Sean Connery returned for the seventh movie in the Bond series with James matching wits with his nemesis, Blofeld, here played by Charles Gray (pictured below right) – the third Blofeld in as many films, who wants to use the world’s diamond supply to build an orbiting space laser.
This is one of the weakest Bonds, with its plot about diamond smuggling developing rather tiresomely into a chase with Moon buggies and Connery simply going through the motions.
As to sex, Bond – as befits his advancing years – now needs a little more time than he used to and makes (as he would never have done in the old days) quite funny Carry On-type jokes about it.
Even the rather pushy Miss Plenty O’Toole (Lana Wood, sister of Natalie) doesn’t get further than taking all her clothes off before being thrown out of the window by some visiting thugs into a convenient swimming pool 10 floors below.
The Las Vegas sequences have some dash – including James ripping Vegas apart in a great chase in his Ford Mustang Mach 1 – and Bruce Glover and Putter Smith make an intriguing double act of the gay hitmen Wint and Kidd. Dishy young Amazons Bambi and Thumper, meanwhile, put James’ chauvinism to the test.
Sadly, it was to be Connery’s swan song as 007 but came as a welcome (albeit brief) return to Bond form after the dismal performance by George Lazenby in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service(1969). Moviegoers turned out in their droves to see Connery’s last performance as Bond, and the film made over $43 million at the box office.
Sean Connery had quit the Bond series after 1967’s You Only Live Twice, essentially because he was fed up with all of the 007 hype and hubbub.
He had also apparently experienced strained relations with the producers. The chances of getting him to ever return seemed non-existent, and it appeared that the franchise would actually go for an American – John Gavin of Psycho – as the new Bond.
Connery also wanted to set up a charity, so he negotiated a then-astonishing salary of roughly $1.25 million plus a percentage, all of which went to the Scottish International Education Trust.
Sean Connery died peacefully in his sleep at his home in the Bahamas on 31 October 2020 having been unwell for some time. He was 90.
“Hi. I’m Plenty . . . Plenty O’Toole”
“Named after your father perhaps?”
James Bond Sean Connery
Tiffany Case
Jill St. John Ernst Blofeld
Charles Gray
Plenty O’Toole
Lana Wood
Willard Whyte
Jimmy Dean
Burt Saxby
Bruce Cabot
Mr Kidd
Putter Smith
Mr Wint
Bruce Glover
Felix Leiter
Norman Burton
M
Bernard Lee
Q
Desmond Llewelyn
Miss Moneypenny
Lois Maxwell
Dr Metz
Joseph Furst Shady Tree
Leonard Barr Mrs Whistler
Margaret Lacey Peter Franks
Joe Robinson “Bambi”
Donna Garratt “Thumper”
Trina Parks Sir Donald Munger
Laurence Naismith Mr Slumber
David Bauer Maxwell
Burt Metcalf Klaus Hergersheimer
Ed Bishop
Director Guy Hamilton
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