Diamonds are smuggled to make a death ray.

After You Only Live Twice, I wouldn't have expected the series to be able to hit a new low so soon, but they managed it.

Concept: D
Story: F
Characters: F
Dialog: D
Pacing: C
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: D
Acting: D
Music: C

Enjoyment: D

GPA: 1.1/4 ( )

Rating: 3.5* of five

Again a reminder that these reviews are for the movies by these titles, NOT Fleming's books. I wasn't at all drawn to the book I read, and I've since sampled a few others, and to me they're repellently dated.

So this 1971 outing is based on the 1956 novel, and marks the last *canonical* film Connery made. Never Say Never Again wasn't a Broccoli-produced film, and made use of a story not ever precisely made into a novel, so...

Jill St. John spends a good deal of time scantily clothed. This mildly annoyed me as she tended to drape herself over pieces of furniture I wanted to look at, and her mammary hypertrophy blocked my view of Connery once in a while.

The plot is of a ridiculousness expected from a Bond film; Bond drives a 1970 Mustang, possibly the lowest styling point that Mustang has ever hit; Charles Gray (the Criminologist from Rocky Horror Picture Show) eats up the scenery as Blofeld, the ongoing villain/nemesis; so, you know, what's expected of a Bond film viewing experience.

Shirley Bassey sings the second most-boring theme song (after Adele's dreary "Skyfall") in the canon. It amused me, mildly, and the inclusion of two gay killers was pretty hotsy-totsy stuff for 1971. So, well, it was Bond so it was better than boring; but it lacked something, so I can't give it a good rating. Just not enough SOMEthing. ( )

Sean Connery as Bond. Sigh. He does it so well, and Jill St. John was just so brash, yet glammy. ( )