A real disaster of a flick that clearly reflects the uncertainty and disarray surrounding the franchise in the early ‘70s. With George Lazenby out of the picture and a small cavalcade of fill-ins dropping off for one reason or another, Eon pressed the panic button and brought Sean Connery out of mothballs for a swan song. It's a mistake from the very start. Not only does Connery look unreasonably old for the part, he badly overplays his confidence and worldliness, often coming off as desperate and smarmy.

The screen is crowded with gaudy sideshow characters, including a trashy, ditsy leading lady and two villainous hitmen who seem far more concerned with excessively elaborate setups than actually doing away with anybody. Even longtime nemesis Blofeld, who may have been the sole beacon of excellence in the equally-forgettable You Only Live Twice, is ruined by an awful recasting, horrendous new personality quirks and a master plan that makes no sense whatsoever. But that's par for the course, really, as the plot at large is peppered with so many dumb jokes and absurd asides that just keeping up with this swerving, goofball storyline is a challenge worthy of MI-6.

There's a good car chase midway through the second act (which loses some steam thanks to a similar pursuit, just a few minutes earlier, involving a freaking moon rover) and a few of the gags are so mind-blowingly stupid that I couldn't help but laugh. Otherwise, this is a completely insignificant chapter in the character's long, speckled history. Unless you're a dedicated completist, keep your distance.

Granted, it's not the best Bond movie so far, not even the second best. But I like this more than OHMSS. And not because Connery was back. No, that probably wasn't the best idea but one born out of desperation. His age (althought just around 40 he looked older) is clearly showing by now and he isn't as convincing as he was before. I do agree that there is a lot of sillyness in this movie. But in some way that's what I expect from a Bond movie. Not a parody but certainly a wee bit over the top. But it seems to be more aimed at an american audience. The addition of well known, and beautiful, american actress Jill St. John seems to add to that.
[spoiler] There is no mentioning at all of what happened at the end of OHMSS and I think that was a deliberate attempt to bury that movie. We start out again with Bond chasing Blofeld (again played by a different actor) around the world and presumably killing him. Which is later revealed to be a Doppelgänger. Not a huge surprise for the audience I might add. The two henchman Wint and Kidd add a little bit of creepyness and overall you get the usual plot holes and errors also typical for a Bond movie. [/spoiler]
But it was "Goodbye" for Mr. Connery who carried a lot of the 1960s Bond with him. The next one would by the premiere for Roger Moore (who was the initial first choice for the character) who carries Bond into the 1970s.

007 follows a blood trail of diamond smuggling.
Of course it leads to a dastardly villain.
This one has a lot of the Bond elements. There is a lot of action, almost non stop, a lot of nice scenery, though not as great as the great Bond films. And there is wit.
Also lacking, due to the women's lib era being at its height, is the beautiful women. There is one super hot babe who quickly drowns to appease the women's lib.
The director seemed to want to make the point he was appeasing women's lib by presenting Jill St John (who isn't as homely as she appears in this movie) in a woman's lib fashion. A young boy even asks a mature man if Tiffany Case (Jill St. John) is his mother. Oops.
There is also a major problem with the "non pro" character who is supposed to be likable. The tycoon who is kidnapped is not likable at all, and that's a major weakness.
The saving grace is a very humorous (dark humor) pair of gay assassins. Their goofy quips are meant to be "groaners". They raise this a notch or two from me.
Not the best Bond, but far from the worst, because later in the series, we really saw the hate pouring out from Hollywood.

Sean Connery returned as Ian Fleming's "007" in this caper about a megalomaniac with a fiendish plan to use diamonds to blackmail the world. Shirley Bassey belts out Don Black's lyrics as we set off on a fun, action adventure that, from the outset, makes your political correctness hairs stand to attention! Charles Gray is super as the malevolent "Blofeld"; Jill St. John a brassy "Tiffany Case" and the sexually ambiguous Messrs "Wint" and "Kidd" as the assassins all help to make this an engaging hour and a half with it's tongue firmly planted in it's cheek and a fun denouement from "Bambi" and "Thumper" that might make Walt Disney blush!

MOST of the bad reviews on a lot of the Connery era 007 movies are... political. They don't like classic 60s 007 because of contemporary Woke six decades later politics.

But.... this one just sucks. And, keep in mind, I say this with Connery being my favorite 007 and 4 out of his 5 (6 should NOT be counted) outings are my favorite 007 films.

However, this is Connery playing a goofy Roger Moore era 007 and that doesn't work. This is Connery in a film that had all the coming Moore tropes. And that doesn't work.

Had Diamonds are Forever been a Roger Moore 007, it wouldn't have been that bad. This was Moore's Bond film... only it had Connery in it, so it just didn't work.