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Review
Archives
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Today's
Date is:
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Diamonds
Are Forever
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Reviewed
by: |
Rob
Anderson |
| Genre: |
Action/Adventure
|
| Video: |
16
X 9 Widescreen |
| Audio: |
Dolby
Digital 5.1 |
| Language: |
English
only |
| Subtitle: |
Spanish,
French |
| Length: |
120
mins. |
| Rating: |
PG
|
| Release
Date: |
10-17-00 |
| Studio: |
MGM |
| Commentary:
|
The
Commentary is narrated by David Naylor, and includes Director
Guy Hamilton, Co-Screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz, Production Designer
Ken Adam, Jimmy Dean ("Willard Whyte"), Jill St. John ("Tiffany
Case"), Lana Wood ("Plenty O'Tool"), Bruce Glover ("Mr. Wint"),
and assorted producers, associates and friends. But NOT Sean
Connery. |
| Documentaries:
|
"Inside
Diamonds Are Forever" |
| Featurettes:
|
"Cubby
Broccoli - The Man Behind Bond" |
| Filmography/Biography:
|
None |
|
Interviews: |
None |
| Trailers/TV
Spots: |
Two
theatrical trailers, five TV spots and three radio spots. |
| Alternate/Deleted
Scenes: |
Four
deleted scenes. |
| Music
Video: |
None |
| Other:
|
Opening
segment, including computer animation and clips from most of
the Bond films, just prior to appearance of Main Menu. |
| Cast
and Crew: |
Sean Connery,
Jill St. John, Bruce Glover, Lana Wood, Charles Gray, Bruce
Cabot, Putter Smith, Bernard Lee. |
| Screenplay
by: |
Written by
Tom Mankiewicz and Richard Maibaum, from the novel by Ian Fleming |
| Produced
by: |
Albert Broccoli and Harry
Saltzman |
| Directed
By: |
Guy Hamilton |
| Music: |
John Barry (theme song
"Diamonds Are Forever" by Don Black) |
| The
Review: |
One of the
less interesting Bond films, Diamonds Are Forever is nevertheless
filled with crisp, witty dialogue and cheeky performances. Though
Jill St. John's "Tiffany Case" is no Pussy Galore, she still
manages some nice moments with Connery and, in general, makes
for very nice scenery. There are four "Bond Women" in this film:
Case, Plenty O'Tool (Lana Wood), Bambi and Thumper. What a tonic
it is to watch women in a film who actually look like women,
as opposed to 13-year-old boys with breasts and washboard stomachs.
A nice change, that. The opening credits are set against yet
another example of Broccoli's patented Attack of the Silhouetted
Bouncing Boobs. The plot is classic Bond. There are diamonds
to be found and transported, and the brother of an old nemesis
to defeat. In the meantime there are some wonderfully well-choreographed
fights and chases, including a climactic battle on an oil rig
that holds up surprisingly well. The shots of Las Vegas are
priceless because they are totally authentic (with the exception
of a flawless matte shot of Willard Whyte's hotel and casino,
The Whyte House). Albert Broccoli had, ahem, connections in
Vegas, who allowed him to shut down whole parts of the town
for days on end so the film could be shot. It shows, and thirty
years later the result is like a time capsule of post-60s America,
without the usual denuding of the location required for most
films. All in all, this a fine Bond film. It features the now
legendary tilted-car shot during a key chase sequence. Not the
best, to be sure, but it's a fun way to spend two hours. |
| Image
and Sound |
I wasn't
expecting much, frankly, so I was very pleasantly surprised
to discover that this transfer is exceedingly clean. There is
only one moment near the end of the film when there's even a
hint of scratch or fuzz, and the colors are all bright and distinct
(though lighter tones tend to appears a bit washed out - but
only a bit). Furthermore the night scenes in Vegas sparkle,
with all the lighting effects intact and the matte shots virtually
indistinguishable from the rest of the action. There are a few
high, daytime shots above Vegas where the blue of the sky and
the brown and tan of the desert are brilliantly contrasted.
A great deal of care clearly went into this digital transfer.
|
| The
Extras |
"Inside
Diamonds Are Forever", narrated by Patrick Macnee (of The Avengers),
is essentially a visual rehash of the information and even the
interviews featured in the commentary. There are only a handful
of "outtake" style bits, and little in the way of behind-the-scenes
footage. It's mainly talking heads and shots from the finished
film. "Cubby Broccoli - The Man Behind Bond", also narrated
by Macnee, is the worst sort of Hollywood hagiography. Though
it is interesting to learn about the late Mr. Broccoli's Italian
lineage and early years as a farmer (in Long Island, of all
places), there is very little that is of special interest. For
example, the controversial nature of those, ahem, connections
in Vegas (passed off here as just his "old friend" Howard Hughes)
are never explored in the way they were in several articles
that appeared in the 80s in magazines like Vanity Fair. For
example, no mention is made of what a scandal it was when he
was awarded the Irving Thalberg Award in 1982, primarily because
he was always seen as a purveyor of genre pabulum. It would
seem the only decent thing Broccoli ever did was bring "The
Trials of Oscar Wilde" to the screen, just prior to producing
"Dr. No". The Outtakes: There are four, the only one of note
being a brief scene featuring Sammy Davis Jr. What is notable
about all of them in general is the comparison/contrast they
make to the look of the film itself. The outtakes, like the
trailers and TV ads, look and sound simply awful. The Trailers:
Both of them are pretty standard stuff, containing essentially
the same footage in different order, and with the same narration.
One bit of trivia to be gleaned from them is that the film was
released near Christmas in 1971. The TV Ads: There are five,
and all contain the same bits of footage mixed up in different
ways as well as the same narration. One bit of notable trivia
is the MPAA designation: "GP" for "Parental Guidance". |
| Commentary |
The commentary
was, frankly, startling in its thoroughness and detail. Bond
fans will delight in the fact that it is very much like an audio
documentary, complete with narration interspersed with bits
of interviews with Guy Hamilton, Jill St. John, Ken Adam and
many others. The one glaring absence, of course, is Sean Connery,
something I didn't find the least bit surprising. Scene-by-scene
and sequence-by-sequence the viewer is regaled with reminisces,
production details and loads of trivia. Here are some examples:
*At one point Tom Mankiewicz refers to kids today wanting to
own "JamesBond.com" as opposed to being astronauts, as they
did at the time of the film's release. This marks his interview
as fairly recent. *Tom Makiewicz is the son of Joseph L. Mankiewicz
of "Cleopatra" infamy, and the nephew of "Citizen Kane" screenwriter
Herman Makniewicz. *Bruce Glover ("Mr. Wint") is Crispin Glover's
father (and looks it). *Lana Wood ("Plenty O'Tool") is the late
Natalie Wood's younger sister. *Jimmy Dean of breakfast sausage
fame plays Willard Whyte. There's a great deal more. Guy Hamilton
explains how he got the famous tilted car stunt, and why the
car is traveling at a different angle when it comes out of the
alley. Ken Adam discusses how he came up with his amazing production
designs, as well as some of the stunning sets, not of all of
which were fake. The commentary is one of the best I've ever
heard, which is ironic given that this is one of the lesser
additions to a less-than-noteworthy film series. Nevertheless,
it is something every Bond fan will love. |
| Final
Words: |
Final Words:
"Diamonds Are Forever" marked the next-to-last time that Sean
Connery would play James Bond. That, Ken Adam's production design
and the opportunity to see and hear this film more or less as
it was seen and heard in theatres in 1971 are really the only
things to recommend this DVD. |
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