That's No Moonraker: Diamonds Are Forever

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Date

July 4th, 2020

Summary

Alex and Pete return after a brief stint elsewhere to discuss the 7th James Bond film.

Duration

1:41:00

Notes

Film

• 7th movie based on the fourth book. First time we're jumping back to an earlier book. It's almost like a prequel.
• Filmed in April and released in December '71.
• Written by Tom Mankiewicz (of clan Mankiewicz). They wanted an American screenwriter since so much of the film is set in Las Vegas.
  • The novel provided material for about 45 minutes of screen time (it was 15 years old at this point). Makes one want to read the book.
• The gun barrel sequence in this movie is a re-use of footage from fourth & fifth films (the second time the sequence was filmed, as you'll recall it was stuntman Bob Simmons for the first three movies) as the film aspect ratio had changed and they used Connery for the re-shoot.
  • Black and white but with a weird blueish tint.
  • This is the last gun barrel sequence where Bond is wearing a hat.
• Connery was paid a record-breaking $1.25 million to come back to the role.
• First returning artist for opening theme.
• The casino scenes were filmed at Circus Circus, which had only opened three years prior.
  • The real life casino owner is briefly in the movie (not the carnival Barker).
• Lana Wood (Plenty) almost drowned filming the scenes; they really did tie her to a cement block. She could breathe in between takes, but the cement block kept sliding farther and farther down in the pool, and she was only saved because somebody noticed.
• Neither the main Bond girls are dubbed.
• Kidd is played by jazz musician Putter Smith.
  • Not an actor, he was playing bass for Thelonious Monk and Saltzman saw him and thought he looked perfect for the part.
• They originally cast Paul Williams for Wint, but he wanted too much money.

Podcast

• This movie is the awkward transition period between the 1960's and 70's. It's the awkward adolescence of the Bond franchise.
  • The more rooted in the 'present' a James Bond movie is (au currant), the worse it holds up. See also: things from 1985.
• Google plot summary.
  • We almost side with Blofeld here; he steals from rich diamond producers to force the world into peace. Many people do the opposite (steal from the poor and instigate violence).
  • But his plan is very dumb like many supervillain plans.
• Bond takes great sadistic pleasure in killing Blofeld (we know why if we saw the previous film, but no hint given in this movie).
  • Codename Theory: He's getting revenge on behalf of his friend and successor (former 077 stepped up) since Lazenby can't go back to the job since he's so broken up after his wife is murdered.
  • Connery Bond feels responsible because the guy he spent years trying to take down Blofeld. And the first scene of the cold open is in Japan (where he retired to) (Note: see last week).
• What is actually happening in the gun barrel sequence? It has its own wikipedia page. It should be a scope rather than the barrel.
• Production: re-using things from Goldfinger.
  • OHMSS came out and broke the mold (fan response wasn't as strong as they wanted), so they wanted to put the band back together to recapture the magic.
  • Guy Hamilton, Shirley Bassey, Connery all back. Connery wasn't super interested, but UA said he could have whatever he wanted if he'd do it.

Other actors considered

• John Gavin (a regular TCM guy), Adam West (post-Batman) and Burt Reynolds (none of whom are British).
  • West and Reynolds both turned it down because they were American and didn't think they could do it.
  • Gavin was signed with Eon, but the producers wanted Connery and told him they'd get him for the next one. But Adam West was right; they can't have an American playing Bond, and Eon backed out.
• Also Michael Gambon (new Dumbledore) (Irish).
  • Upon being approached, he was quoted as saying "are you kidding me?!" He thought his figure was too poor to play Bond. But Cubby Broccoli said so was Connery's.

Opening theme

• Mentioned Kanye West version.
• Lyricist was contentious because of the racy double (and sometimes single) entendres. Saltzman hated the crass innuendo but Broccoli liked it.
• What Barry told Bassey to imagine she was singing about.
• The song was also recorded and released in Italian by Bassey herself.
• Alex agrees with the fan consensus that so far this is the best opening song.
• Reference to Alphabeatical: Paul McCartney accidentally created Disco.
• The song checks all of Pete's boxes.

Other notes

• It's annoying they didn't work the phrase "diamonds are forever" into this movie, considering how easy it would have been to set up.
• Bond girls.
  • Jill St. John as Tiffany case.
    • Notorious for dating around among celebrities: married four times married (including to two different heirs of vast fortunes). She dated both Connery and Lazenby and Tom Mankiewicz.
  • Mentioned: the "girl formula". This movie doesn't really follow that.
  • Plenty O'Toole played by Lana Wood.
    • Famously, she is the younger sister of Natalie Wood.

Bad Blood between Lana Wood and Jill St. John

 Both were concurrently dating Sean Connery during the production of this movie.
 More bad blood: Jill St. John married Robert Wagner, who had been involved with the death of Lana's sister Natalie. In 1999, Jill refused to be photographed with Lana when Vanity Fair was doing a 'Bond Girls' reunion cover.
 There was an event in Palm Springs honoring Jill St. John and Lana Wood crashed it and confronted Robert Wagner about the death of her sister.

• James Bond in his tuxedo is totally out of place at this grubby American Casino.
  • Circus Circus.
    • It was the first themed Vegas casino, and the first to cater not to high rollers but to the average Joe, starting a trend.
    • They used to have gymnastics going on above the floor but they stopped it when they realized people would stop and watch that instead of gambling.
      • This is another snapshot, a moment in time when Circus Circus was still trying to figure things out.
    • The guy who started Circus Circus came up with the "urinal theory of slot machines" namely that people don't want someone sitting right next to them when they are gambling, so they needed twice as many slot machines as they thought they would need so people would actually stay longer.
• Bambi and Thumper don't really count as Bond girls.
  • The weird scene where they were trying to 'tumblecise" Bond to death.
• The dark sadistic streak to this movie.
  • Bond tortures two women by holding their heads underwater. Is he the one who drowned plenty O'Toole earlier in the movie?
  • Odd considering Natalie Wood (her sister in real life) will famously drown (or at least die in proximity to water) around 10 years from now (see above).
  • There's a weird drowning theme in this movie.
• Bond is normally very mysogynistic, to be sure, but in this movie he's downright vengeful against women.
• Why was Plenty there at Tiffany's in the first place? Tiffany's choice to join with James after he points out a random dead body to her is odd.
• Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd: at one time they were ranked the worst Bond villains in the entire series, but Pete and Alex like them a lot.
  • The subtext is that they were lovers, and at the time this meant to add to their unsettling presence, but now it humanizes them.

Meta Notes

• This is the second week in a row that Alex has assigned James Bond an amusing middle name.
  • Notably, the middle name of 'Tiberius' is shared with (and likely inspired by) a certain starship captain.
• $1.25 million in 1971 is equivalent to $8,070,795.75 in 2020.
• At 0:32:07, Alex's dog is really easy to hear in the background.

Quotes

• Alex: (as Sean Connery) <in pretty good Scottish brogue> I'll do it for free if you let me say "brakefast".
• Alex: He [Gavin] is the George Lazenby [...] to George Lazenby's George Lazenby. Pete: Exactly. He's a real "George Lazenby's George Lazenby".
• Pete: Maybe you get those confused: "deceased" and "Irish".
• Pete: I would count them [Bambi and Thumper] in the "Hench" category.
• Pete: Maybe we could have used some van der Zyl. Alex: just a touch of van der Zyl.

Star Wars names

Star Wars pun names for Diamonds are Forever
Alex	Diamonds R4-ever Kyber crystals are Foreve
Pete	"Die Wanna Wangas"s are Forever Diamonds are for Even Piell

Link (Patreon supporters only)

https://www.patreon.com/posts/thats-no-are-38758513

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