| Director | Guy Hamilton | Runtime: 2hr. (120min.) |
|---|---|---|
| James Bond | ..... | Sean Connery |
| Tiffany Case | ..... | Jill St. John |
| Blofeld | ..... | Charley Gray |
| Plenty O' Toole | ..... | Lana Wood |
| Willard Whyte | ..... | Jimmy Dean |
| Saxby | ..... | Bruce Cabot |
| Mr. Kidd | ..... | Putter Smith |
| Mr. Wint | ..... | Bruce Glover |
| Leiter | ..... | Normon Burton |
| Dr. Metz | ..... | Joseph Furst |
| 'M' | ..... | Bernard Lee |
| 'Q' | ..... | Desmond Llewelyn |
| Shady Tree | ..... | Leonard Barr |
| Moneypenny | ..... | Lois Maxwell |
| Mrs. Whistler | ..... | Margaret Lacey |
| Peter Franks | ..... | Joe Robinson |
| Doctor | ..... | David De Keyser |
| Sir Donald Munger | ..... | Laurence Naismith |
| Mr. Slumber | ..... | David Bauer |
In this, the seventh installment of the James Bond movies, the pre-title sequence sees Blofeld (Charley Gray), supervillain and archenemy to Bond (Sean Connery), preparing to have plastic surgery to change his face...or so we are led to believe. We are left thinking Could this be the end of Earnst Stavro Blofeld?
The scheme of this film is the elaborate diamond smuggling operation that is underway. James Bond is put to the task of finding out who is behind it and, of course, to put a stop to it. So, Bond assumes the identity of a well-known diamond smuggler named Peter Franks (Joe Robinson) in order to infiltrate the system and discover the mastermind behind the racket. He must then locate and recover the latest round of stolen diamonds. No sweat, right?
Just when you think he has the whole thing wrapped up, another little plot sneaks into the second hour of the movie. Bond discovers there is more going on than a simple smuggling routine, and an intent much higher than us all.
For one thing, the king of breakfast sausage proves to be a pretty good actor as well. And an an effective character in this movie. Good going Jimmy Dean! On the other hand, the two henchmen who follow Bond throughout the movie (Putter Smith and Bruce Glover) prove to be some of the crackiest characters I have seen. At first, I thought their line delivery was some of the worst I had ever seen. Until I realized it was all part of the characters' screwy personalities.
As is usually the case with many 007 movies, it is up to the moviegoer to decipher who is working for whom and who is really who they say they aren't! Nevertheless, I found it to be one of the easier plots to follow--using diamonds for physical world domination from outer space--why didn't I think of that?!
I must, of course, take this opportunity to point out a few things that I believe were overlooked in the editing, and perhaps the writer's room. First of all, there is a scene at a gas station where Bond and his voluptuous accomplice have the villain's van boxed in along with a civilian's car behind the van. As an argument ensues, Bond slips into the back of the van. The problem here, the man in the car behind the van says not a word to anyone about the weird man scooting into the van!
Second, later on, Bond is running from the bad guys (imagine that!) and he hops into a moon-buggy-like vehicle. As he settles into the seat, he starts pushing various oddly-marked buttons to get the thing going as though he's driven one of these contraptions before. He gets it to move, though. He should have a bumper sticker on the buggy proclaiming My other buggy is an Aston-Martin!
I will direct you to another movie that I intend to review at a later date. I see how this movie was a partial basis for Cats & Dogs 2: The Revenge of Kitty Galore.
Finally, a short list of quotes I think are worth repeating. You may recognize some, but these are my own picks, not ones that are particularly famous:
Curious how everyone who touches those diamonds seems to die.
~Mr. WintThank you very much. I was just walking my rat and I seem to have lost my way.
~James BondJames. How the hell do we get those diamonds down again?
~Tiffany CaseIs that Bert Saxby?
[Saxby is shot]Tell him he's fired!
~Willard WhyteWhat a pity. Such nice cheeks, too. If only they were brains.
~Earnst Blofeld
That's quite a nice little nothing your almost wearing.
~James Bond
10/10 
You'll have to do an entry where you rate the different actors that have portrayed James Bond over the years. The best isn't interesting because it's obviously Sean Connery. The worst is up for debate.
ReplyDeleteYou might want to check out http://brunching.com/ratings-datearchive.html for ratings inspiration. Aside from Lore having a good sense of humor that I think you will appreciate he also shows that you can rate nearly anything in any way. Very good stuff.