Bond. From the old to Skyfall. Diamonds Are Forever

It came sooner than expected.  No, please check your sexual interpretations at the door.  I watched the second in my James Bond collection.

Diamonds Are Forever.

I had forgotten a lot about this movie.  I had a hazy recollection of the bad guy, and I recalled something about a lunar vehicle.  I wondered whether I was confusing the plot, however weak and contorted and unbelievable it might be as in any Bond movie, with Moonraker, which I knew had Roger Moore and not Sean Connery.  So, hey, not a bad idea, after all, to build some new synapses.  Maybe future research will show us that watching 007 in action is a good way to defer dementia!

The movie was way less cheesier than Goldfinger.  I suppose the franchise was maturing in every possible aspect.  Scenes did not flash and go but were lengthy for a slower narration.  The movie was much better than how I had remembered.

I had completely forgotten, though, that the movie pretty much unfolds in Las Vegas.  And, my, what a difference from the Vegas of today.

Back when I lived in California, a colleague, Peter, who was going through a career crisis of his own, decided to take the tests in order to prepare himself as a substitute high school teacher.  (He later ditched any plans to switch his career.)  After taking the test, he said that one part included writing an essay in response to a prompt on where a foreigner visiting the US for the first time ought to be taken to for a unique experience.  Peter wrote about Las Vegas.

I agreed with him. The city is one of a kind.  Thankfully, Vegas is one of a kind.  Too many of that will be the ruin of human civilization!

I, too, have done that.  Once, we took two visiting Swedish students to Vegas.  They couldn't put away their cameras and were clicking, clicking, and clicking.  This was back in the days before digital cameras, and when film rolls and developing and printing made that awfully expensive.  They couldn't care about the expense.

But, the Vegas that the Swedes observed and enjoyed was different--very different--from the city in Diamonds Are Forever.  Here is one example from the movie:

The Vegas metropolitan area is anything but such open space anymore.  And, a much more important one: The Dunes was gone a long time ago.  It has been replaced on that spot along the fabled strip by a brand new Bellagio.  A part of the constant remaking of the city, exemplifying the constant creative destruction that is a distinguishing trait in capitalism.

Of course, like any decent Bond movie, this too had a car chase scene. It was quite a good car chase, actually.  Not bad at all, especially when we place it in the context of more than forty years ago.

The streets of Vegas were such a contrast to the contemporary frontages of casinos and resorts; here is a frame from the movie:

Nope. Doesn't look anything like this. The last time I was there was, ironically, to attend a conference.  Crazily enough, the people at the Association of American Geographers had selected Vegas for the annual meeting.  It was bizarre to walk past slot machines and then go sit down for academic conversations.  It was interesting to note that the one-armed-bandits had been replaced by push buttons.  That was four years ago; I wonder how much things have changed since then.

The Bond Girl was so blah.  I mean blaaaah!  Such a downer.  How could they have messed up with that!  She was unimpressive, both in her looks and demeanor, and with whatever little she had to contribute to the story.  No Honey Rider was this Tiffany Case.

Seriously, Tiffany Case?  So, un-creative!  So, un-Bond-Girl like :(

Until the next one ...