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Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
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scotpens
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Joined: 19 Sep 2014
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 13, 2017 9:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Krel wrote:
Sean Connery was really out of shape in this movie.

Indeed, it was hard to believe an overweight, tired-looking Bond could get the best of those two super-fit gymnasts Bambi and Thumper. Working together as a team, those women could probably have wiped the floor with him!
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Custer
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 14, 2017 7:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I guess we could do with a picture of the aforementioned Bambi and Thumper, taking a refreshing dip with our hero:

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 02, 2017 11:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

scotpens wrote:
Indeed, it was hard to believe an overweight, tired-looking Bond could get the best of those two super-fit gymnasts Bambi and Thumper. Working together as a team, those women could probably have wiped the floor with him!

The trouble with the Connery and Moore "James Bond" movies is that they the producers clung to the existing star beyond the point when he could still properly play the role.

In Moore's case, I wasn't all that impressed with him in the first one, and by the time the franchise reached the last one he was much too old to portray the character.

As much as I like Pierce Brosnan, I'm almost glad he didn't make a fifth film. Despite the fact that Die Another Day is criticized by folks who enjoyed it less than I did, I think Pierce left while he was on top.

Which is James Bond's preferred position. Wink

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johnnybear
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PostPosted: Sat May 25, 2019 3:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Boy was Jill St. John sexy in this film!!! Her and Bambi raised more than my interest when I was younger! Sadly there's no pics on this thread...Sad
JB


Last edited by johnnybear on Sat Nov 02, 2019 8:50 am; edited 1 time in total
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat May 25, 2019 3:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Ask, and ye shall receive! Thump . . . and the door shall open!

~ The gospel accord to Saint Bud Cool




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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Thu Feb 27, 2020 10:48 am; edited 1 time in total
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Eadie
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PostPosted: Sat May 25, 2019 7:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The dunking picture posted by Custer is missing. Will this do?


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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat May 25, 2019 7:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Custer's photo web host changed their suffix from org to cc about a year ago, and since then I've been fixing his broken images whenever I encountered them. So, the one he posted above is working now. Very Happy

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
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johnnybear
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 01, 2019 7:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks, gentlemen! I think I would have enjoyed Bambi's thighs around my neck and face and not squirmed, much, like Connery did in the scene! Razz
JB
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 01, 2019 10:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

johnnybear wrote:
Thanks, gentlemen! I think I would have enjoyed Bambi's thighs around my neck and face and not squirmed, much, like Connery did in the scene! Razz
JB

I think the problem was that Mr. Connery couldn't take the "pressure" of such an intimate moment. Perhaps he felt a bit "smothered" by the lady's intense affection. Some men feel "hemmed in" when a girl comes on "too strong". Wink
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Thu Feb 27, 2020 10:47 am; edited 1 time in total
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johnnybear
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 15, 2019 10:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Not me, Bud! I love it! Razz
JB
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 01, 2019 11:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Krel wrote:
The scope used on the U.N.C.L.E. Special was a Bushnell Phantom scope. The Phantom scope was made to be mounted on a pistol, usually by a grip panel that incorporated a scope-mount.

I'm still a bit puzzled.

To use a scope, the shooter has to place his eye close to the eyepiece, just like a telescope. That's easy to do with a rifle.

But how can a shooter use the scope if it's held at arm's length when firing the pistol? What am I missing here, guys? Confused

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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The Spike
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 27, 2020 7:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Such a pity. All that time and energy wasted, simply to provide you with one mock, heroic moment.

Diamonds Are Forever is directed by Guy Hamilton and adapted to screenplay by Richard Maibaum and Tom Mankiewicz from the novel of the same name written by Ian Fleming. It stars Sean Connery, Jill St John, Charles Gray, Bruce Glover, Putter Smith, Joseph Furst, Norman Burton and Jimmy Dean. Music is scored by John Barry and cinematography by Ted Moore.

Bond 7 and 007 is assigned to find out who is stock piling all the black market diamonds. This leads him to a sinister weapon being manufactured in space that can destroy major cities. The architect of such vileness? SPECTRE chief Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the man who murdered Bond's wife, and someone Bond thought he had already located and killed.

With George Lazenby withdrawing from the franchise after just the one film, off to massage his ego and take further bad advice from those around him, Albert R. Broccoli & Harry Saltzman set about making Bond sustainable box office in the 1970s. American actor John Gavin (Psycho/Spartacus) had signed on to fill the tuxedo, but armed with wads of cash the producers managed to entice Connery back to the role he had previously fell out of love with. Helped, too, that Connery's post Bond movies, his last outing had been You Only Live Twice in 1967, had hardly set the box office alight. It seemed a long shot, but Connery stunned the movie world by agreeing to once again play the role that many would come to know him for.

Back came Connery, back came director Guy Hamilton and back came Shirley Bassey to sing the title song (a true Bond classic it proved to be as well), these were reassuring signs, as was having Blofeld remain on villain duties. However, stung by the criticism of Lazenby's humanesque On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and the drop in box office profits compared to Connery's latter Bond films, the makers decided to play this Bond as fantastique, something that would define Bond until Timothy Dalton tried something different at the end of the 1980s. Roger Moore would replace Connery as Bond two years later and it's widely thought that his arrival as 007 ushered in the "ridiculous" era of overt humour, preposterous sight gags and cartoonish escapades. Not so, it began with Connery's Diamonds Are Forever. The moment Bond drives a Ford Mustang on two wheels, all bets were off in the franchise.

Artistically "Diamonds" is a disappointing movie, fun for sure, but the screenplay refuses to let the film take itself seriously. It's often camp and the picture lacks dramatic thrust and spectacular action, with the finale a rather tepid affair. Connery's presence gives the film some warmth, but his charisma and vocal delivery can't detract from the fact he looks to be doing it purely for the money. His weight, like his hair colour, fluctuates, and much of the vibrancy of his 60s Bond portrayals had disappeared. Charles Gray turns in the worst Blofeld of them all, saddled with a screenplay that has him cloning and cross dressing, Gray has Blofeld as charming and wry, gone is the menace and machismo so wonderfully portrayed by Pleasence and Savalas respectively in the previous two Bond movies. Felix Leiter in Norman Burton's hands has been reduced to being a bit of a doofus, the baddies are either too fey or over the top, while Jill St John's main Bond girl, Tiffany Case, descends from being a steely femme at the beginning, to a voluptuous caricature.

On the plus side. Barry's score and Ken Adam's sets are still franchise joys, the byplay between Bond and M (Bernard Lee again) reminds us of once great characterizations, while Desmond Llewelyn's Q is nicely sent out in the field for a change. Action wise there's some fine moments. The pre-credits sequence as Bond chases down Blofeld starts things off excitingly, a fight in a lift is up with the best of the Bond movie dust-ups and the dirt bike and Mustang chase sequences are well put together by Hamilton. Good gadgets, too, if you like that side of Bond. There was enough good parts here, and the return of Connery, to ensure Diamonds Are Forever was a monster success at the box office, where it grossed over $115 million worldwide. It proved that Bond had longevity, but with a new actor to come to the Bond role in two years time and the big shift to comedy action over tough guy missions, would Bond turn off the movie loving public? 6/10

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 27, 2020 11:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

You nailed all the reasons I too feel that this Bond movie was weak and unsatisfying. The first five Bond movies presented a main character who was very comfortable with wealth and sophistication, but who could deal with nasty situations using his intelligence and his pocket sized high-tech tools.

Diamonds are Forever tossed all that out and had Bond roaming around in tacky-trashy Vegas while driving a Ford Mustang whose only impressive feature was Jill St. John in the passenger seat! Rolling Eyes

Nope, it just didn't work . . .

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Krel
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 27, 2020 1:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The movie was a missed opportunity. Instead of a throwaway scene in the beginning of the movie, the WHOLE film should have Bond's quest for revenge for the murder of his wife, THE love of his life.

The movie could have given Connery a meaty role, and have been EPIC! It could have had Bond rampaging across the globe on his quest, alarming the Secret Service with his actions as he goes rouge.

The title even fits. Instead after the opening, her death has no more meaning to Bond. That part bothered me.

David.
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johnnybear
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 29, 2020 8:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Knowing EON films they probably ignored OHMSS and tied Diamonds into a sequel of sorts from YOLT from 67 because their new Bond failed to impress! Bob Cummings was hired originally to play Bond in this one and even though they didn't use him he was still payed the full salary!
JB
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