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Film poster: Diamonds Are Forever

Film no. 7 · 1971 · Connery era

Diamonds Are Forever

Sean Connery is back – and Las Vegas is his.

TMDB rating: 6.4 / 10 · View on TMDB

Plot

After the death of his wife Tracy, James Bond hunts her killer Ernst Stavro Blofeld around the globe – from Japan via Cairo to a secret clinic where Blofeld is having doubles of himself created. Bond drowns his arch-enemy in boiling mud and considers the matter closed.

Back in London a seemingly routine job awaits: diamonds are being smuggled out of South Africa on a grand scale, yet none of the stones ever reach the market. Posing as the smuggler Peter Franks, Bond travels to Amsterdam to meet Franks's contact Tiffany Case. He kills the real Franks in a lift, hides the diamonds inside the corpse and flies with the coffin to Los Angeles, where Felix Leiter is waiting.

The trail leads to a crematorium in Las Vegas and to the comedian Shady Tree, while the assassins Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd eliminate every link in the smuggling chain. At the Whyte House, the hotel of reclusive billionaire Willard Whyte, Bond meets Plenty O'Toole, collects the stones with Tiffany at Circus Circus and ends up in a desert laboratory from which he escapes in a moon buggy. In the hotel's penthouse he comes face to face with two Blofelds: the villain is alive, has kidnapped Whyte and is using the diamonds to build a laser satellite.

By the time Bond frees Whyte from his summer house, the satellite is already destroying missiles and submarines of the superpowers. From an oil rig off Baja California, Blofeld puts the world up for nuclear auction. Bond drops onto the platform by weather balloon, wrecks the control room with the rig's crane and sails home with Tiffany on a cruise liner – where Wint and Kidd make one last attempt.

Facts

James Bond
Sean Connery
Director
Guy Hamilton
Screenplay
Richard Maibaum and Tom Mankiewicz
Producers
Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli
Music
John Barry
Title song
„Diamonds Are Forever“Shirley Bassey
Based on
Ian Fleming: „Diamonds Are Forever“1956
Running time
120 minutes
Budget
$7.2 million
Box office
$116 millionworldwide, initial release (Wikipedia en); Box Office Mojo only lists the $43.8m from North America
Release
UK: 30 December 1971US: 17 December 1971Germany: 14 December 1971

Travel route and filming locations

Gold numbers trace Bond's journey through the story, light markers show the real filming locations. Each layer can be hidden separately.

Map style

Bond's route · 12 stops

Total distance (great-circle)≈ 50,904 km

  1. Pre-title sequence: in Japan Bond roughly interrogates a man about Blofeld's whereabouts.

  2. Tokyo → Cairo · ≈ 9,562 km

    In a casino and then on the beach with Marie, Bond extracts the next clue – using her bikini top.

  3. Cairo → Blofeld's secret clinic · ≈ 10,650 km

    Fictional site in an unnamed country; dialogue and location guides point to South America, and the rounded coordinates mean the region rather than the spot. Blofeld has doubles surgically created; Bond drowns one of them in a hot mud bath.

    More on this: Where is Blofeld’s secret clinic?

  4. Blofeld's secret clinic → Diamond mine near Kimberley · ≈ 10,692 km

    Start of the smuggling chain: a dentist collects diamonds from miners until Wint and Kidd kill him with a scorpion. Bond himself is not present here.

  5. Diamond mine near Kimberley → London · ≈ 9,248 km

    M and Sir Donald Munger explain the vanishing diamonds; Bond takes over the identity of smuggler Peter Franks.

  6. London → Dover · ≈ 109 km

    The real Franks is arrested at the hoverport; Bond crosses to the Continent by hovercraft.

  7. Dover → Amsterdam · ≈ 282 km

    Bond meets Tiffany Case in her canal-side flat, kills the escaped Franks in the lift and hides the diamonds inside his body.

  8. Amsterdam → Los Angeles · ≈ 8,958 km

    Felix Leiter is waiting at the airport; the coffin with the diamonds is loaded into a hearse that takes Bond on to Las Vegas.

  9. Los Angeles → Las Vegas · ≈ 387 km

    Slumber Inc. crematorium, Shady Tree, Plenty O'Toole and the Whyte House; Tiffany collects the diamonds at Circus Circus. Later the Mustang chase along Fremont Street and Bond's encounter with the two Blofelds in the penthouse.

  10. Las Vegas → Whyte Tectronics lab in the desert · ≈ 11 km

    Fictional research lab outside Las Vegas, coordinates of the filming location. Bond discovers Dr. Metz's satellite and flees across the desert in the moon buggy.

  11. Whyte Tectronics lab in the desert → Willard Whyte's summer house · ≈ 300 km

    Fictional desert villa, coordinates of the Elrod House in Palm Springs. Bond fights Bambi and Thumper and frees the kidnapped Whyte; Bert Saxby is shot.

  12. Willard Whyte's summer house → Oil rig off Baja California · ≈ 366 km

    Fictional platform in the Pacific, position chosen plausibly. Blofeld's control centre for the laser satellite; Bond arrives by weather balloon, Felix with helicopters.

  13. Oil rig off Baja California → Cruise liner at sea · ≈ 339 km

    On the voyage home Wint and Kidd pose as room-service waiters; Bond recognises them by their aftershave and dispatches both along with the bomb cake.

Filming locations · 22

  • Interiors: Blofeld's clinic, Slumber Inc. interiors, Whyte House penthouse, oil-rig control room, ship's cabin

  • Arrest of Peter Franks, Bond boards the hovercraft

  • doubles for Cruise liner in the Pacific

    Exteriors of the SS Canberra as the cruise liner of the finale

  • Tiffany Case's third-floor flat, Bond's arrival in the Triumph Stag

  • The body of the supposed James Bond is pulled from the Amstel

  • doubles for Amsterdam airport (Netherlands)

    Lufthansa hangar: loading of the coffin and departure of Bond and Tiffany for Los Angeles

  • doubles for Beach near Cairo (unnamed in the film)

    Pre-title sequence: Bond questions Marie on the beach

  • Arrival in Los Angeles, meeting Felix Leiter at the coffin

  • doubles for Las Vegas (United States)

    Pick-up shot of the Mustang leaving the alley on two wheels and parts of the chase on the studio backlot

  • Launch of the rocket carrying Blofeld's satellite

  • doubles for Oil rig off Baja California (Mexico)

    Purpose-built oil rig for the finale, helicopter attack, crane and Bathosub

  • doubles for Whyte's villa in the desert near Las Vegas (United States)

    Willard Whyte's summer house, fight with Bambi and Thumper in the pool

  • doubles for Las Vegas (United States)

    Tiffany's house with the pool in which Plenty O'Toole is found drowned

  • Tiffany collects the diamonds at the water-balloon stall; Zambora gorilla show

  • doubles for Whyte House (United States)

    Exterior of the Whyte House, Bond's climb to the penthouse

  • doubles for Whyte House (United States)

    Whyte House casino: Bond wins $50,000 at the craps table and meets Plenty O'Toole (hotel demolished in 2016)

  • Bond's hotel in Las Vegas (demolished in 2024)

  • Mustang chase against the police, closed for three nights

  • doubles for Slumber Inc., Las Vegas (United States)

    Exteriors of the Slumber Inc. crematorium

  • Garden of Remembrance where Bond deposits the urn

  • doubles for Whyte Tectronics lab (United States)

    Whyte Tectronics lab and start of the moon-buggy chase in the desert

  • doubles for Diamond mine near Kimberley (South Africa)

    South African diamond mine with the dentist and helicopter

Characters and cast

Bond

Bond girls

Villains

Henchmen

Allies

MI6

Others

Vehicles & Gadgets

Vehicles

Gadgets

Production and trivia

  • Shooting ran from 5 April to 13 August 1971, mostly in the United States and at Pinewood Studios; the crematorium sequence was the last scene filmed.
  • After George Lazenby's single outing Sean Connery returned for a record fee of $1.25 million plus a share of the profits; United Artists also agreed to finance two films of his choice. He donated the entire fee to the Scottish International Education Trust.
  • Before Connery signed, the American John Gavin had already been contracted as Bond. At Broccoli's insistence he was paid in full without shooting a single scene.
  • Director Guy Hamilton was hired to repeat the success of Goldfinger. An early draft even featured Goldfinger's twin brother (again Gert Fröbe) as the villain with a laser hidden in a supertanker; Tom Mankiewicz eventually rewrote the script.
  • Jill St. John was the first American Bond girl. Trina Parks (Thumper) was the first African-American actress in a Bond-girl role, and Lana Wood was cast as Natalie Wood's sister.
  • Charles Gray is the third Blofeld in three consecutive films after Donald Pleasence and Telly Savalas – and had played Bond's ally Henderson in You Only Live Twice (1967).
  • The reclusive billionaire Willard Whyte was modelled on Howard Hughes. Hughes, a friend of Broccoli's, gave the crew access to his Las Vegas hotels; the Whyte House itself, however, was rival Kirk Kerkorian's International Hotel.
  • Fremont Street was closed for three nights for the car chase; the casinos' neon lights were bright enough to shoot without extra lighting. Circus Circus founder Jay Sarno gave permission and appears briefly himself.
  • Famous continuity error: the Mustang enters the narrow alley on its right wheels and exits on its left. The exit was shot later on the Universal Studios lot; a cut-in shot of the car switching sides was meant to hide the mismatch.
  • The moon buggy was designed by Ken Adam and built by Dean Jeffries on a Corvair chassis. Its fibreglass wheels kept breaking in the desert and had to be replaced with solid rubber tyres.
  • Willard Whyte's summer house is architect John Lautner's Elrod House in Palm Springs (1968). The pool in which Plenty O'Toole is drowned belonged to Kirk Douglas's Palm Springs estate.
  • On a budget of around $7.2 million the film grossed about $116 million worldwide and topped the US box office for seven consecutive weeks.
  • The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Sound (Gordon K. McCallum, John W. Mitchell, Al Overton); in Germany it was awarded the Goldene Leinwand in 1973.
  • Shirley Bassey sang her second Bond theme after Goldfinger; producer Harry Saltzman thought Don Black's lyrics were too suggestive. In 1972 Tanja Berg recorded a German version titled 'Diamanten sind für immer'.
  • The world premiere took place in Munich on 14 December 1971, three days before the US release and a good two weeks before the London premiere at the Odeon Leicester Square. The German dub was produced by Ultra-Film in Berlin, with Gert Günther Hoffmann voicing Connery.
  • A cameo by Sammy Davis Jr. at the roulette table was cut. The cruise liner of the finale was the SS Canberra, whose exteriors were shot in the Port of Southampton.

Images

Entrance of the Circus Circus casino in Las Vegas with its clown sign
Circus Circus, Las Vegas: this is where Tiffany Case collects the diamonds at the water-balloon stall (photo from 2017).Photo: Kevin Verbeem · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
John Lautner's Elrod House in Palm Springs with its round concrete dome
Elrod House, Palm Springs: Willard Whyte's summer house, scene of the fight with Bambi and Thumper.Photo: Jerrye & Roy Klotz, M.D. · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
View along the Reguliersgracht in Amsterdam with several bridges in a row
Reguliersgracht, Amsterdam: Tiffany Case's flat, where Bond turns up as Peter Franks, is on this canal.Photo: Massimo Catarinella · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
A yellow 1971 Ford Mustang Mach 1 with a black bonnet inside a hall.
A yellow production 1971 Mustang Mach 1 as a type reference; Tiffany's car in the film is red.Photo: Mustang Joe · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
Night aerial view of the Las Vegas Strip with its illuminated casino towers
Las Vegas Strip – setting of the film's entire middle act around the Whyte House, the casinos and the car chasePhoto: Carol M. Highsmith · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
The white hotel tower of the Westgate Las Vegas with its large roadside sign
The former International Hotel – the Whyte House in the film, whose façade Bond scales to reach the penthousePhoto: Jeff Hitchcock · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
The white wooden bascule bridge Magere Brug across the Amstel in Amsterdam
Magere Brug, Amsterdam: this is where the body of the supposed James Bond is pulled from the Amstel.Photo: C messier · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
The water-filled Big Hole, Kimberley's old diamond mine, in front of the town's skyline
Kimberley in South Africa: the start of the smuggling chain – though the mine scene itself was shot near Las Vegas.Photo: South African Tourism from South Africa · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
The arched Theme Building at Los Angeles airport next to the control tower
Los Angeles International Airport: Bond and Tiffany land with the coffin full of diamonds, with Felix Leiter waiting on the apron.Photo: Atomic Taco from Seattle, WA, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
View from the chalk cliffs over Dover harbour with its ferry berths and moles
Dover: the real Peter Franks is arrested at the hoverport while Bond crosses by hovercraft under his name.Photo: Colin Park · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
An oil drilling platform standing on steel legs off the California coast
Oil rig off California: for the finale the production had its own platform built off Oceanside.Photo: Doc Searls · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
The windowless hall of the Albert R. Broccoli 007 Stage at Pinewood Studios
Pinewood Studios: Blofeld's clinic, the Whyte House penthouse and the oil-rig control room were built here; the 007 Stage was only added in 1976.Photo: The original uploader was Bionicbiff at English Wikipedia. · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
A red Ford Mustang Mach 1 with a black bonnet in the Bond in Motion exhibition.
Mustang from the Diamonds Are Forever display at Bond in Motion, Beaulieu; photograph of the exhibited vehicle.Photo: Morio · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
A white moon buggy with a plexiglass dome and outstretched mechanical arms on display.
The moon buggy built for Diamonds Are Forever on display; Ken Adam's design was realised by Dean Jeffries.Photo: No machine-readable author provided. Hannibal assumed (based on copyright claims). · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
A pale-green Honda trike with wide balloon tyres in the Bond in Motion exhibition.
Honda US90 from the Diamonds Are Forever display at Beaulieu; the type is also listed under its later ATC90 name.Photo: Karen Roe from Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, UK · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
A silver one-seat Bath-O-Sub with a SPECTRE emblem in a museum display.
Blofeld's Bath-O-Sub film prop at Bond in Motion, Beaulieu.Photo: Karen Roe from Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, UK · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
A dark Triumph Stag with its roof down at a classic-car gathering.
A 1970 Triumph Stag as a type reference; Bond's screen car RVC 435H was yellow and is not pictured.Photo: SG2012 · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
The Princess Margaret hovercraft in 1997 with visitors in the foreground.
The Princess Margaret after its lengthening to Mk III; Diamonds Are Forever shows Bond travelling on the shorter Mk I configuration.Photo: Luctor · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Rear view of a historic Maryland State Police Ford Custom 500 with a red beacon.
An early-1970s Custom 500 as a type reference for the Ford police fleet; not a screen-used vehicle.Photo: Acroterion · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
A pedestal-mounted Bell 206B bearing Swedish police markings.
A Bell 206B as a type reference for Whyte's JetRanger; the photograph shows a different helicopter in Stockholm.Photo: Matti Blume · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
An olive-green Bell UH-1H with Red Cross markings outside a military museum.
A UH-1H at the 1st Cavalry Division Museum as a type reference for the finale's Hueys; not a filming aircraft.Photo: Articseahorse · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
A Hughes OH-6A with a rounded glass cockpit inside a museum hangar.
An OH-6A at the Naval Air Station Wildwood Aviation Museum as a type reference for the small attack helicopters; not a screen-used example.Photo: Smallbones · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
A silver-and-black Philips N2205 cassette recorder with push-buttons and a built-in speaker.
A production Philips N2205 of the same type as the recorder on Blofeld's desk; not the film prop.Photo: Free Photo Fun · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
A Walther PPK with brown grips and a museum label identifying its 7.65 mm calibre.
A Walther PPK at Finland's Border Museum as a type reference for Bond's service pistol; not a screen-used example.Photo: MKFI · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Sources

  1. Diamonds Are Forever (film) – Wikipedia (en)(en)accessed 7 September 2026
  2. Diamantenfieber – Wikipedia (de)(de)accessed 7 September 2026
  3. List of James Bond film locations – Wikipedia (en)(en)accessed 7 September 2026
  4. Elrod House – Wikipedia (en)(en)accessed 7 September 2026
  5. Diamonds Are Forever – Box Office Mojo(en)accessed 7 September 2026
  6. Film Locations for Diamonds Are Forever (1971) – movie-locations.com(en)accessed 7 September 2026
  7. 007 Filming location: Tectronics Missile Laboratories – 007 Travelers(en)accessed 7 September 2026
  8. James Bond Locations: Lufthansa to L.A.(en)accessed 7 September 2026
  9. Diamonds Are Forever (1971) – Nevada Film Office(en)accessed 7 September 2026
  10. MI6-HQ: Diamonds Are Forever – Handlungsorte und Vortitelsequenz(en)accessed 10 September 2026