Diamonds Are Forever (1971)

December 14, 1971 (West Germany)
December 17, 1971 (USA, premiere)
December 30, 1971 (UK, premiere)

Diamonds Are Forever is a 1971 spy film and the seventh in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions. It is the sixth and final Eon film to star Sean Connery, who returned to the role as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond, for the first time since You Only Live Twice, having declined to reprise the role in On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

The film is based on Ian Fleming's 1956 novel of the same name, and is the second of four James Bond films directed by Guy Hamilton. The story has Bond impersonating a diamond smuggler to infiltrate a smuggling ring, and soon uncovering a plot by his old nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld to use the diamonds to build a space-based laser weapon. Bond has to battle his nemesis for one last time, to stop the smuggling and stall Blofeld's plan of destroying Washington, D.C., and extorting the world with nuclear supremacy.

After George Lazenby left the series, producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli tested other actors, but studio United Artists wanted Sean Connery back, paying a then-record $1.25 million salary for him to return. The producers were inspired by Goldfinger; as with that film, Guy Hamilton was hired to direct, and Shirley Bassey performs vocals on the title theme song. Locations included Las Vegas, California, Amsterdam and Lufthansa's hangar in West Germany. Diamonds Are Forever was a commercial success, but received mixed reviews, with criticism for its humorous camp tone. The film marked the final appearance of the SPECTRE organization (though not by name) in Eon's Bond films until the 2015 film of the same name.