Diamonds Are Forever, why so much hate?

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  • BIG TAMBIG TAM Wrexham, North Wales, UK.Posts: 773MI6 Agent
    I always thought the dialogue in the "Sammy Davis" deleted scene
    Was very odd.

    Yes, it doesn't make sense. It seems to be taking you out of the film & commenting directly on Connery's comeback to the role. I'd have had no problem with Davis playing himself as a neat little cameo but just alter the dialogue.
  • BlackleiterBlackleiter Washington, DCPosts: 5,615MI6 Agent
    AdamOmega wrote:
    Why so much hate? Can't say I hate *any* Bond movie, to be perfectly honest... but for me, Diamonds Are Forever is by far the worst.

    Sean Connery coasts through the movie looking way past his prime, Jill St. John plays one of the most obnoxious Bond girls ever (although I do kinda fancy her earlier moments & she doesn't look too bad in a bikini, either -{ ), and while I certainly hold Charles Gray in higher regard than Donald Pleasence, his Blofeld is undermined by one of the silliest and tepid plots in the history of the franchise. All the locations look stale and gaudy, the alleyway stunt is ruined by an editing guffaw (not unlike The Man with the Golden Gun), the "diamond smuggling" narrative is perplexing and feels like there are large chunks of the storyline edited out... most of all, I'm frustrated by the fact that Diamonds essentially tossed out any and all opportunities left by the conclusion of On Her Majesty's Secret Service. If I hate anything, I hate how Sean Connery still gets a clean track record despite starring in this mess, meanwhile Roger Moore barely gets any respect (despite starring in [mostly] better movies) and still his efforts tend to get whitewashed and/or lumped in with this one.

    Forgive me if I come across as a bit rant-y towards the end there -- and if you do love Diamonds Are Forever, then that's totally awesome and I'm happy for you -- but it sits rock bottom of my list.

    Where does the notion that Roger Moore starred in " mostly better" movies than Connery come from? If you are simply stating that you enjoy Moore's Bond movies more than you do Connery's, you are clearly entitled to feel that way and you are certainly not alone. But you seem to be stating it as a generally accepted proposition. Or am I misinterpreting you?
    "Felix Leiter, a brother from Langley."
  • AdamOmegaAdamOmega Edmonton, AB, CanadaPosts: 297MI6 Agent
    AdamOmega wrote:
    Why so much hate? Can't say I hate *any* Bond movie, to be perfectly honest... but for me, Diamonds Are Forever is by far the worst.

    Sean Connery coasts through the movie looking way past his prime, Jill St. John plays one of the most obnoxious Bond girls ever (although I do kinda fancy her earlier moments & she doesn't look too bad in a bikini, either -{ ), and while I certainly hold Charles Gray in higher regard than Donald Pleasence, his Blofeld is undermined by one of the silliest and tepid plots in the history of the franchise. All the locations look stale and gaudy, the alleyway stunt is ruined by an editing guffaw (not unlike The Man with the Golden Gun), the "diamond smuggling" narrative is perplexing and feels like there are large chunks of the storyline edited out... most of all, I'm frustrated by the fact that Diamonds essentially tossed out any and all opportunities left by the conclusion of On Her Majesty's Secret Service. If I hate anything, I hate how Sean Connery still gets a clean track record despite starring in this mess, meanwhile Roger Moore barely gets any respect (despite starring in [mostly] better movies) and still his efforts tend to get whitewashed and/or lumped in with this one.

    Forgive me if I come across as a bit rant-y towards the end there -- and if you do love Diamonds Are Forever, then that's totally awesome and I'm happy for you -- but it sits rock bottom of my list.

    Where does the notion that Roger Moore starred in " mostly better" movies than Connery come from? If you are simply stating that you enjoy Moore's Bond movies more than you do Connery's, you are clearly entitled to feel that way and you are certainly not alone. But you seem to be stating it as a generally accepted proposition. Or am I misinterpreting you?

    My bad; the intention was to say that most of the Roger Moore entries are at least better movies than Diamonds Are Forever. The first three Connery movies are superior to most of Moore's output (though I would argue that TSWLM stands shoulder-to-shoulder, but that's a whole other can of worms). I feel that their respective entries are more comparable than some would like to admit, and it seems like a vast majority of fans are willing to forgive Connery for his weak and/or "bad" entries, meanwhile Moore gets blasted and ridiculed for his.
    "The secret agent. The man who was only a silhouette..." -- Ian Fleming, Moonraker

    1) The Spy Who Loved Me 2) On Her Majesty's Secret Service 3) GoldenEye 4) Casino Royale 5) Goldfinger
  • BlackleiterBlackleiter Washington, DCPosts: 5,615MI6 Agent
    AdamOmega wrote:
    AdamOmega wrote:
    Why so much hate? Can't say I hate *any* Bond movie, to be perfectly honest... but for me, Diamonds Are Forever is by far the worst.

    Sean Connery coasts through the movie looking way past his prime, Jill St. John plays one of the most obnoxious Bond girls ever (although I do kinda fancy her earlier moments & she doesn't look too bad in a bikini, either -{ ), and while I certainly hold Charles Gray in higher regard than Donald Pleasence, his Blofeld is undermined by one of the silliest and tepid plots in the history of the franchise. All the locations look stale and gaudy, the alleyway stunt is ruined by an editing guffaw (not unlike The Man with the Golden Gun), the "diamond smuggling" narrative is perplexing and feels like there are large chunks of the storyline edited out... most of all, I'm frustrated by the fact that Diamonds essentially tossed out any and all opportunities left by the conclusion of On Her Majesty's Secret Service. If I hate anything, I hate how Sean Connery still gets a clean track record despite starring in this mess, meanwhile Roger Moore barely gets any respect (despite starring in [mostly] better movies) and still his efforts tend to get whitewashed and/or lumped in with this one.

    Forgive me if I come across as a bit rant-y towards the end there -- and if you do love Diamonds Are Forever, then that's totally awesome and I'm happy for you -- but it sits rock bottom of my list.

    Where does the notion that Roger Moore starred in " mostly better" movies than Connery come from? If you are simply stating that you enjoy Moore's Bond movies more than you do Connery's, you are clearly entitled to feel that way and you are certainly not alone. But you seem to be stating it as a generally accepted proposition. Or am I misinterpreting you?

    My bad; the intention was to say that most of the Roger Moore entries are at least better movies than Diamonds Are Forever. The first three Connery movies are superior to most of Moore's output (though I would argue that TSWLM stands shoulder-to-shoulder, but that's a whole other can of worms). I feel that their respective entries are more comparable than some would like to admit, and it seems like a vast majority of fans are willing to forgive Connery for his weak and/or "bad" entries, meanwhile Moore gets blasted and ridiculed for his.

    I understand now. I disagree, but I think many share your view that most, if not all of the Roger Moore films are better than DAF.
    "Felix Leiter, a brother from Langley."
  • AdamOmegaAdamOmega Edmonton, AB, CanadaPosts: 297MI6 Agent
    AdamOmega wrote:

    Where does the notion that Roger Moore starred in " mostly better" movies than Connery come from? If you are simply stating that you enjoy Moore's Bond movies more than you do Connery's, you are clearly entitled to feel that way and you are certainly not alone. But you seem to be stating it as a generally accepted proposition. Or am I misinterpreting you?

    My bad; the intention was to say that most of the Roger Moore entries are at least better movies than Diamonds Are Forever. The first three Connery movies are superior to most of Moore's output (though I would argue that TSWLM stands shoulder-to-shoulder, but that's a whole other can of worms). I feel that their respective entries are more comparable than some would like to admit, and it seems like a vast majority of fans are willing to forgive Connery for his weak and/or "bad" entries, meanwhile Moore gets blasted and ridiculed for his.

    I understand now. I disagree, but I think many share your view that most, if not all of the Roger Moore films are better than DAF.

    Possibly. Hard to know for certain, but I'm always open to hearing what the supporters/defenders have to say. -{
    "The secret agent. The man who was only a silhouette..." -- Ian Fleming, Moonraker

    1) The Spy Who Loved Me 2) On Her Majesty's Secret Service 3) GoldenEye 4) Casino Royale 5) Goldfinger
  • rennervisionrennervision Posts: 106MI6 Agent
    I say DAF is a solid Bond film until Blofeld is revealed in the Vegas penthouse. Once Bond steps into the elevator and is gassed, the movie kind of devolves into silliness.

    First, the villainous plan to kill Bond in that scene is the dumbest one in the history of the series. Wint and Kidd have Bond unconscious and at their mercy - so what do they do? Why, leave him sleeping at a construction site of course, hoping no worker will discover his body and instead accidentally bury him in an underground pipe with plenty of escape hatches. Somehow they even manage to chuckle at their own cleverness as they drive away.

    Tiffany Case becomes noticeably dumber at this point as well. Starting out tough and resourceful, by the time she's on the oil rig she's turned into a bit of a nitwit.

    And what's Bond's plan to stop the plot to attack the world with a weaponized space satellite? Why - you have yourself airdropped to the control center, allow yourself to be captured knowing none of Blofeld's buffoons will ever just outright kill you on sight, and then escape after they lock you up in a cell with a hole in the floor! Also while you're there - you need to provide a clear signal to initiate an attack, so be sure to pretend like you're tying your shoe while releasing a balloon that just happens to be tied down somewhere. (Because we all know how much SPECTRE likes balloons.)

    What's interesting is I see DAD as a virtual remake of DAF, and it too starts off solid but then later becomes more silly.
  • Shady TreeShady Tree London, UKPosts: 2,966MI6 Agent
    I just saw the beginning of a UK ITV4 broadcast of DAF, before switching off. It was post-watershed at a little after 9.00PM, but the pre-credits sequence was completely ruined by badly executed, heavy-handed censorship. Anyone new to DAF experiencing the movie in this ITV4 broadcast would be bound to end up hating the movie anyway, not knowing the version they were missing.
    Critics and material I don't need. I haven't changed my act in 53 years.
  • walther p99walther p99 NJPosts: 3,416MI6 Agent
    Connery was too out of shape, way past his prime and his massive eyebrows were distracting, not to mention his wardrobe was awful.
  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,272MI6 Agent
    edited September 2014
    Yeah, I've been watching it on ITV4. They edit out the whole whip off the bikini strangulation scene, sort of understandably, and a lot of the action from the Welcome to Hell Blofeld bit, so the music returns to the same bar time and again, getting repetitive! That said most or all of the lift fight was kept in.

    Was the scene of the black miners smuggling edited too? It seemed like the dialogue over the top of it also got repeated ad nauseum.

    I do enjoy it but don't understand how, if the diamonds were fake, they didn't go up in the crematorium, it's a big plot hole.

    The film very much plays to Connery's comic delivery, as did GF, but even more than YOLT he sometimes has a stooped posture, don't know why.
    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    I can't understand what guidance some TV stations use in censorship
    They sometimes seem to cut out the tamest scenes then leave in some
    Of the violent ones. :D
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • Shady TreeShady Tree London, UKPosts: 2,966MI6 Agent
    edited September 2014
    Yeah, I've been watching it on ITV4. They edit out the whole whip off the bikini strangulation scene, sort of understandably, and a lot of the action from the Welcome to Hell Blofeld bit, so the music returns to the same bar time and again, getting repetitive! That said most or all of the lift fight was kept in.

    Was the scene of the black miners smuggling edited too? It seemed like the dialogue over the top of it also got repeated ad nauseum.

    When the nasty parts are edited out of the PTS, as they were on ITV4 last night, the whole charade lacks point - and to add insult to injury the cutting was done shoddily done too. (Although the bikini strangulation was cut after Bond introduced himself to Marie, we still heard a millisecond of her cry/gasp: the audiotrack wasn't sufficiently well edited to match the cut.)

    I'd already switched off by the miners scene, so I can't answer you there - except to say that even in the original version some of Sir Donald Munger's voiceover is repeated.
    Critics and material I don't need. I haven't changed my act in 53 years.
  • AlphaOmegaSinAlphaOmegaSin EnglandPosts: 10,924MI6 Agent
    LALD on Tonight -{
    1.On Her Majesties Secret Service 2.The Living Daylights 3.license To Kill 4.The Spy Who Loved Me 5.Goldfinger
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    -{ Love it {[]
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    I'd guess with itv the first " cut" will be the stabbing at
    the funeral. :))
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • AlphaOmegaSinAlphaOmegaSin EnglandPosts: 10,924MI6 Agent
    'Who's Funeral
    '
    1.On Her Majesties Secret Service 2.The Living Daylights 3.license To Kill 4.The Spy Who Loved Me 5.Goldfinger
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    :)) :)) :))
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
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