I’m curious to hear what the opinions on Sean Connery’s sixth (and final EON) film as James Bond were? I like it for all it’s campy craziness but the older, fatter, gray haired Bond he portrays really stands out from YOLT. I wonder if they PURPOSELY wanted to show him as older and less energetic? Connery’s real hair wasn’t gray IRL…
Also, it’s amazing to consider just how much Connery aged in the 9 years between Dr. No and DAF. And he was only 41 when DAF was made, too:
It was the weakest of the six he made for them. Stupid plot, and ridiculous henchmen. I did like Jill St. John, however.
I seem to remember that when I was a kid, back before cable TV when the three broadcast networks still used to show movies in prime time. It used to be kind of a big deal when some big blockbuster was going to be on, or even have its television premiere. I think it was ABC that had the Bond movies. I remember they’d promote them pretty heavily and Diamonds Are Forever seemed to get the most hype. Maybe it just had the perfect mix for that era; the coolness of the original Bond, with with all the stunts and glitz that the series would become known for.
As the stunts and glitz got too overblown and cartoonish, DAF has fallen out of favor. If you like the campy Bond you watch Moore; if you like the cool Bond you watch the early Connery movies in which he was cool.
I liked it. I actually liked the henchmen; Crispin Glovers Dad and jazz bassist Putter Smith. Liked JSJ. Loved the brutal fight in the elevator. Hated Jimmy Dean…lucky for him he had sausage. Loved the Vegas car chase. Horrified by the Circus Circus entertainment. Only he and Aussie special forcer were the only believable Bonds.
Aside fro the other issues mentioned, I cringe at the excessive misogyny, even for Bond. The way he treats Tiffany on the drilling rig is horrible. But then, he’s banging her 10 minutes later.
Plus, you can’t survive a near-cremation like that.
And the basic plan is stupid. So Kidd and Wint are cleaning up the diamond trail, killing each step. But they kill the helicopter pilot before getting to the next step, rather than after. And what was the original plan to get the diamonds into the US? Was the guy Bond killed supposed to “die” (or, just die) and have the diamonds in the body, or were they going to use another body? If so, where was it? Good thing they checked the diamond quicklly enough, eh? And why didn’t W&K kill Tiffany right then?
I do like Charles “Where’s your neck?” Grey as Bloefeld. “Your puny little island isn’t even threatened.” But all in all, it’s near the bottom in quality. I think I’d put it below The Man With the Golden Gun.
Since they basically threw Fleming’s original work out the window (more so than in previous outings) it’s no wonder it turned out the way it did; this definitely marked the point where the crew at UA assumed creative control of the series. The writing went downhill from there.
That said, I do enjoy the film for what it is, despite the numerous plot holes. I like Jill St John too, but she was way too much of a bimbo in this movie to make a convincing Bond girl.
They didn’t have much choice as to showing an “older, fatter” Bond (and quite honestly, I was just happy to see Connery back in the role).
I liked the way Jimmy Dean said Baja…
***Baja?! I haven’t got anything in Baja!
***But yeah, Connery’s worst Bond.
Boy-oh-boy, I sure would if I could! 
:o
It’s a live-action cartoon.
And they could’ve had Connery play straight man to all of the wackiness – the way that Daniel Craig and Timothy Dalton would’ve maybe had to – but, instead, he just goes along with it and fits right in. (At that, I doubt you could’ve dropped Roger Moore into SKYFALL or LICENSE TO KILL and had him play it absolutely straight – but Connery could do that, too. But I digress; the point is, this one is gags from a Bugs Bunny cartoon, and a villain campy enough for Adam West’s outings as Batman, and winks to the audience and some non sequitur humor and old-fashioned slapstick.)
I don’t know. I’ve seen Moore in other roles; I think he could play a badass when he had to, he just chose not to (very much so) as Bond.
Certainly the worst of Connery’s Bonds. Everyone was just going through the motions.
Butnwould you respect her in the morning?
Would you care? Remember her character was a thief and complicit in murder. Could you respect her at all?
Good theory! I think you may have nailed it.
I DID enjoy watching Bond use Blofeld in his teeny little submarine as a wrecking ball. And I liked Wint & Kidd – even though they are awful stereotypes, they made excellent assassins. Had no idea one of them was Crispin Glover’s poppa.
Hell, I probably wouldn’t respect her before, during, or after.
My conscience I would struggle with later. Much later. :o
Doesn’t JSL exclaim something like: “The world famous James Bond!!” at some point? Some secret agent!
Oops- JSJ :o
Maybe she’s a fan of ornithologists. 
“You don’t just kill James Bond then stand around…” Something like that. The biggest problem with JSJ’s character was she started out competent, playing an integral part in this international caper and the writers slowly turn her into a mindless bimbo by the end of the film.
But she was quite attractive.
For a lady.
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It was the first Bond film that I saw on its initial release, although I’d seen several of the earlier ones as re-releases on double bills.
It was disappointing. The comic-book gangsters, the often absurd sets (that "rock with a cactus on it that tilts up and back down as a secret entrance looks SO fake). Even Kidd and Wint as the flamboyant henchmen, though interesting, couldn’t save it.
What was annoying were the lapses, which there were many of:
Charles gray as Blofeld? We’d just seen him two movies before as Mr. Henderson. Ernst Stavro Blofeld had been established in the two previous films as a bald guy, so howcum now he has a full head of gray hair? Too big a change.
Bond goes to the desert retreat where they’re holding Willard Whyte and encounters gymnast jailers Bambi and Thumper, who do a real number on him. He apparently defeats them by holding their heads underwatrer. I don’t buy it.
Kidd and Wint’s fiendish plan to get rid of Bond is to leave him in a pipe that will be buried in the desert? Really? Wouldn’t the guys burying the pipe notice a body lying in the pipe? Even if they didn’t, all Bond has to do is crouch-run to the access hatch, or maybe the end of the pipe.
They seriously loused up the bit with Plenty O’Toole (Lana Wood, Natalie’s busty little sister). They cut out and in some cases didn’t even film key scenes to let you know what the hell was supposed to be going on.
The flub with the car-on-two-wheels that enters an alley on one side, but leaves it on the other. C’mon guys – there were other ways to fix that.
The completely disappointing fizzle with the fate of Blofeld. Evidently they had plannerd for a boat chase across the ocean or Lake Mead or something, but ran out of money. But surely you could come up with a more decisive way to finish him than simply literally leaving him hanging. (They sorta cleaned this up years later in the opening to For Your Eyes Only, in which an un-named but obviously Blofeld in a wheelchair tries to kill Bond with a remote-controlled helicopter,)
There WERE some good things – the music, the always gorgeous Ken Adams sets, the space/laser tie-in, the basic idea of having “Willard Whyte” (obvious Howard Hughes – a friend of Cubby Broccoli) as a kidnap victim, the fight in the elevator with Peter Franks. But it can’t makeup for the flaws.
I just watched this recently on the “Special Edition” DVD, which has a “making of” featurette. They evidently thought they were recapturing the success of Goldfinger, which is why they brought back Shirley Bassey to sing the theme and Connery to play Bond. You even have the “money” theme, only with Diamonds instead of Gold. But this wasn’t Goldfinfer II, despite their hopes. It was, arguably, the start of the descent of Bond into Puerility – the demolition-car derby between Bond and the Las Vegas police prefigures similar things in the next two films, Live and Let Die and The Man with the Golden Gun. The Dick Tracy weirdness of Kidd and Wint opened the door for Jaws.