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.