Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Diamond's Are Forever

The other night, we watched a new DVD of an old Bond flick, Diamonds are Forever. We could hardly get through it — it being slow-paced, boring and poorly acted. Oh we loved Sean Connery alright, but we've been spoiled by modern action movie-making that is superbly timed and paced. I guess it was Lucas and Spielberg that set the bar for action. As a kid I was enthralled with the Connery Bond movies, but now it's the Daniel Craig Bond movies that I enjoy (though Connery will always be THE 'Bond, James Bond' for me).

Diamonds are Forever — poster

9 comments:

Artman2112 said...

after Lana Wood dies, i lose interest.
sad to hear of the passing of Ray Harryhausen...an era has truly ended :(

Anonymous said...

The poster artwork was better back then!

Cheers
B Smith

Kid said...

I dunno, Thom - I think DAF is a good romp. To me, the last part of Skyfall dragged a bit. And Goldfinger is still THE classic Bond movie.

Thomas Haller Buchanan said...

You might well be right, Kid. I might be talking out of my sleep deprivation.

Smurfswacker said...

I was a diehard Bond movie fan until Roger Moore finally killed my enthusiasm. I remember feeling when it first came out that "Diamonds Are Forever" was tired and rather disappointing.

You bring up an interesting point, though, about the pacing of action movies. I've noticed recently how the timing in Golden Age comedies, even the best ones, often seems more leisurely than in contemporary movies. I'll have to go back and look at some of the old action flicks and see if they show the same tendency.

Thomas Haller Buchanan said...

Y'know, I recently watched a whole bunch of Laurel and Hardy flicks, whose characters I jes' love. They were so slow paced, dragging a gag out for minutes at a time, but their timing with each comical event was so perfect and their characters so lovable, that I didn't mind the turtle pace.

Years ago I loved the Marx Bros movies, and then didn't watch em for a long time. Then maybe a decade ago I watched some and they seemed so boring and dragged out (a lot of it thanks to the love angles and songs) and I didn't even think they were very funny.

Then a couple of years ago, I watched some again, and I enjoyed them like I did when I was a kid (still skipping over the love angles and the songs) (except of course when Groucho would sing or dance).

'Sfunny, but a lot of modern comedies are ruined because of slow pacing and love angles.

Smurfswacker said...

It was a Marx Brothers movie that started me thinking about this. It was one of the later ones, with too much music, but Groucho's jokes were still funny. I noticed that after each punch line he'd pause for a beat, as if waiting for a laugh. Then I wondered if this wasn't exactly what he was doing. Figuring the movie theater audience (remember them?) would laugh, he paused to let the laughter die down so they wouldn't miss the next zinger.

Thomas Haller Buchanan said...

Smurfswacker, I think you is right!

Darrell said...

On the other hand, Jill St. John as the Bond girl, hubba hubba!