The 007 Project: Diamonds Are Forever

Synopsis in 3 sentences or less:

While investigating an illegal diamond operation, Bond runs into Blofeld once again. 

Memorable Quote:
Hi, I'm Plenty.  ~Plenty O'Toole

But of course you are.  ~Bond

Highlight:

I like the scene in the lab where Bond pretends to be the radiation inspector who he just met in the hallway, and then the real inspector enters the lab after Bond leaves. 

Lowlight:

Not a specific moment, but just the overall weak plot, lack of character development, and general campiness. A few examples:

• I don't fully understand who Tiffany Case is or what her motivations are. 
• The Willard Whyte subplot is weird and confusing, like how he was secretly locked up for years and then just emerged like nothing happened. 
• Blofeld is significantly less menacing and interesting than Telly Savalas's Blofeld in OHMSS, and Felix Leiter is not well acted. 
• I have no idea what was going on related to Blofeld's plan in outer space, and it's unclear why it doesn't succeed considering that Tiffany is unable to switch the cassettes (although maybe the oil platform blowing up has something to do with it). 

Most interesting piece of IMDB trivia:

Jill St. John and Lana Wood have been involved in a decades-long feud that began during the filming of this movie, throughout the spring of 1971, when both women were dating Sean Connery at the same time. In February 1982, less than three months after the mysterious drowning of Lana's sister Natalie Wood, St. John started a relationship with Robert Wagner, Lana's brother-in-law, and eventually married him. At a photo shoot of former Bond girls in September 1999 for Vanity Fair magazine, an altercation occurred between St. John and Wood when photographer Annie Leibovitz asked for a picture of them together. Reportedly, St. John was so adamantly opposed to the idea that it reduced Wood to tears. A publicist for the shoot, however, said it was he who vetoed the photo because Mr. Wagner would prefer his present wife not be shot with his former sister-in-law.

Other thoughts, observations, and questions I didn’t ask when I was in fourth grade:

• 15:57 mark - cool hovercraft. I've never seen one that big before, and it looks like a fun way to travel. 
• 21:44 - clever move by Bond outside the apartment to blend in by giving himself a self-hug. 
• 24:57 - apparently Bond is a member of the "Playboy Club and Casino". 
• 33:35 - I don't understand the "coffin on the conveyor belt" scene where the conveyor belt and the surrounding flames disappear when the coffin is opened. 
• 54:02 - when Bond sneaks into the back of the van at the gas station, the guy in the car behind the van somehow doesn't seem to notice.  
• I like the moon buggy as a vehicle in an action scene, even if I'm not sure what the bad guys were doing with a moon buggy. 
• Some notable actors include: 
• Bruce Glover as Mr. Wint. His son Crispin was George McFly in Back to the Future. 
• Charles Gray as Blofeld. He played MI6 agent Henderson in You Only Live Twice. 
• Jimmy Dean as Willard Whyte. He started Jimmy Dean sausages. 
• Lana Wood as Plenty O'Toole. Many of her scenes were cut, which is why her character is so underdeveloped. Her acting was not good -- perhaps that's why the scenes were cut.
• 1:28:25 - seems like Bond gets the upper hand on Bambi and Thumper too easily in the pool given their demonstrated physical prowess. 
• Just as in You Only Live Twice, Blofeld inexplicably allows Bond to roam unrestrained in the control room. 

Final Analysis:

Not a good movie. In fact, it's really bad. It's crazy that they followed up OHMSS (which had just the right serious tone) with this silliness. Perhaps they were trying to zag from OHMSS's relative lack of box office success, and they clearly missed the involvement of OHMSS director Peter Hunt. Ranking this at the bottom of my list.