. . . might as well be the subtitle of INSIDE DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER. It took just one flick--ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE--for fast food ad boy George Lazenby to run the James Bond action film franchise into the ground. Eon Production Company paid Sean Connery a king's ransom to wipe the taste of George out of the world's collective mouth by coming back to play Agent 007 in DIAMONDS. (Sean donated this windfall to endow art education in Scotland, several of the 25 INSIDE DIAMONDS "talking heads" point out.) Packing DIAMONDS with more American actors than any previous Bond feature also was part of Eon's reparations package for the Lazenby fiasco. Sausage king Jimmy Dean, jazz man Bruce Glover, Olympic gymnast Lola Larson, and horror legend Sid Haig were just a few of the ubiquitous Yanks. Valerie Perrine, the aliens' zoo cage girl in SLAUGHTERHOUSE 5, even makes an appearance as "Shady Tree"'s Acorn gal. Though several weaker scenes involving rancid mashed potatoes and a defective elevator were shot near London, DIAMONDS ended SERVICE's tail-wagging-the-dog approach to Bond, this documentary short reveals.
2 Reviews
Even as a huge Bond fan, I was positively surprised
Horst_In_Translation15 August 2017
Warning: Spoilers
"Inside 'Diamonds Are Forever'" is a half-hour behind-the-scenes/making-of documentary from 2000, so even if this is heading towards its 20th anniversary, it is obviously from way past the year when the Bond movie mentioned in the title was released. If you take a look at the duo who made this (Cork, Scivally), then you will see that they both have highly prolific careers, but that is not a problem at all and certainly no case of quantity over quality as this film here proves. The interviewees all have something to say and they avoided the two big mistakes you see again and again in this kind of making-of films. The first is that they basically do nothing and tell nothing other than praise for the film and everybody working on it. I've seen that recently a GoT documentary by the way. Anyway, the second issue is that they absolutely tell nothing interesting at all but basically summarize the film/series in a manner that even the viewer with the lowest IQ could have done after watching.
Instead they succeeded very much with smart and interesting background information, for example about Connery reprising the role one more time with a reference about how they initially aimed for a much more American Bond. Or they elaborate on the antagonists and also get the actors who play them to comment on their characters. Or they have the Bond girls comment on their characters. So yeah, everything was done right here in my opinion, in terms of a healthy mix of scenes from the film and interviews and definitely also in terms of what the people had to say. This documentary is a valid chapter in the history of James Bond that deserves its place as much as the movies and I am glad it was made because it is well-structured, informative and entertaining. Or in short, it is a prime example of all you'd hope for when it comes to film on film documentaries. I highly recommend it. A must-see for my fellow Bond fans.
Instead they succeeded very much with smart and interesting background information, for example about Connery reprising the role one more time with a reference about how they initially aimed for a much more American Bond. Or they elaborate on the antagonists and also get the actors who play them to comment on their characters. Or they have the Bond girls comment on their characters. So yeah, everything was done right here in my opinion, in terms of a healthy mix of scenes from the film and interviews and definitely also in terms of what the people had to say. This documentary is a valid chapter in the history of James Bond that deserves its place as much as the movies and I am glad it was made because it is well-structured, informative and entertaining. Or in short, it is a prime example of all you'd hope for when it comes to film on film documentaries. I highly recommend it. A must-see for my fellow Bond fans.
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