We confess it's been a very long time since we last saw Diamonds Are Forever, the seventh James Bond flick and the sixth to star Sean Connery. The movie, which came out in 1971 and is replete with classic cheesy Bond one-liners, involves a complicated international diamond-smuggling storyline, filled with switchbacks and double-crosses.
The plot involves a number of Las Vegas locations, including Fremont Street, the old Las Vegas Visitors Bureau (doubling as a mortuary), Circus Circus, the Tropicana (where James Bond stays), the Riviera, the old Landmark, and the newly renamed Las Vegas Hilton (which switched over that year from being the International). In the film, the latter is a hotel-casino named the Whyte House owned by reclusive billionaire Willard Whyte, whose character is loosely based on Howard Hughes.
Filming in Las Vegas was in part facilitated by Hughes, since he was a friend of producer Albert "Cubby" Broccoli. The owner of Circus Circus was a Bond fan, so he also allowed his casino to be used as a location and even made a cameo appearance. Apparently, the cinematographers said filming in Las Vegas at night had an advantage: No additional illumination was required due to the quantity of neon lights.
Again, it's been awhile since we caught the movie, but our research leads us to conclude that the building you're referring to is the 1968 Elrod House, designed for interior designer Arthur Elrod by famous modern architect John Lautner, a former apprentice to Frank Lloyd Wright who was responsible for such iconic mid-century modern buildings as Googie's coffee shop on Sunset Blvd. In the movie, it's Whyte's Winter Villa desert house, where Bond encounters Bambi and Thumper -- click here to view that famous scene.
Any views of Las Vegas you recall from the house must've been faked in post-production, since in reality, the property's actually located at 2175 Southridge Drive, Palms Springs. If you're interested, this five-bedroomed and five-and-a-half bathroomed residence, with circular domed living room, indoor-outdoor pool, and retractable glass walls, is currently on the market. Described as "one of the most architecturally significant houses in the world," it's listed at $13.89 million. Click here for more about the history and additional photos of this one-of-a-kind property.
