Released in December of 1969, this movie is quite literally the last hurrah for the cinematic 1960's. The turn this film takes in it's final moments is a real sucker punch. Nothing in the rest of its run-time prepares you for it. Sure it's a different guy playing Bond, but other than that it's business as usual. The costumes, the sets, the colors, etc. are all precisely what you've seen before. And then, suddenly, the carefree, technicolor aesthetic that began with films like Dr. No, The Pink Panther and Charade gets itself a real and palpable body count. Somehow the increasing darkness of the outside world found its way into escapist entertainment. People wanted to forget things like Charles Manson and Altamont, but all this movie gave them was a grim reminder that truly nobody is safe. Though producers tried to sort of un-ring that bell by getting Sean Connery to return two years later in Diamonds are Forever, there was really no going back. The cinematic 1960's died on country road somewhere in Portugal.
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