Next to Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever (1971) is my favorite Bond film. It may not be the most critically acclaimed of the Bond movies, but it holds special memories for me because it was one of the few movies I saw in the theatre with my family. We didn't have much family time and we had a lot of problems, but movies seemed to knock down all the barriers.
I absolutely LOVED the opening credits animation and the theme music. Watching Bond through the barrell of a gun and red "blood" dripping down to the sound of a cool bass guitar was thrilling. Oh, yeah!
Sean Connery on the Big Screen was amazing to say the least. Even at age 14, I could see he was a ten on the handsome scale. I loved the shiny red sports car with all the bells and whistles and the beautiful Jill St. John. The character name puns were so clever-- Tiffany Case, Plenty O'Toole, Bambi and Thumper.
I'll never forget the scene where James is trapped in a coffin about to be cremated. I thought there's no way in the world he could get out of this one! But lo and behold, he jumps out of the coffin calm and dignified without a wrinkle in his suit, like he was ready to go to a royal ball.
I was also impressed with Mr. Kidd (Putter Smith) and Mr. Wint (Bruce Glover). They were so creepy. The poison tarantula scene freaked me out!
Shout out to my friend Craig who is celebrating 50 Years of James Bond on his blog Let's Get Out of Here
Ah what a fantastic post! Thank you Luana! I truly do love the 007 movies - the story of how is a long one I won't bore with here. But I love Diamonds too. In honor of this movie I got married in Las Vegas - we stayed at Circus Circus instead of the Tropicana - but Bond spent more time in the movie at Circus Circus. We did manage to see some stuff from the movie too. It also turns out that The Whyte House - the bad guy's lair in the movie - was in reality the Las Vegas Hilton tricked out with some movie magic to look different - and the Hilton is about two blocks from Circus Circus and used to house the big Star Trek: The Experience attraction. The highest point of one of the greatest weeks of my life - getting behind the wheel of our rented car and setting out for Hoover Dam - and honest to goodness, as we turned onto the main drag that took us past casino after casino - the radio piped up with...yes, you guessed it! Dame Shirley Bassey singing Diamonds are Forever!!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for the shout out! Everyone is welcome over at LGOOH - and any friend of Luana's is a friend of mine! Cheers and double cheers, my friend!
Craig: Awesome! You have the inside scoop...I LOVE it! I stayed at Circus Circus one night when we were passing through Vegas on a road trip. I'm not big on gambling and casinos so Vegas isn't really my kind of town. But the MOVIE ROCKED!!!!!
ReplyDeleteLuana, I'm a Bond fan, too. Sean Connery is great, but I also like the other Bond Men: Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, Daniel Craig...ooh la la.
ReplyDeleteZelda, I really liked Living Daylights with Timothy Dalton's premiere as the new Bond. I also like the edgy and rugged Daniel Craig.
ReplyDeleteZelda, I really liked Living Daylights with Timothy Dalton's premiere as the new Bond. I also like the edgy and rugged Daniel Craig.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure I saw this one, but now I can't recall. That was during an era when I was going to movies on a regular basis, so I probably went to this Bond film since I had been a fan from the start and had read all of Ian Fleming's Bond books. Great action hero.
ReplyDeleteLee
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Lee: Great to see you again! I'm a huge Bond fan, but I like the movies better than the books. Although I only read one: From Russia with Love. Thanks for stopping by!
ReplyDeleteHey I think your blog is great and congratulations; you have won the Versatile Blogger Award! :)
ReplyDeleteCome by my blog to pick it up.
Hi, Nellie: Thanks for the award and for stopping by!
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