled into an incinerator. Flames envelop the box and he starts to struggle, but he's pulled out in time; A man lies dead on the floor; Bond elbows a man in the stomach and face; We see a woman dead in a pool, anchored down by her feet; Bond slaps Case across the face; Bond runs a buggy through a lab wall, then crashes through a security gate. Some cars pursue him but they crash in the desert sand dunes; Bond kicks a guy off a motor tricycle; During a pursuit through Vegas streets, a couple cop cars crash into other cars, one hits a wall, and others crash into each other; Bond jumps some cars in his car, and when a cop car tries to do it, it crashes into other cars; A cop car flips over when trying to drive on two wheels; Bond is gassed in an elevator and collapses; Bond is buried in a tunnel. When a machine moving through the tunnel comes at him, he climbs on top of it and shorts out the wires on it; Two women kick and throw Bond around. Bambi wraps her legs around Bond's neck while Thumper kicks him. Then they both jump kick him and throw him into a pool. They both jump in after him and hold him under the water. He then pops out and does the same in return to them as they splash about; A man is shot at and Bond pulls him to safety; A man is shot and he rolls down a hill; A submarine explodes underwater and an explosion is seen above water; Some soldiers catch fire before missiles explode; A man knocks Bond down by striking him on the back; Helicopters fire on an oil rig and they fire back; A helicopter explodes; An explosion on the rig throws two men in the air; Another helicopter explodes; Explosions go off on the rig and in a lab; Bond throws a man out of a crane driver's seat; Bond rams Blofeld's little ship into the side of a building a few times; Case fires a machine gun and then falls off the crane into the water below; There are lots of explosions inside labs on the rig and on the main platforms of the rig; A man starts to strangle Bond with a chain. A man lights two shish kabobs on fire and picks them up, one in each hand, to use them on Bond. The cause the man's sleeves to catch fire and it ignites the rest of him as flames engulf his whole torso and head. He then falls off the boat into the water below. Meanwhile, Bond pushes off his attscker and pulls his coat between his legs and ties the bomb to his jacket. He then throws the man overboard and he explodes.

Disclaimer: All reviews are based solely on the opinions of the reviewer. Most reviews are rated on how the reviewer enjoyed the film overall, not exclusively on content. However, if the content really affects the reviewer's opinion and experience of the film, it will definitely affect the reviewer's overall rating.

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