12 Things You Learn Rewatching Diamonds Are Forever
Yep, it still sucks.
Our weekly Bond rewatch series continues with the seventh entry, 1971's Diamonds Are Forever. Directed by Guy Hamilton - previously responsible for the fantastic Goldfinger - this is one of the most divisive Bond films to date, being reviled by many for its low-effort silliness, and praised by others for its shameless campiness.
In that sense Diamonds Are Forever does at least provide a bridge between the generally more serious tone of the Connery movies the lighter tenor of the Roger Moore films that followed, but it's still an unmistakably awkward film that's, honestly, a bit of a slog to sit through almost five decades later.
If you're an especially ardent Connery fan it might do the trick, and it's not without some fun moments, but generally it's an extremely rough effort for the series up to this point. Still, that didn't stop it grossing an insane $116 million worldwide (against a $7.2 million budget).
Clearly, after George Lazenby's contentious turn in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, audiences were just happy to see the indelible original back in the saddle...